Madsen family: UTAH!!!

I know, finally a real post. And yes Bree, I'm making sure this gets done since you bet me that I wouldn't do it. haha

I had some photo shoots in Utah the first week of July and didn't want to drive the there by myself so my sister-in-law Bree and I made a trip of it. Thanks Bree for singing with me for 10 hrs straight! I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks for helping with the kids and for putting up with me for a week. I had fun.

On the way up I stopped at the Cameron Trading Post (we've stopped there so much since I was a kid) and we had to get some yummy fried bread with powdered sugar and honey.

Right as I took this picture Bree laughed and powdered sugar went all over us.

July 3rd:

My Uncle owns Alexander's Print Advantage (for anyone needing awesome printing services), and he has a balloon that flies in the Provo Balloon Fest every year. They are always the first balloon up and flying.

We got up bright and early and went on Saturday and it was a little too windy for the balloons to fly. So we waited. They didn't fly Friday and have never not flown 2 days in a row (ever) so we crossed our fingers. After getting the balloon standing and taking it back down a few times, they finally flew. After 1 short flight it was too windy and they were done for the day.

(More to come from Monday's Balloon Fest)

Getting the Balloon up again:

We went back to my sister's house and hung out until it was time for Stadium of Fire on Saturday night with Carrie Underwood!

She is amazing! The concert was so good! The fireworks were good too except for one that shot right at the crowd and lit someone's program on fire. Other than that, it was so much fun. We went with my cousin Diana and my sister.

Our seats were on the complete opposite side of the arena, but I still think the pictures turned out pretty cool.

4th of July:

The kids made some super cool festive 4th glasses and Bree made hers. We are stylin'.

I hung out at my sister's neighbors for a bit while they did fireworks in the street and you could see some going off in the distance too, but that was it for the 4th fireworks.

July 5th:

BALLOON FEST: TAKE 2!

We were doing Heather's family pics that night so she didn't want to get her kids up at 5 to go, so Bree and I headed down to Provo to go fly. It was great weather and all the balloons were up and going. Bree and I got to fly twice. Thank you Uncle Jeff for taking us ballooning, for breakfast, and for our tshirts (he makes new ones every year. We all have a collection). We had lots of fun and really appreciated it!

The balloon goes up first with the flag hanging down for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ronald McDonald got that ride.

July 7th:

We were going to come home on Thursday, so on Wednesday my sister took me and Bree to the Alpine slide for a day of FUN! We got all day passes to slide and coaster til our hearts content. So we get there and wait in line for about 45 min with the kids and then they say that it's broken and won't be fixed til close. We didn't want to waste the tickets so we decided to stay one more day and try the next day.

This picture is in the car on the way home. I love this baby girl. We're buddies.

July 8th:

We get up and head to the slides. (Perry stays with a babysitter so we can all go). We get there, get in line for the coaster again. We're almost to the front and then we hear thunder and cue sprinkles. They had to shut it down because if there is a lightening strike, they can't let people on for 30 min. Just our luck.

We didn't want to lose our spot in line so while everyone went down to wait in the building, Bree, Peyton, and I were troopers and hung out in the sprinkles. Sprinkles then turned to rain, then down pour, then hail....... we had no jackets. It was great.

Me and Peyt in Sprinkles

Heather and kids in Sprinkles

After down pour and hail when Heather and Chase came to meet us at the top again. One of the workers gave poor Peyton a rain jacket since she was freezing, but didn't want to get out of line so she turned it into a tent and then had a fun fort to play in.

1.5 hours later, everything was up and running. The sun was out and we were the only ones in line! We had lots of fun the rest of the day.

Here's what the coaster looks like. You go through all the trees; it's pretty cool.

Bree and I drove home the next day and had rain the whole way down. If it wasn't pouring on us we could see sheets of rain on the sides of us. Once we got to Phx, there was a full rainbow that was really bright. We couldn't get the whole rainbow in and we took the picture while driving, but it was really pretty.