Park City Get Away

Chris started a new job in September and in addition to him really liking the work, liking his co-workers, and working from home 100%....his company has an Annual Meeting/Christmas Party each year in Park City, UT where the employees and their spouses are all invited.  

Chris and I had never really been more than a few minute drive from the kids in 14 year.  We'd tabled all my grandiose plans for our 20th Anniversary last year, so this was an opportunity to amend that issue that we didn't want to miss.  Thanks to some wonderful friends we were able to make it work.

Leading up to our trip we had a lot to accomplish, like getting Amber to sleep in her own room, doing a thorough cleaning of the house to make our guest comfortable and stocking the cupboards with food. Check!

Then I had to find a formal dress, shoes, etc for the actual Christmas Party without spending much money.  Check!  

And still keep up with regular life, like attending friends Choir Concerts.

By Thursday night we thought we were all set.  I had created a shared checklist for Lance to make sure he didn't forget anything (All weekend I didn't have to nag, just checked to make sure everything was checked off). We had two days of breakfast casserole in the frig. Check! 

On Friday, morning I had a moment of dread before we left and had Chris measure our carry-on.  Sure enough it was too big for the new standards, so at 6:30am we quickly repacked our stuff in the kids swim team bag.  A minor snag, no big deal.

We left around 7:30am on Friday morning.  Ironically, RDU had me as TSA Pre-Check from our trip to Boston earlier this year, so I breezed through security and sat patiently while Chris went through the winding Disney lines.  At home the kids had a casserole to cook, and our neighbor kept watch, till our first set of friends came around 8:30 to hang out for the day.

Amber and Hannah even dressed alike.

Our flight to Detroit went well and we just had time to use the facilities and check-in with the kids before boarding our flight to Salt Lake City.  Carey was surviving and the kids were all getting along well and having fun with their friends. 

Chris barely fit in the second plane, his knees were touching the seat in front but we were both in good spirits, excited about our adventure.  We had fun screening movies, I kept starting movies and then giving up short way in, but at least now I could take them off my list for free.  Chris did better watching a movie he'd been curious about for a while.  Plane travel has changed a lot since our last flight together in July 2001.

Boys looking for snow with Nathan.

When we landed in UT our friends were trading places; one family leaving and another moving in.  This quote from my first friend helped me relax immensely:

"Have a great weekend! Your kids are awesome. That's all I thought about today was how cool they were.Jared taught Nathan how to play Dutch blitz and went slow on purpose without making Nathan feel bad. Lance made sure everyone ate and played with Luke and Titus when they were feeling like oddballs. Hannah and Amber played well all day. Titus was polite and helpful teaching everyone new games. I could go on but you are on vacation!" 

We easily found our rental car, I was feeling frisky so I talked our way into a free upgrade.  I'd never been to UT so I had no idea what to expect, the mountains were right there in front of us, seeming to surround the city in a arid landscape.  The drive to Park City took us straight up and through those mountains.  The resort was very nice and snow was on the ground.  

After checking in, we went looking for food.  The gentleman at check-in said the resort restaurants were quite good so we decided to walk down and explore.  He was right, we had a delicious and relaxing lunch/dinner.  We had a view of the ski lift and the mountains, its was a wonderful start to our vacation.  

After relaxing, and calling the kids to say goodnight (time change), we got dressed to go to the informal party at the owner's house.  What an absolutely gorgeous yet comfortable home.  I was jealous to hear they'd seen moose in the cul-du-sac last year, I was hoping for a repeat but no luck.  It was nice evening of getting to know his new co-workers for me and to a degree Chris also, since he'd only met two in person before this time. 

Saturday was the Annual Meeting for the employees.  I slept in a bit, laughed at the people actually in the pool below my window (heated or not its still too cold to swim outside for me), and wandered down to breakfast.  This was one of the highlights of the weekend.  I sat there and was pampered for 90 minutes.  Custom made omelets, incredible porridge (that I'm now making for us at home), assortment of fresh fruits (cantaloupe and blue berries go really well together) and people constantly checking to see what else I might need.  It was wonderful!  Making breakfast is a big deal every morning in my house, which is why I instituted pre-made casseroles for Sunday mornings.  I realized this trip, not making breakfast on vacation is what makes a vacation truly a vacation for me.  I also enjoyed talking with the staff and a couple of the other spouses that came to breakfast.  I found out from the staff that we could go hiking on the golf course near the resort, so when Chris' meeting was done we headed out.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect, the heat from the sun was so intense that I was fine in simply a sweater without a coat.  Poor Chris hadn't brought boots but was no less willing to embark on my proposed adventure (Thankfully, our room had a fireplace that dried them in 15 minutes).  We were the only ones out on the golf course, we saw lots of animal tracks and the snow got a bit deep at times which had us laughing, we were having a blast, the view was incredible and we even sent a snow message to the kids.

After our hike we wandered into the resorts second restaurant which had only opened that day for the season.  As a result, we were the only people having lunch in our little yurt and enjoyed time together; people watching and talking with our waiter.  

At home is was actually colder and snowing, the kids sent videos of the confused chickens and ran around a bit in hope of it sticking.

Then it was time to rest up and get ready for the big event.

Once again we said good night to the kids and headed out, a bit more dressed up than the night before.  We headed out a little early to check out the downtown area and peruse a couple of art galleries.  The evening was a complete success.  In the morning, we got up early enough to enjoy one more breakfast at the hotel and head out to the airport.  As a present, i had upgraded our seats during Chris' meeting to the exit aisle so he had some legroom, as we were taking a direct flight home.  Our final gift from the vacation was the beautiful view of the sun slowing rising over the mountains on our drive out.

We can't thank our friends enough for all they did to allow us to go and enjoy this special vacation together and we couldn't have been more proud of our kids; they didn't fight the whole time we were gone and obeyed out friends without question.  In fact I think they were having so much fun with their friends, that they barely missed us, they said they were laughing so much they strengthened their abs.  

Success!  We managed to get away, still be friends with both families that helped out and other than a little loss of sleep, everyone was really better off for the wear.  All the same it was good to be home.