70 degrees

For Thanksgiving this year, we hopped a flight to Phoenix to spend some time with the Elmer clan. Lucky for us, the forecast called for 70 degrees, which meant I could soak up some decent weather before the inevitable cold bucket of suckiness that is winter hit Utah.

At the airport on Thursday morning

We flew out on Thanksgiving morning, and it saved us about $200 by doing so. Charlie did really well; I forced him to take a nap as soon as we got on the plane, and he woke up about halfway through the flight. He flirted with everyone, bonked his head twice, and ate all of his cheerios. We landed and went off to baggage claim, only to discover that the airline had misplaced Charlie's bag. I did my best fend off the panic attack brewing beneath the surface, but I struggled. All the diapers, formula, and baby food that I had so carefully tucked into his bag were no where to be found.

Lucky for me, it really was a misplacement and not a lost bag, and the airline brought it to casa de Elmer a few hours later. We caught the tail end of Thanksgiving lunch, and were able to visit with a good handful of people.

After lunch at Nana's house

Charlie, Luke, and Gavin #BarlowCousins

Begging Auntie Alexa for pie

Visiting with Great-Grandma Sharon

One of our adventures involved going to a nature preserve with Bob and Lisa, Jake and Alexa, and Stephan. We packed up the strollers and some snacks and headed out. The nice weather definitely delivered. What a change from the first snow that hit Utah in our absence.

Family outing to the nature preserve

Mother and Daughters-in-law

Charlie's walking practice has resulted in several head bonks the last six weeks, so after he fell twice at the airport and then again at the Elmer's, I gave him some baby tylenol and made him nap for a bit. 

The moms went black friday shopping at Target, where we got baby clothes and then shopped for ourselves. This, of course, was after we got our nails done. It is fun to go out with the girls and leave the children with the menfolk. Nana and Grand-dude decided to buy a little slide for the boys at Black-Friday, so here is the only picture where Charlie wasn't screaming in fear.

For Charlie and Journey's birthdays, we went to the Phoenix Zoo as a big happy family. I didn't photograph any of the animals, but here are some pics of us.

Flying back home was very different from getting there. Charlie refused to nap, the flight was bumpy, and he chose to scream for the last 15min or so. We finally got home around 7pm, but as you can see below, he was not amused for the last leg of the journey.

We enjoyed our time with the Elmers, it is a challenge living so far away from half of the family. I loved watching Charlie and Stephen play together. The next time we go to Arizona will be for Max's wedding, so it will be fun to watch Charlie, Stephen, and Journey interact with one another.