A year of flights

On Sept. 27th I took my first free flight to Texas and haven't slowed down since! This year we have made a special effort to take advantage of Dave's job's benefit of free (stand-by) flights.  We've had several disappointments and lots of changing plans and last-minute switches, but for the most part I think we've exceeded our expectations using stand-by travel.  We've never gotten stuck in a place or spent unnecessary hours in airports (ok, I guess Dave has, but as for myself and the kids, we have been lucky).
We've been able to get to 10 states and a foreign country.  I've been to Utah 18 times.  We've been many places several times (a free place to stay or free transportation makes the trip easy and cheap!)

According to our estimates, we have these stats in a year of travel (not including road trips):

Destinations: 11
Trips: 31
Flights: 236 (Dave-55, Jamie- 71, Jackson- 54, Hallie-56)
Miles: 222,238 (I've gone 70,000 miles, the others are around 50,000)
Cost for flights taken if we would have paid for them: $40,000
Time spent in the air: 200 hours

When Dave first got his job I talked with a friend who had been traveling with US Airways for 2 years.  I asked how hard it was to travel and if they did it often.  She counted and said she had been on 35 trips in 2 years.  I was absolutely amazed at that number, and yet we will easily be on 35 trip within 13 months - I would never believe it except that I was there on all the trips. :)

For the amount of time spent on flights, I am surprised at the few number of photos we have.  I guess you never take photos of regular everyday life, just the abnormal stuff.  Plus, look how terrible they all turned out . . .not a great angle for photo shoots.

    We still have plans and hope to get to many more places.  We are hoping for Washington State, Albuquerque (there's got to be something to do there!), Denver, Durango, Portland, San Diego (Legoland), Boise, Alaska, New York, Florida, Kuaui, Oahu, the Big Island, Monterey, Grenada, Del Rio,  and any other place we get invited.  For the immediate future though, we just have plans to visit family for baby blessings, sealings and other holidays.

WELCOME HOME!!

Dave's Mom and Dad returned from their mission at the Frieburg Germany temple last week.  We had the chance to go see them in Utah and help them move in a little bit.  I remember how tired and out-of-it I was after our trip to Germany, but these two just worked hard putting their house back together, playing with their grand kids and talking with us.  It is so fun to have them home.  Jackson didn't skip a beat, it was like they never left.  Hallie gave a few scowls (She hasn't seen them in person since she was 3 months old).  But by the end gave her grandma kisses on the cheek, so it won't take too long to warm up to them!
Unfortunately,  the only pictures we took were at the airport (The kids and I were FREEZING and Dave was bemoaning the fact that we are 'ruined' and will never be able to move to Utah again).

 I also took photos of the kids at the park (I was the sitter while everyone else helped move in).    Jackson is sliding down the pole in this photo.

We went to Lehi to be with my family for a Sunday birthday dinner.  We attended the Brigham City Temple dedication.  We were ALONE at church with NO kids!  So enjoyable!  I loved the spirit and reverence there.  The temple truely does bring peace to this world.  I got to meet my newest neice Brinlee (Carly's first baby!).  She is so perfect and such a doll.  It was a nice dinner with all the girls in my family.
Monday Dave worked from 'home' and so the kids were thrilled to have more time with Grandma A's cool toys, trampoline, swings, slide, etc.  They sure love her house!  And they love being with her too, she is so good to get down on the floor and play with them.  We took an afternoon drive up the canyon and got to enjoy the beauties there.  I tried to do MANY leaf activities for Jackson since we don't have the opportunity to have fall leaves in AZ.

   We also got to go out to dinner with my parents and aunt and uncle.  Although the kids got crazy at the end (we were expecting it), it was still so nice to eat yummy food with people we love.  We took the late flight home and both Dave and I wanted to sleep, but the kids did not.  Finally, they did fall asleep, in time to have to carry them through the airport.

Boston (a NEW trip finally!)

