Remainder of Utah Trip, July 29- Aug 1st//Zion's Ponderosa Ranch

Finally getting around to blogging the remainder of our Utah Trip. The main reason for going out to Utah was to have the first ever Harman Family Reunion (family from my moms side). I am just going to glunk in all the days together and just say that we had a really great time getting to spend time with family that we don't usually have the opportunity to see because some are in Utah, Arizona, and Texas. We stayed in a large cabin with 39 people! There were 7 bedrooms for 10 families. It was not as chaotic as one would have thought it would have been. Here are some of the highlights from those days...

driving through Cache Valley we stopped and bought fresh cheese curd, yum!

 drove to get to Ponderosa Ranch through Zion National Park

 Here is the cabin we stayed in for the next few days

On Monday, a bunch of us went to tour Bryce Canyon

 Me with my husband and 3 kids

 My sister Desiree' and her husband Chuck

 My mom and dad with my sister Charisse's 3 children

 Jessica, Natalee, Kira and Aunt LaDonne

 My brother Christian with his wife Jennie and their 3 children

 My cousin Jessica with my aunt (her mom)

 My cousin Ben with his wife and kids

 My mom with her sister

 Group shot minus a couple people.

 Totally stole this from my cousin...but it shows a great view of the canyon and 'Thor's Hammer'

While there, you have the opportunity to do the Junior Ranger course where you fill out a small booklet and become an official Junior Ranger

 Here are the badges the got after being sworn in

 Cute shot of my girls

While at the cabin we celebrated a few different birthdays. My cousin Jessica turned 30, and then my cousins son had a birthday where all the kids got to hit the pinata. Also while there my grandmothers birthday was celebrated. She would have been 99 years old this year. Emma Isabelle Brooksby Harman or otherwise known as 'Darlin' to those who loved her most.

 I was massaging my pregnant sisters feet and Copper sat down next to me, grabbed a foot and started rubbing too...it was very cute.

 Me with my cousin Jessica, we are 1 month apart in age.

The next day we hung out with a couple of my cousins and siblings and went to the pool on the ranch.

That night we held a 'Who wore it best competition'. J/K! My cousin Ben on the left with my brother-inlaw Chuck sporting the bald head look with a blue polo, grey shorts and socks.

I stole these from Ben and Suzi's pictures but it shows some great shots from inside the cabin. It was beautiful!

 The last night there my moms cousin Rosa Lee came over to visit with her mom, who is my Grandma's sister...Aunt Gladys. It has been ages since I have seen either one of them. It was so nice they dropped by.

 My girls hanging with Ben and Suzi's kids. All 3 of my girls loved these boys!

 Green shirt day! Twiners :)

 Group shot of everyone that was staying at the cabin. My mom had 2 siblings with all of their children, and their children's children show up. And then all of my siblings were there with all of our kids. Lots and lots of kids. It was so fun! Loved getting some much needed cousin and sibling time.

 My cute fam

 Here is another shot of the cabin with my parents cuddling in front of it

August the 1st we checked out of our cabin, said our goodbyes and toured Zion National Park on the way out.

 We rode this bus through the canyon

 After touring for a few hours we were ready to start our long journey home. We are a 'drive straight through' type of family. So what does that mean? We drive from destination A (Utah) to destination B (Kentucky) as quickly as speed limits provide with only bathroom breaks every 4-5 hours. It was a 28 hr. drive back to KY. Here is Copper at the beginning of it.

Oh, and before I forget to mention the best part, about 2 hrs into our drive, we were stopping to gas up and a piece of asphalt jumped up into the grill of our car and killed our AC. We stopped and had the car looked at and rather than staying over night to get the part for our car, we decided to keep on truckin' along and just get home without AC. It was 100 degree weather. The next 26 hours were the longest and hottest hours of my life! True story.

cute Pais cuddling with her doll and sweating things out

 This is how we all felt by the end of our trip. Are we home yet? Get me out of this hot mess of a car!

Whoo! I finally finished my post. That was long...and filled with a lot of pictures. To sum it all up, Utah was awesome. I got to see lots of people I love and had amazing experiences.