here is the second half of our trip home. there were a lot of photos to go through, so please forgive me, this post is loooong!
danny left on monday at noon. we were sad to see him go, but he needed to head back to nc to take care of business. that afternoon the kids and i met up with my friend katie and her two adorable sons to have a swim-playdate. alanna also brought along her friend mariah, who lives across the street from my parents. we went to an indoor pool that we used to frequent often when alanna was younger. they have a fabulous kid-friendly pool with a water slide, lazy river, whirlpool, sprinklers and more. it was a lot of fun! we stayed in the water for a couple hours, until we were all prunes, and the boys were shivering. i didn't take a single photo while we were there. shame. but wrangling a cold wet toddler, and trying to get dried off and dressed kept me distracted.
danny left on monday at noon. we were sad to see him go, but he needed to head back to nc to take care of business. that afternoon the kids and i met up with my friend katie and her two adorable sons to have a swim-playdate. alanna also brought along her friend mariah, who lives across the street from my parents. we went to an indoor pool that we used to frequent often when alanna was younger. they have a fabulous kid-friendly pool with a water slide, lazy river, whirlpool, sprinklers and more. it was a lot of fun! we stayed in the water for a couple hours, until we were all prunes, and the boys were shivering. i didn't take a single photo while we were there. shame. but wrangling a cold wet toddler, and trying to get dried off and dressed kept me distracted.
malcolm was wiped out after all that activity. he napped hard when we got home. and we both slept really well that night too. i honestly got more sleep on this trip than i've had in probably years. some nights i slept around 10 hours! that is unheard of for me. i usually try and get lots of stuff done around the house or online while malcolm sleeps, so i only get about 6-7 hours on a normal night. it was nice to wake up feeling well-rested.
tuesday morning was full of appointments. alanna had one to have her hair cut:
she cut off enough to donate! i think it was about 10 inches. her hair looks so cute now! we all love it so much. i think it frames her face beautifully this way.
notice there is no blue sky. there was an awful dust storm blowing through (since utah is mostly a desert), plus there were two large wildfires burning on both ends of the valley, so the sky was full of smoke and ash and dirt. it was terrible. and very windy. ugh. we didn't spend much time outside because of it.
i also had an appointment to get tattooed. i started this piece 3+ years ago on a trip out to visit, but because we ran out of time, it was left unfinished. i then made another appointment about a year later, but had to cancel it when i realized that i was pregnant. so it was really nice to finally get it finished. this is the longest i have ever gone between appointments, and this is the only piece that i didn't have finished within a few weeks/months. i thought it might hurt more, since i wasn't used to the feeling, and i always hear that the older you get, the more it hurts. but no, that was not the case at all. i actually enjoyed it. and i really enjoyed catching up with my old friend jon chatelain, who is the artist.
i took these photo the morning after it was done, so it is a bit shiny, red, and swollen. i will try and post another one of it later, since it has healed wonderfully!
on tuesday night my sister natalie had us over to her house for dinner. she made us a special vegan meal, and it was delicious. it was nice to have her cater to our special dietary needs. thanks again nat!
malcolm loved kicking rocks in her front yard (see the smokey, nasty air?!)
after dinner we all sat and enjoyed each others company (and malcolm ran around like a wild beast). i wanted a family photo, and since i figured i might not get another chance at getting all of us together again, i propped my camera up and used the timer feature. they didn't turn out very good, but here are two that are okay.
we were hoping that the dust/smoke storm would blow past, and that it might rain, so that the air would clear up and then we could go to the park to play. but instead we woke up wednesday morning to SNOW! when i was little it snowed a few times on easter, so it isn't unusual for utah to have such a late winter, but we were really hoping for nicer weather. danny was sad that he missed the snow. malcolm loved walking in it in his boots (and pj's!).
on wednesday evening a few of my friends came over with their boys. this is cash, i went to school with his mom audra my sophomore year of high school. he is about 2 months younger than malcolm, and almost a whole head taller than him! he is already wearing size 4t! wow! he's such a cute big boy.
natalie and rocket also came over
natalie and jensen
this is baby jensen! he is 5 months old, and is the son of one of my oldest and dearest friends stacey and her awesome husband john. i grew up with stacey, we went to church and school together (and we both went to high school with audra). i love that we all have boys near the same age, and i can't wait to see jensen grow up. i just wish we all lived a little closer.
alanna and my mom being silly :)
malcolm started to get jealous because i was holding baby jensen, he had a meltdown and then fell asleep on my lap in the strangest position. he's a funny lil' guy.
but he woke up in a better mood, and i was able to get a photo of all three boys together before they had to leave.
thursday was pretty cold out
so we decided to take a trip to ikea. i loved this display above the entrance to the kids area. i love ikea, and wish there was one in raleigh. but i got a few great things for our house to hold me over until we can finally make a trip to charlotte (2.5 hours from us).
friday started off great. i had my hair done by another great old friend of mine, jared gomez. he did my hair last march when we were out for a visit, which was the last time i had had it cut, so i was in serious need of a new do. he works at a great salon tucked away in downtown salt lake city.
here's a before:
and after: much better!
after my appointment, i picked up my mom, the kids, and my sister, and we headed up to kelly's bakery to pick up some more treats. my mom got alanna one of their easter tote's stuffed with tons of goodies. and natalie and i both got a box with a few assorted treats (my box was much bigger than hers, haha). the traffic on the freeway going up was pretty congested. they are doing construction, so it was stop-and-go, and it took us a while to get there. the traffic heading back to salt lake was even worse. we were making our way back, stop-and-go, stop-and-go, and suddenly this truck in front of me stopped short, and i could not stop fast enough. wham. i crashed right into the back of him. in my mom's car. the wreck wasn't that bad, but the airbags went off, and the car was filled with that nasty smoke/gas, which was scary and made us all cough. the car was totaled. my mom's poor car. it made me cry.
