Continuing our semi-annual 'abandon all responsibilities and goof off for a few days' tradition, Chuck and I celebrated his birthday a couple weeks early with a trip down south...east...
We crashed at Courtney's house Sunday night which was awesome. We loved visiting with them the next morning and made a quick stop later in the week on our way home for a photo op.
Next up we headed further south... okay, just across town... and met up with Chuck's sisters for lunch! Apparently we're all grown-up or something because our lunch conversation legit sounded like a commercial that airs during Wheel of Fortune or the Matlock - mortgages, refinancing, insurance premiums, retirement hahahaha. I was seriously laughing so hard and waiting for one of us to say, "I had the same concerns. Then I called 1-800-WE-ARE-OLD and now we have life insurance for pennies a day!" or something ;). But seriously, so so fun to sit and talk to Amanda and Melissa without the million interruptions when all our kids are in tow.
We sneaked in a little bit more time at Amanda's; Chuck and Amanda spent some time brainstorming about future family reunions and campsites. I left them to that and opted for reading books with Emmy and James. We missed the school kids but were able to sneak in quick hugs with Lily and George and Courtney during our stop on Thursday.
Our travels Monday ended in Lehi where we got to see Quinn and Eden's new house for the first time! Quinn formally welcomed us by torturing me on his tire swing while Chuck video taped me screaming and flailing. Here are some screenshots for your enjoyment:
Quinn and Eden hosted us for the rest of our trip, and our time with them was spent eating at Chik-fil-a, cheering Isaac and Leila's antics on the tire swing, and using the family search app to figure out that Eden and Chuck and pretty closely related, although not as close as me and Quinn: he's my brother! Crazy. OH AND ALSO binge-watching season one of Stranger Things. In the dark and sans cell phones, per house rules.
Tuesday morning Chuck and I set out adventuring! We honestly have such a good time driving around and just being on our own schedule and stopping where we want and getting lost but not caring (I KNOW UTAH'S STREET SYSTEM IS SUPPOSED TO BE SUPER EASY BUT WHATEV, I'M NOT VERY SMART) and talking and laughing and just hanging out together.
I love this Tow Mater truck! This is a random corner in American Fork... that is just down the street from the American Fork D.I., so let's be honest: we see it every time we're in the area haha.
We went all the way down to Provo (D.I.!) and Orem and took a lovely walk and found the bridge where Chuck proposed circa 13 years ago!
Instagram caption: Went on a walk and found the bridge where this brave fella proposed to me a million years ago! (Spoiler alert: I said yes 💍😎)
Remember in junior high and high school when you'd hang out with all your friends and there was that one suck-up friend who would go in and chat with the parents for a while? Spoiler alert: that was definitely me. Still is ;). So when we found ourselves a few blocks from Shelly's parents' house ON Ann's birthday it was a no brainer - we had to stop by! It was a lovely, quick visit; just enough time to give her a gift and stand in the kitchen and talk and cry and hug and take a picture:
And a picture with Jamie because I loooove her!
Then we literally drove down the road and over a bit to Dan's parents' house! We piled in their car and headed for an endowment session in the Provo City Center Temple and it was so, so lovely. The temple has such a spirit of hope and peace and comfort. Brenda and Gary were very indulgent of my need to take a picture afterwards... that turned into like twelve pictures because the dang light was not cooperating haha.
We headed back to the Swensons' house for dinner. As we pulled in Brenda mentioned she could use my help in the kitchen getting everything ready. I quickly set her straight that my assistance would be disastrous and offered Chuck instead ;). In the meantime, Gary showed me all the awesome family pictures in the living room - including this set of Dan and each of his sons! Probably the cutest thing I've ever seen, let's be honest. And then we ate and it was delicious and we talked and it was therapeutic. Such a nice evening and I only had to halfway force Gary to hug me at the end of it ;).
Wednesday morning snuggles with Jett and Leila before we headed out for the day! Leila and I had matching straight hair because Eden is the sweetest and straightened it for both of us.
We had lunch with Dr. Sam! It was way fun and remained way fun because I opted not to make Sam take a picture with me haha. So this shot of the place we ate will have to suffice - oh yeah, it was like a Very Famous Diner, no big deal.
Our next stop was Temple Square for a few hours of wandering and admiring and a few selfies:
We didn't make it to all of the museums and displays but we loved what we were able to see. This was one of my favorite quotes.
Thursday = time to go home... but not before we stopped to see Nicole and make her do my hair haha. It's perfect that chemical straightening takes so long because that way we get to talk and talk and talk hahaha!
Chuck ran errands (so weird that he didn't want to hang out and participate in girl talk, whatev) but made it back in time to take these special pictures of us; I don't remember why I thought we needed to hold hands while we sat in Nicole's cute pink chairs but obviously it worked out loads well ;).
We drove home nice and slow, stopping in Kays to see all those folks and at any and all D.I.s we could and also once because a nice Idaho State Trooper was concerned for our safety when I was going 86 instead of 80, whoooops. We waited until after he said he'd give me a warning to name drop our buddy who's a trooper in that area because we're classy ;). Also, the trooper really was super nice. Also, I'm 98% sure he's the same trooper that gave me a warning a couple years back when Carma and I were coming back from a girls' trip to Utah... and I probably deserved the ticket that time. Basically the stretch from the junction to Burley is where I just need to bond more with my cruise control...
And then we were home! As always my mama took AMAZING care of our four little yahoos in our absence - here are some of the pictures she took haha. Chuck and I are very aware that escaping away as often as we do is an extreme luxury and one that wouldn't at all be possible without my mom's generosity of time and love. Thanks Mama!!
