Salt Lake City

Less than a week ago we returned home from vacation in Salt Lake City. We had an absolutely amazing time and enjoyed every minute of our visit.

Our trip started at 3:30am. We had a 7am flight and knew we needed to eave out house around 3:30 to make it to the place we park our car at when we travel and to allow ourselves to get there 2 hours before our flight. We pulled Kai out of bed around 3:15 and loaded him in the car. He slept most of the hour + drive to the park and ride. Usually we have to wait for a shuttle to the aiport but we were able to jump on one leaving right when we got there. we printed our boarding passes and then headed to the bag drop off. Why Alaskan airlines felt it to be necessary to only have 1 person at the bag drop, I do not know. We waited in line to drop off our bag for about 30 minutes. It felt like an eternity since I had Kai in the front pack. carting around 25 lbs in a front pack is NOT easy. After we dropped off our bag, we were lucky enough to end up in the pre screened line so we did not have to take our shoes off, Kai out of the front pack, or even unload our carry-ons. It took us literally 5 minutes to get through security. It was really refreshing after the 30 plus minute wait to drop off our bag. Once we found our gate, we walked Kai around to look at the airplanes, got some breakfast and relaxed before the  2 hour flight. When it was time to board, Blake boarded early and I waited until right before last call. By this time, Kai was pretty tired so we were able to rock him to sleep right after takeoff. He slept the whole way. We even had a row to ourselves because the plane was only about 3/4 of the way full.

Once we arrived, Shannon picked us up and then the fun began! We went back and dropped off our bags and enjoyed a delicious breakfast. Shannon and Jeff have a son, Cooper, who is only 2 weeks younger than Kai so the boys had an amazing time the whole week. We went to music class, gym class and even had a mommy shopping outing without the boys while the dads and babies enjoyed a light hike.  We went on walks nightly, weather was beautiful, the company was amazing and we even got to go to the Museum of natural history and the zoo. It was so hard leaving such a beautiful place. Salt Lake City is one of my favorite places to visit and Jeff and Shannon are the absolute greatest of friends.

For those of you who don't know, Shannon and I have known each other for over 25 years. We grew up only about 3 houses apart and have been best friends since we were 4. You could ask any of our parents, we have done everything together for 20 some years. I was her maid of honor, she was mine. We moved together during college and even when Shannon moved to Arizona, we still spoke on the phone and saw each other when possible. Jeff and Shannon started dating when we were 14 and were married in 2005. They are one of the most amazing couples I know. I feel so fortunate to have had friends for so long. It was an even bigger blessing when we realized our pregnancies were only a few weeks apart. Our family looks forward to many more visits from the Kent family. We are already counting the days until their visit out to the Pacific Northwest.