Montana. One of My Most Favorite Places. Ever.

This past weekend, I had one last getaway before school starts in Montana. It was absolutely fantastic. Good weather, good fun, good times with family - especially with family I hadn't seen in, literally, decades, and of course, whenever Thomas is around and has a new audience, the mandatory good food.

However, (every time I type/say/think "however," I hear my Dad's voice in my head saying, "However, comma." I have never known him to just say however in a conversation and finish his thought, he always actually says, and I quote, "However, comma, . . .")

Where was I? Oh, yes. However, there were hornets. And mean ones, to boot. Apparently in Superior, Montana this year, they have been bad and aggressive. Not just at the round house because no one was there to shoo them away, but just all around bad in the area. Within an hour of getting there, I was stung on the foot and Thomas scouted out a gigantic nest in the eaves of the house and killed it with two cans of wasp and hornet killer.

The next day, Thomas and Aiden were outside playing football and some hornets started swarming Thomas, so he ran in with Aiden and a few minutes later, Aiden started screaming and pulling at his leg because he was getting stung multiple times by a stinkin' hornet.

So we went on a Nest Hunt again. We knocked some down, Thomas was swarmed by some hornets again and ran off, lost his footing and did a cool, looked-like-it-was-on-purpose ninja roll and ended up bruising his ribs because he landed on a rock. Fantastic.

Then on Sunday, my nieces and nephews were playing Cops and Robbers, and my niece was stung, and then we went down to the river and my poor little girl was stung behind the ear.

Other than that, it was a great trip. Probably the best trip to Montana yet.

School, schmool

Alright, I take that back. I have officially hit that part of my between-semester break where I am ready to get back. I've had enough of a break and just ready to get back to my semester-long rut. I am fully aware that this will only last a couple weeks at most and I'll be wishing for a break.

I imagine this next (and last!) semester will be even worse. On top of school and whatnot, I will be doing my capstone, preceptorship, whatever you call it. I'm pretty stoked for it, but *INCREDIBLY* nervous about it being PM shifts and daytime classes. I don't do so well without sleep. I get migraines. And bad. I don't know how well I'll do at switching my schedule around so often. So here's to hoping that won't happen! :)

:/

At least I get to have one last hoorah before school starts. I am off to Montana for the next four days and then immediately back to the grind. I drive back Monday in holiday traffic to pass off my ACLS Tuesday, Capstone Hospital orientation on Wednesday and class on Thursday.

Humph.

Pictures from Utah

Aiden's adorable blanket that my mom and Tracy have been working on. I kinda helped when I went out in May and a little bit this time, but mostly it was just them two. I can't really take any of the credit other than helping pick out the fabric and making some of the nine-piece squares.



And Cecilia's blanket.



Sunday evening it had rained pretty hard at Tracy's house, and the wind blew a bunch of the rainwater onto the carpeted part of the porch. Aiden found the puddles and splashed in them, and then found that if he put his forehead in the puddle, when he stood up, it would drip down his face.


Tracy's kids found that the gutter at the adjoining street was continually flooded because there was a drain from a retention pond at the top of the hill. The kids had fun walking through it, sending boats and Barbie's down it and creating "super tsunami's" by holding the water back by sitting in it and then letting it all flow down to create a huge rush. Aiden had tons of fun walking through it and throwing rocks in the flow to see them go down the little river.

Impromptu Trip to Utah

Aiden and I just got back from our quick trip to Utah and it was fantastic.
I was super nervous about flying without Thomas, 7 months pregnant with a 19 month old boy, but apparently those circumstances make most everybody pity you and hook you up with good seats. :)
We had a layover in Atlanta, Denver and then were in Salt Lake by 4.00 pm on Saturday. We had good seats that gave time to let Aiden be entertained or have the space he needed in his own seat. When we got to the airport, we sat there for an hour before my mom finally asked the information desk if she could find out if a passenger had landed. The information desk then told her that she was in the wrong terminal. Thank goodness that was it. I spent that hour calling my siblings over and over and trying to come up with a logical explanation as to why my mom wouldn't be there but kept coming up short and freaking out thinking she was in an accident. It's times like this that I wish she had a cell phone. (Hint, hint!!!)
That evening, and the next three and a half days, I spent at Tracy-Ann's house just hanging out. Sunday I was able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain LDS Temple Dedication, and despite the heat in the cultural hall of the church, it was absolutely and amazingly beautiful.
We were able to work on the blankets my mom and Tracy have been making for Aiden and Cecilia, make me a huge, pregnant-lady apron in hopes that my clothes will be a little less stained and just spend time together while her daughters smothered Aiden with their every action. Brenna also came up on Tuesday and hung out with us for the day and even spent the night, so we had a big sleep over on the couch in the basement.
I was going to go up to Montana with my parents Monday through Wednesday, but at the last minute decided to stay home because Aiden wasn't taking naps and was still on Florida time despite my putting him to bed on Utah time, so he was losing a good 3-4 hours of sleep a day and I didn't think he would make the 10 hour drive to Montana to turn around and do it again a couple days later to turn around and fly home a couple days later. I also didn't think my pregnant body would be able to handle it as well as I had been hoping.
Wednesday I went home with my parents and then spent Thursday shopping with my mom for a few things here and there and then went up to Dennie and Hillary's for the evening.
My mom and I took Dennie's girls and Aiden to a softball game Dennie was playing in and then it was time for bed.
Friday I had one last farewell with everyone at Golden Corral and then it was off to the airport.
My first flight was delayed 30 minutes because the crew was doing the security checks and when I landed in Denver, they were holding the plane for myself and one other guy, so we ran to the next door gate to barely catch our breath before it was time to take off again.
Luckily, again, people took pity on me and Aiden and I had three seats to ourselves and the plane had TV's on the back of every seat so Aiden was entertained with Nickelodeon and looking out the window.
Our last flight was delayed by 30-40 minutes because the flight crew was caught up with their previous flight. They had a medical emergency while in flight and had to take care of the passenger and then fill in the people you fill in when you land. So finally at 12:35 a.m. technically Saturday morning, I arrived in Jacksonville. Super long day.
I am so glad I was able to spend time with my family one last time before the baby is born and look forward to seeing my mom in a few weeks! :)

