A Day in Annapolis

On Tuesday we all went out to the capital for the day. My parents drove me around Annapolis for the first time this past January but this was the first time I could ever remember walking around- I really like Annapolis! It's right on the bay, has lots of cute shops to walk around, the Naval Academy, and plenty of buildings with history and things to look at!

We took some pictures at the water- Luke was being a poor sport about picture taking ;)

all of us "kids" (minus Daniel)

Luke, Jacob, James, Andrea, me, Julia, Tyler, and Erika

Jacob likes to be a big boy and push his own stroller now, haha
After checking out the bay, we headed into the Naval Academy since it's right there and checked out the museum at the visitor center. Unfortunately we didn't see anyone walking around in uniform this time! That's always kind of neat, oh well. And here was a picture of the view from the Naval Academy.

crabby baby :)
Afterwords we walked in a couple shops, I liked all the souvenirs and was very tempted to buy something for Jacob but I didn't.... maybe I should have!

While walking around we also headed to this popular sandwich shop for lunch. It was really good! Then we walked around some more and made our way up to the Capital and got a quick little tour there.

where the Senators meet

inside the capital building- I liked the 13 colonies flag too

I met George Washington- we hit it off :)

Jacob didn't want to stay in his stroller, he loved running around here

After checking all that out, the courthouse, and a few other places we were ready to hit up Chick and Ruth's Delly for a 7 pound milkshake! Luke had heard about this spot on a TV special almost a year ago and knew that we had to go there and try it out with everyone! It was worth it!

so you get an idea of how big it was...

all of us going to town on that milkshake! there wasn't room for everybody, so we spooned some out into cups for everyone else...

including some for Jacob- he couldn't stop sucking it down!

while the rest of us went head to head and took care of business!

Ha I know it looks gross, but it was a pretty fun thing to try- and let's just say we all grew closer because of it! We were all laughing about it the whole time since we had to lean in so close to everyone, and all the tables around us were looking at us too. By the time we got to the bottom we were having a small competition to see who could pick up the most "moose tracks" with their straws, haha. So yea, definitely a fun family day at Annapolis!

The Orioles Biggest Fans!

On Monday all of us "kids" went to the mall to do a little shopping, and then that night we headed to Baltimore as a family to go to the Orioles game! The Orioles haven't had a very good season but we were all still pretty excited to go to another game- especially Tyler since he had never been to any baseball game before!

As we were walking into the field we could see the reporters getting ready for the show. Then of course Luke makes a scene and starts shouting, "I LOVE YOUR PROGRAM!" and "YOU'RE MY HERO!" and so on. So they tell us to come around and watch it, which of course several other people had started to gather to do as well. But it was pretty neat to watch them countdown to live TV and direct which camera to look at as they began talking and all, I had never seen that before!

Also, as soon as we walked into the field Luke ran away with Jacob into a room really quick, and came out with this certificate for Jacob! Another thing I never realized they did- they gave Jacob a certificate for his first O's game- Most Valuable Orioles Fan-so cool! And this picture is just adorable :)

Once again Jacob loved watching the baseball game. Poor kid was sooo sweaty though- it was unbelievably humid and muggy that night- even for Maryland. So we got the cheapest seats way up top so that you could feel more of the breeze. Actually we were supposed to sit in the very last row but we moved up to the front of that section since there were hardly any people there at all.

It was so cute- Jacob actually learned to say "charge!" and put his hand up when everyone else did! Even when he got tired and was practically asleep, when he heard the music da da da-da da-da, he knew to throw up his hand and would say "cha"! I was very impressed how quickly he picked it up!

It was so fun watching Tyler get into the game, mostly just since he hadn't been to a game before. But the game actually got pretty fun towards the end since they had a tie and had to go into two extra innings!

