Utah 2025

In January, I saw Kelsea Ballerini would be in SLC at the end of March. I asked my mom and sisters if they would want to get together and go, and they did! I booked a plane ticket, and was excited for a girls trip!

A month later, I was looking at the calendar and saw flights were really cheap to St. George. I thought about making it a family trip instead of just me. Logan had mentioned he missed the mountains, and I knew he could use a break from real life. I asked if he would want to come and fly out for the weekend. He said yes!

I rescheduled the flights and asked Lizzie if Ben and I could come spend a few days with her in St. George before driving north. I haven’t had a chance to see her house in St. George, and they will be moving to SLC this summer, so it seemed like the perfect time!

Our flight left bright and early at 5 am out of MOB. Ben is really at the perfect travel age!! We had a 3 hour layover in Dallas, and that was a breeze too! A quick flight later, we landed in St. George.

I rented a Turo, (my favorite way to rent a car) and we took off to grab some lunch before going to Lizzie’s house. I swung by my childhood home, drove on the road my dad crashed on, and saw the LDS temple built nearly in the backyard. It all made me a little emotional.

We went to Harmons and got some ice cream! Lizzie got home from school and we walked to a park by her house. It was so fun!

A few years after my dad died, his best friend Josh was diagnosed with a glioblastoma. He fought hard for nearly 5 years before he died last February. My adolescent years in St. George were spent going to their house nearly every Sunday to debrief church, life, and play with their girls. The day before I flew out I texted his wife Katherine and asked if she was going to be home. It just felt like one place I really wanted to go. She said yes! We went over and had the best time. We saw their daughter Lydia, who is so beautiful and all grown up! And her new husband Terry, truly the nicest guy… who even got up midconversation to rotate the laundry!!! It was so healing, we laughed, and cried. I am so thankful for this visit.

Wednesday

My first stop was lunch with my Kitten. :) Kristelle and I were high school friends and we’ve stayed in touch the last 10 years, even though I’m not sure if we have seen each other since then! We’ve really reconnected the past few months as she has dealt with the death of her dad and brother. She is the toughest girl I know, and has the sweetest baby Stella!

We ran a few more errands, clover patch, Dutchmen’s, played with the cats and ended the night at my brother’s house for dinner. It was great to see their family and play with some cousins!

Thursday

We didn’t have as many plans today so we started our day at firehouse park. We had the best time!

We enjoyed some breadsticks from pizza factory in Santa Clara.

We made plans to take Lizzie Benja’s for lunch! We had some time to kill so we wandered around Barnes and Noble.

Enjoyed a yummy lunch!

We came home and Ben asked for a haircut???? So I gave him a haircut!

A much needed rest before our Anasazi dinner plans!

Lizzie and Josh met us at Anasazi for dinner, such a treat! I wish Logan could be here!

Friday

We were driving to Orem when Lizzie was done with school, so we hung out Lizzie’s house and packed/cleaned up. Ben and I grabbed some Kneaders for dinner, washed the car and dropped our car off!

Our drive to Orem was a breeze! We jammed out to some Taylor Swift and Ben even got a nap in at the end.

We played at our rental house, saw Maddy’s puppies she was babysitting, grabbed some Bajio with Gretchen and before we knew it Logan had arrived! His first request was a DoorDash of Cafe Rio.

Saturday

We woke up and played with some of the fun garage toys! We took off to hit some of my favorite shops! Sun River Gardens, Itty Bitty, Swig, In and Out, Cabela’s, and Scheels.

By the time we got back to the house it was time to get ready for the concert! I had read online that she doesn’t come on stage until 9pm so we grabbed some dinner at the Pub and made our way over to the concert. We timed everything perfectly, parking at the salt palace, walked right in, and got our seats. She came out. It was truly amazing!

We made it home around midnight. :)

Sunday

My grandpa had requested a baking class on brioche blueberry danishes. I made the dough and let it rise as we drove to his house. It was a success and a very special moment.

Ben LOVES his animal room.

They even had him a birthday cake! So spoiled and thoughtful.

We all drove to Wendy’s house to have a chicken feast!

Ben had the BEST time playing with cousins. I am so glad we all came and we were able to plan this.

Monday

My mom and Maddy were flying out early to Georgia for her spring break. Poor Liz was woken up at 3:30 and couldn’t fall back asleep so she took off driving home. By the time we woke up the house was empty!

We finished cleaning up the house, packing and had a few stops planned before our flight was at 4:00 pm.

Our first stop was Jim’s for brunch. I came here as a child and it was a fun trip down memory lane :)

Stop #2 was to see my high school friend Abbie. Another friend I’m not sure the last time I saw, probably 7 years ago. It was so fun to see her family and meet her sweet little boy.

While we were at Abbie’s house I got a text that our flight was delayed out of SLC. It was a big problem because we would miss our connection to Mobile. We weren’t sure what to do, so we went and walked around Costco while we waited for a new flight to be assigned.

The new flight path involved us being split and taking over 24 hours to get back to Mobile. We canceled the flights and our only option was to rebook for the next day. Now what were we going to do??

We started driving to SLC while I looked at flights and hotel options. I remembered we had our Amex free night at any Hilton property. I always go big on these free nights, and the Waldorf in park city was the perfect place to spend it!

We arrived to a heated pool and hot chocolate bar. What a dream!

We ordered some room service (my absolute favorite) and waited until it was s’mores time!

While we were roasting marshmallows it started raining, it was so cozy and beautiful!

Back in our room we watched some tv and snuggled up by the fireplace in our room. Logan looked out the window to see SNOW!! We ran outside and had the time of our lives!

What a perfect way to spend an extra day in Utah!

Tuesday

We woke up to a magical winter wonderland! First stop, the pool of course!

We warmed up back in our room with some room service for breakfast. I could do this every day!

We made the snowy drive down parley’s canyon and arrived at the airport. We had an easy flight to Houston where we saw Pappadeaux!! We had an amazing meal before we boarded our last flight home. Because there were limited seats on our flight home, we had to split up. Ben enioyed sitting by Logan on both flights. I can’t believe how big and grown up he is!

Just like that, our trip is over. What a wonderful, and healing trip to Utah. We’ll see you this summer!