The flight in to Utah went surprisingly well. Ross was a little bit grumpy throughout all the traveling, but he still managed to hang in there for us. We had to hang around the airport for about 3 hours before we took off due to traffic and a delayed flight. Ross ran around the airport looking at the planes and riding the escalators. Ruby just chilled out for the most part.
When we finally got on the plane Ross was SUPER excited. He's been on a plane four other times, but this time was the first he actually realized what it was. I won't lie - it was pretty fun having him so excited that he got to ride an airplane. He was entertained for a good 30 minutes just exploring his seat and looking out the window.
As we got ready for take off I got out a tootsie pop for Ross to suck on. I haven't really given him any suckers so when he saw it he said "cookie!" which I corrected telling him it was a sucker. He put it in his mouth, took it out, and said "LIKE IT" very seriously to me. It was hilarious! He, of course, started biting it and almost downed it before we actually took off. He did great with popping his ears though. I was impressed.
Ruby did well on the flight too - sleeping most of the time with only a couple of crying spurts that lasted a couple minutes. I'm pretty sure I would have a major melt down if I had to take the kids on the airplane by myself though. I just don't have enough hands. I was SO glad to have Stephen with me. Between the two of us, we managed it pretty well.
We got back to Steve's parents' house and settled in. Ross was a little cranky, but went right to sleep. After some visiting I went down to go to bed and check on him only to find that he's kept up with the tradition of being sick EVERY time we go to Utah (this is a running total of 4 times in a row). He had thrown up and went back to sleep. Poor thing - it broke my heart. I woke him up and we gave him a warm bath and new pjs while we cleaned up his bed. We got all settled. Steve was going to sleep with him upstairs on the couch for a while and I laid down. The next thing I knew I was looking up at Steve holding Ross with his shirt off - he had gotten sick again. We sorted it out, but Steve ended up being up with him all night throwing up on and off. It wasn't a flu bug - we think he just ate something bad - that explains why he was a bit grumpy while we traveled. Thank goodness he didn't get sick during the flight!
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| Poor Ross ended up snoozing on the floor with Stephen. He likes to be curled up against something when he sleeps -he always does it in his crib - he finds one of the corners and wedges himself into it. In this case he used the couch. |
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| I'm always so sad for him when he's sick - he's a champ though - he handles stomach bugs extremely well - colds are a different story - but stomach bugs he can do. |
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| They both had a rough night. |
The next morning we woke up to about 5-6 inches of SNOW! We haven't seen the snow for a couple years so Ross was quite fascinated. Steve and his dad taught him all about throwing snowballs later. We were supposed to be running a 5k that morning, but I ended up staying home with the kids since I was still a little concerned about Ross. Everyone said they were bailing, but I've decided Steve has the gift of persuasion, because in the end everyone still went! It was pretty cold, but they had a great time. :)
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| Ready to brave the cold. Michael really wasn't trying to make a fashion statement - he just really wanted to be warm. Go Britain! |
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| Auntie Rachel meeting Ruby for the first time - instant pals. :) |
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| Ross wouldn't let Grampa hold Ruby for very long - he was told to come play trucks on the stairs. :) |
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| Grandpa Don stepped right in to take a cuddle with Rubes. |
That night Ross and Ruby got to go hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Staheli, Great Grandma Staheli, Auntie Rachel and Uncle Garrett while Steve and I got to go to the Temple with his family while his sister, Meghan, got to go through for the first time to receive the Endowment in preparation for her mission in June. It was an absolutely beautiful experience and so nice to be there with family. I love how close I feel to God there. I know that is the place we should all strive to be worthy to go into - there's not another experience or feeling like at the Temple.
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| Our Temple trip in Provo -what a wonderful night. :) |
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| Grandpa Don - the king of rock - ing ;) |
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| Ross loved the neighbors' trampoline - the hill behind it was also great for running down. |
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| So Ross has this obsession with watching two home videos of himself - one with Pampa Stan on the lawn mower and the other with Pampa Don on the swing. He was MORE than elated to relive the swing. We didn't get a chance to go on the lawn mower with Pampa Stan, but I'm sure he will get that wish fulfilled when we go back in the summer. :) |
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| Here's Pampa chasing him. He loved to shout out "Hey Pampa!" in the car whenever we were going with either Grandpa. He's a grandpa's boy that's for sure! |
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| Throwing some snow - we'll have to get snow boots for him next year. |
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| So Ross, his Uncles Nathan, Thomas, and Michael, and Steve all went to feed the horse. When he reached out to feed the horse he was quite alarmed with it's mouth and very calmly but deliberately let go of the hay and said "Thank you!" while he backed away. After that he was good not going that close to the horse again. :) |
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| Here he is backing away. |
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| He's good just looking at it now. :) |
Sunday we blessed Ruby which I already wrote about. We had a wonderful day then and enjoyed celebrating her new little life blessing ours. I LOVE having two children. I think I'm getting more emotional with each kid I have - I feel so much love in my heart for them - it feels like I'm going to just burst with it!
