Tanner's 34th Birthday in Utah

This week we had the privilege of going to Utah for 2 days. My mom drove with us which was such a special treat. We left on Wednesday and had no traffic but the kids had a rough time adjusting to a full day in the car. We were happy when we pulled into Orem. We dropped my mom off with Carole for some quality grown up girl time and we took the kids up to Sundance. It was cold and dark when we arrived. Not what we are used to! It was beautiful but chilly! We got the kids settled down and everyone slept great. I laid next to Ray in the round bed and it was so fun being curled up next to my princess! Jack and Parker shared a room and slept the best out of everyone! Tanner got his own bed but we all left our doors open so it was like a family slumber party!

The next day we took ray to Adventure Time! We knew she'd have a better time there than with us at the temple. And she did! She loved it! When we got there, Parker's old teacher Ms. Alex was there and Parker was thrilled to see her again! He has such fond memories of his first school. The staff there and the mentality of the school is just phenomenal. We were so lucky to be a part of that community for a few short years.
After we said goodbye to Ray we met my mom, James, and Carole at their house and then drove down to the new Provo City Center Temple. It is the old Provo tabernacle which was mostly destroyed by fire. But it literally rose from the ashes to become one of the most beautiful places on earth. We were blessed to start our morning with Elder Lund who is the area authority over the temple and then be given a private tour by James who was one of 2 primary artists who worked on all of the temple murals. Cassie and Emily did a ton of painting too. I remember when James showed us the murals for the Nauvoo temple many years ago and I was able to paint a little bush. I felt so honored! It was amazing to take the extra time in quiet corners to hear James' insight and thoughts on his work. It was especially meaningful to be able to walk through the temple with Parker. He was in awe. What a wonderful experience for me, as his mother, to bare testimony to him of the sacredness of the temple and to be able to show him how beautiful, peaceful, and serene it is. The light was filtering through the exquisite stained glass windows in the most ethereal way. We really felt like we had taken a step away from the world. Walking into the celestial room, I felt the spirit so strongly. I could not hold back the tears. As I gazed up at the magnificent chandelier with the golden and red stained glass all around, my soul was filled with such peace and joy. We were then led to one of the beautiful sealing rooms where we were able to shut the door and hear testimony from one of the tour guides. Jack was wiggly so I let him crawl around a little bit. I sat there looking at him with the sun gleaming in through the stained glass windows knowing full well how oblivious he was to his surroundings. He had no idea where he was or what the meaning of that sacred room was. But he sure was happy to be there. I had the strongest spiritual impression that Jack will grow up to be a great man. I can't expand more on that. But I just know he will grow up to serve an important purpose. I was able to illustrate to Parker to meaning of the mirrors in the sealing room. I remember my mom doing the same thing with me when we went through the San Diego temple when I was Parker's age.
When we were through with our wonderful tour of the temple we had a delicious lunch at Los Hermanos. Tanner treated as a "Thank You" to James. After that, Tanner dropped me off at my old office! I was so excited to see all of my old and dear friends! McKenna and Betty and Pam and JON!!!! I briefly saw Scott who was too cool for school and poor Mark had to run out on a family emergency. Ahhhh, I miss them so much. It was so fun reconnecting and hearing about all the changes going on. Jon looked so handsome. I just love him so much. He's such a stellar human being. And McKenna and the girls are like family. That job was the best thing that could have happened to me during that period of time in my life. I could look back and remember all the heart ache of trying and failing to have a baby. But all that comes to mind are my good times spent at work with those extraordinary people. I love ultrasound!
Tanner dropped off my mom, James, and Carole and then he stopped by the office to visit for a few minutes. Parker and Jack were there too and everyone thought Parker was so big! And Jack was so cute! It's never fun to say goodbye but we had to go get Ray and they needed to get back to work. Ray was having so much fun she didn't want to leave! Ha ha It was $31 to have her there for 6 hours. Man. Utah is the best!!!
We drove back up the mountain and played in the snow. The kids loved it! We made them a little dinner and gave them baths and we all cuddled down for bed. Life at the Cottage is slower paced and very relaxing. It's fun to take a step back from reality!

