Trippin' in Utah

Here is a "short" synopsis of our week in Utah. LOL...hope you make it through alive, mu-hahahaha

Thursday-Saturday and Monday-Tuesday: WENT SHOPPING, PLAYED WITH FAMILY

Sunday: VISITED BAERWALDTS and PETTITS

Now for the expanded version...

Thursday: Both Amelia and I started off the day really tired. Sleeping in the same bed with kangaroo girl is not fun. We went to NPS for some food shopping since a soldier on leave, an all natural eater, a no gluten eater, and a rabbit make for sparse food. Jeff bought about 5 pounds of hot dogs, bread, and sausage to live off of...plus milk. My usual favorite good deals haunt did not have many good deals this time. I did find cereal for $.25 per box. After a nap we went to see Justin's cousin, Nancy. She recently had a baby boy, Kyle, who was diagnosed with SMA. I was very happy she allowed me to photograph her son and girls. We made due with a sheet, blanket, and pillows! All in all the pictures turned out super cute. It was nice to visit with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bryan.

I made sloppy joes for dinner then went over to James and Miekka's to play. The kids ate Popsicles and played. Amelia loved going up and down Seth's bunk bed ladder. She ended up melting towards the end and showed them a small tantrum!! Miekka let me borrow one of their Thomas the Train inflatable beds. Amelia slept and napped in the bed with absolutely no problems. Thank heavens!!!

Friday: I dropped Amelia off at Catherine Taylor's to play with Kate while I went to a huge consignment sale. My mission was to find a play kitchen for Amelia's birthday. No luck! I did score some cute summer clothes (mostly shorts and skirts) for her. Miekka came with and found some shoes and outfits for Lia. I stopped at Kohl's to get Justin some dress shirts for work. Luckily, the store was selling their shirts for a really good deal. Catherine and I chatted for an hour. It was heaven!!

We met Miekka at the Hobby Lobby after naps. I restocked my silk flowers, cotton yarn, and brads. For dinner we ate sushi to celebrate Miekka's birthday! This was Jeff's first taste of sushi, I think he enjoyed it. Miekka showed me the progress on their laundry/craft room. It looks awesome. We ate ice cream for dessert in Miekka's honor. Happy Birthday!

Saturday: Jeff picked up Dad at 10:30. I went to JoAnn's looking for brown flowers...no luck. Shopping drastically reduced now that Dad arrived. We spent the first hour or so telling stories and talking. Amelia talked non-stop to dad about everything she could think of. It was cute to hear her saying "dampa Dane." Dad toured the house and made plans to built an addition for the house. James and Miekka hosted a BBQ for dinner, making fajitas on the grill. As usual the food was scrum-dittly-umptious.

Sunday: I attended my old ward for sacrament meeting. There are a lot of pregnant ladies now...me included! Already I only knew about half the folks at church. We zoomed back to home base and picked up Jeff then drove to Wellsville. James and Jana also drove up with passengers. Grandma and Grandpa Baerwaldt were glad to have visitors! All the little people entertained us by jumping on the little tramp and doing what kids do best. Lia is a smiley little gal and really fun to hold. She will give you a huge gummy grin! Grandma made a yummy roast beef dinner. I made a fruit pizza for dessert. Amelia managed to spill grape juice all over her white Easter dress. We stayed a little while longer while her outfit went through the laundry. From there we drove down to Mt Green to visit with Uncle Matt and Aunt Laura. They were celebrating Melia's birthday so all their kids were there. Aunt Sally showed up with her husband and kids too! Mia loved running up and down the stone stairs in their backyard. Melia's little boy, Michael, was enthralled with Amelia...he exclaimed that she was a girl because she had a huge flower in her hair. Matt served angel food cake with strawberries to everyone. Yum, yum. We had fun visiting and catching up. John and Courtenay were home from Oregon when we arrived back. John is certainly the life of a party. Conversation was fun and entertaining.

