Our UEA break mini "Staycation".

At the last minute this week, we decided to take a little local get-away with the kids, since they were out of school for UEA break. Darin booked us a two room suite at the Marriott Residence Inn, in Salt Lake. We took off first thing Friday morning and headed to The Red Butte Gardens to enjoy the autumn beauty. The kids hadn't been before, and absolutely loved the "adventures" they were having at every turn. The children's garden is so fun with tunnels, waterfalls, playhouses, bridges, etc. We followed paths and wandered around for a couple of hours. We even ate apples off an apple tree along one of the paths. It's such a fun place, I think we might get annual passes, to enjoy it during every season.

There were lots of resting spots along the paths with fun benches and swings. We had the kids take some photos of Darin and I , but they are all blurry. Oh well. These ones turned out cute!!
Here the kids are on some big lizard statues, and peeking out of one of the tunnels. Looks like Logan is kissing a frog as he gets a drink from this fun drinking fountain.
After lunch we headed to Wheeler Farm for the kids to participate in the October festivities there. They wound their way through a corn/hay maze, picked their own pumpkin from the patch, and we all took a tractor-pulled wagon ride. Logan rode a pony too. It was fun to see the animals, and Darin had the kids on the lookout the whole time for Templeton the rat.

The kids were dying to get to the hotel and SWIM!!! And they did not want to leave the hotel once we were there. They just think it's so GREAT to have our own little place. They had their own room with a king-sized bed, their own bathroom and TV. They were little fish in the pool.

For lunch we went up Immigration Canyon to "Ruth's Diner", and sat out on the patio to eat. Such a fun place, and famous for breakfast foods. Ellie OF COURSE chose pancakes, and they were HUGE!!

The other pics here are from breakfast at the hotel. Again, the kids were SO excited to eat breakfast at the hotel. Pancakes and waffles and as much syrup as they could possibly want!! Logan also tanked down some sausage, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. And Ellie had her regular frosted flakes.

For dinner the kids really, REALLY wanted to eat in the hotel room , and NOT go out to dinner. So we bought them frozen pizzas and heated them in the oven. Then Darin and I ordered out after the kids were asleep.

This morning after breakfast we took the kids swimming again, and then hung out in our room to listen to the Saturday morning session of general conference. Ellie and I did our nails, and Darin and Logan played BINGO. Then we were off to Millcreek Canyon for a picnic and some hiking adventures. It was sooooooo beautiful. We had a great time for a couple of hours and then we headed home. I could have stayed all day, but the nice long nap we had when we got home was a great welcome home!!

Every time we go on any kind of nature walk, the kids call it a "forest adventure".

The leaves were so bright!! And it was great to "get away" and actually enjoy them close up.

Even with one child stepping in a huge pile of dog poop, and one bathroom accident, and me pretending I didn't have a huge head cold, it was still....

THE PERFECT LITTLE FAMILY OVERNIGHTER!!