Our Utah trip

We are back from our trip! It was so fun. Natalie and I decided last minute to join my parents and brother on their trip to go visit my sister Melanie and her fam. I canceled all my piano lessons and we were off! I learned something important right off....just because you decide to drive at night doesn't guarantee that the baby will sleep. No, she screamed for a while and finally fell asleep, but woke up every once in a while until we pulled into St George at 2am. Oh man, what a night. Luckily she slept until the next morning and we left for Provo later on. We saw Melanie and Brooklyn, and Natalie was so excited to see her little cousin. They had a great time crawling around together, pulling up on each other, and tugging each other's hair.

Natalie and I stayed at Mark's aunt Nancy's for the first few nights and Natalie slept pretty well over there. She loved exploring Nancy's living room and kitchen and playing with Nancy. It was really fun to visit with her. We watched the first session of conference with her on Saturday, then my family picked us up between sessions and took us down to Melanie's apartment in Spanish Fork to watch the afternoon session. It was so great! I have to say, watching conference with a baby on the loose is a sure way to keep from falling asleep! This was about the time that Natalie began walking (see previous blog). It was amazing! She walked pretty much every day on vacation, but has yet to do it for her daddy to see. :-)

The next day we watched conference again at Mel's but brought Aubri with us. She is Mark's sister and is in her first semester at BYU. It was again a great session and I heard most of it (when I wasn't putting Natalie down). We enjoyed a yummy breakfast that Mike and Devin made for us. Between sessions we loaded up the babies in their strollers and went to a little duck pond nearby. The babies were fascinated by the ducks as they swam around. Soon a little old grandma came with a huge bag of bread and all the ducks joined her on the sidewalk. We gathered around and the babies got to see the ducks up close! They were fascinated. The weather was pretty chilly so we all were in sweaters. Later in the week it warmed up a bit which is good. I almost could have worn shorts.

We spent the rest of the week at Melanie's and the babies took turns taking naps in the crib. We went to Salt Lake on Monday to pick up Mom who flew in later due to a conference she had been at the previous few days for her work. After we got her we drove to a little restaurant called "The Pie" which is a place known for its yummy pizza. We met my good friend Christine there and had a fun time visiting with her.

On Tuesday we went to BYU campus to show Natalie her mommy's old stomping grounds. We strolled (literally, haha) through the HFAC (fine arts bldg) which is where I had spent most of my time and saw some old friends in there, then found Aubri where she was studying. It was fun to see her in her element and meet some of her roommates. We wandered around the bookstore and visited the new Gordon B. Hinckley building on campus. It was so pretty! At this point Natalie was a super cranky-meister so we went home. Melanie and I visited some quilting stores to look at their cute fabrics while the babies napped at home with Grandma Barnes.

Wednesday was a relaxing day spent mostly at Melanie's. The babies had little colds so we were letting them get good naps. In the afternoon Melanie, Mike, Brooklyn, Natalie and I all went to this fun little park by the temple in Provo as we waited for the family to get back from visiting some family. We got some cute pictures of the girls. When they got back, we all went and ate at Los Hermanos in Provo, then back to Melanie's.

I was off to visit some friends who live in Utah- Rachel, Tiffany, and Emily. It was so fun to chat with those girls! I miss them. I didn't get a picture of that, sorry.

The next day, Thursday, we packed up and left for St. George and stayed the night at my grandparents' house. The next morning we visited my Great-Grandpa Ellis who is 94 and in a care facility there in St. George. He didn't talk much, but we could tell he enjoyed having us there because he smiled a few times and even laughed once. I think he liked seeing his great-great-granddaughter, even if she was acting cranky (as you can tell from the pic).

The next day was Friday and we drove home. Natalie did really well on the drive home, even though it was so long. It was perfect timing though because she came down with some nasty sickness on Saturday. I am busy taking care of her, poor thing!

Anyway, that was our trip. We had a fabulous time but we are sure glad to be back at home so Natalie can sleep in her crib where she's used to sleeping! Kudos to my family for putting up with my naptime stress. I love you guys!

This is Natalie mid-yawn with a sock on her ear.