First off, I'm amazed, grateful, and quite frankly, proud that I...with some help from Andrew, was able to find such great ticket prices. We flew out of New Orleans, a 3.5 hour drive from Navarre, connected in Denver, with our final destination being Salt Lake City. All for the grand price of $1086 for 4 tickets. Plus $224 for parking, $184 for dog sitting, and an unknown amount for gas. Not too bad. I'm curious as to how much this will all cost in 5+ years.
My packing helper passed out not too long into the job. The perfect way to help me out, if I do say so myself.
We arrived to Utah with no problem or delay. It was past midnight once we got to my parent's house. The girls did not fall asleep on the drive so it took about an hour to get everyone settled and in bed, including ourselves. Poor Ellie did not sleep well our first night in town. I blame it on the altitude change and it being her first flight ever. We got her sippin' some tylenol and down for a nap not too long after everyone's morning got started the next day. Andrew, Kate, Abby and myself went to meet up with Aunt Christine and Robin at Hill's Air Museum while Ellie stayed home with Grandpa Scott so she could finish her nap.
The Air Museum was fun but mostly it was great to catch up with Christine and meet her boyfriend, Robin. They were very gracious in forgiving us for showing up quite a bit later than we had planned. We thought we were taking a short cut by going through Hill AFB but, holy crap, it added like 30 minutes onto the drive! Every stinkin' road that google directed us to go down was closed. Talk about crazy irritating. We were glad to be able to laugh it off with them once we met up.
The Air Museum was fun but mostly it was great to catch up with Christine and meet her boyfriend, Robin. They were very gracious in forgiving us for showing up quite a bit later than we had planned. We thought we were taking a short cut by going through Hill AFB but, holy crap, it added like 30 minutes onto the drive! Every stinkin' road that google directed us to go down was closed. Talk about crazy irritating. We were glad to be able to laugh it off with them once we met up.
Church was just fine. Per my normal Sunday, I was walking the halls with little miss Eleanor. This Sunday we were joined by Abigail who wanted nothing to do with nursery. My parents' house is close enough that Grandma walked home with the girls after church was over.
Monday, me and mine drove down to Provo to see how much BYU has changed. Lots of new buildings have gone up, roads have disappeared, and reappeared elsewhere. It was nice walking through the campus and remembering the good ol' days. The days of no money and little responsibility, at least compared to what we have now.
We stopped by the dining hall and got some of Andrew's favorite - mint brownies. Abby enjoyed them immensely and did NOT want to share.
Kate enjoyed her cookie with sprinkles.
After our jaunt down memory lane, we drove over to Grammy's new house - also Julie and Bryson's new house - which has been deemed the PMP or Provo Money Pit. Let's just say it has some work needing to be done. It is a great space, though. A wonderful little yard, covered patio, nice living space, great storage, great natural light... it's gonna be great. We had a fun time visiting with everyone and laughing at all the PMP has to offer.
Jon, Noreen, and Baby Emma arrived Wednesday, as did Jared and Kristen. Baby Emma is just the cutest little baby ever. Kate and Abby LOVED holding her, especially Abby.
Kate discovered comics while in Utah. Calvin and Hobbes, my favorite. Aunt Rachael was the best at reading them so that they were super funny. Kate loved every minute.
Ellie slowly got used to other people holding her. Grandpa loved holding her but Ellie could only allow it for so long. And whenever she saw or heard me, her time with whoever was holding her was over instantly.
The famdamily.
I have three pictures exactly like this one with Uncle Spencer holding each of my girls.
Rachael got her endowments taken out on Thursday in the Ogden temple. Holy cow, that temple is massive. And beautiful. It was a great day.
There was a gal inside the temple that appeared to not be married as she had no wedding ring on. A few members of our family recognized this and pounced on the girl as she walked out of the temple. They were interested for Spencer's sake. Turns out she is single and once "we" got a hold of her name, facebook was immediately sought to for more information.
