Our Trip to Utah

We had a fantastic weekend in Utah! Emily flew out to visit everyone, so we had everyone except for Andrew together on this trip. We miss him and love him so much, but he is exactly where he needs to be.

Michael, Jonny, and I flew from Mesa to Provo on Friday night. 

I got up at 7:30 AM so I could be ready in time to go to Nathaniel and Audrey's house at 9 AM. We picked up Daniel and headed over there. Charlie was still asleep when we got there but we chatted with Nathaniel and Audrey for a bit and then he woke up had some breakfast and we got to hang out with him. Sweet Charlie is getting close to walking.

Then Daniel and Jonny and I drove up to pick up Emily at the airport. I was so happy to see her and she was so happy to see us she was crying. She hugged me for a long time. I don't think we've ever been apart for that long. We drove straight over to Joe's house and chatted with him for a little while, about half an hour or so. We reminisced a little bit and talked about what's been going on in our lives. He brought his dog out and that was a big hit. The dog's name is Gus and he was super hyper but really cute. Brandie and the girls had a dance thing today so I was sorry that didn't work out. 

Then we headed back to Nathaniel and Audrey's house. Emily sobbed as she hugged Nathaniel, she was so happy to see him. And Audrey, too. Charlie was asleep and everyone was watching the BYU football game. It was almost over and they were losing pretty badly to Texas Tech. Once the game was over Charlie woke up shortly afterwards and we all went to lunch at Brick Oven. We had a prayer and blessing together before we left. We got a picture and had a nice lunch together. 

Nathaniel, Michael, and I all got the buffet. Daniel got a calzone, and everyone else got a pizza. Emily said she had something to tell us all. She said she went on a date and saw Zootopia 2. We were all pretty surprised. She hadn't told any of us except Andrew, funny enough. After asking a lot of questions, she told us his name is Brandon Gross and he is 25 and from Connecticut. He is a cook at Ale and Compass. He was in the culinary program and lived at Flamingo but he stayed and now he is a regular employee. She seems happy but they have just started dating. They have a second date this Wednesday. 

After lunch we headed over to the new BYU Creamery to check that out. We parked by the Wilk and walked over there. It was pretty cold. The new Creamery is huge and very nice. 

We all got our ice cream. We had to eat outside because there wasn't any space to sit inside. We enjoyed our ice cream and I got a couple pictures. 

Daniel bought some laundry detergent and walked it back to his apartment and then met us back at the creamery and we walked over to the Wilk. We saw the Giving Machines, so of course we had to stop there.

Then we went over to the BYU bookstore and did some shopping. 

We got Jonny his chocolate-covered cinnamon gummy bears and went over to Nathaniel and Audrey's house. We played with Charlie for a bit and then Emily suggested we play Soundtrack Trivia. We had to play it in the kitchen so Charlie wouldn't try and grab all the cards. We had fun playing and of course Nathaniel won. 

After the game was over, we had a prayer together and we all went to Kiwi Tu Meke bites to try some meat pies. Emily was so excited. She said they were really good and authentic. There were only two tables in there but luckily there was one available for us. I asked if they had any caramel slices and she was surprised I even knew what they were and I told her that when we went to visit Emily I tried a caramel slice everywhere we went. Unfortunately, they sold out of them today so I didn't get to try one. We all sat and ate our meat pies. 

Nathaniel and Audrey took Charlie home and the rest of us went together to drop off Daniel and then go to the hotel. We got checked into our second room and got everybody settled. So now it's almost 10 PM and we've been chilling for the last hour. Emily left at about 9 PM to visit her friends Rebecca and Marina. 

I'm so grateful we got to go to church with all the kids today! We met Nathaniel and Audrey at their ward at 10:30 AM. After Sacrament meeting, since Audrey is the secretary in Primary, she took Jonny to his Sunday school class, which was actually all boys, and the rest of us went to Gospel Doctrine. It was a nice meeting.

I helped Nathaniel by peeling oranges for Charlie and feeding him the pieces and then he eventually fell asleep in Nathaniel's arms. 

After church, we went back to their house. Emily and Jonny had something to eat. We were pretty shocked that Nathaniel was feeding Cheerios to Charlie. He despises them! I always wondered what would happen some day when he had kids because little ones love Cheerios. I was absolutely flabbergasted that he was feeding them to Charlie like it was nothing. We all had a good laugh about it. 

Michael and I went over to the Harmon building to meet Daniel for his sacrament meeting at 1:30 PM. It was a very nice meeting and many of the students bore their testimony. His Bishop, Bishop Chenn, bore his testimony, as well, and talked about how much he loves his wife. And how much he loves Christmas. One of Daniel's roommates named Carter bore his testimony. After the meeting, they did announcements and they wanted to welcome the visitors so we stood up and introduced ourselves. I said who we were and that we are from Queen Creek and we were here for the weekend visiting our family. After the announcements, Daniel was going to go to second hour and he clearly didn't want us to go with him. That worked out fine because we were only planning on staying for the first hour anyway. He left and we introduced ourselves to the bishop. He had such a nice things to say about Daniel. We thanked him and said goodbye. We drove over to the hotel and changed out of our church clothes and then got back in the car. We talked to Andrew on our way to the hotel and on the way to Nathaniel and Audrey's house. We hung out at Nathaniel and Audrey's. We decided yesterday that we're going to start calling it Charlie's house since that's easier to say and he's in charge. We had fun playing with Charlie. Audrey and Nathaniel were in the kitchen making us some soup and rolls. She made Rhoads rolls so that was nice. 

We played with Charlie and kept him busy. 

Then we all ate dinner while we watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional. I especially enjoyed Elder Holland's talk. After the devotional, Emily handed out her Christmas gifts to everyone. Charlie loves soft stuffed animals, and he was so sweet with the Pumbaa toy Emily got him. 

Jonny had a good laugh about the Funko Pop Skibidi Toilet. 

She got Michael a wearable Grinch blanket. 

Audrey put Charlie to bed. Daniel really wanted to play his Villainous game. Nathaniel and Audrey were a team, Emily and Jonny were a team, Michael and I were a team, and then Daniel played on his own. I think it was after 10 PM by the time we finally finished and Nathaniel and Audrey won. We said our goodbyes and headed over to the hotel. We had a prayer together and then we all got ready for bed.

 

December 8, Monday

We got up and got packed and ready and said our goodbyes to Emily and walked her to her car and then finished getting packed. We got an Uber at about 9 AM and easily got through security and had plenty of time to sit before it was time toward the plane. The flight was uneventful, thankfully. We sat in the same row and in the same seats both ways. Michael was 17 C, I was 17 B, and Jonny was 17 A. 

We landed right on time and went to the car and drove home. We picked up some Panda on the way and had our lunch. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and doing chores. 

It was a wonderful trip!