For years now, Brad and I have been trying to get a trip to Utah but it seems like something else always came up. For our late 10 year anniversary celebration, we decided we could finally make it happen! In a trade for watching her kids over the summer, Tiffany took on the task of keeping our three crazies with her for the week. My mom also went up to Denver with us to drop them off so she was there to hang out as well.
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| It was Balloon Fiesta week when we left so we had some great views as we drove out of town on Monday morning. All those dots in the sky are balloons. |
After we got to Tiffany's house, we hung out for a bit and got the kids settled, and then Brad and I began our adventure! We started with dinner at Cantina Laredo in Boulder, and then hit the road to Estes Park where we would be staying for the night.
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| The apple pie with cinnamon ice cream is to die for. |
We decided to be brave and stay at the historic, and haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Brad has been wanting to go here for a long time so what better way to start off our romantic anniversary trip than staying with some ghosts?! It really was such a beautiful place.
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| There were dear roaming around everywhere and we could basically walk right up to them. They had no fear. |
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| Brad requested to stay in the most haunted room, and I guess that was 418. It was on the floor where the children used to stay back in the early 1900s so the stories are that ghost children can be seen and heard all over up there. I'll be honest, it was a little creepy trying to sleep in there! More than anything though, I was just fighting the intense urge I had to do something to scare Brad. I wanted to REALLY bad, but I resisted the temptation. |
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| That night we went on a ghost tour. She gave us a tour of the hotel, and walked us through some of the most haunted areas and told stories about what has been seen and heard there. It was a little over the top for me, as far as seeming far fetched, but it was fun. Now we can say we have officially been on a ghost tour. |
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| We captured a ghost in the window! jk, just a creepy guest posing weirdly in his window watching everyone exiting the ghost tour. |
The next day we drove over to Park City and spent a few hours shopping at the outlets and eating yummy food. Being pregnant definitely put a damper on the shopping experience, but everyone else got some cute things! :)
That night we arrived in Salt Lake at one of the two Anniversary Inn's we would stay at during the trip. This place was such a fun and different experience. Each room was so unique and we really felt totally immersed in whatever the theme was. It was really fun.
The first night we stayed in the Safari room, complete with an elephant head shower and awkward fitting shower curtain so it was pretty freezing in there!
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| The alligator coming out from behind the wall was an especially nice touch. |
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| Breakfast in bed! |
The next morning we got dressed up nice and hit the Salt Lake Temple for a session. It was my first time experiencing a live session so that was a fun cool and unique experience.
After our temple session, we toured around the temple grounds, the conference center, the Beehive and Lion House, and the Church History Museum. It was really fun to see these places that I haven't been to in years!
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| Each light represents the temples throughout the world. |
In the Joseph Smith Memorial building, there is a really cool family history and genealogy center. They have all kinds of really neat technology and it was amazing how easy it was to look up so much about our family histories. We ended up spending quite a bit of time there playing with all the fun gadgets.
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| It felt like we were in one of those futuristic movies with all the fancy technology they had. |
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| FaceTiming with the kids, and showing them the temple! |
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| That evening we had dinner overlooking the Temple. It was beautiful. |
That night we stayed in a new room at the second Anniversary Inn hotel - the carriage room. Sleeping in a carriage was very fun and cozy actually.
The next day we went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple which is very close to Michael and Jesse's house.
It was so fun to go see their house, and their cute kids, and then she dropped them off with a friend and we were able to go on a double date which was a blast! We started off at the food trucks which is a favorite of Jesse's and was a new experience for us.
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| Brad and Jesse went for the delicious and huge french toast. |
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| As we were walking towards the other trucks for Michael and I to choose something, all of a sudden we heard a weird squeal and looked back to see Brad tripping over a small wall and falling right into his platter of french toast with a huge scoop of whipped cream on the top. He was covered in all kinds of delicious topping, and we all got the best laughs. Kuddos to him for being such a good sport - I probably would have cried from embarrassment. ha ha |
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| Michael and I chose some kind of delicious BBQ mac 'n cheese bowl. Yum! |
After we finished eating, we went to a cute little Halloween village with boutique shops and all kinds of fun decorations. It was just so much fun to be able to hang out and visit with Michael and Jesse who we don't get to see nearly enough!
That night was our final night in Salt Lake and we stayed in the train room. It really did feel like we were in a train car. It was cool.
The next day we drove down to Provo and spent the day touring around.
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| We drove by the house where my grandparents lived. I haven't been there in years and seeing that house brought back so many memories! It was actually kind of emotional for me. |
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| Then we went up the hill and visited grandma and grandpa Downing. I was only a couple weeks away from giving birth to Bentley when grandma died and so I wasn't able to go to her funeral. That still makes me so sad. It was good to finally be able to visit her grave. |
We also got to meet up with Erin for lunch that day, and got a tour of her apartment, and Brad even got to harass one of her roommates a little bit. Sorry we didn't get a picture with you Erin! But the Brick Oven pizza was delicious! :)
Then we went down to the Prove temple, and then on to BYU campus so Brad could show me his old stomping grounds. It was fun to have him show me around and reminisce on his many memories there. And I think he said that now that we went there, he no longer has stressful BYU dreams. He finally got closure I guess. :)
That night we got some delicious ice cream from the creamery and then went to the BYU Spectacular. The program was full of all kinds of great performances, including David Archuleta who has such a beautiful voice.
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| Cell phone lights swaying as David Archuleta sang "Imagine". It was so cool! |
The following day is was time to make the drive back to the kids. I was more than ready to see them! It was such a great vacation, and we packed it in with so many fun things to do and see, but we also saw a few movies and relaxed and enjoyed some down time too. I'm grateful for Brad and these fun adventures we get to have together. And I'm so grateful for family who take great care of my kids. I got the following pictures of their shenanigans from the week and I could tell they were having a blast!
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| Because of the Halloween decorations, and watching the movie "Hocus Pocus" Eden went through a bit of a weird cemetery phase and was really curious about them. One of the days they asked her what she wanted to do and she requested visiting a cemetery so Tiffany and grandma went with it! |
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| This is probably definitely against proper conduct code at a cemetery, but obviously Bentley enjoyed himself visiting the graves too. |
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| Eden and Wren got to go to the Justice store with Grandma and they picked out matching shirts. Cute girls. |
Here's to many more great adventures!
