Utah Part 2: Marc and Sarah's Grand Adventure

Tuesday, Day 4
We spent the morning swimming at Ryan's mom's house who generously offered to let us use her in-ground pool while she was at work. We took Meagan, Camden and Kaleb with us while their parents were at the temple. Jen met us there with Cayelle and Cassius and Lora came with Maya. It was quite the party. We all enjoyed swimming even though the morning was a little cool. Gabe, however, decided to add some additional excitement to the event. He came walking up to Marc with what looked like a rubber snake wrapped around his arm. "Look Daddy, a snake!" Then the snake started moving. Marc told Gabe to put it down so Gabe threw it in the pool. It started wriggling frantically and Marc had to fish it out. Needless to say, there was a lot of screaming from the girls.
After lunch, everyone 2 and older went to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It was highly entertaining and even though we thought it was a little scary our boys weren't bothered at all. On the way home, we learned that our nephew's favorite part (Kaleb is 8) was when one character said to another "You're sexy." We thought that was pretty funny.
Oma watched all of the kids so the four remaining siblings and their spouses could go out to dinner. Here is a picture she took of Elijah, David John and their cousin Maya jammin' on the piano.

Wednesday, Day 5
We said goodbye to Rebecca, Marcus and their kids as they drove back home to Denver before Marc and I left for our first overnight getaway since the twins were born. Oma and Opa bravely agreed to watch all three of our boys for 24 hours. We hit our favorite burger joint for lunch. It's called Burger Supreme- if you are ever in the Provo area please give it a try. It has awesome burgers and fries and the best fry sauce. After that we headed to the Mount Timpanogas Temple where we were married almost 8 1/2 years ago. We didn't get any pictures there this time, but for those of you who didn't know us before we were married here is a flashback:


We then headed to the Thanksgiving Point gardens. They were just incredible and far more expansive than we expected.

My favorite was the garden entitled "The Secret Garden" complete with an ivy-hidden door. It really made me feel as if I were in the story I read so long ago.


We checked into a bed and breakfast in Salt Lake City with themed rooms. Ours was a secret agent theme complete with a bookcase that really opens up to an awesome bathroom with two-person jacuzzi. Our stay included cheesecake and sparkling cider at night and an amazing breakfast in bed in the morning. We loved it. For dinner that night, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse- if you've never been to one you need to go. We definitely enjoyed our romantic and relaxing night away.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our boys were spending time with Oma and Opa. They loved helping Oma pick pears from her tree in the backyard.

They also "helped" Opa sort out six boxes of files around bedtime.


Thursday, Day 6
We were grateful to find, as Opa put it, that "Despite everything, everyone is still alive." Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder and we were happy to see our little guys again.

I did some shopping at the BYU bookstore and got a favorite and rare treat of chocolate-covered cinnamon bears. Lora and I also learned that the clothing store Shade is going out of business. We visited the store and I scored an awesome brown tank top for $4. Their online store still has a few things left. You should check it out.
At night we went out with our good friends Josh and Evette Dutton to the Pizza Factory, another Provo favorite. Marc also got to see his friend Ben Sorensen. His wife was due on Friday, but their little girl didn't favor us by arriving before we had to leave.


Friday, Day 7
Sadly, this was our last day. We spent the morning packing and grabbed lunch at Cafe Rio (who knew Provo had so many delicious restaurants?) before heading to the airport. We had an absolute blast on our trip and, thankfully, the flights home were not nearly so long as on the way out. We arrived back in Cleveland at 11 pm and our kind neighbor met us at the airport with our van. It's always fun to travel, but it also good to come home. I found that what I missed most (besides by friends, and the birth of my friend's baby) was my pillow. We are glad to be back, but will be looking forward to our next Utah vacation.