Lots of Traveling

After Chase and I got home from Tennessee I had one day at home and then I headed to Utah.  Poor Kody went from both of us being gone, to me being gone and Chase at work all day.  I'm glad he survived.

During my first week in Utah I had a yummy dinner with both families, a baby shower for the Leake/Larsen and friends side, shopping with my mom, and Lake Powell.
First up the baby shower.  It was nice to get to see a slew of aunts, cousins, and friends.  I enjoyed my time visiting and am very grateful for the generosity of everyone.  The next day mom and I went shopping.  I needed a swim suite since we were headed to Lake Powell and of course we had to get a Jamba Juice :)  Then it was to Lake Powell we went.  It was a long drive and Adam's car decided to stop having ac haha, so it was a little bit hot.  On our way down we stopped at a gas station that has a little park area, so that the kids could play and get rid of some energy. It was a little early for dinner but we all ended up getting a maverick hot dog.  To my surprise it tasted delicious.  We got to Rocket and Geri's house late and it was so nice to go to sleep.  Our first day in Lake Powell we went on a hike.

 Day 2 we played at the beach and went for a scenic drive around the lake.  It was a little bit chilly this day, so sweats were on.  Rob and Dad had made it down this day after their fun drive, which included a flat and sleeping on the side of the road.  Since it was Dad's birthday and both Adam and mine coming up we celebrated our b-days with some angle food cake and strawberries, yum yum.

 Day 3 was Easter.  The easter bunny had stopped by for the kids and hid some eggs out on the lawn.  We didn't know what time the sprinklers would be coming on but we had a rough estimate.  Well we were too slow and while we were in the middle of the hunt they came on.  It was quite the site to see.  Pretty much everyone ran for themselves, trying to save the electronics.  Unfortunately that meant the little ones were left in the middle of the sprinklers.  I remember jumping out of the way and then seeing poor little Lyla standing there all by herself.  Good thing Uncle Rocket ran back and saved her.  Dad and Rob then ran around collecting the rest of the eggs.  Needless to say it was a wet eater egg hunt :)  We then got ready for the day.  Before heading to the lake, some of us went to sacrament meeting and then met the rest of the clan at the lake.  The boys did a little wake boarding and then we found a beach to hang out on.  Our day at the lake ended when the storm clouds started to move in on us.  The storm ended up passing over, but I'm glad we didn't wait around to find out.  Day 4 we went on a short hike to horse shoe bend before heading home.  Lake Powell is one of my favorite places and I'm glad I got to enjoy it's beauty, I just wish my cute hubby could have been there too.  I'm glad I got to spend my time with all of my family though.  It will be rare occasions when we all can get together now, since we live in Michigan and the Johnson's are in Oklahoma (well Ohio for another month).  The next day Tiff, Rob and the girls were headed home and Chandler was coming home.  After dropping them off at Rob's parents house it was time for me to pack up my stuff and get ready for my week at the Birks'.

During my second week in Utah Chandler came home from his mission, did a lot of hanging out, helped Chan get a little settled into life not as a missionary, had the Birks/Cowsert & friends baby shower, celebrated the twins birthday, Chan's homecoming and finished it off with dinner with both families.
First up Chan coming home.  We were all super excited to have him home because man two years sure is a long time.  As we all stood there waiting for him to walk around the corner the anticipation was killing us, especially Mom B, so when a group of missionaries came walking out it sure got my heart going with excitement.  Unfortunately he wasn't in the group.  Good thing he came not too long after that :) I patiently waited my turn for a hug and when I went to get mine somebody else snagged him to do something with Lucy.  He saw me standing there and pulled me in for a hug among all of the chaos.  Its funny how much you can miss a sibling and it was just so crazy to see him and to know that missions really do come to an end, because before that it sure didn't seem that way :)  Alright so while at the airport we of course had to have a group photo.  The first lady we asked didn't have a steady hand and the picture was way blurry, so we ended up having somebody else take it in a different spot.  Well as we were gathering for the picture we realized that nobody had Taylor.  Taylor had decided to entertain himself on the escalator without anyone knowing.  Good thing we found that cute boy!

 We all then headed back home where we all got to hang out as a family minus poor Chase :( good thing he and Chan chatted on the drive home from the airport.  Chan was then released, and had to take off his name tag after wearing it for two years.  I'm so happy that he loved his mission so much but I'll admit that I was also happy to have him home.  To be honest having him on his mission and then feeding the missionaries out here in Michigan sure has made me excited for my own kids.  I know that sounds weird because who would be excited to send their kid off for 2 years without having any contact except for emails once a week and a phone call/skype twice a year.  Anyway the rest of the week we did a lot of hanging out and threw in some shopping.  I also made sure to get some more Utah specialties in food, like jdawg, jcw's, and a roxberry, yum.  Saturday was the day of my baby shower and the twins birthday party.  We started off with the shower.  Cierra and Elycia did a great job and it was fun!  I also enjoyed seeing everyone that came and felt very loved.  During the shower we went through some of the wives tells to predict what baby is going to be.  Well according to the chart girl won, so we will have to see :)

 After we all had our fun and hung out it was time for the birthday party.  It was at Elycia's parents house and it was nice to be able to celebrate their 1st birthday's.  Both Paige and Devan weren't so sure about the whole cake thing, especially Devan.

 Well we eventually went home and finished up getting ready for the homecoming the next day.  I was eventually sent to bed before the prep was all cleaned up and chairs were set out, since I was the pregnant one.  Needless to say Saturday was a LONG day for everyone involved, good thing we all made it out alive.  Sunday was fun to be at church as a family and to have all of the other relatives there as well.  Chandler did a great job on his talk and had a lot of good things to say :)  After church we got to enjoy the delicious cafe rio salads or burritos that were slaved over the day before :) along with good company.

 Tuesday I ran over to my grandma Leake's new place to get a tour and visit and then my friend from work took me to lunch.  Ha before I went to lunch though I went with my mom and grandma to where they were eating lunch since I had a few minutes to spare.  Well when I parked Mom B's car and went to get out all of the electrical stuff wouldn't turn off.  I started to panic because it was my first time borrowing her car and I thought I had broke it.  I tried everything that I could think of to get the dang car to turn off, but nothing was working.  I called my mom and she came out of the restaurant and tried a few things before realizing that we had the ignition turned too far.  Apparently you can turn the key so that all of inside electrical stuff stays on without out your key being in the ignition.  Thank goodness we figured that out because I didn't want to be the one to break her car.  That night we had dinner with both families before I headed to the airport the next day at the butt crack of dawn.  I had to be to the airport by 5:30 am which meant we had to leave the house at 4:30 am.  The upside was that after two fun weeks I was going home to my hubby!  I missed him terribly during my two weeks away and even though we talked every night I missed getting to kiss him, be with him and share a bed with him.  I'm glad that he was willing to let me go to Utah and enjoy time with our families while he was stuck at home and going to work.
When I got home Chase made sure that we still celebrated my birthday.  We stopped at Pei Wei to get dinner, then we stopped at a walmart that has a dippin dot machine, and then he picked me up some chocolate covered strawberries that he had ordered for me.  It was a night filled with deliciousness and happiness to be home with my two favorite boys.

And that my friends concludes my month of April.  It was one fun and busy month.

P.S. I wrote a lot of these posts a long time ago which is why I refer to Heidi as baby and other things like that ;)