Caution...this post may be long...read at your own risk

Here's our trip summary...read at your own risk. I'm writing this mostly for my own journaling sake, so don't feel like you have to read it all :)

Thursday, April 26th: We started our trip with an early flight that took off at 8:20am. This is early for Carson since he usually doesn't wake up till 9am, and we had to leave at 6:30 to get there on time. But, all things considered, Carson did pretty good on the plane. We were able to bring his car seat on the plane and he sat in it for about an hour and a half, so that was nice. After that we entertained him with books and movies on the laptop. Overall, he did really well, he wasn't screaming or a terror, just a very active toddler that needed to be entertained every second. But...we made it! We enjoyed time with Dan's parents, brother, and sister and family the rest of the day and just relaxed from our plane ride.

Friday, April 27th: This was the start of our big adventure down to Moab. Dan's family loves going down there and jeepin'. So, we took the 4 hour drive down (Carson wasn't as great on this trip) and got there with a few hours left in the evening. Dan rented his 2007 Rubicon (a kind of cool tripped-out Jeep) and later we went to eat at Moab Diner (a family tradition). Moab was so busy this weekend b/c it was the antique car show. There were people lining the Main street watching all the fancy old cars go by...It was kinda fun. Even though we made reservations over a month a head, we weren't able to get into anywhere but the KOA campground. Luckily, the KOA was VERY nice for a campground. We stayed in a cute little cabin that had a swing on the porch. The bathrooms were also the NICEST camp bathrooms I have EVER seen...I was sooo happy. Unfortunately, that night Carson didn't want to sleep well. We have all had colds and he's been coughing a lot, so at 1am, he woke up coughing and wouldn't go back to sleep till about 3am. I guess we shouldn't complain, but we're just spoiled with a kid that usually sleeps 12-13 hours at night with no problems. We did survive though and woke up bright and early Saturday morning for a day full of jeepin'.

Saturday, April 28th: After a quick breakfast and getting everything ready, we left for our first trail around 9am. We went on the Gemini Bridges trail. It took us about two hours to do and I actually drove most of it. So, yes, I did end up going jeepin', so hopefully this little baby inside me is still alright :) It was a fairly easy trail, so there wasn't anything to crazy. When you get the the actually "bridges", you have to park the jeep and walk to them. They are huge natural bridges that you can walk across and see down to the canyon below. I'm not necessarily scared of heights, but I don't like this feeling of a high cliff in nature with no railings of fencing around....especially with a fast moving toddler. I was a little "mommy paranoid" with him and made sure he was held at all times. It was indeed beautiful though. Carson seamed to enjoy the jeepin' and I think I enjoyed it as well.

After our morning trail we ate lunch and then Carson, my niece, and I stayed back at camp while the rest of them went out to do a much crazier trail called "Cliffhanger". I think from the name of it, you got to be stupid to do it :) Well, they enjoyed themselves and all game back alive. Dan enjoyed himself a little too much and dented both the front and back bumper's and had to pay an extra $75 for it...crazy Dan! After returning the rental jeep, we enjoyed a nice evening back at camp for dinner and good conversation.

Sunday, April 29th: We were bad and took the morning to drive back to Salt Lake instead of going to church. The drive went well and I was glad to be back. After Carson took a nap, we headed up to Snowbird ski resort to meet Dan's sister and her family at their time share. Poor Carson just hated getting back in the car every time we went somewhere...if only he understood. The condo was beautiful, up in the mountains where there was still some snow around. We went swimming and Carson absolutely LOVED it!! When it was time to leave the pool he cried for 10 minutes and kept saying "water...water...water" in this pathetic voice. The funny part about our little trip up to Snowbird was that we forgot the diaper bag. We had a couple swim diapers, but no real diapers or wipes. So, Dan and his dad went to the little convenient store place figuring it would be expensive since we were up in the mountains. Well, they were right!!! It cost $16 for 10 diapers and a small skinny little package of wipes...can you believe that!! All we could do was laugh at home stupid it was...oh well.

Monday, April 30th: Today we decided to take Carson to the Hogle Zoo. The zoo was so much nicer than I remember it years ago. It was really a nice zoo with tons of fun animals. Carson loved seeing all the animals, especially the elephants. Grandma Loveridge came with us and we all had a great time. We even got to ride a little train (Carson also loved that and kept saying "choo, choo") and play at the playground. Carson only had one little injury at the playground where he hit his face on a step and bit his lip. It didn't take him long to be back on the slide though. He loves playgrounds. It was a fun trip to the zoo!

In the evening we went to Dan's friends house, Travis and Julie, to have dinner with some friends. Dan's best friend from growing up, Jim and his family were there and we all enjoyed a fun evening of talking and great food.

