Utah

We had a wonderful time in Utah. We were there for nine full days (the other two days were filled with traveling back and forth). I could have enjoyed another two days there, but the girls were definitely ready to go home by the end of it.

After a full week, Ellie said "Mama, we haven't played with my friend, Emily, for a really long time..." It was her first mention of home and people at home. But that seemed to open up the floodgates sort of. At that point, she had already seen just about every person she was going to see on this vacation and she was getting overwhelmed. We really did put the girls through the ringer when it comes to meeting and remeeting new people.

We had the big reunion with my family attended by the girls' 2 grandparents, 4 uncles, 5 aunts, and 9 cousins. We also spent a good amount of time with Matt's family - 2 grandparents, 1 uncle, 1 aunt, 4 cousins. Managed to squeeze in a visit with their Great Grandma Holmes (Matt's grandma); my cousin Lon, his wife and three boys; and a surprise visit from another aunt and cousin. Oh and two chance encounters with fellow DC residents too!

To top that off, we also hosted two separate parties in an effort to see long lost Utah friends, which were surprisingly well attended - adding even more family (cousins, second cousins, etc) and tons of non family friends that Ellie, Annie and Leah had to meet and be sociable with. I can't believe they handled it as well as they did. It was a lot to take in for such young girls. But they really were just wonderful. During the last party, they began to lose their will and the pictures we took reflect that. Ellie said many times to Matt "But Daddy I don't have any more smiles!"

Still, what made the trip so wonderful was the people we got to visit with and renew friendships with. I wish we had seen even more friends. I'll try to get some more posts up with pictures soon.