Idaho/Utah trip

Hi all! We are back from our trip and have a few pics to share! Actually, we have about 500 pics, but thought we'd just share a few :) We started out the trip pretty eventful, after leaving ON TIME, we ended up in North Phoenix for 8 hours while awaiting a new radiator-yeah! Luckily, our friends the Maddox's and Tryk's rescued us and we were able to hang out at the Tryk's house for most of that time-a great impromptu visit, and we were very greatful for them! After getting our new radiator, we were on our way!
Until we hit a HUGE traffic jam on our way to Flagstaff-what should've taken about an hour and a half ended up taking 3-argh! The kids were awesome (especially my neice Abby, who was a lot of fun for the kids to have around). We ended up staying in Kanab, at the Shiloh Inn-we were a little nervous, but it ended up being very nice, and we all got a great break (I mean, our room had a telephone in the bathroom, can you get any nicer than that?). On Sunday, we went to Gunnison, Ut, which is about 20 min. away from Manti, where my brother Jeremy and his family live-cute little town, and we had a nice visit-wished we could've stayed longer as we don't get to see them very often!
On Monday, we left for Soda Springs, but wanted to stop in Salt Lake City to walk around Temple Square, as the kids have never been there. Just after passing Provo, we are chugging along on the freeway and our tire explodes! We thought something fell out from under the hood, like our engine, so we pulled over (to the right, because there was no where else to go)-so Brad can get out and take a look. At this point, we are barely off the shoulder, and the kids are freaking out. Brad gets back in the car and proceeds to call USAA (bless them) to get roadside assistance and possibly police there with cones, so I lean into the back of the car and tell the kids we need to say a special prayer to protect us-they are all for that. Not 5 minutes after the prayer, a man stops his truck behind us and sets up cones-turns out he works for a auto company, and told Brad that it was just the shell of the tire that had exploded and he can drive behind us to the tire place (which, again we were blessed, as when Brad asked if there was a Discount Tire anywhere, since we still had a warranty, the man said-yeah at the next exit)-so he led us to Discount Tire, where they told us it would only be a 45 minute wait, and lo and behold, there's an Arctic Circle across the street, with a playground! Let's just say that whenever something did go wrong, we were so incredibly blessed, that it was hard not to just laugh at the situation (though, after awhile, I started feeling not so great, and we were all tired). But, eventually we had a nice visit in SLC, then made our way to Soda Springs.
We had a great visit with Great Grandma Larsen, and were welcomed by everyone the whole week. We got to see Uncle Gary and Aunt Jan (and their whole clan), and we got to go to Lava Hot Springs (awesome), have an amazing 4th of July with a fun parade, carnival, and even the day before the kids got to play in the foam sprayed by the Fire Dept.! We also got to see Uncle Craig and Aunt Savina (and cousin Brett on the way home, getting some awesome Kurus), went to church with Grandma to the nursing home to see Harry, and just played and played the whole week. Needless to say, we were exhausted by Monday and decided to head home, just in case something else happened on our return trip-turns out, Heavenly Father thought we'd had enough "fun" on the way up, and our trip home was about 5 hours shorter (drive time/time spent in the car) then on the way up (even with staying at my brother's house again Mon. night-thanks Jer and Janner!!).
We are so grateful to Great Grandma for letting us stay with her for so long, and for everyone else who helped us out on this trip-we will forever be thankful, and are so glad we were able to have a fun vacation!