Wednesday, July 2, 2014

utah in june

whew! june was SO CRAZY. obviously, since i'm still trying to catch my breath and it is currently july 2. haha. it was just one big thing after another -- so much fun, but so chaotic.

june 5 was jack's last day of preschool. he LOVED school this year, loved his classmates and most of all loved teacher robyn. at the end of may, we found out she had decided to retire and wouldn't be coming back in the fall -- a heartbreaker. we were sad to see her go, but i'm excited to see who replaces her for next year.


we had an ice cream party on the last day, said goodbye to everyone and then hopped on a plane to salt lake city! (me and the boys, that is -- b had to stay home to work. wah wah.)

we stayed at my in-laws and PACKED in the fun. one day we went to the newly reopened aquarium which jack adored of course -- he's really into ocean-related things right now. i'd argue the SLC aquarium might even top our seattle one (which is weird, since we live on the ocean, while salt lake is a thousand miles away from it) but their walk-through shark tank and live penguins took the cake.




usually when we come to utah it's for a short time and we're busy with family events, but since i came for a longer stint this time i was finally able to see some of my friends who live nearby! i still keep in touch with most of the girls i met in the dorms my freshman year at BYU, and i feel so so lucky to count them as some of my best friends. i can't believe we've known each other for 12 years! i think we will all be lifelong friends; even after not seeing them for years on end, we all picked up right where we left off. good friends are the BEST and i love these girls so much. 



i also got to meet up with my friend laura from pasadena -- we never actually lived in pasadena at the same time, but we have since rendezvoused in utah, california and hawaii. i love it! 


luckily we still got to fit in a lot of family time too. :) all the wells family got together to throw hudson an early first birthday party, so he got a good trial run at eating that cupcake. he wasn't too sure about it. 


my sister & bro in law live in bountiful now so i got to hang out with rachel a lot and it was awesome. we are both perpetually scheming a way to live on the same street as each other and i can't wait until that dream comes true. i love being with her, and she is the best aunt to my boys who adore her too. 


we headed down to provo one day and got to visit my cute grandparents, who met huddy for the first time. always so good to see them!


we also took a trip to my alma mater! it feels so good to walk around and reminisce about the good old days there; i have nothing but good memories from BYU. although it does feel weird to be there with my two children, ha. (this is jack complaining about the bright sun...oy, seattle kids.)


my wish finally came true when i got jack a BYU jersey. now b's favorite utah jersey will have some competition on game day. :) 


while on campus, we discovered the bean museum had just reopened after a lengthy renovation. we spontaneously decided to visit and i was so glad we did! i vaguely remember the museum from visiting once or twice in college (it's right next door to my dorms, which have now been torn down :( so sad!) -- it was pretty musty, dark, and green-carpeted. the green carpet is still there but the addition is beautiful and both my boys LOVED it. (hudson became very animated at each animal, pointing and reaching for them while he squealed. it was really cute.)


exceptttt for the upstairs, the "predator and prey" room. lots of animals depicted hunting / killing / eating each other -- a little too traumatic for this almost-4-year-old. here's jack demonstrating his scary bear-attacking-a-moose face:


but anyway -- the ACTUAL reason for taking this trip to utah (ha!) was so i could teach a PR workshop to a group of bloggers. i loved getting to know these savvy women and had so much fun!


on my way out, i finally got to try some of the famous waffle love truck (why does utah have the BEST food ever?! i need to go back just to eat) and then we headed home to seattle. i needed a vacation from my vacation after all that but it was so worth it and so fun! 


cheers.

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