Salt Lake

There are few things I love more than Salt Lake City in the Spring. And since Neil had to travel to muggy New Orleans last week, I decided to tackle the nine hour drive with Chloe to go see my family. We left Saturday morning at 5am and arrived in Salt Lake at 2pm. We made incredible time all things considered, and Chloe was a DREAM on the road. She slept at least half the drive and only had to stop to go to the bathroom once (I'm still scratching my head over that one). When she wasn't sleeping she was perfectly content watching a movie, chattering away about getting to see Uncle David and Grandpa Roy and Grandma Jill and Grandma Martha (and so on), and eating the mounds of candy I kept rewarding her with for her good behavior. No wonder she was so cheerful!

The week flew by in a flash, and I was actually kind of bummed when Thursday rolled around and it was time to say goodbye. We made happy memories though. A hop, skip and a jump to Sugar House park with grandpa Roy, date night with David (my brother), hearing mom speak in Sacrament Meeting, dad and mom's weekly film fest. with their wonderful friends (and dad's grilled salmon), seeing my surrogate big sisters, Angela (who just happened to be visiting that same week from NY) and Allie, lunch with my mom's siblings, an afternoon with Wendy and Chase, grocery shopping with dad (may sound silly to you, but it's one of our favorite things to do together), lazy afternoons on my parent's gorgeous back patio (where Neil and I had our wedding reception 6 summers ago), visits with my 91-year-old grandmother, whom Chloe adores, shopping at Down East Outfitters with mom (one of my favorite stores, which is naturally NOT in Colorado Springs), introducing 7-11 slurpees to Chloe (she was a fan), and breaking in my mom's bread machine with some good old home made pizza were just a few highlights. And speaking of amazing food, let's not forget Cafe Rio and Hires - 2 of my favorite places to eat in Salt Lake. YUM! It was a fun and full week! Chloe is officially in love with her grandpa. He was definitely the highlight of her trip, though Grandma and Uncle David weren't far behind!

The only drawback to these Utah trips is not getting to see everyone. It's quite impossible considering 95% of my family and even a small chunk of Neil's family lives in the area. And with how little I see my parents and brother, they are naturally my first priority! So if I did not see you, I am sorry! We will be back right after Christmas and hope to see more of you at that point!

Here are some pictures from the trip. Thanks again for everything, Dad and Mom! It was just perfect!