I flew to Utah for a day with Landon, Parker, and Henry. I figured since Randy took the older boys to Whistler why not use our many credit card points to fly the littles to Utah for my Dad's annual Christmas Bus Extravaganza. Long story short, I flew out Friday night arriving at 11pm, spent the next day with family, and then flew back home Sunday morning. It was over before we knew it.
As I was packing up to leave, I had to get my friend Jen to drive me to the airport at the last minute because Randy had too many patients at our practice. What a good problem to have! She dropped me off at the curb and said, "Are you sure you're ok? Can I help you get to the gate?" I rolled my eyes. As if flying with three kids on a short flight to Utah is hard?! Clearly she had no idea of my traveling expertise.
Oh, how pride cometh before the fall!
We got to security with minimal effort. I had Henry in the stroller and pulled along my carry-on suitcase while Landon carried the duffel bag. Easy peasy. After security, we took a couple elevators and a train to get to our terminal and arrived a few minutes before boarding. I bought some snacks and then we were the first to board the plane. After putting the duffle bag in the overhead bin I reached down to put my suitcase away and it wasn't there. I thought it was right there and clearly it wasn't. I panicked and asked the flights attendants for permission to leave the plane. I left Henry in the arms of a stranger and the other boys in their seats and got off the plane as fast as I could, which was a struggle as the aisle was clogged with passengers. Luckily they got out of my way because I wouldn't have thought twice about throwing my body over the seats to get out of there. I thought I'd see my suitcase just sitting there by the gate but it wasn't. I asked the gate person to call security to see if they'd found it there. She was a total jerk so I started retracing my steps, making it all the way back to the train when I realized my boys were sitting on a plane with strangers, and I had no idea when the last time was that I actually had my suitcase and even if I knew, it had probably been moved, or was surrounded by dogs and security in case there was bomb inside. So I got back on the plane all frazzled because I couldn't for the life of me remember walking away from my bag. Luckily my sisters had clothes and toiletries I could borrow along with baby clothes for Henry but I couldn't sleep for several hours that night as I tried to force my brain to recall where I had left my bag. It was very upsetting to not remember and I started googling info on early onset of Alzheimer's. It was a rough night.
Ok, enough about that. Saturday morning we had a pancake breakfast so we could eat my dad's giant pancakes (made from scratch) with Kathy's homemade syrup. All my siblings dropped everything to come for breakfast and spend the entire day together. It was so great to hang out with everyone and the sacrifice of their time during this busy Christmas season was not lost on me. We took lots of pictures, talked, snuggled babies, and enjoyed family togetherness and loud chaos.
Siblings!
My Grandma, Aunt Lisa, and Uncle Dave also drove down from Boise to be with us so it was fun to be with them as well.
Baby Claire, Baby Henry, and Baby Savannah
Everyone loves Henry
These four boys were inseparable
Landon's dreams came true as he played football in the snow with Uncle Dan and cousins
Then I went out to lunch with just my siblings before the Christmas festivities began.
The whole family met at a rest home where we put on a little Christmas program that ended with the cutest nativity I've ever seen. Afterwards we went back to my dad's house to play some fun games, eat pizza, and get on the Christmas bus. It even started to snow! So perfect. We sang Christmas carols and made lots of noise as we drove to Temple Square to look at the lights. After and hour of that we got back on the warm bus, we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies as we listened to the audio version of The Polar Express.
Spjute is really hard to spell
The cutest shepherd boy complete with dinosaur gloves
Aren't they cute? I made these costumes years ago
Back at the house for games. We play Kahoot and it was great fun.
Pizza!
Tired Henry
It was such a fun night. The next morning we woke up, packed our meager belongings, and flew back to Washington in time for church where Parker fell asleep on the bench for two hours. It was a whirlwind of fun!
Henry slept the entire time on both flights
Landon actually slept on the flight
Luckily my suitcase got returned to Lost and Found and I was able to pick it up yesterday. Hallelujah!
