Park City with the Peters' Clan 2012

Once again we got to enjoy the Westgate Lodge and Spa in Park City with Steve's family. We also went last year, but it was in October, you can read about that time here. But the time we went before that was when I was pregnant with Em! 

We are so lucky that Steve's parents have invested in this place for all of us! This year it consisted of a presidential suite with a kitchen, large common room, 2 bedrooms and bathrooms in the main suite, and then 2 smaller rooms that each had a bedroom bathroom and small kitchen. PLUS they had two more separate suites, one large and one small. All in all, plenty of room, plus more to spare!! We had a few visitors both family and friends throughout the week. Steve's youngest brothers Mike and Cory were with us for the first weekend, but then they went on a hiking/camping trip with an old scout leader, so we invited the scout leader's wife and four kids to come up, so you will see their kids in the slideshow below. 

One of the best things about the presidential suite was the hot tub on the deck again! A little different this time around when it was actually still pretty warm outside! So we mostly used it at night... and with the heat turned town! Which worked out for the little girls and me being pregnant..... although I couldn't enjoy it until about 5 days after we got there due to my gallbladder surgery. Yeah, we went up just the night after my surgery! But I could either lay around and try and recover at home with no help for Em when Steve was at work (and I wasn't supposed to be lifting her), or recover in luxury with help all around! Easy choice in my book! 

I could go on more, but I'll just let the videos and pictures speak for themselves! Oh and keep in mind that the pictures that I look like the walking dead were when I was still recovering. Couldn't take a shower for the first couple days and was having a hard time even getting up, though I DID! Friday and Saturday, I just tried not to be in pictures at all, but Sunday was when I finally started to feel back to myself, was able to shower and I got ready and went out! 

First I will share a couple pictures that uncle Mike got, since we forgot to include them in the slideshow, but Mike is quite the photographer as well! 

 I had called to ask the Dr if it was ok for me to ice my incision on my belly-button (since that was the only one giving me any pain.... probably because of the pressure of my uterus and baby boy!), and she said it was ok for 20 minute incraments, she then suggested that my hubby give me a back rub, to which he complied, and then cute as could be, Em wanted to help too! FYI, this was Saturday, so yes still not back to the land of the living ;) 

Big smiles from my cute girl! Uncle Mike catches them better than us! 

And here's the rest of the pictures and videos in the slideshow!

Remember 720p and full screen for optimum viewing!

Thanks again mom and dad (Stan and Debbie) for this wonderful vacation! 

New Year's Trip to Sedona

So, I got a comment the other day about how we (as a family) are always going on trips.... really?? I guess we do go on a lot, but most of the time they are just little getaways. Like the trips to Steamboat Springs every year on my birthday, a place very near and dear to my heart, so this is always something Steve does for me :) And then the conferences, and of course here and there we get to go some places thanks to my wonderful grandmother and grandfather! They are members of the Gold Crown Resorts, so get points toward any Crown Resort... anywhere. Most of the time we take them up on going to Sedona... we love it there! I took Steve and Em there for the first time on our way back from our very first Chromosome 18 Conference to San Antonio back in 2008 (before I blogged).

Em was nearing 7 months in these pictures

Then my mom, Em and I went for Spring Break in 2010, I did blog about this trip here.

I also have been several times growing up with my family

 Me, one of my besties Ashley and my cousin Cassidy

Me, my baby brother Connor (he was about 2 here) and Cassidy again

My cousin Alexis, Cassidy, me, my cousin Melissa and my cousin Ashlee (this shot is courtesy of my grandmother, she was crazy and took us five girls ((all pre-merging teenagers)) on this trip by herself!)

All of the above pictures were summer 98 and 99 (which would have put me in Jr. high and first year of high school), please don't tell me I look the same!

Now for this trip, we left the day after Christmas.... not as early as we would have liked because it took us a while longer to get out the door in the first place... and then we had to turn around and come back for Em's formula because of course we can't just go to the store and buy some replacements! One of the many joys of having a special needs child... and one that's allergic to everything at that!

So we didn't get into Sedona until about 11 pm and I was sick, sick, sick when we got there! Thanks to the last stretch of about 10 miles on about the windiest road I've ever been on (and I've driven in the Alps!)... and not lit at all, so I couldn't see very well :P So, I spent the first night throwing up... and that was not the end of the sickness for the trip sadly! 

The resort we stayed at was nothing short of spectacular! We really didn't even have to leave! There was a mini golf course, playground, amazing grounds to walk around with a pond and ducks (we couldn't pass up an opportunity to take some amateur pictures of our cute girl! And in one of the cute dresses the Bowen family gave her, it went so well with the scenery!). And they had activities going on everyday! Also, for Christmas, the whole place was decked out with light displays, they called it "Red Rock Fantasy" and were charging people $5 to walk through. Since we were guests we didn't have to pay and had a lot of fun looking at it all! And Em was in heaven when we saw the Rapunzel display for the first time! Sadly we never got to swim in the gorgeous outdoor spa, because we still have yet to locate some of our swimsuits since the move (which includes the only one that fits Emarie right now)... the more and more I think about it, I'm worried we left them in Indianapolis since that's the last time we used them :( Anyway, we figured there'd be no problem finding one in a place that's pretty warm year-round... but NO such luck. We finally found a Walmart in a town 30 miles away and found something that would work... not exactly a swimsuit, but it was on clearance for $1.50, can't beat that! But the day after we bought it is when Em started to get sick. And well, since her surgery was coming up, we didn't want to take any chances of her getting worse!

Despite the amazing resort, it often had a lot of people coming and going... not just because of the light display, but there was also a fairly new shopping center with tons of restaurants (which we tried to eat at a couple of them since they were within walking distance from our room. But each of them always had more than an hour wait, so it didn't happen). So we did leave quite often to sight-see and just admire the gorgeous red rocks surrounding the area! The Indian ruins are always a must see, as well as the Church of the Holy Cross that is built right into the rock!

