Seeing the World in Our Own Back Yard

Last week for "fall break" we all needed to escape this crazy life and so we took off for an exotic local. Yep, we went to Salt Lake City for a couple of days. We had a great time and there was no long hour drive involved (which was a real bonus since Halle was throwing up for most of Friday). We started off by going to Gardner Village. This was purely my choice. I wanted to go and get the girls some cute tutus for Halloween (they are all going to be fairies). Apparently all the other moms in the state were also buying their daughters tutus because it was crazy!! We decided to take a couple of cute pics and then be on our way (I stopped at Joann's and bought tule so I can make our own tutus). They have the cutest witches scattered everywhere at Gardner Village and the kids thought they were great. Halle especially loved the hula hooping witch. I also wanted to take the opportunity to take some portraits with the perfect backgrounds there. Unfortunately, I was so busy getting ready to go that I didn't notice that Halle's clothes didn't match, Shelby's hair wasn't done and the boys were wearing hats, so Avery is the only one who got her picture taken. I am loving my new camera! Thanks Morgan! We checked out the aquarium in Draper next. It was actually pretty good for an aquarium in a desert. The kids thought it was so cool. They got to touch some "Sting rays" (really a manta ray) and they had a huge octopus that was freaky! We were worried that we wouldn't have enough time to see it all in the three hours before closing, but we were done in an hour (I think we forgot it was an aquarium in a land locked state, not Seaworld). We stayed at a hotel in Midvale and so the kids had a great time swimming. I am taking more and more after my parents, because I did not get in the water. It was COLD! and I am a WUS! Our Saturday activites included going to the zoo and shopping. Our kids never get tired of the zoo and I can never believe that we actually think we can take five kids shopping. For the most part it worked out, we didn't lose anyone at least. By the third hour Morgan was headed for home, no ice cream, no movie, no potty break! Th zoo was actually really fun. We got there pretty early in the morning and went to see the Tigers first. The tiger was actually up and walking around, he even got in the water. We also got to see them feeding the leopard and even the cheetah was up and walking around. That made the trip worth while for Brock. Jaxon loved the monkeys and Avery, who is just getting into the world around her was so excited. Shelby was comparing everything to the Denver zoo and Halle just wanted cotton candy. All in all it was great and the kids didn't even know we weren't somewhere exotic. Jaxon kept telling everyone "we are at a hotel". When they would ask where he was from and he said Payson we got a couple of funny looks, but we are just thankful the kids can have a great time anywhere.