Mom and Dad Visit!

My parents came to visit Salt Lake City for six days!  They stayed with us, and after they left our house felt a little empty for a while.  Samantha really loves my parents- she would not leave them alone while they were here and was always walking around, resting her head on their laps and wagging her tail.  After we took them to the airport to go home, she stood at the front door for 30 minutes, whining and pacing.

One of the best parts of their stay with us is that they were able to be here for my 28th birthday.  My mom and I went shopping together that morning and bought my new Lululemon yoga mat that I've been eyeing for almost a year now.  When Brian got home on the night of my birthday, we all went out to eat at my favorite restaurant and then headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for bday cheesecake.

My fave picture of me and my dad hiking, even though my mom's finger made it into a few of our pics!

The weather was gorgeous for the first three days they were here, so we made sure to get a lot of hiking trips in before it got colder.  I'm so glad we did.  They loved hiking in Utah and we got to take them on several beautiful hikes in Millcreek Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon (our hike near Alta was so pretty but so cold).

My parents also loved our little historic neighborhood in the Marmalade area.  A couple of mornings while they were here, I got up and went to yoga class while they took a walk around our neighborhood.   We love living right near downtown, so we can just take a quick drive and be right in the city. I also took my dad to my favorite used bookstore downtown, which is two stories and filled from floor to ceiling with books.

My family knew our family friends here in Utah even before we met them, so on Sunday we all went over to my our friend Jennilyn's house for a huge dinner. It was so fun to have everyone together and my parents really enjoyed getting together with old friends.  My dad and I really like cooking together, and we made this awesome Thai salad to bring- it was a little spicy and so good.  Thank so much for hosting, JL, it was such a great time!

Me and my mom over at JL's house! 

Here's proof of how much my dog adores my parents.

I took my parents to Cafe Rio on our way to Park City one afternoon, and they loved it as much as we do.  Brian also really wanted to take them to the Red Iguana (which we had never been to, but is a Salt Lake City fave), so we did on their last night here.  It was just as good as everyone says it is, and we will definitely be back for more amarillo mole!  

More hiking during their visit.  They missed the fall colors in the mountains by a couple of weeks, but were able to see the last of the beautiful colors down in the valley.  This was a hike at the base of Little Cottonwood, and you can still see some colors here.

Thanks for visiting us, mom and dad- we had such a great time!  Please come back soon!!!!