Utah!!!

I recently had a fabulous extended weekend trip to Utah.

A week ago Thursday Drew dropped me off at the airport at 11:30 a.m. Thirteen and a half hours and two layovers later I was finally arrived in Salt Lake. Like Liz, Alaina travelled very well, but it was still a long day.

In Utah I made pilgrimages to Down East Basics, Pizzeria 712, Cafe Rio, and the Barnes family cabin. I also visited with my brother Dave and his wife, Emily, and my sister Julie's family. . . And most of my Nielson family sister-in-laws:

Alaina "played" with her cousin, Smith. I tried to get a cute shot of them together, but this is the best I could get:

This was more typical:

On Sunday night we met our extended family at the cabin for one last get-together before it is sold at the end of the month.

While there we took a picture of everyone present and also a shot of great-grandkids on the rocks where we have taken so many family pictures over the years. I don't have copies of the pictures yet, but here's a shot of Wendy and Julie trying to get the kids to smile:

I was fortunate enough to spend a couple nights at the cabin reliving some of my favorite cabin moments with Alaina: drinking hot chocolate on the front porch swing, cuddling in front of the heaters in the morning, singing along to the player piano, watching chipmunks eat bread pieces while we eat breakfast, walking around the loop and Silver Lake:

When I was kid my Dad caught tadpoles for us at Silver Lake, now it's stroller-friendly with a boardwalk. Alaina obligingly slept so I could daydream about times when I visited the lake with my hubbie, friends, family, and campers.

We also enjoyed swinging on the log swing underneath the tree house. Unfortunately Laines is still too small to enjoy the Bunk house and swingset.

We played with pine cones. Laina thought it was pretty funny to try and feed them to me and I was grateful that she didn't put any in her mouth.

Naturally we visited the burned down cabin just like I remember doing ever since I was a small child. We also went to all the nearby rocks named by my grandmother: Slide Rock, Dance Hall Rock, and M 'n M Rock. At Dance Hall Rock I felt especially sad that I did not bring Liz because she could have actually danced.

All-in-all it was a lovely trip and I'm grateful to everyone who made it possible. Thanks to Sharon and Wendi who watched Liz while I was gone and to Drew who rearranged his work schedule to accomodate me. Special thanks to Julie for letting me stay with her and for shopping with me and driving me around everywhere. And thanks to Erin for giving Lainey and I a ride to the airport.

Our return flight was so much better than our outbound one. It was delayed and my connection was in jeopardy so American Airlines swapped me to a direct Delta flight--I love it when the do that--and Lainey slept the whole way. Here she is in the airport eating her foot while I was trying to feed her dinner:

I got home Tuesday and had three days turnaround time to get ready for our Outer Banks trip. I did not use my time wisely. Wednesday I bummed around. Thursday I went with Liz on a summer school field trip and then to a water park. Today I finally got down to unpacking and repacking. I can hardly wait to lay on the beach. . . .