A Trip!

Most everyone probably didn't know this, but I just went with my two little boys to Utah this past week. It was a great trip! I went to bid farewell to my sister Susan, who is leaving to serve a mission in Carlsbad, California for a year and a half. In spite of it taking 8 hours to do the 6 hour leg of the trip and 10 hours to do the 5 hour leg, I made it to Utah in time to see Susan get set apart, which was neat. My brother Joe, who is attending BYU there, and his friend Jessica was kind enough to watch my little boys while he and I went to that, so afterwards Joe, Jessica, the boys, and I went out to eat at this nifty little noodle place. It was exactly like Chipotle, but served noodles. It was yummy. Then the boys and I went back to our hotel, which for being a budget hotel was amazingly nice. It was a lot better than I had anticipated.

The next day we woke up and hurriedly got ready to meet up with Susan, with whom we spent a few hours. When time was up, we gave parting hugs and goodbyes, she handed over her cell phone and a few other things she can't take on a mission, and off she went! We didn't go to the MTC with her, a friend took her, but we did get to enjoy some time with her. She was happy that she got the chance to see Alexander, because otherwise she wouldn't have seen him until he was 2 or older. I realize that for some families that's no big deal, but in our family we're pretty close, so that seemed quite sad to miss out entirely on meeting one of her nephews for that long. Personally, I also enjoyed the drive, the trip, seeing my siblings, and visiting Utah. It was so gorgeous.

Afte dropping off Susan, we went back to the hotel and the boys and I miraculously all fell asleep together and had a nap! When we woke up we got ready and went out to meet Joe and Jessica at "the duck pond". It's this place on the BYU campus where there's a tiny pond filled with ducks, and you can feed them. The night before, I had stopped at a grocery store on my way back to the hotel and gotten, among other things, two loaves of bread. We used both loaves. Christopher (and admittedly myself) had a blast!!!! These ducks were completely 'people-a-tized' and would eat out of your hand. They also would walk up behind you and steal your bread from your lap if you were dumb enough to set it down momentarily. That was actually very hillarious, because once that duck stole the whole big piece of bread, the other ducks started what looked to be a game of full-contact football in their attempts to steal it. Also, Christopher wondered if the ducks would do tricks like Onyx (his dog), so he held up a piece of bread, and what do you know! One duck sized up the situation, jumped/flew up to grab the bread, and dropped back down with bread firmly in beak. It was awesome! We also saw turtles, and I picked one up to let Christopher/Jessica see it, but neither one wanted to really get too close or touch it, so I put it back. There were also some adorable ducklings, which we tried to feed with little success.

After that I ran around a bit with the boys, visiting the Provo temple, and a store along our way, eventually winding up at the hotel. Alexander cried for 4 hours that evening. I was glad that we were in a satilite room and the hotel wasn't busy, because I'm sure somebody would have been pretty mad if there was anybody near enough to have to listen to that. It was then that I realized how vital it is to have two parents, because the baby drove me crazy and there was nothing I could do and no way to take a break. In the end I lay him in his crib and let him cry until he fell asleep, which was two of the four total hours that he cried. Christopher doesn't like his crying, so I gave Christopher a bath so he wouldn't hear it so much, then I sunggled him to sleep with me.

In the morning we took it slow, watching morning cartoons, eating breakfast in bits when we felt like it, and cleaning up and getting ready to go at a nice slow pace. Joe came over after his classes to help me out by emptying my camera on to some disks so that I could take more pictures; I had filled up my memory card already. Then we went on an adventure to Bridal Veil Falls, where neither of us had been before. It was really great to spend time with Joe, he's amazing and I'm so proud to have him as my brother. We arrived at a trailhead, put the baby in the baby backpack, and started walking. Before we even started the walk, Christopher had found a hill, climbed up, slid down, and gotten covered completely (really) in brown powdery dirt. I was glad that we were going to find some water. I didn't want him back in the car like that!

We walked a ways and found the falls, which were beautiful!!! The water was very cold, but we played in it anyway. Christopher ran around for over an hour, climbing the falls, splashing in the water, playing imaginary games, and being cute. I sat with the baby mostly, but I really enjoyed myself. We eventually left when I realized that I needed to get on the road again.

The drive home was much faster than the drive up. The boys slept or were mostly good, so I didn't have to stop as much. All in all, even though the trip had it's stresses, it was fabulous and I was so thankful I got to go. I enjoyed the time with my siblings, doing fun things with Christopher, and being in such a beautiful place. But it's also great to be home!