Trip to Utah (part 2)

One of my favorite parts about this trip to Utah was that we stayed at my friend Teresa's house and went to my old home ward in "the tree streets." Of course, most people did not recognize me, since it has been nearly a decade, but it was interesting for me to see how some folks have accumulated a few more gray hairs, some have hardly changed, and all the kids have grown up.

Thankfully, Teresa was not too bothered by the two little munchkins who quite literally took over her house. Constance slept in her sleeping bag on Teresa's bed, which she generously donated to us for the week, and I slept on the trundle just a few inches below her, with Ana in her pack and play. 

That sleeping arrangement proved to be quite the experience. Most mornings at a bright and early hour, Constance would poke her head over the edge of the bed and say loudly into my face: "Moooommmyy, whatchoo doing? Moooommmyy, wassthat noise? Moooooommmmmmy!!!!! Time to waaaaaake up!!!!" We also had problems at night because Constance likes to sing loudly and talk to herself for about an hour before she falls asleep at night. Unfortunately, neither Ana nor I are accustomed to falling asleep to that level of background noise. Then factor in Ana's teething discomfort and inability to fall back asleep easily, and you have a very sleepy Mommy.

But, sleep challenges aside, the great thing about spending a week with Teresa is that her and I think a lot alike. For example, the first night there, Teresa made me this nifty schedule for the week. 

Very similar to my detailed meal plan/shopping lists, don't you think?

We both had lots of things to do and people to see, so we tried to fit it all in without going crazy. Teresa did a great job on her end. I think I might have gone a little crazy though toward the end of that week.

Constance and Teresa played a duet on the piano.

Ana ate frozen yogurt with Teresa.

And then there was the pile of paper incident.
Ana was fascinated with Teresa's piles of important papers that were stacked on the floor. She moved heaven and earth (carseat and blanket) just to get to that pile; and once there, she quickly snatched up a bright pink sheet of paper which she kissed and hugged and sang to until we rescued it from her curious fingers.

To distract her from the pile of important papers, Teresa gathered up a bunch of ads and newspapers for Ana to play in.

Even Constance joined in the fun!

We played at the park.

And Teresa treated me to some amazing sushi for my birthday.

 Janene came too!!

Constance reluctantly ate her tempura veggies and eagerly ate more than her share of mochi ice cream.

After lunch, I reluctantly took Janene back to the amazing museum that she works in--think "Night at the Museum," except she's in the basement editing papers. Her job isn't quite as thrilling as playing fetch with a giant dinosaur skeleton, but comes close, since at certain times of the year she routinely crawls into bear dens (with bears in them)--a feat that I'm too scared to attempt.

Janene and Ana became great friends.

While in Utah, Ana perfected her crawling. She started scooting on the floor just before we left but was a baby on a mission at Teresa's house. After all, there was that pile of papers that she had to get to.

We drove up to Salt Lake City one day and visited Temple Square.

Can you tell that Constance was excited about the water?

"Mommy, Jesus it toooo big!"

Me: "Sit next to sister nicely and put your arm around her."
Constance: "Whyyyy???"

And around this point in our Temple Square adventure is when I realized that some little girl needed a diaper change ASAP.

Luckily, Sister Elia was very understanding and watched Ana in the stroller while I darted into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building with Constance.

Then everything was ok again and we went to lunch.

It's been a while since I've been back home to Molokai, and I don't often see any of my friends from back there. So it was nice to visit with Sister Elia, my former seminary teacher. She is serving a mission in the Church Office Building.

We also saw Kyle and Amy and Mark and Carli, friends from the days when Tom and I lived in Centennial Apartments.

Mark diligently tried to convince Constance that if she fed the fish too much fish food they would grow legs and crawl out of the fish tank. She wasn't fully convinced.

I tried so hard to get Constance to talk to her daddy's friend, Kyle, but she wanted to play shy. Once Kyle got out a toy she could not stay away from, Constance suddenly overcame her intense shyness.

And, yes, we saw my mom too.

The night before we left Utah, the kids would not go to sleep. Ana was restless and wanted to crawl everywhere on the bed, and Constance screamed for hours about the wrinkle in her blanket. As a result, both kids slept most of the 9-hour drive home; and I survived on snacks, chocolate, coke (which I don't normally drink), and a nice dose of Ibuprofen (please don't tell my mom).

We got back just in time.
It snowed the next day.

Trip to Utah (part 1)

I was brave this year.

I went to Utah all by myself with the two kids.

Tom still doesn't have any time off, so it was kind of a necessity. I planned it all out in my head and decided I could probably do it. Then a few days before we planned to leave, I almost chickened out. But I went ahead out of a sense of duty.

The day before we left, I collected bags of treats, packed suitcases, bought Constance a Frozen sleeping bag for the trip, did laundry, and cooked Tom some enchiladas for while we were gone.

Constance tried on my boots while I was frantically gathering essential items for the trip. She makes quite the buccaneer!

Then the next morning at 6:00 I carried the sleepy children into the car, buckled them in, and drove away. My goal was to get out of Denver before traffic started and before the kids woke up. Constance never went back asleep and Ana woke up after Monument but we did make it out of Denver without too much traffic.

The kids were happy until a few miles away from Silverthorne. That was when Ana decided she was hungry. We stopped in Silverthorne and I changed diapers, dressed the kids, and fed them breakfast all at the local gas station. There was no place to sit down out of the cold so we sat in the car and both girls crawled all over me while gobbling down cheerios and bananas. I survived the experience with some banana mush smeared on my arm and face.

It was a good thing we started the road trip early because road construction signs were almost one right after another; and for a pretty good stretch before Grand Junction, all the traffic was forced onto one lane.

At Grand Junction, I stopped at a park for the kids to get out, eat lunch, and play.

I guess that was the one nice thing about going by ourselves: I could stop at places that the kids enjoyed.

I saw this sign on the way to Green River and it made me a little sad, since one of my friends is moving here and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye before we left and she left.

We sped right past Green River but ended up having to stop multiple times on the side of the road near Price because Ana was tired and Constance was tired but not too tired to pester her sister.

We arrived in Provo around 4 and went straight to the park so the kids could stretch their legs and get out some energy. Of course, the first thing we see after being in Provo for less than an hour is a couple swinging together on the same swing in a kids' playground. Aaah Provo!

The next morning, we were off again bright and early driving up to West Valley City to surprise a friend. Jessica and I first met in the MTC 8 years ago and seemed destined to be friends for life. The more we were together as mission companions, the more we realized how much we had in common: same mission journal, same camera, same mission, and almost the same birthday (1 week apart).

When I decided we were going to Utah, I quickly contacted Jessica's mom and husband to see if I could surprise her for her birthday. The morning of her birthday, I surreptitiously knocked on her front door and when she opened it, I yelled "Happy Birthday!" She looked slightly amused by this random announcement but then realized who I was and started laughing and invited me in. Then the girls all got to play together while we caught up on our life histories.

It was like having two sets of twins together.

First set of twins: Kaylie and Constance (3 months apart).

Can you tell that they are really good friends?

Second set of twins: Ana and Riley (4 months apart).
Yeah, I know, Ana is chunky.

We got together again for Sunday dinner at Jessica's parents' house and Kaylie was so excited to see Constance again that she stood right in the front door looking at her and not moving. Finally, we convinced her to let us in, and she immediately ushered Constance downstairs to what she later told her daddy was "the girls' room."

Apparently Kaylie knows all the words and actions to "What Does the Fox Say," so she entertained us with a performance.

It made Jessica and I a little teary to see our daughters playing together and telling everyone that they were "best friends."
If only we lived a little closer so they could play together more often.