In the beginning of March, I had a one-track mind: getting ready for Cambodia. I was shopping, packing, planning, getting gifts for the boys and my parents while we would be away. It was non-stop and very exciting. One night we went and had dinner at Thackerays. We got to see their new place and enjoy a delicious dinner they made for us. Then we went to La Caille for dessert and appetizers, thanks to a work gift card that Johnny had. While at La Caille we went over the upcoming Cambodia itinerary. We had a really fun time!
Gifts for the boys and my parents
In case I have not mentioned this yet, here is how the whole Cambodia trip came to be: Amy loves travelling! She has been to many countries with different organizations, sometimes not knowing anyone beforehand. A few years ago she went to Cambodia because she was friends with a girl named Neht (pronounced like night). Neht is from Cambodia and was in Utah for school. Neht moved back home and Amy had been wanting to go back. It is not uncommon for Amy to invite me on trips or ask me to travel places with her, but because of kids and things, it is usually too difficult. Because she recently got married this trip could be a couples trip. Our family situation was also in a perfect place since I am not pregnant and Colson is old enough to not require too much. The biggest deciding factor, however, was the fact that Amy found plane tickets for $400 round trip!! Cambodia is also known for being really cheap, cheap food, transportation, and accommodations. At $400 round trip we felt like we couldn’t pass up this opportunity. When would we get another chance like this where it is cheap, with friends, and have a connection within the country? We took the plunge and bought the tickets. The next big moment would be asking someone to tend our kids. We decided to ask my parents since the Grubers have had two opportunities for extended stays with our kids while we were gone on Arbon cruises. My parents (and Bryan) were very generous and welcomed the boys to stay with them. I was so grateful and knew the boys would have fun and be in good hands. It is definitely hard asking anyone to watch your kids for so long; at the same it is such a great chance for them to build greater bonds and relationships. I’m so lucky to have two sets of parents willing and able to tend the boys for trips like this. So lucky!
The month of March means St. Patrick’s Day...as Charlie likes to remind me. Just as we did last year, Charlie requested sugar cookies with green frosting and sprinkles. So that is what we did. Although Charlie is very persistent and demanding with his holiday cookie making, it is fun to have an excuse to make these treats that I would otherwise not take the time to do.
For the Bachelor finale, Kim, Camry, and even Kyle came over. The icing on the cake was that it was Pi Day! So I made a pie for the occasion. It was a very fun night. Nick chose Vanessa, which we saw a mile away, but we all agreed that Raven was actually the choice he should have gone with. She seemed much more real and the type that would have made him happier. Oh well, that seems to be the trend with this show.
That week was the week of our departure. I was very busy spending a ridiculous amount of time getting all of my beauty preparations taken care of: eyelashes, tan, wax, shellac manicure, new clothes. For some reason, all of these things seemed “essential” for a trip like this. It’s a little embarrassing. Luckily, Amy and I got our eyelashes done for free because she did a photography trade with a girl who does them in her home. I had never gotten them done before, but they were definitely worth the three hour application time. It was so nice not having to spend any time doing makeup while on the trip (plus it was so hot any makeup would have been sweating off anyways). Getting all of these “essentials” done a few days before departure, in the right order (because of waxing needing to be before tanning, and tanning before manicure, etc etc) was quite the miracle, especially considering needing to find times that would work for the other person and figuring out what to do with the boys.
Another important preparation was getting our media devices in order. Thanks to credit card points, we were able to splurge and get a DJI Mavic Pro drone and a GoPro gimbal, the Karma Grip. Lucky for us, this could be a business expense/investment as well as a huge personal reward. We were very excited to get these things to use for our trip. We got them just in time to be able to test them out a little bit before hand (around our house, Alpine, and even shooting a little mountain biking footage with Bryan). They are both SO great! They definitely made a HUGE difference in the video footage we were able to get. It also doesn't hurt traveling with a professional photographer! Amy brought her nice DSLR camera, so we had quite the well-rounded video stock.
Thursday, March 16th finally arrived: The day before Cambodia. That evening we loaded everything up and went to Draper. We picked up a pizza and ate it with my parents and Bryan. We ate it on a blanket in the front yard to take advantage of the nice weather. The next day was the holiday so we had a Leprechaun hunt that night before finally putting the boys to bed. We stayed the night in Draper and Bryan took us to the airport at 4:00 am, picked up Amy and Johnny in Sandy on our way.
Next post: CAMBODIA!!
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