Our trip to Utah, 2011 Edition

Congratulations to Karla! She graduated from high school and Ben & I got to be there for the happy occasion. We also got to celebrate her older brother Daniel's college graduation (sorry, no pictures of pretty much anything else from our trip. I know, I'm terrible.).

When we got to Salt Lake on Thursday night, we stayed at my mom's. As one would expect from my mother, she stocked the bathroom with brand new towels, spruced up the guest bed with adorable pillows, and filled the kitchen with all of Ben's favorite treats. And when we woke up in the morning, what else would be waiting for us but fresh crepes with all the fixings? Ahh, so good to be home.

That morning, however, we were whisked away with Ben's family to Indianola for some cabin-ing. We got to play games, ride ATV's, have ping pong throw-downs, hike around the back of the property while all the nieces gathered wild flowers, and enjoy all of the fabulous food everyone prepared. Admittedly, I should have gotten a good picture of Ben covered in piles of mud from an ATV ride. It will just have to suffice that I know it happened and we had to pre-soak and pre-scrub EVERYTHING he had on before they could actually be washed. D.I.R.T.Y. BOY. I also got in a couple nice relaxing runs out there. Pretty vistas like that need to be enjoyed. I think I also ran by a rattle snake while on one of those runs. Good news --- I was already running. The only thing that would have made the trip any better would have been if it had been warmer. But we expected rain all weekend and only got 1 day of it, so I won't complain too much. And the food was so good, I've decided for the Neu family reunion in August, we should just have the Young's come cook for us. French toast with fresh strawberries and buttermilk syrup, anyone? Mmmm.

I ended up leaving the cabin a day early because, tragically, I had finals the week we were gone and I needed to do some research for the papers I was working on. While Ben stayed, I came back on Monday to get down to business. I was surprised as I was leaving to realize that this would be the first time in a looooonnnnnggg time Ben and I had not slept in the same place -- probably since the first few months of our marriage when I was still traveling for Sharon Charles and had not moved out to Ohio. It felt a little strange.

My well-intentioned study plans were quickly averted when I called my parents to tell them I had arrive back a day early. They immediately swooped in to pick me up and drive me out to Kerrie & Laurent's where everyone was gathering and feasting for the holiday (I had forgotten May 31st was a holiday). I don't think they heard much of what I said after I stated that I was at their house. Later references to "it's just me and Ben's still at the cabin" and "I came back to work on my finals papers" were lost on them completely, as they were disappointed to see my husband was not in toe and didn't seem at all concerned with my homework. And, since I was so excited to see everyone and this was such a prime opportunity, I decided to ignore my homework for a while too. Robbie, my nephew, came up from Provo, and then Emilie & Dustin came with their kids as well. I finally got to meet the twins!!! As I suspected, they are adorable. We feasted, we chatted, I ate too much and I didn't get squat done on my homework until I came home that night. However, I didn't overeat as much as my niece, Camille, did. Holy freak! That girl can't be more than 20 lbs, and I am quite certain she ate her weight in rolls and fruited jello. She can totally pack it in. It defied all knowledge I had about the limits of a human's digestive system.

After that, however, I could have been anywhere, because all I saw was my laptop screen for the next couple of days, as I worked on my homework. Ben and I hung out with my folks and Laurent on Tuesday night when he got back from the cabin and had a throw-down in scrabble. Wednesday was a lot more of the same until I left to go to Provo to meet Chamaine and Mesha for dinner. So good to see them! There aren't a lot of people I talk to on a frequent basis. I can probably count them on one hand. So, it's a good thing I have friends that I can pick right up with wherever it was that we left off!

On Thursday, I got a run in with my nephew Christopher at 7:30am in Riverton. It was a milestone day. I have gone running with Chris a few times before. But he is now a robust, tall, athletic 16 or 17 year old. He not only kept pace with me for the entire 2.5 miles for the first time ever, but he smoked me at the end when he still had steam to sprint to the finish. I don't have steam of ay kind at 7:30am. It was definitely not like the old days.

After that, dear Karla graduated from high school. It must be noted, she's pretty much amazing and she is off to Happy Valley to study at BYU. Go Karla! PS -- I have a cute nephew that you should meet when he gets back from his mission in a couple years. wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Afterwards we had a good time hanging out at Ben's parents house, where there was, as always, delectable eats, fun games and lots of family around. Katrina made something I'd never had before -- lime zested sugar cookies. I was in love.

