A Little Bit of Catch-up

Sam came home!!! It is so good to be back together again. We picked him up at the airport in Idaho Falls, and of course we had to go get him a hamburger.

He brought Ellie some bracelets, rings and necklaces, and she was completely in heaven. It was funny to watch her walk around with them on - she felt so beautiful.

Sam came home on Wednesday, Thursday consisted of doing laundry and packing, and on Friday we left for a family reunion in California. Our flight left Salt Lake at 11:30 on Saturday, so we found a hotel in downtown Salt Lake that had a free parking garage and a shuttle to the airport and stayed there Friday night.

While we were there, we decided to take the kids to see the temple, the tabernacle, and the visitor's centers. I am amazed at how much Ellie picks up and remembers. She loved to see the smaller replica of the temple, the pictures of the prophets, the wax statues of Book of Mormon prophets, and she especially loved the Cristus. Sam said as soon as Ellie saw the statue she said "It's Jesus! Let's go touch Him!" Ellie and Nathan went to the base of the statue and looked at Him and talked to Him. It was so sweet to hear their excitement.

We had a great time feeling the Spirit and spending time together. The kids were so glad to have their daddy back.

Then we flew to California the next day. We were quite the circus getting through the airport, but we made it.

The family reunion was in Newport, California with my dad's side of the family. My grandparents have a timeshare, and they cashed in all of their points so they could bring the entire family to this resort for a week. Wow.

We spent a week swimming in the pool and at the beach, playing games, eating way too much, and just spending time with family. Sam's parents and Ben, Melissa and Peter even came down one day. It was a blast.

Nathan loved the beach, Ellie hated it, I learned to boogie board, and Sam got the funniest-looking/most painful-looking sunburn of his life. Apparently you shouldn't let my dad spray your sunscreen because you will come out with tiger stripes.

We were all completely exhausted.

Awkward selfie, but I had to document the cute moment. My little guy is growing up, and the snuggles are getting to be few and far between.

How adorable is this picture? Dad's pushing their kids. We traveled on the same flight as Tucker, Karli, and their cute new baby Annie. She's so sweet and perfect. And, surprisingly, the kids all did well on the flights and in the airports. Well, aside from the huge amount of goldfish crackers that Nathan smashed into the carpet at the airport... Sigh. 

Nathan kept finding new ways to sit in the stroller. He's a funny little guy.

We got home at 2:30 am on Saturday night/Sunday morning, so we were really tired on Sunday of course. Nathan fell asleep in the car on the way home from church, and Sam thought it would be funny to draw a mustache on Nathan............ Yeah, no comment from me. And Ellie was quite upset about it - she kept telling Sam that we don't color on people, only paper. Ya think she's heard that once or twice in her life? :) After we got these pictures, Ellie rubbed the mustache off, and that was that. (Good thing Sam used a dry erase marker)

While we were in California Jonah started waking up in the night to eat again, so I started giving him a little bit of cereal before bed. He is eating it really well, and I'm hoping he will start sleeping through the night again soon. He sure spoiled me by being a good sleeper so early!

We took him in for his 4-month check-up yesterday, and he weighs 14.7 lbs (42%), is 25.3 in. tall (60%), and his head is 16.8 in. (55%). He doesn't have the "huge head little body" thing that my other two have.

When the doctor walked into the room yesterday, (he's a really big guy) Ellie said, not so quietly, "Why him has a big bum?" Aye aye aye.........

We had a fun vacation, but it is great to be home.