Utah: Part Three (Boo Included)

On Saturday, I spent the day with my old boo Michelle. Michelle and I met in the year 2002 while we were doing Washington Seminar in DC.

Things to know about Michelle:

1. Michelle and her family lived in England for part of her formative years.
2. Due to some Irishness in her family line, Michelle has an Irish passport, which means that she has a legal right to work in the UK.
3. For both of these reasons, I hate her.
4. Michelle has a finely trained legal mind. Ha! This is a bit of a joke betwixt us. But she really did go to law school and does have a finely trained mind.
5. Her home, Crane Manor, was like my 2nd home during my last years at BYU.

When Michelle and I are together, we are very stupid.

The day started with breakfast at Gurus, where I enjoyed spotting some gen-u-ine Provo hipsters.

I also sampled the best sweet potato fries that I have ever had in my life.

From there, I made Michelle drive me around my favorite neighborhoods in Provo so I could take pictures of houses. I love these neighborhoods.

From there, a stop at Crane Manor.

Michelle has a grown woman's room now.

There's Bill Dog! His name is actually Cody, but as with Heidi's sons, I could never remember his real name, so I just gave him a new one. That's who I am.

We caught an afternoon matinee of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The problem with prequels is that you're basically wading through the entire film to get to the 'Aha!' ending that sets up the original. It was just ok. It was a long movie about apes. That's what I have to say about it.

When we came out of the theater it was raining. Thank you, Mother Nature. I got to see my mountains covered in mist even though it was the dead of summer.

More neighborhood tours and visually documenting happy places. Michelle drove where I told her to. I loved it. Seriously, driving around looking at old houses was one of the only things I really, really wanted to do in Utah.

We ended up in American Fork looking at these townhomes that M-chelle used to want to move into after finishing law school.

We always referred to them as the Mudslide Townhouses because there was a, well, mudslide one year that hit the development.

I dearly wish these pictures would have turned out better. The view overlooking the valley was stunning after the rain storm.

{There's the Timpanogas Temple}

Pulling out of the development we kind of decided to go to Salt Lake. Why not? Michelle and I are professional level driving-meanderers. This is what we do.

As soon as we got to Salt Lake, I started to feel at home. I was completely shocked by this, as I've always been a mad proponent of Utah County. But, alas, something has shifted. If I moved back to Utah, I think I'd have to live in Salt Lake. Something about it just felt so right. Here are some blurry pictures of more homes taken from a moving car...

{This building could be straight out of Virginia.}

After driving around, after making some of the funniest jokes of my amateur career, after the sun had set and we had driven the width of Salt Lake at least two times, we decided to go to Happy Sumo for dinner. About once a year I crave sushi, and that night was one of those times.

After dinner we got frozen yogurt, then did some more driving around and acting like idiots.

I had the best time ever.

:::Bounce House:::

On Friday night we all went to a bounce house that was nothing more than a warehouse with a few giant inflatables inside. It may not seem like a place with much fun potential for adults, but man, we all had such a good time.

We were the only ones in the whole place, so we adults could do whatever we wanted without worrying about public shame. Plus, we didn't have to worry about the kids interacting with other hopped up and insane children. It was like living out that dream of running around a mall after closing time with your friends.



The huge slide was by far the most popular attraction. All of us went down it many, many times.

The kids were really excited that we were playing with them. I had to keep reminding them not to follow me too closely up the stairs just in case I lost my footing and took them all down with me.

On one run I decided to take my camera up with me and video my view as I went down the slide.



I lost my stomach every single time I went down.

Molly proved to be as fearless as ever. With no help or encouragement whatsoever she ran to the slide and climbed easily up the stairs.

Watching her go down the slide was hilarious. Sometimes she'd stand up there and waive, but most of the time she got right down to business and threw herself down the slide.

My mom is going to get so anxious looking at these pictures, so I'll include some more.


She flew down that slide, usually flipping onto her tummy somewhere near the middle. So little, so fast. She's not even two years old yet.


Regardless of the fun we had, I wasn't feeling so hot after we left. Maybe it was all the running, screaming, climbing, sliding and bouncing I did. Maybe it was the ten minutes I spent trying to heave myself out of the inflatable obstacle course while trying to keep my shorts from falling off.

Maybe. Who knows.

On our way out the solitary bounce house worker told us that there was a tornado warning, so we made our way home via Pei Wei and the riveting entertainment of Air Buddies.

I was hoping we'd see some action, but nary a twister touched down. I guess that's for the better since the children are afraid of storms and Sarah and Don's fence and rain gutters have been ripped off their house more than once.


Isn't this picture gorgeous? Those clouds are beautiful.

:::Snapshots -- Friday, September 11, 2009:::

1. Earlier in the week we went to eat at a Mexican place here called Chuy's. I was excited because there aren't that many, if any, Tex-Mex places in DC and I love this kind of food.


I really could eat thin, oily, salted chips and salsa each day of my life and never get sick of them.

Sarah got a salad that came with a creamy jalapeno dressing that people also dip their chips in. It's pretty good, and it's got a nice kick to it.


Molly really liked it, but this is what her face looked like after every bite. She kept going back for more though.


2. Last night we had a slow cooker lasagna that I made. Well, Sarah cooked and I put it together. I saw the recipe before I left in Kraft Food & Family Magazine (did anyone else get a notice that they were going to have to start paying for it?) and wanted to try it out.


We added our own spices and made a few modifications, but it was really good for a basic American lasagna. In fact, I wouldn't see the point in making lasagna in a pan anymore.


3. Yesterday and today it's been raining fairly steadily. I love long rain storms. Back in DC rainstorms are really intense, but they come and go quickly. I prefer it so much more when it rains all day long.

The rain temporarily stopped during dinner so we opened the sliding glass door to enjoy the after-rain air. I wish we could have this type of weather on demand.



4. Scott in my sunglasses at Sprouts.


I will steal him one day.



5. Today I went to Sophie's school for some kind of eat-lunch-with-your-grandparent-or-other-special-person day.


Some kids, like young Harrison here, didn't have anyone come. So sad. He was actually really, really talkative and just started talking to me out of the blue in a stream of consciousness kind of way.

"My mom said she could probably come next Tuesday. Next Tuesday."

"I always get cheese pizza. We have pepperoni, and we have cheese. I get cheese."

Harrison has pwobwems with his awrs, which made him even cuter. I thought his name was Hailson for a bit until he spelled it for me.


I took this picture on the sly since Sarah told me I had to stop photographing other people's children or else I'd get arrested.


After we finished our Chick-fil-A kid's meals with fruit not fries Sophie started rooting around in the bags looking for 'the rest of her food.' Umm...It's not in my dna to let anyone go hungry, so I went and bought her a hot lunch for $2.75 so she could have a slice of pizza. I ate the corn and kept the pink milk for her for later.


6. While I was in the school, Sarah was in the car with the kids who were eating their Sonic kid's meals. This is Scott posing with his helicopter. Eyes closed, why?


This is Molly throwing her ambulance at me.


Love you too, you stinking little...


7. Another new Texas food experience -- Braum's ice cream. I got a chocolate marshmallow sundae. Not bad, not bad at all.


We never did make it to Whataburger. Maybe next time, maybe next time.