Jet-Setting Part 1: Utah

Though we spent many of the same calendar years in Utah, Daniel and I never crossed paths while we were living there (that we know of, anyway). Earlier this month, we were finally able to be there at the same time, thanks to a family reunion/60th birthday bash for my parents. We've talked about visiting Utah--specifically Provo--together for years, and now we've finally done it. Good for us.

As I mentioned, the purpose of the trip was to do a two-family celebration (the Mangums and the Nelsens, Kara's in-laws' family) in honor of my parents' and the Nelsens' 60th birthdays. So we flew with the whole family--Carter's first flight!--to Salt Lake. Both kids were troopers, especially this little guy:

I think he slept for pretty much the entire flight, strapped into the Ergo carrier with Daddy. Aubrey did well too, thanks to technology and Disney movies.

We did, however, run into problems around what is normally Aubrey's bedtime. Getting the girl to sleep was a chore, especially when the bumbling flight attendant starting violently kicking the bottom of her seat to "fix" the broken video screen for the person seated behind Aubrey. He was unsuccessful too, which makes it even more annoying. Finally, however, we got her to stop fighting it. And Teetagee did his part to keep her from waking when the lights came on.

Thankfully, Aubrey woke up happy when we landed and was excited to see Grandpa. When we got to the baggage claim and saw him, she jumped out of her stroller and did a little happy dance. Adorable.

After attending my nephew Grant's baptism in SLC, we drove up to Park City to stay in a big cabin with everyone. We did a lot of this while we were there:

Then, of course, we took the opportunity to visit Olympic Park and watch the athletes training. But with huge lines for all of the good attractions, we ended up just riding the chair lift once and heading back to the cabin. We also took the opportunity to snap a family photo in a bobsled.

The trip wasn't much of a big deal for Carter; he did his usual thing and spent the whole time being adorable... obviously.

After the birthday bash weekend, we drove down to Provo to walk through BYU with my parents. Daniel, who had a better experience there than I did, waxed nostalgic, so we mostly saw his old stomping grounds. Aubrey got (and loved, of course) BYU chocolate milk, which is something I have fond memories of. We also hit up Brick Oven, where Aubrey got a fun balloon animal dog.

Then we went to the BYU Creamery. And I still maintain that BYU ice cream isn't that good. I'm sure some people would call that sacrilege. But hey, Aubrey was cute with Carter while we waited! Let's focus on that.

After a night's stay in a Provo hotel, we drove a few hours to Hurricane to visit Daniel's sister, Karen. Aubrey had a blast playing with Emma and got to have her first sleepover! She actually did pretty well, which bodes well for our plans to have these cute cousins sleep in the same room at Nana and Papa's house for Christmas.

We didn't have a ton of time there (sad face), but we still got to do a bunch of fun things! The girls played dress-up...

... and went to a fun river park.

And, of course, they went on the carousel. Aubrey loves those things.

Then we hit up Nielsen's Frozen Custard, 'cause holy hot outside. Plus it's tasty. Aubrey had a complete meltdown while we were there (and I almost went off on a couple of customers who kept giving us dirty looks and complaining to each other about us), but before she freaked out we got a picture of us in our matchy-matchiness.

D'awww. Even more cute than mother-daughter matching, however, is little girl cousin matching. We discovered at bedtime that Aubrey and Emma have the same Wonder Woman PJs. So of course they both had to wear them.

The next morning, we had to leave for California. But first, Carter got to snuggle with cousin Emma. She was so sweet with him!

And the girls danced around a bit...

... before hugging goodbye and making me wish they could see each other more often. Cute overload!

Finally, we drove from Hurricane to San Diego with just a few stops for gas and diaper changes. And, of course, the first thing Aubrey did when we arrived was find the toys. 

Just as quickly, Daniel found the TV, as you can see in the background. (In his defense, it was so that he could catch up on the Olympics.) 

Anyway, that was part one of our trip! Phew!