Utah Trip

Since we were already in Utah for Jody's baby blessing, we decided to stay, even though Lance had to leave the day after the blessing to go back home for work.  Yes, he was in Utah for less than 48 hours - such a quick trip! But I wanted to be able to spend time with family, and have them enjoy Joanne.  I spent half the week in Salt Lake with the Astles, then went to Orem and saw some of my family and friends! It was so much fun to spend so much time with family and have them get to know Jody.  

My sweet sister-in-law, Kelly, is a photographer for a company the takes pictures of newborns in the hospital, so she took some of Joanne. She is one lucky girl, getting all these photo shoots! They are beautiful - thank you Kelly!

Jody and Kelly's dog Charlie

We are so in love with this girl!! 

Joanne's baby blessing

On October 5th, Lance, Jody and I flew to Utah to bless our sweet little baby.  Utah is the hub of both our families, and we wanted to share this with them.  It was a wonderful, spiritual experience.  It was a delight to see so much family and friends. And it was an added bonus that we were there at my favorite time - general conference! That weekend is packed with traditions with my family that I treasure, so I was elated that they coincided! 

We blessed Joanne at the church building that stood where Matthias Cowley's old church building stood - that was special! 

With her Aunt Lindsay

Jody and Uncle Ira

Jody and Uncle Lynn

Mom (Shelley) and Henry

Lance, Sue, Marian and Lynn

Little Scarlett

and everyone who came!! Thank you all for coming and sharing this day with us!!

Three weeks old

After Joanne's birth, Lance was able to be home for five whole days! When he went back to work, my mom came to help out.  When Jody was two weeks old, Lance had to go out of town for work for three weeks (the perils of working for Union Pacific - I do NOT recommend working for this company, haha) , so I decided to go home to California and spend the three weeks with my parents.  It was such a huge help to constantly have the help of my mom for those three weeks!! Thanks mom and papa for having me and Jody at home! I loved being home, and it was great for my parents to get so much time with Joanne.

It was so fun to see so many of my friends while I was home! I was able to see so many fun people! I also got to visit my harp teacher, Linda Wood Rollo, and Holland! It was so fun to see them both!

with Annie the dog 

Also while we were home, I worked on a lot of projects.  I made a crib skirt for Joanne and a pillow for her room. I am working on becoming an able seamstress - and I am coming along slowly.

There is an amazing lady in my parents ward who is a talented photographer, Kim Green, and she asked if she could practice taking baby portraits with Joanne.  Of course I was happy to oblige! haha! She took some really amazing pictures!! 

I love me some naked baby!! 

This headband came from the lace from my moms wedding dress that Lucy and I also wore. 

I love baby bums!

LOVE

All in all, this trip was amazing.  We worked on getting a routine down for little Jody.  She learned to love the shower on this trip.  And I was able to get the hang of being a mama.  It's my favorite thing in the whole world.  I can't believe how lucky I am to have such an amazing little girl.  She is wonderful, bright, and aware, and really a delight.  I can't believe that I ever lived without her! 

I can't believe that I was home for a whole three weeks and didn't get one picture of Joanne with her grandparents!! I guess that shows how much fun we had!