Girls Trip 2012

One of my favorite family traditions- EVER

Every other year we do a girls trip with all the gals on my Mom's side of the family. It's three days of shopping, sightseeing, eating delicious food, but mostly laughing and enjoying being together! For the most part my cousins all grew up in Utah (minus darling Eleanor in New York) so we saw each other all the time. Now we live all over the country (and I live outside the country!) Boston, Hawaii, Idaho, Texas, Montana, Colorado and Arizona. Having a girls weekend every other year has kept us all close. It always ends up being a blast and we leave with a million amazing and usually hilarious memories and anticipating our next trip! So far our destinations have been Memphis, Tennessee; Anaheim, California (Disneyland!); Las Vegas, Nevada; San Antonio, Texas; and Coronado Island; California. This year we enjoyed a little sun in Scottsdale, Arizona!

This year I was extra excited to be able to spend time with my mom and sister! I have missed them so much since I moved away! I was glad I was able to leave my baby in Utah under my dad and brother's watchful care so I could just focus on spending time with my amazing mom and fabulous little sis. Even the plane ride was a treat, seriously after spending 30 hours traveling trying to keep squirmy one year old entertained and happy, it was fun to be on a short flight watching Modern Family on the laptop and chatting about things other than animal sounds and puffs.

So we did one educational thing on the trip- toured Taliesen West- Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture school there in Scottsdale. I loved it! It was interesting and the tour guide told us funny anecdotes and didn't sugar coat things too much- he readily admitted the Wright's architecture, although visually pleasing and innovative, isn't actually too structurally sound at times and Wright himself was kind of a narcissistic nut. The colorful stories made it that much more memorable and we enjoyed ourselves. This picture below is right after our tour- enjoying a little warmth outdoors! (Top Row- Eleanor, Me and Heidi, Bottom Row- Moira, Erin and Kelly)
We stayed at a beautiful hotel, that I don't remember the name of, but was awesome because it had free warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookies any time you wanted them! You just had to ask at the front desk and they'd pull out a cookie for you! That only relates to the picture below in the sense that this picture was taken in the front lobby, next to the front desk where the cookies were. Anyway, I love my mom and sister!

After spending the bulk of Saturday shopping, we had dinner at Tommy Bahama. We had a delicious meal followed by a bridal shower for Kelly! She is marrying her sweetheart Tommy in August- which we are all so excited for! Erin (who is Kelly's little sister and the maid of honor) and I (I'm a bridesmaid- yay!) decided to throw a little shower for Kelly with a theme of "favorite things". And by throw the shower, mostly I mean we decided on a theme, invited everyone via email and asked our cousin Kash (who lives in Arizona) to find a restaurant to host it. My aunt Georgia brought necklaces for everyone to wear and an Irish Bride crown for Kelly. The shower was fun- Kelly got a lot of useful stuff (if even a little scadalous- ahem, Heather). I'm so excited for their beautiful wedding in August!

Amanda, Georgia, Kelly, Erin, Tiffany and me

Ella, Connie, Moira, Heidi, Kash and Eleanor

Sue, Karen, my Mom, Hannah, Heather and Sarah

Basically the same as the picture on top, plus Tiffany's sweet little Georgia

My cousins brought their little daughters on this trip- the first time for most of them.

We had a blast watching the funny antics of those sweet 4 and 5 year old girls!

Somehow I don't have many pictures of them, but Georgia, Ada, Addison and Eve are hilarious!

My mom and her beautiful sisters

Georgia, Sue, Karen and Gloria

I think I have the best aunts in the world-

I love these women!

With Kelly, Eleanor and Erin

The famous (among the White family):

The Hot Babes Quartet

We gave ourselves that nickname during what I'm sure was a sugar induced

fit of hyperactivity when I was in maybe 5th or 6th grade.

It's stuck ever since.

I love these girls! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful cousins!

Big group shot- definitely missing a few people though

Hopefully I'll get our "official" group shot soon and I'll post it then.

And now for the hilarious memories:

During our bridal shower dinner my aunt George brought crafts and coloring books to keep the little girls entertained. In said crafts were these foam stickers. They decided that everyone must wear one. Or two. Or six. Here are the "Ells" proudly modeling their stickers.

Ella likes to give prompts to her photos- she gets sick of normal smiles.

So she says something hilarious and then takes a picture as soon as everyone has a second to register.

This prompt was "you just stepped in a poopy diaper". Lovely.

And this is Ella and her mom Connie

"Tebowing" in the lobby

Anyone notice a theme to all my funny pictures? Common Element?

Answer: Ella.

More proof of the sticker madness

And Kash and Eleanor are just being super classy here.

We've started a little tradition that after we get home at night we change into pajamas and all the cousins congregate in one room for some serious girl talk and giggles. This trip was no exception- it was a blast! I especially love that just minutes after we left one night, just shy of one am, security knocked on Kash's door to tell her to be quiet- some neighbors had complained. And Kash was just standing there, all alone, in a quiet hotel room. Thanks for taking one for the team Kash!

