Calgon, Take Me Away!

Thanks to my sister, Dan and I were able to have a few days to ourselves this past week. It was so fun!!

My sisters and I decided we would take turns and take each other's children throughout the year so that we could spend a few days with our husbands. I spent a few days earlier this year in Yuma watching Ericka's children while she and Paul went to Hawaii so Ericka came this week and stayed with our boys. THANKS!!!!!

We stayed in Orange County for 3 days!! Do you know how nice it was to not have any deadlines?!? Do you know how nice it was to sleep in and not have to wake up to an alarm clock?!! Do you know how nice it was to go to a restaurant and actually sit and not just "drive thru"? Let me tell you....it was sooooo nice!

I went to Southcoast Plaza and felt completely out of place but, nonetheless, bought a fabulous purse. (Thanks to a gift certificate Dan's company had given me in FEBRUARY!) I got a pedicure and a facial and it was just so nice to relax.

We also got tickets to go see Wicked. Dan hadn't seen it so I'm glad we got to go. We also did the "Behind the Emerald Curtain" tour and was really neat to get some backstage info. After the show, we waited outside and the performers signed my Playbill. (I gave it to Ericka as a sign of my gratitution :). Again, it was an amazing performance and an amazing evening.

We dined at Flemings and El Torito Grill (not to be confused with El Torito.) My absolute favorite was the desert at El Torito Grill.....a creme brulee cheesecake! It was really good.

But what we enjoyed the most was going to the San Diego Temple. Dan and I were married there 12 years ago. We did an endowment session and then sealed several families from my mom's side. Then after we finished the sealings we went and sat in the room where we got married and sealed. Let me just say that I'm so grateful for the blessings of the temple and for the knowledge that families are eternal.

We had a great time but we were missing our boys. Brandon had his first overnight Scout trip while we were gone and I kept calling my sister to make sure he had made it OK. It was hard not to be there. (It didn't help that it was a Shooting Campout!!) But we made it home in time to pick him up and he had a safe time.

So, hopefully my sisters will still want to trade babysitting so we can do this more often. We had a great time but it is so nice to be back at home and back into our routine of normal family life.