Easter in Salt Lake

It all started on Facebook a few weeks ago when I made some comment about a recent thrift store adventure, to which my baby sister replied that she'd love to be able to go thrift store shopping with me.
Then our sister-in-law Rachelle was like, "Hey, you guys should come shopping in Salt Lake- we have way better stores than stupid Idaho!"
Then I'm like, "You shut up! Idaho isn't stupid!" and then she's like, "Oh yes huh!"
and then I'm all, "Oh no you DI-IN'T!" and then she's all...
Wait.
That's not how it went.

What really happened was that Rachelle said how cool it would be if we could all go shopping together in Salt Lake, to which I replied to Jennifer, "So whatcha doin' for Spring Break?" Suddenly we were all planning on going to Salt Lake for the long weekend and Aaron was able to get off of work and Mom had gotten two spare tickets to General Conference and it was all just magically coming together!

We drove down Thursday night after Aaron was done at work and spent the night at his brother Brent's house in Clearfield. Our kids and their kids always have the best time playing, so of course they were stoked.




Friday night we drove into Salt Lake to Keith & Rachelle's place. They, as well as Mom & Jennifer, entertained our kids for a bit while Aaron and I went to a fabulous little Italian restaurant to celebrate his birthday. It was a short little date, but the meal was fantastic and it was lovely getting to spend some time alone together.

That night I stayed at Keith & Rachelle's while Aaron took the kids back to Brent & Zila's house. We had a whole day of shopping planned for Saturday and I didn't want to have to drive down early, so I spent the night. They took us to Hatch Family Chocolates where I had the most delicious hot chocolate EV-ER. Oh, man. I thought I was dead, that's how good it was. Back at the house we settled in for the night, which was really weird for me because I had no kids to help get pajamas on or teeth brushed or tucked in. I've never spent the night away from all of them before, so it definitely felt strange.

On Saturday morning Keith accompanied us girls while we visited consignment stores and thrift stores that were just packed with all kinds of cool stuff. Unfortunately Aaron had forbidden me to buy any furniture, so I just had to look and drool. But I did find a few cute things that I could fit into our car, and Keith and Rachelle bought this darling little wooden step stool for the kids that I'd been eyeing.

After MUCH shopping, we took a break to eat at the Tin Angel Cafe. Oooooh... I just can't even find the words. Their Spinach and Fontina soup haunts me still. And the desserts? Don't even get me started. I will eat there on every visit to Salt Lake that I make for the rest. Of. My. Life.

What a fun day! After we'd shopped ourselves silly, Aaron and the kids came down and we enjoyed a wonderful meal of spaghetti and meatballs, courtesy of Keith & Rachelle, and the kids helped Grandma Pam make a cookie and gumdrop flower arrangement.







Sunday morning started early because Pyper and I were going to be attending the morning session of General Conference with Mom and Jennifer. I was so excited! I'd never gotten to attend Conference before, and of course neither had Pyper. I think I was mostly excited to get to take her and to have that "first" together.

After a little drama on the freeway we finally got downtown to Keith's and he drove us to Temple Square and dropped us off. We hadn't even gotten through the doors before I was already teary. A lady standing outside scanning tickets asked Pyper if this was her first time going to Conference, and when she silently but eagerly nodded her head I choked up. I was pretty much done for after that as we walked hand-in-hand through that beautiful building, and then into the enormous room where Conference takes place. The General Authorities were seated down front and the choir was assembled. As we were finding our way to our seats (which were on the floor and pretty close to the front), the tears just kept coming. The choir began to sing some prelude music and everyone was smiling and reverent and it just overwhelmed me. I did finally get a grip, but several times during the music and talks that followed I was moved to tears. It was such a special experience and I know Pyper felt the same way.

After Conference Keith picked us up and took us back to his house. Then we headed to Brent & Zila's for some Easter celebrating. The kids got into their baskets and hunted eggs...

...and we all enjoyed a fantastic meal together.



Candy was abundant, so Aunt Rachelle let Finnley have his first taste of one a magnificent Cadbury Creme Eggs. I think she's officially his favorite now.

Our visit was almost perfect. We were missing a few people to make it just right, but still it was darn close.

(I have a few videos from the trip that I'm going to try to post separately.)