Utah

I have been meaning to get to Utah for 5 years now.  The last time I went was when Liz graduated from BYU with her Masters and I was pregnant with Macie. How that much time passed in between amazes me. In truth, going to Utah is pretty bitter sweet for me. I almost don't like going because the nostalgia tends to knock me over the head. Nostalgia is one of my least favorite feelings because it tends to trap me back in the past and I lose sight of enjoying the present. Mostly what it boils down to (literally), is that every summer, I question my life choices that have led me to live in what I consider the gates of Hell. Okay. That might be a little dramatic. I have been accused of that once or twice. But seriously. The month of June in the Sonoran desert makes many sane people lose their mind, and I am not that sane to begin with. The whole time in Utah I just kept saying to myself, "I was meant to live in the mountains! I was meant to live in the dewy shade of the whispering Aspens!" Driving back to the land of desolation, I fell into a bit of a funk. A pretty big funk actually. I told a friend how  bummed I was to be back in this hot, shadeless place, and she said, "don't worry, the feeling will pass." It made me laugh. Anyway, it's been a couple weeks and yes, the feeling has passed. And I am sure that no matter where you live, life is life. I am sure one could be miserable even in the most beautiful of locations. And the opposite holds true, one can find happiness pretty much anywhere. (I wouldn't mind trying that theory in a house by a beach or a luxury house in the mountains, but I digress...) And really, these are all first world problems anyway. There are countless people in this world fearing for their life because of where they live. I'm guessing their criteria of where they want to live is pretty basic, as in, where can we live that we won't be shot at? So really I'm pretty lucky. On the whole I think I our society is pretty obsessed with the idea of being comfortable. And not just comfortable. Excitingly comfortable. Anyway. What I really need to do is talk about our trip to Utah. Which overall was quite fantastic. Unfortunately Don had to work so I braved it alone. I caravaned with Emily the way up. That really helped to break up the drive. We stopped every 2 hours and rearranged the seating in the car. Plus I downloaded new movies to their tablet, which helped keep them occupied. Although it was only an hour into the trip that they began asking how much longer we had left. But for the most part the drive up was pretty smooth. I listened to "Life of Pi" and was really disappointed to read on wikepedia that it was not a true story. I must be the only person in the world that didn't know that. It kind of bummed me out so much that I lost the desire to finish the book, which made for a loooooooong drive back. 

 We got to Utah late Tuesday night. And the kids were really happy to finally be able to see where Lyla and Troy lived.

 On Wednesday I took the kids up to BYU. I thought they would enjoy the Art museum and the Bookstore. And they did.

 Chloe told them to act like they were in the painting.
We then went to the Bookstore and I let them pick out a souvenir. They all picked out some stuffed animals.
I had my old manager paged for me so I could say hello. He came walking towards me with a confused face, and I thought, crud, he doesn't remember me. But then when I said, "Hi, do you remember me?" he figured it out. Either that or he did a really good job pretending like he remembered me. He told me Nicole had passed away a year earlier, very sad. Walking around campus and the bookstore took me back in time. I cannot believe I graduated 13 years ago. I felt like I could fit right in to that college scene again. I'm sure the college kids would not agree! Grandma would say that she always felt like she was 20, (or somewhere around that) and I can see what she means now. I am not 90, but I am guessing that no matter how old you get, your body might feel a certain way, but your spirit never ages.
After the bookstore we tried at the infamous JDawgs. It was indeed a good hot dog. A 4 dollar good hot dog, I am not so sure about. Macie of course would not try it because they had "cut it." Apparently she will only eat a hot dog touched by a knife, if it is without a bun and microwaved.
And then I went over to Erin's house for a bit. It just so happened to be her birthday, lucky for us.
We ended up having Cafe Rio in a park that evening for her birthday. We also were eaten alive by mosquitos. And it would have been nice had I thought to take a picture.

The next day I met up with JoJo and we went on a beautiful hike up to a waterfall. It was a perfect length hike, and completely shaded. Like I said, I was meant to live in the mountains! We came back and went swimming, had lunch, and talked about the gorilla that was shot at the zoo (boy that is old news now! Basically something new in the world is blowing up every day and I cannot even keep up with all the insane current events). That night we got in free to 7 Peaks water park. The best part was it was not even crowded because it was a private event. Macie loved the heated lazy river. We all loved the heated lazy river. I lost her at one point and found her going down the same slide over and over again. Chloe and me rode the toilet bowl slide twice. And I went down a slide that was much faster than I was imagining it would be. Oscar was cold the whole time, he mostly wanted to sit with Troy. Then we went and ate hamburgers at a place I remember seeing every day while I was at BYU, yet never actually ate at.

The next day was Emily's wedding. The sealing was beautiful. The temple grounds were picturesque. I honestly could not believe just how gorgeous the whole area is. Clouds rolling past a majestic mountain and strawberries growing in planters? How does a place like this even exist?
Then there was the luncheon at Thanksgiving Point. That was also amazing.
Then I came back to Greg's house, rested a little,got the kids ready, and headed out to the reception.
We danced the whole night (I need to get Emily's pictures, because of course my phone died).
On our way back, Chloe got sick and threw up. I don't know why. It's not like we had been eating junk all week, sleeping poorly, and playing from sun up to sun down....Poor Chloe. She seemed to feel better after she threw up and by the next day she was all better.

Saturday we went to Provo Beach park at the Riverwoods Mall.  I felt under dressed. Everyone in Utah looks like they hopped right off of Instagram Make believe life.

The kids fell asleep on the way to the reception.

Chloe cleaned up Lyla's room before we left and left her a note.

I lost Oscar at the Provo Beach Park. I found him here ^^ Not surprised.

Saturday night we went over to Lauren's house and met up with Joanna, Erin, and husbands. It was a blast from the past. It is hard to believe our time in college together was so long ago, it felt like no time had passed. We played some really stupid games and thankfully one of them is on video.

Sunday was church, and we watched an old western movie back at Greg's house. It was almost 3 hours long and the ending was awful. I felt cheated.

And then Monday we headed home. I didn't leave until after noon because emily was leaving then. I decided to stop in Vegas that night. The ride home was much longer and painful than the ride up. We stayed with Amy Paun. She treated us to Chinese food and we watched Zootopia (and fell asleep 15 minutes into it). And then we left in the morning and arrived back home in the beautiful Arizona afternoon heat. And I came inside and probably cried for a few minutes. Don was already gone to scout camp so there was no happy reunion. And then being the brilliant person that I am, left the house in the early evening, and forgot that I didn't have a house key and I had already used the spare key to get in earlier that day. So I had locked ourselves out of the house. And Don was out of town. And no one around here is good at breaking and entering. My Dad came over and tried, and was very pleased to find our house was boogie man safe. Actually quite pleased. So my kids were mad at me. And I was mad at myself. And we got another horrible night sleep at my Dad's house. And he woke up and made us a big breakfast in the morning. Then Don came home. And we all got back inside.  THE END,
P.S. It would appear that Oscar (or some other unknown source, has deleted some of my pictures. Like the one of Erin on her birthday. He also likes to damage the t.v. and the girls broke my laptop. so I am sitting here using the laptop with a monitor hooked up so I can see the screen. Kids. They ruin everything.