First stop was John's brother, his wife, and their five little girls in Las Vegas. Evelyn and Hyrum seemed pretty perky at our trip's start, despite the early wake up time.
Evelyn did great on the plane. She was in a Dora-and-Sponge-Bob-induced coma watching Nikelodeon on the satellite TV. Hyrum, not so much. He napped twice for 20 minutes each. Fitfully. During the SEVEN HOURS we were on the flight. And to boot, he developed an allergic reaction to something yet to be determined and broke out in hives that eventually required a course of oral steriods.
Despite our somewhat inauspicious start, it was smooth sailing once we got to Vegas. The cousins were instant playmates. Evelyn was particularly impressed by their large selection of dress ups.
I enjoyed some nice runs, a couple beautiful backyard sunsets,
and tried to help where I could. Because Haylee is a better woman than I am, she not only agreed to have houseguests at 38 weeks pregnant, but she and Joe were also renovating their kitchen. For those of you who might be tempted to say, "But you renovated your apartment during your last month of pregnancy," I would note that this is completely different. When we say "Emma renovated," we mean, Emma picked out some stuff, filled out a lot of paperwork, and paid other people to do every single thing. When I say, "Joe and Haylee renovated," I mean they picked up stock sizes of granite slabs, hauled them home, cut them to size, and installed them themselves, then cut out a place to reinstall the stove. Really, though, I was beyond impressed, as I always am, with my sister in law's resourcefulness and good humor in letting us descend upon her house so close to her due date, and I would like to renew my hearty congratulations on Caleb's arrival 6 days after we left.
After a few days in Vegas, we picked up a rental car and drove up to John's sister's house in Price.
Luckily, this house also comes equipped with ready-made playmates, including older cousins who don't mind some matchbox cars here and there. I did not have to play with any cars the entire time we were there.
When I had Evelyn only two weeks before Liz's Allie and two months before Haylee's Olivia (and only 19 months after big sister Hannah), I was so excited for Evelyn to have cousins almost exactly her age. Since she didn't at the time have any cousins on my side, I eagerly anticipated future Prete gatherings with all the little girls. We saw a little of it when we got together for Sarah and Brian's wedding in February and when Liz brought Allie down for a couple days in July, but I feel like this trip really cemented the foundations of these cousin friendships that I hope will last a lifetime.
John's sister Sarah + husband Brian and my brother Lawrence came down for part of the weekend, too. It was great to see all of them.
On Monday, Liz and I took Allie, Evelyn and Hyrum to Provo. What can I say? Despite not really being very happy during most of the time I lived there, that strange place still holds a special spot in my heart. The Creamery!
The Fries!
The Shake!
A 20-minute Lawrence encore!
The Bean Museum!
Liger
Kodiak Bear
Safari
Butterflies
Hyrum entertaining the masses
we were off to Vegas again.
I finally bribed all seven cousins into one photograph.
Also, Hyrum realized that the chaos of many children has unexpected fringe benefits. For example, someone might leave an open jar of peanut butter beside the sofa in the family room.
During the last few days in Vegas, the kids and I saw a couple friends we don't run into very often in our neck of the woods. Kyndra made mac and cheese from scratch while her daughter Lexi taught Evelyn how to write lower-case e and turned her into a fashion icon. It was hard to leave after remembering how much fun we have with the Petersons. A sleepover is in the works for our next visit.
A couple days later, Hilary and Catherine took us to a local nature preserve then out for pancakes. Always the gentleman, Hyrum picked up the check.
The next morning, our trip was over, and it was time to go home. Thankfully, Hyrum was much happier on the flight back, and John came all the way out to the airport to meet us so I wouldn't have to load the cab myself. Although we wish we could have spent more time with the cousins, we were missing Daddy something fierce, even more those last few days. A few times, Hyrum got really excited to see Joe, then started crying when he realized it wasn't Daddy after all. I was calling John about once every two hours that last day or two, and Hyrum would desperately yell, "Daddy, Daddy. Hi, Daddy. I love you! Daddy, Daddy." Next time we should bring John with us, I think.
And possibly the hair clippers?
