On to California

During our time in Spokane, I spent some time on the phone with my mom and sister Whitney. Whit had been having lots of contractions and felt like she was going to have the baby any day. Well, I REALLY wanted to be able to see the precious little guy and help out as much as I could, and of course visit with all of my family, so my mom was gracious enough to fly me out there after the wedding. Nate had to head back to NY for school, and took Asher with him. My wonderful friends in my building were nice enough to watch him during the day when Nate had stuff. So it was just me and Sayer heading out to Cali.

Sayer was in full "charm" mode for most of the trip. He was so smiley and loved all the attention!

First we flew in to Sacramento for a few days, as Whit hadn't had her baby yet, and I wanted to visit with everyone. It was great fun. I love hanging out and laughing with my fam. Unfortunately, Sayer had a touch of the flu when we got there (he was really hardly sick at all... both he and Asher threw up, but only once, and there were really no other symptoms... Nate got it the worst, poor fella) but my whole family including my Grandma Leni came down with the flu pretty badly. It actually turned out to be pretty perfect for me and Sayer, as on Wednesday, everyone was supposed to be at school and work, but instead, they were all home with us. Selfish, I know, but we had a video fest, took naps, and visited all day. If they hadn't all been sick, I would have just been home all by myself all day long... so not fun. So it was really a blessing in disguise. So, family, you are welcome!

Unfortunately, my mom couldn't find any of the old baby toys, so Sayer had to resort to playing with plates and buttons on electronics that he was not supposed to touch!

On Wednesday night, after Ashley touched up my horrible looking roots,

Sayer and I drove down to Sunnyvale to visit with Ben and Whit and Joelie and Kadin.

It was so great to visit with them. I think Whit was trying desperately to get that baby out, as we had spicy (and delicious) Thai food one night, and spicy (and delicious) Indian food another day. We also saw Bride Wars, which was fun (I'm really not hard to please) and hit up In & Out (de-lish). We watched Stardust, which was so fun... Ben insisted that we watch something I had never seen before. Apparently, he loves watching movies that other people have never seen, with those other people.

Hailey. Graduating from high school this year! Crazy!

On Saturday, I will have you all know, that Whitney ran 4 miles... the day before she gave birth... yeah, that's all I have to say about that. Later my whole fam (minus Jill... we totally missed you sista) came down to visit and pick up the van that I had driven down.

Hailey, Whit, Kadin

We chatted, laughed, ate, watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (SO cute!), ate some more (chinese food), listened to music, and watched my dad play with all of Joelie and Kadin's cool toys. He played trains with them, and built huge puzzles... he is such a cute grandpa. It was so fun to be able to visit with everyone.

That night, Joelie woke up with the flu... several times. So sad. I do feel bad for bringing the flu upon everyone. What are you gonna do though?? Anyway... On Sunday, Sayer and I were all packed to head to the airport for our 1:20 flight, and of course, Whit announces that she was pretty sure she was going into labor. Perfect timing, of course. So a friend of theirs took me and Sayer to the airport, and Whitney had little Oliver approximately 7 and a half hours after I left. I was so sad. Oh well. I think there is some rule that that is just how things go. My whole family had been in town the week before I was due with Asher, hoping he would be born early. They left Sunday morning, and he was born that night... it's just the way things go.

Anyway... I have to say that my whole 2 1/2 week trip to Washington and Cali was pretty much perfect. It was so great to be in so many different places for short periods of time. It makes it so that we were never bored and really got to see EVERYONE... well, except for Analee and Tyler who were in Australia, Erin who was in SLC with a new baby, and Jill who was in Provo. But I would still call that a VERY successful trip. By the end, we were feeling re-energized and ready to come home and get back to reality. We are all pretty much back to normal sleeping schedules, and I have made dinner pretty much every night. We'll see how long that lasts! ;)

I just had to show off this beautiful picture of my youngest sister Lexi. She got her braces off, and then had to have some teeth capped, and she looks gorgeous... so grown up!