Anniversary Celebration!

What a fun week!

Jon and I had a great time on our "getaway" to Heber City and Park City last week.
It was just what we needed,

except I could have gone for at least a full week or even longer!
We started the day off with BBQing in Provo (we couldn't check into our place until after 3 PM).



I sure do love to BBQ!
I will say, there are some creepy people that hang out at the parks in the ghettos of Provo (since that's where we live). Haha.
Anyways, we didn't do much the first night in Heber.
We got some pizza and just relaxed.
The next morning, we were trying to decide what all were were going to do that day.
Well, I was planning on doing some outdoor stuff - hiking, swimming, and summer fun activities at the resorts in Park City.
But guess what Jon wanted to do?




He wanted to go shopping.

Weird, huh?
So we headed up to the outlet center in Park City and did our "Back to School" shopping.
We got some awesome deals like a few shirts in the price range of $4-$6.
We headed back to our room, ate lunch, then headed off to the Jordanelle Reservoir to go swimming!


Well, apparently, it was too cold for Jon, so we didn't really end up swimming.
I got in about knee high, but Jon wasn't enjoying himself so we took off.
We went up a road that had some pretty views of the reservoir and the dam.




On our way back down, I spotted some deer on the side of the road.
I pretty much love deer and think they are the cutest things ever, especially when they run/hop away.

(My camera likes to mess up my pictures sometimes, but at least it didn't mess up the deer part of the picture!)
Well, we decided we were hungry for dinner at this point.
We had planned to eat at this place just outside the hotel/motel (whatever a Holiday Inn Express is).
It was called The Claim Jumper.
Very misleading for someone who is from California and has eaten at a place called Claim Jumper.
Anyways, we checked it out and were seated.
Then we saw the prices on their menu and knew we had to get out.
Unless you wanted just a salad, you would be paying at least $22 a person.
No thanks.
We aren't that rich.
There isn't much to eat in Heber besides fast food, so we looked into places in Park City.
Well, most everything there is pretty expensive too.
However, I did find a place that had good reviews AND was inexpensive.
It was called the No Name Saloon.

I had read reviews on it and knew that it had a more bar-like feel to it.
But what else were we going to do?
Eat McDonald's?
No, thanks.
I know we're not the classiest of people, but we did want something of a little better quality and taste.
Well, little did I know that it really in fact was pretty much a bar, and we were carded as we went in.
I think we were the only ones in there not drinking beer. Haha.
Although, I will say that our Sprite did taste a little funny.
But we did specifically ask for a non-alcoholic drink.
We definitely enjoyed their food (at least I did).
Jon wasn't digging the chips because they were kettle, and he doesn't like kettle chips.
We had Buffalo Burgers. Mmmm!
It was good.
After that, we stopped by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get ice cream and walk the rest of the way back down Main Street to our car.
We had to check out of our room by 11 AM the next morning, so we ate breakfast, swam for a bit at the pool, and took off back home.
Too short of a trip.
But it was fun, and I love my husband so much for taking me!

Canyon Fun!

So in the past two weeks:

1. I babysat my niece Tuesday of last week. Afterwards, my sister and brother-in-law took me to dinner at the Mayan Adventure. I had always wanted to go there because it looked like fun. There are several different levels of seating areas, all surrounding a big rock structure and waterfall/pool. While you're sitting, two guys come out and dive off the rock structure into the pool. It was interesting to watch them climb back up and dive right back in again. It seemed like each time, they topped the dive they did before... going higher and higher. We were seated right in front at the lowest level (those tables on the bottom-right side of the picture). It was a fun experience. Maybe I'll get Jon to go there with me someday.
   



2. On Wednesday, Jon and I were supposed to go into the Canyon to have a BBQ and hike, but he got called into work. So my sister called me up and asked if I wanted to go to Thanksgiving Point with her and my niece. I met up with them, and we walked around the museum for a while. We watched the 3-D dinosaur movie, which wasn't that great. My niece was really scared through half of the museum and most of the movie. I had always been curious to check out the museum, but now I realize that it is just really overpriced for what it was. Oh well, I guess...



3. Jon didn't get called back to work on Thursday, so we were able to do our BBQ and hiking then. It was so much fun! I love BBQing! We just went cheap and simple with hot dogs. We'll for sure have to do hamburgers next time though. Jon wants to start doing a BBQ once a week, but I don't know if that will actually happen yet. Maybe if we had our own BBQ grill.
   We were going to try to hike into Rock Canyon, but the road was closed. So instead we just found other little trails off of Squaw Peak Road to hike around on. This was a really neat area, where people obviously come to have bonfires on the mountainside.
   
   We found a little trail that took us to the top of a mountain!
   
   It was quite the view of Provo and Orem. It's too bad I did a terrible job with the panoramic on this picture. I usually don't do too bad. I guess I was just hurrying. Although, I don't really find the Utah Valley that impressive (really flat and wayyy too many buildings/people all in one place), it was nice to be up in the mountains away from all the busy people down below. The mountains are definitely my favorite place to be in Utah (except during the winter).
   
   We started driving back down the mountain after this, where we saw a wild turkey! It was the only animal we saw up there besides small birds you see everyday in the valley. It was neat because I had never seen a turkey in the wild before- only at the Hogle Zoo. He was kind of funny because he ran in front of us twice. We stopped at a overlook area on the way down, and we had just barely missed a guy take off paragliding. We got to watch him slowly float down to the ground. It was pretty crazy! I don't think I'd ever have the guts to do that!
4. Oh and the last exciting news is that Jon got the promotion we've been waiting for!!!! We're both so excited. He totally deserves it, and now he'll get paid better. So he starts training for that a week from tomorrow. Everything just seems to always work out for us even when we don't think it will. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us so much this year!