Utah Vacation Monday & Tuesday

Monday was day 3 or our vacation. This was the day we had to drop off the boys at EFY down at BYU. They were suppose to check in at 11:00am. But you know the boys, they didn't want to be on time. They wanted to be fashionably late.

So we left Todd's house about 11:00am. But we had to make a little detour to Walmart to get some more supplies. And guess who we saw at Walmart?

Look! It's Todd the photo guy.

This is the Walmart that he works at. It is about 5 minutes from his house. I think we have made about 10 trips to Walmart in the 4 days we have been here. I'm definitely getting my fill of Walmart. We even went on Sunday, but don't tell anyone. I have never seen a Walmart so desolate as on Sunday. I think there was about 10 cars in the parking lot.

Here is a pic of Simon, Julianna & Mari in the back of Dad's truck as we were leaving Walmart. Notice how long Simon's hair is in this photo. You will need to reference back to it in a few.

After leaving Walmart we drove down to Provo to drop the boys off at Especially for youth aka: EFY.


In this photo is Julianna, Nate, Simon, Fielding (Simon's friend), Eric, Troy (Prescott cousins) and starring Mari as Cleopatra.

The girls came along just for the ride. I know they were wishing they were going as well. But this time only the guys went. This photo was taken after all the boys, except for Simon checked in. They wouldn't let Simon check in as his hair was too long. Again, take note at his long hair.

They said Simon would need to have his hair cut before they would check him in. Luckily Andrea had brought the clippers with her. She knew that Simon was probably going to have some problems with his hair. She tried to tell him before hand. But Simon thought he could get away with having long hair. I think it was just wishful thinking as he really wanted to grow his hair out.

After checking Nate & Troy into their accommodations. Andrea proceeded to shave Simon's head. But he was quite impatient.


So this is the final result. A little scruffy, but it did the job.

After the haircut they finally let Simon check in. Here is Simon & his friend/roommate Fielding.

Simon & Fielding are staying in the dorms on campus.


After dropping off the boys at EFY we decided to drive around Provo to see all the places that I lived back in the early 80's.

This was the first apartment that I lived in when I first moved to Provo. It is called Campus Villa. I lived in the bottom left apartment along with 5 other girls, none of which I knew. One was a 2nd cousin but I had never met her prior to moving in.

The bottom right apartment above was the first apartment that Brandon ever lived in. My first husband Mike and I lived in this apartment when Brandon was born. Jodi came & lived with us for a little while when we were here as well.

I actually lived in 3 different six plex/four plex within a 2 block radius. I'm not showing all the photos as they all pretty much look the same. After getting divorced, Brandon & I actually moved directly across the street from this 6 plex into a 4 plex. We first lived in the basement apt, then moved directly upstairs. This was the hardest move of any of the numerous moves I have made over the years.

I'm so glad I don't live in this part of Provo anymore. It has really gone down hill since I lived there some 30 years ago. Wow, 30 years is a long time ago.

Next we did some recreational shopping at the University mall in Orem. My how this mall has changed.

We had a great time in a shoe store trying on different shoes. Here is Mari & Julianna trying on a few pairs. I think we had the funnest time in this shoe store. The girls were a hoot modeling their shoes. But not one of us walked out with a pair. We just used them for entertainment purposes.

After our shopping excursion we drove by Grandma & Grandpa Manning's old house on 8th south in Orem.

Brings back lots of memories. Even though it has changed quite a bit. It is weird seeing a fence around the property. And most of the fruit trees are missing from the side yard. Plus no storm door on the front door & no drapes in the windows.

I was telling Todd's daughters Mari & Julianna how when we were kids there were no houses behind the house. Only a field with horses & we used to feed the horses apples from Grandma & Grandpa's apple tree. Mari loves horses & wished that they were still there.

After reminiscing about Grandma & Grandpa's house we stopped to get gas before heading back to Todd's house in Cedar Hills.

Andrea wanted to take a photo of the gas prices as we pay more than $3.00 a gallon in California. I told her that my family usually takes photos of the price of gas on vacation. It's fun to look back over the years to see how much the price of gas has changed.

At this point we were getting hungry. So we called Todd & had him meet us at Cafe Rio for dinner. Andrea & I had heard so much about Cafe Rio that we had to see what all the fuss was about. It was yummy!!!

