Surprise! We're here to make a mess of your house and eat all of your food!

Last weekend I was on the phone with this guy:

Complaining to him that my handsome husband was going to be out of town for the whole week and that the friends that usually entertain me while he is gone were going to be out of town as well. Labor Day is my mom's birthday so Derek being the major gentleman that he is offered for me, Owen and Collette to use his sky miles and fly out to Utah for a few days. I hesitated accepting the offer because it seemed a little too generous a thing to agree to but if I'm being honest, I couldn't wait for him to insist so that we could jump on a plane, even if it was with two kids in tow.

Owen loves flying. Especially when we get two rows to ourselves for him to play on.

We decided it should be a surprise for my mom so we hopped on a plane later that week and showed up on my parent's doorstep. I'm usually horrible at surprises because I get too excited and can't stand the anticipation. I spoil birthday presents before I give them, I read the end of books to make sure there are happy endings and if Tyler has seen a movie I haven't seen, I almost always make him tell me the end so I don't spend the whole movie wondering if everything is going to work out the way I want. See... bad with surprises.  Anyway, I actually kept this surprise and it was totally worth it. My mom's jaw literally dropped. Super confused look on her face and saying "wait, what?" over and over. So fun.

Since the point of our trip was my mom's birthday, we pretty much spent every second with her. We hiked, talked, swam, talked, played with the kids, talked, made a huge mess of her house, talked and ate a ton of yummy food . I feel so lucky that my mom is one of my best friends and I'm so so grateful for her in my life. Also super grateful for a brother who made it possible for me to spend her birthday with her this year.

Few  pics from the trip, or maybe more than a few because that's how I roll...

 Owen LOVES his Uncle Derek

Collette was super happy to be in Utah too.  I really love that little smile.

 One of the highlights for Owen... having a shopping cart his size.

We also played with cousins.

Took walks and more walks and more walks... (Florida friends, look at that beautiful grass, don't you kind of want to roll around in it?)

 Celebrated the birth of my mom! So happy you were born!

 Did some hiking with Derelindy (This is what Owen calls my brother Derek and his girlfriend Lindy) Because of Owen's knack for blending names together rather than recognizing people as individuals Tyler thinks Owen has a future as paparazzi.

 Aunt Joe was super sweet and surprised my mom with a ding dong and a candle on the hike for her b-day.

 Another hike with the cousins. We were trying to get our fill of the mountains while we were there. We didn't succeed... I still miss them.

 Owen was so so sleepy from the hike but wasn't about to give up the sucker. Sound asleep and still kept sucking on it.

We're way sad that there aren't any of these growing out of the ground here. Something crappy about Florida, the pumpkin patches are actually pumpkins in a parking lot.

We also visited Grandparents. Collette and Grandma Whitesides

Owen loves the fish game at G and G Cushings. They've had this game since I was his age. I felt the same way about it when I was little.

Something else cool about being there this past week was that  my nephews were ordained decons. We were able to go to the ordination and then hang out with them all Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them looking all handsome in their church clothes but I did get this great pic just after they changed out of them.

Aren't they good looking kids?
Like I said earlier, we pretty much spent every waking moment with my mom (since the whole trip was to  celebrate her) but I did have the chance to hook up with my good friend Emily. This lady has been one of my best friends for 28 years. Love this girl! Thanks for hanging with me Em!

Unfortunately, trips like these do come to an end. We took a red eye home on Tuesday night and couldn't wait to see Tyler. We really miss that guy when he's not around.
Bit of advice to anyone traveling with two kids alone... don't take a red eye flight. Your kids will get plenty of sleep and want to wake up the second you land while you, being in your mid-30's will get no sleep and not be able to recover for at least a week. Seriously, what happened to the days when I could go to sleep at four in the morning, wake up at six to work out and feel refreshed and energized with those two hours of sleep? Sometimes I miss those days.