We're Back...

Today was the unsettling first day back to work since our week vacation to visit our families in Utah. I have to admit, I had a fabulous time. Utah was like another world than the one I live in daily. There was nothing there to remind me of work, bills, house cleaning, cooking, etc. It truly was relaxing. The best part of it was being with family. We were able to spend quality time with family members that I haven't seen in a long time. The best part of the vacation was being with family. The second best part of the vacation was the mountains. How I missed you! The third best part was Cafe Rio and Bajio. I missed you too. Here are some pictures of our trip:

Here we are hiking Stuart Falls with my dad. We made it to the falls but had to turn back early because of rain and hail. It was a lovely hike anyway.



We were able to spend time with my brother, Tom, and his family. We stayed in their beautiful house, ate Bajio, amazing chocolate chip cookies, bread and jam. It was wonderful. We went up to Logan to the American Heritage Farms. It was crazy to be in Logan again--we were able to walk around USU campus a little and we ate at our favorite Logan restaurant, Iron Gate Grill.

Here I am with my niece, Allison, at the farm.



Here are Kam and I at the entrance to the corn maze. We all got very seriously lost in that maze and had to cheat to get out of it. Kam realized a few hours later that he had a map of the maze in his pocket all along....


Here is a picture of Kam and Allison in the corn maze:




Here is a picture of Tom and Emily's family and a picture of my niece and nephew, Allison and Dallin:



Here is a video of Kam doing a flip off the hay jump (isn't he amazing?):




Kam and I hadn't had our fill of the mountains yet so we decided to go hiking up Rock Cannyon. It was very beautiful up there--I love the Fall so much. It was great to be able to spend some of it in the mountains.




Here is Kam standing in front of the cliff that he fell off of when he was a teenager:



We wanted to spend some quality time with Kam's brother, Kart, and his family. Guess where we decided to go? The farm at Thanksgiving Point. I had no idea we loved farm animals so much. Here are some pics of us at the farm with our adorable nephew and niece, Aiden and Emma.




Although we don't have many other pictures, other highlights of our trip included my mother-in-law's birthday party and a huge BBQ with Kam's side of the family. My side of the family went up to Vivian Park and enjoyed being in the mountains. It was a very relaxing trip full of LOTS of food and good times. We were also able to watch the season premiere of the Office. The Office, we missed you too. It's great to have you back.

So here we are, back in St. Louis. It was actually stranger to walk back into our apartment after our vacation than it was walking into my parent's house at the beginning of our vacation. Why is that? Anyway, being around family got me excited about moving closer to home (no, sorry Mom, not to Utah). There is something about being around family that reminds you of who you are and what is most important in life. It was a great vacation--it's not terrible to be home, but I think I wouldn't have minded just a few more days...

Oh yeah, my sister-in-law, Laura, took my family's pictures when we were in town. She has a few of them posted on her blog if you want to check them out.