Dave was suppose to go to Germany with his sisters.  Unfortunately, due to strikes from Luftansa employees in Germany, US Air flights filled up and he was not going to be able to make it.  With time off work and an adventure already planned, it is tough to enjoy staying home and 'doing nothing'.  So we scoured the country for places to go, and came up with a plan to go to Boston.  We called our friends Thursday morning and 12 hours later were at their house.  We love spontaneous people :).

The flight was LONG (5 hours).  I kept Hallie up hoping she would nap, but she didn't nap (although she did 'try' by laying down on the 2 seats we had.)  She was so cute and obedient, even if she couldn't fall asleep.

Jackson did great on the flight with some new puzzles, school books, and looking out the window.  Even though there were only 9 empty seats on the flight, we ended up with the last row . . . 6 seats for the 4 of us! Hallie fell asleep for the last 20 minutes of the flight.  Jackson was SO hyper when we got there.  He was bouncing all around the airport.  I was just thankful it wasn't on the plane.  I love how much he loves traveling and seeing new places even though he has no idea what he is there to see.
Our friends were so gracious to open their apartment to us.  Our kids were not tired until 11 pm, and still woke up before their kids, but we survived.

Friday we headed in to town and saw the USS constitution and Bunker Hill monument.  Jackson hiked to the top of the monument with us (294 steps!)  and won a park ranger button prize.

Hallie loved having the freedom trail line to follow!

 Jackson and Maia became good buddies!

We forgot the lunch we so meticulously planned, so we headed home for a nap/rest time.  Jackson just loved playing with their little girl Maia.  This family has their 2 kids exactly the same time of our kids, so it was perfect playmaates for them.  Jackson and Maia played with nearly every toy/book in their house and destroyed it.  We cleaned up and headed out to go to the Boston Children's museum.  It was fun to see the different things, but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be.  I think Phoenix and Salt Lake's are better. :)

Boston at night was incredible!

Saturday morning we ate incredible donuts and then headed back into town.  We enjoyed the Gardens and the park with the kids even getting into the splash park a bit.

We took photos on Acorn street (the most photographed spot in America???)  It is a really cool looking street.

 Cheers bar- we didn't take the kids :)

 We fed ducks and listened to a one man band in the park.  The gardens were so beautiful!

 All tuckered out!

I loved being in Boston.  I went in 2006 to run the Marathon there and then my cousins all got together and explored the city.  It was such a great trip then and I loved remembering some of the fun things we did together!

Cousins in 2006

 Me in Boston 2006

 So young and fun then . . .

We ended the night (in 2012) with pizza and watching the BYU game.  Joe and Emily were great hosts and so amazing for having us at such late notice!  The flights kind of filled up for the next day which means we got to sleep in!!  Unfortunately, we slept too late and had to rush to make our flight.

We flew to Philly and then to Houston (this was our first layover with kids! they did great!)  Hallie fell asleep for the last hour of the flight and slept through all the transfers until we got to church in Houston.  When we told Jackson we were going to Houston he replied, "Wait . . . so we are going from one vacation to ANOTHER vacation?!?!  That's amazing!"  And it was.  Lori was a great host and Michelle was there visiting so it was nice to visit all together.  We had the most incredible Sunday dinner of shrimp and pasta salad.  I took Jackson to school to visit his cousin for lunch.  He was pretty scared of the loud chaos at first, but soon warmed up to it.  It is always amazing to me that he doesn't like loud places because the kid is SO loud!!  We caught the night flight home and Dave did an amazing job with the kids even though they were pretty difficult on the full flight.   This trip seemed so LONG.  I was glad to get home.  It was fun to host Shel, if only for a night.  I love having visitors, so come on over!

Random life happenings

The thing about not having a camera, is that your are not even sure which memories you are losing.  I love looking back at photos that I had forgotten I took and relive memories (even just from a few weeks ago.)  We NEED a new camera.  Our kids are growing up too fast to miss even a few months!

