Zoo Day with cousin Benton!

Brennan and Chad are in town because Chad is taking the bar in Idaho because the license is reciprocal with more states than in Utah. While Chad studied, the rest of us went to the zoo.

The intrepid explorers set off on the first leg of their journey by Jeep.

When the Jeep broke down, they lassoed a baby tiger and continued on their journey.

The journey was long...

and tiring!

But perseverance pays and the explorers eventually reached their destination!

Gabe and his Bad Guys

Grandma Grange was nice enough to get Gabe some knight figures from the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  We gave them to him on the car ride home and he immediately started growling and saying "Bad Guys!  Bad Guys!"  (He knows this phrase because we read the children's illustrated Book of Mormon to him and talk about the "bad guys.")  Anyway, I took out the camera and this is what I caught:

Utah Trip, Continued

 So after our lovely stay in Salt Lake, we traveled down to Cedar City, Utah to go to the Shakespeare Festival with the Grange Family.

This is an annual tradition and one that our family has come to thoroughly enjoy.  The schedule of events is usually very consistent. 

1. We always eat at The Pizza Factory, The Garden House, and Milt's Steakhouse

2. We always hike up the canyon close to our hotel.

3. We always hike the Kanaraville Falls slot canyon hike.

We weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it up the ladders this year with Gabe in a backpack, but some blessed soul improved the ladders to make them safer and Gabe was a trooper. In fact, he LOVED the whole hike- especially the ladders. This is an AMAZING hike that is well worth your time if you're in the area.

We also like to take in the Cedar City 4th of July Parade.  This year the cousins were all very festive with red and white shirts thanks to Grandma Grange and balloons thanks to Grandma Glojo!

Gabe LOVED the parade.  None of these pictures accurately reflect his enthusiasm.

He especially loved to manically fling the balloons around, although I also couldn't capture it.

You get an idea of his craziness, though, by looking at his face and Aunt Brennan's.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and lit sparklers and played ball.  Benton and Gabe couldn't get enough of the Pop-Its, but I forgot to get any pictures.

The highlight of this year's trip for me was seeing Les Miserables performed.  This is my favorite Broadway show and I had decided to read the book prior to watching the performance.  The last week before the play, I still had half the book left, but Dave put in extra babysitting time and I made a mad rush to finish.  I finished the last line about 30 seconds before the play started.  I LOVED the end of the book and the performance.  I didn't expect the reaction I had, though.  The character who touched me the most this time around was Fantine.  Being a mother myself now, I related to her character on a whole different level.  Every time that character opened her mouth I would find myself choking up.  Especially at the end when she comes to receive Jean Valjean and says that he is an Angel of God for caring for her child and that he will be received into heaven for that act alone.  I would feel the same way about someone who took in my child if I was unable to care for him.

Anyway, we were talking about Fantine and Gabe overheard us and decided "Fantine" was a pretty amazing word.  For the rest of the day, he couldn't stop talking about Fantine.  That night in his prayers he said "Thank You" for Fantine.

Another person Gabe thanked God for is Aunt Clarissa, although he calls her "Kissa."  She was so nice to the boys and they loved her.  She even shared her birthday pinata with them.  She brought it all the way from San Diego so that they could crack it open with her. Thanks Kissa!

Following the wonderful Cedar City stop, we journeyed on to Heber, Utah, for an extended Hulme Family reunion at Heber Valley Campground.  Uncle John did a great job of planning everything and we had a wonderful time.  Here is the whole group together:

Dave wasn't sure how he felt about the navy blue and white color scheme, but he was a good sport and put on a green shirt.

Drunken Playground Fun

This is in Salt Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Nicholas.

Gabe's First "Official" Camping Trip

In June we headed up to Pine Flats Campground for Gabe's first real campout. We had attempted camping last fall, but had to head home when we got to the campground and discovered that someone had left the sleeping bags and blankets at home. And then this Spring, Dave took Gabe up to a ward Fathers and Sons campout, but didn't stay overnight. SO, this was really the first and Gabe LOVED it. We're not sure if WE loved it. Most of the weekend was spent corralling Gabe away from the fire or the ax or the cliff or any number of other dangers. Also, the first night, he didn't realize until morning that we had come in and were sleeping right next to him in the tent, but the next night he woke up and started screaming at us to get him and so that night we spent trading him between our sleeping bags. He actually slept, but we didn't!

S'mores are Delicious!

The Rugged Mountaineers

On the last evening, we couldn't take it anymore and just strapped Gabe into his highchair and gave him garbage to play with while we got dinner ready.  He did pretty well with that set-up!

Check out Gabe's face as he watches his manly dad chop logs

Utah trip

We recently returned from a fun trip to Utah.  We spent the first four days in Salt Lake with Pete and Robyn.  We visited:

 Temple Square

Wheeler Farm

Red Butte Gardens

(with Gabe's cousin Benton)

City Creek Mall

Liberty Park

(The reason Gabe is clinging so lovingly to Dave in the following pictures is because he had slipped into a big pile of mud while goofing off and Dave didn't make him go wash off in the fountains because he was scared!)



and of course we didn't pass up The Red Iguana and The Pie, we were just too busy stuffing our faces to take pictures!  Gabe had a WONDERFUL time with his Grandma and Grandpa Nicholas.  Here is a picture of the boys watching ESPN:

This post is getting a little long, so we'll talk about Cedar City and Heber Valley Campground a little later!