Utah Roadtrip 2012

In January, my brother Scott called to tell us that (upon our urging him to do so) he had tried out for and made it onto one of the BYU Ballroom Dance Teams! We were so excited for him and we missed Utah and our family there so much that we decided to plan a trip at the time of the Ballroom Dance Concert that is at the end of every year.

This trip, that was planned and prepared for so many months ago was such a hit! On the Thursday before, Steve took me on my birthday date. It was mostly a plan-for-everything-that-we-need-before-we-leave date, but my big date was supposed to be the Dance Concert anyway.

On my birthday (March 29) Steve went to work, I cleaned and packed, and then we headed out in early afternoon. Something that made me especially grateful was that I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to keep our home safe while we were gone. Just after I picked up Steve, I felt like we needed to go back home to make sure I had turned off the computer. It was a strong enough impression, that we turned around and did actually find the computer still running. This was a big deal because lately our computer has been overheating and there is no telling what may have happened if it had run for 10 days! We definitely said a prayer of thanks.

This is me with my birthday cookie. Because we are both on the Take Shape for Life eating plan, I couldn't have cake, so this had to do. But I'm 25! Wahoo!

We arrived at the Gibbons' home on late Friday night. We felt like we made pretty good time and it was nice to have the driving part over with. Something cool on our drive: we saw hundreds and hundreds of Sandhill Cranes that only nest near the North Platte River for about 6-8 weeks in the springtime before flying off to breeding grounds. Cool, huh?

Saturday morning, we got to see the Gibbons kids, play outside and enjoy some wonderful talks during General Conference. I am looking forward to getting the magazine so that I can re-read all of them and make comments in the margins. I'm nerdy, right?

Saturday night--we drove down to Provo to meet Brian's girlfriend, Tycie. We like her! She is very fun to talk to and we enjoyed how she interacted with Brian. It was also fun to see Becky's family and Shauna's family and watch how Josh is getting better at interacting with his cousins each time he sees them.

On Sunday, we were invited (or did I invite us?) up to the Beals home in Layton. Kristen's mom is our Take Shape for Life coach, so it was great to see all of them and have her tell us how great we're doing. :D
Kelsey enjoyed some playing time with Allison. I like that they are getting to be friends.

Monday and Tuesday were our Provo days. We enjoyed roaming campus, buying BYU apparel, running into a few friends, and seeing Maycee while we watched Scott during a dance practice. Since Steve used to be on Betsy's team, we asked if we could watch and she was more than happy to have us there.
After the dancing, we took Scott and Maycee to lunch at Cafe Rio. We had to tweak the salad a little bit, but we only barely cheated on our diets instead of full-blown cheating. We really enjoyed getting to know Maycee a little bit. She and Scott had come up to the Gibbons after conference and we got to talk to here then too. We're excited for her to be our sister-in-law and we have already started telling her the embarrassing stories about Scott, as is my prerogative...

After lunch, we got to spend more time with the Mosbackers/Wilsons. We played a few games, but mostly talked. We didn't realize just how much we missed the mountains until we saw them again. We also were there in time to see all of the trees blossom. Our campus is so beautiful and we loved being there.

On Tuesday, we went out for a picnic with the Monson side of the family. It turned out to be a bit cold, but since both of our kids had fallen asleep, I sat in the car and read while Steve got to play with his family. Sorry I was so reclusive, but we'd already spent 4 days with our non-sleeping children and it wasn't so fun! However, when one awoke, they were both up and we got to get some fun pictures (all on other's phones) with the three boy cousins (Josh, Tyler and Nathan).

Tuesday night was Cafe Rio again with the Monson side and we barely cheated again. We just needed it!

Wednesday--Shauna was so nice to take our kids for us while we went on a hike. Steve thought he'd never hear the words "I REALLY want to go on a hike while we're here" come out of my mouth, but they did. I don't know why we didn't hike as much when we lived in Utah, but I definitely miss it now that there are fewer opportunities. The hike we chose (as was recommended by the Mosbackers) was up in the Orem/Provo canyon. It was quite the hike up until you got towards the top, then it flattened out and was pretty smooth after that. We got a little jumpy when we saw pretty fresh large-cat footprints in the mud. Kind of scary and really cool at the same time. We would have been less edgy if there were more people on the trails!

After getting back from the hike and showering, we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Nufer. (By the way, we visited our Richards Granparents on Monday, but since our kids both had some kind of runny nose/diarrhea, it was a short visit.) They were thrilled to have us there and loved doting on our cute kids. While we were there, Grandpa pulled out some of the music that he and Grandma were working on for a show. It was a Broadway themed show and he wanted to see how many of the songs I would know. Out of about 18, I only missed 1 and I was pretty proud of myself!

After seeing the Nufers, we drove to Alpine to visit with our former bishop and his wife, the Packs. We really love them and enjoyed visiting for a little while. They are wonderful, wonderful people!

In the evening, we returned to the Gibbons and enjoyed the movie "Megamind" with them. It turned out to be quite a bit funnier than I was expecting!

On Thursday morning, Steve and I drove over to the distribution center in Salt Lake to donate the rainbow quilt I had made. The lady there seemed to be really happy that I had given it and Steve and I prayed that it would go to someone who really needed it.

Afterwards, we drove up to the Air Force Base and hung out with Kristen and Allison until Kevin came home. We watched Lion King, talked, relaxed and went to a park to play. Josh and Allison had some fun and we enjoyed the relaxing day. In the evening, with the kids asleep, we played many games of Yahtzee!

Friday was our Gibbons Day! We planned for the whole day with them and Matt took off work so we could all be together. In the morning, we walked over to one of Emily's friends' houses and we hid Easter eggs for all of these kids to find. The 4-and-under group got an easier time finding them than others, but it was cute.

This is the 5-and-up group as they charged for the backyard!

Quinn on the lookout

Matt enjoyed that Lia used her superior height to find eggs in the trees!

After much-needed naps, we set about to dye the Easter eggs.

Friday evening was the BYU Ballroom Dance Concert. It was a tremendous concert and it made me ache to dance! We knew so many of our friends on the higher teams and loved watching them perform. We also enjoyed talking to most of them after the show. One in particular was Steve's former dance partner who got married just before our Josh was born. They are both happily on the tour team and because we knew just how much work Carly had put into being there, I actually got a little teary watching her dance with her husband. It was so fun!
We are so happy that we got to see Scott perform! He was so great and it was fun to watch his huge smile and his increasing talents!

Saturday, we left bright and early for Chicago. Because we usually are bummed that we have to go home from vacation, we planned a trip to Flaming Gorge on our way home. Steve hadn't been there and it was fun to show him the beautiful drive.

(I had to change a poopy diaper that catwalk...)

We made it home safe and sound on Easter Sunday. It was a wonderful trip!

Happy Easter!