Last Day at the Hotel

Sunday morning we woke up (after a horrible night with Miss Leila who is teething and had a fever) and it was Brock's birthday! 34! Jace had to give him 34 birthday spankings.

Then Nixon wanted in on the fun, so he gave him 34 more!

The kids each took turns with the glasses on. Too cool.

Then it was time for more swimming. They counted to 3, and Jace got mad at Nixon for jumping in too soon.

Try again...much better.

See, I was there too.

I had to get some shots of my bathing beauty. She didn't like the hat on at first, and kept trying to take it off.

Then I threatened her life, and she was fine with it.

We got changed out of our suits and I had to get some more shots of the kiddos. Nixon and Jace don't like to be serious for pictures.

Lookin' good, you two.

One last ride on the funicular.

We had so much fun on our little weekend getaway. I am so lucky to have been married to Brock for 8 years. He is my perfect match, and I hope I am his. I look forward to many many more by his side.

St. Regis Hotel in Deer Valley

When I planned the hot air balloon ride for our anniversary, and found out that it was in Park City, we decided to make it a fun weekend and get a hotel. My parent's were nice enough to get us a room at the St. Regis in Deer Valley. It was amazing. We checked in in one beautiful building, and had to ride the funicular to the hotel. What is a funicular, you say? Well, the definition is "a short, very steep railway upon which runs a car or train raised or lowered by means of a cable." It was really cool. We put our stuff down, and then headed to our favorite place to eat. Ruth's Chris. We decided that since we were in Park City, we had to. It was delicious, as usual. They even gave us a card, and a free dessert for our anniversary! The next day was the hot air balloon ride, and then shopping for about 3 hours! Shopping is such a different experience with no kids. I guess that's why we lasted so long. And since it was Brock's birthday the next day, he bought something in pretty much every store. (I did too, even though it wasn't my birthday)

We didn't realize until we got the confirmation email on Friday, that my parents had booked it both Friday and Saturday night. We decided that since we hadn't planned a babysitter to watch the kids both nights, that we'd just go get them and bring them back for Saturday night. We knew they'd love the funicular since they love elevators so much, and we were excited to go swimming. We had so much fun!

Here we are waiting for the funicular


We got the boys these cute glasses on our shopping spree.


There it is on the left, making it's way down from the hotel.

Just as we knew they would, the kids loved it!

They sure put the FUN in FUNicular!! Ha Ha! Had to say it.

Of course, the first thing they wanted to do was swim. We got in our suits and headed out.

They had a section of the pool that was just 10 inches deep which was perfect for Leila.

Notice her cute farmer's tan on her arms? Yeah, still hanging in there from last week's sunburn.

It was a beautiful pool with beautiful scenery. I had to get a picture with the snow in the back ground. The hotel is right at the base of one of the ski runs. Even though there was snow, the weather was wonderful, and the pool was heated so we had lots of fun.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

I have always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride. Brock and I thought that celebrating our 8th anniversary with a stay in Park City and a hot air balloon ride would be so much fun. And beside the fact that we had to be at the meeting place at 6:30 in the morning, it was!

We got to watch the whole process of blowing up the balloon before we took off.
First, unravel the balloon, and fill it with cold air.


Then they fill it with hot air so that it will rise up. Once the basket was up, we all jumped in.


Here is the inside of our balloon.


It was a nice chilly day, so the fire felt so nice.

Here we are in the basket before lift off.

There were a couple other balloons that took off before we did.


Here we are probably 3000 ft up. It doesn't look that high, especially since my camera's lens is zoomed, but trust me, we were up there. Brock is afraid of heights, and he said the only part that really bothered him was going up. Once we were at our highest, he was fine. It was crazy though to see the balloons that had gone up before we did and know that we still had that much higher to go.

In the air. It was so beautiful. It was the perfect morning.

Then we landed right next to the outlet mall parking lot, and watched the process in reverse.

Here we are with our pilot.

Cute Kids

Nixon and Leila wanted to sit on the widow ledge. This is the same day that Leila got sunburned, if you can't tell.

Then they wanted to look outside. Nixon is a little too tall. (I never thought I'd say those words!)

Then, the other night, Brock was holding Leila before bed time and the boys were upstairs watching a show. Jace made his way down and sat with Brock. Before too long Nixon was downstairs too, and wanted to sit by daddy. They all fell asleep, and I just couldn't pass up this "Kodak Moment".