Friday was Tanner's 34th birthday! My gift to him was to let him sleep in and relax as much as possible. Usually when he's around I rely on him to help me with the kids (which is nice for me!) but I wanted him to be spoiled on his special day! We weren't prepared for breakfast so we just kind of snacked. I played with the kids downstairs and we watched cartoons. Then we played upstairs with the antique toys. Tanner took a nice bath and had a blast reading all of the sweet birthday messages that were flooding in. We made plans to meet his family for lunch at 2 but Kim and Kass were able to come down earlier so we met everyone at the park at noon! It was such a beautiful warm sunny day and everyone had a blast running around in the sunshine! I know Tanner felt so loved and special that everyone made the effort to come spend time with him on his birthday. Family is everything. Kaitlin, unfortunately, had to have surgery that day on her kidneys. She had a huge stone blocking her ureter and about a dozen other stones in her kidney that they needed to removed. So we were sad not to see her but hope and pray she recovers quickly. Monte stayed in Idaho to be with Kaitlin. And he made it quite clear that he dislikes Utah so much that not even seeing his son on his birthday was reason enough to get him down there. So that was disappointing. But hopefully we can see him soon!
After we played at the park for a while we went to La Jolla Groves for a nice birthday lunch! We reserved a private party room so the kids could get down and play if they got bored. Which they did. Ha ha Lunch was delicious and Tanner was spoiled with nice gifts and cards. My mom and Carole joined us too, which made it all the more fun!
Travis really made the day wonderful. He took the big kids out to play when they started getting restless. He bought them ice cream cones and then bought them all tickets to play on the big playground at the Provo Beach resort! He even skipped out on an important devotional with a general authority to be with Tanner. He really is such an awesome man and brother to Tanner. We are so very lucky to be blessed with such a spectacular family. I don't know why we are so blessed. I don't know if Heavenly Father just loves us so much and wants to spoils us.... Or more likely, He has a work for us to do. It was such a fun afternoon and we loved spending time with Travis, Nicole and all of their sweet, polite, darling kids.
I asked Kim and Kassidy if they would watch the kids for us up at the cottage so I could take Tanner to a nice birthday dinner. It's so wonderful how things work out so perfectly. They were totally willing and able to watch the kids! And the kids LOVED being with them. They missed Kassidy so much! Tanner and I had such a delicious dinner at the Foundry Grill. Oh man. It was so good. It was quiet and romantic sitting next to the fire at the rustic lodge. And as we were finishing up, my cousins Richard and Bonny Losee who own Cirque Lodge came in and sat right next to us! We chatted for a minute and look forward to seeing them on the 4th of July. We split a coconut macaroon with Dutch chocolate ice cream desert. Then we walked outside and stood by the fire pit for a minute and watched the night skiers come down the mountain. It was freezing so we ran to the car soon after. We were able to chat with Kim and Kassidy for a minute before they left to go back up to Nicole's house.
We woke up on Saturday and had to say goodbye to Sundance. And snow. We packed up and cleaned up and locked up. Then we picked my mom up from Carole's and went to lunch at Zupas before hitting the road. The kids did way better on the drive home and we got home around 9:30.
Utah is such a special place. I'm so glad we have friends and family there. I'm thankful for the many happy memories we made while living there and for the opportunity to make news ones there often.
I'm also grateful for Tanner and for the privilege of honoring him on his birthday. He works so hard to provide for our family. He gives so much of himself to others that it's nice to spend at least one day focusing on him. I know (because he so awkwardly told me) that going to Utah was NOT his idea of an ideal birthday celebration. So it was nice of him to put up with my plan and go with the flow. Maybe next year I should actually ask him what he wants to do...???
My gift to him this year is to try and be a better wife for him. I want to strive to be more forgiving, more thoughtful, show him more grace and affection. That's the gift that keeps on giving, right?

I know, I know. We look like horrible parents not putting socks on Jack. We were mostly holding him and only out there for about 10 minutes. These kids were so confused with the snow. Parker did awesome building snow forts and stuff. Ray just wanted to eat the snow....