September

September 1: Swiss Days festival. That was the major thing we did that day. It was neat to go there- I'd been wanting to see it for years now but let me tell you...it was disappointing! There weren't nearly as many handicrafts as I was expecting. There were lots of cool products and many interesting handicrafts, don't get me wrong, but there were also lots of imported products that were very clearly NOT handmade...and also clearly not at all "Swiss". Whatever, it was still fun to wander around and shop with my honey.

September 2: We left the cabin in Park City and headed home fairly early in the AM. That afternoon, we picked lots of peaches off of my mom's peach tree and started processing them for peach jam. My mom and I started preparing them for jam by blanching them on Friday but we really got cooking on Sunday.

September 3rd: we somehow roped my parents and Scott's parents into some yard/ home improvement projects. My dad sanded and painted our picnic table and Steve, Scott, and my dad later set up the swingset that we scored from Shadowbrook (the townhouse community where my parent's lived in Provo). It was quite the project. I focused my work on the inside of the house. I looked after Patrick whenever he was inside, provided cucumber sandwiches, a fresh caprese salad, and cantaloupe for lunch. That evening, Andrea and Gary joined us for burgers. We had ALLLLLL the fixings. I pulled out the pina colada mix from a baby shower I threw several months back (I created a "momosa" bar for that party) and we had lots of tasty fixings for our burgers.

September 4th: My glucose test/ gestational diabetes test. I passed.

September 7th: A quick solo trip to Park City to review "Oliver" the musical. Twas lovely. I intended to bring Patch but, found out days before that the theater's minimum suggested age is 6.

September 8th: The Greek Festival with the "rents"...yia yia and papou...was a blast. My mom was hopeful that there would be some group Greek dancing but, alas, there was not. I warned her that the event was mostly about the food and watching traditional Greek dances being performed by different folk dance groups in the area. She was hopeful that there would be some group dancing. I was right after all but, we did all enjoy the food immensely. During dinner, Patch needed to use the potty so, we got up to take care of business. He bolted through the crowds and ran into the building nearly out of sight. He is a quick one!!! I was able to catch up to him, we used the potty, saw some lady leave without washing her hands, and then we got outta there. As we were passing through the gymnasium (set up with a few vendors selling art, jewelry, and nick knacks) I ran into a coworker from US Bank (Ann Fortney). We visited for a moment and Patrick managed to entertain himself and squirrel around where we were standing and talking. Pretty soon he lost patience and I could tell that he was in the mood to bolt again so, we said goodbye and dashed back to the dinner table.  We wandered through the carnival area after dinner and looked at the face painting booth, the rides, and balloon animals. Patch decided he wanted a balloon shaped like an airplane so, we indulged him. After that, I ran into a client (someone who owns a cryotherapy facility in town...very cool business) and we chatted for a quick minute before we all dashed out.

September 9th: The Utah State Fair. We spent the first part of our day exploring the Utah State Fair. We got there basically right when it opened and stopped in the art/handicraft/ cooking competition space to check out all the cool stuff people make. There are costumes, paintings, quilts, bags, jars of salsa, cookies, pies, and on and on and on! Patrick was not too enamored with all of that so, we exited quickly and started walking through all the animals. There was a haunted house set up close to the animal stable things so, we sat in front of that for a moment before Patch decided that he was too nervous and we carried on. We intended to get some tickets and ride some rides but holy buckets the tickets were expensive. There would be many rides that Patrick was too small for and most of the rides I couldn't do anyway due to being pregnant so, we just purchased enough tickets for Patch to do one ride. I think he was a bit disappointed but man, our options seemed limited and it didn't seem worth it! The cheapest ride was like $4 and it was hardly different than one they have at Jungle Gyms in Midvale...and that place has a $2 Tuesday deal where you get in and ride everything for just $2!!! We grabbed some lunch while we were there and determined that we were going to catch the circus before leaving at around 3. We didn't realize that the circus had limited seating and that you were supposed to wait in line for tickets beforehand. There was a standby line when we got there! SO SAD and a total bust. We still had a good time it just wasn't the great time we were hoping for. We dashed down to Alpine for a family dinner that we committed to be at and thought we might come back for the later circus but, I knew deep down inside we wouldn't make it back. Perhaps next year :)

