Utah!

So this week started out all work, and ended with nothing but play!  We managed to squeeze in a belly shot before the kids and I headed out of town (a few days earlier than normal - but before I ate my weight in food over the weekend…hello appetite, it's nice to see you again…I think).

Monday after work I pulled out the kids clothes I was taking, and Tuesday after work the kids helped me pull out my clothes - apparently they know that not much fits anymore and were pulling Justin's clothes for me to wear. 

Wednesday was pretty much spent in the car.  We drove to Salt Lake City - which is a 10ish hour drive, but with lots of potty stops and long meal breaks for the kids to run; it was a 11-12 hour drive.  One of our potty stops had a playground that the kids were able to enjoy before finishing the drive.

Over all, the kids were amazing in the car.  We invested in a DVD player for the car that has two monitors (so A, who is still rear-facing in her car seat, can see the movie too).  It was well worth the investment.  We took plenty of movies (though seemed to watch the same three the entire trip up and down), lots of snacks, and plenty of patience.  Every time we passed a mountain with snow on it, J would yell for me to pull over so he could say hi to the snow.  Same thing for cows.  Though, by the time we had hit the outskirts of SLC, he was losing his patience, and sick of seeing cows.  We'd point them out and he'd yell "I DONT WANT TO SEE ANYMORE COWS!!!".  That's about the time our car stopped for dinner.  The remainder of the car was quite peaceful, the full bellies and the then fully set sun, the kids were out like a light for the last hour of the drive.

Grandma and Grandpa rented a five-bedroom condo for all the trip participants.  Since we were one of the first people in the place, we got to stake our claim on a room, and wisely chose the upstairs room with a queen bed (upstairs there was also the master and a room with two twins; in the basement there was a room with a queen and a room with two twins).  The kids and I shared the queen bed for the weekend, which worked great for them…though for some reason I always woke up stiff and less-than-refreshed….

Thursday morning we woke up an empty condo.  The kids slept through all the adults taking off for the ski slopes (thankfully).  After some breakfast we headed out to the grocery store to get the ingredients for dinner as well as some eggs and other breakfast items.  J was thrilled to see they had mini shopping carts for him to push around, and insisted that all items went into his basket.  So he pushed the food, and I pushed a cart with A in it.  Honestly, it was the most efficient trip to the grocery store I have taken solo with both kids, ever.

After taking the food back to the condo, we headed up to the ski resort Grandma and Grandpa were at and played in the snow then had lunch with them before heading back down to the condo to rest and make dinner.

Friday the kids and I headed over to the Living Planet Aquarium and explored their exhibits.  By and far the kids loved the shark tunnel and penguins the best.

After the aquarium we headed back to the condo, then out to the local park with Aunt Emily and Henry.  Then it was back to the condo to have dinner and hang out with the skiers and snowboarders who had returned from the slopes.  J was so stoked to see Uncle Chris and Aunt Natalie had arrived; and brought Uncle Kaiser and Aunt Dani with them!  After some relaxing in (or in our case, beside) the hot tub, it was off to bed.

Saturday we headed back to the ski slopes for some more playtime in the snow and lunch with the gang.  This time the sun was out and it was much warmer (almost 50!).  We found a quiet-ish place to plant ourselves and the kids went to town making friends and building "Olafs". 

Then it was back to the condo (via the long way so help lengthen the "nap" the kids got in the car) for our last dinner and evening of play in SLC. 

We had such a great time with all our family and friends on this trip.  We are so thankful to everyone who made it so special, and made it possible.  We wish Justin could have joined us, but alas, time off work is hard to come by at the moment.

Until next week friends, I'm one tired mama after the 11 hr drive home today, so I'm calling it a night.