Goodbye McDougal's, Goodbye Utah

I don't know if y'all know, but I have a pretty amazing mother. Her name is Cindy and I can't think of a better lady to call Mom. At the end of our trip we celebrated her retirement as the office manager at McDougal Funeral Home for the past 25 years! For as long as I can remember my mom has been working there. When she made the decision to retire around the beginning of the year, we couldn't let the opportunity pass to recognize her for the dedication and sacrifices she made for our family over all of her working years as a mother with five children. There are lots of reasons my mom worked and all of those reasons led back to us, her babies. She wanted to make sure we were happy and healthy, and this job helped her provide both of those things. It wasn't rainbows and butterflies, but it was a job she was good at in an honest environment and gave her the security she needed. What a wonderful example she is to all of us of working hard and doing what has to be done!

She was hesitant to let us plan this whole shin-dig (she doesn't love being the center of attention), but we insisted. Between all of us siblings and our spouses, we pulled it off with flying colors!

 We hosted the party at Haley's church in Riverton. It was so fun to decorate, pull off a delicious menu and of course see all the wonderful people that have loved and supported our mom over the last 25 years!

(Disclaimer: I am not a professional photographer and some of my pictures are blurry or focused on the wrong thing. I'm a work in progress!)

  

All the grandkids loved being together and passing the time while the adults did their thing- 

I don't think I had to worry about Eve once that night.

 Avery is a little mama and I love it so much!

What an amazing night we spent celebrating this wonderful woman we are so blessed to call Mother.

We love you, Mom and thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

XOXOXO 

After spending this wonderful evening with my crazy fam, we got up bright and early the next morning to say goodbye to Utah for the summer.

We decided to take the scenic route on I-70 across Colorado and it did not disappoint! We drove through beautiful ski resort towns and enjoyed the scenery the Rockies had to offer. I think we will opt for that route every summer!

We tried to do some sight seeing and check out Royal Gorge in Canon City, but we missed it by 5 minutes. Seriously. Our GPS took us to the South Rim that no longer allows entrance into the site, so we drove to the North Rim and the visitors center closed at 7pm and we pulled up at 7:05. Boo! We could have paid $54 to drive across the bridge, but didn't think it was the wisest use of our money so we opted for some pictures from a view point-

This crevice supposedly goes down a mile or something like that. I bet it's cool, but we may never know for ourselves.

Oh, and it was raining. So a quick, squinty-eyed picture is all we ended up with as a family!

After our detour and pit-stop after 12 hours of travelling, Brian was a total rock star and drove another 7 hours to get us to Amarillo, TX! I didn't think driving until 2:30am was our smartest move, but he said he was up for it even if I fell asleep so we went for it. Brigitte hooked us up with a Marriott in Amarillo and we got a good five hours of sleep before hitting the road again.

 This girl was pumped dad let her take the wheel and she got us back to Round Rock well before dinner time!

And these boys were pumped to be reunited with their house, toys and friends!

As much fun as we had in Utah, there just isn't anything like home sweet home and we were all more than happy to be back in our own beds in our own house in our own neighborhood. How blessed we are to love two places so much.