Utah Trip Part 1 of Many!!

So July 5th, Makena and I headed to Utah with friends of ours. (Chris was in Alaska on a training so we thought we would get away) Their were 3 adults, 6 kids (the oldest was 5), and 2 cars in our party. I am sure we looked insane and I am even more sure that many times we felt that way. We ended the first day of driving in Gallup, NM. We now know that will not be on the list of stopping places again. We wanted Mexican food for dinner and asked a girl at the hotel where to eat. She told us the place of a cafe (should have been our first clue). We showed up at this place that was as big as an air liner with two rows of tables one on each side. The host looked at us in horror as we walked in with so many kids. We would have had to be split up in 2 to 3 tables to accommodate all of us. So Makena and one of her friends took off and ran under one of the tables. (Let me remind you they had been in the car for about 12 hours by this point) We decided to not stay and went to grab the kids and they got stuck on each other as they tried to climb out. The screaming began. We were so embarrassed and grabbed all the kids and ran out.
Day 2 in the car was much better and we made it into Utah. However the next morning my embarrassment would begin again. We were staying the first night with my friend and her parents in Spanish Fork. During breakfast, Makena was trying out her hand in chair leaning. Which I am sad to report, ended in disaster. Her and the chair ended up on the floor. Makena with a very large goose egg on her head and the back of the chair in many pieces. Luckily my friend went right to work with wood glue and put it back together and also, that her mom was much more worried about Makena than the chair(yes, I was worried about the chair)
NOW onto bigger and better memories. Day 4 we met up with friends we met in TX and went to the Hogle Zoo. We were both so excited to see our friends. They were having a big dinosaur exhibit. They were a lot of fun. Each dinosaur was animated in their own way. Some would roar, move, spit water, etc.

Here is the one that spit water. The kids loved it

Makena was so excited to see that their zoo had a baby elephant as well. She was missing ours.

Here is the gang. We had so much fun!!!! Thanks Dana for a great time! We loved seeing all of you!