Surprise!

For Brittney's 27th birthday this year I surprised her by showing up on her doorstep the day of her actual birthday. She was very surprised and we had a wonderful time together the rest of the week and weekend. I can't take the credit for coming up with the idea, however, that honor goes to her husband Sean, who put the bug in my ear several months ago, and then he and I just ran with it.

I flew in a week earlier and had an amazing time visiting each of my siblings at their homes. That was all made possible due to an itinerary that Sasha made for me after talking with everyone to see which day worked best for them (thanks Sash!)
It was beautiful flying into the Utah and Salt Lake valleys this time because the skies were so clear. Above is a picture of Provo and "Y" Mountain.

Timp and the Wasatch Front

Utah Lake and Vineyard 

Point of the Mountain

Saratoga Springs, Utah

The first Saturday night and Sunday morning I spent with Mom after she picked me up from the airport. I enjoyed listening to her speak at Church, and somehow she roped me into singing a duet with her for the Sacrament meeting closing song. 

Sunday evening I went to Sasha's and met Rachelle's fiance Nick (who is super cute and nice!)

After Sasha's amazing dinner and dessert (of which I just had to have seconds) I got to tour Sasha's rental that her and Chris have been remodeling for Rachelle and Nick after they get married. They will be living in the basement apartment which is super cute and spacious! 

Midway, Utah

Monday, the next day, we spent the afternoon and evening at Matt and Brei's house which is always a treat!

Brei made my fav--Cafe Rio salad, and we all enjoyed visiting and eating...

Factiming with Morgan, their daughter who is serving a mission in Yakima, WA.

Of course we can't go to Matt's house without doing a little hiking and enjoying the surrounding mountains and gorgeous scenery!

 

 

Cutie Nick and Rachelle (oh to be young and attractive again... okay yeah, I was never that attractive!)

Matt getting ready to sneeze...

there he goes! (It was from polling sage off their stems and getting too much of it in his nose!)

 

Matt pointing things out to the kids

A deer

In early Spring there was a huge fire in the mountains above Midway which was started by arson. 

Although everything's grown back quite quickly, you can still see the difference in color on the mountain right behind Matt's house (top far left)!

One of the things that saved the homes was a bulldozer that kept pushing dirt up towards the flames. On the far right of the pictures you can still see the trail that the bulldozer made.

Amazing million dollar homes in the valley 

 The children's park, in the middle of the subdivision, was the most beautiful I've ever seen! 

It even had a man-made creek for wading!

Cutie Ari so good to pose for her aunt Ali (she's been well-trained!)

Mom and Brei, watching kids and visiting

 Matt deciding whether to ride the frog or not...

 

Mom was a little concerned for the frog!

Nick also giving the frog a try. 

 

Sasha makes the cutest kids!!!

The kids having fun on the climbing wall.

The little park just had it all! 

Dante trying to photo-bomb our selfie!

Sneaking a picture of Sash

Mom admiring all the beautiful flowers

Perfect photo op  

 Strolling back to Matt's house 

Lovely sunset 

The front of Matt's beautiful house  

It's always a blast visiting Matt and fam in Midway!

Elk Ridge, Utah

 My next stop was Elk Ridge to visit Melanie and family. Since it was so hot the day I was there, we spent most of it hanging by the pool. 

Melanie's dog Abby is such a good little watch dog. Abby prefers to sit on floaties while she's life-guarding, which can be a little problematic when the kids want to float on them.

So Melanie made a make-shift stand for Abby, the only problem is that the kids would scream because they were playing and having fun but Abby thought they were hurt or drowning so she would get all excited and start barking, and tip over her stand. Being a good watch-dog is such a tough life!

Once the kids were done swimming it was our turn to cool off!

It was so much fun to just laugh and be silly again with my sisters...

 

 

Trying to take a selfie without floating apart, falling off our floaties, or dropping my phone in the pool.

 

A common sight on Mel's property and why it is so difficult to have flowers, fruit trees, or gardens.

The inside of Mel's camper, which they lived in during the fires in their neck of the woods.

Nothing like pizza and Mom's homemade chocolate cake after a long day in the sun.

Abby all tuckered out after her fun day with the kids!

Vineyard, Utah

 My home base was Mom's house where a typical breakfast consisted of homemade wheat bread and grilled squash & zucchini from her garden (so good!).

Mom's succulents have grown into the most amazing plants, like something you would see in a Dr. Seuss book.

A rare Jared sighting, hopefully next visit I can spend some time with them as well.

While staying at Mom's, we visited and decorated Dad's grave site. 

Richfield, Utah 

 It was a nice two-hour drive South to Richfield, Utah where Saul's family just relocated for Saul's new Church job.

Saul's home is fairly new and just the perfect size with a full finished basement.

The area also suits him and his family perfectly with all the surrounding mountains and reservoirs. Above are pics of his side by side, and truck and trailer with the family's kayaks. 

We visited Saul at his office which is located at the Richfield Tabernacle.  

It's a beautiful old building that is currently deserted. I had fun exploring it with Saul's kids. This picture was taken from the second floor mezzanine.  

Saul's three youngest, Talmage, and twins Boden & Blakely

The nice thing is that the grade school (where the twins will be going to school) is right across the street.

Carolee with their four youngest that are still at home. Molly is now the oldest at home, and will be a freshman in high school this year.

For dinner we had Tally's favorite, Costa Vida. Some believe it is even better than Cafe Rio, which I thought was sacrilege, 

at least until I ate my little salad from Costa Vida which was pretty much to die for! 

For dessert we all got ice cream from Ideal Dairy...

