January 2007

I feel badly that I didn't blog during the month of January except for my New Year's post. We were just too busy! We spent the first week digging ourselves out of the Christmas mess and the second week packing and getting ready for our trip to Utah that would last until the end of the month.

Our Utah trips aren't quite to the point where you just put in the tape and push "play", but they are developing some similar patterns and themes. Of course, we see as much of our family as we can and we visit as many friends as time allows. Our other main activities are to go for a horsey ride at our old barn, eat out at our old favorite restaurants, and do some major shopping. The local shopping where we live is ok for most things and is actually better for some things, but there is always a list of items that I just can't seem to find or get without some major effort here. So, I make a list and take an empty bag and fill it whenever visiting my familiar shopping places in Utah. It is also much more fun to shop in Utah because there, I have my sisters and mom to shop with and also lots of built-in baby-sitters. This past time, we all went together quite a bit and tag-teamed the kids as we each took turns looking for and trying things on. Here, I either have to leave my kids and go alone, or take them with me and try to shop while they whine and cry and get lost.
It sounds a bit silly for me to go on about shopping because I'm not really a "Nordstrom girl" as we use to say in high school. I am not much into fashion and purses and having the latest things. But, at some point, you do have to replace worn out jeans, buy more clothes when you change sizes, and you do have to buy gifts and let's face it, it is much too fun to buy things for little girls now that I have them! So, I do spend a lot of time shopping with my sisters.

This past month we made several trips to Cottonwood Mall. I kind of feel like I grew up at Cottonwood Mall. When we were little and lived in Wyoming and use to come to Salt Lake to visit my Grandma, she would take us to the mall. We always ate at the food court and tossed coins in the fountain. Then, after we moved to Salt Lake, only blocks from the mall, we made frequent trips with our friends in the summer as pre-teens, and then frequent trips "in-between classes", ahem, in high school. I did get caught at Cottonwood Mall when I shouldn't have been there. As luck would have it, my mom caught me every single time I broke a rule. On one particular unlucky trip, the rusty muffler and tail pipe completely broke off (but was still tethered to) my 88 Camaro in the middle of the mall parking lot - had to call mom and dad to help with that one. In later married years, I use to meet my mom and sisters at the mall early in the morning the day after Thanksgiving to kick-off the Christmas shopping season. Needless to say, the mall has been a place where my family has done lots of shopping and eating together and it brings back lots of memories.

Now, I write about the mall as it completes is final closings. When we were there last month, we visited several stores "on their last day open" and passed many more that had already been closed for months. I have been told that it will be closed for good in April and probably torn down before we go back to Utah. It's weird (not being a shopping addict) that I'm a little sad about losing the mall in my old neighborhood, but I am. Oh well, the mall is not the only place to shop - we have lots of other favorites!

To sum up our vacation, we spent lots of time hanging out! (We also spent lots of time dodging viruses and spraying lysol on door knobs, phones, and toys - finally got sick for the last 4 days of our 17 days there.) The only downside of the trip besides all of our sick relatives was our canceled road trip to southern Utah to see my grandparents there. We had banked on going, but too many people were too sick on too many days to go. The best part of our trip is that Harriet got some really good time in with her grandparents and aunts. She really got to know them and bonded with them. Grace also got lots of individual attention from everyone and always comes away with her "bucket full." It's a deep bucket to fill when we get home and she has to share me with Harriet and all of the daily chores.
We'll have to come again soon before Harriet forgets everyone. Hopefully, May will be our next trip.

Here are some random January pictures. Since, we didn't go anywhere but people's living rooms, the barn, and the mall, so they're not terribly exciting, but I guess, neither are we. I actually love not doing much of anything - doing something is over-rated and doing nothing is highly under-rated.