The Fleming's Crazy Life: Visit to Provo to celebrate the half way point

We went to Provo, UT last week for a little visit to my sisters and to have a taste of winter. The big celebration was hitting our half way mark for this deployment. I thought the boys would want something special to mark the occasion and what makes the time pass faster than spending time with Aunts, Uncles, and cousins? After a very busy week we packed up the boys, the dog, and everything else but the kitchen sink and headed North East to good old Utah. Can I just tell you I, seriously, have the best car travelers on the planet. Garrett did great, but that is to be expected, he has his own DVD player and head phones to keep him entertained. Now Eli, he is still rear facing and only has his big brother to look at. Even with those odds against him he too did awesome. It makes solo traveling so much easier and I truly feel blessed.

One of the reasons I love visiting my sister is that there is never any pressure to go and do. Over the last 15 years I have always loved visiting her and it is always the same. Time to just get away and relax. We chat about nothing and talk about things are are heavy on our mind. We cook together and take turns cleaning up after meals. We change each others kid's diapers and run errands alone while the other sister keeps loving eyes on all the children. We rock each others babies to sleep when the other has had enough. We listen to our kids argue and fight and we cherish the moments when they lovingly play together. And we always stay up way to late!

This visit was just what this tired momma needed, a chance to get away from life and home for just a few days. The big highlight of our trip was taking our oldest boys skiing for a day. It was fun to spend the day together and it was fun to have to one on one time with our boys. They were so excited and Garrett has been talking about this day for weeks. We got them all bundles up, loaded to car down with skis and up the road 20 min we went ~ I'm jealous! I got Garrett enrolled in morning lessons and Owen took to showing Melissa and I the mountain. That little guy is quite the skier. His level was just perfect for me and we had so much fun watching and following him.

At 12:30 we met up for lunch. We ate a delicious lunch and talked about the morning and what the plan was for the afternoon. Garrett was joining us for the afternoon. He is nowhere near Owen's level so I knew the two of us would be getting some time alone. Watching my boy grow up warms my hears. I also love reliving my childhood through his. The first run after lunch was a little rocky. Garrett's skis were really loose so we had to go get those tightened up. He was also having a hard time controlling his speed down the mountain. He took a bad fall after bombing down a good size hill. I tried to explain the need for control and that is what we worked on for the rest of the day. I was the leader and he followed my tracks. It was a good system and I could see improvement by the end of the day. I loo forward to the day when my whole family can hit the slopes together. It will make these young days worth it in the end.

For the rest of the trip things were pretty low key. The boys played a lot of Legos and built some amazing creations. We were able to spend some time with Shirlee, Dusty and their sweet girls. I even conned my daring niece, Mary, to let me play with her hair...I need a little girl fix every now and again. The last night we were there. Shirlee and her girls came over after dinner. We got the kids ready for bed and decided we needed to get a picture with all these cute kids together. After we said prayer and all the boys were saying their good nights and good byes a little impromptu hug fest started. The best part was Eli joining in all on his own. It was a perfect ending to the perfect week surrounded by loved ones!