Shakespear Shuffle

Idaho/Utah trip 2015

The day after Christmas we left at 6:45am to go on our trip to the mountains & snow, freezing cold weather & friends!  5 of my favorite friends live right on the path to Provo & I really wanted to see them all (although we could only see 4 this time) & see the lights on temple square.  Those were the two main reason, yup.  This was my Christmas present this year & it was awesome.  The kids were amazing in the car.  The first day we drove 9.5 hours & we only stopped twice for a total of 30 minutes to use the bathroom.  It's all about making sandwiches in the car for lunch & not having to stop to eat.  It was also the best trip ever sleeping all together.  I think a lot of it was that Hunter doesn't snore anymore - hooray for tonsil/adenoid surgery!

Our favorite Seaside friends who have now relocated out of Seaside :( They were generous enough to house us for two nights & two days - so fun

 

We went to the lights on temple square two nights in a row.  Once by ourselves & once with our good friends the Englands from Springfield MO who have now relocated to Utah- yay!  Our kids picked right back up where they left off & had so much fun together.  They introduced us to the restaurant HuHot in MO & we found one in Sandy - so yummy.  The first night at the lights we lost Emma for a solid 10 minutes.  Those are 10 minutes I don't ever want to experience again.  Let's just say if you're going to lose a child the best place to do it is on temple square.  We finally found her in the visitor's center with the missionaries.

We took the full tour of the conference center.  Can't wait until we can take the kids to a conference session here.

 

 

 

 

Second night of looking at lights - with Olivia & family.  We also went to the Church Museum of History - they have a fun kids area.

When in Provo we always have to drive by our studio apartment we lived in when first married.  It won't be there for much longer they have really built up that area & changed it completely.  It used to be kind of dumpy & now there are so many nice buildings & apartments around.  Even the smoke/alcohol shop is gone.

This would have been a super cute picture if the darn camera had focused on the kids instead of the wall in the background...errrrgh

We went to the paleontology museum that is part of BYU - I never knew they had one but it was pretty cool.  The kids loved it.

We walked around campus of course like always & visited the "art" in the HFAC building.  This was my favorite display - hahahaha!!!  We went over to the MOA which was way better & were able to go through the Norman Rockwell display/collection that was there temporarily.  I had kind of forgotten about him & how much I love his art.  Now I want to buy some of his prints.

Bridget & I - we went bowling with them & had a delicious dinner & saw their new home.  She & I used to work together at the Financial Aid Office way back in the BYU days.

Snow, snow & more snow!  The kids didn't quite know what to do with it all :)  It was absolutely freezing. The coldest was -10 degrees one evening.  Brrrrrr!  People tell us they don't know how we stand the rainy winters but I'll take my 45/50 degree winter over the freezing ones although it was really fun to visit for a week.

 

 

We went to the Provo Rec Center that has a great indoor swim park with slides etc.  I didn't really swim but I enjoyed watching everyone else have a good time.  It was so nice & warm in there.  Justy had grandpa hands for a while afterwards.

Jeremy was able to catch up with two good friends from BYU days on different nights.  I know that was a lot of fun for him too.

I really wanted to see the new Provo City Center temple that will be dedicated in March.  It's gorgeous!  Next time I want to go inside :)  We also had dinner at Cafe Rio with my favorite cousin on Jeremy's side & her husband.  We were able to visit with Grandma T on our way out of town as well - it's always so good to see her.

We headed up to Rexburg for just a short hour or two to revisit Ricks (BYU-I) campus.  I hope at least one of our kids go here some day.  It is such a special school & one I have so many fond memories of.  I visited my old apartment complex - can't believe it's still there.  It's changed so much since I went to school here 15 years ago.

 

We stayed in Idaho Falls that night & were able to hang out with my best friend from Ricks & her family.  They even shared their Harry Potter butterbeer with us - that's a mark of a true friend :)