Sisters ONLY!!

Like I mentioned before this last minute impromptu trip to Utah with my sisters was maybe a little inconvenient in the timing but the prospect of having my sisters to myself, going on a road trip (which I love!!) and visiting Utah (which I really love!!) was all very appealing and worth the effort!! Aubrey, Carli and Becki left Arizona sometime Friday evening and drove through to Vegas where they got a hotel for the night down the street from where we were staying. Saturday morning about 8 a.m. they swung by to pick me up and we were on our way to Utah. My kids are actually pretty easy and fun to travel with but man it was awesome sitting in the back seat with no responsibilities or kiddos! We chatted and laughed the whole way there. It is only about a 5 hour drive from Vegas but we were sooo excited to surprise Missi that it seemed like it took forever!! To ensure that our surprise was not ruined we told NO ONE that we were coming. When we got to Salem we pulled into Missi's house on the dairy and her car was't there. We were frantically trying to decide what to do to find out where she was and came to the conclusion that we should go ahead and go in the house her kids would be able to tell us where she went and we could go from there. When we walked through the door our nine year old niece was standing there and it took her about 30 seconds to get over the shock of who walked in, she squealed and jumped into our arms lightning fast. The best part was, it turned out Missi was laying down with her youngest daughter down the hall. The 3 of us quietly snuck in her room (she was laying there with her eyes shut and said "you are going to be in big trouble") she thought it was her other kids!! We started singing happy birthday at the top of our lungs, her eyes pop open and she is looking at us with the most stunned, bewildered look on her face and then she was out of the bed jumping up and down hugging us and screaming!! She was so surprised, it was awesome!!!!! After visiting for a bit we talked her husband into letting us kidnap her for the weekend. I thought it was so awesome how he was so supportive and sweet about us surprising her and taking her away with no warning!!!

We made a couple pit stops and headed up the mountain to surprise our parents (our brother Michael who is Missi's twin and his family were staying the weekend at my parents so it was really a 2 for 1!! My mom and dad live up on the mountain in Midway. The roads there are not graded so we have to park in a parking lot and ride a snow mobile in but since they didn't know we were coming we decided to hoof it up the mountain. It was quite hilarious and I'm surprised they didn't hear us coming a mile away from all the screaming and laughing we were doing. I had no jacket on and flip flops walking up the snowy, icy hill in the dark. We were all slipping and sliding all the way, when we got to their door it was open except for the screen so we started singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas. My mom could see us but it was like it didn't register, she just had this blank stare and then said Aubrey is here, my dad is saying NO WAY all the way to the door. They were crying and hugging us in total disbelief it was awesome!!! The element of surprise made the whole trip worth it!! My dad was somehow able to convince our youngest brother Brad (Becki's twin) to change his plans and come up to the cabin. I'm pretty sure he suspected but he was still surprised. He changed all his plans for the weekend and hung out with us. Later we drove around the corner and surprised our Grandma and Grandpa and visited them for a bit. It was an exhausting but perfect day!Sunday was amazing! We all got ready and went to church at our parents ward (which is also my grandparents and aunt and uncles ward). All of my siblings were there except our brother Kory. It was also Fast Sunday so we enjoyed some moving testimonies including my grandpa, and mom. We feasted on a classic Sunday dinner, played games watched movies and just vegged. It was AWESOME!!!

Dad, Mom, Brad, Elisha, Mike,Missi, Carli, Aubrey, Becki

Monday, Brad treated us to a personal tour of Sundance Ski Resort where he works and a round trip ski lift ride. I'm not going to lie I wasn't really excited about the idea at first (I'm not a big fan of the heights!!) but it was sooo awesome. It was a gorgeous (chilly) day and the view was breathtaking. Becki and Carli were so freaked out it kind of took the edge off my own nervousness and we had fun torturing them by making the chair swing!

We then headed into town to have lunch at a fun little Mexican food place and then to the mall to do a little shopping! Part way through our shopping trip Missi and Aubrey left to go pick up Missi's youngest daughter, when they were almost back to the mall they were in a pretty good accident. We got the call and luckily it was close enough to walk to because we now had no car. It was a total blessing that no one in either car was hurt. The Village Inn that was on the corner of where the accident happened was so kind and gracious. They gave us a booth that we could wait in till Missi's husband could come and bring us another car to drive for the time being. They served us pie and hot chocolate and we were able to just relax and talk while we waited. Not exactly what we had on the agenda but thrilled everyone was ok. When we finally made it back up to the cabin we just watched movies till wee hours of the night!Brad, Becki, Me and mom (the others were in a chair behind us)

WHAT, Tuesday already??? Unfortunately time flew but we definitely packed in as much as we possibly could!!! I needed to run a couple quick errands in town so I made a run to one of my most favorite Utah spots, the Provo Bakery!!! YUUMMM! Everyone had chipped in so I think I seriously bought one of everything for us to try. Not exactly on the healthy side but so dang good! It was a pretty low key day. That night we drove down to see Mike and Kelliann's new house and see some of our cousins. We stayed the night at Missi's so we could get an early start home to rescue our husbands. It was so fun to be free for a few days (a week in my case) but we all missed our families dearly! We decided this is something we will definitely do again!!! Great trip, Great memories, I love my sisters!!The Zermot Resort down the street from my parents has the most amazing, breathtaking display of man made ice castles and at night they are illuminated! Simply amazing!!

On the way home we got to St George right at dawn and as we were driving up the hill we had to pullover to take in the view of the gorgeous St George temple!!!