McCartney Vacation 2014 ~ part 4...

We left Idaho on Friday and drove back south to Salt Lake.  On the way, we stopped in Odgen to see the remodeled temple before it was dedicated.  I had never been to a temple open house and was so excited to go inside with the kids.  I hope it is something they always remember.  It was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!  I could not believe how pretty it was inside and out.  Jillian cooed and giggled during the entire tour and it felt so good to see her, so fresh from heaven, I'm sure she was feeling the sacredness of it all.  What a sweet heart.  Susanna was amazed too and talks about the temple often now.  Here is my little family after the tour!  (We didn't plan on making this part of the trip because we didn't hear about it until after we were in Idaho, we hadn't brought any church clothes with us so all we had was normal attire...just fyi!)

After Ogden, we went to Salt Lake City and walked around Temple Square.  I love the peaceful feeling of that place, right in the middle of a busy city.  We met a missionary from Spain who said that if she had only heard Mike's spanish voice and not seen him, she would have thought he was a native!  We also got to meet up with our great friend Cristy who lived in Louisiana a few years ago but had moved.  I hadn't seen her in 2 years, since Susanna was as old as Jillian and it was so fun to see her and hug her!  We had teary eyes as soon as we met up!

The kids were all a bit stir-crazy by this point so we said good-bye to Cristy and went to eat dinner at City Creek mall, just outside the square.  Mike even ran in to Cheesecake Factory and got me my FAVORITE cheesecake!  LOVE him!  How sweet is this picture with he and Liddy?!  She really wanted to go to the Disney Store ;)

That night we went back to Alpine and Jillian got some more Aunt Ashley-time!  

That Friday really was a looooong day!  The next morning we went to the Alpine Days parade.  It was so cute but NOTHING like parades down here!  The weather was perfect and the kids really liked it!

Check out the mountains in the back ground.  It was way prettier in person though...

 When the parade was over, Mike, the girls and I went boating with Uncle Mike's crew while the rest did their own thing.  Drew opted for going to the movies with Caleb.  We went to a little beach at Utah Lake and rode around on the boat.  It was so nice and really fun!  I managed to get no pictures.  But a phone on a boat isn't the best idea anyway...

That night we packed up our bags for our last leg of the trip...St. George to see Karli, Blake and Brody!!