These lucky 4 made it to the big screen twice in the running for the crowd's biggest fans- I think they ended in about second place though. But that's ok- screen time was really exciting! Then later Tyler made the screen again and his parents and Erika and I were in the shot too but I was stuffing my face with chips, but I did see it! So in the end, everyone in our group made screen time at least once except Luke and Jacob, and my parents because they went to sit on the very back row for awhile to catch the breeze. Haha, but it made it a way fun night- and oh yea, the Orioles actually won! I think Jacob is good luck ;)

Maryland: Part One

After getting home from Idaho early Monday morning, that left me just about 2 days to do laundry, run errands, clean up the house, and pack again so that I could leave for the airport at 5 am Wednesday. I'm so grateful to Luke's parents who help me fly home standby- it makes going home so much easier- well cheaper at least. Anyway, Jacob and I were lucky to catch the first flight out of Denver, especially since I was actually running a little late. But they were nice enough to give me two seats together in the very last row, which I was fine with since Jacob wanted to be a little loud and it was a little more acceptable when no one was sitting directly behind me and it seemed all the kids in the plane were put in the last few rows anyway.
Compared to all the past flights I've done with Jacob when he was younger, this was not his best ride- and that's mainly because he has always slept practically the entire flight- so no I was not as lucky this time. He refused to let me try and rock him to sleep, and he really didn't want me holding him at all, especially since there was a nice spacious window seat next to me that he wanted to occupy. He didn't really want to play with his toys, or even eat much food. But he made friends with the older lady sitting next to me and she was so nice to play "elmo" with him. Then he spent the rest of the 3.5 hour flight poking his head through the crack of the seats in front of us to see what those kids were playing with, or taking pictures of his feet from my phone. It was one of those flights I really wished Luke was there with me to help me handle the wiggle-worm, but at least he wasn't too loud!
But of course, it was all worth it- I love going back home to Maryland! I felt spoiled going back after just being there 7 months earlier in late January, but another wedding reception was a good excuse.
As soon as I got to my parents house, Jacob went right back to playing with his good Aunt Andrea! I remember pushing my brothers on this same truck when we were younger :)

Then my first night in town I made the hour drive down to Luke's parents house to visit them for a night before they left on a week vacation to Disneyland. When I took this picture of Jacob I wondered if there is a picture somewhere of young Luke standing in front of the house he grew up in- I'll have to find one now :)

The next day, Thursday, all my dad's side of the family made it into town! I hadn't seen most of them since my wedding 4 years earlier! Above is Jacob with my dad's parents- Grandpa Jim and Grandma Joyce. And below is him with my dad's sisters- Aunt Patty and Aunt Julie. My Uncle Mark showed up that night too, and my Aunt Kathy and Karen showed up the next day. All but my Aunt Nancy came, but it was so nice to visit and spend time with all of them for a few days, especially since I feel I hardly get to see that side of my family. And none of them had ever met Jacob so I was glad they got a chance to see him- that boy definetly got a lot of attention!

Friday was a little rainy, so me and my sisters Julia and Andrea went to the movies to see Charlie St. Cloud- we loved it! And it was the perfect get-away for a rainy day, and my mom stayed home with Jacob while he napped- so I was really glad to be able to take advantage of some time away from Jacob while I could.

By Friday night Tyler and Erika had made it home from their honeymoon to the beach, and my parents had a big dinner for all our family, including Tyler's parents who also stayed a week at my parents house, and Tyler even had an aunt and her family stop by too which was nice. Again, more good family mingling time!

Then Saturday was a busy day getting everything ready for reception #2 which happened that evening. By the time that reception ended and we took down all the decorations, put away all the food, packed it all up in the cars, and unloaded it all at home, it was well after midnight! It doesn't make me look forward to hosting a big party or reception like that any time soon! But it was a fun reception, different from the first, but nice to see more familiar faces. (You can see more about the receptions two posts down in the big wedding post!)
By Sunday we got to relax and unwind a little bit since all the wedding stuff was finally over. We went to one hour of church and then came back home so that we could have lunch with my dad's family before they all left out of town. Erika and Tyler got to open their cards and gifts from their last reception, and they also played us a song! They were originally going to sing and play the song at the Idaho reception but never really practiced and didn't want to stress over it. So it was nice that they could do it for just us, it was actually really sweet! And Jacob loved it too! He plopped on the floor on his own just to listen to the nice music, it was too cute!
So once all the wedding stuff was over, and all the family left town, we had another whole week to play and do lots more fun stuff together! I was going to make one huge Maryland post but it would seriously be too long, so there's much more to come!

