A Long Drive, A Birthday, and a Scare

So back in January I decided to tag along with my parents on a road trip to Utah.  My Aunt was turning 80 so we were having a celebration/family reunion party.  This was for my dad's side of the family and a lot of them I hadn't seen in YEARS.  Like, before I got married kind of years.  So with Jeff being in busy season and the kids not being in school yet I figured we should go.  So we did.

We piled into my parent's car.  It was a little bit of a tight squeeze being in the back seat with two monster car seats, but their car had a DVD player and mine did not.  Making this trip without movies did not even seem like an option. The little bit of physical discomfort was made up a hundred fold with mental comfort and a stress free trip.

We started out the trip in good ol' Provo.  I was able to spend the night with one of my besties.  We had such a great time watching our kids play together and then chatting until the wee hours of the morning.  It was kind of a crazy weekend for them, so we didn't get to see each other as much as we would have preferred (aka spending the entire time with them) but something is a whole lot better than nothing!  Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture together.  :(  But is was of course a huge highlight of the trip!

The next night there just happened to be a BYU Basketball home game.  We obviously could not pass up the $2 tickets, decked ourselves out in our best BYU gear and headed to the game.  The kids did great and even had some fun.  They loved shouting "BYU, BYU!"  And "GOOOOOO COUGARS!"  And they really liked the cougar growl that they play every so often.  I also got to meet up with my friends/old co-workers during half time.  It is always great to see them.  I have spent many many hours in that wonderful building and have so many great memories there.  And it is always good to catch up with old friends!

Despite the snow, we took advantage of our heated indoor pool and went for a swim.  It was just me and the kids.  I was a little worried as to how it would go, but honestly, it was such a blast!  It was how I had invisioned swimming with my kids would be.  Up until this swim, my kids were still pretty scared of the water but by the time we were done they were both jumping in to me - sometimes at the same time which gave me mini heart attacks and super human strength - they were kicking, splashing, letting me throw them in the air.  It was so much fun.  I told them we would stay as long as they behaved and we ended up staying over 2 hours (honestly I think it was closer to 3).  I loved it and it made me SOOOOOO excited for this summer!  I'm pretty sure we are going to live at the pool.

I was a genius and forgot to pack swim diapers which resulted in Em having a mighty big booty.  It was so funny.  Actually, the top of the diaper ended up splitting open which was actually the reason we had to put our super fun swimming time to an end.  It was so funny to watch her walk with this huge diaper.  

While we were driving across Nevada I was reading the Esign and discovered that they put in a new children's exhibit in the Church History Museum in SLC.  The pictures looked so fun that I suggested we try and squeeze it in and we did!  It was so much fun, the kids LOVED IT!

They were able to:

• Grow a garden
• Build Samuel the Lamanite's wall
• Turn pages of the Gold Plates
• Learn how to write the language on the plates
• Cook dinner for the missionaries
• Check hen's nests for eggs
• Dress up and learn how to dance like Spaniards
• Go aboard Nephi's boat
• Fish from the boat
• And SO MUCH MORE!

P feeling and turning the pages of the Gold Plates

Em helping Mormon abridge the plates

The kids really loved the museum.  If you live near SLC or if you take a trip there, be sure to stop by, you will not be sorry!  Such an awesome, educational, and fun place!

Another highlight of the trip was hearing bedtime stories from Grandpa.  We had adjoining rooms which the kids thought was so much fun!

And Finally, our little scare.  

This little story is about Emily.  Our adorable, adventurous, curious, stubborn little Emily.  So you remember how I mentioned that we had adjoining rooms with my parents.  I don't know if you have ever had an adjoining room before but how it works is there are two doors.  Each door only has one handle on the outside so in order to go from one room to the other, both parties have to open their respective doors, there is not way to open the other person's door.  

That being said, let me preface the story a little.  We checked into the hotel, did a little running around but at nap time, we came back to the hotel.  Lately the only way I can get P to sleep is by me taking a nap with him.  Since P is also a little curious George I decided to put the night latch on the door just in case he woke up before me and decided to go exploring out in the halls, that way he couldn't get out.  

So I woke up, me and dad go pick up a pizza while the kids were still sleeping so we can eat before we head to the BYU Basketball game.  The kids wake up, we get dressed, we are trying to hurry out the door so we aren't late for the game (the kids slept longer than we expected).  Right as we are putting on shoes and socks in my parents room, Em runs into our room and closes the door.  No big deal, we could just go to the front door and open it with the room key, O WAIT, I still had the night latch on from nap time!  So you could open the door an inch, but that is it.  

Meanwhile, Em then goes into the bathroom and closes that door too.  We are shouting to her to come out and open the door and she is just giggling her little head off and saying "NO!"  Dad calls down for maintenance.  The guy on the phone did not understand the problem and just kept saying, well just use your card and open the door.  Hello!  We can't!  When the maintenance guy finally came up the look on his face was priceless.  It was as if this had never happened before.  He said he would be right back he needed to go find some tools which would have probably  been used to break down the door.   All the while I am still talking to Em to make sure she isn't playing in the toilet, or fallen in the toilet for that matter.  She is still just laughing and saying "Hi" anytime I say her name but still refusing to come out and open any doors.

While we wait for the maintenance guy to come back, dad was able to use a little piece of card-stock (I think that is what it was) and magically shimmies the latch of!  YAY!!  He is the hero!  He runs into the room and into the bathroom to find Em just sitting in the tub having a great old time!  Wow!  I was scared and I was laughing at the same time.  I'm just so glad she was safe!

She might just be the only person in the whole world who could accomplish such a thing.

We did make it to the game, obviously later than expected, but wow!  What an unexpectedly excited evening!

Overall it was a great trip!  So glad we tagged along with Grandma and Grandpa!