Brad had a week off of school between quarters, so we made a last minute decision to drive to Rexburg. All 12 hours.
To my utter astonishment, both girls were complete angels in the car. Seriously. They couldn't have been better. Lainy sang songs and told us stories (when she wasn't watching movies). Leah slept, ate, smiled, and slept some more. When both girls were asleep, Brad and I talked about about anything that came to our minds. Sometimes serious (like where we might match for residency), sometimes completely ridiculous (like why the guy in the red car had a chin the size of Texas). It felt good to reconnect after two weeks of difficult finals and little time together.
Our car had two milestones during the trip: it passed the 100,000 mile mark, and had it's first "accident". Outside of Twin Falls, we were passing a semi-truck when his tire blew out and hit our car. It was scary! Luckily the tire just hit the front of the car and bounced under us. It tore up our bumper and dented the hood, but nothing more serious. All it meant was that we had to extend our trip a day longer than we'd been planning in order to get it fixed.
Being home is always a balancing act when both of your families live in the same town. I don't know if we do it right, but we try to make equal time with both families without wearing ourselves out. We did pretty good this time, I think.
Highlights (in no particular order):
Dinners with the family
Seeing BYU-Idaho (I hardly recognized it)
Catching up with my sisters (in laws and Cass)
Introducing our darling baby girl (who handled all the extra attention fabulously)
Seeing all of my grandparents
Getting pedicures with Lainy and my mom
Going to church and seeing my dad as bishop
My parents hot tub
Hotel swimming pools with Lainy
Games and movies with Hansens
NCAA basketball (some sweet upsets)
HGTV
Lunch with our good friends and seeing the house they're building (SO excited for you guys!)
Leah started sleeping through the night (a full 8 hours) and has kept it up
All in all, we had a great break! We're pretty lucky to have such amazing family!
(Sorry for the lack of pictures. We got to Rexburg and realized our camera battery was dead. Oh well. Will you accept this one of Leah's chubby legs by way of an apology?)
A few quick notes:
To my parents: Thanks for making time for us at your busiest time of the year. We love being around you and appreciate your generosity (the rocket box traveled great). Can't wait to see your new completed basement!! CIS
To Cass: You've grown up and you're simply stunning! Love ya sis!
To Scott, Kris and girls: It was fun chatting on Skype. Can't wait to see you all in person. (Maybe in June?)
To Brad's parents: Thanks for letting us crash at your house and for taking such good care of us. We love that you took the day off of work to be with us! Love you!
To Dallin, Leslie and kids: We loved visiting in your beautiful home! You are some of our favorite people in the whole world!
To Richelle, Bryce, and boys: We missed you! Thanks for the game via Skype.
To Doug and Jess: Lainy hasn't stopped talking about Burley. He's adorable! Can't wait to see you this weekend.
To Bry and Rach: You're adorable. We loved catching up and talking about all things baby with you. We're so excited to meet your little girl!
To Becca and Craig: We didn't see enough of you! Know that we love you. Good luck with finals!
To all who are interested: We just heard from UW about Brad's rotation schedule... They're having problems with the new computer system they rigged up to determine the schedules. So it looks like we won't know what's going on for another couple of weeks. We'll keep you posted!
