Utah Trip- PART 3

After the family reunion, we drove down the canyon and headed toward Provo.  But on the way, we stopped at a boutique in Heber where I bought some darling new jewelry.  I love Utah boutiques—SO much better than what we have in Texas.

I couldn’t resist a trip to BYU, and Erin’s husband, James had never been there!  Also, I loved showing our alma matter off to Olivia and brainwashing her so she’ll want to go there in 14 years.  Thankfully, she LOVES BYU.  Go Cougars!!!

A family shot after our visit to the bookstore (and a snack of the BYU chocolate covered cinnamon bears):

Talk about a beautiful backdrop!  Huge mountains and that BLUE sky…

Olivia posing with the “Y” in the background:

    

I was put in charge of planning activities for our family to do all weekend, but we have a very unique group that makes planning really hard…We also quickly discovered how difficult it was to get out the door with Maddie, Olivia, and Jack all on opposite napping schedules.  We had to split up a few times, but still managed to fit in quite a few activities:

Of course, we ate breakfast at Kneaders several times!

On Friday, we visited the Gateway Children’s Museum with my parents.  It was FABULOUS!

They even had a REAL life-flight helicopter on the roof!

 

My dad and Olivia recorded their own news show with real video cameras and a green screen:

After the museum, we threw on the girls’ swim suits and let them play in the splash park outside.  I thought Maddie would be scared, but she LOVED it!  She would put her face right up to the holes in the ground and wait for the water to spray out.

Later that night, my aunt found us a babysitter, and we went to a fabulous Japanese restaurant, called Tsunami, with Susie and Craig, followed by games at their house.

On Saturday, we went to Olympic Park in Park City.  It was awesome!!!  In the summer, skiers that are practicing for the Olympics can ski off of these huge jumps and do crazy flips into a swimming pool.  Cool, right?!  I’ve always wondered how skiers practice year-round.

 

Can you see the guy mid-flip?  It was pretty crazy to watch…

We ate lunch at The Bridge Cafe in Park City and then headed to the Alpine Slides.  The lines were REDICULOUSLY long (like 2.5 hours) and it started to rain just as we got there.  They had to close the rides down and wait for the tracks to dry.  Erin and I left with our families so the babies could nap…We were so bummed.  But my parents ended up staying…haha!  They were dead-set on zip-lining!!!!  As it turned out, it only drizzled for 5 minutes, which made everyone in line leave.  My parents walked right on to all of the rides without a wait!  We should have stayed.

We also….

-went shopping at Tai Pan (my favorite!) and Sur le Table

-visited the community of Daybreak….So beautiful and unique!  I could totally be okay with living there.

-ate at Cafe Rio, Gandalfo’s, and In-n-Out (why is it that the food in Utah is so nostalgic to us…and so stinkin’ good?!?)

-Visited the Riverwoods Mall

-stocked up on new church books for the kids at Deseret Book and Seagull Book…We let Olivia pick out her own pink CTR ring and necklace too!  As she started school, we wanted her to always remember to CHOOSE THE RIGHT.

 

Ideas for Our Next Trip:

-go tubing down the Provo River

-Shop at the Dear Lizzy Boutique

-Eat  at Spark, Market Street Grill, Sammie's, Golden Spoon, and Asian Star

-Visit Gardner’s Village and Thanksgiving Point

-go on the Heber Creeper

-See the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theater and go to “Music and the Spoken Word”

-Visit the BYU alumni building