Monday, January 12, 2009

Fabulous Utah

On December 17th our welcoming committee waited with helium balloons, posters marked with multicolored messages like, "Welcome back to the promised land," and, "We love you Ryan, Celia and Bella." They blended in with several families jockeying for the best view of the Salt Lake City airport escalators.

The others were waiting for their young men and women adorned with faded name tags and scuffy shoes. One by one they came. After much hugging, kissing, and crying the groups left the stone floor. Finally they Harvey's were the last family waiting.

Half an hour after our scheduled arrival, we stepped onto the escalator. Our eyes were baggy after the 5:00 AM departure for the airport, no naps, and two seats next to the only bathroom on our mini-airplane. My makeup had long-since worn off, and Bella was stripped to her onesie. Ryan lugged the car seat, the diaper bag, the carry-on luggage and his backpack. I balanced bella on my hip with one arm, held bella's dress, socks, shoes and bow in the other. Draped on my other arm were 4 of Bella's blankets, my coat and my scarf.

After they spotted us they waved the signs and yelled greetings from the bottom. I waved Bella's hand at them and tried to dress Bella with the other-without letting my cargo fall. Many hugs, kisses and smiles later we ended play-time-with-Bella-on-the-airport-floor. We packed our bags and families into the cars and headed to lunch. Ryan lobbied for Red Robin because in Kansas their menu had different names, like a foreign language. He ordered fry sauce with his bottomless fries. We were spared a five minute discussion we had in Kansas with the waiter before discovering that it was called, "Tangy Campfire Sauce," outside of Utah.

That evening we joined my parents at Brianna's eighth grade Christmas choir concert. North Layton Junior High has changed a lot since my 2.5 year stint there. The orange and black has been replaced with teal (yes, the color of gangrene). The old stone floor in the commons area changed to teal carpet and littered with benches and tables. The singing was pretty good for a junior high. I've heard far worse at high school choir concerts. After the concert we went back to the Darley's for some of Dad's famous brownies. I'm not sure if they are famous outside of our family, but they should be. Bella had a blast getting acquainted with her grandparents and aunts and uncles.
Thus it was on our first day back in Utah. I will be posting snipets of some of the highlights of our trip as I get around to it. I am rediscovering how hard it is to get anything done without a group of enthusiastic in-laws at Bella's disposal.

2 comments:

Erin said...

Glad you had a fun trip. i had no idea the North Layton changed their colors. That makes me sad. I wasn't a huge fan of the orange and black but there is something with tradition.

Cecilia said...

I wonder if they still have the Longhorns all over the walls, ready to gorge unsuspecting sevies. I didn't notice.