Utah

Our bestest friends from dental school were going to be in Utah for a wedding last weekend and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go visit them! I'll admit, with everything going on, I was a little apprehensive about squeezing in this trip, but everything went so well! I'm so glad we did it. (Oh, except for the drive.... that part was annoying/slow/horrible! I would drive to Mesa 100x over Salt Lake. Those roads are the worst! Throw in construction and I could just feel my blood pressure rising. But Travis did all the driving and props to him for that! And props to an 8 month pregnant girl for holding her bladder for 6 hours!!  If only we had driven a mile farther and realized there were gas stations open at 11pm. That back alley of a strip mall wishes we had never met. Me too, alley, me too.)

We stayed with the Shaws at Doug's parents house in Sandy. Sooo nice of them to let us crash there when they had a wedding to worry about! We got in at midnight, so the boys didn't get to see each other until the next morning. It might as well have been Christmas.  Rachel got these pictures and I love them. They are so expressive of how they feel about each other. Best buds all the way! So then later in the trip, Rach and I decided to try and duplicate. We about died when we saw the one Doug and Trav took afterward! What goofs! They mock us, but we know how they really feel. :)

That morning, I met a friend I haven't seen in years and years, for brunch in Salt Lake. We ate at The Original Pancake House and had over 2 hours to visit and catch up. It was wonderful. I love Stephanie and all our memories together! Meanwhile, Trav took the boys with the Shaws on a little hike in Sandy. 

Christopher met up with us after that and we spent the afternoon with him and Jael. The Shaws had a wedding to get to! First, we followed him into Salt Lake and he showed us the apartment complex where a scene in Dumb and Dumber was filmed. Too funny. 

Then we picked up Jael and had lunch at the Red Iguana. It's a place that we often went to when our Dad would take us to ski and go to conference. But as Dad would say, it's the Red Iguana (said in a deep, guttural, menacing way) Don't ask me why! :) After lunch, Jael showed us around the Huntington Cancer Institute, where she works doing research in a lab there. Then it was on to do a little tour of the U of U campus where Christopher goes to school. I'm such a nerd. I love universities. Especially their libraries. It makes me happy inside. But it wasn't until we were walking around that I realized that Christopher and I are now arch enemies! BYU vs. U of U!! How did we not think of it before?! He's now at the top of my hit list. Better watch your back, Christopher. :) 

Finally, after dropping them off, we were on to our third visit of the day, my old BYU roommate, Stephanie Hobbs! She invited us to have dinner at her house, which was perfect so the kids could go play and we could visit. She lives in Daybreak which is in South Jordan. We were immediate friends after being placed as roommates in the BYU dorms, but we haven't seen each other since she came down to Mesa for my wedding, 7 years ago! She has 2 girls, one boy and one on the way. It was so fun to meet her kids and get to catch up with her. 

We didn't leave her place until 9pm, but it wasn't too late to swing by Iceberg and grab some milkshakes! Yum. After getting the kids to bed, we had the next few hours to sit back and hang out with Doug and Rach. It's so funny how it's been a whole year since the 4 of us have been together, but we picked right back up like no time had passed at all. It made me miss them so much, even with them right in front of me. 

The next morning we drove back into Salt Lake to go to church with Christopher and Jael. Their building is an old fashioned, two story one and they have an inverted schedule. So we just came for the last hour, which was sacrament meeting. Afterward, we walked around the corner to their apartment and was treated to some of Jael's yummy homemade pizza! It was fun to see where they live and spend time with them!

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon on Temple Square (or Times Square as I invariably call it.)
First, we looked around the Church History Museum, then peeked inside the Tabernacle.

It's so crazy to visit the Tabernacle and see how small it is and remember that Conference used to be held there! I think it's pretty cool that I even got to go to a session there before the Conference Center was built!

In the visitor's center, after spending some time at the Christus, I picked up Weston to leave and he happily turned and waved goodbye as he chirped, "Bye bye, Jesus!" 

