Monday, September 17, 2007

Utah Highlights

Ok, I don't want to sound like I hate Utah; I LOVE it, it's just not quite home anymore. This trip actually reminded me that I have a lot of fun things to look forward to in Utah. I spent a whole day shopping with my mom and Candice and drooled over some amazing Halloween decorations. Who doesn't love Ikea, Gardener Village, and Dear Lizzie? Here's Creed in a cute shop in Gardener Village (sorry for the poor picture)
And speaking of Halloween decorations, my mom started decorating or Halloween since Candice's kids are really excited about Halloween and she is going all out this year. She only had the decorations that she bought this year up and it was incredible, but of course I forgot to take any pictures. Any chance you'll send me some mom? I do have pictures (that I did not take) of the two decorations that she bought me for my birthday so you can see what impeccable taste she has. I heart Lori C. Mitchell Halloween figures. Isn't she cute?
I also managed to make it to the BYU Bookstore with Mary Ann. What is it about the BYU Bookstore that I love so much? I went to pick up a BYU shirt for Creed (since once we move to the University of Utah he won't have many chances to wear BYU gear) but it's my favorite place to pick up cheap shoes that not everyone has (we're talking Payless prices here). I could have bought six pairs easily, but I limited myself to two.
I also got to eat at some of my places like Cafe Rio, Magelby's Fresh, and J Dawgs. And of course my parents beautiful back yard.
Creed and I were able to go to two of Grant's flag football games (Who knew there are first grade flag football teams?). They were awful, but that was one of the cutest things that I've ever seen. Here's Grant accidentally getting tackled.
And Creed and Cole on the sidelines.
Cole adores Creed and every time I turned around there was Cole watching Creed, eager for any chance to give him his binky or pat his fuzzy head.
The thing I looked forward to the most was Candice taking new portraits of Creed. I'm seriously so lucky to have her for my sister. Here's one of the pictures that we ended up with, which Candice posted on her blog. I can't wait to get the rest because believe it or not, there are a few I love even more than this one.
I really thing there are quirky fun things to do in every town, you just have to discover them so I'll just have to explore a lot when I get to Utah. For example, few people know about it, but I love Startup Candy Company. When I lived in Utah during elementary school, we had ballet lessons in downtown Provo and sometimes my mom would let us walk across the street to Startups Candy shop to pick out a sucker. They are big, old fashioned suckers on wooden sticks and they have the most amazing flavors. My mom used to sell them in her quilt shop too. The store has closed, but the factory still operates not far from there and you can still visit it to pick up your favorite flavor of suckers (it's the only place that always has all of them in stock) or you can buy cheap lolliflops that didn't turn out perfectly. They have odd hours (Mon - Thurs from noon to two). If it hadn't been for Larry's stepgrandma, I never even would have known about it and I love going there. They sell the same suckers at Sundance, and speaking of Sundance, we stopped there when were were up the canyon for Creed's photo shoot and did you know that this summer they have moonlit skilift rides during full moons? Wouldn't that be so romantic and fun (and cold, but that's a good excuse to cuddle up). None of my friends in town had even heard about these things and it makes me wonder what I might be missing around my own town. We only have one year left and we've already made a list of the things we still want to do here and we're working on crossing them out!

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:16 AM

    One of my favorite things about Sundance was their suckers--the cookies and mint ones were so good. And I'd never heard of the Startup Candy factory, either.

    PS: I saw you wearing those shoes on Sunday and I thought they were cute. Fun to know where you shop.

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  2. fun things to buy!

    so if candance comes to visit you again i would love to hire her to take pics of my kids!!! you are lucky to have her take pics of creed - i'm jealous!

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  3. I had no idea BYU bookstore had such great shoes...don't expect as much from the U of U bookstore.
    When we were going to the U there were TONS of med students (undergrad BYU grads) who would deck full body blue on BYU game days so I am sure Creed will be in good company:)

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  4. Stephanie,

    What a fun time, and good ideas of things to do. Can't believe I haven't gone to Gardener Village yet. That picture of Creed is scrumptious!

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  5. I love that you and your cute sisters and mom always find the fun places and great things to do. Very inspiring. I totally recognize Elsa Belle from the first picture. I was there a few days ago with my sister Lisa and mom. I bought way too much stuff. Did you see the cutest toddler bed on the second floor?! Anyway, I've been trying to find your blog for a while now and Marissa finally had a chance to send it my way. You asked about Disneyland.....DO IT! It was so much fun. We had two 2 yr olds and two babies and we had a blast! I love the pics. -Mandy (Mike's sister)

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  6. I came across your blog from Kristi's. I am from Utah and I used to work downtown Provo around the corner from the Startup Candy store. I used to go there and get me a little pick-me-up treat while at work. Sad to hear the store has now closed. Do love those suckers and have even bought some to bring to people out here in the east that have never had them. Thanks for the fun memory!

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