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!