utah trip

10/10/13-10/13/13
we had such a fantastic trip to utah.  we started by going to logan to see lauren on thursday.  my first niece at college!  we surprised her and showed up with two huge pizzas from pie hole and 12 different flavors of root beer for her and her roommates.  that was fun.  we were at her cute dorm until 1:30 am talking and getting to know her roommates.  we then went back to our hotel and the girls took a bath in our big jacuzzi tub and watched a movie before kg and i took our turn.  when it was filled i went to turn it off and accidentally turned it up and the whole faucet shot off and up into the air before hitting kg in the leg and sending water everywhere!  we could not stop laughing!  always something exciting.

friday we went to the cheese factory and spoiled lauren with some cheese!  then we went to temple.  it's so gorgeous!  after that we took lauren to lunch at bluebird before her classes and then wandered around downtown logan before driving up logan canyon to see the changing leaves.  so beautiful.  we got back about 4 and had an hour to waste so we bought some fun lollipops and sat in the grocery store parking lot reading until we heard from my parents who were coming into town for the bsu game the following day.  when they arrived at 5 we took them to lauren's dorm and then picked up lauren and her friend maddie to go to dinner at maddox.  that place is always delicious!  from there we bought pies to take to the kline's and we were off to salt lake, saying good-bye to lauren and my parents.

we stayed up late talking to scot and val and really enjoyed ourselves.  i'm so grateful to have such good friends in them.  the kids were so excited to see each other.

saturday we spend the day at lagoon with val and the kids!  such a fun time seeing all the halloween stuff.  we had a wonderful time!  we left at 7 and parted ways for a bit so we could go to dinner with marco, stephanie and their cute kids!  it was sadly too short of a visit but things just get crazy!  we headed back to val's about 11 and stayed up late talking again.

sunday was just a nice relaxing day of talking, playing and enjoying their company.  we finally got on the road for home about 3 pm.

they were very gracious hosts and i'm glad we had so much time with them.  can't wait for our next trip!
(all the photos after maddox were taken with my phone because it's easier!)

salt lake {day 3}-christus, gateway, red iguana, marco

my friend bobbie gave us this scarf and river and I loved wearing it on this trip.

we started off the day by going to blue plate in search of food. this was disappointing.  the food was good but they were inattentive.   i told the waitress i couldn't eat gluten and asked what they had.  she said they could accommodate on some dishes and pointed out a few.  i ordered one she recommended.  i was very annoyed to realize after several bites that she in fact didn't make it gluten free.  when i asked her if it was she said, "no, it's not" and looked at me like we never had the conversation.  not impressed.  so although the bites i had were delicious, they lose big points.
however, i did love their decor!

the hot chocolate came in rad retro mugs...to bad it was nasty!

we then discovered trader joe's and wasted no time going inside and getting some treats.

after that we went to see the christus.

kg had been suffering from a headache all day so he went back to the hotel to take a nap.  the girls kept wanting to ride the train so we took a ride to gateway mall.
for those that don't know, i have a fascination with trains.  i love them.  i love that this used be a working train station and it's so easy for me to imagine travelers and the ticket booth and hustling about.  it was really cool to stand in there and just imagine.  it also was a wicked cool place for echos!  :)  we did a lot of yelling.

we then wandered in to blickenstaff's.  i started taking photos and right away the gal came up and asked if i blogged.  why yes i do.  well if i mention them in my blog and link their facebook page i get a pound of free candy.  don't mind if i do!  we got a pound of peanut brittle for kg.  this was a really fun store.  great mix of candy and toys.  i love me a candy store!  the girls each pushed around a child size cart and found a doll to put in the front.  they were in heaven.  santa got a few things for kg's stocking  there, too, including a super cool battery operated spider! :)

the girls chose these mrs. claus chocolates as their treat.

we finally went back and got kg to go to dinner at red iguana.  we had heard wonderful things and it didn't disappoint.  i immediately love a restaurant that actually has a gluten free menu to hand me because it makes my life and the waiter's life so much easier!

the food was wonderful and our waiter was impressive!

the red hat photos are new favorites of mine!  love them!

love!

finally we ended the night at marco's house.  the girls had a wonderful time with tieran while the boys got in their way. ;) and we talked with marco and stephanie.

liam

brody

the boys were so tired!  but they sure are cute.

tieran complained about river so KG told her a secret on how to deal with her.  unfortunately it didn't go as planned and then she got bumped on the head and started to cry and went right to kg for comfort.  it was so sweet.

such cute kids!  i wish we saw them more.  i would love to have tieran spend the night.  the girls have asked a couple of times already. :)

it was a short visit but i'm so happy we got to see them.

when we got back to the hotel kg took the girls to the hot tub and i enjoyed some peace and quiet.  when they got back the girls were in the bathtub and the news came on saying a huge snow storm was hitting utah between early morning and noon.  right when we'd be traveling the the utah portion of the trip.  we felt strongly that we should leave and not wait till morning.  so by the time the girls were out and we were packed and loaded we drove out of salt lake about 11:30 pm.  it had already started to snow and we had to drive fairly slow and followed a semi very closely and it hadn't even gotten 'bad' yet!  made me very grateful we followed our gut!  we got home at 3:45 am and went to bed!  it was such a wonderful trip and time spent together.  and lest you think everything was perfect...the girls each missed out on a hot tub visit due to poor choices.  flower didn't get to go the first night and river didn't get to go the next afternoon.  but for the most part they did great and we had fun!