Monday we went and visited my Grandma and Grandpa Grenny and Aunt Renee and cousin Amber. It was a really fun morning and so nice to catch up a little on life with them. Ruby especially got a kick out of Auntie Renee and cousin Amber. :)
We then went back and got ready for Ross's family birthday party. It was quite the shin dig! We had sloppy joes, salad, and seven layer dip. We played pin the teeth on the Mater again and then had birthday cake (which my sister-in-law Beka made - GORGEOUS), ice cream and opened presents. His two little girlfriends Ally and Addison came to have fun too. It was fun seeing them together. :)
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| Auntie Beka's AMAZING birthday cake she made for Ross. One of his favorite scenes of the movie Cars is when Mater and Lightning McQueen go tractor tipping - hence the tipped tractors. :) |
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| This girl is ready to party! |
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| I told you she loves to dress up for a good party! :) |
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| The little party guests :) I couldn't get over Ally's TOTALLY girly skirt and Addison's sweet shoes. Oh I love girls! Ross is trying to look tough for the ladies sporting his McQueen shirt. :) |
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| Dinner conversation: Ally: Do you think this flower is a little much? Ross: No way - hey these chips are good! |
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| Enjoying their dinner party! |
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| I got some great eating shots here - everyone loves pictures where their mouths are full right? :) |
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| Addison loved Ruby - she was helping to hold her and gave her some adorable kisses :) |
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| Pin the teeth on the Mater - the kids loved putting the teeth on and having us all clap for them. :) |
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| They did pretty good putting those teeth on too. |
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| The cute kiddos! :) |
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| We made it a little harder for the big kids. :) |
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| Steve wouldn't trust me that I had pointed him in the right direction after turning him and took a sharp left - you can see how it turned out for him. |
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| My mom trying to cheat...little sneak. |
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| So we purposefully aimed Jordan in the wrong direction. |
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| So he cheated too. |
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| Our birthday boy - wanting to grab Mater, McQueen and the tractors on the cake - note to self - keep the cake out of sight until AFTER family pictures are done! |
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| Yes - he did get them right after he blew out the candles. :) I'm sad I don't have any pictures of him blowing them out. He did a good try with a little help. :) |
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| Presents! |
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| He was quite excited about the garbage truck - it really lifts the little garbage can and dumps it into the truck and then lowers the can back down. His Auntie Meghan was SUPER excited to get it for him. |
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| He got some SWEET books from Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents and friends that he has poured over - can you guess what kind of books they were? We did get some that WEREN'T truck related though too which are super fun. |
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| Firetruck! Firetruck! Get it out! Get it out! He also LOVED this toy too. Not only a firetruck, but the one from his favorite movie Cars. |
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| Ruby got passed around a lot in case you haven't noticed. :) |
Tuesday I did some serious hair cutting of my boys and then got to go have a date night with our friends the Dilles and Youngs at La Dolce Vita. I laughed so hard my face hurt! Oh it's fun catching up with friends - they are WONDERFUL. On the way back we stopped by chance to visit an old friend from our old ward - Bro. Bair. He made us laugh and laugh and laugh ALL the time when we were in that ward. We love that he's on of our friends and it was nice catching up for a little bit. He used to be in the bishopric and would give Steve the stare down when it was time for people to bare their testimonies to the congregation and no one was going up. I think Steve shared his testimony more than ever when we were in that ward. :)
Wednesday we hit up the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with my family. Ross was in awe of everything. He kept shouting "BIG! BIG!" everywhere we went. He especially loved digging for dinosaur bones. Ruby also enjoyed sleeping at the museum - she thought it was quite pleasant. :) We hung out at Grampa and Grammy's house after where I convinced my dad to grill some steaks for us for dinner (oh how I've missed those!). They were super delicious and we had some Kneaders desserts afterwards. Ross did really well this trip sleeping wherever we put him for his naps and bedtime. This was a first. Usually it takes him 3 or 4 days to get settled in. It was so nice being a little more portable. :) It was also nice to relax and visit with them and my Grandma Staheli as well.
