Logan, Salem, and back home again.

We have had so many adventures in the last month and a half! The Thursday before I left for Utah,  I was talking with two of my friends and asking how their chocolate making class was because Andrew and I were going to the same one in a couple of weeks. They said that they were actually going the next day and that we should see if we could switch ours and go at the same time. It all worked out and I'm so glad because it was even more fun going with a group. I learned some new tricks for dipping and decorating chocolates and was surprised by how well everything turned out. After the class, we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and while it was the worst service I have ever had there, I still love that restaurant and it was still really fun.

He likes looking at his chubby self on my phone

He is STILL so snuggly

Our whole family intently checking out a snail

So excited for chocolate making!!

Aw, we're adorable

We forgot to take pictures of our creations that night, so we did later

Aren't they surprisingly pretty? The peanut butter cup was definitely the coolest one.

Just a random picture of Adaline having parmesean cheese for dinner. Oh and salad

The next week Matthew and I got haircuts (his first one not by mom) and I also had my Usborne book party which went well and was fun.

Looking so old!

The next day, Andrew dropped off me and the kids at the airport super early to head to Utah! We got a whoel row to ourselves even though Matthew was a lap child and we would've had our best/easiest flight ever except that Matthew threw up 10 minutes into it from, I think, motion sickness. I had extra clothes for him, but I got to enjoy smelling like barf for the rest of the day and that was the end of his  precious zebra puppet until I could get it washed

Cruising around the airport with my two favorite kiddos. When they hold each others' hands it melts my heart

I love that he looks like he's giving a thumbs up, but he actually just popped his thumb out of his mouth for the picture.

My mom met us at the airport and we even ran into Sis. Reichman which made me really confused about which state I was in. The kids napped almost the whole way to Logan and after a quick lunch we got started on our grocery shopping for the crazy week ahead. The whole day my mom was telling me various details of the kids' schedules and I just couldn't retain it all. It was a very busy and overwhelming day and then my parents left for Italy early the next morning. Now it was just me, a 15 yr old, 14 yr old, 10 yr old, 3 yr old (well, almost), and 18 month old. Oh boy.

Adaline had been talking about getting to see the rabbits and chickens for weeks!

Surprise! It snowed two of the first four days I was there. We didn't really pack appropriately for the weather but we survived with what we found around the house.

She was SO excited and loved having a snowball fight. She is still talking about playing in the snow at Grandma Reeves' house

The first few days went fairly well-we even went to the church activity the first night we were there because Chloe really wanted to go. We got everyone to their activities, kept the house clean (which is saying something!), and I managed to feed everybody each night. Andrew flew in that weekend and, after spending Thursday night with his Grandma and then staying at his parents' house, he drove up to Logan so that he'd be there for Adaline's birthday on Saturday. We spent Thursday night driving around ALL of Logan looking for a frozen balloon because that was the one thing Adaline requested for her birthday.

On Saturday, Adam drove up with his kids and Andrew's dad and then M&K came down with their kids soon after. We all went to Sweeto Burrito for lunch, played games including pin the nose on Olaf, and then had cake and watched Adaline open her presents. Adaline had a very Frozen filled day and loved every second of it. She adores her cousins and is finally old enough that they can play together really well. Chloe, Adaline, and H were stuck together like glue the entire day. It was so fun to have everybody come and celebrate our awesome 3 year old with us!

They are only one month apart and got along so much better this time

Two Frozen shirts and some frozen balloons

Such a goofball

So excited about getting lots of Frozen themed presents!

Matthew had to inspect her gifts for quality control purposes

I'm not a big fan of making birthday cakes, but I thought this one turned out pretty well and Adaline immediately knew what it was, so I considered it a win.
P.S. Every time I decorate a cake, I think back to the time I got the white sticker for cake decorating in 4-H. It was the equivalent of  saying, "thanks for turning something in, but next time please save us the pain of having to look at it."

M&K's family stayed the night with us and then came to church with us the next day. It was fun getting to spend some extra time with them and we all made it to church on time!
I let Andrew be in charge of waking up Daniel at 5:30 and he helped us do the morning routine and run a couple errands before he had to head off to the airport. It was so sad that he had to leave but we were also about halfway through mom and dad's trip.

Watching a movie Sunday evening. It was nice not to be the only with hair for Matthew to play with!

Playing with her new art set from Gram and Grandpa Glenn one morning

On Tuesday, Noah and Daniel didn't have school so we hung out in the morning and got The World's Best Corndogs for lunch. They were surprisingly tasty and huge. watching my kids eat the one they were sharing was hilarious and so messy.

