First day of Vacation

All in all, the trip went really well. The night before we left I didn't sleep well at all so I was really worried. But we got up on time, got into the car and drove straight to the airport with no problems. I was a little worried getting through security but other than going slowly, there weren't any problems there either. There were even a few people who offered to help put luggage on the belt and such. It was nice. Getting onto the plane was interesting. The breezeway wasn't attached to the plane so we had to go down a flight of stairs (someone was nice enough to help me there too) and out on the pavement to climb up the stairs on the plane. Definitely a different experience. The oddest thing was that my carry-on bag didn't fit in the overhead bin. Unfortunately there was already a non-ending stream of people behind me and I couldn't do anything but sit there with my huge bag on my lap. I ended up talking to a flight attendant who tried smashing my bag in the overhead bin (it still didn't go). They told me they were going to gate check it (thank goodness, I avoided the ridiculous $15 charge) but after the flight I found out that my bag actually rode with the flight attendants because they didn't have time to check it. Hmm. Anyway. The flight was great. Emmaline wouldn't sleep and she didn't want to play with the toys I brought for her but she ate a lot. There was a great lady sitting next to me that really enjoyed Emmaline. She even ended up giving Emmaline her travel pillow. I was greatful that I didn't end up having some grumpy old man who hated kids next to me. That would have been difficult. We arrived in Utah right on time and went to Discovery Gateway. Its sort of a kids museum where kids play with a ton of different things. Emmaline and Jane really enjoyed the small house and the water play area. We headed over to Subway (where I ended up spilling a glass of water because I was tired). Emmaline and I were really tired so we headed to Laura's house next. It was about an hour and a half drive and Emmaline fell asleep immediately while I enjoyed catching up with Laura and seeing Jane. Today we went to the Park for Carolyn's birthday party (my niece). I haven't seen my nieces and nephew for a few months. Carolyn has gotten taller and is talking a lot! Andrew is walking like a champ and Julia has gotten so much taller. It was so good to get hugs from them all. Now we are chillin', enjoying watching t.v., sleeping and talking. Its nice not to be running here and there and be busy all the time. This upcoming Saturday I get to go to a family reunion. Maybe I'll pretend to be related to someone. :)

Up and coming Vaca!

I get to go to Utah for a week and a half to visit my best friend whom I haven't seen in 18 months. I'm totally excited. We are double lucky because Emmaline is still free to fly (only for another 2 months) so we are taking advantage of that. While there I will also get to visit my long lost sister. I haven't seen her or her kids for about 6 months now. I'm looking forward to seeing Andrew walking, Carolyn talking better and Julia shocking me with how tall she has gotten. I get to go to a Discovery Center (a children's museum I think), a birthday party and to book club. And I'm sure I'll go shopping, go to the park, watch tons of movies, maybe put a puzzle together... and listen to Savage Garden over and over and over again. It'll be bliss for 10 days.

Birthday Blues

My birthday is on Sunday. I'm going to be turning 24 years old. I don't care that I'm having a birthday. I had one of those moments a few days ago that I said 'holy crap!' about my age, but it wasn't because I'm old. I realized how freakin young I am- and I'm married with a mortgage and a baby. Most girls my age are still bouncing around in college, doing the dating scene, and traveling the world. This year I'm only having a small family party because I'm not really in the mood to do too much celebrating. Maybe next year I'll throw a big bash for turning 25 and invite all my new friends and eat cake. Lots of cake. But this year I'm content with something small.

Zoo Trip!

This past week we took a trip to the zoo. I won't bore you with all the animal pictures- you can go to your own zoo if you want to see them. But I will show you some great pictures of the family. At the begining of the trip we noticed a big fan that was blowing a mist. We thought it was pretty cool (haha, so punny!) and went to cool down. Emmaline though, was afraid of the fan and the air and the water. So she kept clinging to her daddy. Thats when I got this precious picture! Heading toward the butterfly house we got this cute picture. By the way, she is afraid of crowds too...thats why the cuddle. At the butterfly house there is this big cool looking beatle that is there for kids to play on. We had a friendly lady snap a family pic! The butterfly house was amazing. We have never seen so many purple and blue butterflies ever. Of course, if the butterflies came too close to Emmaline while flying, she got scared. We tried to get pictures but if we did they were only butterflies or blurry. Sorry. We went on a little nature path that was supposed to be for free butterflies and bees. Thats where we snapped this pic. Matt was awesome and held the camera out and actually got all of us! On to snack time: got a great picture of Matt and a video of me feeding Emmaline. (I kept pulling the fork away from her mouth as she went to take a bite and got her several times trying to reach for it. Too cute. But alas, the video is too long to post.) After snack time we went to see the elephants. Emmaline got the spot of honor: On the way out of the zoo we stopped for a photo op in a cave with a huge fish tank. The fish were gigantic and Emmaline was unimpressed. That was our zoo trip! Now for other pictures. This picture is of a dress that I just made for Emmaline. I saw a dress like this at a garage sale and fell in love with the style so decided to make one for myself. I thought it turned out really cute and only cost me three dollars and a few hours. This dress is so cool because as the child gets older it can actually turn into a shirt, putting pants on underneath. You can have your child wear it with a shirt under or not- totally up to you but both look really cute. So then I just wanted to compare some shots. These pictures are both of Emmaline looking at the camera from almost the same angle. One is of her about 8-10 months ago and the other is just the other day. Isn't it so weird how different she looks? But then at the same time, she looks exactly the same. Lastly: bathing suit pictures. Emmaline and her daddy went to the pool today (I had homework and a headache so I stayed home). I couldn't resist getting the cute shot of her walking out the door with that cute ring...It reminds me of something but I just can't think of what at the moment. Then one more funny picture: Emmaline is classic I tell ya.