Holiday Travels - Part 1

We have made it to Utah!  As usual, our trip here included a variety of motorized transportation.  This time, we opted for a direct flight out of Washington DC, which meant a long drive up to the DC area and a visit to see our good friends the Cromwells in Quantico.  We miss having Adam, Kimzey, Gavin and Tobiah two houses down from us and we had a great time catching up with them, which included a fun trip to the National Zoo in DC.

The girls got some new warm coats and hats for this trip.  It is like 25 degrees here in Utah and still over 70 today for a high in New Bern.  Our weak, southern blood doesn't know what to do with the cold.

The Cromwells at the zoo.

Checking out the gorillas; the girls made their monkey sounds.

Family pic in front of the crocodiles...or the turtles, I can't remember!

After leaving Quantico, it was time for our flight.  As I mentioned, it was one, direct shot, which makes the biggest difference when traveling with the girls.  We had to buy four seats this year, but we ended up giving up one of our seats and trading with someone so we could all sit on one row together.  The girls were troopers.  Josie came down with a cold the morning we left, so she was overly tired and sick.  Piper was literally bouncing between the seats.  One lady in front of us was Facebooking about being stuck on the "baby wing of the screaming baby plane".  Sorry Erin Parrish, whoever you are!  All things considered, the flight went well and we made it to Utah right on time.

The very next morning we headed downtown so Josh could make his radio debut on our very favorite radio program, Radio from Hell on x96.  We have been listening to this show for years, maybe even a decade.  I listen religiously from 8-12 everyday.  It helps keep me entertained when I am stuck by myself at my computer and it has given us a connection to home as we have moved around the country.  The show has a regular "Ask A" program where they spend an hour with someone with an interesting (or even not-so-interesting) job.  Josh offered himself up to talk about his experience as a marine aviator.  It was a lot of fun to visit their studio and sit and watch them talk to Josh.  I thought he did a great job and lots of our friends and family listened.

We got a picture with Kerry, Bill and Gina.

Then, last night we had more fun at the Jazz Game, thanks to an invite from Brynn and Nate.  They played the Trailblazers and won, but just barely.  We haven't followed the Jazz in years, but it was fun to be there and fun hanging out with these two...

Then, the next night I was able to catch up with some of my friends from high school at Suzy's house.  We had a great dinner and chatted away the evening.  It was so fun to catch up.

Jer, Erika & Riley come to NC

We had a lot of fun over the past week while Jer, Erika and Riley came to visit North Carolina.  They stayed down at the beach with Barb, but Josh took some time off work and we were able to make some fun day trips with them.  Some of the fun things we did:

All of us in our backyard before we had lunch and walked around downtown New Bern.  Josie warmed right up to Aunt Erika and they had a lot of fun together.  

At the beach again

Josh and Jer with Riley and Piper

Riley and Alden spent lots of time looking for critters

Visiting the aquarium.  Check it out - it's a frog!  Piper loved it

Saturday, we went down to Jacksonville for the New River airshow.  Josh got to show his family the Prowler and the kids got to crawl around inside some airplanes.

 Thanks for visiting!  We can't wait to see you guys again soon. 

We made it: Utah - Part 1

We all survived another cross country trip to the land of Zion.  The girls did really well.  Piper slept in the carseat for the entire leg from Atlanta to Salt Lake, and Josie slept in our arms for most of the flight, after starting out with about five minutes of screaming (had us a little nervous for a minute).  We got in very very late (12 midnight local time, so 2 a.m. for us), got our rental car, and headed to Draper.  We were all tired the next day, but the girls adjusted quickly and settled right into napping in their pack 'n plays. 

Sunday evening we met up with the entire Egan family at my grandparents house.  The girls got to see all kinds of second cousins - the family has exploded with babies over the past couple of years - and get some loves and kisses from their great grandparents. 

Josie mixing it up with Hadlee and Kruz, my cousins' kids. 

 Grandma Shirley and Josie

 Grandma and Piper

 Nate and Brynn helping a cranky and tired Piper out with her milk

The next day found us here:

Thanks to so passes Brynn was able to get us, along with some skis complements of the Lifthouse, Josh, Brynn and I spent Valentine's skiing - for the first time in two years!  It started out as a beautifully sunny day.  We had a great time - despite Josh's back pain. 

Can't wait to get the girls up here on some skis!

Our big adventure

We are in Utah! We made it here after a marathon day of travel on Saturday. Josie and Piper's first airplane trip and first time out of North Carolina, and most importantly, first time meeting a lot of important people. It was a very long day, but the girls did great. Our first leg from New Bern to Atlanta was easy, then we had three hours in Atlanta to feed babies, give them bottles, change into jammies, and entertain them. Our flight to Atlanta to Salt Lake was LONG. We had one seat, so at least one baby was sleeping at all times, but the baby who was awake was a wiggle worm! Once we got to Utah, my dad met us and helped us with all the gear, we got into our van, and came to my parents where everything was all set up for us. The girls woke up at 4 am for their bottles, but went right back to sleep.

Some shots from the trip out here