Returning to our Happy Place: A Vacation(!)

In the midst of Life Happening in the last month, Tim and I both had the thought (separately, but at the same time) that we should take a trip to Torrey. Torrey is in southern Utah just outside of Capitol Reef National Park, and it's been a special getaway for my family and for Tim and I. We really needed some family time and the thought of being in Torrey again literally brought tears to my eyes, so we took advantage of Tim's week off between school semesters to head down.

The last time we went down to Torrey was two years ago when Georgie was only 7 months old, so this trip was way overdue. We've done very little traveling since having kids, which sometimes makes me feel like a wimp, but the price of not sleeping is usually just too high. But for Torrey, we decided it was time to brave it. It was literally this huge, freeing epiphany when I realized that we could take extra measures to make it work and we could, in fact, have a vacation. (As a side note and for posterity's sake, we put Rosie in the tiny bedroom in the pack-n-play and set up our baby gates in the loft to create a pen for Georgie so she couldn't wander during the night. We also let Georgie stay up super late so she was tired enough to sleep through both nights. Whatever works, right?)

It was rainy and cold for 2/3 of our trip, which meant no stars, and we never did get to take the girls hiking (we had a low tire that we wanted to take care of before it went flat and ended up missing our hiking window), but we got our family time and we got to be in Torrey - the only two things that really mattered. The best part, for me, was when we went to the park for lunch on our second day and had a blast flying a kite, swinging, and just playing all together. The sun came out on our last day and we had another wonderful picnic before setting out for home (and as a bonus, the girls slept for most of the car ride home). It was a great first vacation as a family of four and we will most definitely go back!

Rosie's first looks-like-a-selfie-but-wasn't

We're in Torrey! We prepped her on how exciting it would be and she reacted appropriately when we got there. Granted, she may have just been happy to get out of the car.

Dinner at Slacker's!

Tim got the girls to look at the camera by blowing raspberries, which of course, they copied. Love those lips.

Let's go fly a kite!

She insisted on going higher and higher...

Rosie asked to get back in the swing at least three times while we were there. I'd say she loved it.

It was super-duper windy. Can you tell?

The view from the back porch. I take this same photograph every single time (usually, multiple times) we're down there. I can't help it, it's so beautiful!

Awkwardly laughing selfie, but we had to document that we were there.

Just drinking some juice on the floor while Mama tried to do dishes, no biggie.

Eventually they ended up on the back porch so I could finish packing us up. They loved it for about twenty minutes and I love this picture of my littles soaking up our view.

Our one "hike" to Panorama Point - again, super duper windy!

Sometimes Rosie poses for the camera; other times, she specifically and pointedly will not look at me. This is as good as we got.

This one is getting printed. I just love everything about it - my girls, they're holding hands, the gorgeous cliffs in the back, the blue blue sky and green trees - seriously. It does not get better.