we were all totally fine. just sad about what had just happened. i felt terrible for wrecking their car. what a major inconvenience for my parents. plus my mom was holding my box of treats on her lap, and the airbag exploded it! so sad.
my citation for following too close. the guy in the truck that i hit said that there was another car who had stopped short in front of him, so when i hit his truck, he had bumped that cars rear bumper too. the car stopped, the guy got out and snapped some photos on his iphone of our three cars involved, and then drove away before the highway patrol showed up. weird. maybe he didn't have insurance, and he was worried that he had caused the accident?! who knows? but i'm pretty sure that it is against the law to leave the scene of an accident.
the poor crunched accord
thankfully my brother was able to come pick the kids and i up. and the guy in the tow truck was really nice, and gave my mom and sister a ride back to her house.
alanna and i, and my friend bethany, were supposed to go to an event that night at the salt lake community college featuring the jabbawockeez dance group. my friend kate gave us tickets, but because of the whole car ordeal, we didn't make it back in time to go. plus we would have had to walk to it in the cold. and i still felt kind of sick from inhaling all those nasty fumes. alanna was super bummed that we missed it. i was bummed that kate went out of her way to get us tickets, and we didn't even use them.
friday ended badly, but saturday was much better. i borrowed my dad's car, and took the kids to the vegan easter no-egg hunt and potluck. it was originally supposed to be held at liberty park, but because of the cold weather, and wet ground, kelly relocated it indoors. it was a wild fun time. there were tons of kids, and lots of yummy food, and we all had a blast. malcolm loved running around and getting crazy with the other kids. thanks again kelly, for having us!
here is malcolm and kelly's son django
alanna was the oldest kid there, so she felt a little out of place. but she enjoyed the food, ate malcolm's candy, and read her book :)
in the bounce house
after all the excitement, we went home and malcolm and i explored my dad's junkyard. he is a hoarder of all things mechanical and/or car related. when we were kids, we spent a lot of time playing out in the junkers. i have many fond memories of playing with brad out there. and if you knew me in jr. high, you probably remember all the parties in the "disco shack". i loved that barn so much, and hanging out with friends out there were some of the best times of my youth.
we spotted a white rabbit, just in time for easter! it belongs to my cousin's kids (they rent the house next door, that my parents own), but they have been letting it out ot it's pen, so it can roam freely out in the back. i'm sure it loves having all that space to run around.
we tried to sneak up on it, but it spotted us, and started to run. i thought it was going to hide under that old truck, but instead, it ran straight at us! and it was fast! i caught these photos as it whizzed past.
here is what the barn looks like now
we also spotted my old cat, little grey, and realized just how close he had been to the rabbit. i think he was planning on pouncing on it. but that rabbit is huge, and it would have taken lil' grey down, haha!
we started to get cold, so we went inside. malcolm parked it in front of the tv, and watched a whole episode of the backyardigans quietly. he's only seen it a few times, but he loves it!
on easter sunday we went to brunch at vertical diner with my brother, and my friends kate and jason. the food was great, as usual. and the hangout was even better. after brunch, we took brad back home, and went inside to see his house, and say hello to his dogs. he has completely restored the old house he lives in, and it is beautiful. he is a collector of all things vintage/antique. he did a great job on his house, and he should be proud of the meticulous work he has done to it.
this is mazzy (kyzer is in the back)
do you recognize this guy?! :)
then we went back to my parents house to relax before easter dinner. i love this photo of alanna as a toddler. it still hangs in her old room. i was trying to compare malcolm to it, to see if they have any similar facial features? but nope, not really, haha.
we found this old handprint that i made in kindergarten. malcolm still has a few years, before his hand will fit in it.
i made my "famous" potato salad to go with dinner. we had a nice meal as a family.
rocket helped clean up anything that dropped on the floor
natalie and malcolm both got bubbles for easter, so we went out in the backyard to blow them
alanna with her uncle brad
on monday my mom, malcolm, and i spent the day running some last-day errands, while alanna went to the movies with her friend mariah. they saw "how to train your dragon", and she loved it. i stopped in graywhale and got malcolm a used copy of caillou on dvd for $6! i also went in plato's closet, and scored a like new pair of seven jeans (and my very favorite style too) for $35!! i was super stoked! then i did a little packing, and after we went to dinner with my mom and brother. i was sad that my sister couldn't make it, i wish we could have seen her one more time before we left. and my dad stayed home, since he doesn't like the restaraunt that we chose. it started snowing again while we were eating. malcolm loved watching it out the window.
tuesday afternoon we flew home. it took pretty much all day to get back to nc, since we lost two hours in the air. malcolm slept all of the first flight, and was pretty good on the second flight. i was worried that he would be bad, since it was just me and the kids this time (no hubby). but he was very well behaved. i am thankful that the flights were easy for us, coming and going. it makes the idea of traveling with him more in the future, not so scary.
alanna after the long day of travel. she was counting all of her loot (having a very generous grandpa rules!)
we had a great trip. i would have liked a day of warm sunshine so that we could have gone to the park. but maybe next time? we spent lots of time with my family, we ate at all of the places i had wanted to go (at least once), we had fun, and saw some good friends. i missed seeing a few people, but it was hard to fit everyone in. salt lake city, we hope to be back again soon. thanks for making it through this long post!
