Today Patrick is 9 years old.. Wow! It just goes by so fast. I still remember him it seems like a few years ago so little and sweet. He is still sweet just not so little. Happy Birthday Patrick! We love you and love having you in our lives.
Our first stop on our vacation was the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. We took to boys down to do the tour of it. It is a very beautiful temple like them all. It had some different decorating styles I hadn't seen in any other one, but as always very beautiful. For those who heard on the news that the statue here had been struck by lighting and when we where there, they hadn't fixed it yet and so we zoomed in see what it had done to it. Its amazing it just burned it a little and nothing else was wrong with it. I liked being able to take the boys and share with them this experience and show them the areas we go into when we go to do work. Its a great feeling when your there as a family to know that we will always be together and am blessed to know we are sealed forever.
On another one of our stay vacation trips around 
Before we went to the game we went to eat at this place Joe had see on one of his routes. Its called Praire Scooner and its a whole western theme. You sit in these booths that look like covered wagons and then they also have fake wild life and camp fires down the middle of the area to feel like your outside. It was a lot of fun but kinda pricey.
On Monday night we decided to see a Raptors game since McDonald's has been giving out free tickets. It was fun, I mean as fun as baseball can be its a slow game and the boys started to get board part way through it so we only stayed until the top of 6th inning, but it had been 2 hours watching it even then so it was good. Blake was probably the only one that really watched it and would even clap when they hit. They hit a few home runs which was exciting and the stuff in between that they do is fun to watch..
Another day of vacation we did Lagoon. This was a great day. There were no lines, it wasn't really hot and everyone seemed to have a great time. It was the first year that the boys would just go up to a ride they could get on and do it all by themselves without an adult having to go with. It was nice and weird at the same time. Our boys are getting big and it happens so fast. In one pic me and Jake are on the Bat ride, he loved this ride and it was fun being able to ride it with him. He also loved the Mouse trap ride and me not so much I will not go on it, but he loves it.
Like Cover Fort, Heritage Park (by Hogle Zoo) is another great church History place to see all that was once down in the Salt Lake Valley and also what Brigham Young had done. There is so many other photos I couldn't post until I can figure out this layout better but here are just a few. It was such a fun day to spend there and learn of things and there are different crafts the kids can stop and do along the way. There is also a train that takes you around the whole park to different places to tour. The one pink home was Brigham Youngs Farmhouse that he had and as we learned never really lived in, just one of his wives. A really fun place that we will go back to do again because we didn't get through the whole thing. 
On our way to go camping we stopped at Cove Fort (just before Beaver, UT) to take the tour. I had passed this place going to Southern Utah my whole life and never have stopped to see it. It was were the first Hinckley's settled and were told by Brigham Young to build a fort that would help protect the other pioneers coming through and also have a save place to stay. We also found out that President Gordon B. was the grandson to Ira Hinckley (in the photo) who built the fort. So it was very interesting to learn what it was used for and the History behind it. If you ever get the chance to go there do so, it is very interesting and inspirational at the same time..
Another thing we did while camping was explore some of the old towns that are around and now abandoned. It was interesting to see these homes and old buildings how they lived and usually not in very big places. Then Joe had to bring along his metal detector and do a little every where we went. Its fun though for the boys and they searched a lot but didn't really find anything (they were all kind of bummed about that).
The campground we were at was about 10 
To end our vacation we went to Southern Utah to do some camping. It is a beautiful place and the kids had a lot of fun climbing and hiking and playing horseshoes, the fire at night and all the marshmellows we roasted. But I also realized I'm getting to old to be truly roughing it and we need to look into a trailer.. Its rough getting old.
Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.
