Utah Trip

The reason for my visit to Utah was a very sad one, but any chance I have to be reunited with my family, is always a blessing. And this time I was finally able to meet some of my nieces and nephews that I hadn't been able to see yet. Cody and Melissa drove up from Texas with their four seriously adorable children. I had only ever met William and Tristan but that was a long time ago when Tristan was just a baby. So this time I met their two newest additons, Brody and Jenna. Oh, my goodness. They are all such beautiful kids with just the sweetest personalities ever! And Cody and Melissa are so great together. Very cute family!I also got to see Andrew and Marni and their two sweet kids. I hadn't seen Lilly since she was a baby. What a cutie! She was so shy with everyone at first, except for Kaya. She was so taken with her that she just kept hugging and kissing her and Kaya was loving all that attention. I was especially excited to meet Andrew and Marni's new baby Grant. He is just so sweet and snuggly. Boy, that stage just doesn't last long enough! He sure is adorable. Kaya was reunited with Uncle Jonathan. He is just such a kid magnet! He was just crawling with all the neices and nephews who were vying for his attention the entire time.

We also got to meet some brand new puppies. When Kaya first saw one, she reached out with both hands with her mouth wide open, and I could just see what she intended to do if she got her hands on that poor little thing! Isn't that such a cute little face? This one is the runt of the litter.

And here's the whole clan. At least everyone who could come. We were missing Alison and Mike's kids and my other four kids and Kalen. It really was wonderful to be all together again and to share memories of Kayleigh and to celebrate her life and the wonderful example she is to all of us.

I stayed one extra day and spent it visiting some of the Oswald side of the family. Some of them hadn't met Kaya yet, so I couldn't pass up the chance to share her with them. We had a very nice, but very short visit with them. Unfortunately the camera batteries were once again exhausted, so I don't have pictures of that part of the trip. I wish I had. I couldn't get over how much some of the kids have changed! It's just unbelievable to me how fast they have all grown up. I shouldn't be surprised I guess, since my own kids are doing the same thing in front of my very eyes. It really is amazing though when I think back just a few short years to when I first came into the family and the oldest ones were just tiny. Crazy life.

Kaya made her first airplane trip like a pro! Actually the whole trip she was just perfect. It was funny on the airplanes when people were boarding and they'd look back and see me sitting with a baby, and I could just see in their faces how they were hoping that they weren't sitting next to me! But by the end of the trip, everyone around me would just rave at what a good baby Kaya was and how they'd never seen anything like it before. I was just relieved that she handled everything so well. It's hard enough traveling with infants; it's horrible when they are miserable. And I speak from much experience. Kaya really is a dream come true. She is just so social and happy the majority of the time. It really made the trip so much more enjoyable to have her enjoying it too.

It was a very nice trip. And it was very nice to come home again. It was such a short time, but I miss my kids so much when we're apart. I felt like they had already changed in just a few days. It was funny though when I arrived. Kalen had left them with some friends because the weather was so bad. So when we walked into their family room, they all looked up and realized I was back...and then they all ran to hug and kiss Kaya!

Oh, and I forgot to write earlier about my celebrity encounter. Okay it wasn't so much an encounter because I only passed by her in the airport and didn't say anything. But anyway, as I was rushing to catch my plane in Phoenix on the way home, I walked right past Jane Seymour. I recognized her right away but couldn't think of her real name until much later. All I could think was "it's Dr. Quinn!" I'm absolutely positive it was her because she was speaking to someone that was walking with her and her voice and accent were definitely recognizable. Pretty cool huh?