Utah In A Whirlwind

The week in Utah was crazy, and wonderful. This is by far the busiest trip I can remember. It was run, run, run, the whole time, but it was good.

Sunday following dinner at Ryan's parents, I headed to my parents to set up for the night. Many of the cousins were still there, so P was able to play and have some more fun before crashing for the night. I think he was relieved to see the real crib instead of his pack 'n' play.

Tuesday was supposed to be THE wedding dress shopping day with Kara, but we had some time Monday morning and my mom and I both felt like she needed to go to Allyse's Bridal and just try on lots of different styles before we started traveling near and far to find what she thought she wanted. She had a very specific vision of what she wanted (as many girls do) and in our searches, not many shops carried what she was after. Thus, we wanted her to go to Allyse's and try other stuff first because you never know, you might end up getting something you never thought you would want. (This happens pretty much every time.)

Necia's oldest, Samantha, tripped over a boy's foot at school just before we set out to leave and really hurt her wrist, so we picked her up and she came along with us, which she totally loved.

It turned out to be a big blessing that we went to Allyse's that morning, because the girl that helped us used to be my mom's TA and they had a really good, and much needed chat as I helped Kara. It was really fun to be Kara's "right hand man." Talk about great bonding time! We may be 7.5 years apart, but we get along really well and it was great to be able to spend that time with her. I felt pretty special that she wanted me to be one to go with her. Originally she wanted it to just be me and her, but I am glad mom came along too.

She tried on lots of different styles, and she was surprised to find that she indeed ended up liking a style she didn't think she wanted... and the one she wanted (lace) ended up being a big no. And the most amazing thing of it all? SHE FOUND THE DRESS!!! That's right, ya'll! One stop shopping. She found it. And of course it looks gorgeous on her. I still can't quite wrap my mind around it though. I mean, even though there are still siblings younger than her, she will always be the baby in my mind. She can't get married! She's like...14! Ahhh! I have pictures of her and the dress, but there's not a chance I would post them on here. Can't ruin the surprise!

Pierscen LOVED all the mirrors and stages. We were the only ones there, so he had his choice of several stage areas to dance, goof off, and smile at his dashing reflection. It was hilarious.

Samantha was a great help with P and I know she loved being there to watch Kara try on dresses. As a side note, we usually give Sam a hard time for being a bit on the dramatic side when it comes to injuries. This one was no different. We teased her quite a bit. And then we found out later that night that she indeed did break her arm. Oops. Sorry Sam!

This is the first time P has really been around a cat before. Well, he has seen them, but this was his first real encounter with them. He was saying "kitty" almost right away. He loved little Timur!

Since the dress shopping was taken care of, Kara decided to go work for my dad on Tuesday. That left the day open for mom and me to go shopping - probably our least favorite thing in the whole wide world. That's no joke. We both hate it. So it was a challenge, but we found a few things for Kara's wedding and my mom bought me 4 pairs of amazing Sketcher shoes. They are awesome! :) Oma was wonderful and watched Pierscen all day. I am so grateful for her willingness to watch him and I know P loves the time with her.

Wednesday morning at 8:00 am was supposed to be P's appointment. Ryan called me the day before and told me that the Dr's office had just called him and told him they needed to cancel. I was in a total panic. I just came from Wyoming for this! Then Ry decided to continue that thought and tell me they rescheduled for 10:00. Punk!

It was so nice to be able to go to UVRMC instead of Primary's. As I have mentioned in previous posts, P's Dr is nice, but not a super big people person. He just seems pretty serious, not much of a smiler or anything. Well, P managed to break through that. He was such a goof! He was pulling faces, laughing, sticking out his tongue, etc. He even gave the Dr and his assistant "rock," or a fist bump. It was pretty funny. I don't know why he was so silly, but it was nice to see the Dr smile.

