Bonus Week in Utah
Sunday
Drove home from St. George. Spent time with Katie, Ryan and Cassie
We left the St. George house around 9:00am. I said goodbye to Chris and then hopped in the back seat of Scott’s suburban with Mom, Dad, Carly and Elisha and headed for Provo. We talked about engagements and proposals and honeymoons.
Katie came over for dinner. Mom made delicious Thai lettuce wraps and then Ryan and Cassie came over. The three of us sat at the dining room table for hours talking about wedding plans. Fun to get a few details and be in on the excitement. And so fun to hear them chat about early dating experiences and thoughts. So fun to be getting to know Cassie better.
Grandpa made popcorn and we played some fun games of DOUBLE DITTO with Grandma and Grandpa and then Katie slept over — which I love.
Monday
Riverwoods shopping with Mom. Cafe Galleria Lunch with Monae. Visit with the Cooks
Mom and I exercised in the basement. She’s always up for a dedicated exercise session. I was already sore from so many pickle ball games and the squats made it worse. Haha
After breakfast Mom and I headed down to the Riverwoods to do some shopping… Called to Surf, Soel, Blickenstaff’s Toy Store and Heirloom Art Co… a cool gift and print store. Fun to wander and shop together.
Mom dropped me off at Monae’s house on the way home. Fun to see all the Starbuck girls and visit for a minute before driving up to Midway. We immediately launched into deep conversation about family, marriage and the gospel like only she and I can. We talked over pear and goat cheese salads and garlic bread at my favorite restaurant in Midway and then headed over to see the Lodge. It takes hours for us to catch up and I love it!
Back to Mom and Dad’s house for Vegetable Soup with Katie. Katie had enjoyed a quiet afternoon doing homework, which is hard to find at her apartment.
At 7:00 Katie and I drove to Mapleton to visit with Liz and Chip Cook and Loryn. They were excited to see Katie and told her they looked up to her so much. So fun to talk about Ally on her mission. Love seeing her updates! When Sophie came in she launched straight into memories of BYU parties and how we need to vacation together again SOON. Love this family!! Can’t wait to have our families together again.
Great talk with Katie on the way home — about a few specific college boys. Nothing like a good car ride home to get into the juicy details.
Tuesday
Fashion Place Shopping with Missy and Geneva. Up to the Lodge
Dad drove me up to Fashion place Mall (he’s always so great about taking us where ever we need to go) and I met up with Missy and then Geneva. Fun to shop at Albion, Crate & Barrel, Athleta, bareMinerals and more and eat lunch together at BRIO. Missy and I shared a delicious Chicken Strawberry Salad. We hit a few more stores including Home Goods and then went to Zuppas for dinner and then found a Trader Joe’s to pick up a few snacks — like my new favorite dark chocolate peanut butter cups.
Fun to give Geneva and Missy the full tour of the Lodge. They picked the Jack and Jill rooms to sleep in. We turned on the fire and got cozy with blankets in the living room and talked until 12:30. I’ve been going to bed so late every night and it’s catching up to me.
Wednesday
Midway Bakery. Boutiques with Missy and Geneva. City Creek and Blue Lemon. Drill Team Performance.
Missy’s friend gave us the recommendation to head to the MIDWAY BAKERY and get cinnamon rolls. The building is adorable and our cinnamon rolls were AMAZING. This will definitely be a favorite every time we come.
We checked out the decor store next door and then headed from Midway down into the beautiful tree lined streets of North Salt Lake. It was so fun driving through neighborhoods and checking out the old homes. Such a cool area. Missy led us to Jolley’s - a really fun boutique. We spent at least an hour looking at cute clothes, fun home decor, sweet treats, and scented candles. I picked up a Rust colored shirt that says ‘LOVE PEOPLE WELL’ and a mango scented candle that Missy recommended. Then on to Hip & Humble and then the Salt & Honey Market. So fun to do.
We zipped over to City Creek for another quicke stop at Albion -where Missy really let them have it for not having good enough tankini’s… haha - and then a late lunch at BLUE LEMON with piles of sweet potato fries on the side. We dashed into DESERET BOOK and ended up purchasing a ton. It’s always fun to get good recommendations from each other. I purchased THE GATHERING HOME (among other things) which I’ve been excited about for awhile. Missy grabbed it too.
