.my time in Utah

Ames and I flew away to Utah at the beginning of June to stay for a few weeks. It was so exciting to take Ames on his first plane ride, I just wished that Air could have come along.

  

Our first flight was on a pretty small cramped plane, but it was perfect that we got to walk off the plane and be on the ground right next to it since Ames has a love for planes and he had never seen one up close before.

I asked an old man to take a picture of us…… He had no idea how to use my phone and basically kept his thumb on the button the entire time. This is what I found in my album afterwards:

So funny.

Anyway, crazy story to share:

We had waited until last to get off the plane since I knew I’d be in the way with a baby and our overhead bag. After getting our photos taken I pulled our stroller off the trolley, buckled Ames in, and turned around to find that EVERYONE WAS GONE! And I seriously had no idea where they had gone to. The even more crazy thing is that there was literally nobody around… anywhere. And there was no clear path or direction for me to go.

I thought I was in the twilight zone?

I slowly walked towards a covered walkway that went off in three different directions. Unlabeled. No direction whatsoever. I just stood there for a while feeling sick. Finally I saw a guy who looked like a pilot walking past in the distance. I waved to get his attention and he just stopped and looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders at him and looked around like ‘I’m lost’. He came to me and asked where I was going, I told him Utah and he said to follow him. I followed him through a maze of walkways and locked gates and doors until we were finally in that dang Seattle airport and caught up to one of the flight attendants and passengers from my plane. The flight attendant was just like, “Oh I didn’t see you”. Thanks a lot lady.

The Seattle airport was a whole other story and I seriously do not ever want to go back to that place. How hard is it to put an elevator near an escalator. I had to take the longest detours just to take my stroller to an elevator! Anyone else despise this airport?

This has been a rant… but now we’re back, and our second flight into SLC was a dream! Our seat was on the front row with all the leg room you could dream of. Nice!

The rest of our trip is history. We spent a ton of time with my parents and Ames loved them like he’s known them all along. Didn’t seem confused in the least by the fact that he has multiple grandmas and grandpas. He also loved playing with my Mom’s daycare kids every day.

 

We went swimming too. Preeeeeeeeeeetty much every day. It was amazing.

   

We visited my sister Gwen and my brother Tyler (who’s families live next door to each other) in Lake Point and played in their awesome yards:

 

  

We slept at Gwen’s house that night and I enjoyed a long late night conversation with my big sis. It was so nice to connect with you again, Gwen.

Saturday morning brought us a little garage sale-ing and to the new West Jordan Library with my parents. They had a big fun fair going on. It was a beautiful day.

 

I must be a terrible Mom because this was Ames’ first time in a library!

 

We visited my Grandma and Grandpa Ellis later that night too:

 

 

Ames and I drove out to Kamas to stay with my brother Seth’s family the next day. We had a really fun evening playing in their yard with water balloons, and the next morning Linda and I took the kids to their pool. We had so much fun with them and Ames especially loves his cousin Mia (he still talks about her).

We visited my adorable Grandma Leary in Salt Lake too! It was really nice to see her again, and so lucky she saved a bucket of Legos at her home from about 50 years ago when her kids were little. Ames loved them.

We really missed our Air and talked to him on facetime every day.

We played with Nichole and her babies a few different days too. Logan and Ames are second generation BFF’s and we love it. We went swimming, played at Nichole’s house, went to Arctic Circle (have I mentioned that I love Arctic Circle in Utah and wish I could move back just for their shakes alone?),…

…and we also all got to play with Charisa and her boys at a splash park, waaay too fun:

 

I had mentioned to my Mom that I was looking to find a blessing dress for baby girl and when I got home that night she was already half way done making one for us! It turned out gorgeous! I seriously couldn’t be more excited to put it on our little girl and know that it’s even more special because it was made especially for her by her loving Grandma. Thank you for your incredible talent Mom!

 

On our very last day in Utah we planned a trip to Provo to play at Seven Peaks with my sisters Linda and Heather and kids… It was way awesome. Luckily we got in with free passes from Linda because an impressive thunderstorm started after we had been there for a few hours and they closed the pools. Of course we all just went over to Arctic Circle *wink*

This was such a seriously wonderful trip. I was really in need of a get-away, but while we were there I kept catching myself daydreaming about moving back down. Life would definitely be different if we were there. I honestly wouldn't mind it at all.

Almost all of these pictures is from my phone and I apologize for that.

.life and times: unfortunate events

Life is made up of ups and downs and sometimes the ups last for such a long time you might start to believe that it's not so much an "up" as it is the "normal". We honestly thought our life was safe and steady for the past few years, and until a few weeks ago, didn't foresee anything drastic or terribly unfortunate coming our way.

When you've come so far and worked so hard for the things you have or the positions you hold, it is a harsh reminder to see that none of it truly belonged to you in the first place--because it can all be taken from your grasp in an instant. For no reason at all.

I'm not writing this post to complain or to make anyone feel sad for our situation, I promise. I'm writing this as a personal journal entry to document the dramatic twist that life has thrown in our path as of late. How unfair and harsh the world can be, and how sometimes we can be forced to make decisions that we don't want to make, or that we don't believe we should have to make. We do it anyway and try to keep a smile.

We have to take a few giant leaps backwards... and maybe (hopefully) someday we'll end up back where we left off. Many years from now.

As of right now, Air and I are completely lost and undecided as of where we need to go from here. He has unexpectedly lost his job (no notice), with a company we sorta thought we'd be with forever. Normally this might not be such a devastating blow--Aaron is a genius and could seriously do any type of work he wanted... but right now he is way too sick to reel in a new job. He needs to work from home because he's been pushing himself so much it's finally caught up to him. He wants to go back to school (and get that degree he failed to finish because of his last employer's demands). School is expensive and we have a family. He needs to get healthy again. Our house is half-renovated. We don't want to lose our half-renovated house. None of these things add up.

How about I write another blog post when we've figured this out... end



Ok, here's something positive. The post I wrote on instagram last week after I got home from an intensely spiritual and emotional night at the temple :

"Aaron and I are going through some hard times right now and we are working hard to stay afloat. It's been a while since our lives have been so shaken up or we've had to deal with so much difficulty at one time. Learning that good things can't always last forever and sometimes everything can change without warning. At the temple tonight I was blessed with the reassurance that this isn't our fault and everything is in the Lord's hands. At least we still have each other and our babies are happy."


***I also have to mention how grateful we have been to everyone who has thought of us and prayed for us and sent us messages and emails and comments in response to hearing we're having a rough time. I've cried through every single one of your messages of love. Seriously. Thank you--you know who you are.***