Utah with Mom

Have you ever been on a road trip with this lady?

I highly, highly recommend it.

A few weeks ago, one of my best friends Kevin Patterson (K-Swizzle, K Fat, Mr. Fatterson) was having his mission fairwell in Utah and I decided I had to give him one last bone-crushing, tear-inducing bear hug before he left. So I planned the trip and called my mom to tell her all about it and that's when she said that she WANTED TO COME WITH ME. Best. News. Ever. Mom decided to fly to Scottsdale and spend the night with Jirski and I in our little apartment and then drive with me to Utah the next day.

I was so excited to show off our apartment and our dog and the places we love to go to her for the first time. Our first out-of-town overnight guest! (Lolo holds claim to our very first overnight guest over Christmas break- we even dragged her mattress into our bedroom and made JR tell us stories until we fell asleep.) I picked my mom up at the airport in the afternoon and I was like "do you want to go back to my apartment and rest? Are you tired from traveling?". Ha. Hahaha I had forgotten who I was with. Mom has more energy than fourteen chihuahuas put together. Just as small too. We drove directly to Fashion Square Mall where we hit Anthropologie, Gap, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn Kids and Janie and Jack. We found some clothes for the grandkids, some maternity clothes for me because I have been exploding out of my regular ones, some purple checkered crib sheets for Lady Baby and also this little beauty:

I did not realize the importance of a Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag, but I have since learned. They are an essential for new moms. And this one came in my favorite colors! Remember, our wedding colors were gray and yellow?

After the mall we met Jirski back at our apartment. It was really fun to show my mom how we had arranged everything and hung up pictures and to have her be a guest in my house instead of vice versa for once. It almost made me feel grown up (sike, still a kid). Plus she got to see Theodore for the first time since he was a puppy and who doesn't just love this little face?

Although if you don't watch out he will for sure stick his tongue up your nostril which is never as pleasant as it might seem.

We went to Sauce for dinner, which is a really good gourmet pizza and salad restaurant that JR's family introduced me to. Then we headed over to Sprinkles, which is arguably the most famous cupcakery in the world (they're opening a store up in Dubai!).

We ordered a red velvet, black and white, raspberry chocolate chip and milk chocolate and shared all of them. Red velvet was my easy favorite, but Mom and Jirski love the raspberry chocolate chip.

We went home afterward and talked on the couch for a long time and then went to bed so we could get an early start.

We hit the road the next morning armed with pretzels and chocolate and an ice chest full of havarti cheese, apple slices, yogurts, water bottles and peanut butter. What could be better. After a few hours of driving we saw some American Indian stands and pulled over to inspect their artwork. Mom found me this:

It is an authentic Native American piece and all those dark lines are burned horsehair. Weird and awesome. It now resides in my living room.

A little farther along we got a call from my uncle Chip, Mom's brother. If you tell Chip where you are, anywhere in the world, he will have tips for where to go and what to see. He told us we had to take this little hike right off the freeway to see something called Horseshoe Bend so we decided to go for it. We found the little dirt road turn-off and made the twenty minute trek through sand. I ditched my shoes, it was perfect weather and it wasn't too rocky. We were rewarded with this:

It was so quiet and peaceful and cool and perfect. We loved every minute of it. Then I started getting antsy and throwing rocks off the cliff and Mom made me stop. Sorry Mom.

Maybe my real favorite part, though, was this sign

BEWARE.

Anyway, we drove the rest of the way and reached Aunt Tami's house in time for her spectacular homemade pizza. Delicious. We also had time that night to make an appearance at The Choco, my old stomping grounds, and Macaroni Grill where Sabrina and Jared were busy working. Not too busy for me to interrupt though. That's my job as a little sister.

The next day we woke up to SNOW. Beautiful, icy cold, white, quiet snow. My favorite thing. Only I didn't pack anything for snow because there hadn't been any in a while and it wasn't in the forecast, so Mom and I made an emergency Sunday morning trip to Target. That's how you know it's special, Mom never shops on Sunday. We found a maternity church outfit for me, complete with zebra-print rubber boots which is seriously one of my favorite purchases ever. We went to Kevin's fairwell and it was packed. The ward is usually made up of 160 people and that day there were 340 people squeezed in the room to see Kevin off. He is one popular kid. It was so good to see him and give him a giant hug. He even played the Good Friend and pretended I didn't look pregnant. Oh, hilarious. He gave an incredible talk and maybe I wiped a tear away, I can't remember. There were far too many people there to be able to get a picture of just he and I, so here is a picture from his Facebook so you guys can see what he looks like

I have known K-Swizzle for two years, ever since he started working at the Chocolate, and I know him I think as well as anyone can know him. He always wears that green hat, he was even holding it in his hand when he gave his talk (you aren't supposed to wear hats in church). He is the loudest person I have ever met and has the most contagious laugh of anyone I know. I got pretty good at mimicking it but it takes all of the lung power I possess.  I have seen him with green hair and I have also seen him walk through fiery coals at a bonfire. We saw each other at our worst, he was there for me when I had to make the toughest decision of my entire life. We swapped secrets in the bakery at four in the morning and I've never felt more sad than when he moved away to Texas for the summer and MISSED MY WEDDING. No really, it's fine. He is going to make a killer missionary, he has the best heart of anyone I know and I wish him the best of luck. He will always be one of my besties and I hope he looks me up when he gets home.

Anyway, back to Mom. The next day was a shopping day with Sabster, she had the day off. We hit so many stores and stumbled across this great find at the Downeast Outlet:

My very own changing table! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL? Oh, I love it. We continued shopping and if you have ever shopped with Mom than you know it is serious business. We ended the day at the Distribution Center and in my weak pregnant state I burst into tears trying to make a simple decision. Mom sent me to the car with a water bottle and finished the shopping for me. Thanks Mom. Tuesday we helped Jared hang some pictures in their freshly painted apartment and met Sabi for lunch since she had to work the whole day. It was Valentine's Day and since Sabi and Jared work in a restaurant there was no chance that we would get to see them that night. Aunt Tami's parents invited us to go with them to the Provo Country Club for dinner and it was the most delicious buffet. Highlight food of the night: delicious breaded fish that was salmon and white fish put together and ohmigosh I could have gone back a hundred times but I was trying super hard to be polite and not let my pregnancy eyes take over my brain.

The next morning we made our way back to Scottsdale going the Las Vegas route so we could stop in St. George and see my mom's other brother Todd and his family. We met them at Olive Garden (love me some OG bread sticks) and had a really good visit with them, it's always good to see family and it is especially awesome/hilarious to hear my mom swap stories with her brothers from their childhood.

We made it home safe and Mom had one more night with me before she flew back to Sacramento. We had such a good time together, she turned a quick trip to see a friend into the biggest adventure just like she always does. I'm not kidding when I tell you that if you have to go on a road trip somewhere, try to finagle Cindy Sumsion into going with you. She makes everything so awesome and gets so much done in an impossible amount of time. Thanks mom, for the best trip ever. Come back to my little apartment and visit me and my dog anytime. We will welcome you with Special K and Dove chocolates.