All Together in Utah—Day One and Two

April 30 and May 1, 2026 

Thursday was our first day of vacation in Utah, and it was so fun to have Grandpa Vore join us. We had rented a nice Airbnb in Lehi with several rooms, a beautiful backyard that had a basketball court, and in-ground trampoline, and a playground. It ended up being the perfect place for everyone to hang out during all the little pockets of downtime.

We quickly dubbed the house “Utah”—and then eventually “the Utah house.” 

That name came about the night before. Tanner and his family had just made it inside after their 18-hour drive when we decided to go back out for dinner. As we were getting ready to leave, Kaide started panicking and was nearly in tears.

“I don’t want to leave Utah!”

Poor little guy was SO confused. We had to explain that we weren’t actually leaving Utah—we were just leaving the house to go eat dinner—and promise him that we would come right back to “Utah” afterward.

It became the Utah house for the rest of the trip.

Before we moved in and made ourselves at home!

Brian, my dad and I arrived a few hours before everyone else and ate in SLC and checked out the temple renovations. Temple Square was closed down and reopening two weeks after we left—darn our bad timing. The Salt Lake City temple will have a huge open house next April-October and then be rededicated. I hope we will be able to go to the open house.

Parker was apparently otherwise occupied—either buying a new suit or making a trip to the doctor. Both happened during dinner at some point on this trip, but I can’t remember which night was which.

Friday morning started with something really special—Aubrey received her endowment at the Saratoga Springs Temple. It was such a beautiful way to begin our first full day together.

Grandpa Vore, Parker, me, Brinley, Aubrey & Brian (A big thanks to Tanner and Erin for helping with baby Cal)

I loved being in the temple with Aubrey.

I was grateful that three of Aubrey's friends were able and willing to come support her as she went through the temple for the first time.

Cassidy, Aubrey, Brooke and Decklan

Afterward, we made a quick surprise stop to say hi to Joseph, who works from home and see him and Kate's new house. We also got to peek in on baby Wells and see Lauron, who babysits while Joseph and Kate are at work.  

Then we went to lunch with a few of Aubrey’s friends and Erin’s MISSIONARIES! Matthew McDonald and Nate Quilter—two missionaries whom we all love and who will always have a special place in our family. ❤️

McDonald and Quilter came back to the Utah house afterward, and we spent some time throwing the football and playing b-ball in the backyard. (Mostly Tanner and Kaide spent that time with them. They are all good friends from the time they spent together in Odessa. Parker wasn't feeling great, and the rest of us hung out some and then napped. Derek was working on Friday and Brinley made the back and forth trip to their apartment in Orem.)

Later that afternoon, everyone cleaned up and got ready for family pictures (always an adventure—I posted about it here.), followed by dinner out.

I am glad someone snapped these candid shots while we were finishing up pictures--they're fun.

Temple, missionaries, family time, good food, and good friends—it was a pretty great first full day of vacation.