Trying to Get Home

Hanging out in the St. Louis airport.  Sunday morning we got up early (5:45 our time!) in order to take the shuttle back to the Pittsburgh Airport for our flight home through Houston.  We boarded the plane on time, and the captain announced there was a flat tire that needed to be looked at on the plane and it should be 20 minutes.  We only had a one hour layover in Houston, so I said to Chris, "Get ready to run through the airport, I guess!"  After those 20 minutes, however, the captain came back on over the speakers and said it would be 2 hours instead to change the flat tire.  We all got off the plane and stood in line to be rerouted.  The best they could do was have us fly to St. Louis, wait 3 hours, then fly to Chicago, and then fly home to Salt Lake.  (If you look on a map, that route does not make a whole lot of sense, but we took it since we just wanted to get home).  I finished the book I brought, and Chris found a plug and sat on the floor playing a game on his laptop.

 The flight from St. Louis to Chicago was under an hour, and was pretty smooth, so that wasn't too bad of a flight (until the landing, which was the first time I've appreciated seat belts on a plane!).  I liked this picture Chris took of the sunset over Lake Michigan as we descended into Chicago.  That was a really pretty view.  The Chicago Midway Airport was super crowded.  The gate we were waiting at had 4 or 5 flights all around us all waiting to board, too, which made the place a zoo.  We met up with some people from our initial Pittsburgh flight.  One couple had taken the same route as us, and another lady had been bounced around on two additional flights just to catch up with us!  It had been a long day.

Finally on the plane to head home!  This flight sat at the gate for a long time, waiting for luggage (probably ours!) and then waiting for clearance from Salt Lake due to the storm that was heading in.  This flight was 3 1/2 hours, and it was scary.  The turbulence had us all bouncing around.  I was very, very glad when the plane landed.

Our flight landed at the gate at 10:20pm, a little less than an hour late (and much later than our initial 4:50pm time we'd been planning on arriving!).  We were so excited to just get our bags and meet up with Chris's parents, who had brought the kids in our van so we could go straight home, (my sister-in-law Caroline had driven her car to drive them back).  As we started walking from our gate, the Salt Lake Airport had a power outage.  The lights only went out for a few seconds, but when we arrived at the baggage claim area, nothing was moving.  The belts had to be restarted.  It was announced a few times that it would be working "momentarily" and then finally luggage started manually being handed through the small area generally used to distribute skis and other odd sized items.  That was insanity, especially because we weren't certain our bags even made it with us!  Thankfully, both our bags did eventually show up, and we headed outside at 11:25pm.  I know the time because I got a call from my father-in-law five minutes later when we were still trying to find where they were waiting.  We were standing in the wrong pick up line.  Eventually we saw each other and we could finally start the drive home in the snow!  We made it home at 12:20am, and we basically just dragged everything in the house and went to bed!  It was a crazy end to our fun trip! 

Pittsburgh Day 2

 For lunch on Saturday we went to Hofbräuhaus Pittsburgh (this time a Bavarian brewery!).  We really liked this place, too.

Chris looking out at the river before we headed in.  We had planned to ride the tram up the incline to Mt. Washington and see the view, but of course it started snowing on Saturday.  We could barely see the city buildings, so there didn't seem to be much point in freezing just to see the "view" -- so instead we just had a huge lunch.  

The main hall had the long communal tables and loud music, but we opted to sit in one of the quieter side rooms.  Upbeat Bavarian music was still playing, but we could sit at our own table and be boring with our soft drinks. 

 Look at this soft pretzel we shared!  It was huge!  We probably should have just stopped there and not also ordered lunch.  We were so stuffed. It was delicious, though!

 Finally the time arrived for us to head over to the arena for the Penguins vs. Maple Leafs game.

 We had pretty good seats, and it was very surreal to see all the players right there on the ice warming up when we first sat down.  I had brought my binoculars, but we didn't need them!

Chris had wanted to go to a Penguins game since he was a little kid, so I really, really had hoped it would be a good game.  It was really close at first, with the score being 1-1, then 2-2, and then 3-3 by the third period.  Then the Penguins managed to make it 5-3.  This video doesn't do justice to how loud it would be when everyone clapped and cheered for each goal.  That made it a lot of fun.

 We had to be sure to get the other big Pittsburgh food item - a sandwich from Primanti Bros. complete with coleslaw and french fries shoved inside.  We ate these between the second and third period break.  Have I mentioned we ate healthy on this trip?

Chris outside the arena after the game.  We were glad our hotel was right next to the arena.  There were a lot of tipsy people heading out, so it was nice to just walk next door and get away.

Sad it was over already, but glad it was a fun game!

Our Trip to Pittsburgh - Day 1

The cat always disapproves when suitcases are on the bed!  I'm not sure if she knows it means we're leaving, or if she's just irked they are taking up the space she'd like to sleep on, but either way, Duchess stared me down while I packed everything up on Thursday.

 Parker got up early to eat breakfast with us.  The sweet boy kept saying he was going to miss us!  We spent Thursday night at Grandma & Grandpa's so the kiddos would be all settled in.  We had to leave for the airport a little before 7:30.

