California Trip 2011

My sister (Allison) had her baby a few weeks ago and since Leilani and I have been free spirits this summer I thought it would be fun to go visit.

We left Saturday morning at 5am hoping Leilani would sleep in the car to the airport.

Of course she didn't.

But, she did fabulous on the plane. 

It was my first time flying with her on my own so I was a little nervous, but the plane rides were short and sweet which was perfect.  We flew to Long Beach, then had an hour layover- which made no sense to me cuz we got right back on the same plane- then headed to Oakland.  It was a 2 hour drive from Oakland to my sister's house in Elk Grove outside of Sacramento, but Leilani was still a little angel. 

I was quite amazed by her traveling skills.  She's pretty seasoned though, and has probably seen more of the continental US than many adults.

That night we went to my other sister's (Callie) multi-stake dance festival.  She had been helping out with it for the last 6 months so it was quite the production.  Her oldest daughter danced in several of the dances and it was just fun to see so many youth having fun while ACTUALLY dancing.  It was great.  But it made for a long day and even among the loud music, lights, clapping and whooping, Leilani zonked.  Amazing!

Sunday, was a great relaxing day.

I got to spend it with Allison and her cute new family.  I've only met her husband briefly, so it was fun to get to know him a little better and get some cuddle time in with baby Annie.

Wow, what a perfect baby! 

She was only 5 weeks old and she SMILED!!

Not just those baby gas smiles, real smiles.

She was just so happy with her new life, new body, new mommy and daddy she just couldn't contain herself.

Cutest thing ever!

(Allison's "utter cover" as a cape...genius:)

Monday we went to the park and then over to Callie's house for family night.  Leilani loved playing with her cousins and they loved playing with her.  It was perfect.

(Can you see those pink cheeks?  It was so hot she was sweating and didn't really know how to react to it.  We haven't had that kind of experience yet in Utah:)  oh and this cute little boy shared his sand toys)

Tuesday was pool time at Callie's house again.

I went to get my hair done and apparently since I have SOO much hair, (which is the new thing every hair stylist who touches my hair is saying to me), I spent the entire afternoon in the salon and missed splash time in the pool.  Darn it! 

We said good bye to Callie and her family that night, but luckily it will only be for 3 weeks until everyone comes out here for our annual Bear Lake trip!  YEAH!!

Wednesday Allison and I got some paints to finish the lettering in Annie's adorable Winnie the Pooh nursery.  I painted a few flowers on the letters and it finished off the room perfectly.  I forgot to take a picture, but you could sit and rock a baby in there for hours.

Allison and I also had a Twilight series marathon every night.  It'd been a long time since she'd seen any of the movies and I just finished reading the books so it was fun to watch the saga again.  (Even though the movies are pretty much crap compared to the books.)

I always learn something from my family when I go visit that makes me want to be a better person and I was amazed by my sister and her husband's punctuality.  There is no procrastinating in their home.  Which is pretty much my greatest downfall.  So I have committed to being more punctual.  Many times I tell myself that I will play now and do all the "other" stuff later.  That has been my mentality probably my whole life, but I have never liked it.  Everything always got taken care of in their home and they still had time to play and relax and probably even relax better than I ever do because I'm always thinking about what I'm supposed to be doing instead.  I don't know if any of this is making sense, but I do know that I am going to work on not procrastinating.  So thank you Allison and Tabor:)

Thursday morning we got up at 5am to head to the airport.  Again Leilani did not sleep in the car.  Little stinker.  But she flew our first flight just fine. (I was very pleased with my Jet Blue experience.  Much better service than our Delta flight.)  Anyway, we had a four hour lay over in Long Beach this time around so my other sister, (Melanie)-I know it can get confusing...I have six sisters- lives around that area so she and her three daughters met us at the airport and took us to the beach.  We ate some lunch, played in the sand, and dipped in the water.  I felt so lucky to be able to see all three of my California sisters while I was there.

(This is Melanie wearing her 8 year old's jacket! lol- The fact that she could even get her arms through it killed me:)

We had to go back through security before our last flight and Leilani passed out even before we made it through the line.  For some reason I beeped this time and I had to be frisked by a very strange old lady while I had a sleeping baby on my shoulder.  It was a little awkward.  They said it was something on my hands.  I said I've been playing in sand and eating ranch Doritos:)  That must have been it...

Gratefully Leilani slept the entire ride back to Salt Lake.  She was exhausted.

We had a great trip and I want to thank all my sisters for their wonderful hospitality and my amazing husband for letting us leave for a week!!