Utah Time

July 13, 2013

Utah Trip

July 3rd- 12th

Getting there...

Reuben refused to nap and was therefore 

exhausted by our layover in Denver. 

So he was pretty spent by the time we finally got to Utah. 

Snuggling Grandpa. 

Thirty seconds in the car seat and he was out!

While in Utah we celebrated the Fourth of July!

We spent a lot of time in the backyard with the slip-n-slide!

We also had a lot of fun spending time with family!

The boys especially loved story time with Grandpa. 

Aunt Kristen and Porter came from California 

to spend some time with us! 

The boys had fun playing with Daddy's old toys, 

the dogs, and the dogs toys at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

We took the boys to play at local parks. 

We ate yummy dinners at the house and went out to eat 

at a few of our favorite Utah places like Cafe Rio 

and The Old Spaghetti Factory. 

We had a really fun reunion 

with our friends from medical school!

The once medical students.

And their gorgeous and supportive wives. 

(Love these girls!) 

Sawyer and his new buddy Lincoln.

The Pierson's weren't able to make it to the reunion 

so I met up with Meagan a little later during the week. 

We played at a local splash pad and then headed back 

to the Wood home for lunch and a little slip-n-slide!

It was great to see her and her adorable kiddos!

We were able to meet up with my girls from college 

and their families to celebrate Stephie's engagement.

Rock...yum!

Caught!

Our boys with Chris and Tarina's girls!

( I love all of their faces)

Love these girls so much!

(And those that were missing)

We took the boys fishing for the first time

 at a fish farm in Ogden. 

Daddy helped Sawyer catch the first one. 

Strong work son!

And Grandpa helped Reuben to catch the next one. 

Wahoo!

Now what to do with the two fish that we had to keep...

It was sooo fun!

It was fun to have so much time with Dad.

And spend time with this family that we love!

Getting home...

We had an early flight, but the boys once again refused to nap. 

Despite this, they were perfect and happy little boys

 on the short flight to Denver.

Within about 3 minutes of stroller riding...

Because we had a massive layover in Denver, 

I called another one of my college girls who lives in Colorado

and her, her hubby and their darling little one 

met up with us for lunch and a treat!

We had a great time!!

Sawyer and Addison really hit it off!

Love this family!

Love this girl!

After we boarded our flight 

this cute pilot got us back to Harrisburg. 

(Just kidding!)

What a memorable adventure!

60 Years

February 20, 2013

Lance's Mom turned 60 on February 19th, so Lance's siblings planned a surprise weekend where we all showed up in St. George at the new 2nd home his parents just bought. 

This was by far the most dramatic trip we've ever had. 

For posterity's sake (and to remember exactly what we were able to endure) here goes...

We were scheduled to leave out of Philly at 4pm, so our plan was to be there at 2. In order to do this we would have needed to leave our house by 11:30ish. Unfortunately, Lance didn't want to have to take a vacation day and just planned on leaving as soon as he got off. (He was planning on being done by noon that day)

To make a long story short, he was late, I wasn't quite ready, and although we made good time, we arrived at the parking lot of the airport a little before 3.  As we unloaded and attempted to carry our suitcase, carry-ons, two carseats, a diaper bag and children, the shuttle bus drove up. We smiled and waved to her! She stopped the bus, looked annoyed at us and pointed to the waiting area about 20 feet behind her. She then proceeded to drive past us to the airport!! We were floored!

After waiting about 15 minutes for the next bus, we got off at the wrong terminal. You see our flight was being covered by 2 different airlines and Lance picked the one that was at the top of the ticket. Poor Lance. Then after waiting in line and finally getting to the check-in counter, we were told that that particular flight was being covered by a different airline. 

We gathered all of our things and headed two terminals down to the correct airline. Once we got there we were very matter of factly, and quite insensitively, told that we were 5 minutes too late to check our bag so we would have to go on another flight. For the record you need to be there 45 minutes prior to the flight to check a bag. We arrived at the second ticket counter 40 minutes beforehand.)

The real torture was getting to our gate two and a half hours early and watching the direct flight to Vegas that we were supposed to be on, board and leave. Oh, so sad!

The plan was to fly one way to arrive in Vegas at 7:30PM and then rent a car and drive to St. George to Grandpa and Grandma Egbert's house. We would have been able to get the kids to bed before 10PM which would feel like midnight our time, but still not too bad considering a cross country trip. 

The new flight had a layover in Phoenix and wasn't scheduled to get to Vegas until midnight. Then that second flight was delayed. We sat on the plane for 45 minutes with the lights on while they "fixed" the problem. Reuben cried incessantly unless I stood up with him at which point I would be told by a flight attendant to sit down in case they were able to fix the problem! REALLY?!! Sheer torture for all!

We didn't get to Vegas until 2AM (4AM our time) and by the time we rented our car and drove to St. George it was 5:45AM (7:45AM our time). Lance and I had been awake for over 24 hours! And let's not even talk about our poor children who refused to sleep all day until they finally crashed on the last flight around 12:30AM. They were able to sleep in the car, but it took them over a week to compensate for the sleep deprivation.

Lance and I crawled into bed at 6AM (8AM our time) and Reuben woke up at 7:30. We were tired. The boys were tired. All of us were tired the entire trip.

However, with all of that being said, and although we were a tad on the tired side, we had an awesome time with Lance's family once we finally got there! :)  

Now for the pictures...

The boys on the airplane.
The first flight. 

When the 2nd flight finally took off.

Waiting for our luggage for 20 minutes in Vegas.

So sad!

So so sad!

But so cute!

Now for the fun part!!!

We got to go hot tubbin' in their gorgeous new hot tub. 

We got to go to the St. George temple. 

(And Visitor's Center)

The whole Fam

Lance and his siblings

Two people madly in love

 and their beautiful children.

Doug and Cary and their grandboys.

I wish I would have gotten more pictures 

of the cute birthday girl, but this will have to do. 

Reu and Uncle Tay

Sawyer and Uncle Sean 

Playing Pickle Ball. 

It was a mix between ping pong and tennis. 

I seriously LOVED it! Soooo fun!

Where to find a pickle ball court in State College. Hmm.

The boys had fun at the park by the pickle ball court.

And had fun cheering us all on!

Well not so much cheering as making funny faces at us!

It was a fun visit that flew by so fast. 

The great news about the crazy trip getting there 

was it made the flight home seem like cake!

Sawyer and I played on the ipad. 

And Reuben and his cute dad fell asleep.

I love that face.

And I love to sleep. 

Like... a lot!