We took a tour of the Conference Center and learned some neat facts. It is over 1.4 million square feet! Holy tamole. 

The tour was pretty long and did I mention that it was a bloody hot day??! Like, really really hot. By the time we made it back to the temple to meet up with the Shaws, I spied a nice spot of shaded grass with my name on it. And then Rachel stole a picture. :) 

We were naughty and got dinner at Rodizio's Grill. We're on vacation, right?! :)  I've always wanted to try this place and now that I'm on board with eating meat (thanks, Olive)  I figured now was as good a time as ever! What really surprised us though, was that Collin tried everything too!!! This kid must be growing up, because the pickiest eater in the world ate about 10 different meats that night, as well as a bunch of stuff from the salad bar. I have honestly never seen him eat so much in his entire life. And he was dang straight proud of his belly too!

That night brought more of the four of us hanging out and visiting and eating. I know, how could we fit dessert in?! It wasn't that hard. :) Oh, how I love these people! We are not meant to live far away from each other. :(

My cankles were a force to be reckoned with on this trip. Every night they were swollen into oblivion and I tried my best to elevate and get them back to normal size by morning. Didn't really work. I'm trying to bring {puffy} back into style.

Monday morning we went on a little hike near their house. It was toasty again, but the kids did great. The lake at the end of the hike was blissful. It was freezing cold, but I wanted to hop in. We all shed our socks and shoes and hung out on the rocks for at least an hour, just dangling our feet in the water. The boys got a little more than just their feet wet!

Next, we drove to Salt Lake again to experience the ever famous {City Creek}. It really is a super cool mall. Very chic and fancy. I like that even though it's an outdoor mall, they covered a lot of it so it could be air conditioned, but with glass ceilings, so it still feels like you're outside. We browsed at some shops and stopped in at the food court for smoothies. Gavin and Collin were so funny at the Disney Store. They disappeared and when I went searching for them, they were hunkered down in a corner, eyeing a box full of Superhero figurines and excitedly pointing and talking about each one. Weston was pretty happy with a life sized stuffed animal. :)

We had already packed up our stuff, so it was time to say goodbye in the parking lot. When Gavin realized that he was going to have to say goodbye to Collin, his face just fell and he got so sad. It about broke my heart! He is such a sweetheart! I don't think Collin really grasped the concept. He probably figured he'd get to see him in a couple of weeks or something. But after we got back on the road, it was Weston who started questioning what was really going on. He went through each name and asked us, "Gavin.... gone? Achel... gone? Doug... gone? Iam.... gone?" In such a sad voice. It was way too short a trip, but I'm so so glad we got to make it. I needed my Rachel fix! Talking on the phone is great, but I have found myself craving face to face time with her. I couldn't ask for a better friend than Rachel. We just love the Shaws more than anything and can't wait til we get to be together again!

Driving through Utah with the sun still out, I caught sight of the Y on the mountain. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I wish we would have had time to go to visit BYU. Just to drive past my old apartments, maybe get something to eat in the Wilkinson Center. I have so many good memories there. 

Our last stop was..... Cafe Rio of course! I decided one sure fire way of knowing you are in Utah is when you see a Cafe Rio sign next to the McDonalds and gas stations signs at every exit on the freeway. It kills me! So we pulled off in Spanish Fork to get gas and dinner. Mmmm, Cafe Rio is better than Costa Vida... for shizzle. Plus, they give you free cheese quesadillas for kids and I swear my salad was twice as big as Costa Vidas. I was in heaven. I didn't gain weight and lose my bank account in college to just any old place after all! ;) I have to give it up to Trav after that. He wasn't feeling good at all and it took us 8 hours to get home. My legs were hurting, so for the last couple of hours I laid in the backseat while the boys slept and he drove. What a guy. That trip was all thanks to Trav and I'm so grateful he made it happen! It was just what I needed before the dreaded packing was about to start! :(