Two Plus Two: Utah Trip

Right after Thanksgiving the kids and I headed to Utah to FINALLY hear Tasha sing! I haven't heard her sing in any official capacity since High School, and I was very excited. We got to hang out with Utah cousins and have lots of adventures :).

Here are some pictures right before we left of O trying roller skates for the first time! I was super pumped to find these for a quarter...they were THE coolest thing when I was growing up! She loved it, but couldn't get up or walk or skate yet. She will get more practice this summer I'm sure...

The morning after we got to Utah was our first snow! I was so excited for snow ice cream, and it was Olivia's first time ever having it! She also got reacquainted with her cousins Jesse and Maggie (neither is her actual cousin...but everyone is a cousin to her). They were so sweet about sharing all their stuff and showing her all the cool things at Aunt Dalita's house. To this day she brings up all the time the things that she saw and played with (or didn't play with) at Aunt Dalita's. In the afternoon we went to lunch and the kids had a blast as the only ones in the play area for a while :). We managed to get one decent picture of everyone, which is good because we tried for about 15 minutes.

That evening we got to see Tasha sing in a low-key concert at the City Library. I was so glad to have this chance to let my kids see a concert without being 'that' person who is in and out trying to hear while wrangling busy toddlers. Olivia was excited to listen but Carter not so much. Carter wasn't feeling good at all. But the singing was SOOO awesome! We were able to sit very close, so we could see all the expressions and hear all the words so clearly. It was great. I was so glad to be able to hear my amazing sister!

Olivia, always the fashionista, was more interested in Tasha's flowy dresses than anything else :) but it was a great night!

When we woke up the next morning, we were visiting a winter wonderland! It was the time O really got to play in the snow, because we spent the last two years in mild places. She was beyond thrilled to be out there, I had to force her to come in and get warm. She wasn't into mittens, and her cotton gloves didn't do a lot for cold, but she didn't complain at all until I said it was time to get dry and warm.

That morning Ali came over with her sweet boys. Jesse and Olivia were instantly frenemies...and they played/fought together the whole time, and I finally got to meet Alec! He is such a sweet baby, we really enjoyed getting to know him. I loved his interest in faces...he just wanted to poke everything he could reach, including the eyes, mouths, and ears of anyone nearby.

I was pretty bad about taking pictures (I will blame it on having a sick little boy and not having Alex around to carry things :)). But that night we went to Frozen to celebrate Mica's birthday. I was the only one who hadn't seen it before, some of the cousins had seen it three or four times already, but about ten minutes in I understood why. This started a craze in our house that is still going strong eight months later. Thank you Mica for turning sixteen, and for a great movie!

The next day we went to lunch with Tasha and Dalita. Tash had a super busy schedule while we were there, so we were glad to squeeze in wherever we could :). We had a great lunch, and I captured this funny three year old moment when Olivia suddenly yelled out 'Mom! My bread has a mustache!' when we figured out what she meant, she was thrilled with her joke, and proceeded to put the mustache on everyone else :) What a fun kid!

Thursday evening we got to see Tasha sing one more time before going home, in a more formal concert with many other groups from around the community. She did amazing, and I was truly awed by her voice and the caliber of choirs she is a part of. Can't wait for my next opportunity to see her!

Friday we hung out with Dalita some more (I love the hanging out chatting and catching up while the kids run around!!) before driving back. Driving was an adventure, as we had a longer-than-necessary stop to get chains for the car, followed by Carter getting sick in the car...big mess. This made about two weeks that he had been sick with constant digestive problems, so I was starting to get worried. but we drove home just ahead of a storm coming to Boise, and settled in for the weekend. We woke up with enough snow to have snow ice cream a-plenty with not enough to be stuck at home, so I was thrilled. Actually it's torture to be typing about this in June as a four-month-pregnant, craving anything cold person. I think we may have to take a short drive for a sno-cone after this.

Alex sent me this picture from work...isn't it pretty?! We don't make it down to DirecTV often to have lunch, but I did bring the kids once to see the grounds, they loved seeing where Dad spends his days!

On Saturday I stayed home with a sick Carter, but O went with Grandma over to the G's house for some playtime in the snow! Uncle Dan was super cool and build a little sledding hill in their driveway...the perfect size! And we always take every possible opportunity to pile kids on top of eachother for some form of pyramid...

Looking back, I should have looked at these pictures and known that it was time to head to the doctor. This was Sunday morning, and we gave it one more day. But I had one tired girl, and one sick boy the next morning.

There's not much better than kid footprints headed to and from the front door :) We are loving our new neighborhood, and O loves 'her boys', and the freedom that playing outside grants her.

The neighbor boys invited O to go play for a while, and I had to sneak out to take some pictures. She was having a blast!

That evening we decorated our tree...with the six decorations that we had at this point. I am leaving plenty of room for future Kindergarten projects and little crafts I guess.