My favorite knuckle-heads

After naps, I took the kids to the trampoline place. It was totally empty when we first got there which was nice because then I felt like the kids could go wherever they wanted without causing any trouble. I couldn't play with them because I had to go home to meet Chloe soon, so I couldn't supervise them as much. Meeting Chloe ended up being a whole big thing and then I needed to take her to choir practice, but luckily I still got back before their jump time was over. It just meant that dinner got a little delayed.

Girl's got hops

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. We got everybody where they needed to be (well, noah missed his youth activity but he only gave me 10 minutes notice that he needed to be at the church 30 minutes  early and we wasn't ready yet, so...I feel okay about it) and only got a little sick of each other. ;)

It was impossible to capture the amazing views from their patio

Adaline loved collected chicken eggs, making sure they had enough food, and watching Daniel take care of the rabbits.

Matthew was content to watch from outside the coop. If they came close to him or looked like they were going to peck him, he freaked out.

Mom and Dad got home late Thursday night. ( I'm glad you had a fun birthday trip, Mom and I 'm so glad I could come and watch the kids so you could go celebrate!!!) They got up and hung out with us Friday morning. In the middle of sharing stories and showing us some of their souvenirs, they both started fading fast. They went to take a nap and had me wake them up 30 minutes later. Well, I gave them some extra time and waited as long as I possibly could before waking them up because they were pretty zombie-like. Keller had come up the night before (he gave me a good shock appearing in Chloe's room as we were cleaning) and we all went to the Thai House for lunch-yum!-and then got gelato (my mom didn't get any enough in Italy so she was still wanting some). That night my mom kept fading in and out in the living room while my kids helped dad take the wheels off some motorcycles for a project he's working on.

I LOVE this picture

Adaline was reading books to Matthew

and trying to climb into his bed I guess (btw, she keeps doing this at home and it's been driving me crazy. I think we almost have the habit broken though)

The last couple days in Logan we mostly hung out, did laundry, and followed around mom with whatever she was doing.

Adaline liked using Mom's neck pillow as a lion mane

The last 2 or 3 nights in Logan, I let Adaline sleep on the trundle bed in Chloe's room. She didn't get as much sleep, but she loved it.

Watching Aunt Chloe at ballet practiced. Adaline is obsessed with ballet right now and says she can't wait to dance with Aunt Chloe when she's older. I haven't told her that Chloe is quitting dance

Gelato in Italy plus some pomegrante juice at Sam's Club led my dad to try making some homemade pomegrante gelato without an ice cream maker. He was trying to cool it down faster using his tank of CO2. I thought it turned out pretty tasty

One of the treats my parents brought back with them. Funny name, tasty snack

One night my dad and I cut out all the squares I need to make Adaline a new quilt using his laser cutter. It was pretty amazing

351 squares in about an hour (including making the cutting template and stacking them all up after the cutting was done

These 2 could read books ALLLLL day long

 We were originally going to leave the Tuesday after my parents came home, Andrew's grandma passed away the weekend before and so we decided to stay in Logan a day longer and then drive down to Provo to meet Andrew before heading the rest of the way to Salem. Since we were staying an extra day, and my mom was driving us, we got to see Chloe to her presentation I'd helped her practice for all week.

Chloe dressed up as Marie Curie

After the presentation we got dinner at Arby's and then headed to Helaman  Halls since that's where my mom was staying for BYU women's conference.

It was so exciting to see Andrew!! I took Adaline into the bathroom at the Cannon Center and it was SO weird. I was having all these memories of my freshman year of college and also holding my 3-yr-old. Haha That was also the first time Andrew and I were together at Helaman Halls which seemed funny too. We finally got to Salem pretty late and Andrew's parents' neighbors were nice enough to let us stay with them since Andrew's parents' house was full. That was such a long day.

The next day was the funeral for Andrew's grandma. It was nice to see everyone-especially Andrew's brother who came from Norway and his cousins who we don't see very often anymore. It was a really nice funeral and I'm so glad we got to be there for it. One of the sweetest things was that Adaline would NOT leave Deborah's side the entire day. She was completely glued to her. She followed her around holding her hand during the viewing, insisted on sitting next to her during the service, held her hand and sat in her lap at the cemetery, and sat by her tat the luncheon. In addition to just loving her Gram, I think Adaline could sense that she needed a little extra comfort.

