Utah (Summer Trip)

Once upon a time, way back in July, Collin and I took a real quick trip to Utah with my parents. (This was during our CA trip while Michael was busy with budget season). The main purpose of this trip was a family reunion with my siblings at my brother's place in Freedom, WY, but we were also able to fit in some other fun things too. Here is a quick look at our 6 day trip...well at least what I can remember from it...its been a few months. Also its amazing how many pictures I took in just 6 days (and I know there are lots more from my mom's camera that I don't have)! Of course many of them are of Collin in his car seat (what else am I going to do in the back seat with him for so many hours?)

Thursday July 24th- Left my parent's house early in the morning. Spent the day in the car, and arrived in Huntsville, UT that night. I was really nervous for how Collin would do in the car...this would be his longest road trip. And the last one was when he was 2 months old so I don't know if you can really count that. But he did pretty well. Napped around his normal times, although they weren't quite as long. The only struggle was getting him to nurse when we stopped, he was just too distracted. So there was a lot of pumping and just giving him a bottle.

 

He laughed

He slept

He drooled

He played with his water bottle and soaked himself

He ate

 

And finally we made it to Huntsville and played on the soft green grass before bed



Friday July 25th- sleep in a little, but not much because we have to get back into the car and head to Freedom. But first we made a quick stop in Logan to see my 102 year old Grandma. Collin had met her once before in December. But this time he was much more aware of her and was a little scared- which made me sad, but we still had a nice visit and I was glad we were able to see. Arrive in Freedom late that afternoon. Collin was done in the car by that time and my level of patience was getting considerably low. But it was so fun to be with my entire family and Collin loved all his cousins!

He tried my Greek yogurt and LOVED it!

 

He slept some more (thank goodness) and that bottle cap was one of his favorite toys

 

the group our first night in Freedom (dutch oven dinner...yum!)

 

Some of the cousins

One of Madi's first requests was to do my hair...purple to match my shirt :)



Saturday July 26th- Fun in Freedom! This included Collin's first horse ride, first taste of Cheetos (Thanks to his Uncle Spencer), Freedom Days and a super cool candy drop- an airplane flies over the ball field and drops candy. They had cute little hard hats for the little kids. I got a bruise on my leg after being pelted by candy during one of the drops, but it was totally worth it. Freedom is a very small town and many of the residents were at the event. Many of the residents are also of Jenkins decent...it was fun to look around and see many with "Jenkins traits", especially the older men who looked a lot like my Poppa and his brothers! Oh and I nearly forgot about the firework show to end the night...we were literally feet from where they were setting them off on the ball field. You had to practically lay down to watch them. And amazingly Collin slept through the whole show...they were loud...he was so tired!

#1 and #14 of the cousins. Collin loves Brittany...and his little cup! We all had these camp cups that we put our name on for the weekend, they even had a baby one for Collin. It was adorable! Can't wait for him to actually be old enough to use it.



Collin really embraced snuggling this trip...his lucky recipients (especially Boppi) loved it!

Bailey wasn't so sure about sharing her Mommy's lap with Collin

Collin's first horse ride! He loved it! And of course I was totally nervous...its a much different experience when you are responsible for the safety of a little one! Thankfully Morgan was there to guide the horse (who was being a bit temperamental) around the field

Chilling with Grandpa Al- Collin loved this little camp chair, just his size!

 

First taste of Cheetos, courtesy of Uncle Spencer. His second, Aunt Rinney.

This boy was not a very good sleeper this trip....this day he fought it for a few hours! Finally Boppi came home and took over (thank heavens for Boppi's!) He finally fell asleep and got a little nap in her arms.

While Collin napped with Boppi, I took some much needed "me time", relaxed a little (cried a little), and enjoyed this beautiful view. Our time in Freedom was the time that I missed Michael the most the whole 5 weeks I was gone! Not just because of the stress of being a single parent and traveling, but being with all my siblings and their families and being the only one without my spouse.

With so many of us together we had to get a group shot

My siblings and parents

My parents with their 14 grandkids!

Before heading to Freedom days we took a detour to the cemetery to visit my Poppa's grave and leave some flowers. There were 5 cars in all, we just happened to be the last. I was standing up in the sunroof to get this fun picture.

 

All 14 of his great grandkids!

 

One of my favorite pictures with Collin! What a special and spiritual time to be with my whole family (minus Michael and Grandma) and share a few words about my Poppa. My Aunt Fay mentioned how this is a sacred place since it is his final resting place until the resurrection. It was all things that I knew before, but it really stood out to me this time and changed the way I look/think about cemeteries and the purpose behind dedicating the grave.

the youngest kids before the candy drop, I loved seeing them all play together!