Missy’s daughter had a DRILL TEAM performance at Woods Cross High School and it was so fun to go with her with Missy and support from the stands. Amazing talent! It was so fun.
Then back up to the Lodge. We played Rummy Cube and snacked on Trader Joes Peanut Butter Cups until midnight.
Thursday
City Creek shopping. Dinner and Evening with Katie and my Mom and Dad. Back up to the Lodge
I woke and checked the forecast for Colorado Springs weather. A couple days ago I had received an email from our Area Authority warning us of the snowstorm headed our way this weekend. My Saturday afternoon flight was likely going to be cancelled so I jumped on an online chat through Expedia and spent three hours trying to get it switched to Monday. Why on earth? I went through 2 automated people and 3 actually people before it got switched over. Seriously. By the time it was all fixed Missy and I had driven all the way down to City Creek and were wandering through WEST ELM with Geneva. Love that store.
It was fun to see the Salt Lake Temple being worked on. Wow. What a process. So interesting to see the foundation and lower levels exposed. We watched for awhile and then grabbed some Chick-fil-A and said goodbye to Mis.
G and I headed down to Provo stopping at Utah Furniture Deals on the way. Love that store — thanks Nikole. Then G dropped me off at my parents house and headed off to enjoy an evening with Carter. Ryan and Katie came over and I cut Ryan’s hair and then we had dinner together with my parents.
At 8:00 Katie and I drove up to the Lodge and met G there. We talked, framed the new ski prints that just arrived, Katie enjoyed a bath (she made a big deal about it since she hasn’t had a bath in a year and a half- haha) and went to bed at Midnight.
Friday
Cafe Galleria lunch with Geneva. Guru’s dinner with Cassie’s Mom. Katie’s date night at G & G’s house.
Katie woke up early and headed to a substitute teaching job. She teaches all different Elementary grades and I think she really enjoys it. Plus - she’s poor and desperate to earn money. G and I took our time cleaning and being slow getting ready to go.
We shared a pear and gorgonzola salad and pizza at Cafe Galleria. Love that cute place. We walked over to the Bakery and picked up a brownie and an orange roll to go. Then over to Target and then Four Chairs and Sunbrook Nursery. Fun to do so much shopping and talking with friends.
G dropped me off at Katie’s apartment and the two of us rushed down to GURU’s for dinner with Cassie, Ryan and Cassie’s mom. It was so fun to meet Tyna. We’d texted a bit before but this was my first time meeting her in person. Fun to get to know her a little bit over Quesadillas and Sweet Potato Fries.
I dropped Katie off at her apartment and headed up to my parents house. Katie and her roommates and all their dates ended up at Grandma and Grandpa’s house an hour later for a big group date. They had divided into groups and picked up cookies from different places to have a big cookie taste test. Then downstairs to play darts and then upstairs to play Double Ditto. It was fun to wander in from time to time and meet everyone and see how they were doing. Grandpa offered them popcorn of course. It was fun to be in the background for their date and hang out with my mom and dad in the office.
Saturday
Dallas’ Baptism. Birthday Party for Dallas and Cash. Meet up with Ali and Anders. Shopping with Katie.
I picked up Katie at 7:45 and we headed up to Ashlyn’s church building for Dallas’ baptism at 9:00. Ryan and Cassie were already there and Ryan was changing into his white jumpsuit. I took a few of pictures of them together in their white clothes. Just before we started Ryan pulled Dallas into a room and explained how he was going to hold his hands and what he was going to do. It made me emotional watching him be such a great example to his little cousin and also think of him as a Dad someday.
The baptism was great. Chris and kids were able to watch at home through Zoom. Grandma Johnson and Derek gave talks. All the Johnsons were there as well as Kyle and his parents. Fun to take a few more pictures after the service.
We headed over to Ashlyn’s house afterwards for brunch and then we watch Dallas and Cash open their birthday presents. Fun to spend a few hours talking to Ashlyn, Nikole and Lindsey with Ryan and Cassie. They offered to host a shower for Cassie… hopefully sometime in June.
