Utah Trip 2011

• The flight was good. It was a little boring for Ben and he was tired and wouldn’t nap and I was irritated with him, but overall he behaved. I unfortunately acquired a headache on the flight over, which is probably why I was irritated.
• I mention this because after we go to our hotel, the Luxor, we met up with Nichole and Chris Christensen and their kids. I’m grateful that we got to see them, and even though none of us felt that great we had fun! We went over to the MGM Grand to the Rainforest Café to eat. Cute place! Quite overpriced (thank you Las Vegas…) and we’ll never go there again, but it was good. Ben was SOOOO sleepy that he wouldn’t eat (the $10 kids meal we ordered… ugh). And Nichole also had a headache and their kids were quite tired as well. Luckily, we had the next morning to spend with them too- so at about 8pm we called it a night!
• The next morning we ate breakfast and watched the people who were STILL drunk from the night before walking around like lost puppies in the casino, went swimming with the Christensen’s and then went to see the Las Vegas temple with them as well. After we said our goodbyes we ate at In & Out and then headed to St. George to see my parents.
• Our rental car broke down on us on a steep desert hill in the middle of the Gorge right before St. George. It was 102® and we had no cell service. Luckily, we don’t have to have good reception for prayers to be heard- and I prayed a real big prayer after we were luckily able to pull over to the side of the road…. And after a few tries and us freaking out a bit- the car started back up and we were able to make it to my parent’s house just 16 miles away! We had the rental company tow us a new vehicle… that night! Ask Ben what kind of car it was and he will tell you “a minivan”! He kept telling everyone we had to get a new car and it’s a Mini-van. Haha (A minivan that smelled like a casino, blech)
• Saturday was also Ryan’s 30^th birthday! So we celebrated with pizza and brownies and swimming at my parents pool with the family. This was also our casual Father’s Day celebration.
• ·         Sunday we rode up to Utah Valley after Sacrament and spent time with the Green family and met in person, my BFF Andrea’s new hubby Matt and (now, just today!) Yay! They are cute and perfect for one another! And it was wonderful to be back in the Green home, brought back SOOO many memories. And Ben loved playing with all the kids!
• We had plans the next day of going to the Uintas, one of my FAVORITE places on earth… and well, seeing as though it was like 50® in Orem the day before and rainy… we decided not to go (50 in Orem most likely meant colder temps and snow in the mountains). Plus they had snow up there, and Utah is experiencing a lot of flooding this year. I was VERY bummed by this, I’d been waiting basically since we found out we were going to be up there and take my boys for the first time. But instead we spent time up Provo Canyon, which is also quite pretty. I also got a nice fresh Café Rio salad that day. J
• Monday night we went to dinner with the Webb’s (Kate & Ryan) and I got to see her cute little full-of-baby-girl pregnant tummy!  She’s adorable as a pregnant lady! We enjoyed spending time with them and kind of wished it lasted longer!
• Tuesday we spent the day with my brother Greg and his family, minus the oldest. She was at our Church’s Girls Camp having a blast. They have a fun little (free!) splash park about a block away from their house, within walking distance. And even though we didn’t have Ben’s swim clothes with us- it was pretty warm outside and the kids wanted to have fun, so we let them! Ben was soaked but he had a blast! I think his favorite part (and most hilarious) was punching and kicking the water spouts. I swear he was getting out a lot of aggression! He had fun playing with his cousins!
• Tuesday night me and another friend of Andrea and I threw a shower. It was a “Come Hither” shower and she got a lot of fun stuff!!! There weren’t a lot of us, and some people felt more comfortable buying things from her registry… but it was lovely! We ate dinner out and then enjoyed the backyard of her friend and opened gifts, talked and ate delicious ice cream cake! Oh and watched her open the fun stuff! Woo-woo!
• Wednesday we took off pretty early to get back to St. George. I don’t really think we did anything super special once we got there. I think we swam. Greg and his girls came down as well and so well just hung out with each other. That night after Ben went to sleep, we left him with Clau and Ryan and I and the kids met my dad over at the cemetery where my sister Shauna was buried. We all saved up and were able to purchase a nice sized headstone personalized just for her. The cemetery gave us permission to install it ourselves, mostly for sentimental value but also because it was much cheaper if we did it ourselves. So dad, Ryan, JC and Nico all dug up the spot where the headstone would go. Kind of funny sitting in a cemetery at night with flashlights while people are digging!
• Thursday we woke up early and headed to the cemetery. All of us were there except for my sister Delinda who couldn’t’ make it out and my sister in-law Clau who unfortunately couldn’t get out of working. The men of the family did most of the work, who am I kidding??? Did ALL the work. Ben and the girls all hung out in the cars… Missy and Alyssa hung out with him in ours and watched DVD’s in the back. After we got the cement in and the headstone properly set, we all took turns putting our hand prints in the cement (we did proxy for the two who were missing!). It looks a little cheesy, but I think it’s sweet and I know Shauna would’ve LOVED that. She was very sentimental and loved her family. SO now she’ll always have us with her. It only took us 3 hours to do everything! That afternoon we went swimming again at my parent’s pool. Then that evening after dinner we made tin can ice cream at their house. After a lot of shaking and spinning and moving the cans around, we had vanilla ice cream! It was yummy and something fun for the kids to do. The kids all played with each other and it was fun to see them laugh and run around together.
• Friday we spent time with my niece and took some photos of her, per her request. We got to walk through the St. George Temple visitor center and took some out near the red rocks which was cool. We basically hung out all day with Nico and Missy which was lots of fun. Got some frozen custard… went swimming again… Ben has a ball with these guys.  He thinks they’re pretty awesome. And they are really good with him. We spent more time with my parents and ate yummy Mexican food. That night we removed the form for the cement the headstone was in and cleaned it up.
• Saturday morning we said our goodbyes and then headed to the airport. I was pretty sad; I always get sad to leave my family. It’s not always easy living so far away from everyone. I wouldn’t want to live next door or anything… but across the country is tough sometimes. So I cried…. And Ben did too. He kept saying he wanted his “sisters” (which = cousins… still getting the relationship titles down!) I would get watery eyed… and one time he said to me pretend crying “mommy!? Are you crying too?” and I said “yeah a little” and he made a loud crying sound and said “me too! I sad!” I’m so glad he enjoyed his time with his family and hopefully he will have wonderful memories of the visit with them! 

We had a wonderful visit. I only wish we could've visited more people and done/seen more things- but... we will take what we can get! I also wish with all my heart I was able to have made it out to Andrea's wedding today, and her brother also a good friend and his wife got sealed yesterday. So bummed. I love them and I hope they know that! Pictures to follow!