Salt Lake City: July 2013

I love visiting Salt Lake.  I usually make it at least once a year for a little vacation with the boys.  I know next year will be much more challenging with a baby so even though I am 8 months pregnant and starting to really feel 8 months pregnant and JUST drove back from Salt Lake with my mom 2 days before, I went anyway.  It was my first time driving from LV to SLC with the kids alone . . . it turned out great.  We made a pit-stop in St. George to play with Kiley and her kiddos for a few hours before we made the rest of the trek to Salt Lake!

Our good friends, Ryan & Leslie, always open up their home to us.  We take over their basement and they are wonderful hosts.  We pulled up just in time on Tuesday night to join them for a Marlin Court street party complete with dinner, water balloon launching, smores & fireworks.  They sure know how to party.  Both Nate & Ryan loved playing with all of the neighborhood kiddos and especially loved the water balloons.  Nate even volunteered for quite a while to stand at the front of the line and tie all of the kids water balloons!

Griffeth & Andrus kids 2013.  They spend lots of time playing together at the Andrus house – inside and out.  This year, the main focus was bug catching!  Tyler got a bug vacuum and Roly Poly playground for his birthday so they sucked up bugs a lot.  They even vacuumed up bees.  I do have to say, they have a love hate relationship by the time we head back to Vegas!  Although one thing is for sure, that little Brooks is a favorite kid of all-time for my boys!  Ryan was always aware of “Brooksy” – he loved him!  He’s a darling little boy.

We give the Andrus family a few breaks from us as we go visit family in Salt Lake.  Our first outing was with my cousin Shannon and her kiddos.  We went to the Children’s Gardens at Thanksgiving Point where the kids had a great time.  They loved exploring the different areas.  Ella found a few girls to run around with and of course, all 3 boys did their best to bug them to death.  Nate & Zach have very similar personalities so they just have a crazy ol’ time together.  Their little guy, Max is one of the happiest little boys I’ve ever met.

We jammed our day full with Shannon . . . next stop was McDonalds for a mid-afternoon lunch!  Kids played at the play place and then we headed to a snow cone shack that Shannon had been wanting to try.  Delicious!

Our final stop was Neptune Park.  The kids still had a ton of energy and played and played.  Nate & Zach found a group of people playing snake toss and watched patiently and then they let them have a turn.  I love spending time with Shannon – it was a real treat.

This is a rare moment – Ryan asleep – so it had to be documented.

On Thursday, Leslie and I took the kids to Ikea where they played at the play place and we shopped.  It was my first time ever being able to check the boys in to play – it’s always full!  We enjoyed an hour wandering around Ikea.

The boys and I went straight from there to my Aunt Leslie’s house to play and visit.  Aunt Tina was supposed to join us but Zeke was sick so they stayed home.  Nate & Ryan loved playing with Will in the sandbox, pool & sprinklers.  Aunt Leslie was great and fed us lunch and then Andrea and the girls stopped by to say hello.  I always love seeing them!

On Friday morning, Leslie and I headed in to Salt Lake.  Our first stop was Banbury Donuts for breakfast.  We had a near catastrophe with Brooks as he was one step away from walking in to oncoming traffic on 900 South.  Lets just say Leslie just about had a heart attack – her instincts saved her little man!

On we went to the Discovery Children's Museum where we met up with Nancee and her boys.  The museum is always a hit.  Next stop?  Pizzeria Limone for lunch where Michelle and Caleb joined us.  It was a little Serene Ward reunion in Salt Lake.  Leslie had to leave before this picture was taken . . .

On Friday night, Wes flew up.  The boys were nice enough to have Big Ryan take a van full to the airport to pick up Wes so Leslie and I could go out and about for a girls night.  We went shopping and to dinner – it was nice to get out with Les!

Saturday, Big Ryan and Wes golfed all day.  Leslie had siblings in town so she went to the lake with her family and I took the boys to “This is the Place – Heritage Park” for the first time.  It’s been on my list for years and we finally made it.  It was perfect timing because Nate has been learning about the pioneers and so he was really interested in learning and seeing.  Our first stop was an actual home from back then where the boys could play, work in the garden & do their own laundry on a wash board.  Cutest pioneers worked there!

One thing we do every time we go to Utah is see animals.  We are animal-deprived in Las Vegas.  Luckily they could ride ponies, pet pigs and milk a fake cow.

Nate was OBSESSED with the blacksmith.  He would have stayed in there all day!  He watched him start his daily fire, make tools, etc.  Right up Nate’s alley.

The train and panning for gold were also huge hits.

Nate needed a picture of the view.

It was another great trip to Utah.  Glad I decided to go!  Next time we’ll have a little lady in tow.

Megan’s Baby Shower in SLC

In June, my mom mentioned that there was going to be a baby shower for my cousin Megan in Salt Lake City on July 20th.  She asked if I thought I’d be able to make it.  I wasn’t sure I could pull it off but booked a flight just in case.

I’m glad I did because it all worked out!  I don’t get to spend much time with my mom’s family anymore so it was a real treat to be able to have some kid-free hours with them.

