Utah- Week 2

Now that we had husbands in tow, it was officially family vacation time! We started our week at the Hogle Zoo. It was a cute zoo, but much smaller than I thought. We basically did the whole thing in 3 hours. And 30 min. of that was spent huddling for warmth when it suddenly down poured and hailed. Brrrr! 

This active polar bear was the highlight for me! So fascinating!

Going to the Salt Lake Cemetery was something I wanted to do on Saturday but it was closed! Grateful we had time to do it Monday! Most of the prophets are buried here. We found a map and hit up almost every single prophet headstone. It was a fun, little scavenger hunt.

Sorry, Joseph F. Smith. Kids will be kids!

Dinner at Leatherbys! Did you ever see such scrumptious ice cream sundaes?!

Daddy snuggle time!

The next day was Y mountain hiking time! We had great weather and champs for kids! Tanner walked most of it!

Had to giggle when I turned a corner and saw this.

We went back to Shelley's house for lunch, then met Grandma on BYU campus for a little tour! She had just driven in to town. You can see she is celebrity status for them! It's so sweet.

What a TRIP, walking around campus! Like a lifetime has passed and yet no time at all. We raucously explored the HFAC. (Harris Fine Arts Center) Where all the music people lived! I remember seeing a kid feverishly wrapped up in conducting music in a corner once. I also went on a date here to see an opera and thought it lived up to every stereotype I had ever heard about operas. 

This was an art exhibit about salt.

On to the Wilkinson Center! I always hear John Byetheways song in my head when I say Wilkinson Center. "At the Wilky! Wilkinson Ceeeeeenter! RM's and freshmen are making connections at the Wilkeeee! Will they found love. Dum dum, du du dum"

The campus was very deserted thanks to stupid covid. This area is normally covered in tables and chairs. You'd get food at the food court and eat while studying or hanging out with friends.  

Where Chick-fil-a is, used to be a wrap restaurant. Yummiest wraps in a variety of tortillas with lots of veggies. Obviously my favorite place and the only one I remember.

Besides the Skyroom! This was the fancy restaurant on the top floor with waiters that professors ate at. Well, we found out it also accepted food cards, which my roommate and I had, thanks to our generous fathers. So we'd save up our money then go dine on gourmet pasta and pina coladas, like we weren't lowly teenager students.

One of the ballrooms! Maybe you'll dance here one day, Olive!

And the bookstore! 

So funny to think that the bottom level used to actually be used for textbooks. Not anymore in this digital age!

Chocolate covered cinnamon bears and cookies 'n cream milk. Both excellent choices.

Had to recreate this photo! This was taken during homecoming week, so that's why all the banners are up. This was my roommate, JoAnna Friddle from Florida. Loved her!

Love this sweet family of mine!
It did make me laugh though, walking around campus with all the kids being crazy and loud and running everywhere. Reminded me of when I was a student and my family came to visit me. I remember walking around campus with alllll my siblings and being SO embarrassed. Craig would have been 3 or 4 and I was very aware that we were THAT Mormon family. The one that never stops having kids. That even though I'm in college, I have a toddler sibling. My brothers were acting like any little boys would, but I felt so conspicuous, like everyone thought I was so lame. I'm sure no one batted an eye, but that's how insecure I was. It was a lot more fun walking around this time, haha.  

The one thing I remember about the library, was my napping spot by these windows. But back then, it wasn't such an open area. There were bookcases lined up so that the area by the windows was more secluded and not visible by the entire floor. I don't remember my schedule, I must have just had some time between classes when I knew I could come here and catch up on sleep!

We were running out of time, but had to make the walk over to Helaman Halls. They've demo'd "DT" Deseret Towers and Heritage Halls to build some really beautiful dormitories. But back when I was there, Helaman Halls were the new dorms. I was assigned to Chipman Hall. At first, I was going to live at DT in my own room, but decided it felt lonely, so the next day my dad was able to switch me here. WHAT A BLESSING! My roommate, Stephanie Hobbs, became an immediate, dear friend. It's a wonder we passed our classes, because we would stay up all night talking. From this vantage point, I'm pretty sure my room was the second from the right, middle floor. 

I can remember it snowing one night and a huge snowball fight broke out in this area. So much fun. I also had this boy who was crushing on me, but I wasn't so interested in. Rob. He played the guitar really well and one night he threw rocks at my window until I looked out and he started playing a song for me. I remember thinking it was sweet, but also really awkward because I didn't like him. I swear the entire floor of girls had rushed into my room swooning and guilted me into going out with him after that.

Of course, every door was locked. Boo! I peeked through the windows to the main gathering area and it looked EXACTLY the same way I remembered it. Seemed they were finally ripping out carpet and remodeling.

This picture was taken in this exact spot! Wish it wasn't so glared.

 When my kids saw this picture, they were like, "That's the computer??!!!" And died laughing. Guess it does look like a dinosaur. 

It was a long walk up this road... used to just be a concrete path... to get to campus.

That evening, Travis's friend from dental school, Jacob Finlinson, invited us over for dinner. He lives in Spanish Fork, so it was a quick drive over. He's remarried and his daughter, Lainey, from his first marriage happened to be with them, which was great timing. The kids all got along great and played so well together. Jacob is truly the nicest guy. And it was fun meeting his new wife, Katie. She teaches high school cooking and prepared an amazing dinner. It was a really nice evening laughing and reminiscing and reconnecting. It was a highlight of our trip for sure!

On Wednesday we drove south to a little town called Mona, where Shelley had learned about a cool place with rope swings. We spent all afternoon there, trying out the various rope swings. Well, by "we", I mean the kids. I did try it once, but oh boy, that water was COLD! Once was enough! Travis also gave it a whirl and his flip definitely stole the show!

