At the end of April, Kyler and I (and, uh, Calista. We didn't abandon her) went to Utah for about a week. We decided to go because three of our friends were graduating with their Masters degrees, and five were walking for their Bachelors. Whew! After this, all these people may go in every which way, so we jumped on the opportunity to say goodbye and relax after Kyler's finals.
We drove down to Raymond on a Friday, stayed the night, and then Saturday went all the way to Lehi, Utah in one day. With a nine-month-old. She was actually pretty good, partially because we decided to have me join her in the backseat. Calista liked the company and the food far better than being alone. Once we got there, we were exhausted and very happy to have a place to crash and relax.
Calista got to meet new people...
Like Tim! Okay, they had technically met before, but she was only 3 weeks old. Calista is much older (and more fun) now. Tim was her buddy. We went to church with Tim and Maria, our gracious hosts, and when Tim read aloud during Sunday School, Calista was riveted.
Calista also got to meet Pepper, the sweetest and most enthusiastic dog you'll ever meet.
Calista wasn't terribly fond of being licked, but Pepper got pretty good at leaving her alone if we snapped our fingers.
Calista definitely warmed up to Pepper as the week went on, which led to the occasional lick, but as I told Calista, if you crawl towards to dog, that's what you get.
We took this opportunity to let Calista try new foods...
This is Maria, our other gracious host! And, no, Calista didn't actually eat the chips, but she did eat salsa, sushi, and...
...a pickle. And she loved it, until she dropped it in the dirt and I took it away.
And, of course, we saw the Utah sights.
We spent one day entirely on BYU campus. We had
J Dawgs for lunch, which is actually where Calista had the above pickle. We wandered all over campus, stopping by the art museum, the Bean Museum, and the palaeontology museum. The last one we'd never been to, and while small, it's really cool!
She's reaching for the teeth, perhaps not a wise move?
Dinosaur bone!
We also went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with Liz and Jake, but we forgot our camera, so we don't have pictures... ask Liz for them, they remembered their camera? At Thanksgiving Point, we looked at pretty flowers and Liz and I rolled down a massive hill because we're, you know, seven or something. Seriously, it was a huge hill - I felt like I was losing control for a bit and tried to force myself to stop... it took a while. But fun! And the flowers were pretty.
Kyler and I actually had a date night - we went to see Hunger Games - and Calista was left with Tim and Maria. She cried a tiny bit at one point, but by the time Tim got upstairs to check on her, she had quieted so he didn't disturb her. Good idea, Tim.
We also, of course, had to have a downtown SLC day. We went over to Huntsman, where I saw all my co-workers and they fed us an awesome lunch, but we forgot to bring our camera in from the car while we were there, so... no picture.
Following that, we headed to Temple Square.
The whole family, fingers in the mouth, in front of the Christus Statue.
We just got married today! Okay, fine, more than 4.5 years ago. Whatever.
Then we went to the new City Creek Mall to check in out, and actually really enjoyed it.
Kyler and the stroller (sans Babe. She was being carried by Jake. She got spoiled this trip with all the attention she got) at one of the entrances to the mall.
Playing in the water with Liz. I had to touch it a couple of times to get her to go for it.
Fountain!
The mall was surprisingly peaceful.
Other silly things:
The new dance craze that's sweeping the nation!
Doing the Couch Dive!
Wearing Daddy's hat!
It was such a relaxing trip, full of friends, food, and fun. Perfect break for Kyler after finishing up his first year as a Masters student himself!
