Utah Valley Marathon Trip

Disclaimer:  I just saw that this post was never published from last year!  It's been sitting as a draft.  Oh well, better late than never.
[June 2011]
Just as school got out this summer we took a little vacation trip to Utah. In fact we ended up pulling the kids out a day early, thus missing their last day of school, so that we could get there a full day before Ethan would run his first marathon. It's called the Utah Valley Marathon and starts way up Provo canyon then descends down gradually finishing on Center street in Provo. Ethan had to leave the house around 3am for the 6am race start. Super early! We stayed with my wonderful Aunt Margie in Spanish Fork and since I wasn't going to be at the start, she dropped me and the kids off near Center street about a block from the finish so that we could cheer him on right at the end without being caught in the massive crowd at the finish line. We saw him coming in strong and I snapped a quick video clip where he came in towards me to get a quick kiss for good luck to help him finish:) What a guy. He did awesome with a time of 3 hrs 41 min! We were all so proud of him. Here's the clip:

Ethan was pretty wiped out after the race (who wouldn't?) so the rest of the day he rested, ate and drank a lot and we spent the afternoon and evening with my brother Kevin's family also in Spanish Fork for a BBQ. Since our wedding anniversary fell on June 10th (the day before the big race) we had to wait to celebrate. The following evening, Ethan had set up previously with Kevin and Tami, a little surprise getaway for us leaving the kids with them for the night. I was so excited and very grateful to the Fenn's for being so generous to take our kids. Here's a picture of their little sleepover that Kevin took.
That night Ethan took me out to Rodizio Grill for dinner (yum) then we stayed at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. Every room is a different theme and they are totally decked out! Ethan picked the Hawaiian Hideaway room for us because we had talked about wanting to go there for our anniversary someday. This was the closest he could get to the real thing:) It was such a fun room! The walls and ceiling were painted, the bed was up a few steps on this platform to look like it was a little grass hut bungalow. The shower/tub was built into a rock wall in the corner of the room and the shower was an actual waterfall! There were plants, trees and flowers everywhere and a little tiki hut eating area. It was pretty sweet.



The complimentary breakfast was actually REALLY good and very fresh- homemade tasting. After checking out, we stopped at Thanksgiving Point to ride Segway's through the gardens there. That was a total blast! I can't wait to get back on one of those things.

 

I had to include this little cutie.  We went to a fun pool with slides in Payson with the kids.  All in all it was a fun trip and we look forward to going back!