Utah Trip

Friday we woke up before the sun, 4:30 AM. Tracy dropped James and I off at the airport and soon we were on our way to Utah. I had a couple of firsts this trip. It was my first time taking a trip with James by myself and it was the first time I'd ever taken a plane with out Tracy. It was also the first time I have ever had to change planes. Our layover on Friday was in Las Vegas. While waiting the hour for our next flight we ate breakfast and played games on our tablets.

At Ontario Airport waiting for our first leg of our trip.
James got to play with his new car.

James did great on both plane rides. He had a bit of a melt down when we first got on a plane that morning after I buckled him in. But I explained to him it was just like riding in the car and he has to be buckled in, then he was fine.

We arrived in Salt Lake close to noon, my sister Melissa picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at my mom's house. Once at my mom's we had a split second decision if we were going to go to my older brother Allen's graduation or not. James voted to stay and play so that's what we did. Not sure he would have sat through a ceremony after sitting on planes and in airports all morning. After the graduation we went to my brother's house for his graduation party. We had a lot of fun at the party and ate lots of really good food.

James started having his dinosaur walk his dog. It was so cute.

That night we both crashed pretty hard, but after skyping with Tracy. It was nice to still be able to do family prayers while apart. We talked to him on Skype every night.

Saturday was a very busy day with lots of family things. One of my nephews was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. After the baptism we had a small big (nothing is small with my family) family gathering at my mom's. James had tons of fun playing with all his cousins, 14 of 22 were present.

Then Saturday evening I left James with my little sister, Clarissa. With my mom joined my older siblings at the Mount Timpanogus Temple where my brother, Allen, was receiving his endowments. I'm so glad that it worked out for me to be there. He had been trying to schedule to go for weeks, but it only worked out for him to go that evening. Coincidence? I think not.

My mom lives near train tracks.
There's a commuter train that goes by about every 30 min., plus freight trains occasionally.
James's favorite thing was to sit on the back of her couch and watch for the trains.

Sunday, we went to church with my mom. The same ward that I grew up in. It was fun to see so many familiar faces. James was nervous going to primary alone, so I sat with him. When it was time for me to go to Relief Society and him to go to class. He cried and clung onto me. So he came to Relief Society with me. Before it started, I went over to visit with my one of my old Young Women advisers and one of the Relief Society Counselors came over and asked me to give the closing prayer. Guess I looked liked I belonged. LOL! After church I was able to go over to a neighbors house who also happened to be one of my old Young Women leaders and visit with her. She is one of my favorite people in the world. I'm so glad to see her doing so well after the stroke she had a few years ago. It will be a sad day when she is no longer here with us.

Sunday evening my little brother, Curtis, came over to visit. It was great to see him and hear about the going ones in his life. After he left I walked over to my friend's Sara and her boyfriend's house (around the corner, practically) to visit with them. James fell asleep while we were there. He was one very tired boy.

(I didn't take very many pictures Saturday or Sunday.)

Monday afternoon James, my sister Clarissa and I picked up Rubios (in celebration of Cinco de Mayo) and had a picnic at a park. We had a ton of fun at the park for a couple of hours.

The view from the park Clarissa took us to was amazing.

James loved these microphone things.

James wouldn't go on any slides unless I came with him.
But that's ok I wanted to play too.

The playground wasn't huge, but it was very tall.
That slide looked pretty scary in person.
James was so scared of it he cried the whole time I took him down it.

We also enjoyed lots of rolling down the hill.

Then drove to the Mount Timpanogus Temple for some pictures. The temple was closed, so we couldn't go on the grounds.

James and I

Clarissa and James

Love this picture.

This would have been a great picture,
 but I forgot my window wasn't down all the way. :(

After that we packed up our things and my friends Sara and Kendra picked us up and took us to the airport. Soon we would be on our way home. Oh, that morning before we had decided on going to a park Clarissa asked James what he wanted to do that day. He replied, "Ride on a plane and see my daddy." He was so excited all day long that we would be going home and seeing daddy that night.

Waiting at the Salt Lake Airport to go home.

We had a fairly good view of the run way.
But the reason for this picture is because I was curious what the red rock in the background is,
so I took it to ask Tracy when we got home. Perhaps, it is a sign that I live with a geologist.
I don't think I would have wondered that if I wasn't married to one or been exposed to geologist as much as I have been.

When we boarded the plane the flight attended invited James and I to go into the cock pit and meet the pilot. It was awesome. The pilot let James say hi to everyone on the plane on the radio. He invited James to sit in the other pilot seat and said I could take pictures, but James was too scared to.  As we got off the plane in Oakland the pilot was standing by the exit so we got to thank him again and say bye. It such a neat experience, probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. If we every do get that chance again, hopefully James will want to sit in the pilot seat.

Our connecting flight was delayed an hour, so we ended up in Oakland for a bit. I found they sold Boudin's Sourdough bread there and got us a loaf to bring home. Can't go the the bay area with out getting some sourdough bread. You just can't!

During our flight from Oakland to Ontario our plane got tossed around a bit. The pilot announced that we had hit what is called a wind tornado. It is caused by the air after it flows over the plane. All planes leave wind tornadoes behind them. We just happened to be following behind another air craft going in the same direction and had hit one of the wind tornadoes. He assured us that they hadn't lost control. I don't want to experience that again.

We arrived at our home airport after 11 and didn't get home till close to mid-night. It had been a long day. James fell asleep a little on the plane and then in the car home. It took a bit to get him to calm back down once we got home. When he gets over tired, he screams and throws fits and he seems to forget how to speak which makes it difficult to understand what he wants. Finally he went to back sleep. However, it was still nice to be home. It was an over all good trip. I'm glad I got to go, but I'm glad to be back at home.