Salt Lake City Trip - February 2017
In February Burke and I decided to plan a mini getaway. We knew our family badly needed to lift our spirits and make new happy memories, but with three small children and a baby who needed to eat every 3 hours still, we didn't want to spend a whole bunch of money on a big trip that we couldn't fully enjoy at this stage. We decided to simply head to Salt Lake for three days to put new wind in our sails.
The kids absolutely loved it and we did too, although it was quite stressful to me to be in a "mother's lounge" where people kept bursting in every few minutes while I tried to feed little Al.
That night we checked into our AirBnB and went to Gourmandise, a fun restaurant in Salt Lake that my sister in law Kristen had taken us all to at our lady's weekend the year before. I knew Burke would love it...if we hadn't had kids with us! In hind site we should have gone somewhere else as we couldn't get a parking spot and circled the block probably 3 times trying to find one as it was cold and raining and we didn't want to haul Alan for a long walk. We then had a long wait, the kids were starving and couldn't appreciate the fun original menu. We ended up eating quickly so we could get them back to bed and are now longing for a chance to go back sometime alone. The fancy desserts soothed over a lot of rising tempers...that is until we got to our AirBnB right as Burke's phone died which had the access code to unlock the door on it! We had to backtrack several blocks to find a 7-Eleven where we could buy a phone charger (since ours was already locked inside the AirBnB with our bags), wait for the phone to charge and head back getting the kids to bed WAY too late again and resulting in a super cranky Mama.
The next day we went to Temple Square in the morning and had such a nice time showing the girls the beautiful buildings, talking about the gospel and our pioneer heritage, and eating at the Nauvoo Cafe.
One of my favorite parts was going into the Visitors Center and showing the girls the beautiful mural of the universe and the giant Christus statue. I love having the opportunity to show them the nails in his hands and feet, to talk with them about the reality of Christ's love for each of us and the power of the atonement. I reminded them that because of Jesus Christ's atonement, crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, we will be with our Aiden boy again some day.
We enjoyed the Visitors Center and then went across the street to the Church History Museum. I wish we could have stayed there for hours and hours - it was SO well done with so many gorgeous, informative displays, but the girls were starting to melt down at this point.
To help them finish the trip out strong, we drove past the beautiful Utah Capital Building and went to the famous Hatches Chocolates - the amazing chocolate shop run by a midget couple! Everything was ridiculously expensive and ridiculously delicious. We particularly liked the hilarious artwork of the midget couple being showered with chocolate as their customer parking sign that warned that violators would be "booted or towed at the owners expense, then dipped in chocolate." :) Daphne also wanted us to buy the octopus artwork on display and I was tempted!
At the hotel pool (left pictures) and in our little AirBnB house near Capital Hill in Salt Lake City.
The first night we let the kiddos stay up late to go swimming and deeply regretted our choice as Darcie would NOT go to sleep afterwards and was up until nearly midnight messing around while we desperately tried to keep her quiet so as not to wake the other kids!
The next morning we took time to test drive a couple of vans as we were bursting at the seams in our Toyota and sick to death of the kids all crammed together in the back seat. None of these particular vans impressed us, so we cut the search short and headed over to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper for several hours.
The kids absolutely loved it and we did too, although it was quite stressful to me to be in a "mother's lounge" where people kept bursting in every few minutes while I tried to feed little Al.
The miniature and brilliantly colored poisonous tree frogs were some of our favorites as well as the penguins and gigantic rays in the shark tunnel.
Daphne's favorite display was undoubtedly the Octopus! She was so proud that she found his hiding spot and went on and on about all the amazing abilities of octopuses. For the past year she has been adamant that she is going to be a entomologist and a "octopus scientist" when she grows up, so she was thrilled to see one in person.
The kids especially loved the 4D movie experience (with water blowing on their faces and rumbling seats).
That night we checked into our AirBnB and went to Gourmandise, a fun restaurant in Salt Lake that my sister in law Kristen had taken us all to at our lady's weekend the year before. I knew Burke would love it...if we hadn't had kids with us! In hind site we should have gone somewhere else as we couldn't get a parking spot and circled the block probably 3 times trying to find one as it was cold and raining and we didn't want to haul Alan for a long walk. We then had a long wait, the kids were starving and couldn't appreciate the fun original menu. We ended up eating quickly so we could get them back to bed and are now longing for a chance to go back sometime alone. The fancy desserts soothed over a lot of rising tempers...that is until we got to our AirBnB right as Burke's phone died which had the access code to unlock the door on it! We had to backtrack several blocks to find a 7-Eleven where we could buy a phone charger (since ours was already locked inside the AirBnB with our bags), wait for the phone to charge and head back getting the kids to bed WAY too late again and resulting in a super cranky Mama.
The next day we went to Temple Square in the morning and had such a nice time showing the girls the beautiful buildings, talking about the gospel and our pioneer heritage, and eating at the Nauvoo Cafe.
One of my favorite parts was going into the Visitors Center and showing the girls the beautiful mural of the universe and the giant Christus statue. I love having the opportunity to show them the nails in his hands and feet, to talk with them about the reality of Christ's love for each of us and the power of the atonement. I reminded them that because of Jesus Christ's atonement, crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, we will be with our Aiden boy again some day.
We enjoyed the Visitors Center and then went across the street to the Church History Museum. I wish we could have stayed there for hours and hours - it was SO well done with so many gorgeous, informative displays, but the girls were starting to melt down at this point.
To help them finish the trip out strong, we drove past the beautiful Utah Capital Building and went to the famous Hatches Chocolates - the amazing chocolate shop run by a midget couple! Everything was ridiculously expensive and ridiculously delicious. We particularly liked the hilarious artwork of the midget couple being showered with chocolate as their customer parking sign that warned that violators would be "booted or towed at the owners expense, then dipped in chocolate." :) Daphne also wanted us to buy the octopus artwork on display and I was tempted!
The crowning fun of the day was meeting our old friends Ben and Hailey Johnson and Todd and Christine (new friend to us - we hadn't met her since they got married last year!) Burton for a bite to eat and a quick catch up. Such good good friends even after not seeing each other for so many years!
All in all it was a nice getaway, although I've discovered that a vacation with kids is not exactly a vacation, but just an opportunity to build memories with your little family that are out of the every day normal routine of family life.
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