Salt Lake + a Little Oregon

Recently, my family gathered in Salt Lake City for a reunion, and a wedding. Following are some photos from my trip! 

 My niece and nephew, Maya and Finn. They remind me so much of me and my little brother, Wes. They are very indignant about being strapped together with the same seatbelt. Me & Wes had the same sort of super-intense love/ hate relationship. 

Lauren, Cali & Tayler saving a parking spot for us. 

Price and Finn, down at City Creek Mall. What a wonderful blend of tranquil nature and some serious shopping. 

Taking a quick break at City Creek Mall. This is Wes in the forefront. We walked home instead of driving, one of the many reasons I love my adventurous brother. 

My niece Lauren, or "La La" as we call her, enjoying the view and looking picturesque. 

Cousin T.C., here with his new bride Katie. She is the cutest thing, and has great taste. 

Here are the kids in my family (I'm pretty much one of them) except we are missing Austen T. 

This is at the "Seashell Fountain" at Temple Square. We named it. I love Finn's expression, as if he just spotted something very odd in the water. 

This picture reminds me of the song that goes: 

"Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your

heeeeaaart ooouuuut"

It's a really good song. Anyways, we're on top of the Conference Center, this really amazing building with trees on top and a waterfall that cascades all the way from the top of the structure to the bottom. And the view of Salt Lake is incredible too! 

Thanks to the Internet and all the creative people that post there, we were able to find new hairstyles for La La just about every day. Her she is in my grandma's backyard, which if it were not so green and lush, would not make it so hard to come back to Arizona. 

But I wonder, if I were around so much green and beauty all the time, would I really appreciate the way I do, born in the dust and the sagebrush as I am? 

Hmmmmm.......

“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”
― Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters

“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”
― Mother Teresa