Mountains - Woot! Woot!

A few weeks ago Jay suggested taking a trip to Utah to see our sister, Dena and her hubby Jeff and son, Tristan. It sounded like a great idea so we decided to go for it.  Becuase we only had the weekend to make it there and back, we left  Thursday night at 7 pm and drove all through the night.  I felt bad for Travis having to be up all night driving, so I joined him in the fun and kept him company.  We arrived in Salt Lake at about 8 in the morning on Friday.  Since Shelby slept most of the time she was excited to wake up and see Utah.  Her first words to us Friday morning were, "Mountains!!  Woot, Woot!!" 

As it is with most vacations (at least for me), the food was an awesome feature.   Friday night we all went to Leatherby's for ice cream   I had been there many times before so I knew the portions are gigantic.   I also knew the kiddos would get a kick out of seeing how big some of these desserts can be.  When Hayden saw his 2-scoop ice cream sundae, he exclaimed, "Wow! I asked for 2 scoops and they gave me at least four.  I'm never leaving Utah!"  That's about the same reaction I had several years ago (about 13-years ago, yikes!) with my first Leatherby's experience.  It's good stuff.

The next day we walked around Temple Square and visited the Church History Museum. Shelby was fascinated with the size of Joseph Smith. 

Then we ate lunch at my all-time favorite place; Hires Big H.  I used to work just across the street from Hires and I was quite the regular back in the day.  Like usual, I ordered a grilled cheese and ham with fries.  Jay put it nicely when he said, "What's with Utah and having really good food and gigantic portions?!"  It's true, places like Leatherby's and Hires don't exist in Oregon...at least not that I know of.  Shelby was a fan of Hires, which really made me smile. 

Shelby is a major goofball, especially when she is surrounded by cousins.  Eating candy every second of the day also helps.  She provided some comedic entertainment at Hires by showing off her many faces.  She had a difficult time staying true to form becuase she kept giggling, so most of her faces include smiles because she couldn't remain serious long enough. 

Surprise Face

Sad Face

 Confused Face

 Scared Face

Scary Face

Happy Face

After lunch we went to Park City and walked around Main Street.  Shelby enjoyed the luxury of her stroller and was pleased we allowed her to take her nanny (aka blanket) with her.  

We hit up The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some caramel apples and had our picture taken at the LDS Family Tree Center.

Later that night, Travis, Shelby and I drove to Orem to visit Travis' brother, Ivan and wife, Renee.  We left the kids at home with a sitter and went to dinner at a great Thai place.  Beth is still surprised I chose to eat at a Thai place rather than Cafe Rio. It's true, I passed it up.  I was a bit disappointed my favorite Provo restaurant, Dal Fornello's, was no more.  Why can't things just stay the way I left them?

When we arrived home I discovered I had gained 3 pounds.  I really would have preferred for that to remain the same.  But, was it worth it?!  Yes, yes it was.