Panaca Sleepover

Cheyenne schools decided to postpone school one week so that we started on August 31st instead of the previously planned August 24th. That meant that we randomly had an extra week of summer, so I loaded the kids up and off to Utah we went (again haha). This time I figured we could also make a trip down to Panaca, NV 5 hours away to see Grandma and Grandpa, Afton/Anthony/Ashlee/Kyler, and Makall and Noah in St. George. Makenzie and Katara came with us too, so it was a big Poulsen Party! It felt very spontaneous (because we planned it in like three days) and fun. 

(side note: I hate the new blogger interface. It makes it so hard to upload photos and paste them in the right order and it doesn't save the previous photos I already uploaded and it's just frustrating in all sorts of ways -_-). So, these pictures are not in the correct order, but they're all from the first day we were in Panaca.

We had a family spaghetti dinner at the seminary building where Grandpa works. Makall and Noah surprised us and came down from St. George so we were a big, happy group! 

After dinner we worked off the carbs and extra kid energy at the park. It's nice and new and has a shade canopy, so it was very pleasant. We tried to get a picture of all the grandchildren on the slide....these are our best efforts haha:

At dinner, Kyler and Claire were making each other laugh and it was super cute. 

Noah and Katara had a staring contest. Katara won, obviously. 

Setting off from Cheyenne to Utah! Jack got really excited because he was convinced that this was the real Eiffel Tower haha.

We had a gas station pizza picnic on our way from Salt Lake to Panaca. It was so fun to have Makenzie and Katara with us! Our car was FULL haha. Panaca is near the Utah/Nevada border with Cedar City and St. George being the biggest nearby cities, and Las Vegas also being within a couple hous.

We came back to Gma and Gpa's triplex apartment for two kinds of cake and three kinds of creamies to celebrate Afton's birthday. 

Grandpa and Claire bonded over cake

It's a two bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, and two bathrooms, so it was a bit of a logistical challenge to sleep four adults and 5 children comfortably, but we did it! My crew was all in the extra bedroom with Natalie and Jack on the floor, Claire in the pack n play, and Stockton and I sharing the bed. Katara slept in the other pack n play in Grandma/Grandpa's room, and Makenzie offered to sleep on the couch, which was super nice. We all actually slept much better than I expected!

Kyler had therapy sessions in St. George the next morning so we all loaded up to go together. The desert landscape around Panaca is so cool! Mountains and brush and weird rock formations and our isolated highway winding its way through it all. It takes an hour and a half to get to St. George from Panaca and the kids were not that excited to be back in the car haha. 

We dropped Afton and Kyler off at their appointments and then went to Costco (which was a flaming freakout disaster from Stockton for some reason), and then met Makall at the super fun dinosaur splash pad where we played the summer before when we were in St. George. Unfortunately, due to a super random flash flood the night before, the splash pad was turned off, so we had some pretty disappointed kids (and adults!). Everyone had their swimsuits on and this was pretty much our only plan for spending time in St. George, so we weren't sure what else to do. We still were able to play at the park, and luckily there was enough shade in the 100+ degree sun. 

Claire was not excited to wear shoes (of course) but it was too hot not to. We ended up having a pretty fun time after all, although it would have been better with water!

Grandma took Ashlee in her car to go pick up Afton and Kyler and Mexican food for the adults, Makall took Jack and Natalie to get Wendy's, and Makenzie and I and the rest of the kids went to Taco Bell, and we all met up at Makall's place to eat our varied lunch. The kids had fun playing in the loft, the babies had fun watching Frozen II for the thousandth time, and the adults enjoyed not being in the heat. 

We stopped for gas, Papa Murphy's, and the grocery store for some snacks and necessary carbonation for the drive home, and then made our way back to Grandpa's for dinner and creamies part 2. The cousins had so much fun playing! I love when they get to spend time together. 

These two were so cute together. They are only one month apart and they followed each other around babbling. Katara says a lot more words than Claire, and Claire actually started saying a lot more after spending time with her cousin!

Creamie mess...there's a reason we ate outside!

We love Grandma and Grandpa! It was so fun to see their new home town. They're trying to figure out details for building a house out there, but the kids were excited to see their temporary place. 

Katara had fun putting different shoes on and Claire and Kyler bonded over, you guessed it, Frozen II again.

The next morning we went for a great little hike/excursion outside of Panaca (which is literally 2 minutes away haha). The kids loved scrambling all over the weird dried mud rock formations, and Natalie and Grandma even explored an old cave! 

Stockton had a GREAT time and I was so glad because normally for some inexplicable reason he decides to be mad about activities like hiking or climbing or exploring, so it was really fun to see him fully enjoy himself. 

Claire wore socks at least! And Natalie is a wonderful oldest cousin (and sister).

And, this didn't happen on our trip, but shortly after Kyler started WALKING! We are so proud of him! 

Stockton got to help drive Grandma's car back to the house. He was very enthusiastic haha. 

And then we were off! We stopped in Cedar City to get snacks at the Walmart, and had a pretty uneventful trip back to Salt Lake. Our two portable DVD players were both smashed because I'm dumb and didn't put them safely away, so we didn't have movies, but the kids did a good job in the car nonetheless. It was really nice to be able to have so much one-on-one time with Makenzie. I don't get to spend enough time with her! 

It was a super fun quick trip, and I'm really glad we came! I'm not sure when we'll get down there again but since it's where a good chunk of family lives I'm sure it will be sooner rather than later.