Repat Part 2: Utah and Denver

That first week in Utah was kind of crazy.  We were so excited to see our family but we were also kind of exhausted and had a LOT of appointments and shopping to do before Glenn left so that he could take a bunch of boxes home with him.  Here we are on our flight from Boston to SLC.

We got into the SLC airport at 9pm and it took 2 hours for us to get our rental car so by the time we got loaded in the kiddos were just done. Aubry was working that first night but Cody stayed up and waited for us to arrive and helped us get loaded into the house and settled down in our rooms.  They had finished their basement in the past year so it was really fun to see how nice everything looked!  Cody did most of the work and it is really lovely.  I love all of the quality little details in every room from the doors to the light fixtures and molding.  It was a perfect place for us to stay and I'm so grateful they let us crash there for so long right after it was finished!  Everyone crashed pretty hard that first night which was nice.  The next day we went to church with Aubry in the afternoon.  It was so nice to be in a normal meeting house and to have our kids to go primary in normal classrooms.  Plus Aubry is in the primary presidency so she was able to kind of keep an eye on my little guys.

That first week went really fast.  We were able to squeeze in a little bit of fun amid all the running around.  Adam, Cami, and Baby Abby were in town that week and we didn't get to see them nearly enough since we were so busy but we were able to get together a few times.  Nana bought all the kids some foam airplanes and they had fun decorating them and then playing with them in the back yard together. 

Aubry and Cody not only have a lovely home and a huge finished basement, but they also have this gorgeous yard with a vegetable garden, play house, and tons of room to run and play.

Auntie Cami was able to squeeze in some baby snugs.

Adam with his sweet baby girl.  She's changed so much in the last year.  She's talking now in this cute little high-pitched voice and it's just so darling!

We did manage to get out to one movie together that week.  Our whole crazy bunch went to Inside Out together.  It was a great movie and the kids loved it.  Tate and Finn are pretending to be "anger" in this picture.  

The day after the movie we had planned to take the boys and girls up to the Taryn's cardiology appointment in SLC and then go to temple square and do some Salt Lake shopping and errands.  Unfortunately Finny started throwing up that morning so that threw a wrench in those plans.  He acted like he was pretty much back to normal the rest of the day but the next morning right before we were packing up to go to the babies' 6 month appointment and then drive out to Denver to visit friends, he threw up again.  So we called Devony Wilson, our dear friend who was going to host us in Denver and she said we were still welcome to come.  So in a completely selfish act, we packed our four kiddos, including little Finny who now couldn't stop throwing up, in the car because we wanted to see our friends in Denver.  Poor kid threw up all the way there and couldn't keep down even sips of gatorade or water.  It was really rough.  

About an hour after we got everyone to bed, we were awakened by Tate who had thrown up all over the floor where he was sleeping.  We woke up Devony, borrowed her carpet cleaner, scrubbed and threw things in the laundry, and then settled in for a night of one or two boys throwing up.  Good times.  

The next morning Glenn took both boys to urgent care.  Both had strep.  Interesting that it took so long for them to catch it and that this round manifested as more of a stomach bug but I'm so glad it was something we could get antibiotics for so we could get them feeling better more quickly.

After Glenn and the boys got back he volunteered to watch the kiddos while Devony and I got out to run some errands.  It was still a little weird to be able to go to these stores that I had shopped at so frequently less than a year before and to have SO many options at my fingertips.  Not quite as traumatizing as it was when I first got back to the states, but shopping for a year and being very aware of how much space and weight I have to deal with makes for a strange adjustment.

