Salt Lake City, Utah

I love Utah. I’ve been here once before. Both times I am just blown away by the beautiful scenery. Everywhere you go it’s just gorgeous. I love nature. I love hiking. I used to do it whenever I could. It’s a lot harder to hike with the kids. What’s fun for me now is seeing their faces and their reactions to the beauty of the mountains.

A good majority of the people here have a bunch of kids, even more than us. We fit in very nicely. No one looks at us weird or makes comments about all the kids. Parenting is done very differently here. Parents are more laid back and let their kids run and climb. It’s challenged me to let up a little bit on my kids. Parents here let their boys climb trees, playscapes at the park, or whatever. Last night we walked up to the camp park and a little girl had climbed to the top of the basketball hoop and was sitting there as her brothers were shooting baskets. There was no mother around telling her to get down. It got me thinking. Maybe I should just let Joah climb and go wild. He would love it. I mean what’s the worst that could happen….he could fall off the hoop and crack his head open on the concrete right? Ok so maybe I don’t go that extreme, but I do think little boys need to be little boys. They need outlets to get all their energy out. Joah has been a climber since he could walk and I should let him climb more trees and be a kid. He needs more outdoor time so he can go crazy. It really helps his behavior and focus after he plays outside.

Brandon had two store trainings today. We took the kids to a chic fil a during one of them. It was right across the parking lot from Brandon’s training and it had a playolace. Score!

The kids cheeks were bright red. They ran and ran and worked up a thirst. The two oldest wanted an orange juice smoothie.

Caed wanted a fresh squeezed lemonade.

We had to have some work done on the motor home today while we were out driving around for Brandon’s trainings. We sought out a General RV this time. They really are the best. They got us right in and fixed the problem in 3 hours…..a lot different than four days like the last time. The one slide out had quit working and it was a very easy fix. It wasn’t the motor. It was just a wire that came unplugged.

The kids always want to go into the store because they have free popcorn. Every time we pull into the parking lot the kids have to “immediately pee.” We got a bag for Caed too.

When Brandon lived in Utah for a year, this was one of his favorite places to eat lunch on his lunch break. He took us all there for lunch today. It was very good and on the healthy side, which I loved.

These were the kids meals.