It was a fabulous trip- I can't even remember all the funny stories and things that happened, other than it was relaxing and rejuvenating and just wonderful to be with all these amazing girls in my family! I love you all- I can't wait until our next trip in 2014!

The best of intentions

Ben tonight,

enjoying a second helping of birthday cake while studying Pharmacology

Note: he's also drinking real milk- which is always worth

celebrating in Dominica

My sweet Ben had another birthday (about a week and half ago). My history of birthdays during my relationship with Ben can best be described with the phrase, "I had the best of intentions to do something fabulous but. . . " Endings to that situation in the past have included the cake exploding in the oven (not just one, but two years in a row. I don't know what's wrong with me), me searching for an awesome birthday present but never finding anything cool that we could afford so I end up getting him something lame, and for three of the last five birthdays it has included me being out of town. I always mean to do something awesome to celebrate my amazing husband, somehow it never works out too well though.

This year was no exception. I talked to him the morning of his birthday for 20 minutes and didn't even realize until a few hours later that it was February 16th. In my defense, it was 5:30 in the morning and I was sick that day. Ben, however, was gracious about it when I called him around noon to apologize and wish him a happy birthday. (Although he did mention he'd like me to remember this for the future when he inevitably forgets my birthday, our anniversary or Valentine's day.) I did buy him a birthday present I knew he would like while I was in Utah, but in my disorganization packing up to leave it didn't make it into my suitcase. Once again, Ben was sweet and understanding about it.

So today I tried to redeem myself a little and at least make a birthday dinner for him. He requested Coconut Chicken Curry, which is one of our favorites down here. I made that and it turned out delicious (so I can put at least one in the win column). I also made his request for birthday cake, which is basically the same cake I made for Chase's birthday sans cute decorations, butter fudge chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling and this really delicious homemade frosting. The cakes fell apart when I took them out of the pan, so the cake itself didn't look the greatest, but tasted fairly delicious. In comparison to the cakes that have blown up in my oven, this one fell on the better side of my cake making experience for Ben's birthday.

In the end, I'm grateful that my husband is understanding and forgiving of my shortcomings and can be easily pleased with a chocolate cake and without the presents I planned to give him. What can I say- Ben is amazing! He studies so hard, for so long, and still makes a few minutes every day to spend quality time with me and Chase. He's an amazing dad to Chase, will play with him, wrestle and have Chase giggling like crazy. He listens to me talk his ear off every night at dinner after I've spent my whole day with a one year old. He eats my cooking every night, even when it turns out less than fabulous. I think I struck gold.

Happy 27th Birthday Baby!

Chase and I sure love you!

New Chase Pics

I am dying over these pictures my friend Crystal took of Chase last month.

I think she perfectly captured my sweet little one year old!

I love them all, but this top one is my favorite.

I'm so glad she captured Chase at this stage, I swear he has already changed so much since then! He's picking up on something new every day it seems. In the last week he has started signing "safe" (the baseball sign), he can identify all kinds of new things, says "bye" and waves, can point to his nose and toes when asked, and gives kisses on demand. We sure love this sweet little guy!

So we went to Utah...

Chase and I just got back last night from an amazing trip to UTAH!!!! We had a fabulous time there and the trip went by so fast. We packed in a lot while we were there and I rarely pulled my camera out to take pictures (and somehow never got a single picture of my dad, Nate or Heidi- sorry guys!)

The trip to get from Dominica to Utah is a long one, and I can testify that 30 hours of international travel alone with an independent, wiggly one year old is not easy. The trip to Utah couldn't have gone smoother. Chase did great on our first flight- the short one from Dominica to Puerto Rico. We spent the night in Puerto Rico and headed back to the states the next day. On the four hour flight from San Juan to Atlanta we got a whole row to ourselves! It was perfect, Chase could move around a lot, play with the window and tray tables and throw his toys on the ground for me to pick up without bothering anyone else! We barely made our connection in Atlanta and were on our way to Utah! I slipped Chase a little benedryl and he slept for the first two hours of the flight, and then was fairly pleasant for the next two hours. Soon we landed in Salt Lake and were greeted by my brother Will who had come to pick us up. I was so happy- so happy to see my family, happy to be back in Salt Lake and happy that we had made it, fairly easily, and one piece!

For the next week we had a blast mostly playing with family. Chase warmed up to everyone really quickly and loved the constant attention. He thoroughly enjoyed himself exploring every inch of my parents home, going through all the cupboards in the kitchen and unloading everything onto the floor and racing down the hallways. We found out that Chase has pretty nimble little fingers when he unscrewed the top to a jar of nutmeg and emptied the whole thing on the kitchen floor. Luckily, his grandparents mostly think everything he does is adorable!

One of the main highlights of visiting was seeing my brother Nate! He just returned from his LDS mission to Little Rock, Arkansas. He spoke in church our first Sunday there and gave a wonderful talk about humility and charity- two things he learned a lot about out in the mission field. Nate was a wonderful missionary and we are so happy he is home now! He got acquainted with his new little nephew and Chase had a blast with him.

