Spring Break

Reese and I took a little spring break last week to Utah to visit some friends and family. We had a lot to squeeze in to 7 short days, so we had to hit the ground running!

Reese was an absolute champ on the flights out to Utah...including our three-hour layover in Denver. I had my diaper bag stuffed to the brim with all of Reese's favorite snacks and books and it seemed to do the trick. We sat in the back of the plane and I think Reese really liked looking back in the galley, too. When we were almost in Denver, one of the flight attendants commented on what a good girl Reese was and how her son, who is one day older than Reese, would have never sat still for that long! I think I was beaming. By the time we landed in Salt Lake City, Reese hadn't slept in about ten hours, the poor little dear, and she still had enough energy to make Lauren chase her around the airport. After at least another hour in the Salt Lake airport--can you believe they lost my car seat and stroller?!...that I checked at the gate?!!--we were off to start the fun!

Reese and I spent our first night at Lindsey's house and Reese could not wait to play with her cousins! Reese was still going strong, even though it was almost midnight for us, but I decided it was time for bed. Unfortunately, all the sleep deprivation during our travel caught up with us and Reese woke up every thirty minutes that night. Not that fun.
The next day, after lots of playing, we loaded up all three kids and went to this fabulous boutique/bistro called Dear Lizzie, where we had the most delicious sandwiches and cupcakes! Mmmm. The cupcakes alone are worth the drive!

It was hilarious to have all three kids piled up in the back of Lindsey's car!

Later that afternoon, my mom arrived from Montana and we drove down to Orem to stay at Granny's for a couple days. Reese had the best time and absolutely loved all the attention from everybody.

Reading with Good Ol' Uncle Pat
Rocking with Granny
Four generations of Dowling/Stimpson/Wheatley women

Next we went to visit some of our favorite people who moved to Utah from Arlington last year. We got to meet their newest addition Ava! She is such a doll!

Reese and Ella had a ball playing together. Ella was so sweet to share her St. Patrick's Day cookies (I think Reese ate about 5!) and princess fruit snacks. Reese was in heaven!
Isn't Reese sweet to help Ava with her binkie...I'm pretty sure she is helping to replace the binkie and not trying to steal it.

We spent the rest of the week at Lauren and Ben's house in Park City. Ooh, Reese loves her Aunt Lallycakes! She played dress up in her closet, took baths in her enormous bathtub, and went on long walks in the sling when mom got sick.

Nice legs, huh?

We even got to have a sleepover with Halle and Matt and McCall! I think Reese wanted to be Halle's friend a lot more than Halle wanted to be friends with Reese. Reese kept trying to give Halle hugs and Halle made a face to her mother like, "get this girl off me!"

We also got to visit some other of our favorite friends, who also moved back to Utah from Arlington (what gives?!). Reese had so much fun playing with her old buddies, and she loved their golden retriever! I didn't know it, but Reese loves dogs! Ever since then, every time Reese sees a dog on the street or even in a commercial on tv, she gets so excited!

Doesn't Lucy look thrilled to have older brothers who always want to play with her?!

Unfortunately, two days before we were supposed to go home, I got sick. It started as the flu and then morphed into the stomach flu...ugh. It was so nice to have Lauren fill in as Reese's mommy while I was under the weather. Lauren took Reese for a long walk in her new sling while I rested, and apparently Reese loved it!
I felt so yucky the morning that we were supposed to come home that I called the airline to try to change my flight...but it would've cost $800. So, we had to just suck it up and get on the plane. By some miracle we made it home without any incident, and Reese was a perfect traveler once again.