Sojourn to Utah: December 2024

We didn't think Dan would have Christmas off this year, so our trip to Utah for Christmas was a huge blessing!

December 20
We drove to Dallas as soon as Dan was off work, which ended up being around 7:00 PM, and stayed the night in a hotel so it'd be easier to get up and to the airport the next morning. Of course, we had to make a stop at Bucee's.

December 21
We woke up around 5:30 AM and made it to the airport a little after 6:00. It was a lot busier than we anticipated so I got in line to get our bags checked while Dan printed our tags. It was nice there was two of us to do this cause the line was super long. It did move fairly quickly but we would have been in trouble if we didn't divide and conquer. We made it to our gate right as the A list was boarding. Perfect timing, but cutting it close for sure.
Josh did really well on his first flight! I fed him right before take off and he slept the whole time. He was hungry when we got off so I fed him while Dan and the girls got our bags. For some reason Paige's bag got sent to Austin so Dan had to go and deal with that. They told us it'd be delivered to my parent's later in the day.

My Dad and brother picked us up. Hayley rode with Matt and Andrea to my parent's house and the rest of us were with my Dad in his truck. We're too big with Josh now to fit!
Dan went over to his parent's to help with something on their new house and he took the girls with him. Josh and I took a nap while they were gone. We were supposed to do our Santa pictures that late afternoon but since we didn't have Paige's suitcase that had her matching pajamas in it, we didn't go. I tried calling several times, left a message, and sent an email to explain the situation but got no response. So I'm hoping they will let us reschedule!

December 22

We went to church this morning. My Mom is still the ward chorister and did an excellent job conducting the Christmas program. It was fun to see former ward members and introduce them to Josh (since they had seen me pregnant with him last summer). When we got back to my parent's we got things ready for Jace and Josh's baby blessings. It was neat to have them blessed together. Jace went first before all our Hayward family arrived. Once they were they, Dan blessed Josh. We had some lunch afterwards.

Got a nap in before the blessing.

Andrea took Boston to Instacare right after church and he had strep throat and an ear infection so unfortunately they went back home so he could get feeling better. It was nice of them to do that though to try and keep everyone else healthy. 
Kelley's hung out at my parent's the rest of the day and it was pretty chill.

December 23
Dan went snowboarding this morning and into the afternoon. I finally got a hold of Fotofly and we were able to reschedule our pictures and get them done. I would have been so sad to ruin that ten year tradition! The mistletoe picture was my idea and I brought that all the way from Louisiana only to forget it, but thankfully Nikkole saved the day and brought it to us to use.

Fotofly was running behind, per usual, so I had to hurry and leave to get my haircut as soon as we got back from that. I was a little late but Kristie said it was fine and I just didn't have her style it at the end.
I went to a Christmas HIGH class that night. It was super fun and so good to see lots of my instructor friends.

December 24