Vacation Highlights: Utah

Utah is hard to write about. And I hardly have any pictures. :( I think we were in a fog just trying to balance fun and family with the fact that Sam would be leaving on the 16th and we wanted to make sure he was ready to go (he was) and that we were ready to say goodbye (we weren't).

We arrived in Utah on the evening of July 13th and stayed for a week with my brother Dave and his darling wife, Tanya. The first few days we saw lots of family. Sunday night everyone, minus my youngest brother, was gathered at my brother Dave's house when we arrived. It was so fun catching up and watching the cousins together. They all get along really well. Monday night we went to see my brother and niece perform in Shrek: The Musical. What a fun show! The Herriman Arts Council did a fantastic job putting together a quality production. We loved it!

Tuesday night we had a big barbecue at my brother Steve's house. We were able to get all but two of the cousins together for a picture. (Emma was, once again, performing in Shrek and baby Hank wouldn't make it up from Nevada until Thursday of that week.) What a great bunch of kids. Taylor, near the front in the teal tank top, had so much fun with Sam that night. She even convinced him to perform a little dance with her. When she left that night, she was completely bawling her little eyes out knowing that she wouldn't see Sam again for two years!

Wednesday was rough. After we dropped Sam off at the MTC, we mustered up the energy to head to BYU for a campus tour. Savannah will be submitting her application this fall and the tour was very beneficial in letting her know what to expect as she applies to BYU and prepares to apply to the nursing program at the end of her freshman year. I'm glad we went. It really helped to get Savannah super excited, but we were missing Sam more than I expected. We just tried not to talk about it because every time I opened my mouth, tears leaked out my eyeballs.

That night I was torturing myself by watching things like this and I decided that what I really needed was chocolate. Jeff and my brother were out running errands so we texted them and, boy howdy, did they ever come through! Introducing the chocolate dome from Kneaders: Brownie base, chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, rolled in chocolate shavings with a dollop of whipped cream - just what the doctor ordered. Oh, so yummy and rich and perfect for drowning my sorrows! I was still missing Sam, but at least I was happy about it.

Kneaders Chocolate Domes. The ultimate chocolate comfort food.      Imagesource

Jeff and I spent Friday evening with some of my best high school friends. You know those friends where, even if it's been 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, you can pick up where you left off? That's how it is with this group. It turns out, three of them were in the same boat -- missing their kids who had very recently left on missions, too. It helped to talk with them and hear that a) I'm normal and b) it gets better. We had a great evening and left feeling a lot lighter.

Saturday morning, Jeff and three of our kids went with several other family members to hike the Y. It was a pretty good (steep) hike, but everyone who tried made it! :) I'll post a picture from Savannah when she gets home from Girls' Camp.

I'm leaving out a lot of detail. Once Sam left, everything got a little foggy. But we had a great time in Utah and we're so blessed to have been able to spend time with everyone in my family. It was a great vacation!