Salt Lake Break

Right after fair, the girls and I headed straight for SLC to see LaDonne, my best friend from college, who was in town from Philly, and to check out Dr. KaLynne's new condo. It was a great little break, just to be able to relax in the comfort of air conditioning and great company. Oh, and even watch a little Olympic swimming and gymnastics despite the fact that we boycotted it in my house since the Olympics were held in communist China, something we certainly don't support.
The girls loved feeding the geese in the park and walking down the wood chip trail. Kate was completely obsessed with LaDonne's zipper purse (it is one big zipper that zips around to form a purse). We went to the strangest sculpture garden on the face of the planet (my opinion of course, but you would certainly agree), enjoyed the beauty of Temple Square (notice the purse again below), ate at a Hawaii-inspired restaurant, and were able to splash around in the fountain at Gateway Plaza.

The extra topping on the pizza came when we were at The Pie waiting for our food, and I start to eye the temptingly delicious pizza at the table next to us. The steam rolling off it about sent me over the edge, and I think I really was about to reach over and grab a piece when I look up and the face of its owner snaps me back to reality. "Tom?" I questioned exactly how delusional my hunger was making me, but he turned at the sound of his name and with excitement in his voice responded, "Tiffany! What are you doing here?" Whew, I hadn't completely lost it, and it was great to catch up with another great friend from college. Tom (his real name is Thongphan Phanthavady, but apparently some people have a hard time with it?) was my chemistry lab partner in college, and I had even spent a day in the hospital feeding him red jell-o when he was too deliriously drugged up and injured to feed himself. He had sustained a bad neck injury when a car slammed into his little pickup from behind, during I can't remember which college year. The doctors hoped that it would heal on its own, but after what was probably 6 months in a neck brace, they had to do surgery. He was so worried at the time that the surgery would affect his range of motion and thus interfere with his plans to become a great surgeon or some other world-renowned doctor. The great news is that he did heal completely (thanks to my superior jell-o feeding and hospital sitting skills, I am sure) and that he is currently in his 3rd year of medical school. I had lost touch with him right after Kate was born, so I wasn't sure which route he had gone. He is going to be an ER doctor, which just made me so proud I could probably pass as his mother because, if I had been a doctor, the ER would be my first choice as well.

We had a nice time, and of course look anxiously forward to the next time we get to see LaDonne (and hopefully Ian too), because it is never often enough!