Thank you, Thomas, for being so willing to let me go.

I'm Homeward Bound!!

Thomas and I obviously fly quite a bit to see my family and because we do, we frequently get emails from Travelocity letting us know of good deals on flights. Well, today Thomas got an email with low fares from Jacksonville to Salt Lake City. Thomas checked them out, and we found that I could fly home before the baby was born for $250, but womp, womp, it was too close for my due date.

So we checked for flights leaving this weekend and hooray! We found one that was cheap enough, so Aiden and I will be flying out to Utah this Saturday and coming back the following Friday. I am super ecstatic because I get especially homesick when I am pregnant. Crazy hormones. I can't wait!

Time to go do laundry!! :D :D :D

We're Home!

Yesterday was a trying day for my ragged pregnancy nerves.
On top of me being the absolute worst at saying goodbye to my family and dread it on a daily basis while I'm on vacation, Aiden has a terrible diaper rash the night before and was fussy all night. He ended up sleeping on the bed with Thomas (I was on the couch because it was much easier on my achey joints) but only after fidgeting and writhing for an hour or so with me and then, of course, woke up too early because he is still on his Florida sleeping schedule.
We were able to get everything packed up in a timely manner, but about a half an hour before we were to leave to go to the airport, Aiden fell somehow and bit completely through his lower lip. He was a trooper though. He only cried for a few minutes and then it stopped bleeding and was well on his way. I, on the other hand, could smell the blood and for the first time in my life, had to run to the bathroom because blood was making me sick.
We debated whether or not we were going to go home that day because when we called the airlines to see what would happen if it started bleeding again, they said we wouldn't be allowed on the plane. Even if it looked particularly swollen, they wouldn't allow us on and would have to get a later flight that would cost us $318.
In the end, we decided to take our chances because it was looking okay and if it got worse and started to bleed in Houston, we'd just rent a car and drive home because it would be cheaper and we'd probably get home before we could get another flight to Savannah and drive home from there.
We met up with my dad at the airport where he gave him a blessing and we were on our way.
Aiden did fine on the flights. He slept most of the first one, except for about 20-30 minutes where he just screamed and screamed. We figure he must have bumped his lip and it was just hurting him really badly, but finally I was able to get him back to sleep. From Houston to Savannah, he played most of the time then out of no where decided it was time to sleep and after a couple of minutes drinking from his sippy cup, he was out.
We decided to drive home that night because after a day like that, we just really wanted to sleep in our own bed. We arrived home safely at about 2:15 am thanks to C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia. (We found a box set of all seven books combined in a paperback book AND all seven books, unabridged, on CD for $20.00 - STEAL!!)
We haven't had to give Aiden any pain killers so far today and his lip isn't inhibiting any eating or drinking, which is a complete miracle to me. Our prayers were certainly answered. It seems to be healing up nicely and you would have never thought that just yesterday there was a big hole in his lip that was oozing the most incredible amounts of blood.

Memorial Day Decorations

Today we woke up bright and early and headed down to my parents house to cut flowers from the garden and make the arrangements for the gravestones.
I absolutely missed doing this and it was such a relaxing tradition. We made four arrangements: one for each of my mom's brothers headstones, one for her parents headstone and one for her grandparents headstone. After going through and cutting all the flowers and making the arrangements, we headed up to the cemetary.
We went all over and placed mums on most of her relatives graves while my dad assumed his normal position of telling whoever would listen how this person was related to this person and how that tied into our family and how they got here and that so and so was actually so and so's second wife when most thought she was the first. It was absolutely fantastic.
We had a couple mishaps. Jacob hit his head somehow and started bleeding but considering it stopped fairly soon, it wasn't too bad. Just enough to hurt. And we forgot the water buckets and crosses for my Grandpa Greenhalgh and Uncle Ned which signified that they served in the military.
Then it was back to my parents house for a BBQ in the sprinkling rain. It was nice to have all of our family together, even John came up for the weekend because he had it off. Aiden just ran around and kind of mooched off of anyone who was willing to give him food while I was able to just sit and relax and soak it all in.
That afternoon, Thomas volunteered to take Aiden up to Dennie's house while I stayed at my mom's so I could work on the quilt Tracy, my mom and I are making for Aiden. Apparently Aiden missed me a lot because he kept going from room to room, poking his head in and asking, "Momma?"

It is good to be loved.

Trumbolt Park

Today, we made our customary trek up the mountain to Trumbolt Park. Aiden was wary of the stream at first, but quickly became fascinated with it. He had fun walking around the park and climbing on fell logs and large boulders from the top of the mountain that had fallen down.
Here are some pictures: