Micah, Jason and Daddy started a tradition to get together every year. It started last year when Daddy came out for Micah's graduation. Micah defended his thesis the weekend before he came and unfortunately, the professors got really excited when they learned his research and were curious and wanted him to run more tests to add to his thesis, so the whole week Daddy was there, they barely got any time to play. This time there were no other responsibilities and Micah and I drove up after work on Wednesday and Thursday morning, I picked up Besty and we started our nephews tour. The guys spent the day fixing cars and planning the trip and made it down to Zion's and did some cool hikes over the long weekend. But I have no pics of that and wasn't there to make much more comment, so unless Micah gets on here, that's about all of that trip that you'll hear.
Besty and I surprised Carrie's kids and showed up Thursday afternoon. We brought a little pizza party for Alex's birthday. Maybe that wasn't very wise because I don't think we'll be able to keep up with that for Brigham's birthday which is coming up next. They were riding bikes in the driveway when we pulled in. I seriously had to do a double take from Brigham to Alex, as Digs has grown up so much! Lissie is as pink and dresses and frills as they get, but somehow holds her ground with them. And Taylor is the smiliest baby around!
They were calling her wimpy because she didn't want to get out of bed early. Carrie explained that some people aren't morning people. We totally lucked out- Alex ended up not having school that day so we got to go to the park and play and have hot chocolate and popsicles after!
Sorry Best, here are the pics you were asking about!
Friday afternoon we drove over/down to Logan and totally surprised all of the Andersons. We pulled into the street and saw that her garage door was open, so we parked a house before it and walked up the driveway, into the garage, in through the kitchen door, thought they were gone maybe, except Payton was sitting in a seat right there. Kenzie comes running out of nowhere, then started yelling "Mom, mom, guess who's here?!?!" we follow her into Nicole's bathroom and there she is scrubbing a toilet. She turned around and was quiet for a minute and I believe the first words out of her mouth were "Oh no, now I better get the house clean. Christopher will die if he knows guests showed up and it was this dirty!!" Being about 5:20 and him being expected home any minute, we hurried and helped. We had a fun time there as well and Payton is so tiny and precious! We went to 'the pumpkin walk' which was really cool.
They had a family pillow fight, which was so fun to watch! The kids love running up to Christopher and trying to over power him and throw pillows at him...and then they would laugh and squeal as they got clobbered.
Sunday, we stopped and visited Cris in SLC. He had a lot of after church responsibilities so we left Logan later so we'd be driving through SLC right when he was ready. But then we didn't have tons of time to visit because we were trying to make it to Provo for family dinner, too. Cris is always a blast to visit. Never a dull moment and he is one I really enjoy talking with. We helped him get acquainted with his roommates as well. Cris of course did his usual introduce me as his fiance (it used to be girlfriend but now that I have a ring I guess he had to up it to make it more believable). Then he said it's his sister and they could see the family resemblance; then we joked that Betsy has always looked a little bit different. She started defending that, though, saying mom always said she looked like Bryce (which is apparently the name of one of the roommates, too, I think) so they were utterly confused. I started laughing because I don't know how you could distinguish that one looks like Bryce and not Cris. The roommates were confused and apparently didn't know that Cris had a twin, so it's a good thing we were there and were able to have some roommate home evening time.
We made it down to dinner and it was great to have beans and see the rest of the fam and I couldn't believe how much Sophie is talking now! and Travis is such a sweet big guy! Micah called right after dinner and invited me over, as they were back in Provo now and his sister, Tiffany was coming over for a movie so that meant that mantrip was officially over. I was all excited like I was going on a date or something! I went over, but didn't get to visit very long, as all his old friends knew he was in town, too and showed up to visit. I went back to Bryce and Lisa's and had a sleepover there and got to visit for the morning. When Sophie woke up, I heard her come through the kitchen. I called her over to the couch and she stopped and got her stuffed animals first that were in the kitchen and started bringing them over by the armloads. She handed me a white bear first and said 'His name is white bear' so when she handed me the next one, I asked his name and she answered in the sweetest and kind of sad and most serious voice, 'I don't know Aunt Katy, I don't know.' I thought it was very funny. Lisa introduced me to some new hot cereal, which I loved and will have to find here in Abq. We had a good visit for the morning, then I left to pick up Micah.
and how is it that every little girl can recognize makeup from a mile away?? She was very excited to find 'sparkles' in my bag!! What a cutie!
We packed the car and headed out to lunch with Daddy and Tiffany and Renee. I didn't get to visit with Ren too long, but she's always a cutie. I found a book for her that was called "Jelly Belly" so I was pretty excited to give that to her, since she loves books and Jelly Bellies, although the book had nothing to do with the candy!
Then Micah and I took off for our next adventure.....San Diego!!
and since we LOVE to spoil the grandkids....I've found a store that sells all the kids' books for 10cents!! So I've gone a few times and collected some. It's so fun to look through kids' books and all of a sudden have deja vu about books you read as a kid! So some I had to keep for myself and then I was so excited to bring the rest up for the kids, who all love reading!
Carrie's kids are SUCH entertainers!
The conference ended midday Thursday, so when he had some free time, we went and visited the retired USS Midway, an air craft carrier.
A close up of the previous , for padre! 
The Berthing Area (sleeping) Yup, that's 3 beds on top of eachother!
Another one parked nearby
That night, Micah realized his good friend from school lived not far from there, so we met up with them for dinner and had a really fun time chatting. We brought the camera, but didn't take any pics, so this one from their own site will have to do!
For madre: black necked swans! Never had heard of them...and I know
On the 'skyway'
We thought this crocodile was the weirdest looking faced animal ever!
An Albino Python
Kimono Dragon
"Buzz, your girlfriend! Woof!!"
I was fascinated by these ducks! They wouldn't sit still long enough to get a straight on shot, but they look like they are painted, the colors are so vibrant and lines are so... distinct.
That night, we started the looooong journey home...
This added a 3-4 hour detour on Saturday, after stopping and sleeping for the night. We decided to take advantage of these moments when we don't have kids in the car and didn't have a deadline to make it home for that night, so here we are! We didn't stay long at all, but we went!
Micah tied the camera to a branch on a bush (so it wouldn't fall) and then got it balanced horizontally to get this picture of us.... quite impressive I thought. 
Almost home!!
So cute movie! If you look, you can see the baby koala crawling around on the mommy!
