UTAH!!

We spent 5 days with my parents in Utah and we loved every minute of our trip (except for Addie throwing up her McDonald's happy meal pancakes on the drive home). It was gorgeous and the memories were equally as beautiful.

We spent one day at the Deer Valley Resort. Brian, my mom, and I took a trip on a really, high, fast, and long Zip line. Brian bought us each a ticket without our final vote of approval, thus locking us into the adventure. He knows how to make an Etter do something-by force, with the possibility of wasting money and the potential guilt from not seeing a task through...needless to say-we were in! Thank goodness for the port-a-potty at the top of the mountain or my mom and I may have had to employ some pretty strategic sweater-around-the-waist tying after the ride. Once we got to the line for the Zip (after a long, slow, too much time to think chairlift ride to the top of the mountain) my mom quickly began searching the health warning sign for some excuse that would free her from the inevitable. No luck. We are quiet panic-ers in my family and if it weren't for the lady in front of us who was a vocal panic-er...I don't know if we would have made it-she was hilarious. She began by telling her friend, who was getting strapped in next to her, that this was a "stupid idea and what on earth was she doing up here", to making "someone, anyone" swear she was going to live, she let out an occasional shriek with some nervous laughter and to her final straw, just before the ride went, she believed she was wheezing (one of the health concerns on the warning sign). Before she knew it the gates opened and she and the loudest scream we have ever heard were heading down the mountain at 40 mph. Her friends were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes and so did we...we were just thankful that she so eloquently and passionately vocalized everything we had been thinking quietly to ourselves. We had a blast and were so glad Brian got us to do it!

Safe at last!

The alpine slide was also a huge hit. Brian, the daredevil, took Emma down the slide and Addie and I (the cautious, but eventually adventurous duo) went down second...we didn't want to be going so slow that Emma & Brian would catch up to us.

Who looks faster?
Addie and I may not have your vote, but we sure enjoyed the scenery & the valuable quality & quantity time we had together :)

We swam a bunch, flew kites, lit sparklers, slept all in one bedroom, and ate lots of drumsticks. We also spent a day at the Olympic park. We watched the freestyle jumpers (aka The Flying Aces), put on a show and then we pretended to be world class bobsledders.

Here is a world class alpine sledder....
and a world class drooler...

a world class rock climber...

a gold medal smiler...



champion hot tubbers...



and a world class Bumbo sitter!!