Home from Utah!

On the plane, Jacob looking mischievous:Here is Jacob being uncooperative for our group photo:
Natalie's mom let us come over and play with the standard poodles she breeds - Jacob loved it! (11 puppies and 5 adults!)
Grandma and two of her boys:
Best baby ever, Owen at 3.5months:
The view from our room:

Our view of the beginner slopes at Brian.head Resort:
Jacob enjoying "Cars" while dad snowboarded at Brian.head:

We had a great time in Utah and really enjoyed our time with Tom, Natalie and Owen. This was the first time Aaron and I got to meet Owen and boy is he cute! He is such a good baby, it really is like having a doll in the room! He LOVES to look at faces and gets so excited when you smile at him.

Aaron and Tom had a great time riding quads and being boys. Mom, Natalie and I got some shopping in (I think I've found Brody's coming home outfit!). One day we also drove an hour or so to a ski resort so Aaron could go snowboarding. Jake, mom and I hung out in the lodge enjoying lunch and watching the skiers and snowboarders. I guess the resort, Brian.Head, is the highest elevation ski resort in Utah. Mom noticed it a lot, but it didn't bother Aaron and I generally felt the same as I do everyday being 30wks pg (dizzy, tired and short of breath).

I think the trip was very worthwhile as we finished up taking care of the rest of dads issues and I think Tom needed the company. I think he is still struggling with things and my hope is that it gets easier with time. Now the plan is for the three of them to come out to Michigan this summer and we will head to Harrison to take care of the ashes. They seem to be doing great in Utah though. Tom's store is HUGE and although we didn't visit it, we drove past there quite a few times and Aaron admired all the toys from afar. Natalie is mostly recovered from her terrible staph infection although she still has hard abscess that she can feel :( Her store (Bone Appetite - all natural pet foods and treats) is doing well and is super cute. Roxy LOVED the lamb trachea she gave us!

Traveling was NOT as easy as I expected it to be. We didn't purchase a ticket for Jacob because 1, he would prefer to ride on our laps and 2, the 1st leg would only have 2 seats in a row anyway, so we wouldn't even use the 3rd seat. But I was kicking myself big time on our 2nd leg - a 3hr flight, plus we sat on the runway for 1.5hrs. It didn't even occur to me that we might enjoy the extra room! Ugh, so I was miserable. The entire time we were in St.George I was dreading the ride home and made a few calls to see how much it would be to upgrade to 1st class (not available) or purchase the extra seat for the way home ($750). Fortunately, the ride home was MUCH better. There were two extra seats on the plane and we managed to get one in our row (free of charge!)... can't figure out why no one wanted to sit next to a pregnant lady, her husband and her very active 20 month old?! And, I also made the determination that no matter how much I wanted to hold Jacob, I would ONLY hold him when Aaron needed me to and that made a world of difference. The kid is just so darn rough on me and Brody! On the flight out, I just couldn't resist holding Jacob and really wanted to experience the flight with him. Although he has already flown before when we went to Florida, I think he actually realized what was going on this time. And he LOVES planes, so just being at the airport was very exciting for him. He wasn't too sure at first though and cried/whined when we first boarded the plane and when they closed the door, but after that he was all smiles.

In other news, I made the announcement at work that I would not be returning after my maternity leave. Everyone took the news really well and it was a HUGE relief to get that out. Even better, the girl that took my position when I was on maternity leave for Jacob is interested in the position. I would LOVE it if they decided to hire her, because that would mean a minimal amount of training and much less stress for me! My coworkers are the types that think training can occur in an hour and after that, I should be able to do twice the amount of work, because after all, there are TWO of us working now! I gave my official final day as March 14th... seven more weeks (which feels like an eternity), let the countdown begin!!!!