HOLY UTAH PEOPLE!!

This past week we went out to Utah for my baby brother’s wedding. It was fun, exhausting, stressful… but mostly fun. Apparently I arrived with a spark in my eye and a little pep in my step. But by the end I was worn out to the max! Christian and I make fun of Utah…. A LOT. Why, you ask?

• A million Mormons – and counting.
• We always say we see like 3 black people when we go out there, and usually we’ve seen one of them twice. – What’s funny is that the first black person we saw actually spoke SPANISH and not English. It was kind of hilarious.
• They are the CRAZIEST drivers.
• We HATE that there are no road names, just a bunch of numbers. Ex: take 1251 East and 9865 West, take your 3rd right on 654231 South. SERIOUSLY?
• It’s SO dry – which I grew to appreciate AFTER I bought Carmex and fixed my hair for the first time and it actually STAYED the way I wanted it.
• It stays light until 10:30pm
• Mountains, Mountains, everywhere.
• My Allergies went NUTS!! Apparently that’s what happens when Spring/Summer doesn’t start up until mid-July.
• It rained the first day. Christian: “What is that white stuff in the water?” Me: “Salt” Christian: “gross”.

By the end of the trip Kalea had decided that she like Utah better than North Carolina. I think it had more to do with her being spoiled and being on vacation. She didn’t quite realize that she’d still have to go to SCHOOL if she lived in Utah. We stayed with Christian’s sister, Cerah in Salt Lake City. She is THE MOST AMAZING host. When we arrived she had bought bags of stuff for the kids. The kids loved playing with all of the toys and spreading them along all three levels of their house. It took Landen a few days to get used to their house. He would just scream “MOMMY!!!” over and over. It was quite irritating. He eventually loved Cerah’s house so much by the end that when he’d get tired he’d say, “Night Night Aunt Cerah’s house.” It was really cute. The girls would disappear for hours in the house just having the time of their life with their cousins.

The 2nd day (Thursday) we had Lane and Stephanie’s rehearsal dinner. I had my camera in tow but I made a decision that I’d rather enjoy myself and spend time with family then worry about taking mountains of pictures (they had a photographer for that, and an Uncle that seemed to take on that roll also). So I put my camera away and just enjoyed myself. During the dinner we got to tell stories of the bride and groom from when they were younger. I decided to keep it clean…. which was a very hard choice. I really wanted to stand up and tell the following stories:

• When Kahea (my cousin – not to be confused with Kalea, my daughter.) lived with us in Cary we used to have many many “girl talks” with the door closed. One day, we looked over at the door and Lane had a little mirror under the door trying to eavesdrop. Apparently he was jealous of our little chats and felt left out.
• When Lane was Landen’s age he got a Gonzo Tricycle toy stuck on his junk and mom had to try and get it off. I think she was successful.
• I told Lane his was adopted – he’d cry. I told Lane he was an alien – he’d cry. I used to make him cry a lot.
• Once I showed Lane how to climb a tree up onto a roof in our house in Florida. I never showed him how to climb down (he was probably 6 or so).
  
  I’m sure there’s more… I just can’t think of them at the time.

{Here’s the one picture I took that evening}

Friday was the wedding. We arrived at the Draper temple and the Sealing was really awesome. I held it together until I got up and hugged my brother. I cried like a big fat baby. Lane and I have grown really close over the years. I still like to irritate him any chance I get, or shock him with vulgarity, but he has become not only my brother, but one of my best friends. Afterwards, Christian told me I was “a really loud crier”. I told him to bite me.

We went over to my cousin Kahea’s house in Lehi and the kids played a ton. It was really fun for them. Christian and I had to run an errand to Target and I was stopped twice by random people telling me I was “the cutest pregnant person” they’d ever seen. That almost never happens in NC. (It happened 3-4 more time before we left Utah… another reason Utah has grown on me.)

Lane and Stephanie’s wedding reception was that evening and it turned out so cute! They had vintage everything. They even took pictures of other family members and framed them for center pieces on their tables. It was beautiful. The reception was at 6:00pm. By 6:10pm Lane walked by our table (there were just a few people trickling in) and I told Lane, “Nice turnout.” He told me to shut up. awwww…. brotherly/sisterly love. It was a really good turn out. I’m pretty sure I knew about 10 people that showed up (including myself – since this isn’t our “neck of the woods”). At one point me and my sis-in-law, Brit, pointed out that we looked like the boring/rude in-laws just sitting there not mingling. At our defense, we were all REALLY tired. They had a fun photo booth set up too where you could dress up and take some crazy pictures…. and that we did. I’ll have to scan them and add them in a little bit.

