The LOOOOOOONG Drive Home from Utah

The one and only picture from the trip home. We stopped on the way to get Ruby some earphones that actually fit her and weren't causing a fit every 2 seconds. I love the Minnie bow on them!

Despite the fact that there is only one picture from this post, I have to document the trip home to remember why I never, ever want to make this drive again! The girls had been sick on and off for the last week puking and filling their pants with nastiness. When we left, we were hopeful that that was all over with and everyone was on the up and up. That hope was quickly dashed when by the first stop we had a puke and 2 diarrhea blow-outs to clean up. Oh gag. We had gotten a couple of outfits out and ready in case they were needed, but by the time we got home we had gone through every item of clothing we could find for Ben and Ruby. We had 3 or 4 loads of laundry to do when we got home from the trip alone. It was amazing. We stopped in Albuquerque after an exhausting first day and at 3 am I was awoken by horrible sick pains writhing on the hotel bathroom floor. Thankfully I was able to get a little sleep and felt slightly better when we left that morning. All day long more puke and diarrhea and everyone was generally feeling abysmal. Rob is the hero of this story because he took care of us all and drove the entire way home. I'm pretty sure I counted down every single minute of the last few hours. We finally made it home around 11 and were never so happy to be home!

Note from 4 months later: The other day I was buckling Ruby into her car seat and she made a burping sound in her throat and I had a bad flashback and got all tense ready to catch some puke and holler for help. I think I have sick trip PTSD!

Utah Trip Part Final {finally...4 months later!}: Baby Blessing

The last big activity of the trip was the blessings of Ben and Bailey. We blessed them at Dave and Annette's home with all the family around (well, those who weren't sick and could make it...). Rob gave Ben a very sweet blessing reminding him of his great heritage and to remember his names and honor them throughout his life. Benji even got to be blessed in the same outfit his daddy was blessed in!

 Bunker side

 Carter side

 With Benji's Great Grandma Millie

 With Benji's Great Grandpa and Grandma Gwilliam

Grandma couldn't help but get a shot with the hat on. :) Oh yeah, looking good, just like his daddy did 29 years ago!

Utah Trip Part {I can't even keep track}: White Elephant Party

 Another favorite Christmas tradition is the White Elephant Party. The Gweaston Clan are awesome and White Elephant never disappoints. Sadly, this year the girls were puking so Rob sweetly offered to stay home with them. Here are some gems from the party.

 Our gift was an Annette Carter SuperFan Club kit with an (almost) authentic signed photo and some other paraphernalia. Annette loved it. Okay, maybe not quite so much.

Utah Trip Part VII: Leslie's Cookie Party

 A couple cute and random pictures before we get to the regularly scheduled post.

One of my favorite activities that happens at Christmastime is Leslie's Annual Cookie Party. As you can imagine, the kids love it as well. Not only do they get to play with cousins, but they are let loose with frosting and every kind of sprinkles you can imagine. Pure heaven.

Utah Trip Part VI: Christmas Day

  I didn't get a ton of pictures from Christmas, but we had a great time!

 Cookies and milk for Santa

 

Ice Cream!

The other night we went to Sonic for a little cool treat after dinner. Ruby was a happy girl!

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BATMAN!!

 His first superhero jammies. Thanks Auntie Emily!

Crayon free is the way to be

Another Ruby post. :)

This morning after we got home from the gym everyone was tired and hungry so I fed Benji and was rocking him to sleep when Ruby came in and told me that she had a crayon in her nose. WHAT?!? A crayon IN your nose?! Awesome. So sweaty me put Benji down, called the pediatrician, woke him back up and ran into the office. Ruby kept telling me that her nose hurt :( Poor baby! Our doc tried and tried to get that darn crayon out, then called in the other doctor and the two of them tried and tried to get the crayon out, but the darn thing was wedged up there and too slippery to get out. They even closed the non-crayola nostril and had me blow in her mouth CPR style to see if that could pop it out. No beans. So they sent us to an ENT.

 Here's my sweet girl smiling even with a crayon in her nose. While she hated having the doctors dig around in her nose, she recovered quickly and was her normal self. What a trooper!

So we headed over to the ENT's office and got there just after they'd locked up for lunch. Sadly, we weren't allowed to eat in case she had to be anesthetized. So we waited the whole lunch hour and finally met with the ENT. He had me hold Ruby on my lap and hold down her legs with my legs, her arms with one arm and her head with my other hand, and dang, that girl is strong! I couldn't keep her still for the life of me! The doc and nurse kept commenting on how strong she is. When there is something that she feels strongly about, that girl is going to get what she wants. I have never met anyone so determined! Finally after much wailing and fighting and gnashing of teeth, we got that darn little crayon out.

 The culprit.

Here she is happy as a clam with ketchup from her chicken nuggies all over her face and just a tiny bit of bloody nose left over from our adventure. I really hope that we never have to do that again! Crayon free is the way to be!