Trip to General Conference

We drove for twelve hours straight to Utah with a three-month-old baby! Okay, Blair drove for twelve hours straight, while I entertained the three-month-old baby.

It was amazingly wonderful to actually leave early in the morning! We were able to leave at 5:00am on Thursday and arrived in Salt Lake City at about 6:00pm Utah time. (As a kid, leaving for Utah before noon was as unlikely in my family as going an entire day without laughing. It was impossible!) And Paul was a great little traveler. Yeah, he got a little fussy and would start to complain about being in the same seat forever, but a large majority of the time he was either sleeping, eating, laughing and babbling, or studying his fists contentedly. Before we knew it, we were being given a tour of Reana's three-bedroom apartment in Salt Lake City, and were given the empty room to sprawl all our clothes and baby gear for the weekend. It was great!

The next two days were filled with yummy food, touring Temple Square, playing the game Scottland Yard with Railee, and watching the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

On Sunday morning, Reana's boyfriend, Sean, gave Reana, Blair and I a ride to General Conference. Yes, we went to the conference center to actually see and hear the Prophet speak! We weren't that special, though, - there were so many people there. But that's kind of what made it a neat experience too. I don't know if I've ever been with that many LDS families in the same place before. The talks were wonderful and the Spirit was so strong. It was definitely an experience I'll remember forever. I have to admit, though, I was constantly thinking about Paul and my phone was anxiously perched on my lap through the entire session.

Railee sweetly volunteered to babysit Paul while we were gone. I told him to be extra cute so she would be willing to babysit in the future. Railee said he was good, but who knows what he was really like for her? Railee did say that when President Monson was speaking, Paul was staring, open-mouthed at the screen and nodding his head. I hope he'll always be that interested in the Prophet's words!

We stopped by my uncle Matt and aunt Nicia's house that afternoon and had a fun time chatting with them as well as my cousins Kelsey and Sophie. When we got back to Reana's place, she had a delicious Indian meal all prepared and we feasted on spiced couscous and chicken! Yum!

The plan was to go to bed extra early that night for our all-day Monday drive. At the last minute, though, we decided to leave right then and drive through the night! I left the decision mostly up to Blair since he would be doing most, if not all, of the driving.

Paul and I slept most of the way home, but Blair said it was a really long night as he fought the urge to sleep. I tried a couple of times to take the wheel, but I never lasted very long. I think it's safe to say it was a miracle we made it home safely!

It was a good trip. I even got a free haircut out of the experience! (Thanks Reana!)