A Much Needed Vacation

We decided that it was a good idea for Jay to take paternity leave after the first of the year. (one of the few good things about living in Los Angeles) Jay hasn't been able to take any vacation since he started work, which was almost a year and a half ago, and I thought it would be so nice to have a little time together adjusting to life with four of us.

First on our agenda was to go visit family in Utah. I was, understandably, not looking forward to the freezing cold, but we got lucky and it warmed up to 15 degrees for us. Yay! And it snowed, so we were able to enjoy playing in the snow.

Jay's dad had surgery the day before we came, which was good because then he had work off and we were able to see him the whole time, and bad because he was in major pain. We're just glad he's almost completely recovered.

Jack experienced a few firsts on our trip:
First time bowling

First time sledding

First time shoveling (or observing really)

First time Jedi fighting



















First time driving (he loved it, even if he doesn't look like it)
 
First time playing the trumpet (he was a natural and actually played some notes)


First time playing air hockey

And now he's sad that we don't live in a house and have a yard. Join the club, little man. Someday, though. Someday...

Also, we blessed Claire while there. It was great to have almost all of our immediate family there. And she slept the whole time and didn't have any explosions in her dress. (sigh of relief) Brenda made this beautiful dress for her, and I love it! I also love Claire's expression on her face. She cracks me up.

We ended up extending our stay because our sister-in-law, Jennae, and her adorable 18 month old daughter, Rachel, came to Alan and Brenda's. Rachel's been sick so they had to go to Boise to see the doctor, so we weren't glad for the reason they ended up coming down, but we have never met Rachel so we were so happy they did end up there. Rachel was so curious about Claire and was so cute with her. She got really concerned if Claire ever cried and she just wanted to be around her (but didn't want her mom or Grandma to hold her, thank you very much).

Jay and I also went cross country skiing in the field behind Jay's parents' house. We haven't done that in years and it was so beautiful.

And check out this awesome snowman these guys made- It was so tall!

 
We had such a good time and it's always so hard to leave (especially since I was kind of dreading the drive back since our drive out was pretty eventful. Poop, pee, crying, more crying, more crying...you get the picture, but it was a much better drive back). Luckily we still had three weeks left so we were still able to get in a groove before Jay has to go back to work.