Normal

Let me say, last week was the best birthday ever!!  Seeing my family was so fun and refreshing.  The only drawback was the flying standby business (as always).

Thursday - 24

Jared, Gizmo, and I flew from Madison to Minneapolis.  I saw the Mall of America in the air and told Jared, "If we get stuck here, we're so going there!!"  We couldn't get on the first flight to Salt Lake.  For those who don't know, Salt Lake is the western hub for Delta which makes it very hard for standbys to get on these flights.  The second plane, I got on easily but Jared barely made it on.  So, the fact that we got on the plane together was a good start.  Picked up the rental car in Salt Lake.  Thanks to my membership (that work gave me), they upgraded my car and gave us something nice.  Renting a car for a few days for only $80 was completely worth every buck.  Anyways, we had a big family get-together at Cafe Rio for my birthday.  Why Cafe Rio?  Because it's awesome (and not in Wisconsin).

Friday - 25

There was a big surprise right next to the Winco store; a Culver's opened up in Utah.  We're like wait a second, I thought we were in Utah.  Culver's is Wisconsin-based, so we were very surprised to see it opening in Utah.  We went to see a lot of family members including our brand new nephew.  Restaurant choices include Carl's Jr (Hardee's just isn't the same) and Sconecutter.

Saturday - 26

I took my siblings shopping.  They were so happy to see me.  And it was fun hanging out with them.  It's also a nice reminder that I'm still not ready for kids.  I like being selfish and only thinking of myself (I really do), and that mentality doesn't go well with having kids.  Anyways, we also talked Jared's brothers into trying out Culver's.  Who'd have thought we'd be eating at Culver's in Utah??

Sunday - 27

We saw all of our grandparents one last time.  I really don't remember all of the specifics of my trip other than I loved it.  Granted, it did snow a bit.  And I do have to say, Utahns are very spoiled with their snow.  Someone said there was ice on the ground, and I asked where.  She pointed out a small thing of ice.  Yeah, that is ice but I don't think a two-inch piece of ice should be scaring everyone into saying there's ice everywhere.  Trust me, after living in Wisconsin, I know what ice everywhere looks like (the ground turns into a solid block of ice that never ends)...

Monday - 28

The most disappointing day of our trip.  We got to the airport at 5 in the morning hoping to get on an early flight to Detroit.  Turns out everyone with money flies out to Utah over the weekend for skiing, and then they fly back on Monday.  Yeah, we didn't get on any of the early flights.  The one we did get on was a very delayed one going to Minneapolis (arrived in Minneapolis at 10:30pm).  Since it was so delayed, we missed our connecting flight.  And we figured renting a car would cost the same as trying to find a hotel with a low dog fee.  So, we rented another car to drive home.  Initially, they told us there were no cars available.  But thanks again to my job's perks, we got a car to drive home with. The only drawback is it cost more than the one we rented for the weekend (one-way rentals cost a lot).

And now I'm trying to get back into the normalness of my life.  It's hard going back to my long days at work.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job.  The hours (~7:30-~5:30) just take a lot of getting used to.

Gizmo went to the vet dentist on Wednesday.  His teeth are still too crowded.  Another tooth was pulled.  And they sent us home with antibiotics.  Apparently, the antibiotics don't taste very well.  He jumps up and down when we pull out his pain medication (arthritis), but he tries to hide when I pull out the antibiotics.  Other than that, he's doing well.