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Friday, August 30, 2013

Act 4; Scene 2: Our Trip to Michigan (with a baby...)

We had quite the adventure a few weeks ago.

We spent 8 days in Michigan, at the Mautz lake house. And we are still recovering. Last night was the first night that Thomas slept all the way through the night uninterrupted since we have been home, so I decided it is time to blog about our vacation. (Or, "vacation")

Tommy was very excited about the prospect of packing
 Well, of packing himself.

He was so excited that he couldn't sleep AT ALL the morning that we left.

And he was very excited at the beginning of his first plane ride

 We thought for sure he'd be so tired that he'd conk out for some of the plane ride (4 hours). But he continued to fight and fight until he had thrown up twice all over us and was so uncomfortable that he couldn't help it.
Pooped out and shirtless thanks to the vomit

After this we had a 3 hour layover in Baltimore, then another ride to Michigan, and a two hour car ride to the house.

We got in about 2am eastern time--wowsers.

Needless to say, this first 12 hour traveling day proved to start out our vacation on the rocky side of things. Thomas was pretty nervous about everything around him at the house.

Robert introducing Tommy to the lake, and trying to help him get used to it
Something about our little bunk bed room must have really scared Thomas, because he woke up about every 45 minutes at night scared and needing us to comfort him. Finally we just took turns sleeping with him in our bunk beds at night. We usually had to take afternoon naps with him, too (which turned out ok--we were all really tired)

Just after taking an afternoon nap

Sunday seemed to top if off with the fussiness. After having a complete meltdown at church, followed by a 3 hour nap, he seemed to do much better, and started sleeping most of the night by himself in the pack-n-play.

He was also able to actually enjoy some of the lake time!

Getting to the dunes was his least favorite part, but once there he had a blast in the sand







He also started to really enjoy time with his "cousins" (2nd cousins?)

Aaron and Thomas

Aaron, Emmeline Thomas


Erica, Tommy, and Emmeline
And Daddy got to enjoy some water skiing and tubing


Tommy's favorite activity of the whole trip was probably picking blueberries. He saw those bushes, and he knew what to do. We ended up just setting him down and he went to town picking blueberries and shoving them in his mouth as if his life depended on it. He didn't even hardly make a sound--too focused on the task at hand.



We would say after the first 4-5 days, we started relaxing and enjoying our time. We did manage to get to the House of Flavors three times before we left, as well--finally catching the newest shipment of cherry chip cheesecake (Robert's favorite!) on our last night.

It sure was fun to spend some more time with the Mautz's and Walsers. I had a blast meeting Hannah--we chatted and chatted and did Pilates and went running.

Our return trip went much smoother. It was shorter, too :-) Thomas just flirted with everybody at the airport.

We thought he looked pretty funny all scrunched up in his little stroller snacking on wheat thins


And that, folks, pretty much sums up our trip. Getting back into the swing of things at home has been tricky, and is lasting just as long as the "vacation."

Robert and I discussed not going on vacation again for the next ten years. We might even stick to that.

We have been enjoying our delicious blueberries at home! Wish we had more!


Next time, we'll pick two buckets full. (In like, 10 years...)

Well, that's all for now! Enjoy the last day or two of summer!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Act 4; Scene 1: The Start of Year Four

Today marks the beginning of our fourth year of marriage.

Hurray!

Wait, we've been married 3 years? Only 3? That number sounds so little. It feels more like...10 years, or something like that. Has it really only been for three years that we've had this life together? Hard to believe that lives can be so different and so completely intertwined in just three short years.

And those three years have been awesome! A few highlights from this last year of marriage:

Thomas's blessing


Threesome Halloween!


First family vaca to the Shakespearean Festival (along with another fam and their baby)
Purchase of our home! This is one of the first pictures I took here.
Baby's first Christmas
Family 5k!
Planted our first garden
Mom and Dad Center headed off to St. George for a mission

Baby's first birthday
Trip to the Cottage in Michigan

A pretty fabulous year! This year to celebrate, we left Thomas overnight for the first time with his Grandma and Grandpa McFarland, and we headed out on the town for a stay in a B&B in downtown SLC. 

We spent our evening going out to dinner and exploring the city.

temple square

GIANT new grocery store in City Creek (this is only part of the store, taken from the 2nd level. Yikes.)
Our B&B treated us to a lovely breakfast in bed


That was how we spent our Pioneer Day vacation.

Yesterday to celebrate, the whole fam (yes, all three of us) went to The Purple Turtle (thanks, coupon!) for dinner. Then Robert whipped up some of his delicious blueberry sauce from fresh Michigan berries that we poured on slices of cheesecake.


Then we hunkered down to watch our Red Box movie, Lincoln. It was amazing! So amazing that we stayed up way too late watching it and are now exhausted.

Well, here's to another year!