Tuesday, May 1st: Today we got to go to my favorite quilt shop out here...Pineneedles. It is super cute and has so many fun fabrics and ideas. Even at the quilt shops in MD, you just can't find fun, trendy fabrics like they have out in UT...bummer. The nice part about this quilt shop is that it's in a little place called Gardner Village with all sorts of shops and boutiques. It's super cute with wooden bridges, walkways, and a little pond with ducks and fish to feed. Carson loves feeding the ducks, so it gives me extra time to look at the quilt shop...sweet!

In the evening, Dan's brother Craig and his wife, Sharla came over to visit. Sharla is expecting her first baby around the same time I am, so it was fun to share stories and such. It's always nice visiting with family.

Wednesday, May 2nd: Today was our day in PROVO...yeah!!! We left in the morning and arrived at my grandma Simmons' house a little before 11am. It just happened to work out that my parents were in Provo this week too, so we got to visit with them. We took Carson to the Bean Museum, which contrary to the name, is not a museum of beans, but a museum of taxidermied animals. It's really neat and they even had a little show where Carson got to pet a live snake, iguana, and turtle...he loved it! We weren't too sure what Carson would think of all the "stuffed animals", since we had just taken him to see live ones at the zoo a couple days before, but he loved it! That kid loves animals! After the museum, we took my Grandma Simmons and Grandma Hatch, and my parents out to lunch at the Brick Oven. It was a little adventurous eating out with a toddler, two great-grandmas, two grandparents, and us, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. It's always fun to visit with my grandmas and they enjoy seeing us and cute little Carson. When we got back to my grandmas house, we put Carson down for a nap and talked for a while. Dan and I even got to sneak out to go to the BYU bookstore and grab some yummy, yummy Creamery chocolate milk....did I say YUMMY! After Carson's nap was done, we were able to go to dinner with two of my old college roommates, Becca and Heidi. It was fun seeing them and their husbands and baby. Ah, the good days of college life. I could've stayed in Provo for a few more days, but it was a fun quick trip. It was especially fun to see my parents too.

Thursday, May 3rd: Today we went to Tremonton, UT to visit our friends, the Reddens. Jeremy and Jolynn use to live in MD and were some of our good friends. They have a 3 year old and just had another baby a couple months ago. They have a new house that is sooo nice. We were a little (or a lot) jealous of their nice new home. Jolynn was kind enough to cook us lunch AND dinner....thanks!! I hope we didn't overstay our welcome, but we sure did have fun talking and catching up on things.

Friday, May 4th: In the morning, we just went downtown SLC to look around and see what has changed since Dan has seen it last. It was nice to see Temple Square (from the car) and we even saw some cute wedding couples (imagine that). Later that night we went with Dan's high school friends to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory. This is Dan's favorite place to eat and we HAVE to go there every time we visit UT. It was yummmyyy!! Afterwards, we sent Carson back home with Dan's brother, Randy. Randy and Grandma Loveridge were kind enough to watch him while Dan and I went to see Spiderman 3. The movie was really good, even though we had to sit in the second row....that's really close! When we got back around 10:30pm, Carson was still going strong playing with Grandma and Randy. Grandma couldn't stop raving about how good Carson had been for them...he was so good they were even able to watch all of Superman Returns! Carson never lets us watch a whole movie! I'm glad Carson was so good for them...bless his heart :)

Saturday, May 5th: Saturday was another relaxed day with no real plans. We ended up going to another quilt shop, Material Girls, which is a totally cute shop with lots of fun fabrics. Dan is so nice to keep Carson busy while I look around. Quilt shops in MD don't even compare to the fun stuff they have out there...bummer. Later we just hung out with Craig and Sharla (Dan's brother and wife) and Lynece and Jon (Dan's sister and husband) and talked and had dinner. It was nice to catch up on everything. The rest of the evening was just as relaxed with a shake from the Arctic Circle and good conversation. We sure will be sad to leave!

Sunday, May 6th: Well we just returned from our trip. The flight home was uneventful (besides a leaky diaper). Carson did really good. He spent half the time in his car seat and half the time on our laps. He really was good, just wiggly as usual. We had a great trip, but are happy to be back at home. Too bad we can't just vacation in our own home for the next week :)

Overall, our trip was GREAT!!! Carson didn't sleep as much as usual, but he did try really hard to be cute and fun when he was awake. Travelling sure can be hard on the little ones. He also had soo much fun that he ended up with multiple scrapes/cuts on his head, face, knees, etc! Everyone was amazed how social he can be and how well he is talking. I was amazed how quickly he picked up on all the relatives names and how quickly he became attached to them. He loved grandma and papa and especially uncle Randy...oh, and the dog, Jill. He was so cute and loved talking to everyone. It's so fun to see your kid be so social. We had a great time visiting with our family and friends. We really appreciate all their hospitality and generosity....thanks!!! Hopefully it won't be too many more years before we can make it out again.