That night, we stopped by to see an old friend, Manny. He looked like he was doing really well and we had a good time catching up. Then we went back down to Provo to see Rachel & Jesse, Will and Adrian & Ty. There were so many people we love hanging out with in one place, it was a gold mine. We brought thai food and just talked and caught up and laughed and made fun of each other -- my favorite way to eat dinner.

Friday. What did we do Friday? We slept in. And then we went up to Emilie & Dustin's to see their new house. Also, Ben hadn't met the twins yet. And how can you say you've been on vacation and not have played any pinochle? So, we hung out there until we could detain their family no longer (around 1pm) and they left for THEIR vacation down to St. George. Their house is awesome. Ben and I are totally moving in. After that, we picked up a couple graduation presents and took off for Daniel's graduation party at their homestead. More yummy food. And lots of fun seeing family again.

We ducked out a little early to see an old friend with a new wife: dear Aaron and the new addition, Juliann. It's so good to see an old friend and to see he has found his perfect match -- WHICH was totally obvious. So fun to see them both. And they got us some of Hatch's chocolate pot de creme's for dessert. Oh my. Aaron, how I shall ever endeavor to deserve such a good friend.

I must confess, that we didn't stop there. We left Aaron's and ran back to Daniel & Gretchen's to play games. Ian was there too, so it was like old times before we had ever moved. We played Settler's. I can't remember who won, but it certainly wasn't me. That, however, was probably the only flaw of the evening. :)

Saturday (I swear I'm almost to the end of the trip): I woke up and got to go to my old stomping grounds, Sugar House Park, and got in a good run. And then I laid in the grass and reveled in my good fortune. While I reveled I did some push-ups and squats, so I was productive. When I came back from my run, Ben and I were greeted by crepes again for breakfast. I must confess, my mom fed us breakfasts pretty much every day that week. Did I mention my mom is amazing? But she made us crepes TWICE. And nobody does crepes quite like my mom, so I have to mention it.

Finally, we left to start out our day by going to visit an old friend, Blair. I got to meet his wife & kids. I met his daughter once before because we used to work together and he brought her to the office one day when daycare didn't work out. I tried to entertain her in my office for a little while. I was incredibly unsuccessful. This visit was much better. We read a disney princess book and a book about fairies. I like fairies. Apparently so does Regan. Oh, and we also got to catch up with Blair. Blair, Blair, Blair. He's just amazing. One of those people who should be doing book tours and giving motivational speeches. He's not your average bear. Needless to say, I enjoyed our visit. I think Ben did too.

After the visit, we went up to check on the studio in Park City. My studio is officially a bachelor pad. And for some reason, my renters are very bad at buying themselves proper light bulbs -- every one of them, out of 4 years of renting. It's uncanny. So, as a token of our gratitude for our fabulous renter, Eric, Ben and I did what he could not do for himself -- we went to Home Depot and got him all new light bulbs so the place would be well lit. Then we got some grub at El Chubasco, one of my all-time favorite Mexican eateries in Park City -- WHERE I ran into one of my old housing program clients, Rena. She is doing great! It was good to run into her. I tell ya. My luck is awesome.

At last, on Saturday night, I had my girl's night out -- something that would happen much more often if most of my old girlfriends did not live so far away. Tragically, Bethany did not get there. She was very missed. I guess we'll still have to plan a weekend getaway. How tragic. :) But I was more than filled with updates from Katie and Emery and gave back my fair share of down low information.

Sunday, we packed up and left. That was it. The trip out west was fabulous. Honestly, it felt like we never left Utah. When we started to prep for the airport, both Ben and I noted that we wouldn't mind if we never went back to Ohio. Is that terrible to say? It's not that we don't like Cincy. But we just don't have everybody there with us. However, work beckons both of us and I can only live off of a suitcase's worth of clothing and shoes for so long. :) And before we went, we got to do a few of our favorite things. And see a bunch of our favorite people. I was dismal at taking any pictures outside of Karla's graduation. But, luckily, some of our favorite people were in attendance there. Here's a picture:

We miss you already. Thanks for a fabulous trip!