Utah Trip 2008

Last year, two of Brian's grandparents died and he had a brother get married. He got to travel three times to see family and old friends. I'll admit that I was jealous. I was not jealous that his grandparents had died -- well, you know what I mean. Last year my grandmother also passed away. I did NOT get to travel to see family and old friends. As a mom I don't get official vacation days and since they held the funeral on a WEDNESDAY (I still don't get that) it made it next to impossible for me to go.

So when I found that my sister in law Gloria was having a baby shower in April, my SIL Terica and I started discussions about flying out there to attend. I had never met Gloria and I hadn't seen Terica in two years. So it would have been a really great opportunity to catch up and meet new members of the family. Plus, there are three OTHER SILs who live in Utah. Michelle (another SIL who lives in St. Louis) decided that she would also fly out and join the fun. It was a party!

THURSDAY, April 10th

I found friends to watch the kids on Thursday so I could leave for the airport in the morning. I got into Salt Lake City at 1:15 and picked up my rental car. I decided that this was going to be MY vacation and I wanted the freedom to go where I wanted to go when I wanted to be there. It was fabulous. I drove up to Hill AFB to go to Sariah's house and meet up with Terica and Michelle (and baby Julia) who arrived the night before. It was so great to see everybody again. Sariah's kids have gotten SO big. I brought gifts for all the nieces and nephews -- UNC Tarheel hats for the boys and handmade bracelets for the girls (thanks for the enrichment lesson, Jodi!) They were a big hit. I also made aprons for all the married SILs. I had emailed them to get their favorite colors, then made aprons to fit their personalities. Now we can ALL be stylin' when we do the dishes!

Pheobe with her bracelet.

Warren with his new hat.

Michelle with baby Julia and her new apron.

After hanging out for a while we drove back down to Salt Lake City to meet Adam and Gloria at Training Table for dinner. I have to say that when Terica and I were "mapping out" our trip and listing the places that we wanted to see, restaurants topped the list! We both attended BYU and then hung around while our husbands got their degrees, so much of our adult life is wrapped up in places and food in the area. Training Table has delicious sandwiches and burgers and to. die. for. cheese fries. It was high on the list. It was so fun to talk and catch up and meet Gloria (who looked WAY better at nine months pregnant than I ever did at five months along). We laughed a TON. While we were there it SNOWED. Gotta love Utah in the Springtime. After dinner, Terica and I headed to our hotel room that we were sharing. I had high hopes of attending a temple session at the Salt Lake Temple the next morning.

FRIDAY, April 11th

Yeah, that temple session didn't happen. Six o'clock came WAY too early on my vacation. Before I forget, HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY, honey!! He was a sweetie to take this day off of work to play with our kids and to let me go have a vacation, despite being a big day for the two of us.

Terica and I headed down to Utah County. We wandered the Provo Towne Center Mall and talked. Then we met up with Sariah and Michelle for lunch at Cafe Rio (a place that I had never been to, but which lived up to its raving descriptions from the others). Terica and I then drove up to Orem (passing the true monstrosity being built on State Street-- right next to Pep Boys. What an embarrassing joke). We got awesome pedicures at the place where I got my nails done before I ever had kids. That is the best pedicure I have EVER gotten. This was more than two weeks ago and the flowers I had painted on my toes are STILL there and the polish hasn't even chipped. I need to call them and ask them what kind of sealer they used! Then we wandered the University Mall (memories of pushing strollers through the mall with newborns) to kill time until our DINNER AT TEMPANYAKI. By far one of my favorite places to eat. It's like Benihanas, but it has all the memories of eating there with my sweetheart. And it was fitting that I went on my anniversary because I know we celebrated a few anniversaries there. I even caught the flying shrimp! Terica and I were in heaven. Afterwards I headed up to BYU to attend my concert with my good friend Cherilyn. We went to BYU together and now live very different lives. It was SO nice to catch up with her and hear all about her life as a busy choir teacher and as a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love General Conference because I can always see her (she sits front and center) and know that she is okay. We went to TGIFridays after the concert and talked until 12:30 am when they kicked us out. Good times! Retired to the hotel in Orem where Terica and I were staying.

Terica and I at Tempenyaki.

SATURDAY, April 12th

The day of the shower. I slept in a little, went to Ross to get some new shirts, then met my friend Paige for lunch at Einstein Bros. Bagels (another favorite). Paige was a student of mine when I was teaching junior high. She was a fabulous kid. I taught a few of her sisters, too. We kept in touch after I stopped teaching and now she is getting MARRIED. Eeeek! It was really fun to chat with her and see how her life has changed and to see the wonderful gal she has become. I can't wait to hear about all the fun experiences and challenges that she is sure to have as she starts this new phase of life.

