Britt suggested months back that we should plan a Girls Trip.
It was good timing... all babies and young children were at an age that they could survive a couple days without their mamas. We thought about where we could go, and decided that we would all have a little more cha-ching to spend if we could get our lodging for FREE.
And you know I love free.
And you know I love free.
Bill checked the availability of the SL condo he has occasional access to, and we reserved it for April 11th through the 14th. We knew it would be tax season for Tay, but thought it might be a nice break for Nae if Grandma Fisher or Little Billy watched V. I didn't know when we scheduled the trip that I would be working for a tax company also. I was a bit worried about telling them I would be out of town right before tax day, but I put in some extra hours before I left, so I think it all evened out okay.
Thursday, April 11th
We piled into 2 vehicles (Lex took her car for Jason to use - he flew into Salt Lake that evening), and started out early... in a snowstorm (of course). The first few hours were a little slow and slippery, but once we got out of the mountains, it was smooth sailing.
Since it was Lex and Jase's ANNIVERSARY, they had arranged a night out together while Little Billy watched M. I had purchased tickets to Steel Magnolias at the Hale Center Theater months ago, and since Lex had another hot date that night, I invited Grandma G. to come with us.
It was so fun.
We drove around trying to decide where to eat dinner before the show and ended up at Crown Burger. It was... okay. Not quite the same Crown Burger I remember from my youth, but it filled our bellies.
I had {fairly} recently seen Steel Magnolias (in the past year) - Mar and Nae had caught the end of it at the time - but other than that, NO ONE HAD SEEN IT BEFORE. What??
It was a 6-woman show with no scenery changes, but it was very well done. It was fun to hear all my girls (especially mi mamita) laugh throughout the play and chat about it afterwards. This was definitely a chick flick... see those men behind us? They are good, good men haha.
Friday, April 12th.
The next morning we slept in a bit, then headed downstairs to the City Creek Mall. As we walked down the street, Britt said, "Isn't that Robyn and John?" Yes. Yes, it is.
It's a small world after all.
We had lunch at Blue Lemon (yum),
then shopped the afternoon away.
All that shopping is literally exhausting, so once we made our way back to the condo, we watched a show, read, or slept into the evening (Lex took a good 2+ hour nap).
We enjoyed watching the evening fall over the city...
...then walked to a late-night dinner at the The Cheesecake Factory.
We sat and chatted for a long time after dinner...
good thing Cheesecake Factory is open LATE.
good thing Cheesecake Factory is open LATE.
Saturday, April 13th
Some of us started the day off with a beauty treatment.
Be. You. tiful.
Once we were beautified and ready for our day, we made our way to Bountiful. Mar and I went to Grandma G.'s house so we could figure out a lining for Mar's sheer-back prom dress, and the other girls hit the Downeast Home store.
THANK YOU, GRANDMA!
Afterwards Grandma and Grandpa made us a yummy lunch.
That afternoon we had appointments in Lehi for pedicures. Since no one had brought flip-flops, we made a quick stop at Old Navy, only to discover... THEY WERE HAVING AN AWESOME CLEARANCE SALE. We grabbed our flip-flops, sent half the girls to the nail salon while Britt and I waited in line for our purchase. Once we had all met up at the salon and all had our feet soaked, massaged, and painted...
(the dude was our least favorite pedicurist -- sorry Lex and Shi, the gal doing Nae - then Britt - was okay, although she messed up the polish on both of them and had to re-do, not pictured is the gal that worked on Mar and me... she seemed the most experienced and was voted "the best." Sorry, ladies, I would have traded you had I known)
...we headed BACK to Old Navy haha.
Britt came away the big winner. She bought 5 or 6 (or 7 or 8) items for $21. I can't remember all the deets, but Britt, Nae, and Lex came away with an item or two for pennies. Way to go, ladies!
Since we were kinda close to Britt's house, we decided to make a quick stop to check out her new sofa/sectional. Scarlett was the only child awake (the dads were seriously rocking the baby thing), so it was fun to get to give her a big hug. The men-folk (Kody, Austin, Jason) were practically pushing us back out the door... they had a gaming night planned and wanted to get things started.
By this time it was so late, we grabbed dinner at a nearby Costa Vida, then purchased some cookies at Crumbl... also open VERY LATE.
Once we were back at the condo, we all sat around the pull-out bed and chatted into the wee hours of the morning. Mar fell asleep early(ish), so imagine her sleeping on the pull-out bed as the rest of us sat around her talking about things we will never tell. Shi wins the prize for staying up the latest every night... chatting it up with one sister or another. I'm sure she needed a nice long nap when she got back home.
Sunday, April 14
We slept in a little, made quick work of the clean up, and parted ways. Mar, Nae and I drove to Grandma and Grandpa Syddall's to pick up Little Billy, and Lex went with Shi and Britt out to Britt's house where Jason had stayed with M. Jason drove back to CO with Lex and M, then flew to AL Tuesday morning.
It took a whole lot o' planning, especially for the mamas, but it was so much fun to get away. On our drive home, we decided that the boys should plan a trip next year, and then we'll switch off every-other-year. Sounds like a perfect plan to me. I loved spending time with my amazing and lovely girls. I hope they all enjoyed it as much as I did.
Love you, girlies!
