 |
| June 23 |
Sunday LMC families members began to leave Bennington. The Wilsons left in the morning and the Allreds after church. In the early evening Pepaw gave us a "family history tour" of Bennington and surrounding area. We drove past the Maple and Buttercup Fields where my dad owns land and stopped to see the area where my Grandma Crane was born 1917. We drove up into the beautiful Pine Canyon and walked to the Red Fern bus and to an overlook with a gorgeous view of the valley. We visited the cabin my grandpa built to homestead the land in the 1930s. We visited the Bennington cemetery and found the graves of my dad's paternal grandparents, parents and siblings that have passed, as well as his maternal grandfather and Miles Franklin Weaver--my great-great grandfather and father of my great-grandmother Idella (my middle name comes from her). Anthony and I loved all the family history, and hope our kids will remember what we saw too.
 |
| June 24 |
Monday morning we stopped at the Butch Cassidy Museum at the Bank of Montpelier. The Bank of Montpelier was established in 1891 as the first chartered bank in Idaho and became famous after Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch Gang robbed the bank on August 13, 1896. It is the only bank in the United States that was robbed by these infamous outlaws that is still standing. The old building was restored to reflect the 1890s time frame and original elements and artifacts were preserved, though not in the same layout. The museum docent was very knowledgeable, though he seemed to be a big fan of "hearsay." The kids were good sports and agreed to pose for this picture. After the museum we headed down to American Fork. We made a pit stop in Logan and picked up In-n-Out for lunch. We agreed the burgers were pretty good, but the fries were just okay. We arrived at Nana & Papas around 3pm. That evening around 8:45 we walked to their neighbors home to witness moonflowers bloom. They were fascinating to watch! |
June 25
|
Tuesday afternoon the Toms hosted our family and the Allreds for pizza and water fun. The Toms have an awesome blow up water slide and pool the kids enjoyed using. The adults visited on their patio while the kids cooled off and played. We feasted on Costco pizza, fruit and veggies. Then Trevor got out their snow cone machine and treated us all to dessert. Will helped grind the ice. It was great catching up with the Toms since we don't get to sese them as often. Madeline was born since our last visit to Utah seven months ago. She is very alert and happy, but rumor has it she isn't a great sleeper. While some of the younger kids were taking turns jumping on the trampoline in their basement Trevor let Elliott and Miles use his workout equipment. He coached Elliott and Miles on their form as they attempted to do sit-ups at an incline.
 |
| June 26 |
Tuesday evening the Maxfields arrived from Oregon! Since none of our kids had ever been to Salt Lake, and it is shrinking at a concerning rate, we decided to drive up to Great Salt Lake State Park and float in it at least once. We were warned that there were a lot of bugs, and there--gnats!--and that because the water was so salty it would really hurt if it splashed in your eyes--it did! But everyone in the John family (besides Miles) successfully floated. The Maxfields floated as well. After our quick visit the the lake we drove the the Cottonwood Heights pool. We visited the pool
back in 2022 after cousin camp and had a great time. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
 |
| June 27 |
Thursday was a very Harvey Fletcher themed BYU day. First we hiked the Y. Apparently Elliott told his Maxfield cousins that he had hiked the Y, and they were bummed they had never done it. Turns out Elliott had never done it either. When we hiked the Y back in
2016 with Will & Lauren, Elliott stayed back with Carly. How is the Y connected to Harvey Fletcher? Before the Y was originally whitewashed on the mountain in 1906, Harvey was one of three BYU students in the Junior Class that surveyed the letters "B," "Y," and "U," on the side of the mountain. When class members assembled to begin the letters, they started with the "Y" to keep it centered. Students stood approximately 8 feet apart and created a human chain carrying buckets of lime, sand and rocks to construct the letters. It took hours to create! Because it took so long the students never completed the other letters. I can testify that it is a very steep incline and not for the faint of heart. When we hiked the ~1 mile trail Wednesday morning it really pushed me. Will called me when he was sitting on the Y and it took me another 15 minutes to get there. After the hike we met Doug and Tina for lunch at the Creamery on 9th. After lunch Tina arranged for us to visit the anechoic chamber Harvey Fletcher built at BYU when he was a professor in the 1960s (after he retired from Bell Labs). It is inside the Eyring Science Center, so we walked across campus and marveled at what has changed and what hasn't. An anechoic chamber is used to study sounds. The walls, ceiling and floor of the room are covered in acoustical wedges that are held in place metal grates. When you walk into the room you walk on a wire floor that is several feet above the actual floor of the room. Being in the room is a lot like wearing noise cancelling headphones. We were in there for a few minutes and my ears adjusted to the muffled sound, but as soon as we walked out the cacophony of noises hit me. The BYU professor that gave us the tour is married to a friend that also grew up in the Lenexa Stake. We found Nana's name on the wall, listed with other BYU physics students throughout the years. After the tour we walked to the BYU Library and the enjoyed the hand-on Lego exhibit.
 |
| June 28 |
Thursday Elliott headed to Liz's cabin with Nana, Papa and the cousin camp crew. The rest of us went to the water park formerly known as Seven Peaks--Splash Summit--in Provo. Carly and her family had been at a family reunion with Daniel's side of the family until Thursday evening. Will, Lauren and Elliott were anxious to spend time with Sadie, Elise and Grant (Elliot and Millie were at cousin camp). Anthony and I got season passes to Seven Peaks in both 2006 and 2007, so it felt a little like coming home for us. We spent most of our time in the tadpole area with Miles, while Lauren and Will went down the various slides with cousins. We floated through the lazy river a few times for old times' sake. We stayed until closing, then headed to the Nielson's for dinner. We got Costco pizzas for the kids and ordered Costa Vida for the adults. It was such a gorgeous evening we hung out on the back porch after dinner. Will and Sadie challenged Anthony and Carly to an epic game of pickleball. The John adults do not go easy on their kids, and the kids will be better competitors for it, though they didn't seem to pleased in real time.
 |
| June 29 |
We were all pretty tired Saturday. I wanted us to have a relaxing day because we would be driving the entire way home the next day. I did some cleaning and prepping for the trip. Anthony, Meredith, Carly and kids went up to Harvey Park and played a lot of pickleball. That evening we got the kids Chick-fil-A and then the adults got tacos at Holy Taco in Orem. We finished the night with s'mores in the Nielson's backyard, visiting while the kids jumped on the trampoline, played "ghosts in the graveyard," and games of pickleball and pick-up basketball. I made the kids go to bed around 11pm while Anthony and I finished packing. We probably stayed up too late visiting with Meredith (considering we had a 17 hours drive ahead of us), but the late night chats with siblings are one of the most important parts of getting together. We had a great week in Utah!