By the time I got home Glenn was worried about the girls because they had both been crying non-stop so he took them to urgent care.  They both had strep as well and Kenna had an ear infection as well.  Tate was already feeling better after just one dose of antibiotics but Finn was still not able to keep anything down.  We had plans to go to the museum with the Cluffs the next morning but there was no way Finny was going to be better in time so we decided that I should go with the girls, if they were doing better, and Tate and let Finn try to get caught up.  Glenn and Aaron went out to a movie that night and Devony and I stayed up late talking.  It was so nice to spend time with their family, even under such chaotic circumstances.  They are such dear friends and it was just nice to be with people who love us and are excited to see us even though we may be carrying the plague.  They really went above and beyond the call of duty that weekend.  

That night Tate slept just fine but poor Finn was up really frequently throwing up still.  The poor kiddo just couldn't get on top of it and by the morning he was so tired that he couldn't even sit up to throw up in a bowl.  He was lying on his side and would throw up on the towel he was lying on because he didn't have the energy to move.  It was so sad and a little scary after two days of not keeping anything down.  

Tate and I went to the science museum in the morning with the baby girls and Tate seemed to be back to his old self.  It was really nice to go back to the science museum, a place we used to frequent, and a place that we had been several times with the Cluffs.  It was always a good meeting place since it was about half way in between our homes.  I loved seeing the Cluffs meet our little girls.  And seeing Tate explore the museum.  They had two temporary exhibits that day, one on monsters and mythical creatures, and one on poisons and venoms.  They could not have been more perfect for Tate right now.  He was so enthralled.  It was our first visit to the museum where Tate was reading well enough to read the signs next to each exhibit and gather his own information.  I loved seeing him explore the museum and figure things out for himself.  He's such a fact collector and before he could read I was always feeding him the information but now it's pretty fun to watch him gather on his own.

I'd forgotten that Stephen has been so aptly nicknamed the baby whisperer.  Taryn and Kenna kind of took turns crying and having a hard time settling down but Stephen actually enjoyed scooping them up and walking away with a crying baby and then he'd walk back a few minutes later with a sleeping or completely calm baby.  I have no idea how he does it.  He's the baby whisperer.

Here's our group, minus Lizzy and Kenna, in front of the dragon exhibit.
At the end of the exhibit they had a green screen where you could have your pictures taken with a unicorn or a dragon.  Of course, we had to try both.  Always a good time with the Cluffs.

It was so nice to see the Cluffs and just WAY too little time to be able to really catch up.  Glenn and I have talked a lot about it since we've been home and we really think we need more time in Denver next year.  One weekend, especially if it's disease-ridden, is just not enough.  It was kind of surreal being in Denver after the year we've had.  In some ways it feels like nothing has changed.  Like we fit right back in where we left off.  It felt like home.  Familiar and comfortable.  And in some ways I feel like I've aged 10 years in the last year and being back in this place that we loved and felt so at home, seemed like a dream.  Or maybe a nightmare based on all of the vomit that was involved in that weekend.  

While we were at the museum, Glenn took Finn back to instacare since he still wasn't keeping anything down.  They gave him more zofran and had him wait there while he had a popsicle and then waited to see if he could keep it down.  After that he didn't throw up again but he still took a few days to get his appetite and strength back.  Poor little guy.  This sickness really wiped him out.  

When we got back from the museum I took Tate to Barnes and Noble to get his free book.  We printed out a chart from their summer reading program in Saudi and filled it out so he could earn his free book.  Tate picked a Lego super heroes book and truly couldn't put it down.  On the way out to the car, sitting in the car, this is him trying to take off his shoes while still reading his book.  

We had planned a little get together at our favorite park in our area with some of our CO friends.  We considered cancelling since we might still be carrying the plague, but we decided at the last minute to just do it.  Partially because we are selfish and wanted so much to see our friends, and we justified it by saying that all of our kids had been on antibiotics for over 24 hours so we're not contagious anymore so it's fine.  I sure hope we didn't get anyone sick!  It was so nice to see everyone from our ward.  I loved that ward.  So many kind people who were so welcoming, loving, and kind.  It made my heart so happy to be around them again and to show them my little baby girls too!

