St. George - Walker Getaway Weekend

Around Christmas-time, Melissa started talking about getting everyone together to go on a Walker Family trip. Things were a little complicated because Matt and Brooklyn live in California, Jenna is getting ready to move to Iowa, and we are planning for a baby to join us in June and couldn't commit to a solid summer date. Thank goodness that Melissa kept pushing, even though the rest of us were being fairly non-committal (even though we all thought it would be great!). We finally found a weekend when most of us could make it and we decided to just go for it. Instead of going somewhere big, we just decided to escape the cold for a little bit and head down to St. George for the weekend. It was perfect! Exactly the escape that we needed. David wasn't able to come #busyseason - but maybe that's why it was extra needed in my case. We've had a fine busy season, but it's starting to drag, and this was exactly the thing that I needed to get us through the rest of the way. 

Our trip wasn't incredibly long or fancy, but it was just SO nice to spend some time with my family. We left on a Friday morning and caravanned down, stopping at the Cedar City temple for a couple of minutes. (We were planning to eat lunch there but it was still too cold.)

We spend the rest of Friday playing at a super-fun park in St. George where the weather was beautiful! Then we headed to a little house just outside of St. George that Melissa and Blake were able to rent through Blake's work. It's like an Airbnb but Blake's work keeps it for employees to rent. It had plenty of bedrooms for all of us and was the perfect place to stay on our trip! The best part about this day was that Matt and Brooklyn surprised us by coming! We didn't think that they were going to be able to come (California and all that) - but last minute they decided to take the days off of work and just come. It was such a happy surprise! They just walked up to us while we were at the park and we could hardly believe that they were there. We spent the night playing games and eating lots of food. 

The next morning we got up went exploring for a little bit and then went out to breakfast at Hash House a Go Go, which has pancakes that are literally the size of a steering wheel. It was such a fun place to eat. Going out to eat with three kids (plus their three cousins) isn't exactly peaceful - but they did well for the most part and the food was delicious so I will chalk it up to a win. We went on a hike, went swimming in the afternoon, went exploring around some cool rock formations close to the house, and played games together. It was a perfect sunny day, minus the brief time when I almost ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere as I drove along an abandoned back road trying to get to the nearest gas station. (#reallife)

Hiking at 26 weeks pregnant while carrying my 2 year old in the carrier - go me! I was also the one who made everyone turn around and head back before the adults were really ready to be done because if I have learned anything as a mother it is the fact that you have to make sure to save enough energy to get your kids back. You have to stop before they are halfway tired because they have to walk all the way back and getting back often takes more energy than getting there. It worked out though, we all had fun and the kids only started dragging at the very end - so pretty much perfect timing.

Exploring the rock formations near where we stayed. Melissa and Blake came with us to walk around before bedtime. 

My dad had already committed to helping my Grandpa on the ranch this weekend, so he wasn't going to be able to come either - but then right before bedtime, he surprised us by showing up, too! It was so neat to have all of my siblings, both of my parents, and all of their spouses there. 

The only person who was missing was David. I missed him a lot, and I know that he wanted to be there. He felt so bad that he couldn't come, but he really just couldn't make it work. Even though he couldn't come, and I missed him badly, I was so grateful all weekend that he was so supportive of me coming with the kids, both emotionally and financially, even though he wouldn't be able to come and enjoy with us. It means a lot to me that he was so encouraging to me and the kids even though he had to stay home and work. I am grateful every day that I married that man. 

Sunday we got up, ate a delicious breakfast (I made aebleskivers and Matt and Brooklyn made homemade bagels, yum!) and then went to a local ward for Church. Then we went to the temple grounds and walked around and took pictures. 

Before we headed home, we stopped at the St. George Cemetary where Grandma and Grandma Blanche and Ed McAllister are buried. #familyhistory

My little brother Jacob rode home with us, which the kids loved. We stopped at the Payson Temple for a little break. That brought the temple count on this trip up to 3. (We drove past the City Center and Provo temples, too - so if you count that - 5!) We have recently printed out pictures of all of the temples in Utah and hung them up on our big Utah Map. We want to go to all of them. After we go, then we can color them in - that's the plan.)  

I love my family. 

I am so grateful for the relationships that we share. We had such a great time on this trip and I'm just still basking in the glow of the summer-sunshine (which is just so needed in March!) and the glow of spending the weekend with some of the people that I love most in life. (The only thing that could have made it better is if David had been able to come, too.) Pretty soon Jenna will be off in Iowa, Matt and Brooklyn will be back in California, and things will be a little different. But this weekend was wonderful and the sunshine will be coming to Lehi soon, and after such a great weekend everything feels like it's going to be okay. (And thank heavens for Marco Polo that will be able to keep my family connected no matter where they are.) Huge shoutout to Melissa for making this happen, I'm incredibly grateful to her because this weekend was exactly what I needed. 

