Finally...a vacation!

I know we just went to Washington for three weeks in December, but by the time April rolled around, I was feeling quite homebound and lonely, and our Utah vacation couldn't come fast enough.

We spent the first few days pre-Utah at Carissa's house. I forgot my camera and Jeremiah had to send it on to Utah, so I don't have any photos from Carissa's house, but needless to say it was fun. It's always fun at her house because the kids can play (and fight) and it's nice to have another adult to hang out with.

We flew out on April 23, and I must have been having a crazy day when I booked the flight, because we didn't leave until 6pm and arrived in Utah at 11pm (which, for those not so good at math, is 1am Ohio time!). My kids were terrors the first leg, terrors at our layover, but luckily slept during our last leg of the flight. Unfortunately, being sandwiched between two sleeping kids didn't work so well with my intentions to sleep.

We spent the first week or so at my mother-in law's house. The kids had a blast being with her, and I think she was probably grateful to have company, even if that company was up at 7am every day. I had a whole list of things I wanted to accomplish while I was there, and although I didn't get to do everything (ahem...temple square?!) in the end I realized just how much fun I had because I got to see just about everyone I intended to see (except Maria, but you're totally on my list for December!). Here's a condensed list of what I did, followed by way cool pictures :)

• Saw my brother, Kory, for a little bit and met his kind-of girlfriend. I didn't get to see him nearly as much as I thought, but I won't complain.
• Had lunch with my friends from my old social work job. I had to take the kids, so it was a litte chaotic, and Hayden kept telling strange stories to everyone about a moth, but it was great to see everyone. Can't wait to see them all in December...I'm thinking CPK? Guess what I'll be ordering?!
• Destiny cut my hair. I didn't do anything dramatic, just a trim, but of course I look way cuter now. And we went to Arctic Circle for lunch. It's delicious. I love spending time with Destiny, it's like I never left.
• Checked Deseret Book and the Distribution Center off my list. My mother-in-law went with us.
• McDonalds playdate with Stina and her kids. Had to do it for old times' sake. I loved these too much that the first time I took the kids to McD's here I cried and cried because I missed having Stina and her kids with me.
• Speaking of Stina, we went to the Hogle Zoo, even switched our date from Wednesday to Thursday because the weatherpeople said so. Of course, it was nice on Wednesday and it snowed on Thursday. So we were cold and wet, but we are troopers. I even picked up a lion lovey similar to Roman's giraffe lovey.
• GIRLS NIGHT OUT! Stina and Destiny and I went to Macaroni Grill for dessert. We stayed two hours. It was a huge highlight of my trip. Celeste, we're totally doing that at Christmas if you guys make it out to Utah.
• I spent a few days at Steve and Mel's house too. Melanie and I took Josette to dinner without any of the kids except Roman, who dismissed his sippy of juice in favor of my soda. We watched "27 Dresses" which I thought was really cute. We also went to the Utah County Scout Expo at Thanksgiving Point which turned out to be quite fun. They had a lot of blow-up slides and activities for the kids. Hayden even pitched 2 of 3 balls into a target and won a free ticket to an Orem Owlz game, which we gave to Mel of course. Pictures to follow.
• Josette made couscous. Another highlight. Yum!
• I spent the last few days at my aunt and uncle's house in Sandy. Wendy is only a few years older than me, and we get along really well. Her girls also got along with my kids really well, it was like having free daycare because they were so good with my kids. She took me to a scrapbook store (check that off my list!) and we ate at Pei Wei (sorry, Carissa, had to do it). I was nervous to have Roman on the trampoline, since his breath-holding incident happened here back in November, but he did really well on the trampoline and the older kids were really careful with him. No ER this time!
• The plane ride home was horrible. The kids were okay, and when we landed in Minneapolis for our layover, we ended up right by a huge playarea. The ride from there to Cleveland was really hard on me. Let's just say I couldn't hold anything down and I was feeling really faint, but the flight attendants were really generous and kept checking on me, even bringing me snacks to eat that I would normally have to pay for.

That's the condensed version of our trip...I know, you're thinking "condensed"?! But we were a bit busy and had so much fun seeing everyone. It's nice to be home, back with Jeremiah, and in my own bed (sorry to those who housed us, but nothing compares to my own bed!). Here's some pictures:

Hayden and Roman loved spending time outside at my mother-in-law's house. They especially enjoyed digging around in her dirt. Hayden made mounds of dirt called "bad guys"...don't ask me. Roman's job was to destroy these "bad guys" which, much to Roman's delight, caused Hayden to freak out every time.

Here we are entering the zoo. Do you see the snow?! The kids were such troopers, I hadn't exactly packed for snow, so I prayed that layers upon layers would do the trick. Despite the snow, we had a blast!!

Luckily it stopped snowing about halfway into our trip. Hayden realized that these bronze (metal?) statues were photo ops and had to pose for each. During this particular picture, a stupid kid on a school field trip was rummaging through my bag from the gift shop while I had my back turned. Where was her chaperone?!?!

Girl's night out at Macaroni Grill...or as Adam would call it, the "Grill". Aren't my friends gorgeous?!

Steve with the kids at an Apache helicopter on display at the Scout Expo. They also had a real tank that the kids could climb on and inside, but Hayden wasn't too interested.

Taylor's scout group was in charge of the ice cream making display. They put the ingredients in this can and roll it around for like 20 minutes. Hayden loved doing this so much that we're considering one of those balls that make ice cream.

The birthday boys (we decided to celebrate them all together) Hayden, Roman, Steve, and Taylor. Melanie even got a pralines and cream ice cream cake. Roman loved it so much he started eating everyone else's when they weren't looking.

Nana Lafranca with some of her grandkids. Luckily it was a nice day outside! I love her yard!

At Wendy's house, they put the sprinkler on while the kids jumped on the trampoline. Roman wanted nothing to do with the sprinkler. Hayden lasted about 5 minutes. Afterwards, unknown to me, Hayden took off his shorts and underwear ("because they were wet, Mom!") and continued to jump on the trampoline NAKED! Only my kids...

Hayden wanted Roman to see out the window. They thought it was hilarious that Hayden was holding Roman, but they were also amazed that they could see a million cars down below. Obviously we were close to landing which was good news for me. I'm quite glad to not be flying for awhile!