I flew up late Friday afternoon . . . my mom picked me up at the airport and we went to the Red Butte for dinner.  Delicious!  It’s been a family favorite for decades.  After, we drove up Emigration Canyon to my Aunt Linda’s house to visit for a bit.  I hadn’t been up there in so long – it was great to see her beautiful house!  Kent had a fridge full of desserts for us to sample.  We headed to the hotel later that night.

Saturday was quite a day!  We made a few stops on the way to Megan’s shower . . . Babinski’s Baby Boutique and Trolley Square for Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids.  And then on to Michelle’s house for the shower.

The shower was lovely.  This is Megan’s first baby . . . a boy!  It was great to help a little and sit and chat and celebrate this new baby coming any day now.

Backing up a bit . . . Sam had to work on Friday so she had to take a later flight than me on Friday night.  Vegas had a nasty storm for about 15 minutes and of course that was when Sam’s plane was coming in to Vegas and got re-routed to Phoenix for weather.  So she was stuck in the Vegas airport for HOURS.  She finally made it to Salt Lake, rented this beauty & got to Amanda’s house at 3:30am.  I’m glad she made it!

Even though I live super close to my mom and sisters, we don’t do anything with just us all that often.  So the rest of the afternoon Sam, my mom and I did some shopping at Fashion Place and Ikea.  It was nice to spend time with them, too!  Sam left us around dinner time for a college friends reunion dinner and my mom and I went to Tai Pan and then headed to Sea Salt, a restaurant in Salt Lake.  Linda, Kent & James met us there.  It’s my favorite restaurant in SLC right now . . . absolutely delicious!  And once again, great company.

On Sunday, my mom and I drove back to Vegas.  It was a quick weekend but well worth it.  Had a great time with family without the kiddos.  Thanks Wes!

10 year anniversary in Cabo, Mexico

Wes and I have been married for 10 years this August.  It’s still rather crazy to me that it’s been 10 years already!  It had been a few years since we took an actual vacation with just the two of us so we decided this would be a good summer to do it to celebrate 10 years and also get a little relaxation before our little lady arrives in September or October.

We narrowed it down to San Diego, Kauai or Cabo San Lucas.  I of course couldn’t make a decision for the longest time but we decided to try somewhere new – Mexico.  Our friends, The Butlers, rave about a place called Casa Del Mar in Cabo San Lucas.  After doing a fair amount of research I booked it!

We left on July 10th for our journey to Mexico.  We had a slight hiccup at the Southwest/Airtran desk to get our luggage checked all the way to Cabo but they assured us all was well in the end.  The nice AirTran lady pulled us aside and gave us better seats together at the front of the plane.  All was going well until we arrived in Orange County only to find out that our plane was 4+ hours delayed because of mechanical difficulties.  Mind you, this was the same plane we just flew on that was having mechanical difficulties!  So we had to wait for a flight to go to Cabo and come all the way back and then they could take us.  We had a long wait in the Orange County airport but this machine helped a little.

We finally get to Cabo and I was pleasantly surprised with their airport – the new terminal was quite nice and clean!  We made it through customs and to baggage claim only to discover that we did not have any luggage.  There were about 20+ people without luggage and from what we learned, this was a daily occurrence.  After almost getting roped in to a timeshare speech, we took a taxi to the hotel.  It’s now 5 hours later than we were supposed to arrive and we had no luggage and I’m 7.5 months pregnant.  I was really hoping things would turn around from here!  We got to the resort and luckily there was a restaurant still open that happened to be down on the beach so we walked down and enjoyed hearing the waves crash while we relaxed from a very long day.  We were not impressed with the food {luckily the ambience was great} so we walked back to the room and tried to go to sleep.

The next morning, I have never been so glad for a last minute decision to throw a swim suit in my carry on!  There’s no way I was finding a maternity swimsuit to fit this belly.  Luckily the gift shop had a Quicksilver swimsuit that fit Wes great so we got him a suit and some sunscreen and headed down to the pool to enjoy the day.  This was our first time doing an all-inclusive hotel and I have to say that while we weren’t overall impressed with the food – the endless drinks sure were fabulous!  We met a nice couple that day from Paradise, Texas who we chatted on and off with throughout our stay there.  We got out of the pool just in time to realize we needed to book it to the spa for our 20 minute “welcome spa treatment” of a neck and shoulder massage!  Much needed at this point.  Today started my daily lunch of chips, salsa & guacamole with a yummy drink and a Coca Cola Light!

