Bye Bye Utah!!

Watching Uncle Buzz walk/run/slip/slide down the driveway to his car for the last time. 

And we made it home... barely.  Naomi got sick on the plane.  Let's just say that doing wardrobe changes (yes, plural) in an airplane bathroom with two small children is not much fun. 

When in Utah...

You must learn to snowboard! 

Uncle Nate was an amazing teacher (he even sings his way down the mountain), and Ben was a great student. 

Naomi attempted skiing.  She loved riding the conveyer belt up. 

Thatha teaching Naomi.  She had a good time til she got cold.  :)

Hot Chocolate break! 

The boys having a good time.  :)

Made it all the way down the hill! (3x)

Ben wore out his teacher... :)

Winter Wonderland

We have landed in Utah!  And are enjoying all of its delights...

UTAH!!

Ben, Naomi & I were able to spend ten days with my family in Utah at the end of January/beginning if February. Sadly, if I had to sum up the trip in one word it would be:

SICKNESS

Ben got croup three days before we left, Naomi got sick two days before we left. I decided to risk the plane since we had been fever free for 48 hours. Lucky for me on the long leg of the flight I (with my sneezing, snotty children) got to sit next to a man who, when asked if he had any kids, responded, "No, they scare me!" Yippee! 4 hours of bliss. Once we got there I was up two different nights with crying children with ear infections, and all kids of fun.

So, this is mostly what we did when we were there:

Play quietly with the awesome Playmobil toys from Nini (my mom) & Thatha (my dad).

Take bubble baths in Nini's huge tub.

Watched the Austrailian Open with Tennis-Loving Thatha

Drink tea

However, we did have a good time being with family, so here are a few "non-sick" pics for you.

My traveling buddies.

Getting ready to get on the plane.
Ben LOVED his job of being in charge of the "rolly suitcase."

And the random picture for the week:

My brother "Fuzzy Buzzy" all decked out in his Chef Uniform.

And we did a lot of this too... hauling books (and small people). My mom and I did an elementary school bookfair. I think we hauled in upwards of 20k in books.

Andrew had made me promise that in my next life I sell pillows. :)

The day before we left Ben was finally well enough to venture out into the snow. Thatha took him for a long walk in the snow, complete with hot chocolate in a yert.

They also visited the ski slopes down the street from my parents house... next time maybe we will be well enough to try our hand at snowboarding!

FAR AND AWAY, the best part of the trip:

Micah took me to a Scotty McCreery/The Band Perry/Brad Paisley Concert.

The Band Perry

Brad Paisley
There is a reason he has won Entertainer of the Year several years in a row.

And some family pics:

Naomi & her favorite Uncle Buzz

Naomi & Thatha

Ben & Nini

Ben & Uncle Nate

Ben & Uncle Micah
(We were able to coordinate our trips so that Micah & I overlapped for 5 days!)

Personalities in a snapshot.

The Whole Crew
L-R: Micah, Nate, Buzz, Me, Ben (Dad & Mom) Andrew & Gayathri

Andrew had a perfectly timed business trip, so he was able to be there the weekend Micah & I overlapped, and also our cousin G from NYC was in town for the Sundance film festival.

And fun times were had by all (even if we had to blow our nose the whole way through). :)

A Few Pictures from Utah

I didn't take many... there were too many other things to do! But here are a few! Cool Dude! Ben with Uncle Micah and his military issued oakleys!

Ben loved my mom's little ipod speaker thing, it helped with the MANY long drives. :)

OH MAN! Ben puts his hand on his head when he spill/drops something etc. He was climbing on one of my mom's baskets and turned it over... and a treasure chest was opened! All the little toys kept him quiet for an HOUR!

He has officially mastered talking on the phone... at least holding it up to his head. He smiles and giggles when someone talks to him, but he hasn't figured out he needs to talk back. :)

Time at Home

My time in Utah has gone by FAR too quickly! As I get ready to leave tomorrow here are a few things we did get to do!

• Take care of a sick child. :( Ben caught some nasty bug on the plane and has had a cold and cough for two weeks, needless to say I have yet to get a good night's sleep... I am not looking forward to tomorrow's flight!
• Opera - my brother Nathan was in an opera, and I had a BLAST seeing him in it! (See videos below)
• Settlers of Catan - we probably played it 50 times... I can't get enough
• Park City - we got a condo in Park City (a ski town about 1 1/2 hours from home) last week and the boys and I got to spend a day doing nothing.
• Got to be the one driving the Suburban when the transmission when on the blitz.... fun fun...
• Worked selling Usborne Books two different events. Four long days on my feet.
• Catching up with old friends.... always fun!
• Dinner with the boys... last night I got to go out with Micah, Nate & Buzz for dinner... CHILDLESS! Thank you mom!
• Watch the snow fall... we got over a foot of snow while I was here!
• Women's Retreat... I got to go to a women's retreat with my mom's church and the speaker was my old English tutor...and she is also the woman I want to be when I grow up...

It has been fun, and I will miss my family, but I am ready to home and a little routine. :)

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jig

Well, we are finally back home in NC! The first half of the trip back was AWFUL! The airplane was COMPLETELY full, and I had a HUGE man in the seat next to me. About 5 minutes before we took off it got REALLY hot inside and Ben just lost it. He screamed for 10 minutes straight. I have always heard crying babies on an airplane before and never thought much of it but I now have a whole new realm of compassion for crying babies and their mothers. In that moment all you want it for your baby to stop crying, the people to stop staring, or just crawl in a hole. I finally got Ben to calm down after fanning him with the Safety Card. :) The second half was much better and other than being all messed up because of the time change we are home and happy.

The pictures were taken on our second leg, I had the very last row across from the bathrooms. And in case you were wondering about 1 in 4 people use the bathroom on an airplane, and 2 in 50 use it twice during a 2 hour flight and 1 in 50 uses it 3 times. I know you all wanted to know that. :)

Where I've Been

Well, it has been far too long... here is a short summary of where I have been, and what I have been doing the past two weeks!

I have been working at Pioneer Bible Camp!! For those of you who don't know, that is the camp I grew up going to. It is around the corner from my parent's house. So I was able to help out for lunch and dinner (all this made possible by Amazing Uncle Nate who babysat most of the time). This is a current picture of the dining hall/chapel. WAAYY different from my day... it was just a big tent when I was a counselor and camper.
Here is some of the kitchen crew I worked with... lovely people. :)
And this is my favorite "uncle" Doug. He has been a head cook there for 21 years, and I am so glad I got to work with him! And this really is his personality in a picture... he calls himself an "equal opportunity harasser" but those of us who know him, we know better... he is just a big teddy bear... he he...

And of course, I was with Benjamin... here he is in a pillow sandwich with Uncle Nate. Ben got a nasty, nasty cold the last two weeks I was in Utah, we ended up taking him to a doctor...so when I wasn't at Camp I am taking care of a sick baby.. thankfully he is doing much, much better!