the worst vacation ever

*side note: do you know what the worst is? seeing you 'page view' ticker graph start veering downward? man i really need to post more. that's a real bummer

so here is the story of the world's worst vacation ever. and i mean ever. not that fun was not had, but in general, it was pretty much horrible. i wanted to poke my eyeballs out, cover them in tabasco and feed them to a german shepherd. all because of one. little. baby. tooth.

the drive up- many little boys had breakdowns. and one even licked his mother's feet. gross.

my little big sister's baby's temple sealing & blessing in utah. landon's tooth started to show itself a day or two before our big trip but i was armed with tylenol, baby orajel and teething tablets. my other sister anna drove up to vegas from az on thursday with her two boys and a gma van and we were off! the van, as hideous as it is, was so unbelievably nice! dirty, crackery, and sticky but surely nice. air conditioning on every row, spacious, tv, and an ipod dock. i sat in pack next to my dirty little nick monster so i could get prime viewage of landon. the long six hours up north were pretty bad, but manageable. the boys did their best to keep landon entertained and he slept some. we stayed at my big bro's house in orem and basically had our own little compound downstairs which was nice. i didn't expect landon to sleep well the first night [after having slept in the car and been in a portacrib for the first time] but i didn't expect that. it was the WORST ever. he slept, maybe a total of 4 hours, screaming at the top of his lungs, laying down for a few minutes or so. it still didn't measure up to his colic months but it was still pretty terrible. the daylight came up and that's when he decided to sleep. which worked out nicely bc we woke up right before caitlin came down to hang out. so i threw it together and we went out, prepared for a wonderful stroll in provo canyon. and it was pouring. so we took solace in a mall, soaked to the bones [and with a crappy stroller i borrowed] and the kids were not having it so we ran to chilis for some awesome blossom, extra awesome [but they no longer make them]. lunch was delicious [they do have the world's best chicken fingers] and landon was sassy, like normal. except when he got to be next to abby. he immediately started to grab at her and love on her [like he does his gfs back home] but she was not having it, a big change from last time they saw each other. it was hilarious.  that night we hung with the fam at olive garden [and i had the world's best frozen raspberry lemonade- a utah original] and he was extra sassy. it was so much fun hanging with our family though.

notice abby on her legs meeting landon- like animals in the wild, she didn't trust him. 

landon abusing poor abby. in his defense, forwardness is in his genes

friday night was a no-sleeper night as well but i didn't get a nap this time. ayden's sealing was bright and early. my sister watched him while we were inside the temple and it was such a beautiful experience. when they brought ayden in, he just was mesmerized by his daddy then by the chandelier. it was a very special and touching moment. luckily that afternoon was pretty chillax, considering i was at my wit's end. saturday afternoon we went up north to hang with caitlin & the prettiest little girl ever before our power of four dinner date. landon was just as forward as before but abby handled it much better. that night we had a fun picnic at taylorville park [the same location as the famous, taylorsville dayz, which is on my bucket list of activities bc its supposedly the coolest thing eva] then cooled it up at sub-zero, another must of utah [they MAKE the ice cream right in front of yoU! so cool!]. sadly, we had to end the night super early. because of the terror that is my little snuggle poof.

enjoying a picnic in the front yard with my favorite ben & emily

sunday was a fun and much better day. he didn't sleep any better saturday night but it was better because we got to go home. he didn't even nap all morning which i was ok with because he took a wonderful 2 hour nap [we went from slc to beaver! it was heaven!]. the blessing was wonderful as well but even better because i got to play with ayden a little bit [he was sick so i could hardly see him at all- the worst], sit next to my gdad and chill with my sistas. i'm so glad i could go up there and be there for my sister's special day....even if i stupidly didn't get any pictures of her or ayden [i know- terrible]. plus i got to hang out with nick & noah, who i hardly get to....and prob won't for a while. they are quite the firecrackers. but i particularly enjoyed terrifying them of the seat goblins [the holes in the top of seats when you take off the headrest] who will eat your fingers if you put them down there ["mouserat (nick), if you are lying (about hiding some toy) you will lose your fingers to the seat goblins"- he wasn't. didn't feel the least bit terrible].

the power of 4 + 2 drooley tag alongs

honestly, it was the worst vacation ever and it really made me wonder how anyone does that with more then one kid. i'd like to say i will never-ever-again go on a vacation without justin but i know that won't happen. but i will never-ever-again go somewhere when the baby is teething.

speaking of his teeth, it is barely reaching the surface and i'm trying to limit his medicine. he's still sassy but way more manageable at home.