Anniversary Weekend

To celebrate our 5 year anniversary, Paul and I decided to keep it simple and inexpensive by having a Staycation in Downtown Salt Lake City! We didn't start our weekend out with good news, but decided we would make the best of the time we had together anyways! We went to an early morning initiatory session at the Jordan River Temple Thursday morning - which was a wonderful experience because I haven't done initiatories since taking out my own endowments. Then Thursday afternoon once Kelsi got home we headed downtown. We stayed at this cute little hotel called "The Metropolitan Inn" - it wasn't fancy by any means - but it was a place away from home!

We wanted to have a nice dinner, so we decided on "The Garden" inside of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. They had an appetizer called "Deep fried dill pickles" on the menu, so we decided to try them and they were YUMMY!! The view of the temple was so pretty and it was a very nice dinner!

After dinner we walked around Temple Square and went to hear the Mormon Tabernacle choir rehearsal. It was beautiful music, and listening to their rehearsal really makes you grateful for how much time the choir members put into it. After we left, I decided that I needed some dessert (because we were too full to get some at the restaurant). So we went over to Smiths and I found a piece of Red Velvet Cake. We came back to the hotel and I sang "Happy Anniversary" to Paul and we ate the cake!

Friday morning we woke up and decided to play tourists - so we asked the Concierge at the Hotel a recommendation for breakfast. We were NOT disappointed. She recommended a yummy little cafe called "The Park Cafe". It is across the street from Liberty Park and it was DELICIOUS! There was a bit of a wait, but totally worth it! They had homemade jam on the tables, really yummy hashbrowns and I of course got their pancakes - which were HUGE! I hope we can go there again some day!

After breakfast we went to the Salt Lake City Temple to do an endowment session. I was so excited, because that is the first time I had been to the Salt Lake Temple. It was such a wonderful experience, and not only did we do an endowment session, but we did sealings too. What a GREAT way to spend the day!

After the temple, Paul was sweet enough to take me to Backer's Bakery - a place I have wanted to go for years! We got a sample of some of their desserts and shared them! Yummy Chocolate Rum Cake, Banana Cookies, Cherry Tart, White Rapsberry cake - Yum!

After getting dessert, Paul and I spend a few hours walking through a bunch of the shops downtown. It was fun to get to see a part of the city you don't normally. Then it was time to go over to the Church History Museum - They had several artists there doing their thing - from painting, to leather work, to children's story author and illustrator. It is so nice when others share their talents. To round out the evening activites we went over to the Assembly Hall to hear the Salt Lake Community College Chamber Choir - it was such beautiful music and was nice to get to listen to the concert without children interupting! After the concert we stopped at one of our favorite places to eat - Litza's Pizza! After dinner we came home for the night.

Saturday morning we decided to head over to Kitchen Kneads for their Bread class - which was really fun and got me inspired to start using more Whole Wheat to cook with. They made some of the yummiest Cinnamon Rolls and a thing they called "Meal-in-one"!

After the class, but before picking up the kids from my Mom's - we went out to lunch at Wingers. (I did make sure to save some for Kelsi, since I know this is her favorite!). We had such an enjoyable time together - and I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with my sweet hubby! It was a GREAT 5th anniversary! I also want to thank my Mom for taking the kids - I know she had a CrAZy weekend - but I REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciated it!! Love ya Mom!

Thanks for a wonderful 5 years Paul - I look forward to many, many, many more! Love you!!