July trip to Utah

En route.
Clara's face pretty much captures how she behaved the entire drive. Is "loud" a behavior?

We stayed at the Kartchner Half-way house in Meridian again - now known as the newly acclaimed Kartchner Resort and Spa. Even though Kathy and Richard weren't there, Kathy said we "had to" try the new shower. It has five shower-heads - four of which hit you from the sides. It was like surround-sound. But with water as the medium.

We spent the weekend with Briton's folks before heading down to the Provo area. We got to stay with my 6th-grade friend (well, friends since we were 12, she is not age 12), Paulette and her family. She just had a baby but rolled us into her family without batting an eye. It was really fun to chat while the kids ran amok.

Fourth of July! The kids slept in while Briton and I ran the Freedom Run 10K. We were so snooty about the idea of a 10K, coming off of the marathon. But that 10K kicked our proud bums! I shoulda gone to the flag raising ceremony at Uncle Bud's park instead!!!

Next up: Parade. The Provo Parade is the finest I've ever seen. The person next to me shared some parade-route secret codes that are new to me since the last Provo Parade I saw (when I was, like, six). I will share one of these secrets with you. To the Beauty Queens you're supposed to yell, "Show us your shoes." Parade audiences are very demanding these days. Do the BQ's comply?

All of this and more then you could ever hope for is documented at Shady Creek Lane.

In the afternoon, I stopped in to see Great-Grandma Kartchner, who's face was black and blue all over from running into a door at night (or else it's the new guy she's dating) and cousins (including L&A) while the Barker clan amused themselves elsewhere.

The following days are also pictured on SCL blog. We didn't use our camera the entire time in Utah.

On the way back to Oregon we stumbled upon the Idaho Kartchner Reunion in full swing. We thought we'd take a few courtesy pics.

Before the broken leg (Allison's).

Before the face plant.