Utah!

The little boys and I took a trip to Utah at the end of September. It was General Conference weekend, though I didn't realize that when we planned the trip. I went there for a Spina Bifida Education Day in Salt Lake, and to visit family, of course.

Day 1: This was a very highly anticipated airplane ride. My goal was to mentally prep Evan with all the details so his anxiety would be eased enough that I could focus on keeping Seth happy and entertained. Dada dropped us off before going to work, so we had lots of time to watch airplanes while we waited for our own flight. I think it helped Evan to see planes taking off so that he knew what was coming when it was time for us to take off. I expected Seth to want to get off my lap and run down the aisle of the plane, but he actually seemed a little nervous which worked in my favor because he did not want to leave my lap for a while.  Dum dums, drinks, iPad, coloring books, and snacks were the keys to our success. (Mostly the snacks)

 

Grandma picked us up at the airport and took us to visit Grandpa at work at the Wells Fargo building in Salt Lake. Then first things first after arriving in Utah: TEMPLES!! The Provo City Center and Provo temples are new ones for Evan's temple picture wall in his room.

About 2 seconds after this picture, Seth came running towards these stairs and tripped, smacking his nose on the corner of the concrete step and getting a bloody nose. Blood on the temple grounds. Blood on our clothes.

While in Provo, I told Evan lots of stories of "Mama and Dada used to come here a lot before you were born." "This is the house we lived in when you were born." "This is where Mama and Dada went to school." and stuff like that. Evan loved that we went out for ice cream at the BYU creamery before dinner! At night Grandpa launched glowing spinning rocket helicopter things.

On Thursday, Great-grandma Garrett took us to the dinosaur museum and farm country at Thanksgiving Point. Evan was sure to explain to people that there were NOT dinosaurs at the museum--just dinosaur BONES. His favorite thing in the whole museum was the star room.

 

At farm country we went on a tractor hay ride and got scared by a mooing cow. Evan was super brave and surprised me by being willing to ride the pony by himself. Seth surprised me by not even wanting to get near the pony. 

After we came home, Evan and I made bead necklaces while Seth slept. When Grandma came home from the temple and Grandpa came home from work, Nate and Caitlyn came over and we all went bowling. Then we met Uncle Austin at Macey's for ice cream cones. It reminded me of when Isaiah and I would walk to Macey's in Provo and share a giant ice cream with each other and Evan, who was only about 6 months old at the time.

On Friday we were again spoiled as Great-grandma Garrett took us to the beautiful Thanksgiving Point Gardens and the Curiosity Museum. Evan pushed Seth through a lot of the gardens, including up some big hills. I loved the waterfalls and the statues of Christ. Evan and Seth loved feeding the fish at the koi pond. We didn't last too long at the Curiosity Museum since the boys were getting tired, but they still managed to get in some good water play, block building, and music making. Evan really loved the art room where there was a spinning plate with colorful sand on it.

At night we went to Great-grandma's for spaghetti dinner (Evan's choice) and the BYU football game. Grandpa pushed Evan so high on the swing. Seth preferred small pushes.

Saturday was the Spina Bifida Education Day at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake. There were speakers and break-out sessions as well as some time to mingle. Some people there had spina bifida and some people were parents or spouses of people with spina bifida. I was fascinated to meet and talk to a mom who has two children the same ages as my kids. She has spina bifida herself and it was incredible to learn how she manages life and kids while not being able to walk long distances or carry her baby. I loved hearing the adult perspectives of life with spina bifida.

Saturday and Sunday were also General Conference. The boys stayed at home with the grandparents on Saturday and we all stayed home Sunday to watch it. Sunday night was the semi-annual Packard post-conference dinner at Great-grandma Packard's house. At our family get-togethers in California there are just two other cousins. Here, there were TONS of cousins! Evan only lasted 5 seconds in the room with all of them. He said it was too loud and opted to go outside with Seth and have a screaming war instead. 

On Monday we had a Garrett family night with many more cousins. I'm a little sad my boys don't get to experience more of that. Big family get-togethers were such a big part of my childhood.

Tuesday was final indoctrination of the BYU obsession by Grandma and Grandpa. Earlier in the week we had visited the Cosmo statue, the BYU football stadium, and the BYU creamery. We also had to point out the Y on the mountain every time we saw it. Then there was the BYU football game and the BYU quilt on Grandma's couch. Not to mention the BYU sunglasses for both boys. Now they were ready to actually visit B-Y-U. There was another Cosmo statue. There were "Y"s everywhere. Evan got a BYU basketball t-shirt and even a BYU fidget spinner for his birthday. Neither boy could tell you a thing about BYU prior to our trip, but now both boys know that BYU is the BEST, and Seth will quickly point out any "Y" logo on our clothes.

This is where Dada used to work

After BYU we drove up Provo canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. It was freezing. We took pictures real fast and left. But the view from inside the car was perfect. There's not much better than Utah in the fall.

Nate had taken the day off work to be with us. He and Caitlyn came back to Grandma and Grandpa's and we played games. We went to Hee Haw's at night. Everything was perfect for my kiddos. I loved watching Evan be terrified of the goats and Caitlyn nearly go into labor on the hay ride. Seth was scared the first few times on the big slide, but by the end of the night both boys were going down on their own. Evan got his 2nd pony ride of the week.

Caitlyn, Nate, Seth, Evan, Grandpa, Mama

Wednesday was a more chill day--I got together with some of my besties from junior high/high school and their kids. Thursday morning we completed my Utah bucket list by going out to Kneader's for french toast. 

Then Caitlyn drove us to the airport so we could finally go home to Dada! What a week!