After the funeral, we stopped by one of my friend's house because she just lives around the corner. I got to meet her adorable baby girl and it was nice to catch up in person for a few minutes. Then we made a stop at Jo-Ann for some fabric I need to back Adaline's quilt but couldn't find out here. Next we HAD to go get chocolate covered cinnamon bears and some undershirts from the bookstore. It was so weird walking around campus with Andrew and our two kids because it made me realize I am not as young or in the phase of life that I think I am. I felt like people were looking at us like old mis-fits even though Andrew only graduated a year and a half ago.

Since we were right by our old house, we decided to drive by for old times' sake and to see if Adaline recognized it. She couldn't see it from her carseat, but it was fun to drive by and see the house we moved into after we got married and brought both of our kids home to from the hospital.

When we got back to Salem, we played with cousins and hung out until it was time to put the kids to bed and get the rest of our stuff packed up.

We left at around 5 the next morning (I don't really remember because I was so tired) but I think our flight left at 6:45, so it must have been that early. Luckily the plane was super early, the kids were good, and it seemed easy because there were two adults this time.

This princess was a little confused driving to the airport so early in the morning.

This is how flying with kids should happen. We started out with Andrew and the kids in one row and me in the opposite row completely by myself. Matthew eventually came over and hung out with me, but it was so nice. It was especially amazing since we were running through the airport and walked up when they were already loading B group and got straight onto the plane. We might have been in trouble if it wasn't so empty.

They couldn't make it any longer. They both fell asleep between the airport and chic-fil-a

While the kids played in the play area, I rested my head on Andrew's leg and apparently fell asleep pretty hard. I'm so lucky that he loves me.

On the way home we stopped and signed Adaline up for swim lessons for the summer because I wasn't going to have another good opportunity and I wanted to make sure she got a spot. By the time we got home we were all a little dead and yet I still went to book club that night. Haha! Oh yeah, and the reason we came back Friday morning was because I was speaking in Stake Conference on Sunday. I was so worn out and so nervous about it but I actually think it went well.

We had a great time in Logan, enjoyed getting to go to Grandma Smith's funeral, and I learned a lot from preparing my talk, but I am so glad to be back home and that things have calmed down (very slightly).

Andrew needed a haircut SO badly but with all the craziness and trips getting extended, it just wasn't happening.

Andrew looks so much better and they are both STUDS!

Adaline and Matthew were jumping on the bed and we told Adaline it was time for bed and she looked at the clock and said, "no, it's eighteen forty-nine, time for jumping" Andrew and I about died from shock and laughing so hard. She can't recognize any numbers that I know of and a couple minutes later said it was 19:87 or something like it. She made one lucky guess

My MIL is so sweet to send me something for Mother's Day every year. The kids and I devoured this when we came home and then I didn't have to make dinner. Win!

The love playing in the rain and are so curious about everything.

At the mall the Saturday before Mother's Day. We didn't bring the second seat for the stroller because Adaline usually likes to walk. I guess she got tired and I was shocked that they were both fine with this arrangement. What a perfect example of a symbiotic relationship.

Part of the reason we went to the mall was to get Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory apples. Soo good!

 I had the best Mother's Day. Andrew made us all breakfast and got the kids up while I showered and got ready. Adaline and Andrew had made me drawings that Adaline loved surprising me with and Andrew got me some chocolate. Church was pure bliss because Matthew is in nursery these days. After church I took a great nap and then got to snuggle with my kiddos while Andrew made dinner. It was so good! He made Chicken fried chicken (I was super impressed with how well it turned out), steamed broccoli, and mashed potatoes. One of the things I loved about the meal was that Andrew didn't have to buy any ingredients; we already had everything on hand. I realize that sounds silly, but sometimes when Andrew cooks he picks a meal that needs lots of random ingredients we never have and so he uses a chunk of the grocery budget and then the leftover ingredients continue to sit around and not get used. So I loved how efficient he was this time.

Sharing some jelly beans with my cuties

 We also got to talk to both of our moms and thank them for all of their sacrifices to raise us and for being awesome grandparents to our kids. We are so lucky to have them both!

For the last month or so, the library has been doing special activities that go along with a particular book. One of the activities was riding on a city bus. We sang all the cheesy songs and I think Adaline and Matthew both enjoyed it a lot.

bus buddies!

 These pictures got out of order, but I had to include them for record keeping sake. And because it's funny that the nurse wrote down Adaline's height as 38 feet and 14 inches.

Matthew put these on for us during visiting teaching.

We have already had some super hot days and now this cutie thinks we need to go swimming every. single. day. Oops

And that's the end of the longest blog post ever. Congratulations, you made it!