Utah! with its Mountains and Valleys…

I have learned a lot these last two years being married to Mr. Bluth and one surprise was learning the state song for Utah. I still can’t help but laugh that Mr. Bluth knows it and I can’t help but roll my eyes every time that he breaks out singing it. I am sure there is a state song for Idaho, but it was not engraved in my head as a child.

The song does speak truth because by golly those mountains in Utah are glorious.

We visited Utah and those glorious Mountains the last weekend in March and we were not missing the snow that was falling back in Chicago! We celebrated another Bluth wedding – Yay! Rory & Paul! and tried to see as many family and friends as we could. It was a beautiful wedding, but the most beautiful thing was the bride. Rory was glowing.

Now you can all roll your eyes, but I just have to say that we were #blessed. In order to become an attorney, one must take the bar. One part of the bar is a national ethics test. The test happens to be offered only twice a year and just so happened to fall on March 28. We were #blessed because the wedding was on Friday and that Mr. Bluth could take the test anywhere in the country! Saturday we set off early and I went to my grandmother’s house and Mr. Bluth went to the University of Utah. I was extremely #blessed because I spent a wonderful morning and afternoon with my grandmother. We had breakfast together, she read the newspaper, we tried to do the Jumbo puzzle together and eventually had to call my mom for help, we cleaned a little, and the best part for me was “interviewing” her. I had some questions prepared and we just sat for a couple of hours just talking about her life. While I don’t remember all the details she told me, I will never forget the feelings I had just sitting there and talking to her. I have an incredible grandmother and she has been and will always be a wonderful example to me. When Mr. Bluth got back we had lunch together and then spent time outside. When I think of my grandmother, I think of her yard. Oh my goodness, I can’t possibly explain to anyone how much I love her yard. I will say this: her yard = so many memories. It was a treat to show Mr. Bluth that you have to step on every step that is laying in her grass and the thrill of swinging from her tree swing. It was great to just sit on her porch and listen to her wind chimes with the warm sun shining down on us as we watched the squirrels run around the old trees that fill her yard. I am ready to go back.

After leaving my grandmother’s house we had a couple of hours until we were meeting up with friends in the evening so, to quote the state song, we enjoyed “Utah with its mountains and valleys!” as we hiked the Y mountain down in Provo. Once upon a time (aka, junior year in college)  I was in really great shape. I was fully taking advantage of all the outdoor goodness that Utah offered and my amazing gym membership where I was always going to some class. That year, my endurance and strength level had me running to the Y mountain and even running up the mountain. I could never understand when someone would say that it was a hard hike. Well, I was humbled. It has been over two years since we have done any kind of hike and I was huffing and puffing up that mountain. We walk miles all over Chicago, but I learned that it is just not the same. Wow, elevation is serious and, other than flying, I don’t think I have been that far up above sea level for over two years. Pros and cons to living in the Midwest. Due to our pride, we never stopped moving forward, but we definitely did stop talking. The view was incredible and we enjoyed seeing that little campus that we use to call home.

We spent the rest of the weekend visiting friends and family and made it safely back home to Chicago.