::UT trip in phone pictures::

At the beginning of Sept the boys and I headed out to UT for my youngest brother Murphy's wedding. It was a fun trip. We went out a few days early, then Kris joined us just for Saturday and some of Sunday. Then the boys and I stayed for a couple more days.
It was a little nerve wracking flying with two kids, but since Max is so big and Sand is still pretty easy--not moving around much--I think it could've been much worse.
The best thing ever was that the flight was really empty. So after all the stress of driving to ABQ, parking, taking the shuttle with all our luggage, checking in, going through security (always awful, but a million times worse with baby and baby stuff) and finally getting to the gate, we had a whole row to ourselves!
Like this:

He didn't sit like that the whole time, but even a bit of rest was nice for my arms. It was lovely.

Max had a cold, of course, so instead of going straight to my parents house where the incipient bridegroom was going to sleep, we crashed at Kathy's house. She wasn't there because Kelly & Lechelle had just had their second baby and she was out helping them.
It was weird to be in the house alone an we missed her, but we were cozy there.
Here's Max reading his favorite Hendricks house book--"Chicken Soup with Rice."


He recovered and the next morning we went to my parents to spend time.
I was lucky enough to get to be there when my sister Charlotte went through the temple to receive her endowments. If you'd like to learn a bit more about that go here. It was lovely, and I was so happy to be there. Thanks to Kari for watching Max and Meridee for taking care of my little Sandy.
Afterwards the rest of my family had to head out to some wedding festivities, but Sandy and I got to take Charlotte out to dinner at our old standby favorite, Los Hermanos in Provo.

Char and I don't get to spend a ton of time alone together and so it was really fun to get to hang out.

Next was the wedding.
It was great. We were so happy to get to be there. It was a beautiful day and everything turned out so well. Murphy looked happier than any person has a right to be and Laura looked gorgeous. Big congrats to the two of them, we're so proud and happy for them!!

Look at that Murphy's face!!
It was nice to know that somebody was there taking good pictures and I could just take a couple on my phone and call it good.


Here's Sandy enjoying himself in my parent's big play room. This little scooter was calling his name and he wouldn't rest until he got to sit on it. After that he didn't know what to do except fall off.

He's gonna be a bike guy, it's very possible.

And last but not least, even more happiness on the way home. They told me right away it was going to be an empty flight and asked if I wanted to take the carseat on. I was like, YES!!!. So Sand spent the whole flight in his seat and I actually got to read a magazine and closed my eyes for one or two seconds.

It was amazing. A taste of the good life.

There was lots more fun stuff that happened in between the few phone photos that I took, but they'll have to remain in memory. It was just so fun to spend time with everybody and be there for such happy occasions. Yay.

::He made it!::

We have a dog!
For anybody that doesn't already know, Sultan has been staying with my parents since we moved, in early May.
He flew in at the end of last week. Luckily Kris was able to leave work for an hour or so to help me get him. The kennel was heavy (and HUGE) and Sul was very anxious to get out of the airport. And by that I mean he totally dragged me out by the arm. So I don't think I could've done it without Kris.

Sultan didn't forget to bring his tongue with him.

Isn't he cute?
But I bet you didn't know that I have TWO dogs.
One's named Sultan, and the other one is named Sultan.

They both bark, and they both walk on all fours. It's just that Sultan number two has a little higher bark than Sultan number one. And it's nastier feeling when he licks you somehow.

This one thinks he's pretty funny.


Sultan didn't know we got another dog while he was gone. He was interested for a while--long enough to get inspired to stick his tongue out too.


The real Sultan was pretty dirty and smelly when he got to us. I think he was a little stressed out in the plane--maybe all dogs do this, but when Sultan gets stressed he gets a little smelly. Kind of doggy musky smelling. Anyway, he was due for a wash.

So I had the official dog washer and his lovely assistant do it.

Max made sure and sprayed everyone liberally. I'm sure Sultan appreciated it.

Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

Poor guy! He's really patient and good.



And he's cute when he's wet. The dog washer isn't so bad himself!

It took Sultan a couple of days to recover from his trip, but he seems to be ok and normalized now. He's eating food, so that's a good sign. He seems to like our place, and enjoys sitting by the door watching stuff happen. He's also enjoyed going out for jogs with Kris and I. There are a lot of different smells for him to explore out here.
We're glad to have him home.

We love Sultan!

.::How often can we change our minds??::.

