Four days out of town

Last week we left Wednesday night for Salt Lake City, and returned Monday morning. Marcos' parents were in town from Brazil for the church's April General Conference, and so we took the chance to do family time for four days. Here's day one in a nutshell.

(Disclaimer: If you currently live in Utah and are reading this and are feeling a bit annoyed or irritated that we didn't contact you when we were there, please don't take it personally. You're special, but we just really didn't contact anyone because we knew the trip would be so short).

On to Day One. It all started with a sandwich (see illustration below). Imagine everything bagels, smothered in garden vegetable cream cheese, piled high with lettuce and deli meats...


But the goodness didn't stop there. After a lazy morning at Danny and Marie's (Marcos' brother and sister-in-law), we piled the sandwiches and a picnic in the car, buckled in their 2-year old daughter Kaitlyn, and rode with Marie to the Frontrunner Station in Layton, where we caught the train into Salt Lake City.


Trains are one of my favorite forms of transportation. The Frontrunner is a newish commuter train that runs north of Salt Lake, and wanting to do something cheap but memorable, we bought round trip tickets into downtown.


The trains were nearly deserted at mid-day, so we were able to find a car all to ourselves, and we climbed to the upper level for better views.


At the visitors center on Temple Square, Kaitlyn discovered that the holes in the benches at the Christus doubled as obstacle courses.


Picnicking on the grounds at Temple Square.


Marie with her "I'm-a-new-home-owner" face. She had just received the news that she and Danny had been cleared for a brand new home they were hoping to buy (apropos: thinking of owning a home? $8,000 of free money for brand new home-owners who purchase before the end of the year).


Kaitlyn is really cute. Danny and Marie have similar coloring with Marcos and me, so we wonder if our little ones will look like Kaitlyn.


On to Maika's soccer game in the evening. Don't let the strategically timed photos fool you. Most of the game was frigid and rainy. Picture Linds (my sister) and I huddled under an umbrella, covered with a blanket watching the wind blow the neighbor soccer mom's umbrella inside out. It was tough, but we roughed it. Maika made it all worth while, with his three goals and awesome attitude.