Where Have I Been?

I was on vacation! Yes, I realize that I am unemployed but my parents gave Branden and I- along with Katie and Tyler- a week at the condo up here in Park City for Christmas and we chose last week long before I knew I was going to be without job. So on Mother's Day Katie, Tyler, Josh, Branden and I all arrived at the condo with high hopes for a relaxing week. Unfortunately, Branden couldn't actually take any time off work. Since he basically gets paid on commission he had to be there to have any chance at earning the money he will need to pay rent for our last month in this house.

Still, he and Tyler started out the trip by taking Josh exploring up and down all the hallways. Together they discovered the pool, the game room many laundry rooms and many, many closed doors. Katie and I joined them a little later and all together we found the adult relaxation pool and the fitness center. After all that excitement, the last thing Josh wanted to do was go swimming so while everyone else enjoyed the pools, I took Josh back to the room to settle in a bit. We all crawled into bed fairly late that night as noone was quite ready to calm down.

Monday Mom came up and we all spent the day around the pool. She and I played games while everyone else was swimming. Josh saw the others having fun and finally decided that swimming could be ok. From that point on he became a little fish. He loved swimming and Katie was thrilled to take him to the pool every chance she got.

On Tuesday Katie and I took him to Wheeler Historic Farm. It was great! There's no fee for admittance and you are free to wander about the farm and look at animals, old buildings and other exhibits as much as you'd like. For $1.50 each you can ride around the woods in a wagon pulled by a tractor. For another $1.50 you can tour the historic farm house... But we got to go in for free because one of the workers was really awesome. :) For $0.50 you can buy a bag of wheat to feed the ducks and geese. Some of the geese were tame enough to eat right out of our hands. There were also pairs of wild geese with little goslings. They were the most fun to feed because the goslings were so cute. In total, I spent $1.50 and Katie spent $4 for a day that was just as fun as the zoo.

We spent Wednesday relaxing around the resort and then went out to dinner on Park City's Historic Main Street. We got up there too late to look around the shops very much but that was ok. We had a delicious dinner thanks to Tyler's mom Sharon who gave us a gift card. On Thursday, Katie and Tyler were able to pick up his now-fixed car from the body shop in SLC. They spent the afternoon at the Gateway Center. I was more than happy to sit in the condo and read and relax alone. I'm not accustomed to spending so much time around people and needed a little break. That evening Katie and Tyler went out to eat at Szeschwan Kitchen while Branden took me out for the first of three dates... Though at the time I didn't know there'd be three and I was just happy to be on one. We ate at Loco Lizard- one of his favorite restaurants up here- and had a chance to talk about life and our wedding- just over 16 months to go!

On Friday, Tyler watched Josh for a couple hours so Katie and I could go out to a movie. We saw "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and I actually laughed out loud. After we got back to the condo, Chantelle, Jackie and Jackie's mom Janis arrived for a short visit and dinner. Later that night, Branden took me out on a dessert date to Ruby Tuesday's. Saturday morning Katie and I made breakfast for the boys then we went our seperate ways. Katie and Tyler spent their last full day there wandering around Main Street.

Branden and I met up with Rick and Abby down in SLC to find things for their wedding cake- we live near PC so it wasn't really a big deal to us to spend the last day there. After much discussion and brainstorming we think we've found a way to make their cake really work. I'm not going to divulge our plans right now just in case it doesn't work... but if it does it'll be HANDS DOWN the coolest cake I've ever made. When Rick and Abby headed off to do their own thing, Branden and I went shopping for a little while and then out on our third date: Famous Dave's BBQ. I'm not a huge fan of BBQ so it was a treat for him to get it. That night I went swimming for the first time since our arrival- I bought the suit while shopping- and we stayed up way to late trying to soak the last bits of enjoyment from our trip.

Sunday we packed the cars and said our good-byes... After a minor incident when Katie's car wouldn't start and we nearly melted the electrical systems in both her car and mine by accident. No, Katie and I were not at fault on that one. The boys managed to make both our batteries smoke and melted my jumper cables all by themselves.

All in all, a great week. Everyone but me went swimming at least once a day. Branden and Tyler went to the relaxation pool almost every night. Josh was adorable and he even let me put him to bed one night. I didn't sleep in even one day, but it was worth being up to spend that early-waking-up time with Katie and Josh. We made and ate good food, we laughed together, we watched TV (Josh is totally addicted to cartoons), and most of all we took some time to enjoy life.