Utah Trip!

Last week I ventured out to Utah, flying by myself with both girls (ages 2 and 15 months) to surprise my older sister Becky. She was expecting her fourth and it was fun to be there with the family when little McKay arrived.

The girls did surprisingly well and we didn't have any major breakdowns! When the plane took off both girls yelled WEEEEEEEE, giving everyone a good laugh. Emerie was a little wiggly at first but once she realized getting off my lap wasn't an option then things went a lot better. And... amazingly enough all three of us fit in an airplane bathroom. Emerie of course had a messy diaper on the last leg of the flight when the fasten seatbelt sign was on. Whenever I askthe flight attendant if I can change the diaper they always say, "You gotta do what you gotta do." I think they don't mind us risking unknown turbulence rather than have everyone around me endure the smell.

We arrived in Utah late afternoon and went over to Becky's later in the day when she was out running an errand. We hid in my niece's room and when Becky got home Kensie told her mom she had a surprise for her. She was very excited to see us and very surprised!

On our trip we were able to celebrate not only the birth of baby McKay but four other family birthdays and my sister Emily got engaged while I was there. Emerie figured out how to sing Happy, happy, happy, and learned how to stuff chocolate cake up her nose. It was great to have an explanation to the brown stuff still coming out of her nose the next morning. Madison loved dancing, dressing up, reading stories and the pizza play place we went to for Kensie's b-day. She wanted to ride the carousel over, and over and over. She must not have my motion sickness gene because I got dizzy just watching her. They also had a great time at the glow in the dark golf course!

Both girls loved waking up at my moms house to find lots of friends and their cat to play with. Emerie chased the cat everywhere and learned how to climb on the couch yelling, "I did it!" as she grabbed the cat's tail in his favorite resting spot. Most of my siblings are still at home so the girls were completely spoiled with with lots of attention! The girls loved having tea parties with my mom and Madison loved reading the Nurse Nancy book with my dad. Emerie was pretty nervous about new people and grumpy to almost everyone. She warmed up the quickest to my dad and loved giving high fives to Jefferey.

Madison had her first sleepover with her cousins, slept through the night and didn't notice that I wasn't there when she woke up. Emerie stayed just for movie night and discovered how much fun it was to feed everyone Kix. You couldn't "fake eat" with Emmie, she made sure the Kix were all the way in your mouth.

And of course, summer in Utah wouldn't be complete without a few trips to grandma and grandpa Cumming's pool. We can never get enough of grandma's cookies, splashing in the pool, and spending time with grandma and grandpa "Pocco" (nick named after their dog). Madison loved relaxing after pool time in front of Mary Poppins and Emerie loved looking for pocco. Madison and Emerie were fearless in the water and loved jumping off the side of the pool. It definitely kept me on my toes.