Vacation Part 3: SLC, Provo and missing Bryan

When we arrived at the hotel in SLC Sunday evening we let the kids play in the pool and ordered pizza for dinner. Bryan had to leave back to the Florida early the next morning. The rest of of, the Holmes Family and Dave's and Tim's families, went to spend the day at Temple Square. At Temple Square we watched the Joseph Smith movie, visited the Tabernacle where you can hear a pin drop from the pulpit all the way to the back of the building because of the amazing acoustics, visited the Visitor's Centers, went the Church History Museum (which I never knew has an AMAZING floor for kids that his interactive activities and a story area for FREE), and had dinner at the Lion House.

Mason and Eleanore "quilting" at the Church History Museum.

After dinner at the Lion House it was time to say good-bye to the Holmes and Toy families. We were sad to see them pull out for their individual long drives home.

Monday night I went to Chris and Eve's house in SLC. It was fun for Eleanore to have some time to get to know Severin, who is just 4 months younger than she is and to spend a little one-on-one time visiting with them. Tuesday morning Eve and I took the kids to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, which was a huge hit.

Playing with the air pressure and balls.

Riding a horse.

El found this mail delivery  person costume quickly after we arrived and didn't take it off until he moment we left. she loved delivering the mail to each of the stations.

Driving the farm truck.

Working in the grocery store.

Rowing a boat.

After the museum, Eve left to take Severin for a nap and haircut. I decided to run to the Baby Gap at the same mall for a minute. I made a quick purchase and headed straight to the car since my girls were exhausted. Somewhere between the Gap and the car I was pick pocketed right from my diaper bag. Someone stole my wallet. I was frantic, although I knew I had put it in my bag, I retraced my steps, went back to the store and asked if they'd seen it and searched my car. After about a half hour I called Bryan who immediately called the credit card company. By that time six purchases had already been made on my card. I was so angry and felt so violated. Someone must have seen me struggling with my three little ones and took advantage of the situation. I felt AWFUL. We were protected from the fraud by the credit card company, but had to scramble to get me knew ID and some money to last the rest of the trip. After a couple of hours of stewing I decided I wasn't going to let is spoil our fun, so I went on with our plans.

We headed over to visit my best friend from high school, Holley (McFarlane) Merkley. I am so glad we did. It was great to see an old friend, visit, eat a delicious homemade dinner and watch the kids play (her sweet Ada Belle is just a few months younder than El). We were also lucky to meet her new baby Bonnie Jane, which was a little bit of heaven. So grateful for friendships that stay the same even when the visits are years apart.

Wednesday morning we moved again and headed to Provo to visit another one of my best friends from high school and college, Brandi (Snedigar) Worle, and her family. Brandi is amazing. She was 36 weeks pregnant and didn't skip a beat. She is talented and fun to visit with and is a great example at going with the flow. She was so nice to my girls and made us feel right at home. Her little Luke was nice to share his toys and observe some new tricks from my girls (sorry about the jumping off the step to the family room, Brandi). Thank you so much for having us Brandi. Without Bryan around, my hands were always busy and I didn't get many pictures, but we had a great time.

Thursday morning we went on a short hike/walk to Bridalvale Falls, and then to the mall to let the kids burn energy.

Enjoying playing on the grass at Brandi's.

We sure had fun visiting good friends, but missed Bryan a lot this week. It is always better when we are together.