My only regret is not taking a thousand pictures with my friends that night.  It went too fast and I just didn't even get my phone out.  Here is one of Barb Harper, who was Finn's nursery teacher. He ADORED her, rightly so.  She's incredible.  Poor Finn was still not at the top of his game that night.  

After the party we got the kiddos to bed and the Baxter girls came over to visit.  Man, I miss those girls.  They are so much fun.  We hung out for a couple of hours and then they had to leave.  It was so nice to catch up with them and fall right back into step.

The next morning we went to church with the Wilsons in our old ward.  We met the family who bought our house for the first time.  They are as kind and wonderful as we had heard.  The kids went to church with kids they used to know, Glenn and I spent Sunday School chatting with friends.  It was great.  Then we hurried home to pack up and hit the road.

Devony had some extra bandanas from youth conference and my boys were ecstatic.  They didn't take them off the whole way home.

Oh I love this family so much.

On our way out of town we got in contact with the Garlock family who were heading back to Denver after being in Utah.  We decided to try to meet up somewhere in the middle and try to catch up for a second over dinner.  I'm SO glad it worked out.  

We LOVE the Garlock family and it was crazy to see how much their kids have grown.  For some reason the last year feels like someone pushed the pause button on my life and therefore it's weird to see that everyone else has been moving forward and growing so big!

The drive back to Utah was, thankfully, uneventful.  We had just one day left with Glenn before he had to fly out to Saudi again and go back to work.  We decided this was our last chance to show the kids BYU together so that's where we spent the next morning.  

We showed them the student center, we walked around the HFAC and showed them were I took classes and stages I got to perform on.  Then we walked to the ESC to show the boys some cool science experiments and talk about where Daddy learned to be a geologist.  It was a great morning together as family.  The boys had a great time.  We got them little BYU souvenirs, Glenn and I ran in to some of our favorite professors and were able to catch up briefly.  It was perfect. 

It was a drizzly morning so we even happened upon some snails along the way which the boys thought was pretty cool.

And on our way back to Aubry's house for naps we stopped at the Marriott center on the off chance that it was opened to show Finn where Tyler Haws used to play.  Finn was pretty impressed even though it was under some construction.

That night Aubry had to work and Cody was out of town so Glenn and I got to watch all the kids and get them all to bed!  We had fun taking care of the sweet Hansen kids.  They are such darling, kind little kids and I'm so glad they let us crash in their space for so long so my kids can get to know them and have memories of playing with their cousins.  

The next morning Glenn had to leave us.  We spent hours the night before packing boxes and weighing everything to make sure we got everything in that we needed to and didn't have to adjust anything at the airport.  Then he had to call for a shuttle since I couldn't leave all the kiddos and there wouldn't be room in the car for all of us to bring him and still fit in all of the boxes.  He's such a great daddy.  We were really sad to see him go and all of us went through a little withdrawal in our own way over the next three weeks being without him.  This repat thing is pretty tricky but I think we learned a lot on this first trip and hopefully we can tweak things and make it a little easier process next year.  We'll see!

Picture Tuesday, week 38

I can't seem to quite get back on top of the blog lately.  We've had so many big and little family adventures and it's all I can do to get the Picture Tuesdays posted.  Hopefully we'll get caught up eventually.  But not today.
Kenna and Taryn have had a busy week.  Because they're so busy lately!  They're always on the move.  Opening drawers, pulling books off of shelves, eating carpet fluff and crumbs from under the table.  It's forced me to be more diligent about cleaning up and keeping an eye on them to be sure.  Luckily they're still humoring me by being willing to sit in their bouncy chairs for about as long as it takes me to prep dinner or do some dishes and that helps a lot.
Taryn's first little tooth just popped through two days ago!  It's not visible yet but it's just starting to peek through.  I think Kenna is working on her first tooth too.  It's so cute and kind of bittersweet at the same time.  Seeing little teeth when they smile makes them look so big and while the girls are not there yet, they will be VERY soon now that teeth are starting to peek through.
Here are my little ladies, 38 weeks old!  The little ladies were NOT cooperating the only time I could find to sit down and take pictures of them.  They both kept crawling toward me trying to get their hands on the camera...so these are the pictures we ended up with this week.  They'll have to do.  What little sillies!