The rest of the afternoon was spent going back and forth from our room to the pool trying to get a hold of AirTran to try to find our luggage.  No one could find it!  By 5pm they said they didn’t have it and all of the flights had come in for the day.  We were getting ready in our overly smelly clothes to head to the mall when Wes called one more time and they miraculously found our bags in a weird spot!  Wahoo!  They said they’d be at our hotel anywhere from 1-3 hours.  So instead of the mall, Wes decided to have a little Mexican culture and ride the local bus in to San Jose Del Cabo to check out the town and the Arts Festival.  It was an experience!  Wes randomly asked a guy on the bus where to get off and we walked down a rather sketchy road to get to the main part of the town but it all turned out great.  The town was cute . . . some touristy shops, restaurants and a church.  After exploring and buying a piece of pottery, we made the trek back up the hill to the bus stop to head home.  On our way there we took the air conditioned bus and it took us a good 20 minutes.  On the way home, we got on the non-air conditioned bus and made it in about 8 minutes!  We went right to our room to shower (I was so gross and sweaty at this point) and put on some clean clothes only to find that we still had no luggage.  The front desk didn’t have it either.   I just sat there dumbfounded willing to do just about anything for my stuff.  About 10 minutes later the front desk called and said it arrived.  Hallelujah.  It was absolutely amazing to put on clean clothes!  I felt like at this point I could finally relax and enjoy.

On Friday morning we decided to give tennis a try.  We used to play all of the time when we lived in Utah but haven’t played in years and it was fun to pick up a racket again.   I wasn’t about to run all over being so pregnant but we were able to hit the ball back and forth for a while to start the day.  We played one other morning while we were there, too.

I really liked our resort, Casa Del Mar.  The people there were absolutely some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  Wes LOVED speaking Spanish for 5 days and the people loved that this white boy was fluent in Spanish and could hold a conversation.  There were at least 5 people who asked him where he learned his Spanish and commented on how well he spoke.  It was fun for me to be able to somewhat at least follow their conversations without having to be a part of it!  We spent a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying the hotel . . . here are a few of our views:

I found a few items for breakfast and lunch that I really enjoyed but we still didn’t love our dinner options at Casa Del Mar.  Both restaurants served the same kind of food {steak and seafood} but the steaks weren’t very good so we decided to go next door to Dreams where our all-inclusive was also valid.  We happened to like their restaurants {Wes was thrilled to get a soft roll!} with a little more variety so we walked down there the last 3 nights for dinner.  It was a great little walk on the beach every night.

Our hotel is on the Sea of Cortez which is known for its crazy rip tide so you can’t swim in the ocean.  The waves are crazy there compared to the California beaches we are used to.  They start super close to shore and are just huge!  Bone crushing huge.  But they are really fun to watch.  We especially loved looking just past the waves to see fish jumping.  Wes asked about the fish and they were actually a group of sting rays jumping in and out of the water to eat.  And there were always pelicans nearby ready to eat the fish.  It was awesome! 

We worked with our hotel concierge, Yolanda, to try to go on an adventure while we were there.  We’ve heard all about the famous Arches of Cabo San Lucas where the Sea of Cortez and Pacific Ocean meet.  I obviously wasn’t going to do anything to endanger me or my unborn child but Yolanda was extremely protective of me.  I finally convinced her to just let me on a glass bottom boat and if I couldn’t get off at the beach {one of the few spots in the Sea of Cortez where you can actually swim} then I would just stay on the boat. 

The company picked us up and took us to Cabo to board the boat at the marina.  I love getting out on the water whenever we go on a tropical vacation and this was no exception.  The boat was nothing to write home about but the crew was fabulous and made for a great trip.  The arches were beautiful and it was fun to learn about the area.  Turns out it was rather easy to slide off the boat to the beach so we stayed for a few hours on “Lovers Beach” and I of course, swam in the water!  The water was super blue and clear so I could see a ton of fish swimming at my feet.  They told me it was unsafe to snorkel because of the rocks {it turned out to be perfectly safe} but just swimming and seeing the fish was great for me.   After a while on the beach, we headed back to the marina where they dropped us off in town for 1 hour to explore.  We got the boys a few little Mexican trinkets and ran in to a Dairy Queen where we enjoyed a blizzard before heading back to the hotel.

We had a great time spending time with just us.  It was much needed & much appreciated.  We were able to relax, have a few adventures & explore somewhere new.  We met some pretty funny people - the group from Roseville, CA and Louisiana to name a few!  There was also a really nice middle-aged couple we met on our last day.  Turned out he is an OBGYN and had told his wife the day before he guessed I was 28 weeks on my first pregnancy.  It was fun to chat with them!

Our hotel was super quiet and quaint which was perfect for us.  It was a break from the constant noise of children and the staff was amazing.  After a few days, I felt like they knew us and didn’t even have to really ask what we wanted to eat and drink.  They’d just say . . . “pina colada sin alcohol con platano?” as they walked by me.  Yep!  That’s what I want.  Again.

We know and met quite a few people who come to Cabo regularly . . . it’s their absolute favorite place to vacation.  While we had a great time and I’m glad I finally made it to Mexico – I don’t think we are regular Mexico travelers.  The hotels are wonderful there and the people are great but the minute you leave your hotel you are definitely in Mexico.  I think I’m more of an island girl but we had a wonderful time . . . I’m so glad we made it happen.  And a big thanks to my parents for watching our boys and giving them a little vacation of their own.  They had a great time in Vegas and also spent a few days at the cabin. 

Happy 10 years, Weston R.