After the temple was family pictures. Last time we were all together in the family was when Andrew and I got married. LONG time ago :)
Everyone tried their hardest to get all of the girls to look at the camera for this picture. I wish I could have a picture of what they were seeing. Probably a lot of silliness.
After pictures we all got in on some volleyball. Thank heavens no one broke or twisted anything.
KC-135 flying over
Friday was the wedding. It was beautiful. I really enjoyed talking to some of Kaiden's family. I was especially impressed by his mom and aunts. All beautiful, friendly people that are now my family, too.
The girls did great waiting for everyone to come out of the temple and then smiling for the pictures afterwards. Well, at least some of them.
The reception went well. The cake was so very pretty. I was mostly impressed with the temple topper which I learned was made my Kaiden's grandfather! He blows glass. Ya. So cool.
We discovered that the floor was rather filthy by those who decided to not wear shoes. Like, really filthy.
The next couple days, family from my mom's side gathered at the Williams' house to play Rook. We played many rounds, all entertaining, especially the ones that the Schramm's were playing in. That family is intense when it comes to card games. I love it. Makes it so fun to play!
Grandma Bonnie couldn't make it out to Rachael's wedding so me and mine, and Jon and his, along with my parents, went to visit her on Sunday. She was happy to see us but sad to see us go. It was a wonderful little visit that I'm glad we got to make.
It'd been a couple years since we'd been up to Idaho Falls to see Grandma Louise. Abby and Ellie had never met her either, so we knew we needed to go up to say hi. The girls had fun on Grandma's swing set in the back yard and trying to pet Sadie dog who was sweeter than I had remembered. Their last dog wasn't so friendly and so it surprised me when Sadie would hover around the girls, mostly Abby, waiting for some lovin'. We saw Uncle Ron for a short bit before he headed off to work and then took Grandma out for lunch before heading back to Utah. Another nice visit that I was glad we could make.
Independence Day was a lot of fun for the girls this year. Last year they still didn't really like all the loud noises or the sparklers. This year they enjoyed the fireworks and couldn't get enough of the sparklers.
Lots of people in the neighborhood shot off fireworks on the 3rd. It was quite an impressive show. Glad they spent the $$$ so we could enjoy from the comfort of my parents' driveway.
On the 4th we drove up to Liberty, UT for a whole bunch of American fun!
There was muttin' bustin' where kids are placed on a sheep and hold on for dear life as the sheep runs for its own life. The kids only lasted a second or two. I think 5 seconds might have been the longest. It was fun to watch.
Pig catchin' was up next followed by chicken catching. The youngest age group, 3-5 year olds, was the funnest/cutest to watch.
Poor little Ellie took a nap wherever she could on this trip. Nap/sleep schedule is totally off whenever we're away from home. She did okay and was lucky to have lots of willing shoulders on which she could rest her sweet little head.
Kate was adamant about wanting to participate in the fish catch. I tried to get her to catch a chicken or a pig but she insisted on the fish...up until it was time to catch the fish. With lots of coaxing, a few threats, and a guilt trip or two, I gave up. One minute later she decided she was going to do it! Man was I surprised. And proud. So we went and she got a fish...only to learn that we are suppose to eat the fish. Um, what!? She was pretty crushed. So on the drive home we stopped by a lake and set her fish free. She wasn't happy about that either but at least her fish wasn't going to get eaten. I guess we need to go fishin' sometime as a family so we can introduce Kate to the circle of life that ends up in our bellies.
We celebrated my Dad's birthday two days early so that Jon and his and me and mine could be there to celebrate. One year older, one year wiser. The cake was delicious and we all had fun playing Phase 10 afterwards.
We flew out crazy early Friday morning with our connecting flight in Denver. Our layover was 7 hours. We remembered the USO after two hours of walking around. It totally saved us. They had a kids area with two comfy chairs where I slept for a little bit while Kate and Abby played. Kate also ended up taking a two hour nap, as did Andrew in the quite area of the USO.
We arrived safely in New Orleans and were able to drive home that evening. It sure felt good to be home. We're back to our usual routine and enjoying life.
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