Our time in Utah before Germany - May- June 2014

As Justin flew to SERE training, Sam and I flew to Utah where we were welcomed and picked up by Mom and Dad Schmidt. We were excited to spend lots of time with family before making the far away move to Germany. What fun we had. Sam still asks to go to Utah. He knows where his family fun is. :) Prepare yourself, there are lots of pictures!

We hit the "This is the Place" park with Melanie, Brandon, Lily and Mom Schmidt. It was a great time, lots of fun for the littles.

Waiting to ride the train seemed forever for these littles.

Yes, we found water to play in. Yes, Sam did get stuck in the mud. :)

He isn't one of those kids who falls asleep in car seats. It's rare for this child. We wore this kid right out with all our fun.

Sam did pretty darn good adjusting to sleeping at different houses and in different beds. It helped that they were at Grandma's and Grandpa's houses.

Sam dug right in on the Schmidt farm.

We got to go swimming with Lauren and Riley!

Sydney played the piano for us, which was lovely! Sam has always been attentive to music.

Memorial Day with the Schmidts

We then swapped over to the Barfuss household. We got to join in on their Memorial Celebrations too. Sam got to ride in Grandpa's tractor. Loved it!

Watching "Frozen" for the first time, and yep in our underwear. It's summer time!

Great Grandpa Keith played farming with Sam! Oh how we miss the grandparents.

Of course we got a horse back ride in!

and Camping and boating! Sam got to go tubbing behind the boat for the first time. He went pretty darn fast.

I even got on the wake board and tried jumping a little. Thanks to the great photographer I can say I got air. :)

Got a little brother sister time in before this brother went and got married. :)

I took pictures of the trophies from when I was a kid so we could throw them away and feel okay about it. I think my mom was more attached to them than I was. She did put most of the work into it, and now as a mom myself I can relate.

More camping!

Family birthday dinner. Which was fun and so nice of the family since it was about a month after. :) We were able to get to know our little niece, Sam's cousin -- Lucie - what a doll!

Birthday cake and all.

Loved crafting with these wonderful sisters!

We got to meet LeGrand Chambers! What a precious little boy. It was great to catch up with my cousin Jami too.

 

I had to put this picture in. As ragged as SERE left him, he's still handsome as ever. We sure missed him, even with all the fun. We we're looking forward to when he would join us.

Mom and Grandma Della took us to the aquarium. Very interesting and fun. Sam loved seeing all the water animals but wasn't up to touching the manta rays.

 We then swapped back to the Schmidt's house. Aunt Laura is awesome! She caught us a snake. I wouldn't even dare try. Ugh, I really dislike snakes. Sam got to ride the tricycle around the Schmidt greenhouse. It was full of beautiful flowers.


Justin is back! Sam and his dad had a welcome home wrestling match. It was also Justin's birthday, so the brother's went on a bike ride together. Sam got to jump in the puddles with his cousin Brandon and get a boat ride from Uncle Kendall.

We then ventured back to the Barfuss' home for more birthday fun for Justin along with camping, boating and just being with family.

 

Mom put on a goodbye BBQ for us where all family was invited. It was fun to catch up and see everyone. We felt loved! And yes there were tears. Germany is pretty far away.

We then headed to Salt Lake one last time. We were able to rent an airplane that Justin could take us all up in. It was sure fun to be his "copilot". He's worked hard and accomplished so much. I'm very proud of him and tell him he's a genius all the time, but probably not enough. :)

We then had the Schmidt Family Reunion at Lagoon. What fun that was!! Sam loved the boats most. The first time he listened to the Lagoon attendant to get out. The 2nd time he did not and we had to go in there and take him out screaming. Lol.
 Aunt Anna got her horse and carriage out for us. We each got a turn riding in it. Sam thought that was pretty darn awesome. Our nephew earned his Eagle Scout award and planned it so we could attend. What an awesome accomplishment and ceremony! Way to go Grant!Sam sure adores his cousins!


We couldn't ask for better family. Even being in Germany we have relied on and felt their love and prayers in our behalf. I don't know what we'd do without them.