Mom got the raspberry sherbet cone,

and I got a bubble gum ice cream slushie (with two Lactaids on the side, of course) 

Everyone else also immensely enjoying their ice cream.

After dinner Mom and I went for a little ride with Saul and Carolee in the back of their side by side.

Mom only brought one change of clothes and she didn't want to get them all dirty so she put on her pajamas and asked Molly for a scarf to protect her hair, so Molly brought her a winter scarf. She was so cute that I had to take this picture of her.

 

To be fair, she then took a picture of me

 I should have listened to Saul's kids... 

Now don't get me wrong, I had a blast riding on those trails, but I also about had a heart attack!

I haven't had that much adrenaline pumping through my veins in a very long time!

I thought Mom might be having palpitations as well, but no, she was loving every minute of it! I was suddenly transported back in time when she would probably ride on the back of my Dad's motorcycle screaming and laughing as my Dad would drive crazy on the steep, windy mountain roads. 

And did I mention that we had just got done eating? Yeah, I think we were all feeling a little queasy.  

But the view of Richfield was beautiful, and it was just so good to be with Saul and Carolee again! 

Mom told me not to show anyone these pictures...so, oops...sorry Mom, I've only shown a few (hundred) people! 

(I just couldn't help myself, Mom looks so cute...like a party-girl from the 60's living it up)

Sandy, Utah

The next day Mom and I surprised Brittney for her 27th Birthday! She had no idea that I had been visiting family in Utah for a week already when I showed up on her front doorstep of her actual birthday...

 It was so much fun seeing the look on her face, but I can't take all the credit, it was her husband Sean's idea to have me fly out and surprise her. So after mulling on it for about two seconds, I realized it was a brilliant idea!

She then opened cards and gifts from Mom and me... 

That morning Sean made arrangements for Brittney to go shopping with one of her best friends. She had a wonderful time shopping (you know how it is ladies, sometimes we just need to go shopping with another female!) and was showing us all of her great deals! 

 

After opening gifts we had to say a sad goodbye to Mom who had to work that night, and basically the rest of the weekend. I am grateful to Mom for the wonderful accommodations (food, transportation, and a very comfortable place to lay my head!) and fun times while staying with her (love you Mom!!).

Sean was so excited to show Brittney her next gift, which she found under their bedroom dresser (I guess it was the only place he could hide it where she wouldn't be able to find it). 

Sean made Brittney one of her favorite treats ever...rice crispy treats ! Even though it was his first time, he made them in the typical Sean way...like a chef, with caramelized butter and marshmallows (who knew?) and they were really good!!! 

For dinner we ate at Brittney and Sean's favorite restaurant, Tacano's Brazillian Grill (same place they had their wedding dinner). And the great thing was, it was free for Brittney since it was her birthday! Although no longer a buffet, the food was still wonderful, and we had a great dinner! 

Brittney may have been tipped-off to my coming, or to someone coming, when she heard Sean make dinner reservations for three people instead of two. Sean said that was the only mistake he made. I was pretty amazed myself that we pulled it off. I guess I can be a good liar, when it's for a good cause!

For about our third dessert, we had Mom's homemade sour chocolate cake (obviously I couldn't get enough of it during my stay in Utah)! 

It was so good we just couldn't stop eating it! 

 I stayed the rest of the week and weekend with Sean and Brittney and of course enjoyed Chef Sean's great cooking,

and our interesting meal-time talks. Sean took this pic because Brittney and I are both folding our arms, but it's the expressions on our faces that crack me up, it's almost like an "I'm disappointed in you Brittney" talk, which so was not the case, and frankly, never would be, because I am so proud of Brittney and everything she's done!  

Beautiful mountain views during my morning runs

For brunch one morning we ate at Hruskas, a Czechoslovakian bakery. 

Their specialty is Kolaches, rolls and danishes full of all kinds of goodness!

I got a sweet Kolache with cream cheese and raspberry,

 

and a savory one with sausage gravy! 

Yeah, it was as amazing as it looks! 

We also went on a picnic up Big Cottonwood Canyon because Sean knows I must get my mountain-time in before going home.

 
One of the reasons I love the mountains so much is because the weather is always perfect in the summer.

And because I love to hike and explore, which Brittney and I did right after picking the perfect picnic site. 

We took a lot of pictures in front of this huge rock because it was so interesting with its many different colors and textures.

There were even people rock-climbing the face of it with ropes.

But we climbed up the back to see the views and get some nice pictures... 

Beautiful Brittney!! 

Beautiful flowers growing in the crevices of the rock

 

View of the ground and river from where we were sitting

When we got back to the campsite, Sean had our Brats with toasted buns (of course) all ready for us to condimentize...

with pickles, onions, mustard, and even J. Dawgs special sauce! Ladies, let this be an example for you...everyone should marry a man who lets you go hiking while he stays back and does the cooking!  

At dusk the mosquitoes decided to swarm Brittney's face, so she had to take measures!

Pretty stylish measures, if I do say so.

And how about this picture of Sean and Brittney?...yeah, it's a keeper!

Me trying to chop wood while Brittney waits for me to chop my leg off, which surprisingly didn't happen. I decided to let Sean finish who is also an expert wood-chopper!  

The fire was soon ready for us to roast marshmallows and make Smore's for dessert!

And they were darn good!

But not as good as the company I kept... 

I love my little marshmallow buddy! 

And I loved surprising her on her birthday,

and spending time with her and Sean at the end of my wonderful trip out West! 

I would have been extremely sad saying goodbye if it wasn't for the fact that Brad and I will be flying back to Utah in a couple of months.

All too soon I was landing at the Lexington airport, ready to get back into life...

or not!