July 10-12 from Utah to Wyoming to Colorado

We woke up Saturday morning, had breakfast and packed up. Just before leaving, Aunt Connie came by and said that she had wanted to take us out to breakfast. Since we had already eaten, she gave us money to treat ourselves to lunch. She also had brand new $2 bills for each of the kids. The boys thought that was great!

We said our good-byes and headed down to BYU to look around a bit before leaving town. Mostly John wanted to check out the Clyde building where he had spent most of his life during his BYU days. I would love to go back some time when we have more time to look around. It has changed quite a bit since we were there. For lunch, we stopped at the BYU creamery for burgers and ice cream. Yummy! While we were there Bryce became very upset and I had to take him outside to get him calmed down. It helped a little, but he kept crying, so I took him out of his chair and just sat outside and held him until everyone had finished lunch. As I held him, he seemed a little warm so once we were back in the car, I found the thermometer and sure enough, he was running a fever of over 101 degrees. I gave him some Ibuprofen and before too long he was sleeping peacefully. Luckily by the time we made it to Wyoming, the fever was gone and he seemed to be back to his happy self.

Our next stop was a very brief one in South Jordan to see Debbie (my sister) and her husband Ryan who provided us with a bathroom break and cold water to drink! Then we continued on to Rock Springs, WY, where my sister Stacie and her family live. My nephew, Erick had turned 12 and received the priesthood on Sunday. It was nice to be there for that. My brother Kevin, and my sister Kim and their families were also able to be there, so we had nice little mini family reunion before the "real" one in Colorado.

As we were traveling between Utah and Wyoming, we passed a lake with people on Jet skies. The boys ask me what those were called and I told them. Jacob then said, "well, I would call them jumping boats or danger zone catastrophe!" Where does he come up with this stuff? Thanks for the laughs, Jacob!

Cousin Madi playing with Bryce


What do you do when you get together with cousins you haven't seen in years? Play the DS together of course. Erick Ashe and William.




Kim, Nathan, Mom, and Annalise


Tanner McCain taking a nap. Look at that kid, he is even cool when he is asleep!


Dad, Tony Ashe, and John just hanging out on a Sunday afternoon.


My beautiful nieces: Madison McCain and Maisey and Eliza Stephens


Sister-in-law Sherri and brother Kevin. Sherri was fantastic with Bryce. He took to her instantly and she spent a lot of time holding him and taking him wherever he wanted to go. Usually that was upstairs since he knew that is where the toys and kids usually were.


As you may remember, before our trips began, I had been training for a 5K that my sisters and I planned on running in Colorado at the end of our family reunion. While I was in Wyoming, I registered for the 5K so it was now official. Scary and exciting all at the same time. So, early Monday morning Kim, Stacie, and I got up and went for a run. It felt good to finally be able to run outside. However it had been over a week since I had run and the elevation made a difference, but it was good practice for what was to come in less than a week!

After a shower and some quick breakfast and good-byes, we were on the road again. This time, on our way to Aurora, CO. to visit John's sisters, Dorothy and Elizabeth.

The DVD players were a life saver. We had this one rigged up on Bryce's wheelchair and one in the back for the older boys. It worked out quite well.


Somewhere in Colorado we stopped at a Little America Hotel for lunch. It was a nice restaurant and I wasn't so sure about taking a bunch of little ones who had been cooped up in the car for hours into the place, but luckily it was almost 2:00 in the afternoon and not many people were there so it worked out just fine. The boys each got something off the kids menu and John and I chose the buffet which the waitress had really talked up. The only bad thing was that after ordering the buffet, we found out that they close it down at two. We were told to just go get whatever we wanted real quickly and then they closed it. A little weird and you could tell the food had been sitting for a while, but whatever, it filled us, so that was fine.

Although Bryce wouldn't eat any food, he enjoyed trying to chew on John's plates.


The boys enjoying their ice-cream.


We made it to Aurora by early evening. We had a great dinner of Pizza, soda, and of course Baskin Robbins ice cream. Dorothy and Jason own a couple of Baskin Robbins there, so that is always a highlight of visiting Colorado. Since we only had a short distance to go on Tuesday, we were able to spend a little time visiting with our Colorado cousins. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of our time there, so you will have to wait to see pictures of these great people when I post about the Clayton Family Reunion.