Utah trip: July 2014

Mid-July we took a trip to Utah for the temple sealing of my sister, Tiffany, and brother-in-law, Chase.  They were sealed in the Draper, Utah Temple July 12.

We left for Utah the evening of the 10th.  Cole rode with us.  Our plan was for Joey to sleep peacefully the entire way, because one of his favorite places to sleep is the car.  Well, that went well.  Not.

We finally got him to sleep not too far north of Ted's Place, and about ten minutes later Neal got pulled over.  Car stopping = no movement = a child that wakes up.  And screams...loudly. You could tell the trooper felt bad, so he finished his business with us semi quickly and sent us on our way. 

Between there and Laramie, we stopped once so I could try and nurse him to sleep.  Nope.  We stopped in Laramie, and twice just west of Laramie.  It took us about 2 hours to go less than 100 miles.  Every time we would pull him out of the car, he would stop screaming, but the minute we put him back in the car, he'd start right up again.

Our last stop with him was somewhere on the side of I-80.  It was around 11 pm, and here I was, standing in the rain and spray from the cars driving by, on the side of I-80, in the dark, trying to rock this little boy to sleep.  I'm not going to lie.  I was in tears, and I'm pretty sure Neal was almost there (which SO does not happen very often).  In my heart I was pleading for Heavenly Father to help us.  I got in the back seat of the car with a still awake baby, and started trying to nurse him again.  Cue screaming.  Suddenly, Neal turned around (from the driver's seat) and said, "Give me his head."  I looked at him, rather puzzled about why he was requesting the head of our son.  Neal laid his hands on Joey's head, gave him a priesthood blessing, and in that blessing commanded him to go to sleep.  Half way through the blessing, Joey started to calm down, relax, and act sleepy.  Neal then placed his hands on my head and gave me a priesthood blessing, blessing me with the ability to know what Joey needed.  I then nursed him, he fell asleep, and we were on our way.  The only time we stopped was at Little America so we could get gas and feed Joey.

Tender mercies, folks.  Tender mercies.

We stayed at Neal's cousins, James and Jenn's, house. 

While we were there, we saw three of Neal's mission buddies and their spouses (two companions and a sister that was in his district for a long time).  On Friday we had a late breakfast with Adam and Ashley, dinner with Trevor and Aileen and their baby Jerek (who is just a couple weeks older than Joey), and Richard and Evelyn watched Joey at the temple while we went inside for the sealing on Saturday.

We also were able to see my Aunt Julianne (and she got to meet Joey) and her little girl, Ruby, and my cousin Christine and her husband Tyler and their little girl, Macie.  My sister, Amber watched Joey for about a half an hour, too, so that Neal and I could go on a quick date to In N Out (a must for me every time we're in Utah).

The Saturday that Tiffany and Chase were sealed ended up being a BEAUTIFUL day.  It was such a wonderful ceremony, and I'm so happy that they made such an important decision.  Knowing you're married to your best friend for time and all eternity is one of the best feelings ever.  After the sealing we went to Rachel (Chase's dad's girlfriend's) house for an early dinner.  She made some pretty amazing food for everyone!

Saturday night James, Jenn, and their son Jackson took us out to dinner at a delicious steak house.  We had such a wonderful time talking and laughing with them!  Joey absolutely loved them :)

Sunday morning Jenn made us german pancakes for breakfast and then we headed to church at Tiffany and Chase's ward, and then headed off for Idaho!

At In N Out

Being such a big boy and sitting at the table!

Joey and Jerek

Our little family outside the temple after Tiffany and Chase's sealing

First smiles that we caught on camera!!!!!

Joey - 3 Months

All about Joey this last month :)

- He went camping for the first time :) We stayed in a tent, and it was pretty chilly, so we were worried about keeping him warm.  Thank goodness for the internet though!  We found an awesome idea to keep him warm during the night.  We wrapped him up really well in blankets, laid him in his car seat, and draped a fleece blanket over the handle to create his own little "tent."  I'm pretty sure Neal and I were more cold than he was!  (Funny note: I forgot his stocking hat, and so we had to use my mom's hat and a hair tie to create a hat for him.  We called him our unicorn).

- He got salmonella.  Yup, that's right.  Salmonella.  He was having really green, stinky, mucousy stools.  That's usually a sign of a dairy allergy, but I was already not eating dairy, so I took him into the doctor.  They took a stool sample, and a couple days later we got a call from our pediatrician saying he had salmonella.  Talk about a freaked out mom.  The pediatrician asked if we had any reptiles in the home because that's where the majority of salmonella cases come from.  Long story short, we ended up giving Ayowin to the reptile store in our town.  It was heartbreaking for me to get rid of her, but we decided it was not worth risking Joey getting bacterial meningitis or anything like that.

- He started sucking on his thumb.  It's pretty cute :)

- He started grabbing onto toys that we put on his chest, and swatting at toys that are hanging above him.

- He went swimming for the first time.  I don't think he necessarily enjoyed it, but he didn't freak out either!

- He started really laughing.  He laughs a lot for dad.  I've only been able to get him to chuckle a couple of times for me.

- He went on his second camping trip.  This time we stayed in a cabin, so we weren't worried about him being cold.  That's where we were when he really laughed for the first time.

- He celebrated his first Independence Day.  (Read about that here!)

Love this sweet boy!