Utah Trip: Part 2

It was a very relaxing vacation (until Amelia decided not to sleep anymore...) where we just hungout with family. It's still not hitting us that this was probably our last, long vacation in a long time. 

Playing at the jensens. It's so fun To have friends with kids the same age.

Ring around the Rosie's is her favorite song and she coaxes everyone into doing it with him. 

Playing with her aunts, Annica and Lucy

Sleeping with Anthony was the only way she would sleep for the last week of vacation. 

Swimming t the Provo Rec center. They have an awesome indoor and outdoor pool. Amelia wasn't quite as brave as I had hoped, but we still had fun. 

Ashley's wedding 

The past couple of months, Anthony and I have been training for the Utah Valley 10K. I pulled a muscle in my foot about a week before on a run in Utah, so Anthony had to run solo. Which was his plan anyways. From the beginning, He told me he wouldn't run at my pace... I'm too fast for him. Riiiiight. He finished in 50 minutes! I was running at 65 minutes before I got hurt, so obviously we weren't goig to run together at all. 

At the Orem Summerfest carnival and parade. My favorite time of year!

Sunday walks through grandma Browns orchard

My step sister, Taylor had a baby while we there! This is grand baby #2 on my side and Amelia LOVED holding baby Jake. 

The Flight From H.. You Know Where

Remember how excited I was that we now live Chicago and the flight to Utah is only 3 hours.. It's amazing right? Well, it's only  amazing when it actually takes 3 hours. 

On June 18, my mom dropped us off at the Salt Lake Airport. Our flight didn't leave until 4, so we went and got some lunch at Cafe Rio, I bought a book (Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan... HILARIOUS), and we sat in line to board. We had been sitting there for about 30 minutes when I looked up at the screen and it said our plane was delayed an hour. This was frustrating. Especially because toddlers come with a good behavior expiration. We had planned naps, snacks, and entertainment perfectly. We have this down... (this is her 14th flight in 2 years.)

So we sat some more and eventually got on the plane. The pilot came on the intercom and explained there was a giant storm happening in Chicago and the midwest, and all flights that aren't already in flight are grounded. 

We sat some more.

TWO HOURS GO BY.... SITTING ON THE PLANE. yes we are still on the runway, waiting for Chicago to tell us if we are free for take off... 

Every 30 minutes the captain would come on the intercom and tell us "Chicago, said 'not yet'. We will hear an update in 30 minutes." After 2 hours, the captain decided to drive back to the terminal and let us off to eat and get comfortable. 

When we got off, they said they would hear an update in an hour and we would probably leave then. This gave us hope, especially because they told us that we had to be on the plane with in 15 minutes of the announcement or they would leave us. We were NOT missing this plane. 

It was now dinner time, so we got Wendy's and ate dinner. Amelia ran around the terminal 65926 times, and we hoped this would wear her out. 

Well we had to wait longer than expected and got HOURLY updates... "Maybe the next hour will be better news..."

THREE HOURS LATER. we had eaten all of our snacks and played with our toys... CUE mom's anxiety. It's about to go down in toddlerland.

we got on the plane at 9:00. Yeah.. 5 hours after our first flight. 

Because of the storm, we had to go around it, so the flight actually took 4.5 hours instead of 3. 

For the flight... Amelia did GREAT. No complaints. She didn't fall asleep until we were landing. OF COURSE. We got into Chicago at 3:30am. We were supposed to get there at 8:30 pm (THE DAY BEFORE) (too many caps for one post?).... Ugh. 

Well, it took an other hour for our luggage to get to the baggae claim, because so many other flights were delayed. the airport was packed. Amelia was so tired, but not ornery at all... we really lucked out with her behavior. 

We got home at 5:00 am. Oh and toddlers don't sleep in, no matter what time they go to sleep. It was just a great day...

Pre-Flight... oH the bliss of the unknown

Trying to keep her happy during our 2 hour Tarmac tour

Hour 3 of flight... 

As we are landing... 

Sitting on my suitcase as I roller her around the airport

My face says it all...

Shall we try again this Christmas? I think we might pass this year.

Trip to Utah:: Bear Lake Reunion

Anthony graduated on May 25, but I haven't gotten the pictures off my multiple cameras... so we are going to skip straight to our Utah trip.

After Anthony graduated on the 25th, we (us and Anthony's parents) drove all of our stuff to Chicago that night. It was an adventure to say the least. Our Penske truck kept over heating, Amelia claimed she had to potty every 30 minutes, and we drove through the night.
We took 3 days to move in and get all situated, and then flew to Utah. Amelia did awesome on the flight. I am so excited the flight home is only 3 hours. Amazing!

We had Anthony's family reunion at Bear Lake and it was so fun! We rented a cabin and just relaxed on the beach with canoes, paddle boards, and wave runners.

St. George and New Years

The day after Christmas, we headed down to St. George to stay at Anthony's family condo. We love this place! When we lived in Utah, we would go at least once every 2 months, sometimes once a month. Though the vacation has definitely changed with Amelia there too, it is still fun. Just no quite as relaxing as it once was. I have a feeling that's how vacations are now.

We obviously need a family picture in our house because she would stare at it and name everyone for a least an hour a day.

Going Swimming! It was a nightly occurrence.

Hiking the Red Rocks and looking at hieroglyphs

For New Years Eve, we always go to Great-Grandma Browns. We play games, eat food, and make goals (while also getting depressed looking at past years' goals.)