Make way for the Auntie Van

On New Years Eve Caleb became a dad! Rosalind Anne Ham was born at 4:34 AM and was 7 pounds 3ozs and 21 inches long.  You can tell by the picture how excited Caleb is to be a dad.  Poor Johanna had a very rough delivery and will have a very long recovery.  She is amazing and never seems to complain.  They are both just so happy to be parents. 

We were in Arizona when we got the news and Lori and I were talking about when Gary and Julie would get to see Rosalind.  Julie and Lindy were flying into Provo on January 3rd to bring Lindy back to BYU.  I texted Julie and told her that I would be happy to drive her out to Idaho to see her.  She was only here for two days and we had play tickets Wednesday night, so we weren't sure if it would work out.

We got it figured out and I said I was happy to just drop them off and let Lindy and Julie visit with them because I knew I wouldn't have been ready for company right after having a baby.  Julie talked to Caleb and he called me to tell me they would love to have me come see Rosalind and everyone was welcome to come.  He was so excited to show off his beautiful new daughter. 

Julie sent out a text and mom, Tiff and Mel said they were in and we were ready to finalize plans.  I spent the drive home from Arizona looking for places to stay. I found a great deal on a big house and booked that.  Right after I booked it the Provo Airport was shut down because of an airplane crash. Julie and Lindy were supposed to fly in Tuesday morning and we were going to drive out Tuesday afternoon and drive home Wednesday.

They delayed their flight and then ended up canceling it.  We were all scrambling for a new plan.  Julie spent hours on the phone trying to figure it out.  I told her there was a flight on the same airline that flew into Idaho Falls Tuesday night.  I was hoping they could switch their flight and then we could still drive down Tuesday and  pick them up in Idaho that night. 

I'm sure Julie spent her whole afternoon on the phone, but she got it done! I had canceled the Airbnb so I rebooked that and we were all set. 

I was really glad that we left early in the morning to come home from Arizona because I had a lot to do before I headed out to Idaho the next day. 

Right after lunch on Tuesday I left and picked up Tiff, Mel and mom and we headed up to Rexburg.  We named my van the Auntie van and had a lot of fun making lots of jokes about the auntie van.

The house we stayed in was so nice.  It was a new house and every room was decorated so cute.  I had to send Keith and the boys this picture of the Harry Potter room under the stairs.  It was so nice that we all had our own bedroom.

After we went to our place we went to Costa Vida for dinner.  We told Caleb that we wanted to bring them dinner so he sent us their orders.  Great Grandma Ham could hardly wait to meet Rosalind.  We went over there right after dinner.  Johanna and her mom were in the bedroom with Rosalind when we got there and her mom said, "Just a minute, Johanna wants to be ready to see your faces when you see the baby."  I thought that was so cute.

Poor Johanna tore so much that she can't move without help.  She is stuck in bed and needs help to do everything.  Luckily her parents can stay with them and help.  It is such a great situation because they  all get along so well and I know Caleb and Johanna are so grateful for the help.  And I think grandma and grandpa love being there, so it's perfect. 

After mom got a turn we all took turns holding her.  It was so fun to hold a newborn again.  She is just perfect and so loved!

We all got to hold her a couple of times and visit with them.  Johanna is such a trooper, you could tell she was in so much pain, but she kept saying how much she loves her and she knows it is all worth it. I still can't believe they were okay with all of us coming, but they seemed to be happy about it. 

We had to get a picture of the Aunties in front of the Auntie van. Julie and Lindy's flight was delayed so they ended up getting in close to midnight. Tiff went with me to the airport and Mel stayed at the house with mom.  We were so glad when they finally made it in, after all of the trouble it was a relief to see they finally made it. It was so great to see Lindy.  I have missed her so much.  I love talking to her.  I was happy to be able to hear more about her mission and catch up after a year and a half!

It was a late night, but I think we were all able to get some sleep.  The next morning Mel and I dropped Julie and Lindy off at their apartment.  The apartment isn't very big and it's pretty squishy, especially with Johanna's parents staying there, so we told them that they should just go and enjoy some time since we got to go there the night before.

