Park City 5th Anniversary Trip

We decided to celebrate the big #5 in style! We finally got it together and planned a trip away for a weekend to celebrate. We left Charlie at home with my in-laws for a couple days and ran away to Park City to focus on our relationship and to celebrate our marriage. It was absolutely wonderful and we couldn't believe how much-needed it was. Trev also kept asking why we didn't do stuff like this more often (especially before we had a child to look after!).

Anyway, it was great and now I'll tell you about all the fabulous things we did so you can be jealous! Haha :)
We left home Friday evening around 6pm and headed around the mountain to our destination. Along the way, we took a detour up Millcreek Canyon to eat at a nice mountain restaurant appropriately named Log Haven. We filled ourselves with savory steak, grilled veggies, and bread until we couldn't breathe; we talked, we laughed, and we just relaxed. I'm pretty sure that's what heaven will be like. Not to mention it was super-affordable thanks to the $100 gift cards our realtor sent to us as a thank-you gift for using him to buy our house! Sa-weet!

We rolled into Park City around 9:30pm and checked into our house. It was huge! I'm pretty sure we only used maybe 1/3 of the space. The house is a rental owned by a friend of my family back in Raleigh. For our wedding (5 years ago) their gift to us was for one free stay at their Park City cabin house whenever we wanted. Thank goodness we finally got around to using it. It was gorgeous and perfect for our weekend getaway.

You may notice there are no pictures yet. That's because we were seriously enjoying ourselves so much that I didn't even care to take time to snap photos. ;)

The next morning, we didn't sleep in. *Gasp!* I know... who doesn't sleep in on vacation? Okay, well, it was sleeping in for Trev but not for me. We got up to go play a round of golf at the Lake Course at Wasatch in Midway. Beforehand we enjoyed breakfast at a nice cafe in town, where I proceeded to spill an entire glass of ice water all over my pants. That definitely qualifies as one of those "graceful" Alex moments. <Sigh>

Anyway, we got to the course and played nine holes. I was freezing at first (due to the wind and wet pants), but quickly warmed up as I got playing, the sun came out, and my pants finally dried out too. Whew. Check out the gorgeous views (and my hunk of a husband):

And our scores for the day! Trev played a perfect round of bogey golf. I noticed I tend to play at an average of twice par (for example, if it's par 3, I'll probably shoot 6 hahahaha). But, despite some pretty bad golf, I did have a few victories! I hit my irons pretty well on a couple occasions, had a few good drives (including one that made it OVER a pond *woop woop!*), and generally just had a fabulous time and didn't get frustrated.

After golf, we drove back to the house and cleaned up for the rest of our day. Next stop: the Tanger Outlets. Trevor knew he was badly in need of a new wardrobe and was prepared to spend some money. We shopped for hours and got pretty much everything he will need! Can I just say how much FUN it is to go shopping with your husband? I had a blast playing the "mom" role in the dressing room... getting the clothes ready to put on, hanging them back up, and sorting into "yes", "no", and "maybe" piles. It's also pretty awesome to see your husband in nice, new clothes. Wait, what's that? What about me? Yep. I got a couple little gems also! You didn't actually think I'd go shopping at the outlets and buy nothing for myself did you? ;)

Our next stop was Main Street in Park City. We grabbed an early, quick dinner at a place called the Main Street Deli. Mmmm cheeseburger and fries. Vacations are for eating really GOOD (and bad-for-you) foods, right!?!

Our final stop for the day was a new adventure for both Trev and me! We got to create a painting! There's a new place in town called The Paint Mixer where you go and everyone paints the same picture with guidance from the instructor. There's also a bar there, so people can "let loose". We didn't participate, of course, but it was pretty entertaining to watch and listen to all the people around us in very high spirits. :)

Here's how our paintings started out... pretty boring huh?

But with a lot of fun, hard work and a little goofing off we made progress on our masterpieces!

Here are our finished, signed products! It was such a blast! Although I did feel a little rushed for time. That's probably the perfectionist in me coming out and wanting time to make everything look just right. :)

And here's the whole group. Fun to see all the different interpretations, huh? By the way, the instructor (in the red apron) and the guy with the crazy one with the heart on it (on the right) had both had quite a few drinks... if you couldn't tell ;)

I was really glad that we decided to go and do something new. I'd recommend it to anyone going to Park City, and the price isn't too bad either, especially because you get to take an original painting home with you!

