Trip to LaGrande!

At the end of May we took a trip to LaGrande to go to Josef and Summer's open house and then to spend the week with my parents.  It was a great trip!  Now that we were "pro" flyers I was not too worried about the flights on this trip.  However, we did have to drive to Vegas, and then once we got to Boise we had to drive the rest of the way to La Grande.  So I knew we were in for a long day.  And that is was, but we made it and it all turned out just fine! 

There is some construction going on in the gorge on the way to Vegas so I planned quite a bit of extra time that morning that we left.  I also didn't know how Clara's eating schedule would go and how long it would take us to get from economy parking to get checked in.  So, because of all these factors I planned an extra hour and a half more than we probably needed.  We got to the airport in plenty of time and so when we got to our gate we were 3 hours early...oops.  It was good though cause it gave us time to get some food and feed Clara and let Calin run around after being in the car.  

Up and down these A LOT while waiting to board! 

However, by about 2 1/2 hours in Calin had had it.  We thought it was just about time to board the plane when they announced a delay.  It ended up begin about another 45 minutes before we got on the plane.  By then Calin was SUPER grumpy and having a really hard time.  We were so blessed though and we got the one extra seat on the plane so Calin could have his own seat instead of sitting on Robby's lap.  We finally took off and gave Calin some more snacks and as we took off and he ate he dozed off.  He climbed onto Robby's lap and slept the whole flight! 

Yea for a nap for both these boys!

Clara had just eaten before we boarded so she played for a little while and then took a little nap.  

We finally made it to Boise and headed out to get our rental car.  We got out to the car only to find that we had to play tetris to get all the suitcases, stroller, car seats and people into the car.  We finally managed with the front passenger seat full of bags, and me in between the two carseats in the back.  

Riding through the airport in Boise. 

The drive went well, but I did read Baby Bug and Highlights books to Calin pretty much the entire drive.  At that point my head was throbbing, we were starving, and everyone was ready to arrive in LaGrande! We made one stop in Ontario to get some food and feed Clara.  Then we finished the day of traveling finally!  It was great to arrive in LaGrande and see everyone!  

We had some dinner, visited, and let Calin play with all the new exciting toys at Grandma's house.  Then we settled Calin in to his sleeping bag bed on the floor (he thought that was pretty cool).  I stayed up and visited with everyone until Josef and Summer arrived and then fed Clara and settled her into the crib. The kids did good and both slept well in the new environment.  However, at about 6:00 am they were both up and Calin was up, ready for the day, and making quite a lot of racket.  I don't think all his uncles and aunts were too appreciative of being woken up quite that early on their vacation. 

The rest of Saturday was busy as we got ready for the open house.  We made a trip down to the farmer's market to pick up some strawberries for the open house.  I love fresh Oregon strawberries!  They were delicious! 

We helped my mom prep food and get set up as much as we could in between taking care of Calin and Clara.  The open house went great and the food was delicious!  We had some delicious BBQ meat, pasta salad, fruit, lemonade, and a TON of really yummy desserts!  Robby and I were lucky to stay through the week so we got to keep enjoying all the delicious food for leftovers all week!  I forgot to take any pictures, but stole these from Summer's Facebook.  (Thanks Summer!) 

Loved these lanterns filled with flowers! 

Erich and Allie at the open house. 

The guests of honor! 

After the open house,  we cleaned up quick, I fed Clara and then all the adults except for my mom rushed off to see Les Miserables at Eastern.  My mom stayed home with Clara and Calin.  Thanks mom!  They both did great and my mom was able to bring Clara over at intermission so I could feed her.  So glad LaGrande is so small so we can do that!  The show was great and it was a lot of fun to get out for the night! 

All the siblings at the show.  They took this while I was out feeding Clara so Robby and I missed being in the photo. 

Robby and I at the show.  It's not often we get out without kids.  

Sunday we hung out at the house all morning (everyone got woken up early by Calin again!).  Then we went to church at 1:00.  Calin finally fell asleep towards the end of sacrament meeting and so we just went home after that.  Then after church the whole family went out to the base of mount emily to take some family pictures.  It was a really pretty area.  Minus the tick we found on Clara and then on Robby it was a great outing! 

That night we celebrated my mom's birthday a day early since everyone was leaving the next morning.  It was nice to actually be there to celebrate with my mom in person! 

Monday morning we all got up and went to the annual scout pancake breakfast my Dad was helping with for Memorial Day.   After breakfast all my siblings took off to make their way back to Utah.  We went out to see the memorial day flags at the graveyard.  It was much colder than I expected and rather windy and sprinkling a little.  All the flags were cool to see with so many of them up all in one area.  