I can't believe Julie is a grandma.  She is the coolest grandma I know!

We got all packed up and checked out of our place and then we went and picked Julie and Lindy up.  Julie said they were fine if we all came in, so we went in and got to hold her one more time.

The grandmas! 

I was so glad that I got to hold Rosalind again.  She is just so sweet.

I'm having a hard time believing that I'm so far removed from having babies that my nephews are having baby's of their own. 

We all held her one last time and took lots of pictures and then we had to head back to Utah. I'm so glad we went and that everything worked out. It's a little crazy that all of us Ham's threw together a last minute trip, we are not the spontaneous kind usually. I'm grateful we could all go.

On Wednesday we drove home and dropped everyone off and went straight to dinner and the play.  I am so glad I saw this play, it was not one I was dying to see, but wow, it was amazing.  The whole production was just fantastic! Julie and Lindy stayed at my house Wednesday night and Thursday morning they went and got Lindy moved into her apartment.  Mel and mom came here and we met Julie and Tiff for lunch while Lindy was at rehearsals for her dance company. I had a migraine so I had to go home and try and sleep it off real quick.  I was able to meet up with them later.  It was fun to have some more time to visit with Julie and Lindy.  Julie went back to Salt Lake that night with Mel and flew out the next morning.  It was a quick trip, but we sure packed a lot in. And now Lindy is back in Provo, yay! She texted last weekend and asked if we wanted to have an auntie movies night.  Tiff was out of town, but Mel came down and Lindy came over and spent the night. It was so fun!

No, I was nauseous and you yelled at me!

On New Years Eve Hallee had a melt down right before midnight and didn't feel good all of the sudden.  I panicked because I was worried she would throw up.  I let out my frustrations on her and said, "see this is why you shouldn't stay up until midnight." Luckily Keith stayed calm and got her calmed down and in bed and she was fine the next morning.  Jonah asked if Hallee stayed up until midnight and I told him she did, but she was cranky.  Hallee heard me and yelled, "No, I was nauseous and you yelled at me!"  Okay, maybe I was the cranky one, sorry Hal!

We took the dogs on lots of walks while we were there. 

We would walk to the park and let the kids play for a while.

Hallee and Wyatt never wanted to go on the walks, but they always ended up having fun.

Wyatt liked to take both dogs and run with them.

The kids had fun racing.

Hallee and I took the dogs on a walk and she loved holding on to both of them. We both loved seeing the flowers, it gets so dreary in the winter without them.

I loved when we all played games together!

Lori printed up some memes and sayings for the What Do You Meme game.

It was so fun to use pictures of our family for the game.  

We all laughed a lot during this game.  I'm going to copy Lori because that was so fun.

Caitlyn thought it was pretty cute that Jackson sat on her lap and put his paws on the table while we played.

Wyatt decided he needed to dress like Ness while he played Super Smash Bros.  

I decided Jackson needed a haircut and we were able to get him in that day.  Wyatt wanted to go with us to pick him up.

Wyatt loves to play Monopoly with uncle Matt. He was happy that they fit a game in.

On New Years Eve Lori had this fun game for the kids to play.

They would blow out the candles and they got the prize that was next to the farthest candle they blew out.

The kids all loved it and they got pretty good at getting the prizes that they wanted.

Cody and Jonah went to a party on New Years Eve.  

The rest of us played games for a while and then Elena went to a church dance.

Caitlyn didn't want to go, so she stayed back with us.

Hallee and I were both done at midnight so we went to bed and Keith took Wyatt outside to do sparklers.  On Sunday it poured rain all day.  We went to church and then played games and watched Matilda.  It's crazy how fast a week flew by.

We left early Monday morning so we could get home early.  We were blessed with good weather and road conditions both ways.  We were greeted with snow when we got back to Utah, a lot of snow.  We shoveled three times by Tuesday morning.  I was ready to go back to Arizona! We sure appreciate Matt and Lori letting us come visit.  They always make us feel so welcome and we all have a blast.