Met Terica and Michelle at Bon Losee to head to the shower. Poor Michelle had decided to get a bargain haircut and color at the cosmetology school. Her appointment was for 8:30 am and at 12:45 they were STILL NOT DONE. I was joking that they must have cut her hair one strand at a time. We finally got her out of there, picked up SIL Nicole from her BYU apartment and headed to the shower. Sarah did a WONDERFUL job with this. The games were totally fun, the prizes were cute, her apartment was decorated totally darling, and the food was yummy. It was really neat to have SEVEN SILs together in one place (we were really missing "big Michelle," who was our third musketeer while we lived here years ago), Cherise (who is still in high school), and Cami (Brian's youngest sister). Someday!!

The GIRLS: Sarah (Matt's wife, holding her daughter Dianna), Nicole (Brian's sister), Sariah (Jake's wife), Gloria, Terica (Andy's wife), Me, Michelle (Brian's sister, holding Julia)

Gloria and I

Gloria got some great gifts and we all got some fun pictures. After the shower Gloria said she wanted to WALK THIS BABY OUT. So I took her with me to BYU to go walking around. We first stopped by my old apartment at King Henry. I knocked on the door of the apartment where I had lived for three years and asked to peek in. I probably gave the poor gal the fright of her life to realize that she was face to face with HERSELF in fourteen years. Hee hee. It was nice to see they HAD made some changes -- like taking out the skylight and putting in recessed lighting and vaulted ceilings. Much of the furniture was still the same, though.

King Henry Apartments ( where I lived from fall 1994- spring 1997). I was happy to see they had covered the stairs FINALLY.

I had to stop at the bookstore to buy flipflops first, since I was wearing my boots and it was getting really warm outside. I also got BYU t-shirts for the family. We had creamery icecream and walked around my old stomping grounds at the HFAC. She was a good sport and listened to all my corny stories about how Brian proposed (to be coming in another blog), and about my "former life" as a single gal at BYU. We ran into Terica and went to visit the new Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni building. It's a beautiful building and fun to walk around.

Me at the Gordon B. Hinckley panorama picture. Beautiful!

For dinner we went to Hogi Yogi with Terica, Gloria, Adam, Michelle, and baby Julia. Then back to Matt and Sarah's house for games. And lots and lots of laughs. I love that I have SO much fun with Brian's family. I have SILs that I count among my closest friends. We were joking to Gloria that she was going to laugh that baby out. But she wasn't due for another two weeks. She *was* having some contractions, so we threw her in the car and drove to Smith's to pick up some Granny Sycamore bread (the BEST bread in the world -- seriously. I bought four loaves to bring home with me). Then we drove around Provo to look for speed bumps. I have to add here that my car had an icky "skunk" smell inside of it, so I had a pregnant Gloria in the front seat who was having contractions, and a newly pregnant Terica in the backseat, trying not to puke from the smell of my car. I passed my newly purchased air freshener back to her so she could use the soothing scent of vanilla to calm her tummy. I was laughing SO HARD. I have a couple of pictures of this, but out of respect for all parties involved I will NOT post them. I guess you had to be there. Especially when we pulled over to the side of the road so she COULD puke, then drove off. In many college towns I'm sure that isn't a rare sight. But in Provo???? That night I stayed up until 3:00 am talking to Terica.

SUNDAY, April 13th

Quick breakfast at Krispy Kreme, since I was a bad judge of time and didn't have time to hit the breakfast in the hotel lobby. Darn it. Drove up to Syracuse (up by Ogden) to see my cousin Amy bless her new baby Noah in church. It was SO nice to be able to see some family on the trip. Much of my extended family lives in Utah, but I knew it would be impossible to see everyone, so I wasn't even going to try. But Amy planned this at the perfect time, so I was able to attend church and see some of my favorite family. I even saw an old "date" from BYU in her ward. It is so weird that the state is SO huge, but I always seem to run into people I knew "way back when" whenever I am there. Brian says it's because I dated everyone at BYU, but I digress...

After the blessing and a yummy lunch and catching up with family I drove back to Sariah's to see them before my flight left. On the way I got a call from Gloria asking all these questions about labor and water breaking and contractions. Turns out her water HAD broken, she WAS in labor, and Adam was at CHURCH. I told her to find a way to get him home ASAP and get to the hospital. I was *so* contemplating finding a later flight so I could meet this little guy, but I knew I had to get home. I was missed at home and I missed my family. Jordan Theron was born soon after midnight, Monday morning. I missed him by hours. But I can say I helped him come by driving his mom along bumpy roads, walking her around BYU, and making her laugh so hard it hurt. You're welcome, Gloria! ;)

My flight left on time, and I was met by my sweetheart at the airport. It was a fantastic trip. Things I learned:

• Utah was a great place to go to school. I do NOT want to live there now.


• I got to be high maintenance for four days. It was great. But so not applicable for my daily life. Maybe someday.


• I love my extended family.
  
• Our bodies were not meant to eat high quantities of fattening/yummy food, and get very little sleep and function well. I think I am STILL recovering.

So, if you made it through all of that, go drink some caffeine to wake yourself back up and get on with your day! My journal entry is at least DONE.