The most crazy awesome weekend ever

I apologize ahead of time as this is sure to be a novel, and I still haven't posted about our family reunion so another novel is to come.

Anyway, I had the most amazing last few days. Amazing, stupendous, fabulous… Yeah. It started a few weeks ago when Matt sent me a message on facebook asking if I wanted to fly out as a surprise birthday present for Teri. I immediately hit reply and typed "YES YES YES!" then realized I really needed to stop and see if it was feasible first. My amazing, awesome, generous husband said he was fine with it if I could work out arrangements for the kids when he needed to work. SO! Next I called my super stupendous parents who were also willing to help me out. Next step? press send! Next thing I know, I have an itinerary being sent to me for flights from ORD to SLC. Crazy.

I really didn't have a lot of time to sit and stew over everything because we had Benson's family reunion to prepare for. I got back from that and had 3 days to "reset" before I was flying out.

Matt was wonderfully deceptive and devious and managed to actually come pick me up at the airport under the premise that he was taking his son to get his haircut. I walked in their front door and the surprise was, well, astounding. Teri, obviously, had NO clue. Very fun surprise. I think their kids were nearly as excited as Teri, although, the excitement dropped a level when they found out my kids were still in Chicago. One of my favorite moments was when 2 year old Kate seemed to recognize me and said "Lucky's mommy!" (They call Tank "Lucky"… maybe I should adopt that nickname, it’s a bit nicer…)

Anyway, we stayed up ridiculously late just talking. It was awesome.

On Friday, Matt had, once again, "slightly altered the truth" to make Teri think that she and him were going out to dinner and I was there to babysit. About 10 minutes before he had told her they were going to leave, he started barking orders for her to go pack a bag because they would be staying overnight. Then, all Teri's good friend started to arrive at the door, one by one. Teri just kept asking WHAT was going on?! Finally, Matt spilled the beans… just us girls would be taking the transportation outside for a night away. What was outside you ask? OH YEAH.

We packed up our bags and headed out. Matt had hinted to the rest of us ahead of time that we would be heading to park city, utah. But that was all we really knew. The limo did, indeed, take us to park city. We talked along the way and got to know each other a little bit better. Our first stop was the outlet mall. Teri got a few fun things and the rest of us found a few things too. Shopping without kids, and WITH a bunch of ladies with good taste… awesome.

Next, the limo took us to our accommodations for the night. Ever heard of the Sky lodge in park city? It was ASTOUNDING. From the moment we walked in the door, we were treated like royalty. The manager came and showed us around the room, highlighting some of the perks of the place.

We didn't have too much time to gawk at everything since we had to change for dinner. We were able to walk to the restaurant just up the hill a short way from the hotel. Again, treated like royalty. There was a talented guitar player singing to the restaurant, and the food was FABULOUS.

We were then told we had tickets waiting for us next door at the Egyptian theatre for the "dueling pianos". I'm running out of words to describe all these awesome things, but the dueling pianos was probably my favorite thing of the night. They took requests for whatever song we could come up with, and they were SOO talented.

I could've stayed there all night, but alas… the show came to an end. We walked back to the hotel and decided it was a MUST to try out the hot tubs on our deck. They were obviously sized to be used by couples, but we made do.

After relaxing in the hot tub we all vegged out on the couch, talked and watched a special on Michael Jackson. About 1:30am, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and excused myself to the luxurious bed.

The next morning we were able to get up at our own pace, enjoy the crazy awesome showers and baths, and get ready for brunch. It was a beautiful thing to wake up when my body wanted to wake up without kids or a schedule.

The brunch was, once again, amazing. The food was spectacular. SOOO good! We then were directed to a salon in town to receive manicures and pedicures. The chairs had built in massaging, and the mani-pedi's were awesome. The cute little ladies working there were happy to pamper all of us. Second time in my life getting a pedicure. Not to be the last! So relaxing and fun.

The rest of our time we spent wandering Park City's eclectic shops and the art center. It was a most relaxing and beautiful day. Perfect weather just topped it all off.

Close to 3pm another limo showed up to bring us back to reality.

To the women out there, Sorry Matt is happily taken. To the men out there, sorry he's set the bar so high. We had the most wonderful time, THANKS MATT!

My awesome weekend didn't end there though. I got to spend the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning playing with my good friends. Saturday night we stayed up playing Rock Band. My first experience with it was… well… addicting. Someday, that will be our next Wii purchase. I was really nervous at first, but it was lots of fun. Although, the company certainly helped that too.

Sunday I went to church there, then took off early to go to the airport. The whole weekend was somewhat surreal. I kept wanting to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. It was such a relaxing getaway. I had fun with Teri and made a bunch of new friends I plan to keep in touch with as well. What a weekend...I plan to hold on to those memories FOREVER.