Picture Tuesday, week 37

This week the little girlies have been out longer than they were in.  That's always a strange little milestone for me because the first half of their existence felt SO much longer and it's strange to think that they've been little babies being held and loved by their family for that long!  

This week it seems that Taryn has developed a death wish.  A few days ago I went to a youth fireside and she crawled behind the toilet while Glenn was bathing the boys and grabbed one of those little white caps that cover the toilet screws.  She got it lodged in her mouth with her jaw wedged opened as far as it would go.  Glenn turned her over and hit her back and it somehow dislodged a little and he was able to get it out but her poor little gums were bleeding from it being in there so tight. Poor Glenn.  I can't imagine how panicked I would have been if I had been here.  Then just yesterday I was doing breakfast dishes and turned to see her standing at the water cooler right underneath the hot water spout and reaching up to push the hot water button.  One more second and she would have had boiling hot water spraying down on her little face!  Seriously Taryn, slow down just a second!  

Kenna has been so cheery this week while Taryn has taken a little step back from beaming at just anyone.  Her brothers usually get smiles but anyone else she kind of gives blank stares as if to say, "you have not earned any reward from me.  Who are you?  And why should I care?"  It's fascinating to see how different the girls are already.  Taryn is very physical and Kenna is more emotional.  Kenna will just light up with a little bit of interaction and snuggles.  Taryn likes to play pat-a-cake, wrestle, and be swung around a bit.  They both do not love to be put down if you've been playing with them.  And they do not appreciate when you leave the room or walk past without picking them up.  I love seeing their little personalities come out even with just the few things that they're currently able to do.  

They're both crawling now.  Kenna's is almost like the worm.  She uses her legs and toes a lot and while she can get up on her knees she hasn't quite started to use them in a real crawl yet.  She can still get anywhere she wants to go though.  And Taryn's little crawl is mostly one legged.  She kind of swings her right leg up to the side to move her forward and then scoots the left one forward.  It's pretty funny but the girl can move.  This week I've seen Kenna and Taryn crawl right over the top of their sister to get to a toy or something that they wanted on the other side.  The sister being crawled on does not enjoy it very much but the sister doing the climbing doesn't seem to notice that at all.  I sure love my little baby girls.  

Here they are at 37 weeks old!  

 Kenna showing off her impressive tongue.

 And trying to figure out what that big black thing is that Mom keeps holding in front of her face.

 Sweet T.

 Here's her blank stare.  Still adorable.

 Hanging out with Tate during his piano practice.

Picture Tuesday, Week 36

Taryn and Kenna have been all over the place this week.  One afternoon Glenn walked into the room to find Taryn had crawled over to one of the floor lamps and had wrapped it once around her neck, then around her arm, and had the cord in her mouth just gnawing away.  Don't they know they're twins?  They've got to let us put them down and not get hurt for just a few minutes so we can get things done around here!  When they're in my room while I'm getting ready in the morning they're pulling open dresser drawers and crawling into the bathroom so they can explore the bathroom drawers as well.  They haven't quite figured out how to stay on their knees while they open the drawers and then empty the contents of the drawers yet but I'm sure that's right around the corner.  They are both pulling themselves up to their knees and then standing up on wobbly legs with the biggest smiles on their faces.  So proud to be doing something SO big!

Today Finn wanted to be included in the Picture Tuesday too...how could I resist that face?  I couldn't.  I never can.

 Here are our little babes, not so little any more.  36 weeks old!

 I love that you can see Kenna's hand in this picture, trying to climb up on the bumbo with T.

And sweet baby K.  

