Vacation Time

Hello Gang!

We are in Utah! We are having a great vacation so far. Chelsea was a champ travelling down here. We hit the road at 4:30 Saturday morning. We hoped to get in a good 4-5 hours driving before the little one even woke up. She didn't sleep until we wanted, but she was great. She was able to mostly entertain herself during the awake times (with the help of Mommy giving her an endless stream of animal crackers-half of which ended up soggy and in the carseat, but oh well). We went as far as Bozeman, Montana Saturday. We made great time so we were too early for check in at the hotel. Where did we go? Well Walmart, naturally! We picked up a pack-n-play to keep Chelsea captive during nap/bedtime, otherwise she tends to wake up and not go back to sleep if she discovers she can go somewhere. We got some cute pictures while we killed time as well as enjoyed no sales tax and 10% off discount at Walmart. (We are currently staying at Steph [Lois' sister] and Andy's apartment and so I will have to add pictures/video later.)

At the hotel we took Chelsea swimming for the first time! She was so tired by that time, but refused to nap, so we took her into the pool. We got a little floaty tube that she can sit in and hand out in the water without being held constantly (thanks for the suggestion Laurie!) She had a ball! I was looking forward to putting her in her new swimsuit. It turned out to be just a little bit small for her, but we squeezed her in anyway. :) It was definitely worth it.

Chelsea got to eat a bunch of new foods for breakfast at the hotel. They served hot breakfast with the continental breakfast, so Chels got to sample eggs and pancakes and hash browns and muffins all for the first time. She liked them all. After eating mainly animal crackers for most of the previous day, I bet the warm stuff was a welcome change! So Sunday we headed out for the second leg of our journey. Rexburg was our lunch stopping spot. We explored my old campus a bit and met up with a couple old roommies to eat and show off the little one. They loved her! I miss you Berk and Lynsey! You guys were so fun to live with!

So after lunch we headed down to Provo to meet up with Jeff and Lois. We knew their apartment complex, but we didn't know which apartment was theirs; so our plan was to look for their car and then knock on nearby apartments hoping to either find it or find someone that knows. (We did try looking it up on the BYU site, but it turns out that they give out far less information then they used to) We parked and saw a Jeff-and-Lois-ish car nearby. Then we saw a Lois-looking girl digging in it. So we came near and started calling for Jeff and Lois and then they appeared! They were just on their way to Roger and Brit's for dinner. They left us a note, but it would have been hard for us to meet up with them, since we didn't know where either family lived. So we lucked out. We all went together and had wonderful yummy food. Reed had shoes on that squeaked at each step, it was really cute.

Yesterday we went and explored Rick's old campus a bit. We met up with Michelle and later ate at the Cougareat. We didn't see Chris or Amanda there. We hadn't even seen them yet. We went to the BYU bookstore and picked up a few things. And we went to the mall and hunted out a swim suit for me. It took awhile, even here in Utah, but I managed to find one that I like, despite having to evacuate the store. No joke! Just as I discovered my suit, a lady asked me to leave quickly because they were smelling gas. So I went out to Rick and Chelsea, who was pushing her stroller around the little rest area outside Sears, and we went on our way. Later we came back and the store was open again and I made my purchase. Later Rick and I played Carcasonne. We tied the first game and he throttled me the second. It was fun. We picked up an expansion pack for that at the mall too, so be ready to play when we get back, Elizabeth!

At the end of the day, we went to the duck pond to play crocket with Jeff, Lois, Reed, Chris, and Amanda. We see the happy couple at last! The main reason we are in Utah! It was lots of fun to feed to ducks and to play. Amanda's family joined us later. It was nice to meet them, too. They are niceys. Chelsea has discovered to joy of pushing the cooler around the floor. It was pretty cute. After we put Chelsea to bed, Steph and Andy were nice enough to babysit while Rick and I went to Jeff and Lois' to play some Wii. We were all pretty tired, but it was way fun. It was my first experience with the Wii. I think I'd be open to doing it again. :)