Girl's Getaway

(confession: I am sporting disposable flip flops in this photo)

My girlfriends from high school and I have been talking about going on a trip together for years and we just hadn't done it. We decided to celebrate turning 40 together - and pamper ourselves silly! 

After getting settled in a bit, a delicious lunch at Frida's Bistro and exploring Costco, we found a place to get our pedicures.  We were so grateful to the brother/sister pair running the place for staying open late for us.  They were excellent at their jobs and we wish it could be our regular spot! (lucky Dayna can go back)

We had a lovely place to stay thanks to Dayna's sister Anjie and her huband Eric.  The bradfor pears were in full blossom and the street was gorgeous.  The mountains in the background didn't hurt either.

Each night we stayed up way too late talking, laughing, crying and eating treats. I don't really do "sleeping in" so I was always the first one up and enjoyed the time to sit and read and relax.  Heather was the next to rise and we had some nice morning conversations too.

Friday we headed out to Sundance to have lunch and explore a bit.  Lunch was amazing and the views were heavenly.  Dayna and I remembered a short hike to a waterfall from our college days (Stewart Falls) and thought the girls would enjoy it.  We drove up to the parking area and talked with a ranger there.  We paid our six dollars after asking if the trails were suitable for a hike - specifically were they snowy.  We saw right away that they were very snowy, icy actually, but I had it in my mind that we could do it anyway!  I was wrong.  :)

We didn't make it too far before we came to a steep part.  Some weren't willing to attempt it, but I had my brave (or stupid) face on and trudge up the hill.  When I turned around to talk to friends below I slipped and slid down the hill.  My hiking stick poked me in the face, but otherwise I wasn't hurt.  I kept sliding until I ran into Heather.  You can see she was pretty happy about that.  We also have pictures of Dayna running down the slope in an attempt to save herself.

We opted to drive to Bridal Veil Falls after that so that we could look at a waterfall from the road.  

We are officially old. 

Next we headed to Midway where we swam in a crater in 90 degree mineral water.  It was amazing.  It is 65 feet deep and there were scuba divers training in there.  I can't believe how many cool things were so close to me while I was at BYU that I never even heard about!

We stopped by to take a picture in Heber.  

That night we went to the contemporary art museum to see my aunt Pam and her latest installation.  It was such a treat to see she and Eric and to see her work. She is amazingly talented!  You can't see it very well in the picture, but each string is connected to a quilt work of pictures.  It shows how our community is made up of many different individuals weaving patterns throughout and how the community becomes one.  It is beautiful.

While we were downtown we visited the City Creek Mall.  I had heard about it and it lived up  to it's fancy hype.  We all ventured into Tiffany's for an extra dose of fancy and sparkly.

The next morning we had scheduled massages at the local massage therapy school.  We all though that a 100 minute massage would feel really long, but none of us could believe it when our time was up... and all of us fell asleep at some point.  It was heavenly. 

We had a hard time finding energy after that, we all just wanted to sleep!  We did a little shopping and hit Cafe Rio.  That evening Dayna and I snuck off on our own to attend Women's Conference.  Marna and Heather were happy to stay at home and spend some time together as well.

It was my first time in the conference center while there was an actual conference going on. 

I always enjoy being among faithful saints and feeling the spirit of unity, even among strangers.

The temple grounds were beautiful and I wished I had my good camera (these are all phone pictures)

Our dinner that night - artichokes and fancy cheese and crackers.  Yum!

On our last day we were all a little down about it being our last day.  We walked around Park City and enjoyed the galleries and little shops.  Marna had a fun encounter with one of the artists and she bought a few of his photographs.  What a treasure!

We stopped by briefly to see Dayna's parents and family.  It was such a treat to see them again.  It had been way too long.  Aren't they a sweet bunch?

We lit up our birthday caked and even sung to ourselves.

Happy 40th ladies!  I love you.

Oklahoma Weather

We lucked out last year with mild weather, but we've already had our first batch of fun for this year.  We had warnings of severe weather several days ahead of time, which always makes me a little nervous now.  They said that the threat of tornado was very small, but that there was a good chance of strong winds and large hail.  And so it was!  There were also a few small tornadoes,but they were not close to us.  Our sirens went off, but only for a minute or two.

This is a little example of what was left on our front porch after the storm had passed.  I know that we had much larger pieces based on the holes in our house!  (see picture at bottom)

After things had calmed down (which took some doing as Emmaleigh doesn't do well with storms), we went outside to assess the damage.  I didn't look closely at the house at first because the side of the house by the garage was fine.  I saw that we lost this light post and that we had a lovely double rainbow.  It wasn't until I put the kids to bed that I saw a few holes in the siding, which made me run back out and check on the house - it wasn't good news!  Needless to say, we will be getting a new roof and other repairs done. At least we know how the process works now.