And just a few of them moving around.  Their bodies look so teensy to be moving and standing!

Sisters in NYC, Take 2!

NYC sisters trip was so different but just as fun the second time.  With Mallory being a NYC resident now she knew all the best places to eat, the best places to shop, she had connections for all of the fun things we wanted to try and it was all perfect.  

I flew in really early on Sunday morning and got to her apartment at around 8am.  Our text conversation during my taxi ride went like this:

Mallory, "Where are you?!"

Me, "Um, I dunno.  I see trees out the cab window.  Does that help?"

Mallory, "Actually, yes it does.  You're not close at all yet."

It was so cool to visit my sister. To see where she lives, to have her show me some of her favorite places, to see where she works.  I just wish we had made time for her to show me around NYU!  That was one huge piece of her life that I missed on this trip!

We hung out for a while at her 5th story apartment in Harlem, which is amazing, by the way.  They have a huge living room and she has her own very cute and very well-organized bedroom.  Then we got dressed and went to her sacrament meeting.  Her Bishop is the best.  I love him so much and we didn't even get to have a conversation.  He just oozes love and joy even from the pulpit and I found myself giggling at him every time he spoke.  So darling.

After that meeting we had to run back to Mal's apartment to meet the people who were delivering her new couch!  She found a great deal on a beautiful couch that fit perfectly in her front room.  It was pretty fun to watch a couple of teenage boys struggle to get this huge couch up five flights of stairs.  All we could think of was that Friends episode, "Pivot!  Pivot!  Pivot!"  Then we grabbed our bags and went to dinner at bad horse pizza.  It was delicious.  I couldn't stop taking pictures of my food all weekend.  I couldn't believe how good everything tasted after living in Saudi for so long.  All the restaurants in Saudi we refer to as "Saudi good".  Good for Saudi, but not really good when compared to anywhere else.  It's a different, and much lower standard.

We headed downtown and checked in to our hotel and then walked one block to our show that evening which was "Something Rotten".

It was really funny and also somewhat inappropriate which is pretty funny.  It was about a writer who was one of Shakespeare's contemporaries and trying to compete with Shakespeare's prowess was just too much.  He ended up paying a soothsayer to tell him what the next big thing in theatre would be.  The soothsayer told him all about musicals and said they were gonna be big.  So this guy attempts to write the very first musical.  It was hilarious.  I bought the music as soon as I got home and while the boys probably won't hear some of the songs, they already love singing, "Welcome to the Renaissance."  which is pretty awesome.

We stayed after the show, which we usually do, because why wouldn't we try to get pictures and autographs of the stars?  So fun.

Christian Borle, who played William Shakespeare.  Glenn and I saw him in "Peter and the Starcatchers" a few years ago as Black Stache.  He's so great.
Mallory and I got matching "Will Power" t-shirts.  Of course we did.

Mallory had to go to work the next day so after she got up for work I headed out to get a massage.  I found a groupon and it was a pretty good deal so it felt like the right thing to do on my break from being a momma weekend!  Then I met up with Mallory outside of the Chrysler building where she was working.  It was so crazy to see Mallory working in the Chrysler building, on the very top floor none-the-less.  Such a cool temp job.  We ate at a delicious salad place and once again, pictures of the food were merited. So yummy!

 

I would eat SO much if I lived in NYC.  There are SO many delicious places to eat!  When Mal went back to work I headed out to do some shopping.  I was in desperate need of some clothes.  I only packed a few shirts and a couple of bottoms in my suitcase to the US because I needed to get a bunch of new things for my next year's wardrobe and NYC turned out to be the perfect place to do some wardrobe updating!  As expected.  It was kind of fun to text Mal throughout the day and she'd give me instant feedback just like she was right there with me.  

When Mal got off work we went to Bengal Tiger, an incredible Indian food restaurant.  We ate way too much and loved every second of it!  