All of us girls had the chicken breast salad, or as Mari & Julianna call it, chicken boob salad. It comes with a flour tortilla which they fill with rice, choice of black or pinto beans, shredded chicken breast meat, romaine lettuce, pico, cheese, guacamole, tortilla strips, lime and cilantro. It comes with a choice of 2 different dressings. We all chose the cilantro-lime vinaigrette dressing. It was so yummy. Todd had a pork burrito that looked mighty tasty as well.

Mari & Todd at Cafe Rio.

Andrea & me at Cafe Rio.

Julianna & Mari at Cafe Rio.

After dinner we stopped by to see Mari's horse Dominica. The guy who usually takes care of her was on vacation this week. So Mari wanted to make sure her horse had food & water.

Mari & her horse Dominica which means Sunday in Romanian. Mari's horse still needs a lot of training before Mari can ride & jump her. She is a beautiful horse.

And that pretty much sums up what we did Monday on our vacation. As you can see, we packed quite a lot into yesterday. I posted a lot more photos on facebook (for those of you who are my friends or family). And Andrea posted about the boys going to EFY on the Prescott Family Tree blog.

Now on to today aka: Tuesday.

Today I have no photos for you. Sorry. Todd had to work, Mari had to work, the boys were all at EFY, so Julianna, Andrea & I decided to do what girls do best. Shop!!!

So today we drove north to Draper & Sandy. We stopped at a used CD store & picked up some great CD's. I got the Cars Greatest Hits, The Beatles Yellow Submarine, Super Tramp Breakfast in America. Andrea got anther Cars CD, I think it was their first album, a real old Beach Boys one with all their most popular songs, and one by the Ramones. She may have got another one, but i can't remember for sure.

After that we hit the Dollar Tree to get supplies for the birthday party we are having for Todd's youngest daughter Erin Grace when she comes over tomorrow. Her birthday was actually on 7/30, but tomorrow is when she is coming over to celebrate. She just turned 12.

Next we stopped at Hobby Lobby. This was the whole reason I came to Utah. Just kidding. No I'm not. Yes I am.

I had heard so much about hobby lobby from other bloggers and we don't have them in SoCal. All I can say is it lived up to the hype. I bought me some stuff for my birthday that is coming up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll take photos & post about it on my Starshine Chic blog.

Then we hit up a Deseret Industries thrift store in Sandy. It was pretty pathetic. You know Mormon's they use up everything until it is no good & then donate it to DI. So I only found a glass jar in a wire hanger. I'm going to use it for a candle holder. So I spent a whopping 75 cents at DI.

Did talk to our cousin Melissa, she invited us over for dinner on Thursday. She said there is a DI by her house that is quite good. Her girls call it the rich Mormon DI. So it has better stuff since the rich Mormon's live in that area & donate to it. I'll let you know later how it fares.

After DI, we ate a late lunch/early dinner at McDonald's. Then stopped at another Dollar Tree in American Fork on our way home.

Once we got back to Todd's house, he and Mari were home from work. Needed more food for tomorrow's party so we made another trip to Walmart. I swear, Todd lives at that place. lol.

Stopped at McDonald's to get Todd a couple of Big Mac's for dinner. The McDonald's by his Walmart just opened up last week so they are running nightly specials. Tonight Big Mac's were 99 cents each.

Tonight Nate called Andrea and asked if we could bring him some scriptures. Andrea had tried to tell him to bring them, but he said he wouldn't need them. Well now he decided he did. All we could scrounge up at Todd's were a couple of Book of Mormons. But Nate said that would be great.

So Andrea, Julianna & I had to make a covert trip down to Provo to deliver the goods. They keep the kids in strict lock down so we had to deliver the books to the head mafia girl. Just kidding, she was one of the counselors. She said she would make sure the BOM's got to Nate & Troy.

And now we are up to the present. It is now almost 11pm. Todd, Mari & Andrea have gone to bed. Julianna just got done baking the cake for Erin's party tomorrow and I have been spending the last hour writing a book for you all. You better appreciate it.

Tomorrow we will have a small birthday party for Erin. We are also going to someplace called Slide Rock. I guess it is a huge rock that has water running over it that you slide down. And don't worry about me, there is no way in HE double toothpicks that I'm sliding down some rock. I'm not stupid. But I will be taking photos of those who are. So stay tuned.

Kim

P.S. A special prize may be given at the end of vacation for the person who can tell me how many times Walmart is mentioned during the week.