A Mini Vacation

Rylie and I just returned from spending 10 days in Utah. It was a little strange to leave the rest of the family behind but circumstances only allowed the two of us to go. Aaron is in the middle of his busiest time of the year at work because the two courses that are "his babies" just happen to hit in the middle of the summer. To save $1000 in airfare I opted to leave Karter and Emorie behind and have some Mommy-Rylie time. I owe my friend Tiffany BIG TIME for watching my kids while Aaron was at work - thanks Tiff (get you back in Sept.)!

Rylie and I flew in to New York - JFK for a three hour layover before our flight to SLC. Rylie was psyched about going to NYC and thought we'd get to get an authentic hot dog from a street vendor. I had to explain that we wouldn't be leaving the airport. The sad thing is that we couldn't even find an "unauthentic hotdog" anywhere in the airport terminal - how sad! Our flight was okay, once we got off the ground. We sat on the taxi-way at JFK for two hours waiting for our turn to take off as we were 39th in line to take off. Fortunately we were in an airplane with screens for each chair and I paid for Rylie to watch Horton Hears a Who while we waited. This is the first flight she has taken that she remembers because it's been nearly five years since we flew last. She thought it was great but complained later that she had "seasickness" from flying over the ocean near JFK - silly girl!

When we landed in SLC we got our rental car (at midnight) and drove to IF where we spent the next two days.

It was a short visit but the best we could slip in as we did go to Utah for a specific event - Brittany's wedding.

While in IF we spent time with family, just hanging out. Rylie was excited to see cousins. She also got to catch a ride w/ Uncle Brandon on their new scooter.

After returning to SLC we spent the next few days relaxing and visiting with Brittany's family while slipping in a little wedding prep along the way. Rylie and I went shopping a bit, had our nails done and then on the day of the wedding went to the salon to get our hair done. Rylie was one of the flower girls and she looked beautiful.

While in SLC we got to visit Thanksgiving Point gardens and Temple Square.

On Saturday night we went to a concert at the Assembly Hall by Jennie Oaks Baker. I have a couple of her cd's and she plays the violin so beautifully. On Sunday we went to the Conference Center to see "Music and the Spoken Word". We were lucky to be present as it was their Patriotic Presentation for the 4th of July. Oooh, I think Aaron was a little more than jealous that we got to hear the Tabernacle Choir sing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, one of his favorite songs.