Then we went to the Magnolia Bakery in Grand Central Station to get some dessert.  Banana pudding and banana cake.  Because why not?

and we took them next door to the Chrysler building where Mallory works.  On the top floor of the Chrysler building.  See the reflections of those two girls in the sign that says the public can't go to the 71st floor?  Yeah, we did.  

And the view was incredible.  We walked around the whole floor marveling at the huge triangle windows.  We sat by her desk and opened the window to let the breeze in.  It was a once in a lifetime to sit there from way up in the sky and watch night time NYC come to life.  To watch all the busyness from up so high that you couldn't hear a sound.  So cool.  I was just giddy that we got to do something so cool together!  And also a little afraid of tripping and tumbling to my death out of the opened window...

Mallory was able to get the next day off of work by playing the, "My sister is in town from Saudi Arabia" card, which is so perfect.  So we decided to get up at 4am and get in line to see if we could get in to the Jimmy Fallon show.  We got in line and were able to sit for a couple of hours and then at I think 7, they told us we had to stand for the rest of the time.  We waited until 9 when they gave out tickets showing the number you were in line and told us to come back at 4 to see if we got in or not.  We were doing a bunch of shopping in the area so we headed off to do some major damage on my bank account in the name of outfitting me for a year, (I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to shopping for an entire year at once!) We ventured down to shoegasm, my favorite store name ever, and bought matching shoes.   They were SO cute!

Then went back to Rockefeller center to see if enough people had bailed that we could get in!

Here are our tickets, number 20 and 21.  We waited and waited, lined up in the hallway according to number.  Interns kept coming down and asking for just a few more people and finally the last person allowed in was number 8.  Not even close.  Oh well.  Honestly, the only time we lost was our early morning hours during which we would have been doing nothing but sleeping, and one hour in our afternoon.  It was so worth the shot.  And next time we'll know that we have to hit the sidewalk at midnight, which is what time the first 10 people got in line.  WOW.
As a consolation prize we went back to Bengal Tiger, got takeout and ate in our room while watching the bachelorette for about an hour until we had to head out to our show.

Our last show was "Finding Neverland."  

Mallory and I both have a huge crush on the movie so we were really excited to see the musical.  It did not disappoint.  Matthew Morrison and Kelsey Grammer were out that night but the rest of the cast was really great.  The choreography by Mia Michaels was stunning, the music was fun, Laura Michelle Kelly was so lovely and the staging used to show moments of fancy and imagination was just incredible.   There were a few really beautiful moments that just took your breath away.  A beautiful production.  Maybe not the most meaty, but really lovely.  

After the show we got to meet Melanie Moore and Laura Michelle Kelly who were both disarmingly warm and kind.

After the cast came out we saw a crowd gathering at the stage door across the street where one of the previews of "Hamilton" was just ending.  I tried to get tickets to Hamilton having read reviews and doing just a bit of research about it.  Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda who is a genius, it's a hip hop musical about Alexander Hamilton.  It sounds ridiculously amazing.  But apparently everyone else in the musical theatre world thinks so as well because tickets were sold out for weeks.  But we did get to meet a few of the stars on their way out.  Lin-Manuel was so kind.  So happy and friendly and now I'm an even bigger fan.  

We also met Leslie Odom who is ridiculously talented.  What a cool night.

Mallory had to go back to work the next morning.  Saying goodbye to Mal is never my favorite thing to do but it was so great this time knowing that I'd see her in Utah in just a couple of weeks.  Before I got a taxi to the airport I headed uptown one more time to pick up a bunch of Levain cookies for my in-laws to say thanks for letting us stay.  Nothing says thank you quite like Levain.

I would be so so very overweight if I lived near a Levain.
It was a very different trip to New York, having my own personal tour guide/expert.  It was weird hearing Mallory tell me which trains I needed to take to get anywhere in the city.  She's got it down and it was very cool to spending time with her in her element.  Thanks again, New York.  What a perfect little break.