Of Mice and Men

In mid-April my little sister Megan became a college graduate. She graduated from BYU-Idaho with a degree in music education. With the highest g.p.a. in her college she might like me to add. Two weeks later Mollie graduated from BYU with a degree in psychology. Magna cum laude she might like me to add.

Thanks to their graduating 2 weeks apart my mom was stuck in Utah with nothing to do. Nothing besides volunteering to watch her two adorable grandchildren, that is. This child-free getaway opportunity was discovered months in advance so Bryce and I spent Christmas thinking of all the places we could go...Europe? Argentina? Alaska? Puerto Rico? And then....we realized we didn't have passports. (I've never had one and Bryce's is expired.) And then...we realized that we (ok mostly me) were not comfortable with going out of the country (into the big bad world where people are kidnapped in broad daylight on public streets...or so I've heard) with our two little boys at home. And then...we decided to go to Florida for the shuttle launch in May. And then...I went on my unexpected $2500 kidney stone vacation. And we found our plans scaling down more and more.

Until we ended up with a long weekend in a truly exotic location:

Now that may look like Salt Lake, but it is actually Sweden.


Ok. It is Salt Lake. We take what we can get.

We posed in front of the local sights - such as the martini ad in the elevator. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It happened to be Restaurant Week so we had a good time eating out choosing different places for 2 course lunches and 3 course dinners. Of course, the thrill wore off when we added up the prices and discovered that the maximum discount we received with our "special Restaurant Week 3 course dinner" was $1. All the food was good though, and I ate entire meals without getting up, cleaning spills, refilling drinks, or having someone snatch food from my plate so that was a bonus.

I had looked up some area flea markets to check out. We went to an indoor flea market on Redwood Rd. one day and an outdoor flea market also on Redwood Rd. the next day. They were pretty much identical except for the roof and walls part. And I'm not sure why I was picturing jolly Santa-esque bearded men with tables full of Antique Roadshow contenders. There were none to be seen. I'm pretty sure that 90% of what was for sale was stolen goods. But, hey, if you are in the market for neon colored bra and underwear sets then it is the place for you. "Four for $10!" My favorite was the booth full of dirty 80's comforters that I'm confident were swiped from motel beds. Oops...I just spoiled the surprise for a lot of your Christmas presents.
After fleeing the flea market we stopped at a gas station. Bryce asked if I wanted anything to drink. I requested a water - the bigger the better. So he bought me a gallon jug. Which I should have expected.

We went to a movie, and ate, and ate, and ate. (The hallmark of a good trip in my book.)

By Monday we couldn't think of much else to do in Salt Lake so we decided to head home and take the boys to a movie. Because even though we had been looking forward to some kid-free time for months, after a couple days we missed those buggers. We're lame like that. We took them to How to Train Your Dragon in 3d and they had a great time.