Road trip

UEA is one of those occasions that the whole state knows about and everyone outside of Utah has no idea there was even an event.

Kind of like the 24th of July.

It's also known as Fall Break and the kids get school off for three days and it coincides with the Deer Hunt (which is a whole other Thing).

Last year, along with what seemed like everyone else from Utah, we hit Disneyland.  This year we went for a more exotic location and headed to Boulder.

we took Adam's car at Mark's request..he wears shorts and a t shirt and likes the heated seats in the back

Here's how you get to Boulder.

1) Go to the middle of nowhere.

2) Turn left.

3) Go to the end of the earth.

4) Keep going.

It's a place like none other.  Achingly beautiful and incredibly remote and my brother lives there along with his girls--as he fondly calls his wife and three daughters.

We stopped on Boulder Mountain to take a few pictures:

Is there anything better than aspen trees?

The mountain tops out at about 10000 feet and a lot of the leaves were already gone (and in Pleasant Grove they haven't even turned colors for autumn yet):

Even if it weren't so breathtakingly lovely there, I would happily go anywhere to see Tabor.  I love that kid.  He has a disarming blend of self deprecation and blatant self confidence and charisma that when mixed together, charm me.  He makes me feel more confident and also shines a light of perspective on things.  I could talk to him all day and be better for it.

He is also wickedly funny.  He accused me of making him more obnoxious because I laugh at his jokes.  He said our sister Olivia does the same thing to him.  So I guess you can blame the two of us that he isn't better behaved.

Adam enjoyed spending time with Tabor and helping him a little with ranch work.  Emma and Mark enjoyed their darling little cousins and I enjoyed visiting with Katie and helping her cook.  By helping her, I mean I sliced the tomatoes badly.

(If you ever need something sliced badly, I'm your girl.)

Tabor took us on a wild ride in his ranch truck up on the mountain.

Katie and I sat in the front seat with him because we both are prone to car sickness.  The road was rough and Tabor, shifting gears around Katie's legs and pointing out sights and checking cattle along the way and regaling us with stories while he drove, didn't do much to allay our car sickness.

Katie's cousin and his friends were there to hunt deer so we were also leading them on an expedition to find good hunting sites.

This picture was taken about the time I pointed out the baby deer to the hunters and told them not to kill the babies' dads.  They told me we didn't know for sure they were the dads.

I am a happy carnivore but I'm glad Adam doesn't hunt.  I prefer my meat boneless + skinless from Costco.

Finally Katie and I declared we'd stay put and he could pick us up on the way back.

Tabor said it was good for him to have us along, getting car sick, so he realized how rough the road is.  Usually he has a horse in a trailer behind his truck on that road.

I told him if horses could throw up, he would find digested hay all over the floor of the trailer.

Poor horses!

Seeing where Tabor rode also gave me insight as to why when I hug him around his middle--which is the only place I can reach--it's like hugging a surfboard.  That guy has abs of steel and he gets them riding horseback up and down steep mountains.  Pilates instructors wish they had the core strength of Tabor!

The girls effectively had their cousin Mark wrapped around their little fingers.  They were involved in an elaborate game of pretend and they gave Mark definite instructions about who he was and what he could do in the game.  He happily went along.

I mean, wouldn't you?

(Their hair was a little rough because the air mattress Emma had slept on was a ship and there were all sorts of storms and lamentations...not pictured is Charlotte who was part of the game but on a rocking horse.)

I told them we needed to leave in the morning and we ended up leaving around 1:00 pm.  I knew that would happen so I purposely set an earlier time.  We could visit endlessly.

Who knew my pesky brothers I used to babysit would end up being some of my best friends in the world?

I took some pictures as we were putting our shoes on.  I always remember these things too late.

Here's Tabor and Charlotte:

The little dress up skirt was all part of the horseback play and Tabor is living proof that sometimes the good guys wear black hats.

I took a picture of the whole family to send Braeden:

See that look on Tabor's face?  That is him about to say something cheeky.  It is a familiar look.

Finally I got camera shy Olivia to look at the camera!

I love this whole family!  What a blessing it is to live in the same state.