Sun Valley

Landon and I spent 2 nights in Sun Valley, Idaho this week! Landon had the opportunity to attend an education conference paid for by the school district, and he was allowed to bring his spouse, so I jumped on the chance to get away. Emma has had a tough time with overnight separation from us, so we prepared her the best we could. My mom came from Washington to be with the girls, they planned a packed schedule of fun things to do, Emma slept in our bed, took a Benedryl an hour before bedtime and we talked on the phone several times a day. It was really stressful leading up to the actual time we left (a full-blown panic attack--vomiting, trembling, the works), but about 10 minutes after we were gone, Emma was fine, and stayed fine the rest of the time we were gone. It was a huge victory for her and I think we're taking baby steps to being able to endure girls camp next summer. I really appreciate my mom being able to stay with the girls and being so compassionate with Emma. Both girls had such a fun time with Grammy.

Landon and I had so much fun! Before kids, we had many opportunities to go to fun places together, but since we've had kids and especially since we've re-started our lives in Idaho, time away has been a luxury. I attended some classes with Landon, stayed in bed and read a lot, took some relaxing baths, and ate some great food in Ketchum. The time couldn't have been better spent!

We gassed up, got our 44-ounce Diet Pepsi, and hit the ugly road between here and Sun Valley.

Here's driving through Arco, where Craters of the Moon National Monument is located:We stayed at the Sun Valley Lodge, which is the nicest place to stay in Sun Valley. The room we had was so nice! Earnest Hemingway once stayed in room 206, and we stayed in room 209. Kind of cool. There was actually chocolate on the beds each night.
So the toilet was really weird. It tilts up so you feel like you're sitting on a recliner when you're doing your business. It forces a man to sit down to pee, because the seat won't stay up when you try to put it up. I tried to coach Landon to hold the seat up with one hand, hunch down and aim, with the other hand "helping" if needed. He declined my helpful suggestions. By the time we left, he had figured out how to keep the seat up by moving the back of the toilet off the tank. Evidently sitting to pee is like being a woman in Landon's mind.

This was the lobby on our floor. I needed more days so I could spend some time in there reading my book. I just couldn't read my book everywhere I wanted to read it. There were too many options.
Landon had complimentary meals at his conference, but I had to buy food to eat in the room. This is Landon eating the gourmet muffin I had bought for my breakfast.

The room had robes and slippers for us to use. I actually called the front desk and asked if I had to pay extra if I used the slippers. They said no, so I used them and brought them home. I also brought the other pair home as a gift for my mom. That's exactly how white trash I am.

When Landon and I walked around some of the richy-rich shops at the resort, we came across a red horse for sale that only cost $14,000. I asked Landon to take a picture of me pointing to its expensive red horse butt.Landon wanted me to take a picture of a rain jacket that had a price tag of $1,500.The weather was sunny and warm (60s!), and we ate lunch outside both days. We ate at a fantastic steakhouse in Ketchum one night, and found a really great thrift shop in town. I attended one of the classes on Friday and heard a speaker who was AMAZING! I'm going to buy this guy's book about the importance of attachment between kids and parents. The guy's name is Gabor Mate. He's a doctor and has written a great book about ADD, one about addiction, one about stress-disease connection and one about the importance of attachment. It was such a fun couple of days and I am so grateful that the girls had a good experience, that my mom so willingly came to stay with us, and that Landon and I can have just as much fun hanging out after the kids go to bed every night as we did in Sun Valley.

*More posts to come highlighting the girls' fun times with Grammy, and other stuff we did this week.