Utah Escapades

Paul had a conference up in Bountiful, Utah this past week, so the girls and I tagged along! We broke the 12 hour drive up into 2 days up and 2 days back, stopping in Las Vegas each way. All I have to say about driving long distances with children is... THANK HEAVENS for DVD players! Poor little Finley is still not 20 lbs and therefore was unable to be turned forward facing for this trip (we were going to turn her anyway...what difference does 3 lbs make really?, but our police officer friend said we could be investigated and thrown in jail if anything were to happen- that scared us a little so we decided to follow the letter of the law)... she had to crane her neck to see the screen. I think she got more than a little tired of looking at the back of the seat for hours on end. There were a few moments during the endless hours of driving that I thought we would all go crazy, but for the most part everyone did pretty good- we made it there and back in one piece, so that says something! We have had a bit of hard time adjusting back to Pacific time with daylight savings time on top of that. We have all been a little sleepy since we have been home .

The girls and I did a lot of additional driving all over the Salt Lake Valley while Paul was at his conference during the day. In the evenings we would pick up Paul and head back out for dinner with friends and/ or family. We were busy, busy the whole time (living on NO SLEEP because little miss Finny was waking up SEVERAL times each night for who knows why), but we really had a great time!

We spent a couple of fun days with an old friend of mine from Oregon Girl's State, who also was one of my roommates at BYU, and then a bridesmaid in my wedding- we figured out we have been friends for 13 years now! I just LOVE her- she is one of those friends that no matter how long it has been, we can pick up as if no time has past. Anyway, Kelli and her two kiddos (with #3 on the way) showed us some fun things to do in Salt Lake. We went to a great discovery museum, which Avery just loved! I am in awe of how family friendly it is up there- EVERYTHING is geared towards kids (which is really not all that surprising given the sheer number of families with children in the area, but still).

We also had a great time with another friend Kelly (this one was a SLO 3rd ward friend going back 10 1/2 years... it is still crazy to think how quickly time goes by). We had fun hanging out, catching up, drinking smoothies (as you can see from Finley's smoothie mustache), and going shopping at some very fun places that we don't have here in San Luis Obispo, or even in California for that matter. Avery had a great time playing with Kelly's daughter Cate! I also was privileged enough to see Kelly's amazing Etsy wares up close and personal- she is amazingly creative and crafty. Take a look at her shop HERE. The next day, Kelly took some family pictures of us around temple square in Salt Lake. I can't wait to see how they turned out... she is truly gifted! Check out some of her other photo shoots.

So much fun to visit, but I am still not convinced I could live there.

It was WAY too cold for me, though it probably didn't help that I left my coat sitting on our bed at home!?