September 14th-17th: A delightful camping trip to Flaming Gorge. The Adams family traveled to Flaming Gorge the week before us and recommended a camp site called "Rocky Ridge Outpost" so, we gave it a go and MAN was it absolute perfection. Scott planned the meals and did all the shopping for the weekend. He made our meal plan SUPER simple which was refreshing. Sometimes when we go camping, our set up and clean up of meals seems to take us from one meal to the next. This time (and for our family camp in Idaho) we kept it simple yet still delicious. The camp site was equipped with every kind of accommodation you could want...except 5 star hotel accommodations. lol.  There was a tent camping area, a tee pee, a yurt, a one room cabin (basically just a bed), a cabin with a bathroom and kitchenette, and a full cabin with multiple rooms, full kitchen, and bathroom. There was a pavilion with outlets, a grill, and two camp chef type stoves...no running water there though which seems like an oversight to me. There was a jungle gym for kiddos. And last but not least, plenty of wild rabbits hopping around everywhere. For those without bathrooms, there were two bathroom/ shower rooms that were quite lovely and clean. There was a fishing pond and petting zoo. I mean, come on!!! This place was awesome! I could not believe. We paid like $20/ night to camp there and it was worth every penny.

On Saturday, we had a lovely breakfast, packed up some sandwiches and snacks, and headed down to rent a speed boat for the day. My parents joined us for the trip and treated us to the rental as a happy birthday present to me. We rented a large float to tow behind the boat and did nothing but enjoy the lake all day. It was bliss. Literally the perfect way to spend a late summer day and my favorite way to celebrate my birthday- family, food, and a body of water. Patrick enjoyed the tubing and even though it was tricky to maneuver my pregnant body on the raft, I managed to have a really fun time. My dad drove the boat around all day and it was like going back in time to our days in Discovery Bay. We stopped for lunch in a cove and jumped into the water. It was cold but since the weather was hot enough, it still felt refreshing. When we were all tired of riding on the tube, we decided to explore the gorge a bit and just sit back in the boat. Suddenly, Patrick announced that he needed to go potty...the poop kind...and being that we were pretty deep into the gorge without a bathroom in sight...Scott decided to try to get him to go on some rocks. It took a while to convince Patch that it would work. I mean, imagine that you've barely learned to use the potty (within the last few months) and now you have to poop in the wilderness on some rocks. It was hilarious and quite time consuming. haha. Shortly after that we turned around and headed back to the dock to return the boat and return to camp.

On Sunday we packed up our things and headed home but not before stopping to catch a quick glimpse of the salmon run and the beautiful fall colors in the mountains. Wow. Some amazing sights.

September 19th: My 29th birthday. For the last few years I've made it a habit to run around town collecting all of my birthday freebies. This year, I took advantage of a discount at Build A Bear and brought Patrick along for the fun. Let's be honest...it was really for him. Yia yia joined us and helped pick out some accessories for "baby brother bear" that Patch named "Farso". Scott captured a recording of Maxwell's heartbeat at our 20 week anatomy scan ultrasound so we were able to put that recording into the paw of the bear. Patrick loved the experience and I loved watching him be so tender with "baby brother bear". Then we headed over to Gardner Village to do a little bit of shopping and meet up with dad and Scott for dinner at Archibald's. Patrick brought the bear with him and dinner was lovely.

September 23rd: Patrick and I went hiking solo and enjoyed some remnants of the pretty fall colors. I packed some lunch for us and we ate alongside a little creek. Patrick decided it would be fun to strip naked and play in the water. I was surprised he lasted as long as he did in the water as it was quite cold.

September 24th: Another birthday freebie outing. Scott and I took Patch to Coldstone Creamery for my free "like it" sized birthday ice cream. I really am a sucker for a good deal and if it's a freebie?! forget about it- I'M THERE!

September 26th: Scott and I got to enjoy our first Pioneer Theater Company performance. His birthday present to me was season tickets. "Oslo" was a very interesting play but I quickly learned that I'll need to try to catch a cat nap before future performances as I'm not much of a night owl these days- waking early to teach English plus being pregnant = a VERY tired Michelle by about 9 PM. haha.

September 28th: Mama and I went to see a new movie "Crazy Rich Asians" at the fancy theater in Thanksgiving Point. We both liked the film although the main girl's acting was kind of "meh" to me.

September 30th: Waitress the Musical. What a dream! I hadn't seen a professional musical in quite some time and Waitress was amazing. Scott even suggested that I wait at the stage door and meet some of the actors. What a good man. LOVED the show, love the music, loved the acting. LOVED EVERYTHING. Scott's biggest criticism of the show was that the male characters were all "caricatures" where I would say...that's probably the point! This is a musical about women, one woman in particular, and HER story. He also didn't like the "happy ending". I would argue that *spoiler alert* since she didn't wind up with the fairy tale romance or a trip to the fair where she won first prize in the pie contest (both themes and goals of the character through the show) it wasn't a happy ending. She doesn't go to the fair and she doesn't compete for the prize. She doesn't get the guy. She does, however, wind up inheriting a really lovely diner from a man she chose to be kind to. Seems like karma doing her thing.

On to October now.