Back to Reality...

A lot has happened after my last post. I said I was so tired of this cold weather and me being so boring and my life so monotonous. Well, I had myself a tiny little breakdown, and I needed to get away….fast! Usually I am very content here in Vernal just staying home doing nothing, but once in a great while, I have the strongest urge/need to get away from it all.

I considered flying the family down to Arizona to visit G.J.’s parents. Of course last minute air fare was outrageous and we wouldn’t be able to stay long, so I abandoned that idea. We settled on Glenwood Springs. Not very far away, but much different than Vernal. I found a great deal at a hotel, so in the space of 2 hours I had the laundry done, house cleaned, bags packed, kids in the car, and we were off!
We stayed at the hotel that is owned by the hot springs there in Glenwood. That way we could go swimming as much as we wanted, it included a yummy breakfast each morning, not to mention 3 hours at their brand new fancy spa for ME! We got there at 9 on Friday night. Hallie and Gavin really wanted to go swimming, so down we went. G.J. stayed in the room with Kayler. If you have never been to the hot springs…you need to include that in your travel plans. We went all the time when I was a kid. It is a HUGE pool that is heated by a natural sulfur hot springs. While it doesn’t smell the best, it is so relaxing and really quite amazing.

That night in the locker room was SO funny…after the fact that is. Glenwood also being a ski town means that a lot of foreigners come in to ski, swim, and stay. Well foreigners are not quite as modest as a little family from Utah. I had Gavin and Hallie in the locker room with me. All the sudden it was mass nudity. My poor kids’ eyes got so big, their hands covered their mouths and then in true Gavin fashion he said very loudly, “Mom, look at that ladies HUGE boobies!” He could NOT take his eyes off of her. I kept having to turn his head around. Finally I just pressed his face into me, grabbed our stuff and left. Lesson learned….Gavin is too old for the women’s locker room.






Moving on, we went to breakfast and to swim the next morning and then headed off to explore the town. The kids were in high heaven because we let them go to Target and choose a prize. Then it was time for my spa treatment….ohhhhh it was so nice. The spa was recently renovated. Our stay at the hotel included a 1 hour massage, 30 minute body scrub, and deep cleansing 1 hour facial.

I had the funniest experience during my massage and body scrub. It was by a lady named Malika, and she was even more eccentric than her name. She asked me where I was from and I told her Utah. She asked right away if I was a Mormon. I told her yes, and she got very weird on me. She immediately started asking questions. She was truly shocked at how “normal” I was, and was very interested in our religion. She had thought it was a cult. She was shocked that I would get a massage, that I used to be a dancer, that I voted, and even that I enjoyed yoga/pilates. She thought that was not allowed of us crazy Mormons. She was even sort of scared to touch me at first, it was quite funny. About half way through, she stopped and said, “thank you so much for enlightening me on your religion, I can tell just from spending this much time with you that you are very in tune with your body and spirit and that you have no bad vibes coming from you.” Ummm, Ok, thank you Malika…hehe. Luckily I left her with a better impression of our religion, and I got to have my facial by somebody else.

The kids were napping with G.J. the whole time I was gone, so that made it easier for me to relax. I had made reservations at a “fancy restaurant” named Rivers, it is SO good. G.J. and I had eaten there on our anniversary forever and ever ago. The kids were pretty good. Of course Kayler had to throw his ball on a freshly set table of china, scream a lot, throw things, etc…but they were smart to put us in the corner of the restaurant. We got some ice cream (it tasted SO good…first fattening thing I had in weeks!) and G.J. took Hallie and Gavin swimming once again and I stayed with Kayler in the room.



This morning we swam one more time after eating breakfast, packed up, and made the 2 hour 45 minute trip home. It actually took a little longer because of pit stops, etc…not to mention I got lost a little. In Colorado they have a ton of those little round-a-bout things and I would get SO messed up on them…I even got back on the interstate in the wrong direction once…G.J. was not amused!

Anyways, it was SO good to get away, and so refreshing. I felt guilty about missing church, but check out these picture of poor Kayler and his Fifth’s disease.





We wouldn’t have went to church even if we were at home. It didn’t spread this far on the other kids. He looks so sad. He doesn’t act too sick though, and I read a lot about it on the internet. It is not contagious now that the rash is here, there is NO treatment, and it takes 2+ weeks to go away. It just looks so terrible.

It was kind of funny, in one of the last towns we past through there was a big billboard that said these words, “Patience Dear, Spring is Near” That was meant just for me! We drove back into Vernal to the slushy roads and snow covered valleys. It is MUCH snowier here than in Colorado, which is weird because Glenwood is a ski resort town. It was also 20 degrees warmer there. Very weird, but oh well. It feels so good to be home.