Kris drove our white land rover out to UT before the big move. He took Sultan and the car out there so they could wait for us while we got everything else to RI. The plan was for him to drive the car and the dog back for his training in New York (he has to be in Brooklyn for about three weeks) and I would hang out in UT so I wouldn't have to stay at home alone in a new place for an entire month with a four year old.

Then we found out that his first training day is just one day. Then there's close to a week of nothing between that day and the next week of training. So we changed our plans and decided to fly him out to NYC for that one day. Then the plan was for all of us to drive back east together. I realized that I could visit Kris in NYC and I have friends I'm excited to hang out with in Providence. We would've had about 5 days to do the drive. It wouldn't have been too fun and exciting, but it would've worked. THEN we found out he actually has to be in NYC 24 hrs earlier than we thought for some sort of appointment. Not cool. He was flying back to UT sunday night late, then we would only have from monday morning to friday morning to get all of us to Providence and then him back to NYC. By 9AM friday morning of course. Is this making you tired yet?

So we figured we could do that. Until we really thought about it. When we really thought about it we decided that the drive would be horrible, and there was no way we could make it there in time. We also thought about it and decided that we could live as a one car family in Providence. We live in such a walkable area of town that hopefully it will work.

So we made up our minds, left the white car out on Kris's Grandparents' farm in Delta UT under a tarp and bought ourselves one way tickets.

But what about the dog? Well he's flying too. I guess Continental has some sort of special pet travel program, so he should do great. He'd better, it's expensive enough! But really overall we're saving money flying rather than driving. With gas as expensive as it is and the white car getting such great (ie awful) mileage we're much better off without it for a while.
Sultan had to practice in the carrier the other day.

I think he's going to do ok. He's not scared of the carrier right now. He may be after a 7 hr flight with a connection in New Jersey, but hopefully he'll be ok. He's such a great traveler in the car, hopefully that'll carry over.

I'm just glad we get to bring him home with us. I would've been bummed to have to leave him. Although I know my parents wouldn't mind!

This plan will be much better for us overall I think. Kris and I ran an errand with Max yesterday. When we got home we looked at each other and said "boy aren't we glad we don't have to do that for four solid days next week!!!!"

.::The Things Grandpas do for their Boys Pt 2::.

Wonderful Grandpas that love their little ones might play cars for hours. Whether they feel like it or not. They might also put up with being constantly bossed, and told that "cars don't talk". Funny since a few months ago they seemed to talk a lot.

Patience is important.

Max loved it.

A Grandpa also might lie down on the floor and let heavy heavy four year olds jump on them (it's called Hop on Pop. We used to get to do it when we were little. It was the best)
Then he might pretend to be a horse.


Or maybe more of a bucking bronco.


This one good way to get a workout. I don't think I'm going to try it anytime soon.

Does it looks like Max is having fun? I think SO!
Then that same Grandpa, since he is already on the floor, might just let his very heavy four year old grand boy fly like an airplane (this is also something we used to get to do when we were little. It was so fun.)

That one took a little while to figure out though.

I think the front flip exit was a little intimidating. That was all of the floor activities for the day.
Keep in mind, these Grandpa activities were besides making breakfast every morning, teaching Max (and his mom) how to make bread, helping clean up night time pukes, doing laundry, reading bed-time stories, baby sitting, going to the park for hours... I could go on and on. Max is lucky to have such a fabulous grandpa! Grandpa Guy, you can come back and visit anytime.

.::The Things Grandpas do for their Boys Pt 1::.

I came home from helping Kris at school one day last week and here was the sight I saw:

Mr ultra cool Grandpa had set up a big pad made up of his blankets and pillows on the rug, and Max was leaping onto it from the ottoman. He was having an absolute blast.
He would do a countdown:

(note the cool new way to do three, he figured that one out himself.)


this takes a LOT of concentration.


ZERO! Alright, GO!

Woo hoo!



I think part of what added to the extreme enjoyment of this was that in the past jumping off the ottoman in any form has been outlawed. So getting to do it was more than a little bit thrilling I'm sure!

I love this picture. Sultan was coming over to sit on me since I was down on the floor.

Looks like fun, huh? What a fun Grandpa to come up with something like this. I'm not sure he would've ever let us do it when we were kids, but I guess that's what it means to be a grandpa. You get to indulge the little ones.
And who wouldn't want to let this:

Do this?

More grandpa indulgences and activities to come later.