Utah Trip - Provo

 When I made the decision to take the trip to Utah with my mom and sister I told everyone upfront that I had every intention of taking a day to go down to Provo with my boys and see a few friends I hadn't seen in a long time. And I did.

On the way to Provo we made two pit stops to visit two of my very favorite people ever. No pictures of it because I didn't even think about it and would have much rather been talking with them, which I did.

First stop was Amanda, her son Jaxon and new baby girl Alexa. I met her through Jason because Jason went to high school with her husband. After we had been married and at BYU for a year or so Sterling and Amanda moved down next to Provo and we started to hang out and do multiple game nights a week (especially in the summer) and we both got along really well with them. So I got to chat with her a good long time, though definitely not anywhere long enough, and hold her little girl. It was probably the tinest baby I've ever held. Max enjoyed holding her too. (stole this older pic of her FB just so I have a picture of her somewhere. We never took lots of pictures mostly because it was too much fun with them and we just didn't think about documenting all the awesomeness)
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Then off we went to visit Jackie. I met Jackie in my junior year at BYU in our intro to social work class. We sat together and started chatting, sharing snacks to get through it and then of course when it came time to do group work and projects we always picked each other. One thing let to another and eventually our husbands met and got along really, really well. Let me tell you it is difficult sometimes to find a couple where both the husbands and wives got along equally well friendship wise. We spent many a late night just hanging out with them and chatting till 1 or 2 in the morning. We miss and still  talk about both of them and hopefully we (including Jason) get to go see them again soon. These are also people who we had absolutely so much fun talking and hanging out that cameras are never pulled out because we just don't think about it. So here's Tyler, Jackie and Griffin (who is so adorable and I'm glad I finally got to meet the man in person). I am pretty sure I could talk to both of them for days and not be bored.
                                       
It was so good to see both of them and while we only got to chat for a couple of hours each it was better than nothing. I don't care what people say about how we are living a such a great age of communication with facebook, skype, texing and such. While all of that is great, to me all of that pales in comparison to a real live, face to face chat with a good friend. I'd pick that any day.

Finally we made it to Provo. I'll have to admit our first stop was Down East Outfitters because they have my favorite shirts there and I was in desperate need of some new ones. The boys we very cute in the store while Scarlett and I (Scarlett was with me and helped a TON) got some stuff. Max kept trying to pick out cloths for me, the sales lady thought it was adorable and it was.

Then on to the good boy stuff. The BYU paleontology museum. Originally I had planned on going to the Bean Science Museum which was amazing and had tons of animals, bugs, reptiles but apparently they had a small fire a couple months ago and were doing renovations. I actually hadn't gone to see the dinosaurs but I'm glad we did, the boys were thrilled from the moment they got there.

 The boys next to a 'long neck'. They were very kind and somewhat grudgingly held still long enough to take these.

I LOVE this shot! I am not sure what he was so excited to see but obviously it was amazing.

 There was a place to see where all the paleontologists we were working and Max could have watched for hours. Levi could not.

 I really wanted to show the boys the Provo Temple because over the course of my 4/5 years at BYU I went there quite a bit and I loved it. Heck, I even threw up in there while I was pregnant with Levi (to answer questions and in case my memory fails me later on down the road, I was in the sealing room at the alter and a sweet older lady saw I was going to lose it and luckily grabbed a trash basket just in time. Other wise I think it would have been a much less funny story). Great memories.

BUT. It was hot, very hot espeically for these Oregonians who were not used to seeing much of the sun. The boys were good and walked up quietly to where the fountain was. Max was SO excited, at least until I told him he could not swim in it when he requested it. "But I want to swim! It's HOT!" So I dragged a screaming Max back down towards the entrance to calm down. I'm sure it was a site for all those collage students to see. "Just wait a couple years and this will be you," I thought.

We stopped a second to rest in the shade. I love my Levi.

 Max was plain ANGRY. And I just took pictures. Hey, got to document it all. The good, the bad and the ugly right?

 We (ahem, Max) calmed down enough to go down to the MTC which is where I worked while I was married for 2 years. It was weird seeing the place and not being able to walk in and go in the buildings. They also had done a bunch of construction and it looks like they took down the 'Welcome to the MTC' sign or at least moved it to a place that I did not want to go with two grumpy, hot boys. It was nice to see it and the old building I taught in. Hopefully they got some air conditioning in my old classrooms because it was hot up there on the 3rd floor. It was still awesome and while I've relatively had few jobs I am pretty sure it is the best (paid) job I have had or will ever have.

 To cool off we decided to go to the creamery which I had already promised the boys. But it, like pretty much half of campus, was undergoing construction so we decided to go to the Cougareat where I knew they had some, not as big of variety but ice cream is ice cream and the boys (and Scarlett and I) needed a cool treat. 

 Once cooled we headed off to the BYU bookstore and I let the boys pick something out. Levi got a hat and Max got a shirt which they both insisted on putting on right away. They loved the bookstore and could have looked around half the day but we only had so much time.

Last stop, J-Dawgs. J-Dawgs, when we lived there was a hot dog stand less than a block from our house and they make the best hotdogs I've ever tasted and I don't even like hot dogs that much. Levi ate almost the whole thing, though he couldn't get his eyes unglued from the baseball game that was up on the TV in their new store (it is right next to where the stand used to be)

 Oh, the very, very last stop. I wanted to see if our old apartment was there. Now we lived in some of the weirdest little apartments. They were pretty run down basements but they were cheap and only a walk up the stairs to campus and you can't beat that. I remember when I was back off my mission and just engaged and we realized we needed a place to stay so we found our first one but it was so weird and run down that they would not let us sign a contract without seeing it so I had my old roommate take a look and let me know what she thought. While she said she could never live there I asked her if she thought I could (she knew me and my tolerance levels of things pretty well) and she said yeah. Lets face it, I was just getting back from a 3rd world country so I would probably been fine with just about anything, and I was.

Anyways. Back to it. We drive up and at first it looks like it was under construction but it wasn't, they were putting up a new building on the same road, literally right across from it. I don't know what it is but I believe there used to be an older science/botany building there. Now the stairs and the terrace garden I used to go up and down multiple times a day are gone and have been replaced with this big guy.

 The boys tolerated me taking pictures of them in front of where we lived which was a very, very old house that had been cut up into 4 different apartments. We were in the basement which is where it seems they stick most of the married couples unless you want to shell out a lot for some place nicer.

 This was our 2nd apartment.

 And this was our first apartment right next door. We had to move out when there was a storm filled the canal up the hill that overflowed and buried it in a foot and a half of water. I was home and it was absolutely terrifying. Luckily the apartment people owned pretty much everything on that block so they just moved us next door. I actually (eventually after lots of stuff was ruined and having a number of panic sessions) was ok because I then got to have a bathtub instead of only a shower which was handy because I would be pregnant a couple months after it happened.

Needless to say the boys were not very impressed and asked if we lived in holes. Pretty much, but you got to do what you got to do.

On the drive  with Mr. Max.