Chris picked Lori and her two kids, Addie and Simon, up from the airport on Tuesday evening (which also happened to be Lori's birthday). We celebrated with some angel food cake, strawberries and whipped topping, and Lori was happy to sport the "1" and "8" birthday candles.
Chris and I packed up Tuesday night for our 8:30 am flight on Wednesday morning. Before leaving Wednesday morning, Chris hugged all of the girls goodbye and headed out to the car. As I made my round of goodbyes, Amy was the only one who woke up enough to say anything--until I was just about to head out the door and there was Misha running down the stairs to say goodbye. We hugged for a minute or so. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. Ahh, my Misha. You made my heart melt.
With me along, Chris changed his normal carry-on procedure to accommodate me and my non-3 oz. toiletry items. We checked our bags. Our first stop was Phoenix. He dropped me off at a little strip mall with the Deer Valley AMC 30 movie theater while he went across the street to American Express to work. I shopped around for a bit waiting for my movie to start--"What to Expect When You're Expecting." Total chick flick. There were only five of us in the whole theater, and one was a guy. I had had a quick lunch at Rubios before the movie started and thoroughly enjoyed the salsa bar.
I didn't want to spend much time outside in the 111* heat, so I quickly made my way to Target to find a snack after the movie. As I was walking in the store, I overheard this mom say to her little toddler, "Mommy will follow wherever you want to go.....uhh, that's one way we're not going." I chuckled. I picked up an apple and some almonds and made my way over to Chick-fil-A where I would find more A/C and wifi while waiting for Chris. I texted with Amy for awhile until Chris was finished working.
We drove to see his grandmother who was in the Citadel Care Center recovering after spending a week in the hospital. She was surprised to see Chris and doubly surprised to see me. We had tried to call to tell her that we were coming, but never got through. A surprise is always good. We chatted almost an hour and left her to rest before dinner.
Chris' main purpose in coming to Arizona was for a presentation on Wednesday morning. We checked in to the Kimpton Palomar hotel where the presentation was to be given. Our room was delightful. The shower area was as big as our bathroom area at home and came complete with a soaking tub.
The hotel had been open for less than a month and they were still celebrating. They brought us chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne. Chris declined the champagne and the staff member offered to find us something else. There was no sparkling cider to be found, so they brought us a Pellegrino, some diet coke, and a fruit plate. Very nice.
We located a Pita Jungle about a mile away from the hotel and started out on foot, in the 111* heat. At least there was some shade along the way. It was nice that we had the mile to walk back to the hotel, because we were both quite full afterward.
Chris and I were up fairly early on Thursday morning so that he could prepare for his presentation, exercise at the Gold's Gym across the way, and get breakfast. I had a couple of hours to myself, but it was early enough that the shops close by were not open and it was just too hot to wander around downtown. I had a leisure morning watching tv, texting with the girls, and reading. Fortunately, Chris was done by 11:30 and we hurried to check out. Since our flight was delayed by a half an hour, we stopped for lunch at a quaint little restaurant called Cibo.
Our flight in to SLC arrived later than we had planned but was actually good planning for the rest of our evening. We had made plans to meet up with my siblings at Cafe Rio in Draper at 6:15. My sister has major allergies to onions and garlic, and having an outdoor seating area made Cafe Rio on okay place for her to enjoy dinner with us (she had to bring her own food). We talked for an hour or so. Utah's temperatures were in the 90s. Still hot but not quite as bad as Arizona.
After saying goodbye to my family, we drove to Sandy to meet up with Boswells for ice cream at a new shop called Sub Zero. You pick your flavor, milk, and mix in and then they freeze the ice cream right in front of you. Pretty unique. We wish we could have chatted longer, but they had their kids with them and it was getting late.
Our hotel was the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Salt Lake. Chris had an 8 am phone meeting on Friday morning and scheduled meetings at IHC until the early afternoon. I went down for breakfast by myself and ordered oatmeal and egg whites. The oatmeal was great, but my first bite into the egg whites was far too crunchy. I told my waitress to send it back, but I wasn't in the mood for any more eggs.
I dropped Chris off at "work" and headed to see my brothers at their Optometry practice in Draper. I had an eye appointment with my brother Dallin at 10:15. Since he and his family had conflicts the evening before, it was nice to get to see him and his son Wade (who came to work to be a janitor for the morning). My eyes are getting older. I don't like it. I have never had to wear glasses. I don't want to wear glasses. I am going to need to wear glasses, mostly for reading, but if you see me wearing them, don't make fun of me.
I picked out a pair of glasses. Apparently, the new style is called "Geek Chique". I'm in style. My other brother, Brad, came in to his office to give his opinion, "Well you look Dorky Chique." Hmmm. I looked at Dallin and he smirked and said, "That wasn't quite the positive affirmation I was hoping for." I'm Geek Chique.
Dallin and Wade took me for lunch at Costa Vida (notice a bit of a Mexican theme going on?) It was fun to chat. Wade has fabulous blue eyes. After hugging them goodbye I had a little time to waste before meeting up with Chris. I stopped at South Towne Mall but didn't find much. I was grateful for the GPS in directing me back to the IHC Campus. Chris was happy to be done for the day. We drove up to the outlet mall at Park City and shopped a bit, found some Old Navy 4th of July shirts for the girls, and then headed back down to the valley.
Chris drove in to downtown Salt Lake City and showed me the City Creek Center. It looks pretty cool. I think I would love to spend a little time exploring there.
Time to head back to the airport. We had dinner at a Greek place in the airport and then it was time to board. I'm not sure that I could be the frequent flyer as Chris is. I felt as though I had been gone a lot longer than three days. We were met by Amy and Misha who were more than happy to see us. Kristen was in bed but not asleep. Loved hugging my girls and being home.