After a very long seven months of life, work, church, work, friends, work, family, work, meetings, work, and well you get the picture. Ben and I had decided we had enough of it all. So we skipped out of town on the cheapest flight, and found our selves renting a car in Salt Lake City and driving up to Preston Idaho to visit family. Upon arriving at a very cute home in Whitney Idaho, we found ourselves in the comforts of my Grandparents, who also just happened to be hosting my younger brother Josh for a week.
It was great timing...and no one would think that we had planned it...um...ok, so it was planned. With a baby you need a plan. Anyways, so we spent a few days with Grandma and Grandpa. They were great hosts, and enjoyed our company very well. Just as much as we all enjoyed their hospitality and love towards all of us. It was also a GREAT start to a wonderful vacation. We had a cook out, and actually got to sit on very nice soft grass. Out here in NC what grass you can find, is either brown, crawling with bugs, or not really grass at all. That was a very nice time.
We also happened to be with Josh and Grandma and Grandpa on a very special day. On September 10th, we celebrated Josh's birthday. We ate ice cream cake, and hung out at the Grandparents' place doing what Josh wanted to. We (some of us participated, some of us just watched the fun) had a ping pong tournament. Let me tell you what, watching Josh in action is very entertaining. I highly recommend it to anyone suffering from major boredom and any type of unhappiness. We also had a shoot off with the game of Pig. That was just between Ben and Josh. The other major entertainment were long brain straining games of Rummykube.
Our biggest adventure yet was going to Salt Lake City, so we could tour Temple Square. Grandma and Grandpa and Josh left early so they could go to the SLC temple. While Ben, Joseph and I slept in to catch up on missed sleep, from the time change and Joseph's middle of the night cries (which was new after many months of peaceful sleep at home). But we all caught up with each other and began our tour. We went to the Visitors center to see the Christis, to the Old Tabernackle to see the new renovations, to the Joseph Smith center to meet up with Josh's very VERY good friend Christina; and to watch the new Joseph Smith video on the BIG screen.
The very next day we all went to the Mission Training Center (MTC) to drop Josh off, so he can serve a 2 year mission in the Provo Utah area. It was a lot of fun. He was so very excited to be going, and helped other Elder's who were having a rough time, be excited to leave their families. While there, we just happened to bump into Christina once again, as she dropped off her Nephew, who also is serving a mission the same time Josh is. What a day, let me tell you.
With Josh behind us it was time to say good bye to our Grandparents, and head into phase 2 of our vacation. We stayed with one of (many) Ben's cousins, and enjoyed their company. We visited with Russ and Aimee, who moved away into a very remote area of the world (yep...its called Utah ha, ha). We went to Lagoon, to a few yummy restaurants. Lastly, but not least, we also hung out with Ben's boss Shane and his new bride Kandice. They were very gracious, and had the company pay for all our lunches. 
