Road Trip Stretch 4 - Farmington (Lagoon)

 Thursday morning, we woke up and said goodbye to our friend, Stella.

 and headed to Lagoon in Farmington - an amusement park with a fun water park.

 Ry-Ry was pretty unsure of the rides at first.  We went on a train ride through the zoo at the park. 

 by the end of the ride he was waving at all the animals.

 Then, Ryland and I went on his first roller coaster.  If you can see in the photo (don't mind my crazy hair!!) he held his breathe for most of the ride (yes, his face is BRIGHT red).  But at the end he was all smiles and waving at all the spectators.  So, I think he LIKED it?

 At the end of the day, we went into the water park portion where we rode the lazy river and went down water slides.  That was the best part!  We had one happy but exhausted little guy.

THIS never happens. 

Road Trip Stretch 3 - Salt Lake City (and Brent's Birthday!)

 On the day Brent turned 27, we decided to spend a day in Salt Lake - seeing the sights and doing some shopping.  First stop - a haircut for Ryland.    I LOVE those curls, but I was pretty sick of picking food out of them constantly (gotta love having a messy eater!)

 He hated the haircut, but looked so darn handsome afterwards!

 Next, we stopped downtown where it was surprisingly hard to find a sit-down restaurant to celebrate Brent's birthday at.  After walking about a mile around downtown, we found a fun the RedRocks brew pub and Brent deemed that the perfect place.  After all that time in the stroller, Ryland needed to stretch his little legs.  We let him run around in temple square. 

 His favorite thing at temple square were the construction workers.  He was fascinated.

 such a big boy!

 Whew!  It was sooo hot that day.  We walked back to the car to find a Sonic (LOVE their drink happy hour - cherry limeade yummmm)

Lori and Brent relax while waiting for our meal :)

Our friends Ryan and Brittney live in the Salt Lake area and invited us along with Lori, Brent, and Stella to come over for some homemade chinese food (and it was soooo delicious!)

cute lil' Stella worked out while waiting for her dinner

Ryland loves Uncle Brent

 Ryland was constantly hugging, kissing, and trying to RIDE on Stella.  He lovingly referred to her as a "daahhhg" (I think because she crawls?)

crazy kids!

Road Trip Stretch 2 - Draper and Huntington, UT

Another 6 hours in the car brought us to Brent's other sister's home in Draper, UT.  Thanks Lori, Brent, and Stella for letting us stay with you!

Ryland loved sitting on their stairs - weird boy!

this guy was unbelievably good in the car!

 Tuesday we made our way to Huntington to visit grandma and grandpa Hansen (Brent's grandparents). 

 We are so glad Ry-Ry got to meet his great grandparents!  These two have been married 73 years.

 Grandpa Hansen loved Ryland, he played with toys with him, sat on the porch swing, and even spoiled him with ice cream.  

 We drove back to Draper through a gorgeous canyon

After the dry, yellow landscape of Eastern Washington and Idaho, Utah was a beautiful relief!

Road Trip Stretch 1 - Boise, ID

The first day of our road trip - we drove from Ephrata to Boise (about 6 hours).  Brent's younger sister, Kayleen lives there with her husband Neal.  We had a great time spending time with Neal's family, swimming, having a BBQ, and going to a park with "Aunt Leeners"

checking out some fish at the wildlife preserve

Aunt Leeners shows helps Ry down the slide

super off-centered, but this guy still LOVES swinging :)

 
This is Pippy the pony.  Ryland was terrified of her at first sight.  Then, as he watched everyone else pat and love on the horse, he decided that this huge animal was just a "daaahg."  Pretty cute how he warmed up so quickly!

this boy can CAMP like a CHAMP

 We went to Lost Lake for a couple of days with 7 friends.  We brought the Ry-Guy with us.  

Lost Lake is not really a "campground"...

It is forested land, with occasional clearing you can use as campsites.  It feels like backpacking, which I love.  There are no bathrooms, no water (besides the lake, of course) and no other campers within sight.

 From the minute we set up Ry's nifty fox chair, he was in heaven.

Ryland got to relax in his chair while everyone else carried HEAVY coolers down the rocky path to the campsite (a steep 100 yard hike.)

 3 days of dirt and being outside constantly - that's what this guy loves!

 Our friends seemed to enjoy having him around too (none of them have children, Ryland was the center of attention).  There was constant entertainment.

 Him and Josh had some good guitar sessions. (Notice Ryland's guitar is only the neck, I need to get him a new one!)

 And he was in awe when Josh and Russ both played.

 daddy and Ryland did  a little bit of fishing.

 He even looked the part of "hardcore camper"

 "Aunt" Sharon frequently took over baby duty so we could have a break!  So many hazards to watch out for in the woods.  Chasing a toddler away from fire and water constantly is tiring!

 He even took 2 naps a day in the tent and slept ALL night.  I can't even do that in the woods.

 Brent is pretty darn proud of the Rainbow Trout we all caught (yes it was a group effort, it was brent's pole, noticed by josh, grabbed up by me and Sharon, reeled in by jesse, eaten by all!)

 To say he was dirty is an understatement.