road trip

I wish I could say that this was the girls the whole time we drove up to Utah, but it wasn't. The drive up was not pleasant, let's put it that way.:) Marisa was fine, but Natalie had the hardest time. I'm sure she was thinking, "Why am I still in my carseat?" Needless to say, we stopped in St. George on the way back for the night to break things up a bit. It made a HUGE difference.
So, most people who know me well know that I am not a spontaneous person. Too stressful for me. I'm a planner. So last minute to decide to take a short weekend road trip is NOT like me. It was peer pressure. My best friend Lindsie and Tim literally peer pressured me to do it. haha
After being cornered in every way I gave in to their crazy ideas and headed north. Lindsie knows that it took a lot for me to say yes so she graced me with a "spontaneous dance", she called it, and a toe-touch for going out of my comfort zone. haha I have the best of friends.
So our little family packed up and left Thursday morning and we were back in California Monday afternoon. Crazy, I know.

The first thing on my Utah list was to visit BYU. I'm such a dork. I totally miss school and I REALLY wanted to see campus. I wish I could go back in time, wear my backpack to school, go to my classes and learn, go back and ballroom dance, and have no other worry in the world. Back when there was very minimal responsiblity. ;) But visiting will have to do.
We visited the good ol' Wilk and saw the Hinckley building for the first time. We also took Marisa back to our colleges. Marisa saw the newsroom where I spent a lot of my time and we walked through the Tanner building and saw all the new additions.










The next day we went to Temple Square and saw the Lion House, the Salt Lake City temple, looked out at the Observation deck, ate at Nauvoo Cafe, and watched the Joseph Smith movie. As always, I felt the spirit testify to me again that the church is true. I hope the girls felt it too and I hope that they always keep their goals toward the temple.












Later that night we went to Sundance to eat at one of the best restuarants ever. Not only did Tim propose to me at Foundry Grill, but it is delicious food. The lemonade is by far the best. Real raspberries in my raspberry lemonade. There are cute little shops next door and at one of the shops we got some yummy artisan lollipops. Sara, Mike, Fernando, and Leslie joined us. In the car Marisa said, "I miss Sara and Mike and Fernando and Leslie" as we were driving to SLC after dinner. She loves being around family and can't get enough of everybody.










Lastly, on Sunday before heading home, we spent time with the Hart family. Every Sunday night they all gather at Grandma Donna's house. I wish we lived there for just that reason alone. Being able to see family all of the time.






It was a fun spontaneous trip and we are glad we did it. Any family time with Tim that we can squeeze in is worth it. Marisa said she wanted to go back to Utah so we will definetly have to be back soon.