Oy. This is My Life.

Ava and I took a trip to Utah last week. We left on Thursday morning.

The following ensued (law and order CHUNG CHUNG).

Danny's boss invited us to go the Lyric Opera in Chicago the night before Ava and I left. So between drive time and the time zone change, we got home at about 1:30 am (WORTH IT. The Opera was fantastic.). I got up at 5:00 am to make sure we would have AMPLE time to make it to my leedle frien's house, switch all the luggage out of my car and into hers, and make it to the Indianapolis Airport for our 12:30 boarding time. If you know me you know that leaving myself extra time to do anything is soooooo not me. I'm a last minute/always late kind of girl (and for the record? that drives me nuts about myself. I succeed 50% of the time when I try to make improvements in this area).

We left the house a little later than I wanted but we still had time in what I will call our "buffer window" so I wasn't too stressed.

Well. The fog was pretty bad. Schools were delayed and road signs were hard to read. So, naturally, I missed my exit but I didn't notice until I started seeing signs for a city 90 degrees in a different direction than I needed to be going. Sleep deprived panic ensued as I calculated the 40 minutes out of my way I had just driven.

I turned around and made it back to the road on which I was supposed to be traveling. Another thing about me? I kiiiind of speed sometimes. I think I was going about 75 in a 60. I didn't think about the stupidity of going 15 over the speed limit on a country highway until the highway patrolman was barreling across the median to pull me over.

Guys. Don't worry. Between the crying and the extremely legit reason I had for speeding I was able to get off with a warning. Annnnnnd I may have hyperventilated while he was writing his love note to me.

Just shy of my friend's house Ava had the biggest meltdown of her life because I couldn't find her binky. Like, she was halfway out of car seat and screaming so hard I thought she was going to hurt herself kind of tantrum. We got to the airport in just enough time. They even opened up a new security line for me (ummmm but how much of a hot mess do you have to be for an Indiana Highway Patrolman to let you off and the TSA to open a new line for you? Guys. It was seriously pathetic).

I was done with this day.

But then. a guy about the same age as my dad took pity on me as I was trying to coax my 2 year old down the aisle to board the airplane while carrying 3 bags, a suitcase, and a car seat. He literally just took everything out of my hands and asked what seat I was in. And then when we landed? He waited for everyone to get off the plane and then he came back and grabbed all my stuff to carry off the plane for me. And then I turned on my phone to see that my best friend, who lives in Utah, was in labor with her first baby.

And suddenly the crappiest day ever became a really awesome day.

Charleston side note

So it was kind of cool to meet/chat with this guy (very briefly):



But I was really happy to have been able to get to know this guy a little bit:

He is good people.

Care-Hoe-Line-A

All right. Now I feel okay blogging about Charleston.

Ava and I were out of town for like 3 weeks straight. My parents went to the Hong of Kong to see their bestest buddies who live there and I Shannon-sat because who the heck would leave a 16 year-old at home by herself for 10 days?? Although I think I kept things crazier than they would have been if Shannon had just been there alone but ANYHOODLE. Amidst all the out-of-town-ness I was madly gathering paperwork and criminal records and driving records and MBE scores for Danny so he can take the Michigan Bar Exam for his new job WHILST preparing and putting an offer down on a house. Oh. And Ava decided to cut 4 molars all at once. Crazy. But all-good-things crazy. Can't complain about that.

So once my parental units returned to their domicile I left my babe with them and went with one of my best friends, Reilly, to Charleston.

It.

Was.

Glorious.

Even just the plane ride alone with the option to sleep or read or DO WHATEVER THE HECK I WANTED BECAUSE I HAD MY LAP TO MYSELF was beyond-words relieving. The city was absotute-ly beautiful and the weather was perfect. Reilly's cousin, Jen, lives down there and has a house in downtown in which we stayed. Since her cousin lives on Sullivan's Island, about 20 minutes from downtown, we had the place to ourselves. And she decorated it BEAUTIFULLY. I felt like I was staying in a magazine:


Our days were leisurely (sight-seeing, shopping, and beaching) and our nights were spent having fun with Reilly's family. Jen has four boys and we did a lot with them, including a couple Riverdogs games. They're the minor league farm team in Charleston for the Yankees. The boys' dad owns the team so it was fun to get special treatment (okay, okay. Their dad is Bill Murray. They're a pretty big deal. WINK).

One of the games lasted until 1 am - the fog rolled in shortly after it ended.


Mascots of any kind creep me out. And the germs! OH the germs!

Pralines are legitimately delish. And southern.




If you ever go to Charleston YOU HAVE TO EAT AT HYMAN'S. It was delicious. Except that my body hated me afterward because I could not resist the gluten. Hush puppies and whatnot. BUT I DON'T REGRET IT.




The architecture was amazing and the people were actually very polite.
The homes were ridiculous (I didn't take this photo)

And there was beautiful wrought iron work everywhere.

I would go back in a heartbeat.

get out your flux capictors, we're going back to the future

So I just sat down to blog about my trip to Charleston with Reilly and realized that I never blogged about our trip to Utah in March for my SIL's wedding. What the....?? Who AM I? A lazy keeper of her blog, that's who.

It was a fabulous trip and we had lots of fun and April got married and she was a beautiful princess. The end.

More specifically, Ava and I went out about a week early to spend some time with my friends and family and then Danny came out for the wedding festivities.

Quality time with G&G Gray


They have a playhouse upstairs that's Ava-sized.

Ava LOVED rolling around with Grandma. Heck, I would love it too!


And theeeeeen we played with the Wittwers. In Nelson's Grandpa's cabin. In Midway.
(Side note for those who are unfamiliar. Lauren here, is my super best buddy-friend-quazi-sister-soulmate. And she is newly married to Nelson (pronounced Nelt-sin). End of side note.)
They're not baby hungry AT ALL. Fra fra fra.

Lauren creepily holding my child through the sweet 70s stairs.

Hahahaha and in the same room as the sign was....

THE BIGGEST BATHTUB I HAVE EVER SEEN

Lauren sits like a toddler - flat-footed squat.

Classic us.

BABY LOVE

Caught Lauren singing our classic rendition of "High on a Mountain Top" (it's a loud, old-lady-in-church kind of rendition) to Ava

And Ava's reaction...

And more good times...
One of my friends had a GIANT lamby on her floor (Ava sleeps with a little lambskin every night) that Ava rolled in for like an hour

Angry clouds over Timp

Playing with Nana Armstrong

Wedding dinner getting CRAZY UP IN HERE WITH THE PREGNANT LADY

At the wedding









Yeah. It was fun.