Utah!

Well, everyone survived and had a great time! The kids had a great time with their grandparents and my grandparents. They were sufficiently spoiled and loved on and came back with no injuries. I’d call that a success!

We had an absolute blast in Utah. We flew into SLC and stayed the night in Park City at the Chateau, which was gorgeous. We had breakfast at the Stein Eriksen, which was also amazing. Seriously, probably the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. I am STILL thinking about it. It was a potato bacon pancake with poached eggs and jarlsburg cheese and cranberries. I almost cried when I ate the last bite. I am now officially addicted to poached eggs. Yum. Combined with the amazing view, the clean crisp air that smelled so so good, and spending time with Derrick, I loved every minute of our time there.

We walked around downtown Park City for awhile and then got a Snowie and watched the Alpine Sliders for awhile. Then my sweet husband let me drag him around the outlets for a couple hours. It was really one of the most fun days I’ve ever had with him, and it felt like we were on a mini honeymoon. I missed the kids for a brief moment, but really I was surprised how quickly I adjusted into doing whatever, whenever, and not worrying about naptimes or mealtimes or discipline or ANYTHING. It was heaven. 

Later that afternoon we went to Derrick’s aunt’s house in Sugarhouse for dinner, which incidentally would be the last time we would eat real vegetables for the rest of the week.

Education Week was amazing. I loved all the classes I took. I took a lot of parenting classes, but also some marriage and scripture classes. I really feel like I came back feeling renewed and refreshed, with more patience and understanding. Hopefully a better parent and wife. We saw a couple shows on campus, included Aida, which was not my favorite, but I got to see my friend Adam, and then a concert of 8 different LDS musicians. I thought it was going to be super lame but I actually like it a lot.

We ate at all of our favorites: Cafe Rio, Burgers Supreme, Teriyaki Stix, Jamba Juice, Tucano’s, In-n-Out, the Brick Oven, and J Dawgs. It was our first time at J Dawgs actually, but loved it so much we went twice. Their special sauce is indeed special. I wanted to take a bath in it then lick the tub clean. Needless to say we bought a huge 32 oz. bottle to bring home.

Speaking of shopping, good thing I brought an empty duffle bag packed in our suitcase because we crammed that sucker full. The BYU Bookstore is probably the only place on earth where Derrick likes to shop, and whenever we shop there, I feel like I have a blank check. There is no limit on the amount of BYU paraphernalia we can buy. What? You want a BYU hoodie? Go for it! Jerseys for the kids? Grab 2! We definitely will be well outfitted in BYU gear for the upcoming football season!

We saw lots of family throughout the week which was always fun. We hit up Nickel City and the new Provo Beach at the Riverwoods. A cool place, but ridiculously overpriced.

Other highlights: Seeing sweet little Holland, Casey and Lindsey’s new baby, as well as the rest of their fam.

Going to Wal-Mart and seeing these registers: (they say Price Matching and Coupon Lane. There were 4 of them!)

You know you’re in Utah when you see this line up: 2 Subaru stawags, a VW stawag, and a Honda Element!

And last but certainly not least—getting to spend the week with the fabulous Linda, one of my most bestest friends. I’m so glad that we could make this trip happen. The only thing that could have made it better is if we could have had some of our other great girlfriends with us! Next year, ladies??