The rest of the week we made lots of trips to the park, hung out at the house reading books and playing with grandma and grandpa.  Calin had a few favorite books that everyone had to read over and over for the whole week.  His favorites were "Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear",  "One Was Johnny", and "Spot Sleeps Over".   I think everyone read "Polar Bear" to him about 50 times, so probably 200 times throughout the week. ;) 

In the mornings he would get up early every day.  He often went outside to help feed Mia.  He also went out to help grandma water.  Calin also enjoyed getting up in the mornings and playing with the kitchen and "cooking" us breakfast.  He loved the plastic plates and silverware and carried them all over the house with him all week.  He also enjoyed playing with the dinosaurs, duplos, and train set.  

Watering grandma's plants. 

Playing outside with Grandma one morning. 

This is one of my favorite parks in LaGrande.  They totally redid a couple years after I graduated and it is a really cool park.  It looks like a big castle and has a lot of really cool features, decorations done by a lot of elementary school kids, musical pipes to play, a really nice toddler area, a big sandbox, "secret passageways", and lots more.  It is just a great park and I think it was really great for Calin's age.  He could do a lot of the things there and had a lot of fun.  I think it helped that there were so many of us there to run around and play with him.

Grandma and Grandpa chilling with Clara and watching the action.  

Tuesday night I was able to go out to dinner with some childhood through high school friends Hilary, Haley, and Kristin.  It was so much fun to go out for a couple hours kid free and be able to catch up and visit!  I love these girls, but we missed having Malia there! 

Then Wednesday morning we got together at my house with the kids so we could meet them and let the kids play together.  It was so fun to visit again and be able to meet all the kids!  It's so crazy how much our lives have changed from when we were little, to high school, to now married and with kids!   It was especially fun because Calin and Paxton are really close in age and so are Clara and Stella.  It will be fun to do it again soon since they will have playmates whenever we can get together! 

Calin and Paxton playing with the kitchen.  

Playing 'Hide an Go Seek" with Robby.  

They were both having a great time! 

Then they enjoyed running and jumping on this bean bag together! 

All of us and our kids!  Love these girls! 

Thursday my mom had to leave in the afternoon to go to a conference, but we enjoyed a few last activities with her before she left.  We went to the library to go to story time and also checked out some books.  

Calin liked driving in this! 

They had these mini shopping carts so the kids could go "shopping" for their books!  So cute!! 

Picking out some books with Dad. 

Grandma and Clara

Reading "One Was Johnny" with grandma before she had to leave. 

Wednesday night we went swimming with Grandpa and Grandma, but shortly after arriving we had to get out due to some poop in the pool.  Gross! However, they gave us a free swim so we went back on Thursday afternoon with Grandpa after Grandma left.  Calin loved going down the slide over and over! 

Robby got to enjoy lots of down time with the kids since he didn't have to work and didn't have any projects to work on! It was great to spend lots of time with him!

Reading stories with the kids! 

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Bath time with Dad!

Spending some time with grandpa before we left. 

Friday morning we got all packed up, took one last trip to the park, and then loaded up and headed out for our long trek back to Utah.  The trip back went ok.  We started out with our drive to Boise.  Calin was entertained reading lots of stories, singing songs, eating snacks/lunch, and playing "where's Calin?" behind his hat over and over and over again! He also took a nap which helped kill a good portion of the drive! 

Leaving La Grande. :( 

Me and Calin in the backseat. 

Playing "Where's Calin?!!" 

We made it to Boise in perfect timing only to find out our flight was delayed a little more than an hour.  :(  It was much better to keep Calin entertained and happy in the Boise airport than the Vegas one though.  It was much calmer and he could roam around a little more freely than when we were at Vegas.  

Once on the plane we were lucky again to have an open seat for Calin.  He did pretty good eating snacks, coloring, and reading stories with Robby.  

On the plane in his very own seat! 

Once we made it to Vegas it was a little crazy for a while.  We grabbed a cart (very useful!) and made our way to baggage claim.  It then took us a little while to find our way to where the parking shuttle picked us up.  We looked pretty ridiculous with all our bags, kids, car seats, and stroller.  Calin was just glad to be free! 

We finally made it back to the car, loaded everything back in, then headed to get a late dinner and feed Clara.  Calin was still doing Polar Bear and is still doing it now weeks later!  He sure did love that book!  

It was such a great trip to see my parents and spend time with our family.  I am sad it is so hard to get home and wish we could go more often!  Thanks Mom and Dad for a great week!  We miss seeing you!