Dylan's baby blessing day

hillier breakfast, shopping, and RS broadcast

Steph was in town for a wedding so we all got together at the hillier's (currently mark and Anna's place of residence) for breakfast.  it was really fun but I did feel like we needed a cardboard cutout of Klaudette.  also entertaining that no one could find anything in the kitchen because it wasn't where it normally would be.  

after breakfast, Chris had Abigail and Brady in his car and I had Elizabeth and Andrew in mine and I had the bright idea to go shopping for workout clothes since I was so close to ross and old navy.  if I was even brighter, I would have thought to meet Chris at the bottom of the neighborhood and have him take ALL the kids home with him.  I shopped through several tortuous hours with Elizabeth and Andrew.  Elizabeth was horrific.  she is so feisty these days.  don't worry, she only managed to scream or yell or whine in every store we went in because heaven forbid should ross or old navy or target or Marshalls not experience her wrath.  4/4... she's such an over achiever.

so when we got home, I was SO overdosed on my kids that I told Christopher I was headed to the RS activity and broadcast and leaving all four at home with him.  of course when I got there they'd finished the service project early so I couldn't help with that and then dinner was a very light salad and roll and then we sat around for an hour waiting for the broadcast and it was just a waste of time and I was a little bitter about it.  so then just a little before 6, honey texts me that Andrew wasn't taking the bottle.  I know he can because he just took one 9 days ago according to my app and I've been giving him a bottle at least every week or two.  I would have had him keep trying for a while before I headed home but I wanted to try to get home before the broadcast if I was going to have to go home.  I'd rather watch the whole thing at home than drive home and miss part of the middle.  my phone was on silent and when I walked in the door, honey was all "did you get my texts?" nope... sure didn't.

so, oh well.  that was. waste of two hours at the stake center but I did love locking myself in my bedroom and enjoying the broadcast all cozied up in bed with my sweet baby.

and it wasn't a complete waste because I got to hang out with Sarah and Jane.  I'm not gonna explain how she got herself in this situation (I don't even fully understand the physics behind it because it happened so fast) but it made that trip to the take center totally worth it.

rockies game with the hilliers

we could also call this "360 pictures of chris and carrie."

we went to the rockies game with the hilliers.  it was perfect weather and so much fun.  the kids were even perfectly happy thanks to tons of snacks and a steady supply of chips ahoy and capri sun.  honey was happy thanks to a steady supply of ranch sunflower seeds.  that's his whole motivation for baseball games.  but i do have to admit that i forgot how delicious ranch sunflower seeds are!  anyways, the night was perfection.

 brady was so happy on the way there.

and i love that he loops his wrist through the seat belt pull strap.

i carried that boy for 15 or 20 minutes as we walked from our car and into the stadium.  like 300 feet from our seats, i gave up and had honey hold him.  my arm was about to fall off.  i would have had honey hold him the whole time but he rolled his injured ankle again last week when he was walking into a meeting and it's been giving him a lot of trouble again since then.

what is it with asking abigail to pose for a picture and she does the most awkward thing ever?!  i laughed out loud when she held up hallie's baby toy for her shot.

these guys are adorable, are they not?

i love when strangers offer to take pictures... except when they're crappy photographers.  honey had a great picture set up of us (we had the camera turned toward us so we could see it was good) and then the strangers in back of us insisted on taking it for us instead.  i wish christopher would have snapped one first before giving my phone to him but whatever.  the guy took this shot.  seriously?!  and then, since they're sitting right there, it's awkward if you want to take your own, better picture.

brady spent most of the game with chris's dad but he did spend time with chris and myself and klaudette too.  and occupied himself just fine.  it was wonderful.

we decided to keep taking pictures of ourselves anyways.  luckily, chris's brother photo bombed one of the pictures the stranger took of us, so when the stranger saw us taking more pictures we semi pretended it was because we were trying to take pictures without another photobomb.  it worked.

and eventually we just made a game out of it to take a picture of us from every angle.

we were down 6-1 and the rockies are already out of playoffs.  i think they're actually the worst team this season.  so we just enjoyed taking a few pictures.

and then bri insisted on taking one of us.

so that he could sneak in these selfies.

the rockies were making a slow comeback but it didn't look too good.  honey kept asking if we could leave early to beat the crowds (but seriously... what crowds?!  the place was empty) and i kept insisting that we had to stay because the rockies were making a come back.  then, we were only down by one run.  it was the bottom of the 9th, the rockies had one man on base, and two outs.  and honey is all... we stayed for this?!  two seconds later, a batter hit a fly ball, looking to be the last out... and it went over the fence!  home run and rockies won!  everyone went nuts and the team flooded onto the field as if it was the world series or something.  it made me really happy for the rockies.  

on the way home, abigail passed out.

brady mostly stayed awake except for a little power nap or zoning out in the middle for a few minutes.  but i had fun keeping him up with some flash photography.  he loved it.

yesterday was rough and i was not at all looking forward to the game.  it didn't start til 6:40 and i was just wishing that we would be putting our kids to bed at 7 instead of just sitting down to a baseball game.  and then i was fantasizing about leaving our kids home with a babysitter.  and all sorts of other great ideas.  but honey was happy and optimistic that the game would be just was i needed and he was so right.  the whole night was perfection.

