Our Staycation

Last week I celebrated my big 3-0! I feel like I am getting so old and at the same time I still feel like I am 23. Perhaps it is because everywhere I go people tell me I do not look old enough to have a kid and then proceed to tell me I look MAYBE 21. It's a blessing and a curse!

To celebrate this year I wanted to do a little get away with Ryan somewhere far away. We hadn't been able to take a vacation this year and having completed a tough semester that included statistics (which I'm excited to say I got an A- in) I was ready for a fun trip. Unfortunately that didn't work out so we decided we would do a little "staycation" in Salt Lake. It ended up being the perfect break Ryan and I had been looking for.

We started our day with a trip to the mall. Sweet Ryan didn't even complain once. I had some gift cards that needed to be spent! Express was my Best Friend this year. Being the completely unorganized person I am I couldn't find my birthday gift card from Express when I went to check out. So the guy told me that he trusted I had it and gave me the discount then told me to use the card again if I found it. Well… I found it and you better believe I used it. Thanks to Express's birthday card I got a new hat, jeans, and a sweater.

After the mall we headed to The Garden Restaurant.

I had heard good things about that place and let's just say I wasn't disappointed! The place was fabulous!

Ryan gave me my present there. This is me reading the poem he wrote.

(I love it when he writes me poems!)

Oh my gosh! He got me this AMAZING camera! I was so excited! It was way too nice of him and I loved it! In case you were wondering this thing takes 5 pictures in 1 second and the quality is fantastic! I saw it on a commercial and totally wanted it. After checking out the price online I quickly realized I could never have the camera, but then he surprised me with it. What an awesome husband! Seriously…I love it!

After presents it was time to dig in. The food was amazing.

Does that burger not look delicious? And the fries… to die for!

After we ate we went and took a stroll around temple square. (Our original plan was to take a carriage ride but fifty bucks was way more than we were willing to spend.) The lights were beautiful and the spirit was strong. It was so cold though that we made our trip quick…

Then it was time to head off to the hotel. After we got there I decided we needed to go on a shake run. The hotel was not even remotely close to civilization so our shake run turned into a long drive around Magna. It was so worth it!

We did eventually find our shake shop!

As a side note here is a funny story… our total shake shop bill came to five dollars and something cents. Well the girl charged the card fifty five dollars. Poor girl was so scared to tell Ryan. In his efforts to make her feel better he made a joke about his credit card company sending him weight loss material for spending fifty five dollars at Arctic Circle. You could have heard a pin drop. She must have thought he was serious. I couldn't stop laughing.

Cupcakes, shake, and fries… Mmm Mmm

The next day we spent most of our morning just lounging. Something we rarely have time to do… oh, how we enjoyed it!

Then we made our way to Gateway where we saw the Tourist. It was a horrible movie and I would never recommend it.

That night Meleta took us kids out to Tucanos.

If you have never been there it's a place you certainly will want to try. There is meat galore for those meat eaters and an awesome salad bar for those salad eaters. The perfect restaurant for Ryan and me.

Yes, Aunt Nancy actually let me take a picture!

Afterwards Meleta took us to the Kurt Bestor Chritsmas concert.

We had great seats and the music was phenomenal! What a great way to end the "staycation"! Thanks Meleta!

Thank You mom for taking the little man while we went and played! He loves spending time with you and we appreciate all your help! It was nice to get away!