UTAH

So - Utah had its ups and downs.

Ups:
-Great tubing (we stayed in Park City)
-Wonderful hosts - Thanks for your hospitality Kit and Kate - you guys rock!
-Fun to watch a snow storm
-Nathan loves the snow and wanted to be in it all day
-Touring the fabulous St. Regis hotel. If you have an extra couple thousand dollars I would suggest staying here
- Seeing all the sights of Temple Square and watching Caitlyn eat it up. This was by far the best part.
- A close second was finding killer brown knee-high boots at the BCBG outlet for $49. Yes I said $49.
-The Grand Canyon. We decided last minute to stop. We were so close that we couldnt pass it up. nathan woulnt go within 20 feet of the edge.

Downs:
-the drive - heaven help me I will never drive that far again. I am a plane kind of girl. Well, i could do it with just Chad. Kids are the variable
- the Kanab Best Western beds.
- Nathans tantrum at the top of the tubing hill. Chad got kicked hard enough in the face to draw blood. It wasnt pretty.
- Traveling on St. Patricks Day - so we didnt get to celebrate in style at home, but we all wore green.
- Oh, and here's the kicker.... getting our car broken into while visiting the Conference Center on Sunday. yeah, it is a bummer, and yes they got a lot of stuff... our laptop, our Kodak camera, a Motorola walkie talkie, our telephoto lens and all of our camera chargers. We're pretty sure that we interrupted them. They must have seen us walking back because all of our ipods were still there in the second row like they didnt get there yet. We're also pretty sure that they were sitting the car next to us. Chad didnt know anyone was in the car, but I did. There were two hispanics in the car not talking to each other, but very intensly listening to us. I had a bad feeling about them and while we were discvoering what was missing the car, my attention was drawn back them several times. They had a Utah plate with Sonora mexico bumper stickers. I kept writing it off. I shouldnt have done that, but what was to be done at that point. Chad says that had he known anyone was there he would have talked to them. What if they had a gun. Chad and Ben had guns. It could have gone really bad. What if, What if, What if. Its all that goes through your head.
It wasnt until Nathan swung his door open in a rage and it smacked their car that I truly realized that they had done it. Again, they didnt act normal. Wouldnt you get out of your car to see what just happened and if any damage had been done? They didnt. They started their engine, circled around us while watching us and headed for the exit. That is when I yelled at Chad "they took our stuff. Those are the guys!" by that time they were out of the parking lot and down the street. Chad didnt want to risk chasing them. We also had not realized that the laptop was gone yet. If we had I think that we would have done it. maybe we can chalk that up to blessings. Who knows that those guys were capable of.
The biggest blessing of the trip: all of our photos (maybe minus a couple months worth) are backed up on our external hard drive at home. If we had lost 7 years of pictures I would have been truly devestated. So - here's your lesson. BACK EVERYTHING UP. twice if you can. We are going to back ours up online too. Seriously - dont wait. We didnt think this would happen to us, but it did and in a way we were prepared. So now I am dealing with insurance companies, the police department, and a room full of laundry that desperately needs my attention. We lost some of our photos from the trip on the Kodak, but good think we had our nice Canon with us. We have pictures to share, but I will need a new laptop to load them onto. Until then you will have to imagine our fun :)

The experience put a damper on the trip, but it didnt define it. We had a great time because we made ourselves. Life goes on. Temple Square was fantastic. I loved looking at all the art, and I loved the "I am a Child of God" exhibit at the museum. Go if you get a chance. So cute. I felt the Spirit several times there and even get a little choked up now when I think about it. Despite the the evils of the world we are able to know what is right and true. The hall of the prophets was amazing and the exhibits on the pioneers in museum is moving and breathtaking. The work that they did it mind boggling.

In the end, Chad and I realize that it is just stuff. Expensive stuff and a headache to deal with, but just stuff. All in all we're glad we were able to go and we hope that all the church history made an impression on the kids.

Oh - and Miki did have her baby. On Sunday at 5 somthing in the evening. Welcome Chase!