Happy Valley and a Mini Horse

We drove up to Provo, Utah one day to spend some time with Two of Christian's sisters and their kids. When we pulled up, wouldn't you know what is walking down the street, but a mimi horse. Random?! I called the creature a pony at first but was quickly corrected that it was NOT a pony but a mimi horse (of course). You just never know what you'll find in Happy Valley.

We went on a little hike by the Provo Temple; many of the kids (mainly my own) was a little too tired for any time of walking. We made it a little ways but not too far. We had fun seeing all our nieces and nephews that are growing up so fast. Berke enjoyed spending time with his cousins.

Trax, Toys and a Drunk Guy

We took the Trax from Sandy to Downtown Salt Lake City. We thought Berke would enjoy the train, but he pretty much napped the whole way. I appreciated the T a lot more after riding the Trax, as the Trax was SOOOO slow, luckily we had the good company of Papa Taft and Lori.
We had a great time walking around Gateway, shopping, running through the fountains, eating and attending the Children's Museum.

The Children's Museum was adorable but very crowded. I saw quite a bit of free range parenting. Parents were sitting on the sidelines reading books while their kids just damaged the place.
Lori took Berkey shopping.

One of Berke's favorite things was the huge xylophone he got to play with his Papa Taft.

Warning: Cute picture below!

Berke LOVES his Papa Taft!

Oh yea, we encountered a drunk guy on the Trax ride home. He was one of those really loud drunks. Well Mr. Drunken Pants really took a liking to Berkeley and Berke thought he was pretty funny to. He gave us some good advice, "Just give him lots of love, don't tell him he is a piece of SH*#! like my dad does." Sounds good! I was proud of Berke for saying no when Mr. Drunken tried to offer him candy. Just say no to strangers (we didn't even teach him that yet)!

Sorrels Family Reunion 2011

Our second week of vacation was spend with my Mom and Dad, my two brothers and their families. It was the first ever Sorrels Family Reunion. My parents were awesome enough to rent a cabin in Island Park, ID for a week so we could enjoy a week in Yellowstone.

We spend quite a few days and nights at the clubhouse pool. They had a shallow kiddie pool which was wonderful for the little kids. Berkeley really became comfortable with the water and loved swimming.

Christian and I took a little drive around Henry's Lake which was absolutely breathtaking.

During our drive we encountered this random donkey. I thought it was a bit random.

I got to hang with my brothers and picked up on my Gangsta side with some tips from my littlest bro.

We enjoyed a fun talent show our first night which included singing, rapping, dancing, drumming, and a special guest appearance by Lady Gaga.

These four goons were seriously engaged in their jacks tournament; it got pretty serious some nights. I thought Christian could win the game since he was the most sober one playing, but he just couldn't pull it off.

On our way home we stopped in Bear World to see some cute bears (I was sad we never saw a bear in Yellowstone).

They had a little petty zoo at Bear World and Berke go to pet a dear and a goat.

It was a lot of fun to get together as a family and hang out. A lot of Foosball way played, food ate, souvenirs bought, cousin time had, and fun was had by all.

A huge thanks to Mom and Dad for providing us such a wonderful vacation!

Mesa Falls, ID

Our first day in Island Park, ID we ventured out to the Mesa Falls Trail to see the Upper and Lower Mesa Falls. They were really beautiful and had a nice easy hike for the kids.

I love this picture, as Berkeley was sitting there asking Uncle Dusty about all of his tattoos. He identified one as a star but didn't know what the rest were. Too funny.

Some of my family at the Upper Mesa Falls.

This is my cute Mama. Love her.

Who has matching hats? Two good looking mountain men.

Jackson Hole, WY

Jackson Hole, WY

My dad, bro Dustin, and me before taking off to go White Water Rafting down the Snake River. We had no idea what we were in for. The river as a cool 40 degrees, so we ended up wearing wet suits (not attractive on anyone). The river was twice as full as usual this year due to the large amount of snow fall they received, therefore the river was moving fast and the rapids were awesome. It started raining hard on us 1/2 way through the trip and we were all freezing. It was a great experience but would have been better on a warmer day with warmer water.

We had fun exploring the adorable town. Grandma even took the grand kids on a stage coach ride which they all enjoyed.

What a good looking family.

There was just never enough time to see everything. Especially when you have 5 little kids to keep happy. We had a great time however.

West Yellowstone

We spent 2 days in West Yellowstone and experiences nothing but beauty and amazement. What a beautiful place!
We hiked down a mountain be at the edge of a beautiful waterfall, it was a pretty amazing sight.
Here is the whole fam damily.

A drive through Hayden Valley and we saw this entire field of bison grazing; there were many little babies that we adorable. These creatures are huge.

Christian, Berkeley, Dad, Marci and I hiked up part of Mt. Washburn to see some amazing views of the National Park. There was still a lot of snow on the path so we only made it 1/2 way up.

We then drove to the Mammoth Hot Springs. They were so unlike anything I have ever seen; it was like we were on another planet. Our earth is a pretty interesting place.
Here is Berkeley and Grandpa Sorrels.

Berkeley loved hanging out with his cousins. Athena and Cautious became known as "The Guys" and it took him about 4 days to warm up to Tristen who is only 2 weeks older than him. There was some jealousy issues at first which included a lot of hitting from both sides, but by the end they were good buddies. Berke liked Tommy by the end cause he never really bothered him.

We saw Old Faithful erupt: again super cool. It is surrounded by tons of other geysers as well which we got to see, but none were as big and magnificent as Old Faithful.

Got love the Cousins.
Athena, Cautious, Tristen, Tommy, Berkeley

Old Faithful

This cute nephew of mine, little Tommy celebrated his 1st birthday visiting geysers. What a cool way to spend his special day.

Two Terrible Twos.

Homeward Bound

Our last night in Utah we we able to see Mom and Dad Gentry. It was pretty neat that Berkeley got to see all of his grandparents during our two week excursion. Even though it was much too short, it was good to visit with Christian's folks.

Berke did so well on our flight home. We left my mom's house at 7:30 a.m. and didn't get to our house in Boston until 12:30 a.m. Berke was a total champ the entire ride. We kept him occupied with toys, sticker books, books, ipad and more toys.

Unfortunately, when we got to Chicago for our layover that was supposed to be 2 hours, it turned into 6 hours. Berke spent the time eating, going up and down the moving walk ways, using his car seat as a slide, playing in the toy store and taking a little nap. It took a lot of effort from Christian and I to keep the kid happy, but he responded beautifully.

We are very glad to be home with our little McDuff but miss our family. Berkeley is constantly asking for "the guys", Papa Taft, Grandma Sorrels, Uncle Dusty, Tristen and Grandma Taft. I am so happy he had such a fun time getting to know his amazing family.