It's the most wonderful time of the year

I love November.  Between Thanksgiving and me and my mom's birthdays, there is always plenty of good food and partying to be had!  This year was especially great because we got to visit Utah for the first time since we moved to Connecticut.  Although the week flew by, it was GREAT to see family and friends.  Here is what we did:

This was actually taken in Connecticut a day or so before we headed to Utah.  We got some dinner at the renowned Sally's Apizza with some good friends (who were nice enough to drive up from NYC).  We had a great time catching up. 

Monday Michael spent the day in class until about 2:30pm at which time we headed to the airport.  We didn't arrive in Utah until about 10pm (midnight EST) but it was good to see my parents and Michael's mom, who all came to pick us up.  We spent the drive home from the airport catching up and talking about plans for the week.

Tuesday morning I ran to Costco with my mom and sister to get some supplies for the baby shower on Saturday.  It was great to see my sister.  Keep in mind that neither of our families and none of our friends have really seen me pregnant because when we left Utah, I was only 4 or 5 months along and not really showing.  So, it was fun to see people and to be seen!

After shopping, we met up with our good friends for lunch.  The Lees were leaving town for the Thanksgiving break so I was so glad we got to see them while we were in town!

After lunch, we headed to The Great Salt Lake Guitar Co.  A small guitar shop in Provo privately owned by our good friend Reo Stika.  He just finished building this custom acoustic guitar (after spending over 1 year and HOURS AND HOURS on it) and gifted it to Michael!!!  He made the guitar from several different types of woods that would accentuate Michael's playing style.  Reo is such a generous guy!!

I love the 2-tone head stock (the piece on the end with the tuning pegs).  It's made of cocobolo wood and is very beautiful.

Tuesday night we hosted a get together with old friends at a clubhouse in our old housing complex.  There was a much better turn out than I expected!!  I just assumed that a lot of people would be out of town because of Thanksgiving.  However, the party went late into the night because so many people showed up--it was so good to catch up with everyone.

Friends from Aspiro

This is Reo who made the beautiful guitar (and his wife Liz) .  He is so talented!!

Our rock climbing friend (who also guided at Aspiro), Teancum

Friends from Aspiro

The photographer's wife :) and our friend, Melissa

Our friends Trevor, Rachael and Kory (L-R)

Our friend Hiro and her daughter

Good friends from our church on the left and another friend from Aspiro on Michael's right.

Friends from Aspiro and Daniels Academy (both places of past employment)

We worked with these folks for a long time.  Great people.

My pal (and old neighbor) Brooke.  She is due the end of January I believe.

We were trying to take individual pictures with people as they said goodbye before we figured that we should just try to get a group picture.  Although we missed some neighbors and friends in between, this is a fun group shot.

An even funner group shot!

Wednesday morning (way too early) we met for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel with some of our close friends .
L-R: Liz Stika, Katie and Louis Eubank (Michael is taking the picture).  Louis is from Maine and just applied to a bunch of Med. schools on the East Coast for next year.  It would be fun if they moved out this way!

After breakfast Michael went mountain biking with Reo while I went for a hike with my Mom and little brother.  This is taken from the mountains behind the home where I grew up.  I spent lots of time hiking and biking in these mountains as a kid.

My little brother and mom, whom I both adore

We made it to our destination: A large "G" painted on the mountain representing Pleasant Grove, the city where I grew up.  (Kind of a strange Utah tradition to paint a large letter on the mountain representing the name of the city)

My dear mother.  She was great to humor me and come along! --She is pretty amazing for an old lady :) :) :)

Doing what we do best-looking good in front of the camera

Continuing to look good for the camera

Wednesday night we met at Michael's mom's house to celebrate Thanksgiving.  The food was delicious-as can always be expected from Deb!  We even got to Skype with Michael's little sister who has been working in China for the past 6 months.  She comes home December 13th so we just barely missed her, but it was good to see her.  I really appreciate modern technology.  We had a great evening hanging out with Michael's mom and siblings.  It was fun to see his 2 nieces-who are absolute dolls!

