Utah 2015

Whooo-hoooo!  We are finally home!

We had a great two weeks in the motherland–a.k.a. Utah–but now we’re home.

Home.
In Ohio.

I’ve been resisting the idea of Ohio as home for so long, but I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder.  As much as the mountain trails and beautiful scenery were calling my name, I felt a little homesick in Utah this time around and its good to be home.  The fact that we spent the first 10 days without our dada also made us feel like something was missing.  In the words of Edward Sharpe, Home is wherever I’m with you.

But we had a great time while we were there.  I survived the plane ride just fine with the 3 girls all by myself.  It wasn’t until after we landed and our luggage was lost and our car rental inexplicably cancelled that I lost my marbles.  But we made it.  If you follow me on IG you know a funny little story from our plane ride I’m dying to tell you another day.

Anyway, here we go Utah. (Also, a little disclaimer… all of these photos are iPhone photos.)
If you know my timid little Zuzu then you know this picture of her cuddling with my dad on day 1 is rather extraordinary.

Traveling solo with 3 kids–one who is a baby and another who needs significant assistance–made me  slow down a little.  So we did walks through pretty gardens…

some casual museuming…

and a couple of splash pads.

We enjoyed some magical summer nights,

and some beautiful drives through some beautiful mountains.

This right here… we stopped along the famed Alpine Loop, just a little north of Sundance at my spot.  My spot where I used to drive to in my college/post college years when I was stressed and worried and needed to clear my head.  My spot where I would sit and wonder about my future–who was I going to marry, would I have kids, what would my life look like? Coming here with my 3 girls was like an answer to my old self, See?  Everything turned out great. Look at this amazing life you have.  I think I may have high-fived the ghost of Miggy past.  Also, PSP named the horses Brownie and Burnt Brownie.  Best horse names ever.

We walked around Sundance resort with my girls and their older (and super cool) cousin while I told them about when I used to teach painting classes there. Did that just make me a little bit cooler? Because I was going for ‘a little bit cooler’ just now.  

We also got to spend a lot of time in Provo this time around. Which was great–I love Provo.  The thing is Provo has really grown up in the past few years if you know what I mean.  Provo is like that guy you dated who was cool but still a little dorky, so at the time you were a little afraid to introduce your friends to Provo, so you’d downplay it and be like, We’re just hanging out.  But a few years after you break up suddenly everyone’s like Provo is the best, Provo’s so cool and you’re a little sad you broke up, and then you compensate by name dropping Provo every chance you get… Oh yeah, Provo and I used to date. We’re still good friends. That’s sorta what it’s like to be back in Provo for me. And if you ask my girls about their favorite part of the trip, they will say Sodalicious errrytime.  We went 2 days in a row and I’ve never been more beloved by my own offspring. “Mom your so much more fun on vacation,” was an actual quote. Sodalicious is basically a drive through Mormon bar specializing in soda mixology. Sheer brilliance. Why this wasn’t done 20 years ago is a head scratcher.

And a HUGE shout-out and thank to you all our old and new friends alike who came out to the park for a This Little Miggy and kids hang out. My only regret is that I didn’t get more pictures!!  But this picture with one of our San Antonio besties was a favorite.  I also got to meet a few spotlight moms + kids and some blog/IG followers.  It was really fun–so glad we did it.  Next time, a group picture.  

Also, I must say that vacations must be really confusing for the average 18 month old.  This one. My sweet little docile babe, was just unravelling by the end of the trip.  When we finally got home on Monday you could see the visible relief on her face like, OH, we are coming back to this place.  I DO get to sleep in my crib again and play with my toys.  Honestly, it is just a hard age to travel with–they get it, but they don’t. This was her just giving up on the sidewalk one day. So tragically cute.  

Our last outdoorsy activity was a drive up to Silver Lake where we were able to walk around this beautiful and accessible scenic mountain lake.  Listen, I spent the first 33 years of my life not thinking about or caring that much about accessibility, so I get that if it’s not on your radar it can seem not that important or maybe even a nuisance.  But when you need, you NEED it. Man I am so glad the world is s-l-o-w-l-y realizing that this is a really important thing to do when possible. I get that it’s not always possible, but when it is accessibility makes a huge difference to those of us who need it. So for any families looking for an accessible, outdoorsy thing to do in Utah–shout out to Silver Lake up by Brighton.

Thanks for the love, memories, soda, mountains, friends, family and fun Utah.
Until next time…