Our Mini Vacation

We've been living in a bit of a whirlwind here lately. We celebrated my birthday on the 24th (happy birthday to me :) And then we were gearing up for out trip to the wedding. The plan was to drive down Monday after the kids were out of school. But the weather forecast was predicting snow for Monday night. So at 11:00 on Sunday morning we decided to be spontaneous and load up the car and head out that afternoon. We were planning on staying with Syd and Cy and we knew that they would be thrilled about getting to have us in their home for another day!

So by 2:30 we had my van overflowing with sleeping bags,luggage, food, and children. We stopped and visited Michael that night in Salt Lake and then were to Provo by 10:30. I think the kids were all in bed by midnight. I should mention now the lack of sleep that accompanied the week!

Monday we ventured downtown to do a full blown temple square visit. We went to the top of the church office building, visited the church history museum (the kids loved the new children's exhibit...although I think Kortney was the biggest fan of the dress up and dance portion), we saw the Joseph Smith movie, the Christus, the visitors centers, and the conference center. The kids were troopers and did fabulously. Even Emmie did great, who I had to carry most of the day because I was stroller-less. My arms were numb to say the least.

The kids (Emmie) all got a nice little drink out of this fountain. :)

As the sun went down we met up with Michael and Rachelle for dinner at the Olive Garden. I think I might have to send a letter to Olive garden, because my last 2 times there I have been disappointed....what's up Olive Garden? And then we drove home in a blizzard. Again. I couldn't see the lines on the road...and drove between two lanes for most of the drive from Salt Lake to Provo, I'm sure the other drivers loved me.

Tuesday we spent some time at BYU. We visited the Bean Museum.

I had to take this picture of Owen hiding. We were looking at a grizzly bear and he was worried there would also be a fake snake, so he wouldn't even look in our general direction. The kid is terrified of snakes. I'm planning on having some real fun with that one day.

I bribed a worker (with my charm :) and he brought out a lizard for the kids to see. Pretty cool. Notice where Owen was standing. He's not at all squeamish.

We met up with my family that afternoon for a jaunt to IKEA. We spent 2 hours there. The hour the kids spent in the play land helped. The kids also ate for free! Thank you free kids meals on Tuesday's at IKEA. We were super lame and didn't even buy adult meals because we were headed to the Japanese steak house that night. Ya, we're that cheap.

We got our fill of wedding on Wednesday and then drove home on Thursday. But only after Cy and the kids had the ultimate Nerf gun war. Seriously, I've never seen someone with more Nerf guns! We successfully trashed Syd and Cy's house and were exhausted and had a great week!