Utah Adventure

We are back in Madison after a week long trip to Utah to visit family and friends. What a wonderful adventure we had! We took a bus to Chicago - Olivia loved being able to stand up and jump on the seats. Such a better way to ride than being strapped down to a carseat. :P We flew Southwest from Midway to Salt Lake City. The flight was smooth, and Olivia even took a great nap along the way. She was well-rested and rarin' to go by the time we met up with Grandma Cora, Grandpa Bill and Aunt Katie - hooray for happy reunions...and baby intro! This was Olivia's first introduction to family in Utah.

We spent the first few days of our vacation in Salt Lake. The weather forecast was ominous, but fortunately we never got caught in any rainstorms. We spent an afternoon at the zoo, and Olivia loved seeing all of the animals (and hanging out with her wild cousins!). I loved watching O get to know her Utah family. (Special thanks to Aunt Katie and Grandpa Strike for making a special trip to see us!) She and her cousin Elias were like two peas in a pod. She warmed up to the ladies right away: Grandma Cora, Aunts Katie and Emily were smoochin' her up!

We drove up to Ogden on Saturday morning to visit Strike, Jan and the 2 Scotties (Soooo sweet! They made O giggle to no end.) Cora hosted a family get-together on Saturday night, and it was wonderful for the three of us to spend time with everyone who could make it. Olivia was getting to the point of New Faces Overload, but she was a trooper!

On Sunday morning we headed to Ryan and Em's for breakfast: strawberry shortcake! Decadent... Elias showed us "Happy Feet", and Olivia danced, too. :) Ryan took Sean on a tour of the basement brewery, and we were excited to learn that his plans with the brew pub are progressing. O and her 2 cousins were all playing together at one point, and it made me really happy!

To be continued...