Summer Vacation 2011

We just arrived home from a great summer vacation. When my niece Katie announced she'd be getting married in Salt Lake City a few months ago, we knew it would be great to finish up our Pioneer Trek. Last summer we had a chance to visit many of the sites that the pioneers had established in the 1830's. We saw their faith, sacrifice, and dedication as they were constantly doing hard things, and then often being driven out by mobs and having to start all over. Finally, after being persecuted time and time again, they walked west thousands of miles to find an area away from most civilization, where they could live their faith without fear of aggression and hostility. After months of walking the plains, they finally walked down Emigration Canyon and Brigham Young stated, "It is enough, This is the right Place".
With a desire to better appreciate the legacy the pioneers left, I wanted to focus as much as possible on the pioneers this trip. I thought it would help me if I ran a marathon on Pioneer Day, a race which took you down Emigration Canyon, up Little Mountain, and by the "This is the place" monument, the exact trail the pioneers entered Utah by. It was a very spiritual experience to be running and thinking of their legacy of faith and sacrifice. It was a very difficult race, much steeper hills than I had trained for, but it was wonderful to have 5 hours of time to meditate and think. And, it was great to have my family at the finish line. They ran the last few feet with me to get me through the home stretch. My brother Mike also ran the marathon. He finished much faster than I did, but came back and waited for me to run the last 1/2 mile. My mom and sister-in-law waited at mile 20 to give me a cold popsicle and some encouragement. It was wonderful to feel so much love.


While I went home to recover and let the little ones rest, the older children went with Daddy, Uncle Dave, Uncle Todd and Aunt Cath rafting. They had a fabulous time.






These pictures are in a little bit of random order, but this is us on the way to the wedding. Somehow we don't have any pictures of the actual wedding or reception, just in the minivan on the the way there. Luckily many of our family members took pictures that night - I think I can mooch some off of them.

On Tuesday we went to the "This is the Place" park and learned about Brigham Young, toured his original home, and learned about the pioneer way of life.

A Train Ride

Panning for Gold

Visiting the Petting Zoo and Stables

On our way to Utah we stopped in Fort Collins, Colorado and picked up Grandma Judy. Then we went to Martin's Cove, Wyoming, to visit a site where many of the pioneers died due to blizzard conditions and lack of food. We learned that toward the end they rationed out 1/4 a cup of flour per day to each adult. Luckily they were rescued and helped arrive in Utah, but not until after many had died.





Our trip was extra special because it was combined with a Krieger Family Reunion. It was the first time all my siblings were together for a long time. The girls loved playing Perpetual Commotion with Aunt PeriLynn, while Gracie snuggled and slept in Aunt Sande's lap. The boys had a huge Ultimate Frisbee game which became McKay's favorite activity of the trip. He hooked up with some cousins he barely knew before and became fast friends. Sierra got to be good buddies with my niece Kiri's girls, so seeing new bonds form in the family was especially rewarding.

Matthew got lots of love from Grandma Judy.

We were really grateful that we were able to see both Great Grandma's while in Utah. We were able to spend some good quality time with Grandma Great. We also went and celebrated Grandma Shurtz' 89th birthday. Unfortunately the camera didn't make it to the celebration, but we had a great cook out with Uncle Mike and Uncle Steve and their families. We had promised to bring a big birthday cake to the celebration, but the power was out in all the stores around the area. Finally one grocery store let me in to buy one in the dark.
Russ and the kids had fun celebrating Uncle Gene's birthday. We also enjoyed watching fireworks at his house for Pioneer Day. I was at the temple with my nephew Spencer who is leaving on his mission to Russia next week. He invited me to come to a session at the temple done in American Sign Language.
Part of the Krieger Reunion involved a picnic and trip to the Zoo. It brought back lots of memories to be back at the Hogle Zoo again. They've converted part of it into a mini Jurasic Park. Savannah did not appreciate when a dinosaur shot water out of his mouth at her.



We had lots of picnics along the way. The trip was about 24 driving each way, so the trips involved a few parks to stretch and have lunch at (and a few time where we pulled into a parking lot and grabbed a few things from the cooler - not as picturesque). These pictures were taken at a beautiful park in Wyoming.


Another Krieger Reunion activity was attending a trampoline bounce facility in Provo. So Fun!!!





On Sunday we were able to attend Spencer's farewell at church. Aunt Sande had a nice lunch for us and then we were off on our long drive back home. As we were pulling out Russ said, "Do you think we could go see my Grandma one more time" You don't need to ask me twice, we snuck in to give her one more hug before leaving the area.






After a few hours of driving south I realized Arches was literally on the road we were taking. I couldn't resist a slight detour to go see nature at it's finest. It was gorgeous and unique and breathtaking.



We found a little hotel to sleep at that night and decided to go as far as we could the next day. After 22 hours straight in the car on Monday we pulled into our drive way at 6:00 am Tuesday morning. When two children starting throwing up in the car at 3:00 a.m. we knew there was no stopping. Russ rested for a couple of hours and was off to work. A week never to be forgotten.