Mikayla and I just returned from a fun-filled week in Utah. We went out to see my youngest sister, Laura and her husband, Chris, graduate from Brigham Young University. 
We left around 11:30 on Tuesday. We rode Marta down to the airport, which Mikayla just loved. As you can see she was very excited to try out all of her travel gear early!
This is a picture of us starting out! I was just as excited as her to be spending a week together. I really enjoyed getting to have a little one on one time with my sweet girl.
This is a picture of Mikayla on the airplane with the snow capped mountains behind her. She was amazed at how big they were. 
When we arrived in Salt Lake, Mikayla was pretty insistent about carrying her own suitcase. As you can imagine, that didn’t last very long, though. ;)
On Wednesday, Mikayla and I went to have a play date with some friends of mine. Sadly, I have no pictures of that event. We all had so much fun talking with each other, that we didn’t even think to pull out a camera. I had a great time spending time with them, though. After that, I drove down to Provo and had dinner with parents, sister and brother in law. 
My dad took us all out to dinner at the famous BYU Creamery on 9th. Their dairy products are literally about as fresh as you can get (seeing as how their cows are local). They have the BEST ice cream. Another bonus, their meals are super cheap. We were able to a get a cheeseburger kids meal that came with a very ample sized cheeseburger, a serving of fries, a soft drink and a cup of ice cream for $3.29. My dad fed all of us for $21! We were all very full afterwards, too!
On Thursday, we went to the University Commencement Exercises for these two fine graduates. 
I was even able to catch a sweet picture of Mikayla. We were so grateful that the weather was nice. They had forecasted rain all day, but we had bright, sunny weather. It was a little cool and breezy, but we really didn’t mind. 
This is Mikayla and I during the graduation. Thanks to my Ipod, headphones and a downloaded movie, Mikayla did really great. The commencement exercises lasted around 3 hours, when you factor in all of the time that we spent in our seats prior to the actual exercises starting.
On Friday, we had the complete antithesis of our great weather the previous day. We woke up to a snow/rain mix. It was rainy, windy and COLD. On Friday, Laura and Chris had their specific college graduations. Thankfully, since BYU has so many married couples that graduate together, they let spouses go to the same graduation ceremony even if they didn’t graduate from that specific program. I don’t think the kids would have survived through two ceremonies! They did great for the one we attended, but I guarantee that wouldn’t have lasted long.
My sister and my nephew also made the trip for the graduation so I got to spend some time with this cute little boy, too. When my camera takes a picture it puts out a red light just before the picture snaps. Andrew LOVES that light. Every time I take a picture of him, he gets this precious, goofy smile on his face. I just love it!
Later that evening, we had a graduation celebratory dinner for Laura and Chris. My brother and his girlfriend, Kim recently moved to Utah, so this was the first time since last Thanksgiving that we were all together. It was so nice to all be together.
Another wonderful thing about our visit to Utah, was the opportunity Mikayla and I had to spend with my cousin, Michelle and her family. Michelle and her husband Jeff, were kind enough to let us stay at their home. She has two sweet little girls, Maddy and Libby. Mikayla had a great time playing with them.
On Saturday, we headed to Thanksgiving Point. They were having a Tulip Festival that we intended to go to, but when we saw the crazy crowds, we decided to change our plans a little. They have a Farm Days exhibit there that I just knew Mikayla would have a great time at. 
They got to pet lots of different animals, which Mikayla loved. She is so natural with animals. 
I thought this picture was too cute not to post. On Mikayla’s right is Libby. She is two and a very good talker. When Mikayla first met her, she ran to me and said, “Mom, Libby is two and she speaks our language!” (As opposed to Gavin, who apparently doesn’t…refer to my previous post labeled “Gavinese"). Maddy is on Mikayla’s left. She is four and her and Mikayla had a great time together.
At this place, Mikayla got to ride on a cow train that was pulled by a tractor.
She also got to ride a pony and thankfully (after I stood in line for about 30 minutes), she had a great time.
Later that night, Mikayla and I headed back down to Provo to see Lollie and Chris. Laura and Chris took us up to the “Y” ( A big Y, for BYU, that is on the side of a mountain). Mikayla thought it was really neat to be up on the side of a mountain and see the whole city in front of her. I was a little freaked out about being up so high with no fence to keep us from going down the hill. I don’t mind height, generally, but when I am with my five year old that doesn’t always listen very well, it was a little nerve-wracking. Despite all of that, it was a great site to see and I am glad we went. 
On Sunday, Mikayla and I met Laura and Chris after church, and we headed up to Salt Lake to visit Temple Square. It was a BEAUTIFUL day.
A picture of the Salt Lake temple.
I love how this picture of Mikayla turned out. It is so hard to get her to sit still and give a sweet smile for a picture. She is my busy little one!
I had a great time with my little girl!
The tulip gardens at Temple Square are just gorgeous! 
We also went in to The Tabernacle. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs here every Sunday morning for The Music and the Spoken Word. Mikayla was pretty impressed with the big pipes of the organ.
After visiting Temple Square, Mikayla and I went Dan and Kim’s apartment to stay the night before we left on Monday morning. Dan and Kim treated us to some VERY good homemade pizza for dinner (Dan used to work at Mellow Mushroom) and some movies.
Dan and Kim live right across the street from a great park, so Monday morning we walked over there.
Mikayla got to feed the ducks and geese. The were lots of baby ducklings and goslings which Mikayla really enjoyed seeing.
Mikayla had a great time playing with Kim and Daniel at the playground.
We left straight from Dan and Kim’s to go to the airport. We had a long day of flying which included four hours in an airplane and a three hour layover in the Dallas airport. We got back to Atlanta at 11:30 pm, and when we landed Mikayla was passed out! (I plead the fifth as to whether Benadryl helped with this at all) She would not wake up and I had to carry her and our bags through the airport to where Jeremy was picking us up. I thankfully had a kind stranger that helped get our bags off of the baggage carousel.
At one point though, I had to get lay her down so that I could hook our suitcases together so that I could manage my way through the airport. She didn’t even budge. Finally after struggling to get through (with several airport workers looking at me not offering any help!), I finally had to make her walk. I was basically leading a sleep walker. She only woke up once she saw her daddy.
Well, sorry for the ultra long post, but as you can see we were very busy and had a great time in Utah.
