The Rest of December

I'm finally going to catch up with the end of our 2012 year. I'll just get right into it:

A couple days after Yale's birthday, Lish's dad came out for a visit for a few days. It was so fun to have him here, as usual. He's such easy company and Yale loves spending time with his Papa Mitch. The Harris boys drove into Zions National Park to go for a hike, while I stayed home to watch Presley. They seemed to have fun and enjoyed the adventure. Then we drove into Vegas early the day Mitch was leaving to spend some time walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather. Other than that, we didn't do too much while Mitch was here.

We had a couple weeks to ourselves before we headed back up north for the holidays. It was nice to have that little break with the busy-ness that had engulfed us, but we were excited to get up and see some family. We spent the first weekend with my dad, a few days after Christmas with Lish's mom, and then a couple days up at my mom's. We jumped around a bit for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we usually do so we can spend time with everyone. And of course we had the annual skiing/snowboarding trip the day after Christmas with my dad. Everyone in my family got sick though while we were with Karen, so we were lucky enough to not get it. (Well, I did technically get it, but not nearly as badly as everyone else, and for that I am blessed.) It just cut our time with my mom a day short, which was sad, but the time we got with her was awesome.

We love our family and love all the time we get to spend with them. Thanks everyone for a wonderful Christmas!

A Chicago Thanksgiving

So, I'm still catching up here. I almost wanted to skip ahead and get right to Yale's birthday. That's right. He had another birthday. He's 2. But, I'm keeping with the correct timeline of things, so I'll get to that soon.

Our family took quite a large trip recently. Yale was gone for the longest. Lish and Yale took off to Chicago a few days before I did. I know. I got a few days all to myself and I didn't have to travel with a toddler. It was pretty great, but pretty strange at the same time. I missed my baby. I missed Lish too, but we've spent time apart before. Yale and I haven't ever spent more than 24 hours apart. I cried the whole way home from the airport, and that first day was hard, but after that I kept myself way too busy. I don't even remember what I did, but I was productive.

Lish had to leave earlier than me because of his ASC conference. He had to present and offered to take Yale with him since I always take Yale with me when we part ways. Plus, we knew after Thanksgiving that I'd be staying in Salt Lake with my family and Yale would be with me. I didn't go out to Chicago at the same time as them because of the baby girl I babysit. I didn't want to leave for 3 weeks, especially knowing we'll be gone again for Christmas.

Anyway, Lish and Yale stayed with Lish's sister and brother-in-law. They seemed to have such a fun time, letting the little cousins play and getting to visit. I flew in the same day as Lish's mom and stepdad, and Lish's grandparents flew in a few hours after us. It was a party in Chicago! We had such a great time visiting with everyone, watching the kiddos try to share, getting to see the two Yale's together again and so on. We walked around the University of Chicago's campus, went to the Museum of Science and Industry, visited the Shedd aquarium, went to the zoo, visited my aunt and uncle in Naperville, ate some yummy deliciousness, walked the Magnificent Mile, and did a bunch of other stuff I can't remember I'm sure.

As per usual, enjoy the visuals!

Beach Babies (or Toddlers)

We had the opportunity to go to California right after our visit with the Bryans. Lish's dad owns a house in Huntington Beach, and we were invited out for a week. It was awesome! I told Lish on our last night there that vacations with kids aren't very relaxing (for those of you with kids, I know you're shocked to find this out!), but we both felt relaxed and rejuvenated and refreshed and all those other re words. It was just what we needed, and just what Yale needed.

Yale had so much fun playing at the beach in the sand and in the waves. He became an excellent swimmer (aka, not afraid of the water and even went under a couple times). He saw a bazillion airplanes and plenty of helicopters. He was outside a lot. He had his cousin, Lici, there by his side almost the entire trip. He had no furniture to climb on and fall off of, nor did he have any trinkets to break. It was a perfect vacation for him, which means it was a perfect vacation for me and Lish.

We are so grateful to Mitch and Bev for hosting us and for having patience during Yale's screaming and yelling periods. We are so grateful for the chance we had to go out there and spend time with them.  And we're so glad we got to spend a couple extra days there with just Mitch. It was a great way to end a great trip!