That night, we were both SO exhausted. So much so that we didn't even have the energy to enjoy the hot tub at the house. Boo! Maybe next time! That's what you get for having an action-packed, fun day!

The next day, Sunday, we grabbed a quick breakfast and made our way to church with the Park City Ward at 9am. It was testimony meeting and one lady got up to speak and I thought she looked familiar. It turns out she is Mary N. Cook and was the former 1st counselor in the General Young Women's Presidency... so I've probably seen her speak in General Conference. Small world, huh?

After church, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon perusing Main Street again. We window shopped, looked at art, gift shops, and whatever else we could find. We finished up with a yummy lunch at a place called "The Eating Establishment" (yes... that's actually its name) with more burgers, fries, and a BLT. Once again feeling very stuffed and satisfied, we made our way back home.

By the time we got there, we were very ready to see this cute little face:

And who wouldn't be?

Life As My Phone Sees It 4/18/12 - 4/25/12

I just love some of these photos from the last week. I just love April. You can tell the whole world is getting greener and, therefore, happier!

4/19 - This is my 100th Instagram photo! I just love my roly poly baby! He's constantly grabbing his little toes.

4/20 - First outing with Dad of the season to the golf course! We enjoyed a nice Friday evening as a family. T and I got to practice putting and chipping while Charlie made noises and chowed down on Mr. Buzz Bee :)

4/23 - Charlie loves to read, and his new favorite "book" is this squishy book full of pictures of him and his friends and family. It always makes him so happy. And yes, he uses both his hands and feet to read books, haha! You can also see him spitting and blowing bubbles in this picture:

4/23 - Later that day we went out for a walk (it was a toasty 83 degrees that day and sunny!). Charlie got to hold (and get a little taste of) his first dandelion. But don't worry, I got it from him before he could actually eat it. ;)

4/24 - Self portrait of Mama and baby. Charlie was very fascinated with my wavy/curly hair that day.

4/24 - Got a lovely surprise on the label of a package I received! Wow! Haha... I guess I wasn't clear enough on the phone when I said "Shipp with two P's"... Just wow! This is the downside to having such an awesome last name! And this is also why I usually say "Shipp like a boat" or "two P's as in Paul". But hey - I've had the last name for almost 4 years and this is the first time something like this has happened, so I'd say we're doing pretty good!

Have a great week! <3 Post to come very soon about Charlie turning 6 MONTHS OLD today!!

Date Nights in May

As usual, I'm a bit behind, but I wanted to write a bit about some of the fun date nights Trevor and I have been on this month. Just enjoying that time we have together as a "childless couple". Oh freedom :)

For our anniversary, we went to the local Scera theater production of Annie. It was really cute and wonderful! :)

Date #1 - On May 7th, we were able to join Dave and Heidi in SLC for some good tepanyaki (perhaps spelled teppanyaki?) style food at Benihana Japanese Steakhouse! Ohh man was I ever craving this food! And I wasn't disappointed, although I still favor Kanki back in Raleigh :)
The pregnant ladies:
After dinner we wandered around Salt Lake City on foot until we found some dessert. It was just really fun (as usual) to get to spend some time with friends and travel to the "city" :)

Date #2 - Last Saturday the 21st we FINALLY had a pretty, warm day and so Trevor and I took off to Saratoga Springs (west of Lehi) so he could hit 9 holes at Talon's Cove at the twilight price. These pictures were taking around 6:30 pm. Can you believe how light it still is outside? This is why I LOVE summer!! The scenery was great with Utah Lake behind us, draped by the Wasatch Mountains.
About to take the swing...
You really gotta love how pretty it is... it makes me wish I had a wide-angle lens and a wider blog so I could blow up the pictures nice and big for you :) I might have to update to Wordpress soon, especially with all of the annoying issues with Blogger recently. It'd be worth the few dollars a year.

After golf we hit up the local Chili's restaurant. I'm definitely noticing an increase in my appetite as of the last couple weeks. Baby is ready to grow GROW GROW!

But yes. I ate a lot. And it didn't even hurt. ;)

I just love the chances I have to spend time with my husband. I'm glad we enjoy being together after 3 years of marriage. And the best part is things have gotten even more fun and easier as time has gone on! Can't wait to see where the future takes us! And I hope you're taking time to have fun date nights as well :D