The good news is that everything is looking great. His head is still measuring in the 50th percentile or so and the gaps are closing in. I asked him bluntly why I need to keep coming back, and what it is he is checking. He said 1. He is monitoring head growth. (His pediatrician can do that.) 2. Making sure the gaps fill in. (His pediatrician can do that.) Dr. M acknowledged that and said that as long as his head stays in the 50th percentile and doesn't drastically drop, and as long as the gaps close in, we should be good. I asked what he would do if there was a problem, like a gap didn't close. He said if that was the case, they would wait until he is 4 or 5 and then do a same day procedure where they would open the incision and put putty in the hole. Okay then. :) So he gave me permission to stay away for a couple years. :) Excellent! (We are in Utah often enough it's not a big deal. But if we don't have to keep paying for visits as often as we have been, that would be a plus.)

We stopped by the ER to say hello to Jeanette, Rayola, and whoever else happened to be working. I miss that place a lot. But I already feel like I am old news. Things have changed so much. There are so many new people. Some part of me thinks that things will never change... but they do.

Wednesday night I met up with several of my dance pals for dinner and fun. I had a hard time deciding whether to bring P or not. I really didn't want to, but some of the girls wanted to see him. My mom was nice and drove us both down, let the girls say hi, and then took him home. This was good for several reasons. 1. As picture above, he was exhausted. This was on the way to the restaurant. 2. We met up at 6:30 for dinner and didn't leave until 10:30. Hahaha! It was so, so, SO good to be with those girls. That's one thing that doesn't change, thank goodness. It is amazing to me how years can go by, but you put us together and it's like we are all 16 again. Oh how I miss those girls!

 Thursday afternoon P and I went out to eat at Chili's with Rayola. I sure love that lady. She and P have a pretty special bond too. It was really nice to have some time with her outside of the ER.

Here is P and his "O.G." (Other Grandma). She looks like his grandma, don't you think?! Much more than my mom or Ryan's mom. ;)

P found this doll at my parents house. Without any prompting on my part, he starting pointing out the facial features he knows, like eyes, nose, ears, etc. Then he started hugging it.

I sent Ryan the picture below with the caption, "He's ready for a sister." His response was, "No comment." Haha!

Rayola brought P a whole bag of trucks and cars from her play room. Unfortunately, since we were flying home, we couldn't take all of them, but he sure loved playing with them.

I was sitting at the island one day in the kitchen when I noticed the lights in the solarium flipping on and off. I was thinking to myself, "Where is there a light switch low enough for P to reach?" I stood up, walked over to the solarium to find this:

Ah! Seriously child?! This kid is dangerous! He must be watched at all times!

Friday my mom had a class in SLC and Necia was working, so I was in charge of Issy and Deiderik. While Deiders was at school, I took Issy to Ryan's parent's. I hadn't seen them in a few days because Oma was out taking care of her dad for a couple days.

Issy and Pierscen played for quite a while until it was time for P's nap. Oma tried to put him down, but he kept crying. I went in to see what was wrong and immediately smelled something nasty. I lifted him up to change his bum and realized it was not poop, but throw up. Everywhere. I have no idea why it happened, but the poor little guy lost everything.

I stripped him down, started the wash, and headed to my parents for new clothes and to pick up Deiders from school. When we got back, Oma had put him in her "emergency duds" which consisted of some of P's cousins stuff. It was baggy, but cute.

We had lunch, then we put P down for a "real" nap. We started a movie for Issy because we knew that she would fall asleep. Once she was out, Deiders came with me to pick up Samantha from school, run her Traci's, pick Necia up from work, and then head back to Ryan's parents. It was a busy day and I felt really bad that I didn't really get to spend time with his mom. And I felt really bad that she ended up babysitting when it really wasn't her job! Sorry!

