Happy New Year! My Christmas gift to my grandma Roper was a promise to blog every week this year, aiming for a Monday morning post. I'm happy to start doing this, as I've been bad about posting for the past two years and really miss having those memories to look back on.
I know this is a weird place to start the new year, but I wanted to post about our Thanksgiving break. Other bloggers be like, "I'm
so bad, posting Christmas 2 weeks late." And I'm just over here like, "Sweet, getting Thanksgiving posted earlier than usual."
Jared got a full week off for Thanksgiving, which is pretty much unheard of during residency. We split our time and spent a couple days in Orem with my family, and then the rest of the week in Bear Lake for Thanksgiving with Jared's family.
Jack was uncharacteristically content our entire time in Orem. Normally he's pretty fussy and high maintenance, so it was fun (*cough* suspicious) to see him playing happily for so long with various toys and relatives. He loved the swing my parents installed under their deck.
It's no secret that Jared loves Utah Valley. In fact, it's almost annoying how much he talks about his love for Utah Valley, and I'm FROM there. And I love it too! Yes that inversion's pretty gross, and yes it is getting a little crowded for our taste, but those particular mountains and trails are really special. Not to mention all the family we have in Utah, and Jared is oddly obsessed with Utah Lake. Also the food scene. Thumbs up. Apologies to Jared's family for Jared aggressively trying to sell everyone on moving to Utah with us someday. I do think the obsession is pretty funny considering that back in his college days Jared said he would N E V E R marry a Utah girl.
^^Check out those fabulous postpartum bangs. My mom and grandma will be happy to hear that I will be getting a new haircut very soon. I just have to scope out a good hairdresser in Casper first. Or maybe I'll wait until we visit Utah in March so I can go to my girl Sheree. Oh and also this is the spot where Jared and I got engaged!
Unfortunately our time in Utah wasn't all magical, inversiony hikes. I got insanely sick the night we arrived. Like, puking every half an hour all night long. I started sobbing because I was terrified I might be pregnant again (the pregnancy PTSD is very real for me). I was so relieved when the explosive diarrhea started up because I knew I must be sick with something that would be gone within a week instead of 9 months. Luckily I was only sick for a day, but then everyone else in my family caught my bug right before Thanksgiving and couldn't eat their Thanksgiving dinner. Oops!
Our Thanksgiving in Bear Lake was very picturesque. Well, up until everyone there started throwing up too and we ran for it back to Casper a day early. We succeeded in getting Jack home before he caught any bugs, but we hit some bad weather and had to stay a night in Rock Springs because the freeway closed.
Jared's family's cabin in Bear Lake is seriously gorgeous. It is a thing of art. I loved the Haines cabin I went to growing up in little Mammoth Creek UT, but the floorplan of that little log cabin paled in comparison to this giant log lodge. It's perfect for large, extended family gatherings. Jack loved being up high in the loft area and looking down at everyone beneath. That kid loves heights.
Jack Jack's favorite holiday must be Thanksgiving, because homeboy can EAT. He was all about dem taters. And stuffing. And beans. And everything else on the table. We couldn't get it in him fast enough.
^^Jared and Jack Jack enjoying the incredible view of Bear Lake out the cabin's front windows.
Jared's mom brought several Christmas presents for us to take home. Jack had just figured out how to walk around while pushing large objects, so we couldn't resist opening this really cool baby walker/bike and putting it together for him to play with. I'll put some better pics in my next post. He loves it.
This has to be one of my top 5 favorite pictures of Jack ever, in one of my top 5 favorite outfits of Jack's ever. Jared's mom got him this adorable Rudolph jumpsuit. It's completely fleece-lined and looks so classic and cozy. He wears it multiple times a week, even now that Christmas is over.
Other than literally every person in both of our families getting sick, we had some great times for Jack's first Thanksgiving. My only regret (besides all the sickness) was not making a film festival video to enter into the annual Welker Family Thanksgiving Film Fest. I had some really stellar ideas, too. Time just has a way from slipping away from me now that we have a baby. Here's to hoping we can spend Thanksgiving with family again next year!
