Utah - BYU

Disclaimer - I whole slew of my pictures are being held hostage in Steve's laptop so for now, our vacation pictures will be out of order. Like you care. But just so you know I am not bonkers...

After we said goodbye to the Southern Simpson's on Tuesday morning, following the wedding festivities and family fun, we decided to spend the day in Provo. First we had a pit stop to University Mall. Caroline desperately wanted to go to Claire's at the mall and buy a fingerless glove to wear on one hand. Strange? Have you met Caroline? She found a turquoise blue fishnet number that fit the bill perfectly. Now that THAT is done...

We went to BYU to spend the rest of the day. We brought our bikes and rode around campus a bit. You technically are supposed to ride to campus and park your bike but it was spring term and so little people were on campus so we could ride around a lot.

We ate at the Cougareat. Daddy read the Daily Universe. I marveled at the cost of the food. Can students really afford to eat there??

We all got new BYU shirts at the bookstore. (And candy from the candy counter, of course.) It took us SO long to pick out 5 t-shirts! And what is a trip to the BYU bookstore without running into someone you know? Steve was watching a family shop for t-shirts like us and kept saying to me "I swear that is Allison so and so" and after about 30 minutes he asked and sure enough, it was Allison. Someone from the stake where he grew up in South Carolina. Small world!

The campus was SO green and Kate loves to wear her panda bear bike helmet.

In the Math Building where Steve spent a lot of time back in the day, we found this model of "Po" from Kung Fu Panda. Turns out a BYU student was the lead designer of Po in the CGI animation for the movie. Lindsay loves math, loved the (snoozefest) math building, and did her best Kung Fu pose for me.

While Lindsay was posing with the panda, I spied this precious moment. I don't know what they were doing or talking about but I appreciate catching these tender moments between sisters.

Steve pointed out that he may have chosen a better shirt to wear at BYU...maybe not a UNC Tarheels shirt!

Riding across campus...

Cute cruisers with cuter girlies

We went to the Bean Life Science Museum. Steve had never been there. For reals? Never seen the stuffed lions and zebras and cases of bugs and taxidermy?

How often can you get this close to ROAR with a lion?

In this case is a mosaic of a butterfly. Made entirely of butterflies. I asked Caroline to do her best butterfly impression. (Since I knew I had that awesome pose of Lindsay as Po.)
Please note Caroline's awesome fingerless turquoise blue fishnet glove on her right hand...and one of her favorite t-shirts - a kitty named Spike.

We finished the night with dinner at Wallaby's in Lindon. A place we used to love before we moved away. Big hunks of pulled pork, their own BBQ sauces, slices of grannie sycamore bread, garlic mashed potatoes, and green salad just the way Steve likes it - nothing fancy. And Kate sacked out.

Then it was off to cousin Cheri's house in Highland. We were able to reconnect with several members of Steve's extended family at a BBQ on Memorial Day. We were trying to work out where we would stay after we all checked out of the vacation rental we had with all the Simpson's. (That is how we roll - we rarely have firm plans when we travel.) When Cheri heard me mention we were waiting on an email about a cabin rental she insisted we stay with her and her husband Chuck, and daughter Mallory, and pug Ziggy. They made us all feel right at home and we were able to use their home as our base as we would head out for daily adventures of biking and hiking and playing. And Kate and Ziggy were head over heels for each other.