Our Nest: Utah- part one

Last weekend I treated myself to a grand three days in beautiful Utah with little BMan. We earned a free flight on our credit card and for the next 10 months, Bennett can fly on a lap so he was free. Yay! It was his first time on an airplane and he was a champ!

I was really worried about flying alone with him so I overpacked our diaper bag full of snacks, games, and wet wipes. It was SO full! So full, in fact, that once I had stowed it under the seat in front of me and placed Bennett on my lap (what's left of it anyway after you account for my preggo tummy...) I couldn't physically REACH the bag!! I could get to his sippy cup in the outside pouch and THIS amazing toy that stuck up out of the bag since it was so tall:

Little hinges with magnetic animals beneath- genius.

Once we got to Utah, my BFF Arnold was picking us up at the airport, but I had to get us out to the curb in one piece with all of our stuff- stroller, jam packed diaper bag, rolling suitcase, and huge carseat. Add to the fact that the pick up area is across the street and you've got one comical situation... kind of... Anyway- we made it! First stop- Arctic Circle. No pictures because I was too busy stuffing my face with a bacon cheeseburger and fries with fry sauce!

The rest of our trip was crazy busy but SO FUN! I can't believe we packed so many things into one weekend! And so much food into our bellies... Seriously. We were eating at least every 3 hours.

Saturday I got together with a couple friends from high school and it was WONDERFUL catching up with them! We are all married now and one of them has a little girl who is just a few months younger than Bennett. We met in Provo and decided to check out the Bean Museum at the BYU campus after lunch.

I actually remember going to this museum as a kid when we lived at BYU. It is crazy full of stuffed animals and heads. Bennett put his pointing skills to good use. The museum has a little play room for kids with animal toys and puzzles and it looks exactly the same as when I was a kid! Dark green carpet, TONS of drawers, and a super neat mural that I didn't actually photograph... Anyway- here's Bennett and his new pal playing together :)

Then I ate some spaghetti. No really, this needed to be documented. Ask anyone close to me and they've never seen me eat spaghetti before. And the kicker- I liked it! My cousin makes a really killer sauce with tomatoes, garlic, onions, zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, bell pepper, celery, and a bunch of other yummy veggies. It was chunky and delicious. We had to take a picture to send home to Ty.

The other really neat thing about the trip was introducing Bennett to a bunch of family members that he's never met before. My dad has a brother and a sister that both live in Utah and several of my cousins are up there too (with THEIR kids!) so we tried to see as many people as we could. One night we met up at Five Guys (my prego craving of choice) where my uncle works and got some cute pictures with my dad, his siblings, and their grandkids- never before seen in one photo all together. And apparently still not... since little Damien didn't feel like having his picture taken with grandpa. Bummer.