Sunday July 27th- Attended church in Freedom, and then we hit the road back to Huntsville. But not without one last stop in Logan to see Grandma. Which I am very grateful we made, since this would be our last time seeing her before she passed away in September. Going through my pictures I am realizing that our picture with her must have been on someone else's camera. I need to track those down!

Thank goodness for the outhouse! With so many people around and only 2 bathrooms the toilets got backed up on Saturday.  

Such a beautiful valley! I can see why my ancestors loved it so much.

 

Don't understand why he loved his toes so much, but this wasn't the only time he did it during the trip

First sink bath in Huntsville...wish we had a deep enough sink here in SA!

Monday July 28th- My oldest brother Jeremy has spent the last few years working on the construction of the Ogden Utah Temple. Our family (those of us still in town) had the neat opportunity to take a tour of the Temple before it was open to the general public. It was really neat to have our own personal tour guide and learn little facts and tidbits about the temple. Since this was before the general tours we also got to see more than you would during your average open house tour and got to take our time going from room to room. So if you take a trip to the temple take a look at all the hand rails in the stairways and railings in the baptistery....that is just a little of my brother's handiwork (and my nephews even worked on them too!) After the tour my Dad hopped in the car with my sister's family and headed home. While my Mom, Collin and I stuck around for a couple extra days. That afternoon we stuck around Ogden, did a little shopping, met up with some of Michael's siblings for lunch, and my Mom's college friend and his wife for dinner.

The group after the tour. We almost got everyone...sorry Uncle Bob!



Lunch with some of Michael's family. Collin was SO exhausted and really reaching a breaking point here. Thank goodness for my Mom again who walked around with him for a bit so I could visit.



Tuesday July 29th- Left Huntsville and headed to Provo so I could meet up with my best friend's from college! Jessica was due to have twins in just a couple of weeks and while we were together Courtney announced that she was pregnant!! Love these girls and so excited for us to all be having babies! And I am so grateful for my mom to extending our trip so that I could see them! While we were visiting Mom headed to the BYU Bookstore for a little shopping. Unfortunately we ran out of time so I didn't get to go to campus, which I was pretty bummed about, but seeing my friends was more important. (little did I know that we would be back in Utah just a couple months later!) After our visit it was on the road again to Cedar City to see our friends the Riley's. Mom and I were thinking of getting a little more driving done on our trip, but everything always takes a little longer than planned so we just stayed with the Riley's for the night. Which was lots of fun because I hadn't seen Stef in a really long time and they hadn't ever met Collin.

The Power 3 reunited once more!

Hanging out with Stef, Brody and their kitty

Becoming close friends with Rhonda



Wednesday July 30th- In the morning we hit the road again for the last leg of our trip home. Collin was still doing pretty good in the car. And I loved getting the time to just talk and spend some one-on-one time with my mom. Those last couple days with my mom were actually one of my favorite parts of my whole 5 week vacation home! We made it home right around dinner time which was great for getting Collin to bed at a decent time.

The only downfall of the whole trip was that we were pretty busy all day every day. Poor Collin was exhausted everyday from missing naps, but he was a trooper! It was a good experience for me as a parent though. Up until that point I had been pretty particular about naps, mostly because I could be and it was easy to work our day around his naps. And although I still like him to get his naps everyday (well rested baby = happy momma), its been a lot easier to relax and be flexible with his schedule if needed.  

California

Collin and I were lucky enough to spend 5 weeks in California with my family this summer! Michael's busiest time at work- the budget season- falls from July to August. Which equals super long hours for him (80-90 hours a week!) and me home with Collin day after day during the hottest time of the year. No thank you! So we decided to skip out of town. It was an adventure with 11 people at my parents house (My sister's family of 7 is living there as well while they are in the process of moving) and it was a long time to be away from Michael, but we had so much fun with family and enjoyed the great California summer weather. I really miss being able to have my windows open all the time and being outside without feeling like you just got out of the shower. I could write a novel of all the things that we got to do, but I'll try to keep it short and let the many pictures do the talking. :)

• Beach trips. We actually ended up going only a handful of times, but we had lots of fun. Collin is a little scared of the water- its cold, and I think the sound of the waves scares him- but he loved playing in the sand...and trying to eat it ;) One of my favorite memories was holding his hands and him walking all the way from our place on the beach to the water. 

• Breakfast in the gazebo and Collin's first taste of Grandpa Al's famous eggs. He loved them! 

• Fun times with Truly. She is 15 years old and such a good sport with the kids. And Lincoln, the Terry's dog. Collin learned to say dog (well at least the "duh" sound) and would say it every time he say the dogs. And I nearly forgot about Miso, the cat. Collin LOVED crawling after him and Miso was surprisingly patient (for a cat) when Collin would try to attack him. 

• A day at the Ventura County Fair. I hadn't been since high school, and I realized that not much had changed. But it was fun to go, see the animals, enjoy a balloon show, admire the many creative things people submitted and laugh at some of the things :) Also, it was a momentous occasion when Collin fell asleep in his stroller! This was the first time since he has started sitting up and not riding in his car seat. 