Thanksgiving morning we had a delicious breakfast at Michael's dad's house.   This is us with Michael's step brother and his wife.  They are moving to North Dakota, so it was great to see them before the left!  Following breakfast, we headed to a local church building to have Thanksgiving lunch with my extended family.

My best friend from high school, Tasha, was in town on Thanksgiving so she stepped out of her family's festivities to say hi, wish me luck, and bring the baby a gift-so sweet of her!

Me and my sister-in-law Camie.  She is due the beginning of February and looks great!!  I was secretly jealous of her maternity shirt!  I have been too cheap to buy any maternity clothes, so I am left wearing my regular clothes (which tend to make me look bigger than I am because they get tight!)

After having Thanksgiving lunch with my family, we whisked up to Bountiful (about 1 hr away) to see Michael's extended family and have dessert!  Can you say "too many calories in one day?!?!"  It was great to see his grandparents especially.  They were in a serious car accident a few weeks ago and despite some broken bones, they are mending fairly well--better than their car which was "totaled" in the accident.  We all felt fortunate that they were okay.

I always love spending time with Michael's aunts and uncles.  Everyone is very friendly and talkative-They have always made me feel welcome.

Friday morning we met up for breakfast (more calories!!) with Justin and Janet Robinson, who are both friends and work colleagues.  We went to Peru with them last year and due to our East Coast move, weren't able to go on the trip this year. It was great to catch up with them-I'm grateful they made the drive down from Heber to meet us in Orem.  I spent a lot of time with them when I worked at Daniel's Academy (Justin is the CEO and Janet is always nearby helping Justin), so it was fun to get an update on how the school/students/other colleagues are doing.

Following breakfast, I got to get my haircut with my favorite hairstylist-which I had been looking forward to!  Then I went to the DMV to get my driver's license renewed.  I debated about whether to get a CT license, or stick with Utah.  Utah won.

Michael had the chance to work on some school work while I was gone, then we met my parents for lunch at Kneaders Bakery and Cafe.  My dad had the day off, so it was fun to get to chat with them over lunch.

As you can tell---we had lots of good food this week.  We decided to take the afternoon and go to the local gym.  It felt great to work out before heading to a dinner date with our close friends Reo and Liz Stika!  We went to our favorite pizza place in Utah called Pizzeria 712.  I know that Connecticut is known for it's amazing pizza, but I still think that Pizzeria 712 has better ingredients and topping combinations than anything we've tried out here.  We have had pizzas with better crusts here in CT though.

Michael, Reo and Liz went hot tubing (bummer of being pregnant) and I headed to Deb's to help with preparations for my baby shower the next morning.  We ended up heading over to my folk's house to watch a movie and spend the night.

Saturday (11.26) was my mom's birthday and my baby shower.  It was a great day, and crazy busy.  The shower was a lot of fun and I thought we had a great turn out (thanks to all that made the time to come!).  Michael went bowling with his dad and brother's during the shower.  Since he still doesn't know the sex of the baby, he tried not to be present since mostly everyone in Utah knows the sex but him.  Bummer I didn't get any pictures during the shower!!

Following the baby shower, all my siblings and their families stuck around and we had a pizza party to celebrate my mom's birthday.  We played a silly dance game on their X-box and had way too much fun. Michael had lots of fun playing outside with my nieces, they absolutely adore him.

Kaylee is my oldest niece, and she absolutely adores Michael!

My brother-in-law, Kalun was a good sport and helped with their human pyramid while I took the picture

Michael taught the nieces Yoga poses and then we had a great time taking pictures of them all performing

Like I said, all my nieces love their Uncle Michael

Pregnant Yoga.  We were far from achieving Zen as you can tell--but at least we did the pose!  :)-- Not bad for 8 months pregnant.  Poor Michael had to support me and the baby.  Who took the picture you ask?  My 5 year old niece--I love how savvy young kids are!

