whirlwind vacation

We just got back from a whirlwind vacation in Utah. Before we left, I wondered if we would have a lot of downtime during the first week of our trip, since my dad/siblings/friends would be working or in school. We managed to keep ourselves really busy, though - to the point that we didn't get to visit with everyone that we wanted to see. All in all, though, we had a lot of fun. Our trip was really eclectic, and we did a lot of diverse things. Here's a smattering of our adventures and activities (in no particular order):

• Trip to the Museum of Ancient Life (i.e. the "Dinosaur Museum") with L and Sam
• Carpet shopping/ordering for the S family's basement
• Children's Choir concert at the Cathedral of the Madeline (this was one of the best choral concerts that I have attended in a long, long time)
• Dinner with Heather
• Scrubbing the kitchen floor and bathroom (Me)
• Seeing the burned ruins of the Provo Tabernacle
• Visiting the BYU Museum of Art
• Watching "A Christmas Carol" (1951) and "White Christmas" with Grandma
• Lingerie shopping for a bride-to-be (Me and Ixoj)
• Disco skating at a bachelorette party (Me, Ixoj and V). This was really fun, but I was a little disappointed that I wasn't as smooth on skates as I used to be
• Seeing "Tron" in 3-D (J and his guy friends - I had no desire to go along)
• Watching Phin walk down the aisle (beauty and grace!)
• Helping with wedding setup/takedown/celebrations
• Cooking three batches of my grandpa's "Perfect Chili" for 30-40 people
• Watching my dad and C (the younger) do the "Thriller" dance on Christmas morning (they were playing the Wii game "Michael Jackson: The Experience." And even more awesome: my dad was wearing his Christmas robe at the time. We got some pretty priceless video footage.)
• Meeting with gutter men to get bids for the S family's new gutter
• Listening to Andrew play his bagpipes in the S family's living room
• Watching Sam play "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" on Christmas morning for several hours

Here are some pictures:

The burned Provo Tabernacle
(An interesting art history post compares these ruins to an 19th century painting by Friedrich)

Disco skating + Victoria's Secret = a bride to be

At Phin's wedding

Dinosaur!

Digging for dinosaur bones

Interior of the Cathedral of the Madeline

With Zillah and Ixoj after the choir concert

"Hungry, Hungry Hippos" on Christmas morning

"Thriller" awesomeness