sweet retreat...

i decided to leave clint alone in his finals frenzy and headed off to happy valley for a few days with the babe. now, a couple of months ago, i hardly would have thought of provo/orem as a vacation, but it was like heaven to me! oh, how my perspective has changed! i was a little nervous about the drive - 4 hours, by myself with owey, but he was a rockstar in the car. i picked up a few tricks that you may want to try if you also have a car-hating kid:
1) fill up a basket with favorite toys and books and keep it in the passenger seat. when he gets bored with one toy or accidentally chucks it in one of his kung-fu flail moves, you can just hand him the next toy. and so on and so forth. make sure the basket is big enough and full of enough toys for this to happen approximately 5 million times.
2) stock up on crackers - any kind really, and throw caution to the wind. yes, handing crackers to one who is not exactly proficient in feeding himself in a cleanly manner might cause a bit of anxiety about your clean car, but it is soooo worth it. nothing a little suck from the vacuum can't fix at the end of the trip.
3) pavarotti. seriously. i must have been inspired to grab that pavarotti cd on my way out the door because it was an absolute miracle. when it was about time for owey to nap, i popped that baby in and after a few minutes of stunned silence, he was out like a light. a-mazing. did it 3 times and it worked like a charm. why didn't i think of this sooner??

anyhow... i stayed with super-mom and super good friend carlie and it felt like the good old days - a big ole' slumber party, giggles, popcorn (where were the hot tamales?) plus a few extra kids, but so much fun. just what the doctor ordered after a few friendless months in rexburg.
carlie promised to teach me how to sew, and sew we did... probably more than i ever have in my entire life. i think carlie's goal may have been to get me addicted, and i believe she won! i woke up early every morning unable to go back to sleep thinking about all the projects we were working on. (i know, i'm pathetic!) since her house is full of the cutest and most amazing supplies ever, i had all the creative supplies i could ever want, and a master teacher right at my fingertips.

by the end of the trip we had made the cutest diaper bag for me,
2 pairs of pants for owey

and a skirt for carlie's daughter halle.
owey had soooo much fun with carlie's cute kids all week, and although we both missed dad a lot (this is the longest either of us had ever been away from clint), we managed to have a great time.
THANKS CARLIE!!!

(carlie's cute kids)
we also got to visit some aunts and uncles and cousins (here and here) and it was great to catch up and for everyone to meet little o. we even got lucky and met up with our long lost CA friends and had a little boyfriend/girlfriend reunion for owey and audra. so fun(yes, i got to crash a wedding!)

anyhow, we are back and sort of in denial that all these friends and family don't live down the street. what i wouldn't give to live in provo again. never thought i'd say that, did ya?