Birthday Trip to Utah with my Middles Part 1

 Instead of trying to organize friend parties in a new neighborhood where we're not quite settled yet, I suggested to Heidi and Grant that we take a trip full of "experiences" for just the 2 of them instead. It was winter break so Mal could watch the Littles during the day. Lydia was still in school, but Pat was home to get her to school and help her. So the Middles & I hopped in the van and started our 6-hour road trip. 

Monday Feb. 13, 2023: 

On the drive in, I decided fit in a needed trip to IKEA, since we were passing it on the way to Grandma's. It was perfect because I knew exactly what I needed to buy (since some items were out of stock when Pat and I went on our own), and I had room in the van to get large items because I only had 1 seat set up in the back of the van. 

Who can resist a matching mini chair!

Finally made it to Gma's where we had dinner waiting

Gma is a great listener. I wish I could remember what Grant was talking about.

Heidi getting the figures to dab, lol

Tues. Feb 14, 2023

A small stone was found and suspected to possibly be diamond. Here Grant is seeing if a knife will cut it. (He said it did leave a mark, thus not a real diamond, darn it).

Living their best lives: watching reality tv from comfy recliners

Bean Museum! Amazing improvement since I last came 20 years ago (yet still free admission!)

The staging of the animals was incredible.

Grant kept busy with a scavenger hunt. Heidi earned a dollar when Randy dared her to...

At the front desk she asked, "Is Lima here?"

College dude: "who?🤨"

Heidi: "Lima...Lima Bean?"

College dude wittingly responded: "Oh... sadly no, but we got her mom here☝️ (pointing to the founder portrait behind him).

He laughed and said that was actually a new one, which is saying something after working 2 years at the Bean Museum!

 

 

 

Heidi took lots of pictures with her hand to show how small everything was :)

Update: we got to go in the basement (that still looks like the original bean museum: cinder block walls, groovy tiled floor. It turns out that would be the last time because months later when we came again, we couldn't go in the basement due to construction. I guess they're redoing it! I was bummed because I wanted to show the kids what it used to look like. They moved most of the display cases on the tiny birds and animals upstairs, which was only slightly conciliatory.

There is a section of the museum dedicated to the art of Pres. Boyd K. Packer. I espeically liked that they displayed carvings from when he was 10 years old...then 13...then later until his adult like. It reminded me that people are most often not born doing something well. They put time and attention into it. I often just wave success away thinking it's because others are just gifted (which I suppose I still believe) but I WANT to remind myself and believe MORE that they struggle and push through learning their craft.

I love the humor at BYU...

There was an exibit about COVID that I thought was so incredibly clever. Twenty six paintings were displayed with accompanying poems. The paintings were well-done and colorful. Each was an animal starting with each letter of the alphabet. The painting also displayed the animal dealing with something related to the pandemic. The poem shed more light on that aspect of the pandemic it was highlighting. I thought many of them were quite funny. I'm writing this nearly a year later, and if I knew they what I know now, I would have taken pictures of every single art piece and poem. The exhibit was gone, and I wish I had a photo to remember them!

(see part 2 for the rest of the day!)