Me Time....It is something I don't do too much. Actually I do it a lot more than I used to thanks to friends and Girls Nights Out, but not to the extent I did recently, and man was it good!
I need to digress a tiny bit to give you background. As soon as I graduated from high school I was invited to go to Utah to live with and help a daughter of a friend who was soon to have her 5th child. Of course I jumped on the idea without thinking twice. When I got there I saw 4 if the most adorable "real" kids I had ever seen and a very pregnant mother. Within a few months (and after a frightening -for me, she never seemed worried- birth experience) we had a new baby. Well I have loved this family ever since. I eventually moved to England with them for a while, and they have been family in every sense of the word. Well, in November I received notice that the little girl that was 6 when I first met her, was getting married.

Fast forward a few months and throw in a few horrid weeks of sickness and stress, and all it took was a suggestion from my husband (and support from Mom & Dad) and I booked a trip to Utah. I think I did it without thinking if I would even feel ok about leaving the kids and Nathan (who had only been home a few days and was at work mostly, by the time I left) Before I knew it, I was sitting on a plane headed for the west and it was too late to change my mind.

There are lots of things I love about Utah. I love the diversity of the land- snow capped mountains in the north, and sandy red rocks in the south. We have had some of our best memories there, heck- we fell in love there! I love the history of Utah and the way the historical sites have been preserved and brought to life. But one of my very favorite things about Utah is the FOOD! I made a decision that the whole time I was there, I would EAT UTAH. And I did.. the whole state....

Utah's famous Fry Sauce... YUMM!

As soon as my sister Sunny & her cutie Hyrum picked me up from the airport (and after we made a couple of loops on the shuttle bus around the airport and parking lot...Who knew you had to pull a cord to let him know you needed to get off??) We headed to one of my favorite restaurants, The Training Table. Then I realized that the sandwich I love soo much, was probably so good because it has a yummy ranch dressing on it that I can't have anymore. Oh well. It was still good without the ranch. Plus, of course they had fry sauce!! Little Hyrum is on his way to being a fry fan too I think!
The rest of the day, we were able to see the Joseph Smith movie at Temple square and go with the new bride through the temple for the first time. Perfect. The next day Sunny & I did some house searching. She and her husband are looking for their first house, but it is sooo expensive to live out there! It was fun to sneak around peoples houses and peek in windows. One guy actually caught us and stood at the door with a phone. We think he was calling the police. Oops! We went to one of my favorite grocery store chains Maceys to get good deals. If I could have eaten ice cream or brought it home, I would have since it was $0.50 for a half gallon. Plus, I found a LDS book I was looking for there for cheaper than anywhere else.

We "ate Utah" that day for lunch at a place called Art City Trolley. It was really good, except they didn't have fry sauce. The GREAT thing was, that they knew exactly what I was talking about and brought out the ingredients so I could make it myself. :) It was a cool place that has a old trolley cart in the front of the building. Too bad I didn't get a good picture. Bummer.

Friday was the wedding day. It was freezing cold and snowing like crazy. The adorable love birds could have cared less that anyone was even there or that we were all freezing. That's exactly as it should be...

It was beautiful. Funny thing too about this boy, he served his mission here and seems to know my aunt Kim and uncle Rich really good! He always said, "Do you have a picture of them? I want to see them." I said, "Come back to Michigan! :)"

Here is a picture of the kids that survived my first attempt at helping raise kids. They are resilient and thankfully have great parents! Yes- that 15 year boy is the baby that was born while I was living there!

After the wedding and before the reception, I talked one of the girls into taking me to another Utah favorite of mine.

I remember this place that started out as a smoothie shop called "Blenders" by a group of BYU students and quickly changed to "Zuka Juice". I got hooked back when it was Blenders and went every chance I got. I guess after a while it was bought out by "Jamba Juice". I was not disappointed with my drink there, especially because they use only fresh fruit and can make any drink DAIRY FREE. Ok- you had me at hello....

That night at the reception, I met up again with Sunny, Derek & Hyrum. How did I notice them so quickly in a room full of people?? Oh- It is because Sunny was dressed EXACTLY the same as me.
It would be one thing if this was just a coincidence, but Sunny picked out my outfit earlier that morning! Apparently she still has "baby head". We laughed about it and sat right next to each other the rest of the night. Even down to the boots! Can you believe it? :) Funny.

On Saturday I was able to catch up with my hosts, Nathan's sister Ruth and her husband Ben. I had been staying with them the whole time, but with my busy schedule and their work and school schedules, we weren't able to see each other much. Nathan's other sister Angela came over too, and they indulged me in my eating Utah mission. (The little girl is someone Ruth was babysitting, in case you were wondering...)

We went to Gandolfo's for lunch, which was a the topic of debate, because was it really Utah? It is called "Gandofo's New York Deli". Come to find out, the sandwich shop was actually started in Provo, Utah. Yea! Check!

We met up with Sunny & Derek for a new Utah spot (for me) for dinner. Oh man. I have been craving this since I got home. It's a place called Costa Vida, and I had something similar to this...

YUM! But yeah, like I need a new place to add to my "places to eat in Utah" list.

Sunday morning, I was able to go to church with Ruth, Ben & Angela. Going to Church with so many perfect saints was great. I got lots of spiritual insight, as well as fashion and hair design ideas. ;) It was nice to be just a member of the ward!

After a delicious lunch (made at home in Utah- does that count?) I went to Sunny's for a dinner with my cousin and her family. It was good to get back in touch with them.

With a Sunday night that ended late, and a Monday morning that was coming too soon with the promise of a snow storm, we decided we needed some sleep. If I would have just realized how bad I would need that sleep for the journey home on Monday....