saturday

saturday morning was supposed to be palling around (to see chris's grandma and then have lunch with my aunt libby) with mom and the kids but friday night after lisa's show, mother started feeling sick and spent the rest of the night (until morning) throwing up and feeling terrible.  sooo, we were initially hoping it was just some dinner that didn't sit right but it became apparent that it was some sort of 24 hour bug.  so saturday morning abigail and brady and i slept in til 9 or so but then discovered that mom was sick and i'm not authorized to drive the rental car (and dad was at church training all day... their reason for the visit to utah).  so then i was going over as many options as possible of how to best use our remaining hours in utah.  the thing that worked out was calling chris's aunt (see... i married into the family and just treat them as my own) and explaining the situation.  so she came by the hotel to pick up me and the kids and we all went to grandma virginia's house for a nice visit.  i am 100% in love with chris's grandma virginia (my father in law's mother) because she is absolutely adorable.  her voice is sweet and her mannerisms are sweet and she's funny (my favorite is that she always says "i'm going mental" because she's lost much of her memory) but really because she is an absolute saint.  really, everyone that knows her will tell you the same thing.  when we were deciding potential names for abigail, we were trying to figure out a way to name her after grandma virginia.  but with a name like belva virginia... it wasn't happening.  but brady's middle name is robert (for grandpa hillier) so that's our link to these precious grandparents.

anyways, grandma virginia lives alone now and can barely see.  i can only imagine how lonely that must get.  i wasn't aware she knew i was going to stop by, but when i went to her house and saw this on her calendar, my heart melted and i was so grateful that i was able to find a way to get the kids and myself over for a visit.

yes, hillier is misspelled.  and yes, that is her last name too.  i told you she's precious.

 

 

chris's aunt is always giving abigail tons of clothes and dresses and stuff and this time she brought clothes and shoes but also this minnie mouse hair set.  brady's is the curling iron.  they had fun with it while we were visiting.

now tell me this isn't the sweetest thing ever.  and see grandma virginia's shirt?  when we got out of the car abigail was freaking out because she and grandma have the same shirt.  she was talking about the sweater she was wearing in this post.  love it.

i adore this woman.  through and through.  her heart is really as pure as they come and she is one in a million.

and then we got back to the airport at 12:30, just in time to check in on my mom in the hotel room and get our stuff to the curb to wait for my aunt libby to come pick us up and take us to the airport.  the plan was for all of us to go out to lunch... but i guess hitching a ride to the airport is second place.  

this was the setup i used to single handedly get all of us and our stuff to the counter to check in.  that cheap stroller doesn't steer with one hand (especially with 100+lbs of stuff on it) so i was awkwardly squat pulling the stroller (by the carseat) and my rolling carry-on bag.  and i got plenty of audible "she's got her hands full" comments from people amused by the spectacle i was putting on.  also, i asked abigail to stand by the bag and smile.  this is what she gave me.

have no fear.  brady was doing fine under there!

and i'm so sad i missed temple square!  next time for sure.  maybe i'll even take advantage of the free shuttle!

 my honey and mark, john, and nate arrived at the other end of A, so we waited by the escalator for a minute and met up with them.  abigail was thrilled. 

honey told me all about his crazy week (because this was the first time we'd actually talked all week) as we drove home... with a quick stop by the office so he could pick up a few things.  of course both kids passed out in the car.  and going right along with tradition, brady woke up when we arrived and abigail stayed fast asleep.  i let her keep sleeping in the garage for an hour or two and finally unbuckled her and carried her up to her crib.  she woke up when i put her in but was fine once i brought up her pink nalgene sippy (ocd much?) and... slept until 9 am the following morning.  almost 16 hours straight.  this trip wore her out.  brady, on the other hand, didn't go to sleep til after ten.  and woke up at 2:30, didn't go back to sleep for 45 minutes, and then was up again by 9.  that kid.

when we got home, i started the search for my keys, which i'd put in a "safe place" during the trip.  emptying out my purse looking for my keys, i found the rest of my ruby snap cookie and was just savoring a bite when...

i got this text.

fyi, i did NOT text her a picture of my mouth.

 but really, i am soooo craving another maris right now.  apparently you can buy the frozen dough balls and bake them yourself... which is what lisa was eating.  a little less expensive... and you can eat it hot.  mmmm.  

 

 

and then i called lisa up on the phone and made her talk to me for an hour.  because i missed her so badly.  and because i have a hard time returning home from trips.  it's always extremely bittersweet for me.  and christopher wasn't there to comfort me (when we got home and i was looking for my keys, he realized he left his ipad on the plane in the pocket of the seat back in front of him.  so he had to call the airline and go back to pick it up.  annoying mistake but thankfully it wasn't lost for good!

so that's a wrap!  this took way too long but 24 hours after our return... and my whole three day trip is documented!  now i can relive it whenever i want!  i'm already trying to figure out when i can sneak away to utah again... who knew it could be so insanely fun out there?!?!  i'm in love.