Utah

We've been trying to go to Utah since last December. We've had several dates fall through. Finally, we said we're coming over the 4th of July no matter what! Plans were difficult to determine because we weren't positive what day we would be coming down. That effected what day we were going to leave. We knew we would stay one night in a hotel, and we were hopeful we could stay 2 nights at a friends house. Marc originally thought he would work one day in the Layton office. His supervisor said let's do a breakfast meeting instead and you can have the rest of the day off. At first, we thought we'd leave at 3:30 in the morning, on Thursday like we did in Cincinnati, hit the work meeting, and stay in a hotel that night. That meant we'd stay Friday and Saturday with our friends and leave Sunday morning after church. Finally, I said why don't we leave Wednesday after work, stay Wednesday night in the hotel. Stay with friends Thursday and Friday night then leave Saturday afternoon or evening? That made a bit more sense and finally we could start planning with our friends.

 

We left Wednesday, July 2nd, late afternoon for Salt Lake. The kids were so excited! Isabel fell asleep pretty early on in the trip. She woke up and I fed her when we were about half way along. I can't remember if she went back to sleep or not. All I know is that she was DONE with being in her car seat when we were still about 30 minutes out of Salt Lake. I had entered in the wrong coordinate for the hotel in the GPS (Instead of West I put East or something like that), so that took us on the wrong exit, to the wrong place, and led to a very frustrated husband and a baby who was melting down in the back. We took a couple of wrong turns, re-entered the address into the GPS and found it very quickly after that. The hotel was the right price. All of the kids got to stay up and go swimming in the outdoor pool after we got in. Marc went for a run. I warned him that the pool was heated when he came back, but he didn't hear me and jumped in expecting  nice cool refreshing water and was greeted by what felt like a luke warm hot tub instead. We finally started putting kids to bed by about 10:00. Isabel was not thrilled sleeping in the pack and play. She struggled all night long! I finally brought her into bed with Lexi and I. At one point, I had Lexi buried into my back and Isabel attached to my chest. At least she was quiet. The sleep was pitiful, we were all up by 7. Marc left for his work meeting, and the kids and I ate the continental breakfast at the hotel. We came back to the room and they watched cartoons while I tried to put Isabel back to sleep for a little bit. When Marc came back, we loaded up the car and headed for Temple Square.

 

The sister missionaries were cute. They all flocked to us, eagerly hoping that they could talk to us about the church. They loved playing with the baby. We took the kids around to some of the different buildings on Temple Square.

 

 
Inside the tabernacle, Lexi and Tyler got to go up with one of the Sister Missionaries to help with the sound demonstration. They ripped some pieces of newspaper and dropped some pins on the podium to show off the acoustics. The sounds could be heard from the back of the room.

 After the demonstration, Tyler decided to jump off the first stage, race across the second one, and jump down from that. It was one of those mortifying moments as a mom. I couldn't yell out because of the acoustics, and I couldn't do anything to stop him. So as the audience was laughing, and Tyler was having a ball, I just had to quietly smirk. Aw, boys!

 In front of the Christus at the Visitors Center. They have so many cool video features and artwork, we decided we could have spent all day just exploring the place.

 Marc had another meeting that afternoon. So I took the kids over to the Conference Center while he went to go do some networking. We had a cute little tour guide take us all over the Conference Center. The kids loved it. They were awed by the size and magnificence of it. I love the art work inside. We spent more than an hour exploring it all. We especially loved being on the rooftop.

 Marc called and said he was done with his meeting, so he met us at the Conference Center, we walked over by the Reflection Pool on the side of the temple.

 We convinced a stranger to take a picture of all of us.

 We then went over to the new (to us) outdoor shopping center, City Creek I think? The kids and I ate lunch. Each of the kids was given some spending money so they wanted to shop around a little bit. Lexi found a "Belle" and a "Beast" doll that were on sale. She was thrilled to be able to buy both with her money.

 This little one finally passed out when we got to the chocolate store. Poor thing missed out on all the good stuff!

 One of my old roommates and good friend, Jaclyn, had identical twin boys the week after Isabel was born. I wanted to make sure I got to see her and her cute family while we were visiting. She graciously let us come over, even though the timing wasn't fantastic. This was my attempt at getting a picture of all 3 babies. They're pretty wiggly right now :)

 

 This is Lexi holding baby Adam.

