Spring Break: Utah

 We were excited to head to Utah for some long overdue family time. It was stressful getting out the door this time. Twice I almost said we aren't going but lucky for me I had Stewart home early and he made everything fall into place. And we were so glad we went despite all the stress involved. Stewart had a golden weekend with two days off back to back, yes that is pathetic that that is a really exciting thing. He had to work 14 days straight to get it that way but we really wanted to take a trip to Utah before we moved and we knew Easter weekend, also the weekend Liz was blessing her baby, and the start of the kids spring break was the perfect time to go. So off we went. It was a treat to not have to worry about putting together and a making Easter special. Mom Ras, Grandma Larsen, Liz, and Becca did that for us. Bless their hearts!

On Saturday we spent the day at Grandma Larsen's. We dyed eggs, made bunny ears for all the kids, did an Easter egg hunt, played the kinects, decorated cupcakes, walked to our nostalgic Lion spark, tear. played ball, played it the stream, and sun bathed. It was a lovely day. I was so excited to meet baby Harlow. He is so sweet and cute. I loved holding a new born. I LOVE babies. Eee! I am an addict. It was so sweet to see Liz as a mommy and Nathan as a daddy. They are the cutest happiest little family ever. What a blessed little baby he is!

The Next day was Easter and blessing day. I loved being at Becca's so we could have the cousins all together and it was really fun to stay in their new beautiful house.  We basically had the basement to ourselves and seeing how it is the same size as our current house we were very comfortable! LOL :O) Easter morning we watched a spiritual little movie about the real meaning of Easter and then we lined the kids up youngest to oldest and they got their baskets and scattered Easter eggs. They were all so cute.

Then we rushed to get everyone ready for 9am church. And we did it, we were early even. go us! :O) the blessing was so sweet and we were glad to be there. After sacrament we headed over to the Provo cemetery to see Grandpa Rasmussen's grave. We talked about how because of the Atonement he and everyone that ever lived would be resurrected. It was neat. Then we took the kids home to change and then back to Liz's house for an Easter "linner". It was so nostalgic to be hanging out in "Grandma and Grandpa's" house just like old times. tear. After we ate it was time for Stew to fly back home. I was so sad he had to leave. But I guess a mans got to do what a mans got to do.We really missed him the rest of the trip.

 

 

 Then on Monday I headed to BYU where I met up with my Smith peeps. I got to see my oldest brother Bob, and his kids Ryan, Jared, Janine, his daughter in law Emily, and his grandson. Its still weird that my brother is a grandfather! I also got to meet up with Liz and Nathan too.  It was really fun to see everyone. I love hanging out with Bob, he gets me in my deep analytical conversations that is so Smith-ish and so it feels so homey to be with him. With all my siblings, when I get to see then after a long time apart I end up geeking out that these amazing people are related to be. We all look so different and have such varied ages its just so cool and they are all such amazing cool people. I'll keep thinking no one would think they are my siblings but they are! That is so cool that I am related to a big shot at BYU law school, a major surfer who lives in HB, a Air Force special intelligence guy, a dance teacher, a nurse, a major hospital maintenance manager, an engineer to be, a poet, and so on and so forth. I am so lucky to be able to claim them! Anyways, It was so crazy trying to keep track of the kids, and Genevieve was tired and sick and hungry so it was seriously crazy so I didn't bust out the camera. But I wish I had. :( I bought the kids some BYU gear and showed them around campus. I want to indoctrinate them early! and I am only half way joking here. :O) Plus I got myself some very needed Down East at the book store. yay! After we left campus I took the kids to see the Provo Temple in keeping with our family tradition to see the temple when on vacations. It was a really nice way to end our day out and about. And as a side note, I love how many American Flags you see in Utah. :O)

Later that night Becca hosted a Family home evening with our families and Aunt Mary Anne's family. It was so sweet of Mary Anne to come out to see us. It was crazy to see how grown up her family is getting. We roasted hot dogs and made smores and had a really great time. I once again didn't get out the camera. The single mom thing and how clingy Genevieve was being sort of killed my pictures taking energy. But once again I wish I had . :( By this point Becca and I had decided we wanted to trek down to Las Vegas for the rest of our Spring Breaks. So we planned to spend one more day having fun and then we'd head down on Wednesday BUT Genevieve had different plans.

I woke up Wednesday morning to her very labored breathing. She was really sick. I called Stewart and had him listen to her over the phone and he said I needed her to be seen asap. LeGrand gave her a blessing and Becca and I headed over to the close by Urgent care. Her oxygen level was 88% and her breaths per minute were 80 BPM. The nurse told us we'd probably be taking her to the hospital. But when we saw the doctor he recommended a breathing treatment to see if that would help and it did. He oxygen jumped up to 90% and her breaths slowed. I was so grateful and I was glad Becca was there with me because if she wasn't I would have been sobbing, but with her there I kept it together. It was like deja vu from her RSV when she was 11 days old. So the rest of the day was giving her breathing treatments, talking on the phone with my realtor with house drama, doing laundry and packing to leave the next day. Out went all my grand plans of doing Harlow's impressions, and seeing other extended family. bummer. By the end of the long long day I was deciding I would never go on a vacation again without Stew....four kids and two puppies and one mom is not a good ratio when the kids average age is 3.8.But I was just so glad Genevieve was okay. then I was up at 5 am to drive my kids to Vegas. yeah I was tired. Especially with waking up every hour because I was scared Genevieve wasn't breathing well enough so I had to go check on her. It was long but not long enough sort of night! LOL

In all I had forgotten how pretty Utah was and it was sooo nice to be with loved ones again. It was weird how at home we felt driving by the old apartments we lived in and going to lions park, going to the Provo temple and BYU...it was very nostalgic for me and it felt like we had never left. I will always have a very special place in my heart for Provo. It hosted one of the happiest times of my life, falling in love with Stewart and starting our little family. Its where the best decision of my life took place. I loved remembering those memories. Las Vegas will come as Spring Break: Vegas. :O)