Colorado/Keller Came Home!

Not long after our last trip, Adaline and I packed up again to go to Colorado and see (or in Adaline's case, meet) Keller after his two years in Las Vegas. Adaline did SUCH a great job on the flights. I was blown away by her awesomeness. We got there the day before Keller flew in and I spent that first hour putting the finishing touches on the baby shower games I was doing for Amy's surprise baby shower. Amy was surprised, the bundt cake was delicious, and I think everyone had fun so we'll call that a win. (Thanks for letting me be part of it, mom!)

The next day we loaded up the cars with signs and excitement to go wait for Keller at the airport. I believe there were 16 of us, 3 small signs, and a 30 foot sign waiting to greet him. The funny part is that we had to stand back a ways so that we could unroll the sign and when Keller came up the escalator, he could only see the other missionary's family and thought that we had forgotten him. What a silly kiddo. I was so fun to chat with him on the way home and it's been great to get to text him random things again. I sure am glad that he's home and I'm so proud of the wonderful missionary that he was.

The artist with her masterpiece

"Mission Accomplished"

That night we had a rootbeer matching contest that we basically all failed at (I think the only winner that night was Great Value), but we're all champion rootbeer float eaters, so it worked out.

On Wednesday, Keller and the rents had to run errands that were really far away so when Amy and Wilson came over, we walked down to the playground to play groundies. On the way there it started raining and so we all stood under a tree waiting for it two pass. We got some great looks from people going past, but can you blame them? Three adults (2 of which are pregnant), a toddler, and 4 kids-we looked pretty silly. Anyway, as soon as we got to the playground, none of us could resist the swings and by the time we were ready to play groundies, it had started raining. So we all sat on a bench under the overhang and watched Adaline soak herself playing in the rain. (Could you email the pics from that, Amy? Thanks!)

She had lots of fun exploring such a big house and playing dress up

Just playing some duplos with Uncle Wilson

Thursday morning, Chloe, Daniel and I went swimming at the neighborhood pool. That night we had pizza at the park with Amy's family. They introduced us to a game called spud which Keller and I dominated. People might have been taking pity on a pregnant woman, but the fact still stands.

These two are inseparable. Seriously. Daniel is the only name that she knows besides mom and dad. Best friends for life.

She is such a ham

Friday...um I think this was the day that Amy, dad and I made 12 dozen cookies. If so, it was a really good day because those cookies were delicious. We also went to the mall either this night or Saturday and Amy and I got some cute stuff for our littles.

On Saturday (unless it was actually on Friday) we all went to the rec center with Amy's family. Adaline overcame her slide anxiety and had lots of fun. It was nice and chill and the only downside was having to go back to retrieve Adaline's swimsuit after getting back to the house. Oh well, at least it was still there.

Sunday we got to listen to Keller's homecoming talk and he did such a great job! That night we put out a bazillion cookies and chatted with ward members for Keller's open house.

Monday started out a little rough. I woke up to go to the bathroom (nothing weird yet), went back to bed, and then woke up less than an hour later to go again. This time I couldn't go back to sleep because my back was hurting so badly and, even though I just went, I still felt like I needed to pee. After spending a long time failing at sleep, I got up to watch TV and drink lots of water until an urgent care center would be open. Finally the sun came up and people started waking up. Keller and dad gave me a blessing (I'm so grateful for the priesthood) and then mom and I headed to the urgent care center. I was already starting to feel better from drinking so much water, but they confirmed it was a bladder infection and mom and I browsed Walgreens while waiting for the drugs. Since I really was feeling way better, when we got home I put Adaline down for a nap (she didn't even notice I was gone because of her amazing aunt and uncles) and then we left for Boondocks as soon as she woke up. Adaline loved the kiddie cove and skee ball. The kids and I played a handful of games of lasertag (our team always won), raced go karts, played mini golf, and tried to not get wet on the bumper boats. We also watched each other try to win tickets, laughed at the lame prizes we could get with our tickets, and played each other in basketball. After a full day at boondocks, we had chick-fil-a since Keller didn't get to eat it on his mission. It was a lot of bonding packed in one day.

She is always doing the "funky chicken shrug"

Adaline and grandmacita had some good times playing mini golf

On Tuesday we flew back home and it could not have been more different from our flights out. Adaline was obviously ready to be home and just couldn't take it anymore. The second flight was, by far, the worst. We boarded a little bit late because the plane before us was late, so almost as soon as we sat down, Adaline fell asleep. Perfect, right? Right, except...we sat on the plane for an hour and a half because first, we didn't have a crew, then someone's seat wouldn't go all the way up and we had to wait for maintenance, then we had to wait for them to find and bring the maintenance log book so that they could record fixing the chair. Sometime while we were waiting on the log book, Adaline woke up screaming. She was so sweaty and wanted off that dang plane. The flight attendant was an angel and she gave Adaline juice and snacks while we waited at the front of the plane. It was a really rough day...Luckily everyone on our flights was really nice and didn't say anything rude or shoot me dirty looks while Adaline screamed her lungs out. Whew, there is hope for humanity.

Anyway, although it ended on a somewhat sour note, it really was an awesome trip and it was so fun to have all the time with my family. It was tough to say good-bye to the Broomfield home-we all love that house so much-but it's okay because when we hugged everyone good-bye we got to say, "see you in a month!" Instead of the usual, "see you at...the next holiday? Maybe? If we're lucky? I don't know. I guess we'll see you when we see you." And as I type this, my parents are filling up their new home in Logan, Utah. Crazy!