Here is an awesome dust storm that blew in one night.  So amazing!   (and my house was so dirty from just opening the door!)

opposite of the dust storms is the monsoons that are sweeping the valley.  usually they are in the middle of the night, but there was one on a Saturday evening, that we took the opportunity to run in.  It was still REALLY hot, but so nice to get soaking wet within seconds of stepping out into it.  The kids did NOT like it, but we forced them to run in the rain, at least for a little bit.  We should have taken time to just get in our swimsuits to really enjoy it, but I didn't want to miss the amazing downpour!

Here is an FHE treat from the "Friend" - chocolate bananas

Jackson started school last week.  He wants to be a construction worker when he grows up.  He is a smart little kid.  So far he really likes it!  He is playing pretend preschool at home where he gets to be the teacher and I am the student.  He loves to role play and get to be the leader or adult when he mimics situations.

He passed off all 13 Articles of Faith on Sunday and earned a giant candy bar!  He did #13 in front of the primary and enunciated so well.  He is amazing!

Today, we were having a conversation.  He said, "there are 3 ways to say 2.  First is TWO, Second is TWICE and Third is . . .I can't remember."  I said, "Third is SECOND" (How confusing is that?) He thought for while and said, "no seconds is like minutes and hours."  Sometimes English is so confusing.
Jackson's friend pointed out the two "Mouses" from our toys and Jackson politely responded, "There are TWO so we say MICE, right?"

Our cousins came over for Sunday dinner and they played outside for a while.  they were all hot and sweaty and red cheeked, but it is always fun to have a new area to play and new people to play with.  Don't you just feel bad for Hallie on the rocks?!?   I really hate rock yards . . . and giant hideous cacti too.

Shields Family Reunion

I was able to go to Utah for a family reunion up Hobble Creek Canyon.  Dave unfortunately, wasn't able to get on a flight Friday night and couldn't come until Saturday afternoon.  I was sad to be missing him so long, but happy when he made it.  

My parents had their tent trailer there, but I still slept in a tent with my kids.  They slept until 8 am Utah time (7 am our time) which is still sleeping WAY in, even with it being loud and light.  I guess camping wore them out. 

We went hiking and both kids were all about being independent and walking on their own.  Hallie was pretty determined and didn't even get distracted, she stayed on the trail and kept going and going . .  . we probably hiked a mile. 

 The food was so yummy!  My aunt planned so well for so many people!

 Here's the woman who started it all.  9 kids.  . . 55 grandkids . . . I think about 35 in-laws? . . . going on 25 great grandkids?  I don't know I am losing track!

 We played volleyball, horseshoes, frisbee, football, and sat around and chatted a lot.

 We had a dunking booth.  Jackson was so interested in watching it fill up that he climbed up and was looking down inside it.  The latch wasn't hooked and so the seat dumped and Jackson fell head first into 6 inches of water.  He was NOT happy about it.  Needless to say, he did not go back up on the hot seat.

 My sisters are so amazing, beautiful, helpful and loving.  I love these girls.  Carly and Doug were also there with their dog philbert and 8/9ths of their baby.  Carly was a good sport to camp 8 months pregnant.  I am so excited for them to become parents.

 Nighttime firesides, talent shows and devotionals.

We also had the opportunity to go to a min-reunion for Dave's cousins.  Sandy hosted a dinner and swim party.  The boys all played basketball.  It was so nice to be in Utah and enjoy the pleasant outdoor weather.  Knowing it was the hottest weekend yet in AZ made it even more pleasant!

Luckily, we broke our camera last month and haven't replaced it.  I say luckily because for the past month I have had MAJOR cold sores.  One spanned my entire bottom lip and two others burst out in the corners of my top lip.  I have been totally embarrassed and in pain and ugly  . . . wow, anyone who experienced it knows how bad it was.  Apparently, I didn't wear enough sunscreen in Santa Barbara.  I think I am finally over it!