Utah Trip 2014

 So we did it. We took a trip to Utah last week and it was marvelous--and as you're reading this, I hope you read that as mahhhhh-velous.

The roadtrip on the way there was full of breathtaking sights, a book on tape called Wild, Wise, and Witty Woman, and a slew of new songs to listen to. Other highlights of the roadtrip included RAIN (which is so fun since I'm from Arizona and suck at driving in the rain at high speeds), never stopping to eat, and a fatal car accident that put traffic at a standstill for 45 minutes.

It was an adventure.

I arrived in South Jordan to pick up my kids around 7pm and we were in Layton to see our friends by 8.

My kids weren't too excited...oh wait, YES THEY WERE! The Hislops moved back in March and we have missed having them as neighbors ever since. When my ex-husband moved to Utah and had talked about the kids coming up for the 4th of July, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to keep my promise to my friend and come see her!

Cassie, my friend/the mom/Mrs. Hislop, is the daughter of a really cool guy who is over the parks & rec and they were having fun events that week. First up? Movie in the park, complete with bull rides. I was so proud of the kids for giving it a try. Petey was pretty scared but she did it anyway!

 

On Tuesday night, we had some evening plans and my hair was a mess. The pink hadn't fully taken and it looked like rasberry/orange sherbet. Also, the ends were horribly fried. Well, LUCKY ME, Cassie has a hairstylist for a sister and she fixed my hair on Monday and I love it!

Ombre red. It is awesome. Seriously awesome.

We spent Tuesday afternoon doing one of our favorite things to do together---Bachelorette, anyone? Cassie and I used to get together every Monday night with another friend of ours and we were so sad when she moved back to Utah. I still get sad every Monday night...

 

 

Tuesday morning (yes, that Bachelorette picture was taken after...I'm a little jumbled here), we headed to a trampoline park. As you can see above, my monkey climbed up those ropes all by herself. She was actually pretty intimidated and I told her she would earn a quarter if she would just try---and look at that! She succeeded!

 Miss J was so awesome and brave and kept practicing the tight rope. I wish I had a picture but she actually made it more than halfway across!

Mr. T is one of the cutest babies in the world. I was the very first person privileged enough to babysit him when he was a few weeks old and I used to cuddle him almost every week in church. I have missed him since they moved and he grew up so much!!!

Thursday we went to the pool and had a great time together! My boy, my awesome brave litle toaster was told he would get a quarter for going off the high dive (Can you tell I like to motivate my children to try hard things?).

 

Although he didn't do it, HE TRIED! He climbed up that ladder and stood up to the edge and then decided he'd rather come back down. I was a proud momma.

 

Sadly, that was going to be the last adventure we would have with the Hislops. We were headed out after swimming to go visit my fake Aunt and Uncle in Lehi.

But the kids had one last thing up their sleeve...

They put on a goodbye show for us in the backyard. We loved it!

After our goodbyes and trying to get the dvds to play on my Kindle (which never ended up working...darn.), we headed on our hour drive to my fake Aunt's house (She is my mom's best friend.).

The weather was perfect. Perfect! The kids played out in the dirt for over an hour and came inside full of smiles and dirt in their ears. What a night.

Absolutely perfect for our very last night in Utah.

Our drive started out early---5:30am AZ time. The kids were tired and a bit grumpy and ten hours of driving was shaping up to be FANTASTICALLY psychotic...and it was.

Spidey took a nap for a while which was great except Petey was bored and whining at me. But she's adorable and I love her.

Luckily, I had packed some coloring and art supplies. My kids eat that stuff up! So glad I grabbed these things the night before we left.

By the time we got to Flagstaff, Petey was done. Look at that face. She was a serious little bugger and was finding any and all reasons to cry or complain about something.

But again, I love her. She's my kid. She's my gal and I wouldn't trade her for all the money in the world!

It was a fabulous trip. I miss my friends already. I hate that we can't live near each other but I love that I was able to see her and let our kids see each other.