Easter and South Carolina

Recently BJ, Carter and I took a trip to my home back in South Carolina. My sister Lindsay and Brother-in-law Kell were blessing their baby Grady and so it was time for a visit. Grady was born about 3 or so months ago and so before this trip we hadn't had a chance to see him. He's such a cutie and we were glad to have been able to make it to the blessing. Holding him I was reminiscent of when Carter was that little and made me think about having another.. Then I realized that I probably won't want to have another until I'm done with school (1 more year or less hopefully).

I learned a few things on that trip about traveling with infants, soon to be toddlers. One is that you should bring new toys and plenty of distractions. Carter is in the phase where everything around him visually stimulates him, but after about 2-5 minutes of something new, he moves onto something else. Our flights both going and coming back we're pretty brutal at times.

Our first flight left around 7 AM and so that meant we all were up bright and early around 4 AM. I was expecting that Carter would totally fall back asleep in the car ride to the airport but sadly I was wrong and he ended up staying awake until about 1 hour into the flight. My thought process before getting on the plane was this, "I wonder how an infant, soon to be toddler, would go down for a nap on a plane? It seems logical that if he falls asleep easy in a car that a plane would be almost identical. Yes, I'm sure he'll go down easily on this trip." See, this was the mindset I had going into our first flight and I soon was re-educated in my all to naive thinking. The process of going down for naps was to say the least, stressful. I'm not to sure if it was his ears popping or if he was over-tired (probably was a combination of the two) but it took 30-45 mins of consistant crying and screaming before he finally gave into sleep. We felt so bad for the people around us. You know that time after your plane lands and everyone is in the aisle waiting to get off the plane? Well, BJ and I took this time after each flight to apologize to those fellow passenger for having to put up with our screaming child. Most people were sympathetic and admitted wanting to help us, while there were those who you could tell we're irritated... Oh well, not much else I could've done.

When It came down to getting Carter to sleep,BJ tried his hardest to help but I guess it just takes a mommy's touch because Carter would only fall asleep on me. When he finally took his nap, he was much better behaved so at least we had some relief afterwards. The picture below is of him looking out of the plane right before we boarded. Oh, about that.. I also learned that having children will bump you to the front of the line in airports which is a very nice thing. I remember we got into SLC airport and the line to go through security was backed up all the way to the baggage claim. BJ and I just looked at each other and were like, "There's no way we're going to make it.." But to our surprise, the kind airport workers informed us of a "special" line that we were allowed to go through. So, instead of spending forever long in a regular line, we were through security in about 20 minutes. And, before every boarding, we were given the privilege of boarding first. I cannot tell you how helpful that was to get on first and get situated with Carter before everyone else boarded. It helped a bunch!

Once we got into South Carolina, we all went out to dinner as a family (minus Ashlee and family :( ) which was so nice. Simple things like going to dinner make me so very happy. Times like that don't happen very often for me but when they do, I relish in them as much as possible.

The following day was spent sleeping in and hanging out at home. Carter had some sweet Grandma and Grandpa time while I got to sleep in. We tried to take a walk during the day but I sadly forgot how hot it is there and our walk turned more so into a 5 minute stroll. That night we went over to Lindsay's mother-in-laws home and had a BBQ. There were so many people there that I had grown up with and former leaders who have added so much value to my life. It was really good to see everyone and to be able to again spend time with family. I'll spare you all the sappy details :)

Sunday was blessing day and it was a good day. Call me crazy but there are some people in this world who know how to talk to Heavenly Father and know how to give a great blessings. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I don't completely and intently listen to every prayer but there are some people who just know how to invite the spirit and who are so in tune with the spirit that you can't help but listen to every word. My brother-in-law is that way; he invites the spirit when he speaks and gave a beautiful blessing.

Me, Carter, Mom, Lindsay and Grady

Group picture complete with people looking in various directions

Carter and how he spent some of his time in the pack-n-play.

After the blessing we had very limited time till we needed to leave for home. Lindsay had a fun idea and thought that since Easter was so close, she thought that we should take cousin pictures. So, we each went and bought white onesies, put bunny tails and ears on them and had a photo shoot. I dont think they turned out as "professional looking" as I think we had hoped but they aren't to bad.

I bet you can't tell which one of Carter :)

Cousin loves

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Our model in the making

All in all the trip was a good time and we're really glad we were able to go. We do wish we had more time but I think my family will be coming out soon for Carters birthday so it wont be to long.