That evening I went to a BBQ for Mountain View Choir Alumni. I found out before I headed out to Utah that the alumni were putting on a surprise concert for Mrs. Mathews, my choir teacher in high school, who is retiring this year. I LOVE Mrs. Mathews. She is amazing! I learned so much from her. So when I heard that they had this concert planned I really wanted to participate. Originally I was planning on going home Saturday - Ry's parents driving me half way - but I decided to stay for the concert and so that I could spend Mother's Day with both of my moms. Anyway, the concert was divided into groups of a couple years. So my group was 2002, 2003, 2004, It was that group that had the BBQ, not the entire alumni from 2002-current. 

One of the girls that was in charge hosted the BBQ at her grandparents in Provo. Holy cow, that yard was amazing. Huge. Trampoline, sandbox, basketball court, sand volleyball pit, garden, chickens, etc. Amazing. I wasn't planning on staying very long because I knew P would be tired and Ry's sister Jessica wanted some help going through the group numbers for the concert. However, P had a blast in the sandbox and playing with the other kids.

After the BBQ, I took P home, put him to bed, and headed over to help Jess for a while.

Saturday was busy, but awesome. Unfortunately I have no pictures from the concert, but it was AMAZING!!! We had to be there several hours early to do a run through. We were a little nervous about it because this is a show that in normal terms would have required tons of practice and we only had one shot to run through it. But it turned out SO good.

I am so grateful for my years in choir. I miss it like crazy. As a group we sang "Come Thou Fount" and "Go Ye Now in Peace." They invited Mrs. Mathews to come conduct "Go Ye Now in Peace." What was so amazing about it was that as soon as she started leading the music, they way we were singing totally changed. It's hard to explain. The way we pronounced things, our dynamics, etc, everything changed. Even though we have been away for years, the time spent with her in training came right back. It was awesome. I definitely cried. It was such an incredible experience.

Of course as soon as it was over everyone started to swarm Mrs. Mathews. I, like everyone else, wanted my chance to at least shake her hand. She admitted that anyone before 2008 she was having a hard time placing - which who can blame her considering in the 10+ years she has been there she has had thousands of students? As I approached, I heard people from my group introducing themselves and reminding her of their names. We made eye contact and her eyes lit up and she said, "I know you! Diane!" 

I have never felt like more of a rock star than I did at that moment. She knew me!!! Yes, it was Diane, but that is pretty dang close! I have been answering to Diane my whole life. She remembered me! She knew who I was! Seriously, I was so happy! Her first year at Mountain View was my Sophomore year. I was in Ladies A'capella that year. The following year I made MVHS history by making Chamber as a Junior. It wasn't that I was all that amazing. It's just that all the teachers before had reserved Chamber for Seniors. I was shocked and thrilled when I heard I had made it. I was the only Junior that year, but it opened the door for others in years to come. So my Junior year I was in Chamber and A'capella. That was such an amazing year. The summer between my Junior and Senior year I had the opportunity to go to Europe with the Utah Ambassadors of Music. Mrs. Mathews was one of the teachers/conductors that got to go as well. My Senior year I was in Chamber and A'capella again, but was "kicked out" by the high school when I finished all my credits necessary for graduation in December. I was crushed. I have no shame in admitting that I am a total choir nerd. I loved it. Music is my language. It fills a gap in my life that nothing else can. And trust me, there are few things as magical as singing with a group of trained singers. Cold chills. Every time.

I think because of the time I spent with Mrs. Mathews, perhaps a little bit more than other students had, including the musical 7 brides for 7 brothers, perhaps that was why she remembered me. I don't care the reason. I was just proud that she did. I gave her a big hug and thanked her for all that she had taught me. I really wish I had a picture. 

Sunday was Mother's Day. I went to church with my mom. (Last year I was at Ryan's ward because his dad was speaking.) My mom teaches primary and so I went with her to her class. They were nice and let me bring P along. He loved it and I think the kids liked having him there too.

