The rest of our Virginia Trip

After Santa's visit on Monday night, we did an early "Christmas morning" on Tuesday so that Ray and Diane could see Chase open the presents they got him- and boy was he spoiled! The first gift he opened was actually from his uncle Nathan, who has us in the family gift exchange this year. It was this little pack of toy John Deere tractors. Chase was so excited about them that he had a hard time opening anything else! He just wanted to play with his tractors!

 His other favorite gifts were the toy Little People Airplane (Chase LOVES "aweplanes") and puzzle. He also has loved the book they gave him, Twas the Night before Christmas- with Papa and Grandma's voices recorded reading it to him! We have listened to it many times since. It was so fun to see Chase open presents and his excitement at new toys, and just that he "gets it" a little more than last year.

The rest of our Tuesday was pretty relaxed, eating Thanksgiving leftovers and Chase had some time out in the yard looking for sticks, which is pretty much his favorite activity. Tuesday night things got a little exciting/worrisome when I started having some fairly intense contractions. Luckily, after Ben gave me a blessing they slowed down, but I spent Wednesday mostly lying in bed and drinking lots of water, per doctors orders. Ray and Diane played with Chase all day and I was very grateful for the help!

Thursday morning came and it was time for Chase and I to fly back to Utah. Ben is staying in Virginia for a few more days to study before he flies to Florida to take one more big test and then he'll join us in Utah! We snapped a few pictures Thursday morning before leaving, I love this first one of Chase with his grandparents. He adores them! And I think the feeling is pretty mutual.

 We got a four generation picture of Ben and Chase with Ben's sweet Grandmother and Ray (and of course, the beloved Andy joined in the picture)

 And a quick shot, that didn't turn out that great, with his Uncle Nathan

 Then Chase and I were on the road! When we planned this trip back, knowing that I'd be flying alone with Chase at 32 weeks pregnant, I wanted to fly directly back to Salt Lake if at all possible. The cheapest direct flight I could find was out of Baltimore, Maryland, which is about a 3 hour drive from where we were staying in Virginia (there are about 5 airports closer than this one, but all required 1 or more stops along the way). We came up with an idea that worked out wonderfully- my really good friend Caitlyn is living in Washington DC these days, and I really wanted to see her anyway on this trip. She was willing to drive all the way down to Powhatan after getting off work on Wednesday night so that she could drive me to the airport the next day. Not exactly a normal fun day with a girlfriend, but Cait is pretty much up for anything, so it worked out great! I was even able to get her a gate pass so she could help me haul my two carry-on bags, heavy and awkward carseat, and get my busy toddler through security and to the gate. I don't think I could have made it without her help! She's amazing.

Chase was thrilled to be on an airplane, and exhausted for the days journey, so he luckily slept for the first 90 minutes of our 5 hour flight. We lucked out and there was one empty seat on the plane, so they let me bring on Chase's carseat and gave him his own seat! He turns two next month, so he was still technically a lap rider, and his mom doesn't quite have as much room on her lap as the last time we flew! It was fairly easy to keep him happy for the next couple of hours with snacks, movies and little games. About one hour before we were due to land, Chase had had enough! He started screaming "I all done! Go home!" over and over again. Luckily, we worked through that distress and somehow made it all the way to Salt Lake! I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to get all those bags, the carseat and Chase out to baggage claim where my wonderful parents would be waiting. I was a little worried when I realized we were docking at the farthest gate away from baggage claim. The sweet lady next to me on the flight offered to carry my bags out for me. She was seriously such an angel! I felt so blessed that we had made it home, in one piece, and for all those people who helped me out on the way.

Chase was so excited to see his Nana and Papa waiting for him! He hid behind me in shyness for about 5 seconds and then was happy to be in their arms! We are loving being back in Utah and can't wait for Ben to join us next week!