Anniversary weekend - 2022

We kept our anniversary pretty low-key this year. We were originally planning to stay overnight in downtown Salt Lake City, but at the last minute, we decided we had too much going on and canceled our reservation. 

We still got dressed up and went downtown on Friday night. We had dinner reservations at a restaurant named Eva. We arrived downtown well before our reservation, which was somewhat by design. While we waited we walked up by City Creek. We were going to walk around Temple Square (we have done that on many past anniversaries), but Temple Square is under major renovation and the Temple is all torn apart. Instead, we walked around City Creek and reminisced on the past 11 years. 

As our reservation approached we headed back to Eva. This was our first time dining here. They serve a wide variety of small plates that are meant to be shared. We ordered a variety of dishes to share. Our favorites were the Eva pizza and the chocolate cake we got for dessert. This meal was fun because it was such a relaxing experience. The food came in waves and took a while, which is part of the appeal. While we waited for the food we sat and enjoyed each other’s company. This type of dining allowed us to slow down and focus on each other. 

We spent most of Saturday working on house projects. We had a tight deadline to get some stuff done. We had a list - cleaning our garage, weeding the yard, and cleaning the carpets - and we focused on getting it done. To clean the carpets we rented a carpet cleaning machine from Home Depot. I do not know where I heard about this, but it was cheap, less than $100, and fairly easy. We were able to clean all of our carpets in a couple of hours. We knocked out almost everything on our list and the house looks great. 

On Saturday night we attended our neighborhood amazing race. This is quite the event each year. Our neighbors down the street put it together and it is legit. There were 9 teams of 4-5 people each. Before we race they have a potluck with snacks and treats. Then they split us into our teams (spouses are split up into different teams) and give us some ground rules. This year the race took place in Draper, ~20 minutes from Daybreak. We had boundaries so we knew where we would be racing. My team had a good strategy that really helped. We used google maps to look at businesses and landmarks in the area while we were driving there. In total there were 10 spots where we had to find clues. It took around 2-3 hours to complete the race. The clues weren’t too difficult, one of the more difficult ones was a dice cipher. Once you knew where to look finding the clue was a challenge. It would be hidden in the locale, but it could be anywhere - under benches, up high in a light post, or in bushes. We would always split up and run around checking everywhere. Sometimes other groups would be in the same location so we would try to find it quietly to not give the hiding spot away. Every team got one free call where you could ask about a clue, after that there was a penalty if you called. Late in the race, my team decided that if we saw a clue that looked difficult we would call without wasting any time trying to solve it. We got a clue and called and it turned out this was a great one to call on because the hiding spot for the next clue was really difficult, but on our call, they told us where it was so we could drive right to it. My team came in second in large part because of that call.

The amazing race was a fun neighborhood tradition. We attended this year because this is our last hurrah with the neighbors. We will be moving soon and we are going to miss this amazing neighborhood.