My heart will always be in Utah...

I had the chance to go to Utah a couple weeks ago...BY MYSELF. Yes, you read that right. J was ever so kind as to watch our 3 boys while I drove up for my cousin's wedding, and to see as many family and friends as I could squeeze into 2 days.

My dad drove up with me. I love my dad. He is the best. We talked the entire 10 hours up, and 10 hours back. It made the trip fly by! He's always been easy to talk to and we had a lot of fun discussing things like politics. (haha...) He tends to be pretty conservative and I have a tendency to lean the left on certain issues. (gasp!) Yup, this Mormon girl has some liberal tendencies, I admit it. Not enough to call myself a Democrat or a Republican though. I don't like labels.

Anyway, I was happy my dad came with me because we drove through A LOT of this:I did go to 4 years of college in Utah but my dad was raised in Utah. So I was happy to make him drive through all the freaky snowy weather in May!

My cousin's wedding was awesome. She was beautiful and even though she must've been freezing in the freaky snowstorm, she was so happy I'm not sure she really felt it! I also got to stay with my grandparents in Ogden, who I LOVE. My g'pa had a recent battle with cancer and it has really just hit home with me lately that I am lucky to have 4 grandmas and 3 grandpas still living! (yes those numbers are right. divorce/death/remarriage did some tricky things!) Anyway, I just really want to take every opportunity to spend time with them.
In between the wedding/luncheon and the reception in Bountiful, I had a few hours to kill. So I made the most of them by visiting my 8 day old nephew! I held this angelic baby for about 3 hours while he slept. He was the sweetest thing... It almost made me want another baby. But then I had only to look over at my poor sleep-deprived sis-in-law, and hear her tell of the sleepless nights and toddler adjustments to a new baby in the family...and just like THAT I remembered why we're done having kids! Poor L...I felt bad being there because her daughter K was napping, the baby was sleeping...I should have made her go take a nap too! But we had a fun visit and K even let me give her a hug and sat on my lap for awhile.
Then it was back to the reception and more visiting with family, and laughing while random people asked to take a picture with Chuck Norris. I mean my dad - same difference right?

The next day was packed. It started off at the Carl's Jr. in American Fork. I met an old friend and his girlfriend there! This is more than an old friend, he was my husband's roommate while we were dating, we took him to the MTC before he left on his mission, he has lived with us two separate times over the years! J and I joke that he's our long lost adult son. It's been a couple years since we've seen him so it was nice to visit with him for a couple minutes and meet his girlfriend. (I highly approve BTW!) They were actually on their way out of town and were nice enough to stop by and say hello. Thanks guys!Still at Carl's Jr., I was able to visit with my bio-father and my brother. Poor Brian had just gotten out of the hospital a few days before and is on oxygen. He has also been battling cancer the last few years. He wasn't feeling too well but has always been a trooper and came out to see me anyway. It was nice to see them, I haven't seen them in about 4 years! I admit I was kind of grossed out to be at Carl's Jr. so early in the morning...I'm not much of a breakfast fast food fan. But then I was treated to some sort of strawberry biscuit thing and it was surprisingly GOOD! Thanks guys!
Then I made a quick stopover to meet an internet friend! Yup, I'm a dork and have friends I've never met in real life. She was awesome. I'd post a pic but neither one of us like the pictures we took. Anyway, she was a sweetheart and brought me some cakebites from The Sweet Tooth Fairy! I have read a lot about that place on different blogs and secretly always wanted to try it out! How could she have known? I guess that's why we're friends. Plus she had no problem meeting me somewhere where they had FRY SAUCE. I crave that stuff and it's nowhere to be found in AZ that I know of. :(

While I was visiting with my bio-father and brother, I talked to my aunt on my brother's phone and realized my Grandpa Black and Grandma Susan were still in town! I thought they had already left for Nauvoo, IL. They go almost every summer for church missions, since my Grandma is a pretty well-known church historian/author/speaker. Anyway, I called them and it turned out they were leaving the next morning, but were nice enough to let me stop by! Grandma was even in the middle of cleaning her fridge but still took time out to visit. We had a nice chat, and I got this awesome book about my grandpa's life. See, he ALSO had a battle with cancer the last few years, and he and Grandma Susan wrote a history of his life, published it, and gave it to all family members. I came home and immediately read it cover to cover. I don't know very much about my biological father's side of the family, seeing as how I was adopted and raised by my step-dad when I was 5. It really meant a lot to me to finally learn more about that side of the family.
There were a couple more people in Provo I wanted to see but sadly ran out of time. On the way out of town I drove past my favorite places and snapped some pics. Have I said this before? I LOVE UTAH. I love mountains, old buildings, old houses, the snow, all of it.


I then drove back up north to see my old roommate LIZ! I have missed this girl. Sometimes you meet somebody in life that you just GET, and they GET you. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's how I feel about Liz. She and her hubby treated me to lunch at Olive Garden, and it was delicious. (thanks guys!) After I got over the shock of Liz not drinking a Coke (she is infamous for her love of Coke), I had the best time hanging out with them! Liz is pregnant with twins (explains the no Coke) and I just found out today she had them! They are adorable, like I knew they would be. Hopefully it's not another 8 years before I see Liz again.
Then it was back up to Ogden to visit more with my grandparents. Dad and I were up bright and early to drive back to AZ. But not before Grandpa made me drink some orange juice and Grandma made me eat a muffin. I love those two...

Anyway, it was a great trip! I missed my boys and J but honestly, I needed this little getaway. We all deserve it now and then right? And Utah is like medicine for me. I need those mountains and green trees and four seasons and old buildings with history just as bad as I need Relpax to survive. Since I can't live there, I need to at least see those things every couple of years. I would move back there in a second if I could. Can somebody please offer J a great job out there please? Thank you.