Thanksgiving Trip to Utah - Day 2 I am so grateful for my grandparents!

We woke up and enjoyed spending time with my Aunt Tammy and her family.

Aunt Tammy and Emmalyn

Maxwell's nap again happened in the car.  

...Such is the way things go when you are on vacation.  We certainly tried to make sure that Emmalyn got her naps but if we tried to make sure Maxwell got his too, we'd never be able to leave the house.

We were able to visit Aja and her family for awhile in the evening.

Korben was really excited to see Maxwell!

They sweetly held hands on the way up to the apartment.  Korben is such a loving boy and doesn't understand personal space so I wasn't sure if he'd been too intense for Maxwell but Max didn't seem to have much problem with Korben.

Playing Minion Rush.  Korben spoke Max's language - iPad!

After Aja's we went over to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Blank

Emmalyn meeting her Great Grandma (her name sake - - Emma)

Emmalyn happily visited with her Great Grandpa, too

Nice face, Maxwell.  ha!

LOOOOOOVE these people!

Sweet moment between Emmalyn and Grandpa juxtaposed with 3 year old silliness

Grandma had a yummy treat of fresh donuts waiting for us.  Maxwell was in heaven!

I love being able to visit with my Grandparents.  They are such important people to me.  It's nice to just sit and visit with them.  I hate seeing them get older.  I just want to take care of everything while I am there.  They both work so hard and are struggling to accept that they can't do as much anymore.  

It's hard to be there without my mom also being there.  She used to always go over when I'd go visit and I miss having her there.  That loss is still so raw for my Grandpa.  (Emmalyn was stripped down to her onesie so she wouldn't overheat in the warm house - - I don't normally let her hang out in just a white onesie.)

Emmalyn had Grandpa wrapped around her little finger.

Oh look, Peter was there too!

My family

Thanksgiving trip to Utah - Day 1 Flying 1st Class!

Packing for 2 kids is so much work!  I laid out all the clothes I was bring for Emmalyn the night before and took a picture so I could remember what went with what... And girls...sheesh... it's not just a shirt and pants that need to match but also tights and bows.  Traveling is certainly not simple right now.

We had tons of time before our flight so we walked around the airport and got some lunch.  Emmalyn was so excited to be in the baby bjorn.  She was smiling and cooing as we walked which of course attracted some attention to her.  It was fun watching people's expressions as she caught their eye and they'd break into smiles at this cute little girl.  She certainly has a magnetic energy and spirit.

When we were booking tickets, the cost to upgrade to first class wasn't that much after you factored in the cost to check all our bags if we flew coach.  So, we booked it!  I was looking forward to having the extra space for Maxwell to wiggle just a little bit more and to also make it easier to nurse the baby.  It ended up being so nice and worth it.  The food helped entertain Maxwell and the extra space helped all of us be happier.

The seat next to me was empty so Emmalyn got her own seat too (for short bits anyway when the skies were calm and she wanted some space).

Enjoying the airplane food (which was yummy)

Wish she would have fallen asleep in "her" seat but it didn't happen.

She did fall asleep on Momma though

Max, however, did NOT fall asleep on the plane so when we made it into the rental car, he crashed.  We headed to Grandma Nelsons and Peter stayed in the car with Maxwell so he could sleep a little bit longer while I went inside with Emmalyn.

Emmalyn meeting her Great Grandma Nelson

Maxwell and Great Grandma

After Grandma's we went to visit Katherine and her girls.

My niece Ari was really excited about Emmalyn and Adi was really interested too.

After a full day, we crashed at my Aunt Tammy's house.  From the very first day, it was a busy schedule!

Sometimes, one picture just isn't enough

I have lots of pictures from just a couple days.  The reason I have so many pictures is that I can't pick just one out of the many that I have.  Each one shows my kids with a different expression or something different from their personality and I just can't pick only one!  Sorry, not sorry.  :)

Maxwell got invited to his first birthday party for a friend at school.  He had fun at chuck e cheese but didn't play with any of the kids also there from his class.

He won something on one of the games and had to put in his name - this is what he typed. (Apparently his teacher calls him "Maxxy" sometimes.  uh....)

Maxwell showing me where his dimple is

Watching her big brother - he's so cool

Maxwell showing love for his sister

Watching each other

Love those sweet feet

She is such a happy baby

I can't get over how cute she is.  Perfection!

We are doing presents for a child off of an angel tree this year.  We have involved Maxwell in all the shopping for Christian and he's done a really good job of getting excited about getting presents "for Christian" without asking for the same stuff for himself.  (But of course we love getting stuff for Maxwell so a few things for him found their way into our shopping cart too.)

Doing a workbook

Peter showed him how he could stack the markers

I love that I caught this face in a picture because it's one of his expressions but not one that is around when I'm normally taking pictures

How high can you go?

...and it crashes

Having fun playing Uno...or having fun on our phones while pretending to play Uno?

She loves to read books and turn pages

Big grins

I love this adorable outfit - it's so soft, feminine, and NON PINK!

End of November and we are outside in t-shirts and blue skies.  Thank you, Texas.

Maxwell loves accessories...today he has on a Thanksgiving bracelet he got at school.

Big chin, big cheeks, big eyes, only wisps of hair

Playing dress up in a coat and hat that I have for her.  

The tragic thing was that this was the only time she wore this coat and hat!  I brought it with us to Utah but she didn't need it and then she never wore it for the rest of winter in Texas because it never fit the occasion.  :(  I should have created an occasion just to wear the coat and hat!