It was an interesting day of flying to say the least. Our flight from Boston left about 30 min late and we ended up landing in Texas an hour late, which made us 30 min late for our connecting flight to Vegas. So we ran from that gate to our connecting flight gate (and when I say ran...I literally mean we ran). They had already shut the door, but hadn't left yet. There were a couple other people from our flight trying to get on so we waited patiently to see if they would let us on. So they would let us on, but said we wouldn't get our checked bags. Or we could have been redirected to Denver then to Vegas and have our bags. We decided it was worth not having our bags if it meant we had one less flight. So we got to Vegas and thought about leaving and not even seeing if our bags came. Luckily we hung out at baggage claim because out popped our bags! We decided it was a Christmas Miracle!
All ready to fly out!
We spent Christmas Eve with Benn's Dad and family. Unfortunately his grandfather was in the hospital. But we made a night out of it by going caroling to him in his hospital room. We even took some decorations to make it feel a little more like Christmas. I was really excited to do this because my whole family (and I mean WHOLE family...aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins) go caroling around my home town every Christmas Eve and this was the first time I wasn't going to be in Parma to do that. So even though I was bummed about that, I loved getting to make new traditions and getting to share such a special holiday with Benn's family.
We opened up presents at Benn's Mom's and then went to his Dad's on Christmas as well. Here are a few pictures of Rebecca opening presents. I use the were 'opening' loosely...
Benn helped her open her presents
She was OBSESSED with the bows and sparkly things.
Sitting in her mound of presents...lucky girl! She is very loved!
The next few days in Vegas were spent seeing family, old friends, and eating at all our favorite places. It was SO much fun to see everybody. Poor Rebecca rarely had a nap outside of the car seat but she was a total trooper. She did amazing! Time flew by and we worked hard to make time to see everybody.
Rebecca zonked out on her Aunt Emily's bed next to her glow worm. Maybe it's creepy, but I love watching her sleep! It's just soo cute!
We left on the 30th to fly to Spokane, Washington to spend some time with my sister and her adorable family. She's got 3 boys and they were great with Rebecca! I hate that we live so far away that these cousins don't get to hang out more often but I feel so blessed to have had a few days to spend with them. Rebecca would sit in a jumpy thing and the boys (2, 4.5, and 7) would pat her head and if she cried would quickly find her pacifier. It was so cute! My sister said the youngest kept asking when Becca was going to get there and the other two were asking her to save cardboard boxes so Benn could help them make a race track while we were there. I love that even though our time with these guys is few and far between, we are still able to make fun memories and enjoy our time together. Our first morning there we were sitting down to breakfast and Rebecca was making lots of noises so I told the boys that she was just so happy to see them! To which the 4.5 year old replied, "She loves us....she probably loves us too much." Here are a few pictures from our stay there...
Benn playing Lego's with the boys. Lego's are a favorite past time for Benn so he loved it!
These cute kiddo's wanted me to take a picture of them with Rebecca.
After a few days there, we drove about 6 hours to my parents house in Parma. We were able to see a lot of my family and enjoy a few days of relaxation after being on the go for about 10 days. We introduced Rebecca to rice cereal while there and I'm guessing she acted like most babies do for the first time eating something besides breast milk or formula. I wasn't sure she even swallowed any of it, but the poopy diaper confirmed that yes...she did in fact swallow some. :)
From here we took 10 hour drive with my parents to Hurricane, UT. For those of you who do not know where that is, it's right outside St. George. I have some family that lives there that we were able to stay with while Benn worked on recording his 2nd CD in St. George. We were able to go to the St. George Temple the morning before recording started with my parents and two sets of aunts/uncles to seal some family names together. It was such a beautiful way to start the recording process. This CD is mostly centered around our Savior, Jesus Christ and there is no better way to feel his Spirit than attending the Temple. The recording process went wonderfully! Benn worked with a singer for a track on the CD which was a fun and new experience for him. We were able to have lots and lots of people come experience this process with him which was so humbling to see the support and love from everybody. Benn's younger sister lived next door to the recording studio so on her free time she would walk on over and spend some time with us. I loved it because I got to pass Rebecca off to an Aunt for a little while!
Rebecca taking a break from her car seat on the long drive while we were stopped for some gas. Don't worry, when we started driving again, she was back in her car seat. :)
Grandma Cole taking advantage of her time with Rebecca
She was back to sleeping in the car seat during recording...poor girl
So here is Benn, the recording guy, and Rashida who is the vocalist that sang for the CD. We are very excited for the track with her in it!
Some of the crowd that came to support Benn.
My mom with Rebecca and Benn's sister Emily at the Studio. 2 of my uncles in the background.
Steve doing his thing while Benn does is. (If you look underneath the big TV, you can see the piano Benn is playing during recording.)
Rebecca having some daddy time :)
After we finished recording, we headed back to Vegas where we just hung around for a few days before we flew back to Vegas on the 14th. Here are a few more pictures to end the blog off...
Rebecca loves sitting at the piano with Daddy!
So this is a special picture that we will repeat in the future. For those who don't know, Benn had a younger sister named Rebecca who passed away when she was very young from complications she was born with. She lived to be around a year and a half. Our little girl is named after her so this picture is Rebecca visiting the grave site of her Aunt Rebecca.
If you made it to the end of this enormous post, give your self a pat on the back! :) Thanks for reading about our adventures. Just a quick note about Benn's 2nd CD. It's called 'Peace Before the Storm' and if you are interested in getting a copy, send an email to benncolemusic@gmail.com. We will begin selling them in about a month and a half. His first CD "Blessing of Promise" is on iTunes. This new CD is the same style as the first. Thanks!
Lovely description of all your fun events. I'm sure you were glad to get home, even though it is so far. There is something awesome about your "own" place. :) Love you guys!
ReplyDelete