Utah

Lilly and I recently had the chance to visit the family in Utah. We had such a blast. Flying with Lilly this time was a tiny bit easier because I wasn’t as stressed about what people thought if she made any kind of noise. Although, I was still scared of her screaming or throwing a fit. Luckily on our way out there was no fit throwing. It was still an exhausting experience that I do not wish to repeat any time soon. It was like juggling a wiggly 21 pound pumpkin for 3 hours. 

The exhaustion was worth all the fun we had in Utah. We started off by going to the Kangaroo Zoo with Grandma Gloria and the Mike Ballard and Dave Ballard families. The Kangaroo Zoo is a large warehouse full of bouncy houses for you who do not know.

Later in that day we went up to the Chad Harris home for a family dinner and birthday party. We had a wonderful dinner, great conversation, birthday cake and the little girls ended the night with a wonderful talent show.

I forgot to bring my camera on the trip and feel awful about it. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the Harris family dinner. If anyone else has pictures of this event please send them my way.

On Sunday we had a Ballard family dinner.  It was so nice having someone else make food for me. LOL. Nothing is better than food you don’t have to make yourself. It was yum-yummy. It was also nice being around so many cousins. I could send Lilly off with the older cousins. It was like a built in babysitter. It felt really good talking to adults again.

Lilly was really sweet with all of her aunts and uncles. She spent time loving and hugging all of them. I am glad everyone got to see how sweet and cute she is. I am also thankful for the hair tips from Angela, Emily and Leslie. I have been spending the last several weeks doing all sorts of new hair stuff. It has been a lot of fun.  

On Monday I went into work and my mom watched Lilly for me. She also watched Kaleigh. I guess these two girls had a blast together. Lilly loves having someone older to follow around.

When I was done with work I had a play date with Michaelene and her three adorable kids. They all had so much fun together. I was shocked on how long Lilly lasted at the park. She usually wants to leave within the hour. I think we were there for about two hours.

Tuesday I spent with my friends and their kids. We started off at Riverdale park with the Monsen and Brooks family and then went to Get Air Sports with the Brooks and Wilson family. Get Air Sports is a large trampoline facility. They had foam pits you could jump in to and massive group trampolines. We learned fast that they frown on more than one kid being in the foam pit at a time. Trying telling kids 5 and under that they can’t be in there at the same time. And for some reason I was always the adult that got the lecture. Lilly enjoyed playing with all 3 families.

 

Wednesday we went shopping with my mom. It was such a blast. It was so much fun going shopping with another girl and spending money!! For lunch we met up with my dad and had lunch at Sonora Grill. There are no good Mexican restaurants out here in Iowa. The wonderful Mexican food in Utah was a special treat.

Later that night I went over to the Dave Ballard family for dinner and games. It was another yum-yummy dinner. It was also fun playing the game Pay Day. I hadn’t played the game since I was probably 14 years old. I lost….Leslie won.

Thursday I want to Fat Cats Arcade with the Steve Ballard family. It was another fun activity. Lilly LOVED walking around the arcade holding all of her tickets. It was adorable. At the arcade we also got to play on the bumper cars and went miniature golfing.

 

For dinner we ate at Kneader’s in Ogden. They have the best éclairs. After Kneader’s the Steve Ballard family took me on a small tour of the new and improved Ogden River. I am very impressed with all the new improvements in the Ogden area.

Friday Lilly and I went to the Dinosaur Park with Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Richard. It was nice spending time with just my parents and Lilly. Grandpa made sure we viewed all the dinosaurs and didn’t miss anything. Lilly loved playing on all of the jungle gym dinosaur toys. By the time we left she even started growling like the dinosaurs. It was very cute.

On Saturday Lilly and I went to a Birthday party for my friend’s little boy, Ashton. She had a great time holding the tickets at that Toad’s Arcade as well. Saturday night I went to dinner and a movie with my friends. It was a lot of fun. It was the first movie I have been to for about 6 months.

Sunday I got to attend the Brigham City Temple dedication. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t actually go to Brigham City for the dedication. For some reason I assumed that you got to be at the temple for the dedication. I guess it makes sense why everyone can’t be there.

Sunday night we went over to the Mike Ballard home for games. I love games!! I lost again… I was on a bad game streak in Utah. By this time in our stay Lilly was no longer ‘new’ for the cousins. They weren’t as excited about watching her as they were at the beginning of the trip, which I completely understand. She kept getting hurt and was crying by the time we left. I guess that was good timing for us to head back to Iowa.

It was sad leaving on Monday. When my parents dropped us off at the airport they watched while we got in line. Lilly kept gesturing for them to come and join us in the line and was really sad when they didn’t it broke my heart. The flight home was worse than the flight to Utah. Lilly had a throw down fit in Denver right in front of our entire fellow flyers. They all were looking at me like ‘I hope I don’t have to sit by them.’ Then Lilly kicked the guy sitting next to us. He was sleeping and she tried to use his leg to stand up. The poor guy jerked awake and started asking ‘what’. By the time we arrived home I was so exhausted and ornery. I feel bad for Tyson welcoming home a mean wife and daughter.

We had so much fun in Utah. Thank you everyone for hung out with us and keeping us company. Also, for Richard and Gloria letting us stay at your house, watching Lilly, making us dinner, and letting me use the car.  We love you and miss you all already!