Highlights of our Trip to Manti

We had so much fun in Manti!  Two weeks flew by.  Sure, it may be a small small town, but it sure seemed like a lot to us coming from here!  Some of the things we enjoyed were:

• going to Target and seeing Shane get all wide-eyed.  Okay, so we had to drive an hour and a half to get to Target, but Manti does have a small Walmart and Shane was equally thrilled.  We walked down the cereal aisle and grabbed a box of Cheerios and put it in the cart.  He turned himself around, said "more," grabbed the box and wouldn't let go of it until we got home.  Such simple pleasures!
• eating Mexican food!!!
• heck, eating all kinds of food!  It was just nice to have some variety and Shelley did a great job of fattening us up.
• going to a park.
• attending the temple.
• going to see Date Night with Josh while Josh's parents babysat.
• having a big house and yard for Shane to explore.
• having a car to drive.
• being able to lay under the covers in bed.  We don't even have covers here, ha!
• going to Women's Conference at BYU.
• Watching Matthew's soccer game.  In a cemetary.  That's how they do it in Manti. 

Shane thought it was hilarious when of the kids tripped and fell.

But of course, the best part of our trip was being with family.  And there was lots of it!  Three of Josh's sisters (we missed you Sarah!), his brother and family, his grandparents, and two aunts.  We hadn't seen most of them in almost a year, which felt so long after living so close to them in Provo.  Shane warmed up to the girls; Jessika,

Rachel,

and Hannah

but he would scream and push Jake away when we tried to hold him or sometimes even talk to him.  What a little stink!

He eventually warmed up to Grandpa

even though we didn't let him give him Pepsi!

But Matthew was definitely his favorite

You pretty much knew wherever Matthew was Shane would be close by

Matthew even got up the courage to take a bath with him!  But only the first night...

They would chase each other around the house

And Shane would walk around hissing with his scary face on

Matthew was a really good sport and put up with lots of kisses.  Grandma was a close second.  He loved being her little helper

From the minute he saw her at the airport he just knew she was grandma.  And he would just magically fall asleep with her!

And of course he loved his cousins, Taylor and James

He never quite warmed up to Josh's grandparents, darn it.  But we were sure glad they came, and as a nice added bonus they brought us some real California strawberries!  Storebought ones just don't compare with fresh from the stand.

And, we even got to see my sister Jamie.  More on that in the next post...