Just a few pictures from our trip (and I really mean a few, because I only took a few)

Chase showing off his "touchdown" trick in Sams Club

Chase seeing the snow for the first time

(in his memory- technically he saw snow last year when he was a newborn)

Chase and my mom eating at Fatboys

I tried to give him penne pasta with just some parmesan on it thinking it would be less messy.
Chase was not okay with this.

Once we put marinara sauce on the pasta he was ALL OVER IT.

Will and Chase looking at something- maybe a cell phone?

Will might be Chase's favorite person in the whole world.

I did leave Chase in the capable hands of my dad and brothers for a weekend and went on our biannual White Family girls trip with my mom and sister- which will be a post all of its own.

It was sad to say good-bye to everyone, I really wish everyone I love could live close together and close to us! I missed Ben so much though, so I was really excited about coming back to Dominica. Our trip back to Dominica wasn't nearly as smooth and easy as our trip to Utah- but we still made it. Highlights of that trip include 1. almost missing my flight in Salt Lake because a lady was trying to check her dog on the plane and held up the check-in line for 45 minutes 2. Crying when I got selected to have extra security screening because I had the baby in a carrier 3. The sweet lady behind me in security reassuring me through my crazy tears "You'll be okay! You'll be okay! What can I do to help you?" Thank you sweet lady! 4. Actually making it on the plane 5. Chase deciding he should walk through the Dallas Airport and whenever I tried to steer him in the right direction he would refuse and just sit down right there- lovely 6. Chase finally falling asleep after we boarded the plane in Dallas, only we waited on the tarmac for almost an hour before we took off so he woke up shortly after take off and was awake for the whole 4+ hours to San Juan and throwing up on my twice 7. Getting to San Juan super late and hurrying to put Chase to bed before crashing myself 8. Chase woke up really upset around 2 am, I finally got him back to sleep about 15 minutes later 9. The radio in the room randomly turned on at 3 am 10. The TV in the room randomly turned on at 4 am 11. The radio randomly turned on again at 5 am 12. We made it on the plane to Dominica with no problems and made it safely back to our little apartment and BEN! I was so happy to be home with Ben again, and once Chase warmed up he was happy to be back with his daddy.

It was a fabulous trip! I am so thankful for all the help I got with Chase while we were in Utah and for all the people I got to see while I was there! Now its back to 6 more months of island living for us!

The Hugo's life lately

Ben is busy with his 3rd semester material and Chase and I are mostly doing the same thing we always do, so there isn't much new and exciting to report here. This is just a small update on some of the little things going on in our lives.

First, Chase is still adorable! I still can't get over his beautiful blue eyes! He is still such a binky baby. As he's toddling around the house, whenever he sees one he picks it up and puts it in his mouth. Even if he already has a binky in, he'll switch it out for the newly discovered binky. I'm not too excited about weaning him away from those in the next few months.

Since I'll be in Utah for both Valentines Day and Ben's birthday, I decided we should have a little party to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of our first date! January 27th, 2007 Ben and I went on our first date (we went to a pizza restuarant), which was magical and fun and left me feeling giddy inside. For our 5 year celebration I made a heart shaped pizza and heart shaped cinnamon rolls. Ben thoroughly enjoyed the dinner for a whole 15 minutes before he had to hit the books again.

I feel like I have a serious lack of cute pictures of my little Chase at this age because he is getting SO HARD to photograph! He won't ever hold still, won't look at the camera and is always moving and reaching for something. He wore this cute outfit my sister Heidi bought him to church last Sunday. We tried and tried and tried to get a good picture of it. After about 25 tries this was the best we got.
After church Ben hooked Chase up with this little setup, which entertained him for an hour! Couch cushions of the floor? Seriously, what could be more fun! And he's also running around in just his diaper, courtesy of Ben, who told me Chase looked way too warm in his clothes. Eh, it's a good thing he's still cute.
Chase playing in the shoes one morning before we headed out on our walk. Chase loves playing in the shoes. He tries to put them on his feet. He knows which shoes are his and when we are leaving the house he'll go retrieve them so I can put them on him.
I've babysat a friend's kids a few times this last month. Chase loves playing with her kids, especially her five year old Crew. Crew makes Chase laugh and Chase just lights up when he sees him. Chase was sad this afternoon and so Crew wanted Chase to sit on his lap. I was actually surprised Chase sat there for a good 5 minutes before squirming away. This picture makes Chase look almost the same size as Crew, I promise, in real life Crew is much bigger:)
And finally, Chase has sustained his first battle injury as a newly graduated walker. He took a little tumble on the sidewalk yesterday and is now sporting a nice purple bruise above his left eye. Once again, Chase heeded Ben's instructions to "be tough" and after the initial tears were wiped away he hasn't seemed to be bothered at all.
So there is a random update on Hugo Life- aka mostly Chase's life. Chase and I are headed to Utah this week! 30 hours of international travel with an independent one year- should be fun!