SLC in July - The Mitchells

Ok, I have to wrap up posting about this Utah trip before we go on another one! We're going local this time - to Cape Cod and the islands nearby. I'm sure no one out there is still interested in our travel log, but again, it's for me!

It was interesting to stay at my parents' house with David. It just occurred to me, he has never stayed with me at their house before, ever. Kind of weird in (almost) 11 years of being married. Our deal is that since I get to go back so much more than he does, that we stay with his family when he comes. This time though, the Chapman house was a tad too crowded to add us when the Mitchell basement was free and clear with our own bathroom just a couple miles away, so we all bunked up with Lyle and Debbie. My baby sis, Jessica, just moved to Houston a couple months ago to start a business. This makes life even harder! I used to be able to go to Utah and see all of my family, but now one is gone. She made a huge effort though and flew in for less than 24 hours so that she could see me and come to my mom's birthday party. She did all of our hair too! I counted at least 7 of us who got a cut or color or both. I love how she does my hair. I will go months without getting it done so that she is the only one who touches it.

After the reunion, I took off to Cedar City with my mom and my girls for 2 days to see my grandparents there. Let's just say the ride in the car could be done without! I VOW to never drive cross country with the likes of Hattie in the car. I thought my mom and I were going to need psychiatric and/or medical help by the time we got to FILLMORE. No, actually, I think we pulled off in Santaquin first. 'nough driving for me. Kudos to y'all who drove to the reunion. But, you did not have Hattie with you!
My grandparents in Cedar are beloved by all of us. Staying at their house is so great. We always joke that we go to Grandma Primmer's house so that we can take a nap. But that's exactly what we do! We get in the door, eat her perfect lunch, and sit on her comfy couch and seriously snooze all afternoon while Grandpa does the same in his big chair. It is so nice to relax there. Also, we LOVE to go shopping in Cedar City! I know - New York, Milan, Paris, Cedar City! It's true. There's a store down there that has the best kids' shoe selection I've ever seen. They also have great little main street shoppes where you can find anything and everything you ever and never wanted. What can I say - I live near Boston, near what should be some of the best shopping in the world, but I always save half a suitcase to shop in Utah. It's more fun and easier to shop with my mom and sisters anyway.Other things... well, the Mitchell clan is pretty predictable, but we like it that way. Don't surprise us or make us be spontaneous, we'll have a heart-attack! We hung out at Aunt Lis' house, played with Sean, played in the yard with Aunt Em, stayed up late talking to 'mo Deb, and stayed up real late to get a glimpse of Grandpa Lyle coming home or early to see him going. Once in a while, you can catch him fixing sprinklers on his morning off or on a Sunday afternoon. We always go see my other grandparents too who live 1/2 mile from my parents. Picking raspberries in Grandma Pearlie and Grandpa Hal's garden is a summer must.The other thing that we did; one of the best things about our trip; is David and I got to go places by ourselves! Lots of family, lots of free, instant, and trustworthy babysitting. Every little errand we could think of to go and do without the kids, we did. We even went on a date. This is becoming more common than before, but it is still a rare occurrence, especially since moving to MA. We went to eat at the Red Iguana. I can seriously still taste the mole I had. It was SO good. We spent the rest of the night walking around the Gateway and talking, uninterrupted. We were going to catch a movie, but then decided to wait and do an old-school lazer U2 at the planetarium. I loved every second of it! They've jazzed it up a bit and, of course, added new songs, but it felt like the good ol' days when a lazer show at the planetarium was a common thing to do at night.

Well, good-bye Utah for now. This time, I didn't really cry when we left. Usually, I tear up for a couple of days when I know I have to leave. This time, I was ok...until we got home. When we started driving home from the Providence airport in the heavy, wet, sticky air with the claustrophobic forest of thick green trees on all sides, I started to lose it. When we pulled up to our house and saw that the yard had grown into a jungle that looked like we hadn't lived there for 6 months, I did lose it. I cried on and off for 2 days. I'm good now. I can't complain too much. There are many places that I would rather not live than here and my life is actually pretty great here. It's just hard to make the transition when you've just spent 12 days in absolute sunshine, and clear open spaces with light until 9:30 at night, where the kids played with their cousins and got to know their grandparents, and where I got to see my sisters and best friends...
no worries - I'll be back! I have to see what pops out of Lissie's belly in October! She made me swear not to put a picture of her belly on the blog.
Oh, I almost forgot... this is a picture of us in the cockpit of our plane home! As I was sulking onto the plane, the captain grabbed us and said, do your girls want to sit in the pilot seats?! I was dumbfounded, but anxiously said Yes! So, in they went. The pilots left so we could have the whole space. Then, they asked if I had a camera. I only had my phone on me. But, David (already back in his seat) had the big camera with him. They paged him to come up front and then they offered to take a pic of the whole family in the cockpit. I didn't think they did things like this anymore after 9-11, but apparently, we got lucky. It was pretty dang cool! By the way- Northwest airlines has the NICEST people out of any of the airlines I've ever flown. They always make things nicer and easier with my kids.