Party's Over

Driving back to Logan was no picnic. All the kids got some kind of sickness, and Powell vomited everywhere in the car. We had to pull over to a McDonald's in Flagstaff to remedy this emergency. James cleaned out the car the best he could in the freezing cold, while Kathleen took Powell inside the bathroom to strip him down, wash and wring out his clothes, and bathe him in the hand-sensored, cool-watered sink with only hand soap and an electric hand dryer to work with. Needless to say, we lost about 3 hours of driving that night and remained in Flagstaff the night of December 30th, so we had to drive all the way from Flagstaff to Logan in one long stretch. Thank heavens the roads were pretty clear, and we saw no major accidents along the way. Despite the rocky ending, we were thankful to be able to see the Grand Canyon and visit with many of Kathleen's family members over Christmas break.

Happy to Play at a Park

Reagan stayed on the rocking seahorse for about an hour. Powell made good friends with his second cousin, Tenille Updike. Nathanael pretended to be a (snaggle-toothed) velociraptor chasing his sister and other little girl relatives. Kathleen got to play some competitive volleyball with all her tall, talented relatives, while James was unfortunately sidelined, due to his hurt shoulder.

Temple Cactus Garden

Families Can Be Together Forever...

Here we have Kathleen's Grandma and parents in a picture with our family. By this time, we had to promise our ancy, yet camera-tired kids a visit to the cactus garden on the temple grounds and a trip to Dairy Queen.

What a Poser!

Nathanael just couldn't help himself--he just had to pose goofy for one shot! Click on it--this one is worth viewing in full-screen mode!

Four Generations

This is a picture of Brooklyn with her mom, Kathleen, her Grandma Julene (Kathleen's mom), and her Great Grandma Ireta. (Ireta is not Julene's mother, but she is the only living grandparent Kathleen still has.)

Up, Up with Updikes!

After we all left the Grand Canyon in one piece, we continued to drive down to the Phoenix/Mesa area for a mini-reunion involving a lot of Kathleen's family. Here, some of her relatives are pictured at the cemetary where her grandpa, Paul Updike, is buried. Her Grandma, Ireta, is not yet ready to be buried in her grave. Her son, Galen, told her to do a jig on her grave, and she did! We all had a good laugh at that one!