That night I suggested we get dinner at one of my favorite restaurants when I lived here. It was called Los Hermanos and we went there all the time. I remember it being in downtown Provo, so I was really confused when GPS took us to Orem instead. Turns out, they had a kitchen fire last year and just relocated after 30 year at their other place! I was so sad. The nostalgia was still there, but it wasn't quite the same. 

Della's smile is. my. FAVORITE!

I couldn't even remember what I used to get, but I DO remember that signature slice of tomato they always use as garnish!

Thursday morning we woke up bright and early to make the three hour drive north to Bear Lake. This was big on Shelley's list because they fell in love with it a couple summers ago. The Shaws love Bear Lake too, so I have heard lots about this place and was interested to see it for myself! It was neat to drive through northern Utah. I have only done it once before and don't remember anything about it. It really is gorgeous land. Especially the hour between Logan and Bear Lake. It's all mountains and rivers and beautiful, towering trees. The problem was, the windy, curvy roads! Olive and Tanner took turns bawling and holding bags, claiming they were going to throw up. As it turns out, both of Christopher's kids DID barf all over their car, so we'll call it lucky we only had false alarms. But those false alarms got really old after awhile. 

I believe we went to Rendezvous Beach. It was crowded for sure, but not suffocating or anything. The water really was so blue and pretty. The surrounding area felt picturesque. The kids happily played on the beach all day. Grandpa was nice enough to rent one of the big, trampolines out in the water for an hour. He also rented a big, kayak that they used to go back and forth out to the trampoline. Travis rented a paddleboard that we took turns on. For the most part, we just relaxed and enjoyed the sunny weather and soda pop Christopher shared. ;)

My favorite part of the day may have been Beaus. It's a short drive back into town and it was definitely the place to be! Very tasty burgers, fries and shakes!

We drove the hour back to Logan to spend the night at a hotel. Seeing the temple lit up, took my breath away. A beacon of nobility. 

Waiting for our breakfast, the boys picked up the newspaper. I had to laugh! Newspapers are such an anomaly. I used to read the comics, my horoscope and the advice columns every day after school while I ate my snack. 

After we checked out, the Goodman's drove on to Lagoon, but we stopped at the temple. We got so lucky... the gates were open!! With Covid, temples have been closed down, so it felt like a tender mercy that we got to walk around the grounds. I can't adequately describe what I felt, being near this temple. It's like it called to me. There's something so special and sacred about the first temples. I feel like the sacrifices made to build them were more personal. Perhaps more heartfelt. Or significant. Its history filled the air and my spirit held still in quiet respect. I think this will be one of my favorite temples from now on. My mom told us that this is the temple where Grandma Olive Evans was baptized. I had no idea! Of course, Olive needed her picture taken.

Another hour and a half drive to Farmington to spend the day at Lagoon! We had to wear a mask to get in and when standing in line for a ride, but other than that we could breath fresh air. Tanner was LOVING all the rides in kiddie land and it was almost as much fun to watch him. He was just thrilled with everything and had the best, happy grin the whole time. A far cry from our experience last summer when he was puking! His favorite ride was a fire truck that went in circles kind of like a ferris wheel. Him and Della would hop off and run right back in line to do it again and again. I actually got to break off and accompany the 4 older boys on some big rollercoasters and holy crap, there are some SCARY ONES!! Mousetrap just gave me whiplash. Colossus made me scream my head off, but WICKED? Yep. Fitting name. I thought I was going to die. It was legit terrifying. I don't know how kids do that. I finally convinced Shelley do to Spider with us and that was fun!

Nope. I HATE this one. No free falling for me, thanks!

You know how kids just BEG to try the dumb, carnival games meant to steal all your money? "But mom, it's so easy! I could TOTALLY make the basket!" Well, Grandma gave in and treated them all to many rounds of "crook ball". And guess what?! Not a single kid made the shot! Surprise, surprise. I was just a little smug. But it was nice of her to take the financial hit so they could experience it. Hopefully, it was a lesson learned they'll draw a parallel from as adults in Vegas. ;)

Always have to do the river rapids ride! Poor Grandpa always seems to get the worst of it!

These girls must have ridden this rollercoaster AT LEAST 15 times in a row. Every time it rounded this corner, they'd see me and shout "We're going to do it again!!" Haha. Good way to finish out the day.

We enjoyed overpriced Swig sodas and cookies at the park and a super yummy dinner at Black Bear Diner, courtesy of Grandpa. It was a wonderfully fun day. 

Happy 4th of July!!!

We crashed hard and struggled getting up and going the next day. Or maybe that was just me, haha. Luckily, we didn't have anything planned until lunch at Christopher's house. I did up Olive's hair, made a yummy apple/snickers salad and fruit/cheese tortellini salad and off we went!

Christopher grilled and we feasted! It was so nice to have nowhere to go and just relax and visit all afternoon. Jael was generous to let the kids have the run of the house and they all kept each other happy. I love my family so much. Grateful for this free country and all our blessings.

We grabbed some Nielsen's as it got later and drove back to Provo because there was supposed to be a great fireworks show, even though Stadium of Fire got canceled. We spread out blankets not far from our house and Shelley found the station they were broadcasting patriot music to go with the fireworks. We brought some sparklers and pop-its and danced the night away! Even after the fireworks were over, we pumped up the music and really got the party started! The kids joined in and we were jamming out near the road, trying to get cars to honk. We must have danced for another hour! So much fun! Happy birthday, America!! We love you!