Trip Home to Utah

We had a free flight to use and I wanted to help throw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Cindy, so we headed home to Utah this month for a week - just me and Rachie.

I don't know what it is about Utah, but we seem to ALWAYS get sick. Usually it's the day after we leave, but this time it came right in the middle of our trip. And this was by far, THE WORST sickness (cold/flu type) that Rachel has EVER had. The poor thing was miserable and the nights were hard and the days were long. Her eye also started looking nasty. I took her to the doctor when she got a fever and she had a double ear infection and some sort of pink eye infection. Thank heavens for antibiotics!! The next morning I woke up to this princess (warning - this picture is disgusting!) who's eye was sealed shut with goobers and who's nose was nearly sealed shut with boogers (poor thing, it just broke my heart):

Some vacation, right?! (Note small Pooh Bear in picture and also the green triangle duck in the pictures below - both items helped get her through the week - she carried them everywhere!) We still managed to have a little fun, but we were SO sad that we couldn't spend more time with the cousins, who we didn't want to get sick. One morning, Nana hid Easter eggs in the yard for Rachel and she absolutely loved it! Here she is finding an egg with her buddy, Zoe - my mom's dog, who is way too nice to Rachel.

And this one is out of order, but it's on the flight home (she's feeling much better, but I of course caught her same bug, so I wasn't feeling too hot). It was St. Patrick's Day = green dress and we were trying to be rambunctious so no one would want to sit by us; only problem was the flight was chuck full, so my larger than average 21 month old sat on my lap. Luckily it's a short flight and she really did great and the couple that sat next to us were very nice. Oh yeah, and on the flight to Utah, we had an empty seat so I can't complain. On that leg, we sat by this awesome 21-year old girl who is also a nanny and was so cute to Rachel - we all ate suckers together and she even let Rachel listen to her ipod. Rachel asked her if she had the "party song" - I translated ~ "Party in the USA" - Miley Cyrus ~ and sure enough she did, so Rachel danced on the floor of the plane in between us while listening to her "party song" - so funny!

Rachel's favorite person (next to grandparents, of course) was my 15 year old brother, Cade. She couldn't wait until he came home from school everyday so that they could play "chase" or cars-down-the-ramp or "kitties" (this is a game where she wants you to crawl around with her and pretend to be kitties) - and he was such good sport and played with her so well. She must have said "Hi Cader" a million times, just to get his attention. I love this picture - you can just see how much she loves him!

The Baby Shower was a total success and there was an amazing spread of food, decorations and presents. We're so glad Cindy's part of our family and we're so excited for their new baby boy coming in June! They have picked the name, Logan, but if you ask Rachel it's "Yogan". Here we are - Cindy, my mom and I (do I need to clarify, that there is not a giant flower in my hair, but it's in the background?):

Funny story: while my mom was playing with Rachel one afternoon, she taught her something new. They watched "A Baby Story" on TLC (don't ask me why) and Rachel learned how babies come out of mommy's tummies. Not "where" they come out because they don't get that graphic on TLC, but "how" they come out. When I arrived home, Rachel explained to me that mommies have to "PUSH!!" (squished up face, fists tight) the baby out. Oh great, thanks mom. I was hoping to wait a few years on that one, but oh well - it's pretty funny.

We were too sick to go to church in Utah and Rachel was supposed to wear her Easter dress to my mom's ward so that she could show her off :) but since we couldn't go, I got a picture of her wearing it and she's even folding her arms so reverently.