After Brent had his fun with the little girls, I was definitely chomping at the bit to get my fun in with the older girls. I really needed the break from work and a change of scenery is always nice!
I have apparently amassed enough frequent flyer miles that I was upgraded to First Class while the girls had to fly economy and I have to say, I think
every flight should be that way! It was dreamy.
We flew right over Bear Lake which was cool to see from the air.
Also the brine pools- so bright and colorful.
Our rental car was "upgraded" to a Dodge Ram truck which was a bit odd. It was kind of a pain to navigate and park but we were anxious to avoid the long lines so we just took it and decided to deal.
Doug advised me to recline my seat as much as possible, throw a gorilla arm over the steering wheel and to give a two-fingered wave. Other cars definitely got out of our way on I-15 so that was a bonus!
We made a beeline for some Cafe Rio and shopping at City Creek Center.
We wanted to catch the Church History Museum as well. It was really cool because Liesel actually recognized a lot from her 14 year trip with Brent.
There was a cute display on the many different places the plates were hidden while Joseph Smith was translating them:
Move it to the rafters! One of my favorite stories!
I'm glad we were able to spend time here first.
We checked into the hotel so the girls could try out their new swimsuits we'd picked up while shopping.
The movie Speed happened to be on, which the girls had never seen. We had so much fun watching it together! Kind of random, but I'll never forget just chilling in the hotel and watching their reactions to a movie I know oh so well- haha!
It really made an impact on Liesel now that she's driving. Look at these reactions!
They were riveted.
On Sunday we caught Music and the Spoken Word which was just lovely.
The Spirit is always so strong here.
Ireland and I introduced Liesel to crunchy sushi- our favorite! We also enjoyed ramen.
Stopped by the Up house!
The whole family fell in love with Waffle Love on our last trip so stopping by was a must this time around too.
YUM!
Check in for camp was a bit of a nightmare. We had a hard time finding parking, it was really busy and chaotic, getting keys to dorm rooms took ages, Ireland headed off to orientation without her phone and we couldn't get a hold of her- Liesel was incredibly late (as were several others) because the room had changed... it was a mess. But funny story- we'd been waiting in line for a while. When we walked by this banner I snapped a quick photo and then suddenly it was THE photo to take. A line quickly followed and we counted ourselves lucky to have taken care of that early on because it became a THING!
With the girls safely ensconced in Cougarette Camp, I picked up Katrina to work on a quilt I was stuck on and she kindly obliged. As fate would have it, some serious things happened with our parents and it turned out to be a good thing we were together as information came in and we processed it all.
In the meantime we managed to take the quilt from this:
To this!
We talked about family and missions and dreams. I learned a lot about her as I watched her steadily work through that quilt. Katrina has a work ethic that is unbelievable! She was going to come with me to the showcase but instead stayed in the hotel room and finished that sucker up. I was able to take home a completed quilt top!
During camp, Ireland's knee started bothering her. I asked the trainer if they could try wrapping it and she did her best to participate but it was still an issue. For the showcase, she danced all out as best she could and I'm so proud of her for that. They had several dances but I couldn't record them all. Here's one where you can see them both.
They were told every dance they learned is one the Cougarettes would perform themselves. This camp was a better fit for them than Cheer Camp was and they really enjoyed themselves! The only downside is that there were no concurrent boys camps so they didn't get a dance like they did with Cheer Camp.
Still, anything we can do to nudge them toward this great university is worth it to us! Go Cougs!
While grabbing some food at the Cougareat, we ran into a missionary from Chicago- what are the chances of that? Turns out she was a counselor for the FSY session going on. It was fun to catch up with her.
Just a little more shopping at the bookstore!
We had a great trip and if it happened the same way next year, I wouldn't be sad. Yes it's fun to have the whole family together, but breaking it up between Brent and I had it's advantages as well. The only disadvantage was the looong walk to our terminal which was at the absolute other end of the furthest terminal!
No upgrade for me on the flight home- boo! It was fun to sit with the girls though.
We flew over the salt flats...
...and eventually that gorgeous Chicago skyline.
Sweet Home Chicago!