Thanks again Jaclyn for letting us come see you! I loved seeing your house and all the projects that I've read about in person :)

We continued on our trek down to Provo. Our plan was to hit up Seven Peaks. We got there a little later than anticipated. As we looked at the crowds and the long lines on every slide, we decided it would not be worth spending the money for all of us to go and then to wait in line all night. We were wiped out enough as it was. Since we were in our old stomping grounds, we showed the kids the apartment buildings where we met, and the duplex we lived in when Lexi was born. We grabbed dinner at a trolley restaurant outside Springville I think. The food was tasty and the prices were reasonable! Always a bonus.

Our hosts for the weekend, Justin and Britney Eliason, live in Mapleton, Utah. I've never heard of Mapleton before. It's a sleepy little town by Springville. We loved it. The area was beautiful. They live in a mature neighborhood with quite a bit of space in between homes (which is becoming so rare these days!) Justin and Britney lived in the same apartment complex as us and got married the same summer. They moved out to Nebraska to go to pharmacology school about the same time as we moved to Cincinnati. When we moved back to Utah, we found ourselves in the same ward as the Eliasons! It was fun to rekindle that friendship and watch our kids play together.

Friday was the 4th of July. When we were up and moving I drove to Provo with the kids to watch the parade. Marc ran there and met us. Trying to find parking was frustrating. The spots I had mapped out the night before weren't available and everything was packed. We eventually found a spot about a half mile away from the parade route and met up with our friends the Millers and the Antoines. It was only 9:30 in the morning and scorching already! The kids stuck in out in the full sun on the pavement for awhile.

 The men melted in the sun.

 Tana saved me a spot under some shade. Isabel and I were sure grateful!

Apparently the Provo parade is the Premier parade in Utah. All of the major state political leaders were showcased. We figured you had to fit in either Government, Education, or Beauty Queen categories to get a spot in the parade.

 This little one didn't get a real nap the entire trip. She fell asleep on the walk back to the car and the 10 minute ride to Walmart.

 The Eliason and Glutz girls, L to R, Jaycie, Ellie with Isabel, Mia and Lexi.

 After the parade, the Millers and Antoines came out to the Eliasons for a BBQ and to let the kids play while we all visited. The kids had a blast together.

 

It was so nice to sit and chat and catch up. That was both Marc and mine favorite part of the trip. We talked for hours! I should have taken more pictures, but I guess I should be happy with what I have. I think everyone stayed until about 7:00 or so. We heated up some pizza for dinner. The kids went downstairs and watched "The Lego Movie" until it was dark enough to watch fireworks. Little Jaycie fell asleep during the movie, so Marc and I stayed behind to put Isabel down and watch Jaycie while the others went to a big old block party that had a huge firework show. There was enough fireworks outside Justin and Britney's house, they really could have just stayed home! Isabel got to go out and watch a few. She was trying to say "boom" it was pretty cute.

The next day, Marc got up early to run before he went to the hitting range with the men at 8:00. While we were waiting for them to come back, we helped picked cherries.

 

 

 

 After the work had been completed, we packed up and got everything ready to go swimming and then drive out from there. We ate lunch and Scott and Lee's and then everyone went to the Provo Recreation Center. They had lots of slides, splash areas, and we even had access to the entire indoor swimming area after we had done everything outside. It was really nice! I was impressed!

This is Lexi and Omar. They are just a few days apart in age.

 All of the older boys.

 All of the older girls:

 All of the kids (minus Omar and Grace)

 After swimming and saying goodbye, we drove to the Creamery to grab ice cream.

 

 

 

 

It was shocking to see BYU without Deseret Towers or Heritage Halls! They have big beautiful dorms to replace them, but it was kind of sad that the places both Marc and I lived in our Freshman year are no longer there. I would have loved to have walked around Campus with the kids, but there just wasn't time. They wouldn't have been that excited after a few minutes anyway.

 

We had so much fun in Utah! We have dear friends there who we love and miss a lot. It meant so much to be able to go back and feel so much love, and most of all, it's fun to watch our kids enjoy each other so much!