• Playing with cousins, aunts and uncles! This really occupied the majority of our time in CA. With naps and early bedtimes it wasn't always ideal to go off for the whole day. So we would just hang out at home and take advantage of all the fun toys and great outdoor space and weather to enjoy. Collin loved all the attention he got from his 5 Terry cousins and his 3 Jenkins cousins. They were all great with him. Brittany and Kaitlyn are naturals with kids, definitely great babysitters! I loved how the boys could make him laugh. Tyler especially- one time he got Collin laughing so much that he fell over backwards! And Ashley was cute with him, as long as he wasn't playing with her things...its a good thing she doesn't have a younger sibling ;) One of my favorite memories with Ashley is that one night after his bath, she gave him a kiss and exclaimed "He smells like my lotion!" We use the same bath wash and lotion that Lindsay used for kids and it was so cute that 3 year old Ashley remembered the smell. Collin and Uncle Shaun formed a very special bond. It took about a week for Collin to warm up to Shaun- the longest of anyone- but once he did he loved him! Shaun called him "little man" and Collin loved to crawl to him when he walked into the room or he got home from work. And he got excited when he heard his voice. Especially in the mornings when Shaun got home from his runs and Collin was in the kitchen eating his breakfast. I loved/really appreciated that Shaun took the time to play with him like he was one of his own kids. 

• We dressed up as cows and went to Chic-fil-a for free food. Collin got his first kids meal. Too bad he didn't get to enjoy any of it (he wasn't doing many finger foods at that point) but he loved the little book that he got with it! 

• Did lots of laundry...somethings don't change much, even if you are on vacation ;) Collin loved to watch it spin around and to help pull things out of the washer

• A 6 day road trip to Utah and Wyoming for a Jenkins reunion. Collin was a great little traveler- much better than I anticipated. His last long car ride was when he was 2 months old. But there is lots I to write about this so it will get its own post. 
  
• Bonded with Auntie Chloe (my best friend since 6th grade). 

• Rides in the Scout. None for Collin though. I decided he'll get to enjoy it when he is forward facing in his car seat

• Movie night in the gazebo

• Collin cut another tooth, bringing his total to 4, which also meant a couple long nights. We enjoyed watching The Sound of Music at 2 in the morning. 

• A day at the Santa Barbara Zoo. This was Collin's first zoo experience. He loved the flamingos. We also loved seeing the giraffes, gorillas, lions, and feeding the lambs and goats. Loved seeing his reactions to the different animals, and makes me really excited to get our San Antonio Zoo passes.We also went down the hill in the kids area once, but I think the video must be on someone else's camera. Its pretty fun you sit on a piece of cardboard and ride down a grassy hill.

• Collin's first taste of In-N-Out! He only tried the french fries, but he loved it. Maybe at Christmas I'll let him try some shake. 

• And speaking of foods, Collin got to try lots of new foods while we were in CA. He really mastered his finger food eating abilities during those weeks! 

• Oh, and I nearly forgot my "nap time project"- a denim quilt!! I nearly finished it during those 5 weeks- if only Collin and I hadn't gotten such nasty colds that last week. I just have the binding to finish and then to do some tying to hold all the layers together. But so far I am really happy with the result and proud that I did the whole thing myself (with just a little guidance here and there from my Mom and sister) Well I guess I should admit that my mom cut out all the squares, which is arguably the hardest part. She has been collecting them for years so she had a great assortment. But this project has given me the confidence to (finally!) finish the quilt I started for Collin before he was born...just in time for his 1st birthday! 

• Our days were so jam packed with excitement, that they often ended like this...conked out before he could even make it to bed. Unfortunately, Collin was not the great little sleeper like he is at home. Most nights he woke up at least once, but usually twice. He didn't do very well with sharing a room with me. He doesn't need to nurse at night, but knowing that I was so close he always wanted to. Near the end of the trip he was usually just ending up in bed with me part way through the night. Thankfully, since being home he has gotten back into the habit of sleeping through the night and in his own bed! 

And of course I can't forget the many bonding moments with Boppi and Grandpa Al! Boppi always seemed to have the magic touch to help him relax, just like when he was a newborn. And Collin loved Grandpa Al's whisker kisses. Sometimes when it was just the 4 of us doing something then it felt like I was back in high school, just with a baby tagging along. :) Its hard living so far from family, but we love the many chances that we get to go visit. This trip made me especially grateful that I have a home to go home to. (And that they are so welcoming for such a long visit) Thank you Boppi and Grandpa Al. We love you!! See you in December!




Packed up and ready to fly home to Daddy! Collin and I are really getting the hang of this whole flying thing...where to for our next adventure??