Katie and I were excited to meet up with Ali and Anders at the mall in between soccer games. Love that Ali and can’t wait to get Anders and Matthew together again. Hopefully soon!!
Katie and I shopped for a little while and were successful in finding two dresses for Kates. With no time for dinner or snacks we rushed back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and were pleasantly surprised to find hot curry coconut soup waiting for us.
I quickly ate and then my Mom and I headed up to the Lodge to put up the ski mountain posters up above the couch upstairs. So nice to have my mom’s help with all the measuring. I think it looks great.
My mom and dad watched a couple episodes of their show Madame Secretary and Mom and I (like always) gave each other back rubs as we watched.
Sunday
Church with Mom and Dad.
Now that my parents are vaccinated they are able to go back to in-person church. Today was their second time back. Back at home my mom and I zoomed into Relief Society from the office while Dad zoomed into Priesthood in the dining room. Love their dedication to the gospel and good examples. The Relief Society lesson was great. The teacher had everyone raise their hand or certain number of fingers to answer questions about how difficult this last year as been. So interesting to see how Covid has affected people differently within this small little ward. It was great.
We had invited Scott and Elisha, Mike and Carly, Brian, Dallie and Katie to come eat dinner with us. Mom worked on the Texas pile-up sauce while I set the tables with green decor and printed out name places complete with Leprechaun names for an early St. Patrick’s Day celebration. So great to spend time with everyone. Ryan and Cassie visited with Cassie’s parents and Nikki’s brand new baby just coming home from the hospital today.
Brian stayed longer and we played a few games together and taught Katie how to play Azul… my favorite new game.
Monday
Breakfast with Ryan, Cassie and Katie. Shopping with Mom. Flight Cancelled. Lamb of God. Thai dinner with Mom and Dad.
I woke up early and helped my Mom make breakfast for Ryan, Cassie, Katie, Dad and I. It was fun to be together again and talk about the weekend and Cassie’s family. Just before 10:00 they headed back to their classes and Katie had an interview with the BYU Sports Camp Office.
Mom and I headed off to Target and Downeast to shop a little bit. I found a coffee table that I really like and have got to figure out a way to get it back to Colorado. Hmmm. We also found some cute jeans and a Rust sweater/shirt. My new favorite color. On the way home I got an alert that my Monday afternoon flight was cancelled — just too much snow hitting Denver. Darn it. Back at home I switched my flight to one heading straight into the Springs on Tuesday night … no extra cost. Then we made a plan and decided to get tickets to go see THE LAMB OF GOD in the theater… just Dad, Mom and me. It was fun to see together… especially to hear Joe perform. He was amazing! It was really well done. We walked across the street to the Golden Thai restaurant and enjoyed a great meal — to celebrate my Dad’s 72nd birthday. Again, fun to be just the three of us. Lots of great conversation.
Back at home Mom and I settled in on the couch to watch a movie and give each other should rubs.
Tuesday
Errands with Mom. Dad drove me to the airport. Chris picked me up. So good to see the kids!
Mom and I exercised and then I went with her on a round of errands. Home Goods, Trader Joe’s, DownEast again… It was fun. We ate lunch at home. Always fun to sit around the kitchen island together and eat. She reminds me of her mom, always putting together a great spread with placemats and everything. Fun to spend this extra time with them. Mom bought a new sign to go above her buffet in the dining room and we helped her get it right up.
Dad drove me to the airport at 3:00. The plane to Colorado Springs was a small one. I sat next to an old woman, 77 I later learned, who wanted to talk. Through our masks we talked about where we were from and where we were going. I learned she was headed to the Springs to buy a 17 foot RV that she would drive wherever she wanted and explore the country by herself. Her husband had died of Covid in December. He got it and 18 days later was gone. She had to gown up on the last day to say her goodbyes. She said she was not going to be an old lady who sat in a chair and stared out the window. I was moved by her story and told her I knew she would see her husband again. With a wrinkly wink she told me she already has.
So good to see Chris again. He picked me up outside the airport and we talked (I talked) the whole way home catching him up on so many conversations. It had been almost two weeks since I saw the kids. I gave each one of them big hugs — not knowing that three of the four had COVID and that our Florida Trip which was supposed to start in just 36 hours would not be taking place. : (
