Trip to Vernal

We had the Hatch Family reunion in Vernal over the Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun! The focus this year was on my Grandpa Hatch who turned 100 in May. My Grandpa died when I was 7, and because we lived 3 and 1/2 hours away from him I didn't know him very well. I have 1 memory of him, but I only remember seeing him out in his workspace in the garage. So being able to learn all about him and kind of man he was was really fun for me. I learned that I've had him here all along in my dad. They seem very similar.
My dad wanted to get out there early and asked if the kids and I wanted to go with him. So I agreed to it. Just to get out there and find out everyone had the flu. So we were homeless because we didn't want to stay in the sick house. So we stayed our first night in a trailer in front of another uncles house. The second night my dad stayed in the trailer again and we stayed with a cousin. All I knew the entire time was that I don't like going on trips with out Robert there to help me. I broke down a couple of times because I was so exhausted and done chasing kids. During this time Landon threw up, sprayed his sister with bug spray then rubbed it in his own eyes, got into everything possible, and head butted me and gave me a fat lip. Yes, I was done!!

When Robert got there things calmed down dramatically. I think a little of that had to do with more organized activities to keep us all busy. We spent a lot of time eating a playing and driving around to see all the places that our grandparents lived and all the houses in vernal that my Grandpa built. One of the activities was a fun Family Fear Factor!! Being pregnant, I was a little frightened of this event but I lucked out with not having to eat anything. My dad made stilts like my Grandpa used to make for one of the challenges. You can see Robert on them in the picture below.

After driving around to all of the sights that my Grandpa built or where an ancestor lived we went to the Vernal temple to take pictures. My Grandpa helped with some of the finish work in this temple. And I think my Great Grandpa donated to the land to the church back when the built the tabernacle so they could have a place to hold meetings. I love Vernal! It holds a lot of memories and significance for me.
We can't get a pictures of my entire family where everyone is smiling or making a normal face.


Then for one last shebang we heading to Flaming Gorge. It was beautiful! And although there aren't pictures Robert and I took the kids to a tour of the dam. It was pretty neat. But a little unnerving to find out that the cement wont be totally cured (dry) until the year 2060 or so. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad we were able to have a fun trip.
As a side not of something funny that happened (well i think it's funny but it might just let the rest of you know how weird I really am). My cousin called Flaming Gorge, "Flaming Jorge" (said with a spanish accent and pronouncing it hor-hey) I cracked up and then Robert turned around and said "is that someones stage name?" So by this point I am about to pee my pants. And because we are up in the canyon late at night I had to make my way to the bottom less pit toilet in the dark. So my aunt gave me her cell phone to use as a light. Well while i was in there i was trying to hold down buttons to keep the light on and while I'm shinning the light in the toilet to make sure there weren't any creatures in there i took 2 pictures of the lovely porta john with my aunts phone on accident. She appreciated it! :-)