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| Ross just starting to get how big the dinosaur bones were. |
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| Tunnel? |
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| Tunnel!!! |
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| Ross running around... |
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| Auntie Rachel chasing after him. :) |
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| Ruby and Daddy checking out a stegosaurus. |
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| Ross being a Stegosaurus |
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| And a couple more. |
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| Digging for dinosaurs...also throwing them...and the trees...and the sand. |
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| Ross doing a weigh in - unfortunately he's not as big as the other dinosaurs. |
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| Ross seriously wanted to just run around everywhere - he wasn't afraid of this HUGE shark as it may appear - he just wanted to run! |
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| In my happy place trying not to think about Shark Week that freaks me out EVERY year thanks to Jordan Dille and his fear of sharks. |
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| Rachel didn't find her happy place. :) |
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| Grammy really wanted to get a picture with Ross...even if it meant dragging him over. :) |
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| And she got it! |
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| Uncle Dallas and Auntie Janae DID come but we lost them until this point. We found that Dallas was taking pictures of EVERYTHING :) |
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| Ruby playing peek-a-boo and loving it! |
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| Dallas LOVED dinosaurs - as in obsessed! - when he was a kid. I think a little of that obsession came back here. :) |
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| Ross hanging out with Auntie Janae for a bit. |
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| Doing some digging - heaven. |
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| Ross was ready for a nap if you couldn't tell :) Ruby is also between Steve and I and somehow got cut out of the shot. |
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| Our DELICIOUS steaks that night. Oh how I love my dad's BBQ - he should seriously start a restaurant. :) |
Thursday I got to have a girls lunch with my mom, sister, Aunt Celia, and cousin Aislinn at the new Lehi Outlets. We went to Johnny Rockets and shopped a little where I got Ruby's cute Easter dress. It was nice visiting with them too. I drove up with my sister and loved getting to have some time to chat and hear how her fun life is going down at Snow College.
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| Steve was having dinner with some friends so he missed out on the steak, but got to have some the next day. Ross didn't miss out - he LOVED the steak and was ready and waiting when Daddy had his. ;) |
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| Score! |
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| Ross and Gramps getting some outside time in. |
That night we went miniature golfing with Steve's family at Trafalga. It was hilarious watching Ross run around with a golf ball and club. He loved throwing the ball in the hole as well as in the schoolhouse where he would run around and watch it roll out on the other side. We decided that Ross was an obstacle (you know - like the pendulum or rocks that are on the way) and would get to take off a stroke if we made it through when he was around. :) I have no idea who one seeing how all that golfing was making Ruby hungry. We had a really fun time though. :)
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| Ross the natural golfer. |
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| Ruby chilled in the stroller. |
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| Ross really liked throwing the ball in the hole too. |
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| They had to go back to the schoolhouse multiple times. :) |
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| Family was so nice to tag team taking care of our kids :) |
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| I can't remember if this was a hole in one or if Steve just wanted a picture of him carrying the diaper bag. |
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| Playing some games afterwards. |
Friday Steve had a dentist appointment since he had a tooth that was bugging him. (It ended up only being a cavity - not even in the tooth he was complaining about.) :) I went with my friend, Maren, to go shop for some mom jeans...yes that's what I said - mom jeans. I've come to terms that my poor body just isn't going to fit into clothes the same way it did before having babies. Maren - having such a great style as she does - was so nice to go with me and help me find some amazing pants that I actually feel good in! They're called Not Your Daughter Jeans...and are almost an arm and a leg. Sweet Steve was nice about it when I told him how much they cost (even after they were on sale - still being an arm!). I do feel pretty great in them though so we'll call it an investment/Easter present. :)
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| Some more swinging with Grandma :) |
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| This kid could live in the swing. |
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| Mom taking a turn pushing. :) |
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| A perfectly content smile. I'm super proud of this picture - this is mid swing!! MMMMmmm - I love it when a picture turns out! |
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| So Uncle Michael didn't hold Ruby until the day before we left!! The little weasel! She seemed to be commandeered the whole week by everyone else - so I enforced mom authority and made him hold her. :) |
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| I think this may be one of Grandma Claudia's favorite things to do - snuggle her grandchildren. She and Ruby did this quite a bit when she came to stay in Oregon. I love this picture! :) |
That night I went with my mom, sister, sister-in-laws, and girlfriends to see The Host which was quite the chick flick! I had read the book years ago so I found it pretty good from what my poor memory could remember. Steve did a guys night with his brothers and hung out with the kids - while Ross got a special play date with Grammy Joanne and Grampa Stan and Auntie Rachel at the Provo Beach Resort.
The flight home the next morning went SUPER smooth. Ruby slept the whole time and I only had to feed her once while we traveled. Ross was very good and loved every minute of the plane ride again. It was nice to get home and sleep in our own beds
