The One with Utah Adventures

I'm in Utah with Fox right now - been here since Wednesday, and I'm just now getting around to bloggin'. I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing??? :) Anyways, the purpose of my visit was three-fold: to attend a bookbinding workshop with my Grandpa John, to hang out with my malm, and to introduce Fox to more of his extended family. Here's what I've been up to so far:

On Wednesday afternoon Chris drove me and Fox to LAX. On the way to the airport we were listening to the radio and heard that a plane taking off from Long Beach (just a few minutes away) headed for Salt Lake City (my final destination) had crashed on the runway. Just what I wanted to hear... But I mustered up some courage and got on the flight with my baby. He was such a good little boy.


As soon as we took off he fell asleep and only woke up when we started descending (I think cuz his ears popped).

The Y through the airplane window. I'm baaaaaack!

I left sunny So Cal for this?!? 83 degrees for 38 degrees?!?!?

Aunt Katy picked me up, we went back to her house, I changed and nursed Fox, then I drove Aunt Katy and Uncle Steve to the airport, then I got lost trying to find my way to the mall, but I got there eventually and ate at one of my favorite places: Rumbi Island Grill.

I got a jerk chicken sandwich with yummy sweet potato fries.

It was raining cats and dogs so I fashioned a protective barrier for Fox's stroller with an umbrella.

At 10pm I picked my mom up from the airport then we drove down to Provo.

Thursday morning I left Fox with my mom and we went down the street to BYU's bookbinding building.

This is the 4th time I've been to this workshop with my grandpa - it's a fun tradition!


This is the type of book cover we learned how to make. It's called a "Naked" book. (Hope I'm allowed to say that on my blog and not get flagged!)

Really thick and textural covers - cool!

The teacher, Judy Sommerfeldt, demonstrated step-by-step what to do then the students returned to their station and repeated the process.

Here I've just applied modeling paste to my book cover.

And then we used totally random tools and shapes to carve designs and make textures into the wet paste.

During lunch break we went back up to the Taylor's and ate Cafe Rio. Mmmm mmmm good.

After lunch we went back and painted the dried covers.

I opted for a bright look instead of the traditional muted color scheme.

The girl next to me said my book looked like a pepperoni pizza. I can see that.

All done!

All the attendees brought their books up to the front table so we could see them together.

This is the teacher's book.

I love the texture on this book:

And I love the colors on this book:



Hanging out with Grandma Carolyn after the workshop.



Do you read NieNie? I've passed her house at least a hundred times driving between my grandparent's houses. Random fact of the day.


My mom ditched me to go have dinner with her friend so I took myself and Fox to my favorite burger joint in Provo - Burger's Supreme. I got a gyro and nummy french fries.


Then I took a drive around Provo.
Mt. Timpanogas sure is a beautiful mountain!

The light was hitting the Provo temple just so it made it look like it was on fire.

"Y" mountain.

I drove to our old apartments. The Maplebrook.

I noticed there was a padlock on our old door, meaning nobody was living there at the moment, so I went up there to take a peak inside. EVERYTHING WAS REDONE!

New carpets, the walls had been painted a nice shade of grey, and from what I could see into the kitchen the floors had been replaced. No fair man!

I tried to explain to my mom how weird it was to look into the place where Chris and I spent nearly two years of our lives and she described my feeling perfectly: it's like being a ghost!

I drove up to the base of where you hike to the "Y" just as the sun was setting.
Good ol' Provo. I centered the focus on BYU campus.

Timp.

They're rebuilding Deseret Towers. I'm interested to see what the final product will look like.

I miss this place. I didn't think I would. But I really really do.


Friday morning we headed to BYU campus to go to the bookstore and what not.

In the basement of the international studies building I saw this really cool work of art:

I think the artist took pictures of people and then cut out most of it but left lines so that you can still tell what it is. Very cool, I want to give it a try!

Cute jewelry at the Campus Craft and Floral.


Then we drove up to Park City to shop at the outlet stores. We passed Bridal Veil Falls on the way.



We shopped to our heart's content then headed back. The mountains sure are beautiful!


On Saturday I had to get more natural kraft cardstock at Archiver's at the University Mall. I like this paper Christmas tree on display in the back.


There's now a Tai Pan Trading in place of Deseret Book (which relocated to it's own separate building). I love this bench!


We chilled at the Warner's all afternoon.


Then we met Eric and Tanya at Texas Roadhouse for dinner.


Mr. Fox was such a tired boy he fell asleep in his Grandma's arms even amongst all the noise!


These two are silly.



More to come!

OH! And the winner of the American Crafts Blog Hop Giveaway is:

Congrats Amy Heller! I'll be emailing you shortly!