Good Old Idaho

So to make it out to Idaho for Erika's wedding I had my brother James help me make the 12+ hour drive. I was really grateful to have him with me, especially since it rained the whole second half of the drive. And we laugh about it now, but we were getting on each other's nerves about how we were driving and so on. We had already spent a week and a half together and were starting to act too much like a married couple, haha. But we only needed to drive to SLC to pick up Luke since he had been out of town working in Albuquerque. Then we just stayed in Utah for the night at Luke's sister's house- where I might add that the whole city had the power out until at least midnight, so that was interesting too. But the next day we had beautiful weather and the four of us finshed the drive to Twin Falls.

Jacob did great on all the car trips too, he didn't sleep as much as I would have liked, but he still did very well! And none of us had even been to the western side of Idaho or Twin Falls, so the scenery was much different than what we were used to in eastern Idaho and we really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere on the drive. But when we made it into Twin Falls, it was actually a pretty good sized town, I really liked Twin Falls!
We met up with my parents and my Grandma Varna who were already there. The rest of my family went with Tyler and some friends water rafting down some river, so the rest of us decided to check out the Falls. I didn't realize at the time that Twin Falls actually had a waterfall, and not only that, but they were huge!
Further down from the falls, on the main road you go over a really long bridge, and at the bottom there's actually an island where there are houses and 2 golf courses and everything- it was gorgeous!

We spent a long time checking out the falls, they were really incredible!

Then we wandered over a little bit to where the water just sits as a lake and Luke decides he wants to jump in! The water was a lot further down from the rocks than it looks, but there he goes!

He jumped in a couple more times after this and even recruited random kids to jump in too, haha he's a little crazy. Actually I think he gets so bored working all the time, that he was desperate for some fun and spontaneity!

We went out to eat for lunch every day with all my family, Tyler, and my grandparents Varna & Craig, and Vic & Susan. One day we went to this pizza buffet that had little arcades and rides and Jacob loved driving this little taxi car!

On Friday, the day before the big wedding, Erika was able to go through the temple for the first time. Here is a picture I took of the Twin Falls temple from the car- pretty good shot huh?

Here's Erika and Tyler- the soon to be married couple! Those of us that had been to the temple before were also able to attend to support Erika, so that was my parents, grandparents Varna and Craig, James, and Luke and I. Tyler was there of course too, and with his parents. So that was also a very special day and it was so nice to be with my family in the temple, especially since that rarely happens, and was the first time I'd been there with James or Erika.

Friday night, the night before the wedding, the Pickens family hosted a dinner in their backyard for all the family and close friends there for the wedding.

Here's Jacob with me and all my sisters!

Here's Jacob with Erika, this was about the best shot that I could get of the two of them the entire weekend! Silly Jacob was tired of everyone trying to get a picture with him ;)

After dinner, I hosted a newlywed game for Tyler and Erika that actually turned out to be really fun! I had about 20 questions so that were enough for everybody attending to ask one question at a time to the couple, and then Tyler and Erika used their boards to record their answers. The idea was for them to come up with the same answer, and I think they only ended up getting about 5 right! It was pretty fun, and we got to know a lot more about the two of them, and I think they learned a little bit more about each other too!

After dinner, the game, and a dutch oven dessert, the Pickens set off fireworks in their driveway. All the Idaho family and friends sat directly in front of the fireworks, and then all of us in the Meiners family sat way back in the yard- I think we were all too scared to sit any closer!

But Jacob enjoyed the show! Even though he was tired he watching intently and clapped the whole time :)

It was so fun getting together with all my family, and getting to know Tyler's family more too. The next day was the wedding and everything went smoothly, the weather was great and everything was beautiful. Luke and I left Idaho Sunday, I dropped Luke back off at the SLC airport so that he could fly back to Albuquerque for one more work week, and then I made the drive home with Jacob and arrived in Denver just after midnight Sunday night. But the trip was well worth it!