Since I took NO PICTURES I stole some from my Brit’s Facebook page…

{Here’s a nice shot of my monster stomach while Brit and Noa dance the night away}

{Here’s one where Noa is coppin a feel on his mom}

{And this one is my personal fave – Where it looks like I’m giving Noa the evil eye and he looks terrified}

Christian and some of the guys decided to help decorate the inside of Lane’s car. If you don’t know… Lane drives an Infiniti. He’s very humble. They went nuts decorating it… silly string, balloons, and "popped balloons” on every bit of the car (I’ll let you figure out what the “popped balloons” were.) The girls put post it notes all over the outside with a big A on the front. Oh, and full cans of Sprite tied to the bumper… they exploded as they drove away. Lane was more worried about his car, naturally. After saying their LOOONG goodbyes, they drove away and headed off to marital bliss.

Phew, glad that’s over.

The rest of the trip we found different ways to entertain ourselves and our kids. We spent Saturday at Temple Square (it was WICKED HOT and my feel and hands swelled to the size of cantaloupes). We walked around for a little while and then headed over to Gateway where the kids played in the water and I did a little shopping. Just before I left to shop, Landen was so excited he ran and slipped. He ended up hitting his head on the concrete which SCARED ME TO DEATH. He was fine though, no concussion. No bleeding… just a bit shaken. It took him a little while longer, but he went back out and played on the splash pad some more just before we had to leave.

Sunday was church. I ended up stuck in Nursery with Landen, of course. Kalea went with Hannah to her class and Mia was Cerah’s little shadow, refusing to go to her own class. Landen ended up screaming MOMMY as loud a he could during sacrament causing as much attention as possible while Christian dragged him out of there. After church Kalea had a $10 gift card to Five Guys burgers. We asked Cerah about it, apparently her teacher is the CEO of Zion’s Bank and does that sort of thing for the kids. Lucky Girl! That evening we headed over to Kahea’s and had dinner and rested. I was so exhausted I sat and barely budged the rest of the evening.

Monday was 4th of July. It started with a neighborhood breakfast at 7:30am. It was PAINFUL for me because I’m huge and fat but wanted to do as much as possible while we were out there. The food was really good. They even had a magician doing a show for the kids. I’ve never seen Landen sit that still… ever. That evening we went to Luke and Brit’s for a cook out. We brought our own fireworks (just the little stuff) and headed over to the park after we ate. The kids had so much fun running and playing with their cousins. Then when it started to get dark it sprinkled a little but that didn’t stop anyone. The big time fireworks came out from every direction. Apparently our location was perfect because we were able to watch everyone else’s fireworks in the sky.

Tuesday we went to Park City and the kids had a fun time riding some rides while Christian and William rode the Alpine Slide and a Rollercoaster. Landen didn’t quite understand the concept of buying tickets, taking turns, and then being done. He threw the master of all tantrums. Cerah and Christian took on the role of comforting. But Landen is RESILIANT to say the least and wanted mommy. He went psycho and showed his true colors during the episode. Poor Cerah. She really is so patient and wanted to give me a little break. He eventually calmed down. It’s funny how Landen becomes so silent afterwards. Like he’s contemplating his actions and replaying it in his head. He probably realized how NUTS he looked.  The rest is kind of a blur until we headed over to Gary’s (Christian's brother-in-law) parents house and had a cook out with them. His family IS HILARIOUS and we had a good time. The kids jumped on the trampoline. At one time Landen saw a Woody (from Toy Story) in the back of Gary’s parents car and Landen climbed up onto the car to get a better look. Handprints on the roof of the car and everything. After he climbed down, he checked every one else’s car for Buzz and Jessie. That kid is nuts.

Wednesday we were supposed to fly out that evening at 11:35PM. We did last minute shopping and went to a movie with the kids. The girls loved it. Landen conked out, thank goodness. We headed back to Cerah’s and had a last minute dinner date with Luke and his family. It felt rushed because we still had so much to do, but I was glad to see them one more time before we left. Or so we thought…

We tried to fly standby on JetBlue at night. Not a good idea. The kids were EXHAUSTED. The flight was full. As was the next flight on Thursday. It looked like we weren’t going to make it home until maybe Saturday and we needed to get home. We ended up buying tickets through Southwest Airlines and leaving Thursday afternoon at 2pm. It worked out just fine and were relieved to be home, with a baby still in my womb. Now she can come out whenever she’s ready.

It was such a fun trip. It felt kind of long mostly because my body didn’t want to keep up, but I made it anyways. It’s good to be back in NC… a little bittersweet since we’re closing on our house this Tuesday. But we’re excited for each new step. The next being… GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!