We came across so many nice people while we were there, ones admiring our gorgeous Em and telling us things like, "God gave the world special children to teach the world compassion" wow! I really like that and it made me cry that a stranger felt inclined to tell us that and Em even gave her a hug! Also, we ate a restaurant one night where the manager gave us free food... just because I was admiring the spectacular salad bar! 

We spent a very low-key New Years in our room, after going out for dinner and grabbing a Redbox movie. Steve and Em were both battling a cold at this point, so we thought it was best to stay in, even with all the parties going on all over the place! But we usually like it better this way anyway. 

So, we headed home on New Year's day (Sunday) because Steve actually had to work the next Monday when most got it off. Before we had left, I had noticed a bit of dried blood in Em's left ear and figured she was getting an ear infection, though I thought it weird because we had treated her for one of these when we treated for a sinus infection 2 weeks before Christmas... but I went ahead and started some drops in there that morning. And we got a picture with the Sesame Street display and Em's beloved Abby Cadabby and then fed the ducks before we headed on our way. When we were about halfway home, in Paige, Arizona, we stopped for lunch and that's where I discovered Em was now having large clots of blood expelling from her ear. I was totally freaked... and it started to show that it was really bothering Em when we were about 3 hours from home (this is where she pretty much screamed the rest of the way). As soon as we got in cell service range again I immediately called her dr's office and got her an appointment for the moment we'd be into town at the after hours office. Em did fall asleep for about a half an hour, maybe 45 minutes and she had had a dose of Tylenol, so she was feeling a bit better when we got there. The doctor couldn't see in her ear because there was too much blood, but decided it would be best to put her on some higher strength drops and a heavy-duty antibiotic. All in all, it meant for no surgery for Em the next Wednesday :( But thankfully the anesthesiologist was ok with doing it 2 weeks later since it wasn't anything really serious (like RSV or pneumonia), and 2 weeks should be enough time for it to clear out of her system. And well, she was able to have the surgery and you can read about the surgery here and here. 

All sickness aside, it was a great trip! And here's the highlights in slideshow form (yeah I'm pretty fond of these slideshows, though Steve did most of this one!)

Just to be redundant! Choose 720HD instead of the 320p and full screen to see everything best!

Birthday Trip!

*Play song, 'Stars and Boulevards' with this post

Steve yet again did not fail to impress for my birthday! Just like last year, he took me to one of my favorite places, Steamboat Springs Colorado... but this time we stayed in the cutest little place- a bunker house on a ranch, so secluded and quiet.... at night it was pitch black and all we could see, as we relaxed in our own private hot tub, was the sky..... and you know, you can't really appreciate the beauty of the universe until you are in a place that is dark enough to see every star in the sky.

It was perfection at it's best. 

But true to form, Em did what she does best on a trip and that was get sick and vomit non-stop. But, we've learned our lesson from so many past experiences, so we were overly prepared and didn't let anything stop us (neither did Emarie) from having the fun that we all needed!

First, we had a quick stop off at the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal- also a place that holds a lot of memories for me. 

 Fossil Find

 See Emarie's look of "YIKES!" 

 And yeah, I know this one has way too much lens flair, but I thought we had to document the fact that she did not like being so close to this thing! She would not tear her eyes away from it, and can't say I blame her (didn't realize they were so big!), and I loved Steve's comment when we saw it, "bet those things stunk...... a lot!"   I'm sure they did.... I'm sure they did.

 She was starting to realize at this point that nothing was real..... or at least not alive!

 Just love the look on her face here!

 "Ok guys, that's enough!' (FYI, I think she's never looked more like me in these couple of pictures!)

 "Uhhh, what's that in the water?? Looks like it could swallow me whole!"

"Wow!"

Several hours later, a look at our bunker house

 Yeah, she loved it here! 

Too cute, am I right?!

I got to enjoy hot breakfast every morning!

And Em (when not feeling the best) enjoying her iPhone *post to come on this iPhone very soon!

Yeah, we were pretty lucky!

The view

I know it doesn't look like it, but Em did enjoy the hot tub! And don't worry, we turned it down!

Steve wanted to play photographer this weekend.... actually it was a compromise for the boots I wanted to buy myself (since I've never spent that much on a pair of shoes since we've been married!), so I allowed him to take a few pictures of me in my boots and he of course went a little overboard... but I promised I'd post a few as long as I could pick them (he chose the ones he posted on facebook)

 I do love these boots!

 These do remind me though, that I still need to loose some pounds!

The ranch had several dogs about the property and they were so fun (except when they tried to jump in the hot tub!), so of course this one had to come by when we were outside :)

What would a good photo shoot be without the cutest girl in the world though??

We also went back to the same Smoke House we went to last year.

It was a bit cold that night!

 She was fascinated with her mittens.... which I'm glad! I was afraid she'd pull them off!

 The pig outside the smoke house

 Was using the little camera while we were in town, so pictures aren't as great... this one being too dark, but I love the smile on her face anyway!

And before we left the next day, we got a few more pictures of the cutest girl in the world!

 Oh man has she gotten expressive!

Ok, now behind the scenes, in order to get her to smile I had one of her favorite things in the world...... did you guess it??

And true to fashion, I had to let her hold her beloved Rapunzel for a few!

 Ok, this one was just too funny, because it looks like she is trying to eat that weed that's in front of her from the picture standpoint, when in reality it was quite a ways in front of her, so I'm not sure what she was doing!

Like I said, the girl's got some expression!

 Bye, bye Colorado! See you again next year!

And hello again to Utah!

Yup, husband did good!