(Also, of note - I made a video of this trip using small clips that I took throughout the weekend. It turned out so great and was so fun. I'm not uploading it on here because it won't transfer into the book - but it's been so fun to watch because it really captures the feeling of this weekend.) 

Caleb Samuel - 2 years!

Oh Caleb, you wonderful two year old, you. You're funny, kind, handsome, independent, social, and patient. We are so glad to have you in our family and we have taken full advantage of celebrating your first two years with us. 

Official Stats: 

Weight - 30.4 lbs (77%)

Height - 33.4 in (39%)

Unofficial stats: 2T clothes, with the occasional 3T item (and the also occasional 4T item that is actually Austin's that I accidentally dressed Caleb in and then let him wear it through the day because it looked fine.) 12 teeth - the four on top/bottom in the very front and then one molar in the back on each side top/bottom.  Sometimes when it smiles it looks like he's chewing on marshmallows because you can see the molars peeking out. 

(I feel like I wrote a VERY detailed post for his 23 month post, and not a whole lot of things have changed since then, so for the best details about this age - check out last month's post.) 

A few things from this age: 

-I'm 25 weeks pregnant and although I've been feeling much better morning sickness wise, sometimes I just don't feel well. This Caleb-boy has been such a blessing to me. He's easy going and independent but he doesn't get into much trouble or make excessive messes. Sometimes when I'm exhausted I'll just lay down and he'll happily crawl all over me without demanding much. This picture I took when I was so tired I could barely handle anything - but he played happily in the bathtub while I lay on the floor watching him. I'm just so grateful for him and his happy nature and the fact that he has made this pregnancy so much more doable than it might otherwise be. 

-I love bedtime with this boy. I love reading books with him, I love the way he has his favorite books: Where's Spot?, "How do Diggers Say Goodnight", and "Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom (on super speed)". I love snuggling with him in our oversized chair. I love the way he tries to sneak in extra books after we are done with our three "this one!" or "Jes Kist???" (in reference to a Jesus Christ loves Me book that he knows I can't refuse). After reading three books, I stand up and sing a song to him - usually "Skidamaree-a-dink-a-dink, I love you" but sometimes Sunbeam, Teach Me to Walk in the Light, or "I love you so much." I love that I can lay him in his bed, give him his bear, his water bottle, tuck his blanket and dragon next to him, and then leave and he'll go right to sleep. (Only occasionally does he need a rendition of the itsy-bitsy-spider to help him calm down enough to lay and go to sleep.) It doesn't take long, but I really enjoy the process with him. On that note, he naps once a day around 1:00. Naps aren't quite as easy as bedtime, although the process looks exactly the same - it's slightly more of a battle to get him into his sleeper. Once we start reading he's all good, though.

-We went on a train ride on the FrontRunner for Free Fare Day and Caleb hated it. He loves watching the train from the window, so I thought that he'd really enjoy it, and he did like it while we were watching it pull up but I didn't realize that he was nervous as we were walking onto the train. I was focused on getting all the kids on and up to a seat, but when the train started moving and we were still walking in the aisle - he started whimpering. I looked down at him and could see uncertainty and fear in his eyes and his lip started to tremble before he started wailing. We rushed to a seat and I sat with him on my lap trying to calm him down. He finally calmed down but kept his head buried in my shoulder for the entire trip. Each time we started moving after a stop, he'd start to whimper and we'd have to calm him down again. The return ride wasn't quite as bad, but he still cried when we started moving and held on to me the whole way home. I felt bad that it was such a traumatic experience for him! But I feel much better because afterwards he would tell everyone "Train ride? Fun!" If you asked him if he liked it, he would say "good" or "liked it". He talks about "mine train ride" all the time, and it just makes me laugh.

In general, he doesn't like loud things or things that move fast or in a way that he's not used to. He loves looking at tractors and talking about tractors but not riding in them, same as the Ranger at my grandpa's house. He just doesn't like them.

-He's super affectionate. He gives open mouth kisses, which are both SO endearing and also giggle-inducingly slobbery. He will come up to you and say "Hug? Kiss?" on repeat until he gets both a hug and a kiss. His hugs are just the best. And whenever we are MarcoPoloing (a video chat app) any family members, he always wants to say goodbye with a kiss and he leans forward to kiss the screen. "Kiss???" Such a sweet boy.

-I love him. Have I mentioned that?

-I'm not the only one. We all pretty much love him more than anything. 

-He's so funny. He's learning to do all sorts of things with his body. It's so fun to watch him learn and grow, and it's especially wonderful to watch his face after he does something new and he is SO proud of himself. 

-He loves tractors and construction trucks. We have a couple of books that have construction trucks and tractors in them and he loves them. So for his birthday cake, I made him a simple tractor/truck cake and it was perfect for him. (A note: he does NOT like tractors in real life. He cried and cried when my dad tried to take him for a ride in one on the ranch. Too big and noisy!) 

He's so happy and handsome and so so very loved. 

Caleb. We love you. We are SO glad that you are in our family. 

Happy TWO years!