Sisters Weekend

My sisters, mom, and I met up in Utah for a girls weekend a couple weeks ago! It was the first time we'd ever done something like that, and it definitely won't be the last. We had so much fun together!

I left Houston Thursday morning and it was hard to say goodbye to my babies. I'm thankful Tyler was on paternity leave and willing to handle the 3-ring circus for a few days! I landed in Houston around noon. Laura, her kids, and Mom picked me up at the airport and we hung out in downtown Salt Lake for a few hours. We grabbed lunch at City Creek and toured the Beehive House. I'd never done that before and it was awesome!

I caught Laura's kids looking at The Christus. 

We Texas wimps totally needed jackets outside and it was glorious!

Around 3 we passed off Laura's kiddos to Tom and then met up with Steph and Linds at the airport! It took a while to get a rental car but then we were on our way!

Our first stop was, OF COURSE, Cafe Rio. Lauren met us there too and it was amazing. I could have turned around and flown home right then and it would have almost been worth it right there.

Lauren told us about a new cookie company near her place in Provo, Chip Cookies, so we decided we'd better try that too. Ginormous, delicious cookies.

After visiting with Lauren and Tim for a while we said goodnight and headed up to the cabin! We were so thankful the Kartchner's let us use their awesome cabin up the canyon. We didn't stay up late because we were all exhausted! I loved waking up and sitting by the fire.

We ate breakfast and took our time getting ready for the day. Later that morning we went to the Provo City Center Temple for a session! It was such a beautiful temple. The tabernacle was where Tyler and I had stake conference several times when we were first married and living in Provo so it was cool to see the transformation just a few years later.

There were lots of brides getting married that day too, which is always fun to see.

And then it was time for Zupas! Also delicious. 

After lunch we headed back to the cabin. I forgot to take any pictures of the cabin and thankfully Laura took this one and shared it with me. It's right at the bottom of the canyon, which is the perfect location! You're still in the mountains but only 10-15 minutes away from anything you need. 

We changed out of our dresses and went further up the canyon to hike to Stewart Falls! It was a little tricky to find the trailhead (it'd been a few years since any of us had been there) but I didn't mind - just kept snapping pictures of the gorgeous foliage. Those windy mountain roads sure made Mom nervous, thankfully Linds handled them like a champ.

But eventually we found the trail and set off. It was chilly in the shade, perfect in the sun. We walked and talked and laughed and I loved it so much.

We found a big cement slab (possibly the top of a water tower?) and thought it to be the perfect place to stop and stretch and do some yoga. "Sun sals," as Steph calls them, were the favorite of the day. We felt totally invisible but later saw a woman on the trail with her two kids. She said they could see us and the kids asked what we were doing and she told them "They're stretching? Doing yoga? I don't know!" which made us laugh. A little bit later we looked back and had a clear shot of the cement from the other side of the valley! So we hope all the other hikers enjoyed our very public yoga session hahaha.

But seriously, that VIEW!

I showed everyone my phone camera's portrait mode and took a pic of everyone, and Steph took one of me.

It was so fun to do some hiking while we talked about anything and everything. 

After hiking we went down to Provo and ate at JCW's for dinner. Another delicious meal! We picked up Sarah (joined us from Rexburg) and Lauren and went back up to the cabin for the night. 

Saturday morning we all wore our "Sisterhood" shirts we had made for this occasion (my friend Kati made them, her shop is HERE) and went to Magleby's Fresh for breakfast. Do I even have to say it? YUM.

We also hit up some shops at the Riverwoods, where I definitely took advantage of the cute, modest clothes available! You know it was successful when you almost don't have room in your bag to bring home what you got! But I really don't like returning stuff I buy online so this was much more fun for me.

Had to stop by Arctic Circle to get a pumpkin Oreo shake. It was a little much after our sweet breakfast, but I still really enjoyed reliving the memory. That place is still the same as it was when I was working there at 16! Linds worked there too so we had to get a picture.

We went to the University Mall for a little more shopping and then stopped by to see Grandma Andersen. She's still so positive and thankful at 97, even though her mind isn't what it used to be and she has lived without my grandpa for so long! 

Our last major food stop was Brick Oven for dinner that night. Tim ended up crashing the girls party and we didn't mind one bit. And if you guessed that it was delicious you are right. 

We went back up to the cabin a little earlier that night and talked and played games for a while. We noticed that we didn't ever feel the need to stay up super late, but on thinking about it, we decided it was because the kids weren't with us! When we all have kids there it's hard to have an actual conversation and we want to enjoy adult time after the kids are in bed. But with no kids around we can get all the great conversing in during the day! 

Sunday morning Linds flew home. Mom went with her to the airport to get a different rental car while Steph, Laura, Sarah, and I cleaned the cabin and got ready to leave. When Mom got back we said goodbye to the awesome cabin and went to Tim and Lauren's ward for Sacrament Meeting. After the meeting we wanted to go to the Orem Cemetery, where some of our relatives are buried. We had a hard time finding Grandma Backus at first and I laughed when I looked up and saw that we all had different theories on where she might be.

But we found her and loved reminiscing. We also found her parents, Grandpa Andersen, Uncle Tim, Uncle Dale, and my cousin Troy. Life is precious and I'm thankful to have such wonderful family to live life with!

