Easter Weekend - Day 4 - Babies First Easter

For some reason Easter didn't go like I thought it would.  I think I was just having a bad day and maybe subconsciously having anxiety about the drive home or something.  

I had to wake the babies up early from their nap to get to church on time…and then the whole time at church was spent in the hallways trying to corral three busy one year olds.  I'm sure anyone with a 12 month old can relate.  We just wanted to go home, but my mom wanted us to stay to take a family picture afterwards (which I'm so glad we did).  After church we planned to do a BBQ at the park with an Easter egg hunt.  We hurried over to the park, but no one was really ready, so I just threw some eggs down by my babies and pretended they had their own little hunt.  Curtis took them home to nap so he missed out on the BBQ.  

The house we stayed at in St. George was incredible.  It managed to fit all 27 of us comfortably.  But it's still hard with triplets not being home, with your baby gates, go-to toys, high chairs, etc.  I was constantly worried about the babies climbing up the stairs - which Cruz managed to do without me noticing.  Thank goodness he made it up safely.  I was just stressed and overwhelmed that day for some reason.  It all ended up great though.  I just needed to relax. 

17 Easter baskets all ready for the kids to wake up

I didn't really know what to put in their Easter baskets.  I went with a swim suit (which I had already purchased for them anyway, but hadn't used yet), towel, sippy cup, yogurt metlts, and an Easter egg filled with skittles (which I later ate). 

 Grandma and Grandpa with all 17 grandkids - 10 years old and under. **2 more coming in July!**

Such amazing grandparents!

 The whole family (minus my brother John).  My family is seriously incredible.

 My sweet little family on Easter Sunday.  I'm so grateful for them.

 Julie

 Cruz

 Kash

 Cruz checking out Julie's Easter basket. 

 He loved the eggs. 

 Kash in his bunny ears from Aunt Jill.  He was the only one that kept taking them off. 

 Cruz

 Kash finding Easter eggs...

 and putting them into his basket.

 Three little bunnies on their FIRST Easter! 

Kash loved putting the basket on his head, then pulling it off to play peek-a-boo.  

 Cruz

  

 Cruz & Kash

 Cruz

 I love Cruz's cheeser.

Julie was ready for a nap.
We had planned to leave Sunday night and drive back to CA through the night.  After the experience we had driving out, we knew we had to try something different.  We decided to leave at 4am and hope the babies slept the first few hours.  It worked for the most part.  We made it past Vegas when they all started to wake up hungry.  We stopped in Primm and fed them, changed their diaper, and got them out of the car for a little bit.  They were happy the next hour or so, then it came time for a nap.  Julie did awesome again and the boys were over it.  They cried on and off for a while.  Cruz finally fell asleep and twenty minutes later Kash was screaming and woke him up.  I was SO frustrated.  I sat in the back again and tried to keep them semi happy for the last few hours.  We probably should have stopped again to feed them, but we just wanted to get home.  The last hour and a half was brutal, but we finally made it home.  It was rough, but at least a little better than the drive out there.  I'm SO excited to be home and don't plan on taking any road trips for the next few years.  I would never have missed Drew's baptism, but if I had to do it all over again I think I would have flown into Vegas or St. George or something.  Oh well, live and learn. 

Easter Weekend - Day 3 - Drew's Baptism and Swimming

Drew's baptism was absolutely perfect.  Grandma and Curtis were the main speakers and they did such a great job.  Drew also played/sang "I'm a Child of God" on his guitar.  It was by far the best part.  He's seriously the sweetest kid.  I'm so glad we could be there!  It made everything completely worth it. 

We headed to Pizza Factory after the baptism.  The BEST breadsticks ever!

After the babies second nap we went swimming.  They had an indoor pool a mile away from the house we were staying at.  The babies LOVED it!  You definitely need one on one adult per baby.  They are fearless and would just crawl out to the deep part.  

Julie

Kash

Cruz

Cruz

Kash

Cruz

Kash

Julie

Easter Weekend - Day 2 - Family Hike

The boys started out the day with 9 holes of golf.  

Friday afternoon we headed out for a family hike.  It's hard to schedule things around babies who still nap twice a day.  We left between their naps.  We had every intention to go hiking, but the wait to get into the hike and eating lunch took a little longer than we anticipated, so Curtis and I headed home to put the babies down for a nap while everyone else hiked.  It was still fun being together.  Plus…we ate Cafe Rio for dinner that night.  Definitely a must when you're in Utah.  Haha. 

 Aunt Stephanie and Kash

 Daddy and Cruz

 Uncle Dan and Julie

The whole gang.  Pretty much the best family ever.  We are so lucky!

Easter Weekend - Day 1 - Drew's 8th Birthday

We decided to spend Easter weekend in St. George with all my family.  My nephew turned 8 and had his baptism that same weekend, so it worked out perfectly.  

We tried to figure out the best way to get to St. George…Do we leave at bedtime and hope they sleep the whole way?  Do we leave in the morning and see how they do awake the majority of the drive?  We decided to leave at night and hope they sleep - WORST. IDEA. EVER.  When they were 6 months old they would sleep at night on the drive from Hollister to Clovis (2 hours), but not so much this time.  We left after the 7:00pm feeding and headed to Vegas.  We used our rear facing car seats since they reclined a little more than the front facing ones.  They were quiet for the first hour.  Then the boys just got tired and frustrated.  They wanted to be in their cribs, with their blankets, sound machine, and on their tummies.  They wanted OUT of the car seat.  I jumped back in the aisle between the bucket seats (which is so uncomfortable - especially being 6 months pregnant) and just rubbed their heads and arms to help them calm down.  That lasted about 30-45 minutes.  We tried turning Baby Einstein on which helped for 5 minutes.  I tried feeding them Cheerios and snacks.  Nothing really worked.  They just wanted to be in bed.  I felt SO bad for them.  By 10:30pm we stopped for gas and a potty break.  I seriously considered turning around and just heading home, but since we were basically halfway to Vegas we decided to drive on.  The next 3 hours were brutal.  Screaming, sweating, satan possessed babies came out.  Poor things.  Julie did great the whole time - it was just the boys.  I definitely don't recommend driving long distance with one year old triplets anytime in your life.  We finally pulled into a hotel in Vegas at 1:30am.  Once they got out of the car they were so happy/delirious.  We put them straight to bed and 3 hours later Cruz wakes up.  I think he was just overly tired and didn't know what to do with himself.  I rocked him back to sleep, but the second I tried to transfer him to the pack-n-play he'd wake up.  So I just let him sleep next to me in bed.  This is a total first!  I've never had a baby sleep with me, but we were both SO tired!  A couple hours later they all woke up hungry.  We stayed in Vegas for their first nap, then drove the last 2 hours to St. George.  Kash screamed the first hour until we stopped for french fries.  Anything to make them happy.  I was desperate.    

In a Vegas hotel - at 1:30am.  So happy to be out of the car!

So cute in their hats from Aunt Jamie!

Drew picked Texas Roadhouse for his birthday dinner.  

 The babies LOVED the rolls

 Grandpa and Cruz

 Birthday boy!!  Drew is seriously the sweetest kid ever.