Love this photo! Can you tell these are all my nieces--love that blonde hair!

Saturday night Michael had to fly back to CT so we headed up to SLC with his family for one last dinner together at the Red Iguana--which we have been craving ever since we left Utah.  His siblings gifted me a sweet birthday present and we all got to enjoy some amazing food before taking Michael to the airport for his red-eye flight.  It was hard to say goodbye, but it was much cheaper for me to fly back a few days later after the Thanksgiving rush-plus, he had to get back for classes starting on Monday so we said our goodbyes and I headed back to my parent's house.  Fortunately some friends from our church happened to be on the same flight back to CT and ended giving Michael a ride from JFK to New Haven so he didn't have to catch the subway then train around 6am in NYC.  What a blessing.  He was so relieved.

Sunday was great.  My little brother and I went to church with my mom in the morning, then I went to my old church in the afternoon to see more friends.  It was great to catch up with people.  We lived in our home in Orem for about 4 years, so we made a lot of close friendships during that time.  I also got to visit my friend Rachael who recently had a baby, so I was able to pick her brain, as well as just catch up.   She was very sweet and loaned me some baby things that she wasn't using anymore.  Not to mention, a few months ago she mailed me a maternity dress and jeans that I have been wearing so I wouldn't have to buy any maternity clothes.  What a great friend!!!  I loved getting to meet her new baby!

Sunday evening I had a quiet, yet LOVELY dinner with Michael's mom and little brother, then headed to my folks where we watched a movie and slept!

I got to have lunch on my birthday (Monday 11.28) with my cousin who drove down from Logan to visit me while I was in town!!   She is a ballerina as well as a ballet instructor so she was unable to attend my baby shower on Saturday because the annual Nutcracker performance conflicted.  What a sweetheart to make the drive (2hrs each way)! Not to mention she brought the baby a cute gift!  It was great to catch up.  Not to mention this was the first time I was able to meet her little guy.

Afterwards, my mother and I went shopping to get ideas for cribs, strollers, car seats, etc. so I could pick up a few things when I got back to CT.  In the afternoon I met up with a good friend from high school for a short reunion.  Deb (Michael's mom) came to visit me at my folk's house to say goodbye and give me a sweet birthday card and gift.  I feel so fortunate to have the in-laws that I do!  They are so loving, generous, and accepting of me.  My mom made me a delicious birthday dinner.  My grandparents also stopped by to say good bye and wish me a happy birthday before we rushed out the door to make a very important laser tag appointment with my siblings and their families.  We played a great game of laser tag then headed to get ice cream sundaes.

My niece going to town on her ice cream cone.  So entertaining.

This isn't my whole family (2 of my brothers and their families couldn't make it), but it was a great group that got together to celebrate my birthday and say goodbye.

After the party, my mom and I headed to my sister's house where we hung out and she gave me some of her old baby clothes/accessories that she thought I would find helpful.  I love those 2 gals!

Tuesday morning my mom took me to the SLC airport where I began my journey back to CT.  I found this tree made of poinsettias quite lovely.  It hasn't really hit me yet that Christmas is just around the corner.

An interesting internal debate: Was I heading home, or was I leaving home??

The jury is still out on that one.  Regardless of the verdict, Michael and I had a great time in Utah AND it was nice to return to CT and see Michael again.  We were only apart for a few days, but every time we talked on the phone, he mentioned that he missed me and the baby.  I guess it's really starting to feel like we're a legit family (not that we weren't a family before-but you know what I mean).

Well-this is quite the entry, so I'll end here for now and have to catch you up later on what life's been like since returning to CT.  Michael planned a marvelous birthday weekend for me since he wasn't around to celebrate my birthday with me in Utah.  More to come.

Signing off at 37 weeks pregnant (officially full term!)-

Jodi