Sarah came to town

I just took my sister to the airport and said good-bye. The end of the pre-employment season guests are over. This weekend, Davis and I will take our anniversary trip to Zion National Park and then Tuesday I begin work. I am so thankful for the time with my sister. Now she is flying through the air, I am beginning to really feel the anxiety of new job looming. I hope the anxiety doesn't remain constant on my mind this weekend. I am a very accomplished worrier. Even though I know I can do the job, anything new can be quite overwhelming and scary. It's that feeling of wanting to get it over with but also hoping to drag these final days out as much as possible. But let's not focus on that. The work will come soon enough.

this cutie at beans & brews after ikea

Sarah spent just over a week with us. We may have finally convinced someone to come live here. We are trying to convince everyone, with very poor results. Sarah just graduated from college and has a job set up in Charlottesville, VA at a school for autism. She loves special education and has a passion for special needs children. It was really encouraging to talk to her about her passion, it's the kind of desire that is contagious and makes you want to find your passion/calling and pursue it. But she also is looking into grad school eventually and University of Utah has exactly what she wants to do. Maybe in a year or two she'll join us. Plus, she enjoys the west and isn't afraid of adventure.

We did a lot while she was here. The main event was an overnight camping trip to Dinosaur National Monument where we met up with some friends from Fort Collins. I think I'll save that for another post. I have some chore catching up to do so we can have small group here tonight.

Sarah is one of the few people who visit where I feel comfortable completely immersing her into our life. So, we end up dragging her to a variety of things we don't always make other guests do. She attended our small group, went to lunch at Davis' work and met his coworkers, and we took her on a camping trip with people she has only met once before.

yum? ikea seafood spreads

She doesn't like shopping, like all of us in the Feero family. But she needed to experience the insanity that is Ikea. She handled the first part fairly well but at the end she was tired and overwhelmed. Coffee outing was necessary for post Ikea. We took this picture jokingly to send to Davis, you can tell Sarah is excited to try either. Davis response was "crab but either one sounds awesome". Silly, sweet Davis... :) Of course we didn't get them since it was supposed to be funny.

my favorite street corner

We went for walks and talked. Ingrid usually tagged along. She loves Sarah and Sarah loves her.

yummy gelato in 9th & 9th district

Sarah, not a food lover like Davis and I, was a really great sport about our food obsessions. We tried the local gelato place. Davis and I both picked the coconut sticky rice gelato. So good.  We also took her to our favorite coffee roasting place, a Belgian waffle restaurant, and a kick-butt Indian food house. Also, Sarah was introduced to several of our staple meals, like greek meatballs. Best of all, we had several nights where we made or created our own cocktails at home.

First of many homemade vesper martinis

Sarah loves mountains. We do too. We took her up a few local trails as well. The first night we trekked back up to the Living Room, dodging a rattlesnake on the way.  Sarah and I went on our own adventures while Davis worked. We found a great spot for very little effort, after we went to great effort to see the end of the trail. Ingrid enjoyed it too.

adventure dog

great spot for a picnic

Also, we checked out a few attractions. We went to the zoo and the Heritage Park, as well as other places. The Heritage Park was advertising "baby animal season", so we felt the need to see the baby animals. It is collection of Utah pioneer homes and memorials. It is very heavily influenced by the Mormon settlers but there was a shout out to the pony express, fur traders, and Native Americans. It was almost completely void of other guests the day we went and felt a little strange.

my favorite and most terrifying animal

sod house, similar to the one from "on the banks of plum creek"

Sarah was excited to climb into the sod house. She is a big fan of the Little House on the Prairie series. We read many very interesting signs.

hmm...

twin baby goats

not sure why this guy was here

All in all, we had a fabulous visit. Love my sister and am so excited for her future. I am glad I'll get to see her again in August for family beach trip and Labor Day weekend for Richard and Angel's wedding. Now, time for chores. Next time, DINOSAURS!!