Spring Thaw Vacation: Northern UT

We debated for a while about which route to take on our way back to ND: The southern route would take us through Colorado where our storage unit is and there are somethings in there that we want OR the northern route would take us through northern Utah were a lot of friends and family are. After much debate and soul searching we decided (with help from my convincing cousins) that we should do the northern route! And I am so glad that we did!

Josh and I left Cedar City early Monday (April 29th) morning and headed to Squatters Pub in SLC where we had lunch with Katey, her mom (Allison), and her baby Jack! I know what you are thinking. No, Katey does NOT live in SLC, but she happened to be in town visiting family so it worked out perfectly! The last time I saw Katey was when she told me and Emily that she was barely pregnant and now she has a 7 month old baby! Lunch was a lot of fun, it was great to catch up, but Jack was getting crabby so we had to cut it short. No worries! I was just so excited that I got to see both of my hohos (Emily and Katey) in the same trip!

After lunch, Josh and I went to City Creek to browse the fancy shops. Neither of us are "shoppers", so we decided to grab some red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. 

To kill sometime before dinner we went over to the Gateway Mall (another outdoor mall) to walk around, well, walk off the cheesecake, and browse some more stores. After the malls, we went to Pioneer Park and took a nap under a big tree. It was a gorgeous day!

For dinner we met up with one of my college roommates from FRESHMAN year! Lacey! We have been friends for so long (10 years!!) and it was great to see her. She is graduating with her Masters in a few months and is working in SLC. See! We are all growing up! I am so glad that is is doing well and that she is still the amazing person that I met all those years ago.

[Lacey and I in our Freshman dorm in 2003]

[Lacey and I after dinner]

On Tuesday Josh and I had lunch with another one of my old roommates, Lisa. I lived with Lisa in SLC after I graduated from BYU in 2007. We had quite a few adventures together (during and after we lived together) and I'm so glad that we have kept in touch over the last few years!

I forgot to get a picture of us so here is a flashback one from 2009 when we went to Disneyland:

That night we had dinner with my cousin Michelle, her husband Dan (thanks for hosting and providing the pizza!), their four kids AND my cousin Cheryl, her husband Brandon, and their 6 kids!

I use to spend time with my cousins when I was in college and living close by, but it's been getting harder and harder to see them all since I moved away.

Even though we all read each other's blogs (hey guys!) it's still nice to see one another IN PERSON and to really chat.

All of their kids are getting so big and are so much fun! Cheryl's #2 was learning how to crochet and she made me a cute blue bracelet that I am wearing as we speak! What an adorable girl!

Again, I didn't get a picture. Boo! What is wrong with me?! So here is a flash back photo of me, Cheryl, and Michelle from 2010:

Well, Josh and I had a very busy few days in Northern UT, but I am so glad that we went that route and that we got to see so many old friends!

On Wednesday (May 1st) we got up early and started our trip to South Dakota. Of course, it was snowing as we were driving through SLC. Classic Utah.

The drive was long (11 hours), and the weather was anywhere from snowing to sunshine, but when the sky cleared up the scenery in Wyoming was gorgeous!