Trip to Utah

Now that we've been back from Utah for a month, it's probably about time to document our trip.

The first day we arrived in Salt Lake around lunchtime, so we went to our favorite restaurant, Cafe Rio, for lunch. SO good!  We spent the day visiting with Andrew's family and were able to meet our niece, Jaylee.  It's so fun to be an aunt, although Aunt Andrea doesn't have much of a ring to it.

Later that afternoon Jake and Grandpa went and got their hair cut together at the barber shop where Andrew's dad goes.  Jake did pretty well, and it was fun for the boys to go do that together.  Plus they looked good with their matching haircuts (minus a goatee for Jake...).

We had family pictures the next day with Katie, Tanner's girlfriend.  Tanner is serving a church mission in Michigan right now, so the pictures he's in are his cardboard cutout.  And let me tell you, that thing definitely scares the heck out of you when you aren't expecting it and walk into a room.  It's life-size, making it about 6'6 to match the real Tanner, who we miss!

Other highlights of the trip included a day at the park feeding ducks and playing on the playground, a trip to Sandy to meet up with one of my best friends in the entire world and her family, and just seeing the people we love and miss from the area.

We made a trip to Salt Lake to see my dad's side of the family Sunday afternoon.  It was good to see them and walk around beautiful Temple Square.

We spent a day in Preston, Idaho helping Andrew's grandparents with their yard.  We helped plant the garden, mowed, and did some other odds and ends that they are having a little more trouble with as they get older.  It was fun to see them.  Jake's so lucky to get to know his great-grandparents!

We made another trip to Salt Lake to go to the new mall there, which was quite impressive.  Grandma and Grandpa bought Disney stuffed animals for their 2 grandkids- Jake ended up picking Mike from Monsters Inc, and he loves that little monster.  Jake's lucky he's so spoiled!

A final highlight of the trip was celebrating Easter.  Jake's grandparents set up an Easter egg hunt for him, and he had fun roaming their backyard and shaking the eggs.  He especially loved the M&M's.  After that we went and did an egg roll and toss at a park close to where Andrew's family lives.  I never win anything, but I won!  How exciting!

Jake did awesome on the flights back home.  It was a very fun trip!  It's sad to live so far from Andrew's family, but we're lucky we've been able to visit so often.

Conference and DONE with work!

We had an awesome conference weekend with my family.  Twice a year in our church, we hear from the leaders in a big conference that is televised throughout the world.  It was so great to hear from them.  It's always so uplifting and makes me want to be a better person.  We stayed at Kim and Darrell's apartment in Beaver Creek and had fun just being together.  A highlight was a trip to a park pretty close to where Kim and Darrell live.

Another highlight was celebrating me finishing work!  My last day was Friday and we got together Saturday.  My sweet sister had a little party waiting for me when we arrived, complete with a couple of balloons, which Jake loved, sparkling grape juice, and a retirement card.  I loved it, and I have loved the past 3 weeks!

Catch Up

I have been SO busy the past couple of months that I haven't found a spare minute to blog.  And now it's been 2 months and I'm feeling overwhelmed, so here's a real big photo dump to get me caught up again.

Jake seriously LOVES the dog.  Those 2 get along so well, and I am so thankful that dog is so good to Jake, because Jake is not necessarily always good to the dog...

He also got his 2nd haircut about a month and a half ago.  By the end he was NOT liking it, but he looks so cute.

Jake has also spent some time with my parents a few different times.  We're really lucky to live only a couple hours away from them!

We also celebrated Andrew, Kim, Darrel, and my birthdays with a trip to Maggianos with my parents and grandparents.  It was fun to spend the evening together, and the food was wonderful, as always.

Jake got a newcarseat now that he's outgrown his infant carseat carrier. Also, he's been spending a lot of time in the dog's bed.

He also played with aunt Kim and was spoiled for Easter from all sides of the family.

Easter weekend, we enjoyed a fun trip to the park where I grew up with my parents and Jake.  He really enjoys the swings, but I think his favorite thing to do is to walk around and look at everything while picking up all the pieces of mulch he can fit in his tiny hands.

And as a most-exciting moment in the history of my exciting moments, I QUIT MY JOB!  I'm officially a stay-at-home mom and couldn't be more excited about it!  Clocking out for the last time seemed so surreal.   Now it has been 2 weeks and I haven't missed working for a second!