 Headed on our first leg of the flight, from Salt Lake to Atlanta!  

 Hanging out and having some lunch during our 2 hour layover in Atlanta.  Chris was a little more reasonable and had noodles with vegetables, but I bought myself a Frito Burrito from Willy's.  It was as classy as it sounds - the lady making it dumped out a bag of Fritos into the burrito.  (It was actually really good, though!) When I opened it up to eat, I told Chris, "I'm making good choices today!"  

Knowing how much Kenzers loves strange art (haha), I sent her this picture.  We randomly passed this on our way to an escalator, and I made Chris stop and take a picture.  It was labeled as "bird dog" because it was made up of a bunch of tiny birds.  Kenzie did zoom in and find an owl, though!

I liked this picture Chris took. It was a long day of flying to get to Pittsburgh, but we arrived around 7:15 Eastern and took a shuttle to our hotel.

 We took another shuttle to Church Brew Works for a late dinner.  It was once a Catholic church that was then converted to a brewery and restaurant.  Perfectly reasonable place for two Mormons to go to dinner!

 Chris sampling the water.  The waiter kind of looked at us funny when we passed over the extensive beer list.  Water was really the only non-alcoholic drink they had!

It was kind of dark, so not the best picture, but here is my Pittsburgh salad, complete with french fries on it!  This was on my list of things I needed to eat while in Pittsburgh.  It was really good.  I don't know why fries on salad hasn't caught on elsewhere! 

 We tried to take a couple of pictures together this trip, but selfies are so awkward.  This day was our 14 1/2 year anniversary.  I don't know if anyone else counts half years like we do, but whatever.

 This was a fun dinner.  We kept saying, "Hey, we made it!  We're in Pittsburgh!"  I had been planning this trip secretly since August, and Chris had known since Christmas, so there was a lot of anticipation!

Dessert!  Bread pudding with a cinnamon sauce and ice cream.  Luckily I'd had a "salad" for dinner so dessert was okay! 

We were able to video chat with the kiddos ever so briefly each evening.  They were always bouncing around and busy watching TV or playing, so we just said goodnight and tried to beg them to change their underwear and brush their teeth!

Happy "Valentimes" Day

A couple of cute boys ready to head to school this morning with their Valentine's Day boxes.

Parker was all dressed up because he had a field trip to the symphony in the morning, and then his Valentine's Day party in the afternoon.  Tough schedule!

 I was impressed this year - Parker made his box all by himself.  He found the idea online and made the little scoreboard and cut bendy straws and string to make the soccer goals.  

 He was quite proud of his creation!  The only thing I did to help was cut the slot in the side for his Valentines.

Cameron wanted his box to look like Pikachu (a Pokemon, or "Pokuh-bon" as he says it).  Cameron helped glue his cheeks and eyes, and gave me a demonstration of Pikachu's powers.  Then he went off to play and left me to finish.  However, he was very, very happy when it was done.  (So happy, in fact, that Pikachu wound up with many little chocolate fingerprints all over his yellow body from being cuddled by a little boy who had recently eaten cookies...)

After his kindergarten party today, Cameron was thrilled to dump out his box and see all his loot.

 We made some heart cookies together, too.  Cameron kept saying, "I can do it," and he cut out the shapes and put them on the pan himself.  He was proud of himself for sprinkling the cookies with the pink and red sprinkles.  Happy "Valentimes" Day!

Blue & Gold

 Sometimes Parker is shy and timid, so I think it's so cute when he suddenly comes out of his shell a bit.  Putting on magic shows is one of those times.  Tonight at the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet, each boy did a quick talent.  The boys did everything from play the piano to jump on a pogo stick.  Parker wanted to do a magic trick.  

 He made up the routine himself, and even had a couple of little jokes to it.  I'm always amused when his sense of showmanship comes to the forefront. 

Since it was Olympic themed, here he's receiving his gold medal.  He did receive an actual award earlier, too, but I wasn't fast enough to take a picture of that.  He's enjoying Cub Scouts.  As cheesy as I think it is, I have to remind myself I am not the target audience for the humor - 9 year old boys love it!

Millie's Baby Blessing

Sunday our grand-niece, Millie, was blessed, and afterwards we had lunch with all of our family and all of the Goodworth side of the family.  About the only place we would fit was the gym that Mitchell's family owns (fitting, too, since Jessie and Mitchell met being stunt partners).  

 The kids were so excited to run around on the mats, jump on the trampolines, and launch themselves into the foam pits.  They went non-stop for a few hours straight!

 This cracked me up.  Every time I'd turn around, Wes would be standing at that little window and he'd duck down out of sight.  Everyone probably wondered what on earth I was laughing at since he would disappear.

 Parker swinging around off some ropes.

 Cameron loved that Hayden would chase him around and throw him in the foam pit.  If Hayden walked off, Cameron would tap him in the side and taunt him, "You can't catch me!" (Um, yes he could, but that was the whole fun!)

Great-grandma Arnold snuggling with the star of the day, Millie.  

Happy Love Month

I am aware that Valentine's Day usually refers to the romantic and mushy, but there are few things sweeter than little boys sharing and being buddies together.