We had a great Mother's Day dinner at my parents followed by everyone listing one thing they think is hard about being a mom, and one thing they think is really cool. It was fun to hear everyone's responses. My answers were: One thing that is difficult about being a mom is seeing your child get hurt (physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc) and not being able to take the blow for them, even if you know it's for their own good. One thing awesome about being a mom is seeing the magic and wonder in the smallest of things. We tend to look for big grand things to make us happy in life. Then you look at a small child like Pierscen and see the thrill he gets in petting the dog, or taking a few steps on his own, or throwing a rock in the water and suddenly you can see how amazing life really is.

After that, we went over to say Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law and say goodbye to Jen and family who I knew I likely wouldn't see again before we left. 

I am extremely blessed to have these two women in my life. I could not ask for a better mother or mother-in-law. I love them so much!

During the last couple of days of the trip P started to come down with a cold and it hit me pretty hard on Monday. I spent some time in bed because I felt so rotten, but when I woke up, we headed to Necia's to try out the slip 'n' slide.

P's first instinct was to crawl over and try and get a drink from the fountains. Silly kid. :) He liked to sit on the edge and slash, but he was not a fan of being splashed by others...

You can't really tell, but he was crying pretty hard in this picture. Oh well.

Then Samantha had the idea to set up the slide and for whatever reason, P really liked that. Even though he was cold and his little teeth her chattering, he loved going down the slide (hose on and all). He kept trying to climb back up from the bottom.

 Thankfully my brother Philip showed up Monday evening to drop off a gift for my mom and P was able to say hello. He really didn't know what to think of his beard. ;)

Tuesday morning, my mom drove us to the airport. We left later than anticipated (my fault) and getting through the airport took way longer than anticipated (partially my fault - luggage was overweight and we had to do some rearranging.) Anyway, we barely made it to our gate on time. As I raced up to the counter, the lady said, "Are you Diana?" I said yes, a little puzzled that she would know who I was. She said, "I have been paging you for a while. I went ahead and changed your seat so that you have the row to yourself." I almost burst into tears I was so touched and so grateful. I was really stressed about flying home on my own. The flight is only a little over an hour, but trying to get a fully mobile and tired baby to stay in your lap for an hour? Yeah right!

Needless to the say, having that empty seat next to me was a total godsend. P did pretty good. He was tired, still struggling with a cold, and he popped two molars while in Utah. (He always manages to cut teeth while in Utah. What's the deal?!)

He did get fussy and I had to wrestle him a bit, but we survived. I was especially grateful to the man behind us to played peek-a-boo with P and gave P someone to entertain.

I think P was thrilled when we landed and he was able to run around the baggage claim area until Ryan arrived. Ry took us home where we had lunch and admired our new family member: the grill. :)

In case you were wondering, Ryan sent me a picture of a chainsaw on Mother's Day saying "Happy Mother's Day." When I got home he explained it was either the chainsaw or the grill. Hahaha. He did get me some strawberries and dipping chocolate as well as a cheesecake sampler plate. Yum, yum. And really, between the grill and the chainsaw, I think it should have been the grill. After all, he did order one with a side burner specifically for me so that we could make s'mores, which we have now, several times. :) Thanks babe.

The trip to Utah was wonderful. Crazy, busy, chaotic at times, but great. I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, but we will be back out there in August, so hopefully I can see a few more people then. 

I am grateful to my wonderful family and for all of their support. I wish we didn't live so far away, but at the same time, I am grateful that it is close enough that we can visit without it being a huge ordeal. I don't foresee all of my trips to Utah being chronicled with as much detail as this one, but there was a lot going on this trip! And maybe one day I will be better at being able to just bullet point things. In fact, I am tempted to turn around and do that right now. It's embarrassing how huge these posts turn out to be, especially when I know most people don't actually read them. Oh well. If anyone is still reading at this point, did you notice that it looks like P wore the same shirt every single day? Hahaha. I swear he had other clothes. Apparently each time I did laundry I just put him back in the same thing. Wow.