Let me begin by explaining what the terms were for us all to be able to come on this trip. My parents suggested way back in September that we all read the Book of Mormon cover to cover for a free trip to Utah for General Conference. I've been to Utah before with my dad and with my friends Dan and Michelle and I love vacationing here. The people are so nice and friendly (I'm convinced it's because they love Jesus), the weather is so mild in comparison to Toronto and the mountains take my breath away - every single time. Anyways, I was so pumped to go on this trip with my family. But I am a huge procrastinator... Who rarely meets deadlines. So I'm sure you can all guess where this is going. I didn't finish the Book of Mormon. So my parents sat me down about 30 minutes before we left for our trip. They asked me where I was after my four days of pretty hardcore reading. I was only in Mosiah. (That's not even halfway and the biggest book of 60 some chapters was ahead of me.) They told me that they couldn't just let me go on the trip if I hadn't stepped up to my side of the deal. I. Was. Devastated. I had packed, I had cleaned the house, I was going on this trip. Period. In hind sight, I'm shocked I didn't cry. (This approach, no matter how sincere, does not work with my parents. Ever.)
After about 15 minutes of discussion, we decided that I would pay for my flight. Seeing that I had about 300 pages left to read, my dad said that every page I read from our house to Salt Lake City would count for a dollar off of my ticket. The whole time I was in awe with my parents ability to seriously teach me a lesson while still letting me participate in the family activity, contrary to when we were kids. I just kept thinking that they were showing, very effectively, how mercy and justice can coexist so perfectly. Which made me think of the atonement. Which made me think of General Conference. Which made me so much more excited for this trip!
All that, and we haven't even left the house yet. I'll spare you the details of the drive to Buffalo. From the moment we say "lets go." to the moment that we pull out of the driveway can range from an hour to an hour and a half. Leaving all the passengers in the vehicle stressed to no end.
Once we arrived in Buffalo, we decided that Olive Garden was the restaurant we wanted to go to. Once we got there, we ordered our meals. We usually play this game when we go to sit down restaurants that when the waiter brings us the bill, we'll all guess how much it is. Because we do have a large family, most of the time it will be $100 for one meal. This time Daniel was ahead of the game and asked our waiter is he could borrow his pen and keep a menu. When this happened, everyone was confused (even the waiter). But when he started asking everyone what they ordered, we all started making fun of him. Then I got the idea not to tell him what I ordered. It was genius. I even told our waiter not to tell Daniel what I got. So Daniel poured over the menu for our entire waiting period, he did not partake in any of the bread or salad and wrote furiously on his hand all of the things we had ordered so that he would have the most accurate guess. But he was still missing my order. When our food finally came, the waiter let it slip that I had ordered the Tour of Italy. Luckily, Daniel wasn't paying attention! It was awesome. Then as the waiter was walking away Daniel said, "Excuse me, is water free here?" This was definitely the joke of the night. Even as we returned to the hotel, we were still making fun of Daniel for his obsessive need to win our version of The Price is Right.
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| Our complimentary glass of water. |
We stayed at the Marriott in Buffalo, which was great. The only downfall was that our room had 2 doubles... for 6 people. I don't know how my dad thought this was a good idea... Sure, we've done it before... But that was like 2-3 years ago. And apparently, he didn't notice but we have grown up a little bit since then. So the night was filled with tossing, turning, arguments and people sleeping with their butts hanging off the tiny bed.
We all got up without a fuss to catch our shuttle bus to the airport at 5:30am, got some smoothies and hung out at the airport until it was time to board. This was my brothers' first time flying so, needless to say, they were very excited. Daniel, the youngest, even felt the need to say bomb a couple times right after we went through security. I was like Daniel, that's a word you should never, ever... EVER say in an airport, okay pumpkin?
The flight was long and I was tired. But it was beautiful! (And at this moment, I am MAD that the internet sucks so much that I can't upload any more photos. Figures the only one that worked was the water...) The mountains were so gorgeous to see as we flew over them in Utah and I got some gorgeous photos... Grrr... Our connecting flight was in Chicago and Colin pointed out the skyline to me while we were landing. It was so gorgeous, I could definitely get used to this flying thing.
We then landed in Salt Lake City and - oh my goodness - was it ever beautiful. It was sunny, partly cloudy and almost 20 degrees. So gorgeous. I was walking around in a t-shirt. Such a nice change from that awful snowy weather in Canada. (Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. But there's always crazy weather on conference weekend... So I'm told...)
We went to go get our rental car which was supposed to seat six with six bags of luggage. When we got to our rental. It was not what we expected. So off my daddy went to talk to their customer service representative, obviously we got a better car for no charge. He's just awesome like that. So now, instead of driving around in some lame white SUV, that I can't be bothered to remember the name of, we're driving around in a large, black and spacious Lincoln. I love it. I want one.
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| As you can see, nothing fit. |
We did a drive by of Temple Square on our way to In N' Out Burger. Colin couldn't help but express his confusion. "I thought this was the one that took them 40 years to build. I thought it was brown. I thought..." Which we explained to him that it did take 40 years to build, it was grey and beautiful! (I can't wait to go inside later on this week!)
In N' Out was a first time experience for everyone but my dad and I. Most of us got double doubles, animal style fries and milkshakes. (Again, a perfect moment to have a photo.) I always forget how delicious these burgers are until I have one again. I think I ate mine in like 3 minutes flat. I was so full when I left though, I had to take a nap in the car while my mom and dad went grocery shopping. We should get an In N' Out in Toronto. It's just THAT delicious. But my good Californian friend Lori would not approve of that at all. "There are no palm trees in Salt Lake City OR Provo. There should be NO In N' Outs." She thinks it should be very exclusive... I think she's stupid. :)
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| SO YUMMY! |
After my parents got the groceries, they piled it all into our car with all our luggage. It was a tight fit to say the least. We got to our resort an hour outside of the city. Long but beautiful drive. We got into our rooms and the first thing I did after putting my bags upstairs was pop open my laptop to start blogging. (Yes, I'm dedicated.) Then I discovered... NO. INTERNET. I have mentioned in earlier posts that I am a city girl. I don't deal well with being in the middle of nowhere for long periods of time with no connection to the outside world. I immediately texted my two best friends and my sister. WHAT AM I TO DO? SOCIALIZE WITH MY FAMILY? Impossible.
Well, that's what I ended up doing. My dad, Colin and I went for a drive down a dirt road back to the highway where we stopped at a gas station and picked up some chips and pop (not soda). When we were heading home we saw a moose, which was kind of weird. Just because there are a lot of deer here too and in Canada, where were from, they don't really mingle in the same places. When we got home, my dad and I went off to the restaurant of the resort... To find internet. Yes, I was obsessing. In my defence, I had 13 facebook notifications when I finally got connected. Anyways, the hunt for internet was a bust. But we found out that the cook of the restaurant is a local, and so nice! He said he would find out where we could buy discounted ski lift tickets and give us some information. Solid guy, right?
Finally, we came back to the resort and I found my mom sleeping in her bed. So after cuddling with her for a few minutes, I decided it was time to get ready for bed. While I was in the bathroom, I also thought it would be a good idea to play music from my laptop, since it would be utterly useless otherwise. That's when I noticed the internet connection. Kids, God hears and answers our prayers. Especially in Utah. So, here I am. Ecstatic with my discovery of the outside world and ready to go to sleep after a long day of travelling on planes, ... and automobiles!
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