Goodness, I can't believe it's been since JUNE that I've blogged. Tragic.
We've been busy enjoying the summer & our new home. The busyness doesn't stop now & will only get worse, which is a good & bad thing.
Sage & I celebrated 4 years of marriage this past week. I can't believe it's already been 4 years since we said "I do." So much has happened in such a short amount of time.
We went & visited my family this past week & it was definitely an overdue trip. We loved our time there & enjoyed every second we spent with family.
We left Tuesday, 8/2 after I got off of work & after an idiot cut us off on the road, we decided it was best to stay in St. George & drive in the morning. After a good night's rest we hit the road & arrived in Salt Lake around 1pm.
Sage & I had reservations at our favorite resort in Park City, Newpark Resort, so we spent some time with family then went about our way to celebrate US. That evening we had dinner reservations so we did some shopping beforehand then went to the hotel to get ready. We ate dinner that night at Ruth Chris Steakhouse & it was absolutely worth every penny. Sage loves steak so I figured I'd take one for the team & I'm so glad I did. Their steak is amazing! We don't splurge at fancy restaraunts at all so it was fun to do something out of our norm. We ordered the calamari as our appetizer & it was easily the best calamari I've ever had. I've had ALOT of calamari in my life too lol. We ordered the Porterhouse T-Bone steak for two & it was HUGE, I'm talking 40 oz huge. We didn't even finish half but it was the best steak ever, I'm not a fan of steak but I'd eat it everyday if it was from Ruth Chris'. We also ordered the sweet potato casserole, lobster mac & cheese & had creme brûlée for desert. The entire meal was perfection & next time I'll wear a shirt that isn't so tight because I was stuffed! Lol!
We ended our night in the jacuzzi on the balcony of our one bedroom suite & played cards. It's been over a year since we enjoyed a little getaway to ourselves so it was much appreciated & enjoyed!
We spent Thursday running around getting things together for our family photos, which probably wasn't the best idea on my part. We basically spent our anniversary stressed & rushing around like maniacs.. However, once we got to our photos we got to bask in the moment at a beautiful park & enjoy family time while a photographer took our photos. I can't say enough good things about our photographer, Maxine Fano. She had reached out to me via Instagram & mentioned that she was on the hunt for a cute family to photograph. I jumped at the opportunity because her work is so gorgeous! I told her next time we were in Salt Lake that we'd love to do a shoot & the rest is history. She has two daughters around the age of Anelia & Tai so she was so patient & kind with them.
We've seen a few of the pictures & I lalalove the ones I've seen so far. She's so good, I'm sure once I get the rest I'll love them all. It's been so long since we've gotten pictures & I needed new ones to hang for our picture gallery in our house. I can't wait to print them out.
Friday was spent at the zoo with my entire family. It was really hot & humid but it was so worth it because we got to spend some much needed family time. The kids loved every minute & watching their reactions to all the animals was priceless. It was so neat to take my girls & Sage to the zoo I grew up attending as a kid but it was changed drastically since I last visited. There was a lot of baby animals, a chimpanzee, 3 lion cubs & a baby giraffe- so that was something we all enjoyed. I won't lie, I'm not a huge fan of zoos, seeing all of the animals locked up in such small quarters pulls on my heartstrings but we did enjoy our time there. The rest of the evening was just spent together & watching the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Saturday was our last full day. Sage, my Dad & brother-in-law, Talai, spent the afternoon together at the gym, buff guys! I love that Sage gets along so well with my family & goes & does "guy" stuff with them all.
While Sage got his workout in, I took 7 of my nieces & nephews AND my two girls to my friend Kailee's pool. It was definitely a large task but I'm so glad I took them along with me. They all had a blast swimming while I got to see & spend some much needed time with my some of my best friends, Kailee, Rio, Stacy, & Whitney. I've known them all for nearly 15 years & I'm so thankful for their friendships!
After gathering all the kids up, we headed home & got ready for dinner. No trip home is official until a meal is eaten at Chukarama so that's what we indulged in.
We didn't have any plans for the rest of the evening so we took the kids to the park then ran out of ideas. We originally were going to play cards for the rest of the night but Sage came up with a brilliant idea for us to have an Olympic competition with all of the kids. It was easily my favorite moment out of our trip. We did all sorts of events from a weighted ball toss, the long jump & multiple obstacle courses. I recorded most of it via snapchat. I'm sure my followers were so annoyed but I'm so glad I captured such fun memories that hopefully my nieces & nephew will remember for years to come.
Sunday came way too fast & we packed up & had to say our goodbyes. No amount of time spent in Salt Lake with my family is ever long enough. Unfortunately, this trip went by quickly & we weren't able to complete everything we had hoped to do. That's the beauty in visiting home though, there's always next time!