Lauren was so sweet to feed us lunch, and then we went to visit some of the Andersen aunts and uncles by Posterity Park. It was fun to visit with them and some cousins. We had to say goodbye to Sarah around 5 and then took Steph to the airport to catch her flight home, and then Tom met us to take Laura home. Just Mom and I were left at that point! We grabbed some dinner on our way down to Spring City to see Grandpa Backus and Grandma Joyce.

It was great to see Grandpa and Grandma Joyce. I always love going to Spring City. Unfortunately I totally forgot to take any pictures! Next time for sure. On our way to the airport Mom and I stopped to see Aunt Marci and the Tobler clan. It was great to see so much family in one trip! 

We were excited to head home. I don't think I had ever flown just with my mom so that was fun. 

We traded in the beautiful mountains and crisp air for flat flat flat and warm temps. To be honest, I had had enough of the cold and was glad to come back to warmth! I'm a wimp! 

Also caught this cool sunset out the plane window.

It was such a great weekend! I'm so thankful for my sisters and mom and for their love and friendship and examples to me. We really really missed Kim and Kerri and can't wait for the time when we can ALL be together! The older I get the more I value the relationships we have with extended family. I love them all so much!

Austin Trip

Tyler and I took a little trip to Austin together at the end of September. No kids! Huge thanks to Gigi and Poppy for keeping them while we were away. We'd never left the kids like that before and it was nice to know they were in good hands. Frankly, they had a lot more fun with Gigi and Poppy! Grandparents are the best and I'm so glad our kids have good relationships with all of theirs.

We left Thursday afternoon and enjoyed a no-stop road trip with uninterrupted conversation.

By the time we got to Austin it was a little rainy. We checked in to our hotel and then drove to Congress Ave. We went to Guero's Taco Bar for dinner and it was amazing. 

We'd planned to go watch the bats come out from under Congress Bridge but we didn't bring umbrellas and it was still raining and kind of chilly! So we improvised. We grabbed some dessert at Voodoo Doughnut and took it back to the hotel.

There are a few famous donut places in Austin, and we only went to one of them. I was a little put off by the environment - inappropriate names for all of the donuts, among other things - and to be honest, I prefer Shipley's for the actual donut. The toppings at Voodoo were insane though. We had Oreo with a peanut butter drizzle and a regular chocolate one. Yum .

Friday morning we woke up to more rain! So we took our time getting ready and eating breakfast at the hotel and moved some of our plans around a little bit. We decided to do the Capitol first since it was inside and would give the weather time to clear up.

We had to take a picture or two in this same spot since we'd come here a few years ago.

We actually took a tour this time and loved it! I learned so much. I really like incorporating history into our travels. And I'm super proud to be an American and a Texan.

The tour included a new expansion, which I had no idea even existed! It was cool to spot the old part of the building in parts of the new.

The rain had finally cleared when we got out of the tour! So we headed over to Graffiti Park. It's hard to tell what used to be here - maybe it's an abandoned building? I don't know - but now it's just a bunch of cement walls that anyone can spray paint.

We climbed up to the top and enjoyed a pretty view of downtown Austin, mixed in with the graffiti. 

Then we got to do some spray painting! I've never done that before and never thought vandalism was all that cool but after trying it out we have a new respect for people who do. It was certainly not easy and we didn't do anything particularly artistic.

T+C (+M+M+H) 4 eva! 

Panoramic of the view up there. Gives you an idea of how high we climbed too.

There are lots of fun murals all over Austin, so we thought we'd better check some out.

By then we were hungry and ready for lunch! Home Slice Pizza was delicious. Maybe my favorite meal of the whole trip? It's so hard to pick a favorite. We really ate our way around!

We had garlic knots and a NY slice. Tyler says it's better in New York but we both really enjoyed it.

Another funny mural as we were leaving lunch.

We had hoped to do water bikes on Lady Bird Lake, but when we got there the place hadn't opened and they weren't answering the phone. I think they didn't expect anyone to come after the rainy morning. We still wanted to do something on the lake, so we rented a kayak from a different place and paddled around for a bit. It was a really nice day by then and we enjoyed the pretty lake.

We even went under Congress Bridge and could totally hear the bats up in it! It was kind of creepy.

After our time on the lake was up we drove around UT's campus for a little bit and found a cool store. We didn't go in but we should someday!

We then drove up to Round Rock and checked into a different hotel. We met up with Nathan and Charlee for dinner at Hopdoddy Burger Bar. Unfortunately, the only picture we remembered to get from that evening was of the two of us before they got there.

Hopdoddy was delicious (one of my favorite burgers ever!) and we went to Nathan and Charlee's house afterwards to hang out for a bit. It was fun to catch up with them and to see their house.

The next morning we donned our "Treat Yo Self" shirts (Parks and Rec fans?) and checked out.

Before heading home to the kids we treated ourselves to a massage! It was a great way to end an amazing trip.

The kids had plenty of fun without us! Mitchell and Shayna came into down and they had fun playing with them. Max got to go to a Langham football game and thought it was fun. He even got to meet the mascot, a Lobo! We got some pictures of their fun at Gigi and Poppy's.

Good times all around!