Y trip 2008

Just back from our annual trip to the Y for sports camps. This is a trip Dee and I have been doing for a few years now. The first year, just Joe and Johnson were old enough to attend, so Dee and I did a week long Provo/ Salt Lake trip with the 6 younger kids while the boys camped. The next year, we put Bret and Sam in a Cubs Lax program where we had to pick them up each afternoon and drop them off each morning while the older boys attended the overnighter. Last year we were back to just the older boys at camp, but this year Both sets of boys were able to attend the overnight camp, Jenna went to Volleyball camp with Hannah and Mary and Quincy went to EFY. Dee and I were on our own with just Millie and Em for the week and it was oh so much fun!

This post will be a long one as I give you a snapshot of each day. We left Vegas last Sunday after church and traveled up for the better part of the day. The kids broke into groups, the girl car and the boy car. I ended up with the girl car. Lucky us, we had the use of a friends house, so we were able to pile all of the kids into their huge basement for the night before drop off.

MONDAY: Morning came quickly for our house filled with late night chatter bugs. Off we went to BYU for check in with the sleepy, but excited crew. Did I mention we not only had our 8 children, but two extras who rode up with us and another friend we were to meet up with at the Y. We dropped off the boys and girls and after about 3 hours of getting all eleven of them situated in their dorm rooms we headed over for some lunch and a little shopping at bookstore. Here is a picture of Millie with all the loot!

Later that day we snuck back to campus where I shot some photos of Bret and Joey playing our on the fields. Lucky I was there. As I snapped some pictures of Joe I watched as he took a poke check through his helmet. The hit caused his contact to pop outs, a nice gash just outside of his eye and a shiner for the next few days. Later we drove up to Sundance and visited Bridal veil falls. Just breathtaking. We ended the day at our favorite Provo eatery; Brick Oven.

TUESDAY: Tuesday was our busiest day of the trip. We got up and headed to Hoggle Zoo in Salt Lake, went over to This is The Place park, went on to U of U to check out the campus, and toured Temple Square for the billionth time. We even took a carriage ride to Memory park and back to the Temple. We ended the day with a shopping trip to the Gateway mall and dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I could not believe we fit it all in in one short day!CAN YOU BELIEVE THE TONGUE!

WEDNESDAY: Wednesday was Seven Peaks day for the entire crew. All of the sports camps at BYU spend an evening at this wonderful waterpark. Dee and I headed over at about 11 with the girls and met up with our kids later. We told all of the kids they could act like we were not there if they wanted to be on their own but they all chose to come and hang out with us. They brought all their new pals along with them! That night, keeping with Mecham/Moody tradition we ate at Stan's and brought plenty over to the dorms for the kids before we left for home. It was a long day in the sun and this

turned to this

before we knew it!

Doug was headed up to Zech's wedding in Spokane so he made a detour and visited all the kids in the dorms on Wednesday night.

THURSDAY: We got up kind of late and decided to hike to the Timpanogos Caves. When we arrived at the trail head we found it we should have planned better and made reservations. Oh well. We played around in the picnic area and put the hike on hold until tomorrow. It was perfect and gave us plenty of time to just enjoy nature.

I have always been a little bit of a tree hugger.

After a couple of hours of playing around it was time to go and get the kids. Johnson was heading out on a flight to come back to Vegas for the Priests' hike and Joe was going with a friend to his Grandma's in salt lake until Saturday. We arrived early enough to watch the playoff games. Bret's team won the championship and so did Joe's! Joe was awarded one of the coveted top player awards. The coaches pick a dream team and Joe was first pick for mid field. Oh happy day! Not only that I was approached by Jason Lamb, BYU's head lacrosse coach and was told Joe was one of the top 5 players at the camp! He said he 'fully anticipates Joe playing for the Cougars' in college! Joe met a friend from Boston, MA who happens to be the son of a college mate of my cousin from his years at West Point. Small World! After the lacrosse action was over at 4pm we had two hours to burn til it was time for Jenna's final game. I went over and helped her pack up her dorm room and got her all checked out and then it was on the court for her final volley ball tournament. She was great! She really held her own among girls who have been playing for much longer than she has. Here is Joe getting his award and Jenna with her great serve!

That night we took the whole crew to Brick Oven again for dinner. Jenna and Bret never would have forgiven me if they missed it! Besides, my cold had finally gone away so I could actually taste what I was eating!

FRIDAY: Up early and on the road to the Timpanogos caves. We ended up buying our tickets and having three hours to burn so we headed further up the road to the Tibble Creek reservoir. The water was icy cold and the kids were having so much fun they just did not want to leave! We made it back in time to have a snack at the snack bar and headed up the hill. We all did the hike and enjoyed the cave tour immensely. It was nothing like the 4th year hike up Mt Charleston, but it was a good hike nonetheless. Here is a photo from our hike.

Friday night, Dee got a massive headache so the kids and I played outside in the neighborhood park til after ten. Then we came in and watched a movie and readied our self for the arrival of the three older kids returning from EFY and Salt lake the next day.

SATURDAY: Joe, Mary and Quincy returned and we headed out to Lagoon for the day. Another Mecham/Moody trip tradition. Not much to say except, the kids loved it and we closed the park down at midnight. The place was crazy crowded but it did not deter the kids one ounce! Oh, I rode the Rocket!!! Del Taco on the way home and finally in bed at 2am. The three amigos below:

On Sunday it was home to Vegas and bye bye BYU til next year!