Monday: I went to Gardner Village to get some birthday pictures of Amelia. I really wanted to get her a pettiskirt but the shop was closed (huge bummer). I was really proud of myself for not spending any money at Pine Needles on uber-cute fabric. The highlight was riding a pony named Sparky. Amelia said, giddy-up and yippee, during her ride. She was a little worried with the pony blew some air. She wants to be a cowboy now. I think we are both allergic to horses since our noses started running and we started to sneeze up a storm. Plus the pollen count in SLC was super high. We've been miserable since Monday. My allergic reaction decided to turn into a full-blown sinus infection. Yucky. BTW: Tylenol does not work very well.

I planned BBQ for that night to celebrate Miekka, James, and Amelia's birthdays. Dad came home that afternoon with two new handguns. He got a Sig Mosquito and a Springfield .45. While I made potato salad he cut both fingers trying to get the slide off the guns!! It was funny to watch! Jeff grilled chicken, John made salsa, and I made salad. Miekka whipped out socks off by making a chocolate-mint fondant cake. It should be dubbed, Devil's Mint Cake. I've had a craving for it and she outdid herself. After dinner John showed us a slide show his company made from their time in Afghanistan. He tells fun stories. Being a Mom means I could not listen as intently all the time...the kids come first. The adults were to involved to break away from John's stories that we ended up eating cake and ice cream without them. Amelia unwrapped gifts from Miekka and Courtenay. She loves the monkey shoes Miekka gave her. Courtenay's gift of metal pans will make more sense once she gets her play kitchen on Saturday.

Tuesday: We met Miekka and kids at Liberty Park for a hour. Mia and I actually stayed about two hours playing in the sun, sand, and water. The little water area started spraying water around 11 am. Seth and Jacob were drenched after a couple minutes!! Mia stayed relatively dry but had fun playing outside the water blast zone. The weather was really warm and sunny, hooray! That afternoon we visited Aunt Charity, Libby, Mason, and Reagan for an hour or so. Amelia loves to pet their hamster. She was in heaven once they broke out sidewalk chalk. I barely made it home in time to pick up Dad and Jana for a session at the temple. James and Miekka were waiting for us (which usually never happens). We went through an endowment session. That night dad and John started discussing plans to renovate and reorganize the house. We talked until about 11:30. Wednesday: Jeff left at 7:20 am. His truck was packed and crated for the long drive back to Texas. I completed a last load of laundry (can I tell you how wonderful it was to have a washer and dryer available?), packed and were on the road by 9:45 am. I was not ready to go back to Nebraska...it does not feel like home yet. Mia asked to go "ome" about 10 times a day to meet Daddy at the park. The drive back was excruciating for me. Mia was perfect she watched her movies, played with her blanket and mimi, and colored for 9 hours. We stopped three times, in Rock Springs for lunch, a rest stop, and for gas/restroom. I am really surprised that we made it back since my head hurt so bad I can barely remember the drive. Thankfully, I found a tape player (Walkman) to listen to a book on tape. My local library mainly carries books on tape. My car has a CD player. Bummer. Mia gave Justin a 5 minute hug, that totally made up for a week of vacation. Justin had the house cleaner than I've ever kept it! Thanks hun! He shooed me to bed by 8:30 and took care of Mia, bathing her and putting her down for bed. He even got up to comfort her at 4 am. I feel a smidge better today. I called Dad to tell him we arrived home. He said him and John ripped down a couple walls and started renovating the rooms like we talked about. There is never a dull moment with Dad around! I think the new renovations will make more sense and give them an office, a new pantry, and bigger dining room. I can't wait to get back in 6-7 weeks. My mom is coming back for the summer, Mason is getting baptized, and I have a photography class the first week of June.

PS: the tree outside my window is green leaves on it now...super happy hooray.

P.P.S.: Amelia's first color she said by herself was chocolate. We wore a brown shirts yesterday, of which she identified as chocolate brown. What a wonder!!!