Just as I stood up to board the plane, she laid her head down on my shoulder and promptly fell asleep - no crying, no struggling, nothing - just instant sleep. After she woke up and ate, she played with the pull down trays for a little while. But for some reason, she wouldn't take a turn sitting on daddy's lap. Then she buried her face into the crook of my arm. When I moved my arm to see what she was doing, I noticed that she was sound asleep, with her belly across my legs and her face buried in the crook of my arm. I didn't think she was very comfortable, but when I tried to move her to a different position, she moved right back to where she was. She woke up as we were getting ready to land. What a traveler!! The little boys sitting behind us kept her very entertained until we left the plane. (Random note: this same family was on our return flight as well.)
The first week of our vacation we spent in Utah with the Richards family. We did so many fun things. Eliza was just slightly overwhelmed by the number of people she met, and the amount of constant attention she received. Of course, she didn't mind the attention; I worried that she would be so bored when we got back. We had a jam packed week full of fun activities like:
Celebrating Luke's 17th birthday who Eliza took to really well.
She just snuggled right in and fell asleep.
Eating at Bruce's favorite restaurant, Robintino's, courtesy of grandma and grandpa Smith.
Eliza really wanted to share her daddy's beloved Robintino's pizza and lasagna. Dad settled for a taste of water from his glass instead.
Visiting temple square with our friends from Illinois, the Jacks.
Then playing games at Kaylyn's parents house.
Playing ping pong on the kitchen table.
Wearing our traditional Christmas pajama pants on the 23rd. We didn't sleep under the Christmas tree this year and watch Christmas movies all night like we usually do. We kind of wanted to make sure Eliza actually slept that night.
Hanging out with cousins.
Baby Ezra (6 months older) and Baby Lillie (10 days younger)
Cousin Linda - soon to be 5 years old.
Playing with grandma who took her Eliza watching responsibilities very seriously.
Eating a breakfast of real Fruit Loops Christmas morning. (No one opens presents until everyone has eaten breakfast)
Standing in line youngest to oldest to tromp into the living room and see the Christmas tree full of presents. (Bruce hasn't been at the front of the line in 30 years - what a treat)
Opening presents - of course.
Don't ask me why I have that look on my face. Bad timing with the camera I guess.
Typical for most babies, Eliza loved playing with the wrapping paper. She was more interested in that then what was actually inside the paper.
Playing with new toys.
Falling asleep in the middle of opening presents because all the excitement was a bit too much.
She was sucking on the top of my DVD. When I felt her relax, I looked down to see that she zonked out on my lap. It made it hard for her to open the rest of her presents.
After the Euphoria of everything wore off, it got the best of all of us.
Wearing the Christmas dress I sewed to the one hour sacrament meeting full of wonderful music and words of Christ. The perfect Christmas program.
Drinking hot chocolate after church.
And enjoying a bath in grandma's jetted tub.
When we first put her in the big tub, she screamed at the top of her lungs the first three times we tried bathing her. After that, I think she finally realized that it was just a big bathtub, and she absolutely loved it. She kicked, squealed, and made a huge mess of the bathroom.
Not pictured (I'm not sure why):
Dinner and games with my former roommate Vernie and her family.
Lunch and visit with another former roommate Roni and her two girls.
The large family picture of all the Richards clan.
A temple trip to Bountiful with grandma Smith.
A visit to Lewiston/Logan to see Neal, Riki, Rachel, and Angeline.
A trip to Orem to see Blake, Suzanne, and Ezra and their new house.
A visit to grandma Smith's house (Christmas afternoon) to see cousins, aunts, uncles, etc
Grandpa Richards because he had strep throat on Christmas. :(
I liked that Christmas was on a Sunday. It helped us remember the reason we actually celebrate the season; although we had to break our usual tradition of wearing pajamas and playing games all day long.
We were grateful that we were able to spend Eliza's first Christmas with family, and hope we can spend more Christmases with them. May we have the Christmas spirit all year long.
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