BIG WEEKEND BONANZA!

So, Katie survived her first road trip this weekend. But first, the story I began writing last week and never posted.

In case some of you have never seen a baby, they spend 98% percent of the time with their hands curled into very tight fists. This is most assuredly the case for my kid. The result of this: fingerjam. I mean, anyone who's worn socks with their sneakers knows what toejam is, but fingerjam? Come on. It's become a habit for me to use my free hand to clean the lint out of her fingers while I'm feeding her.

Also, she tends to suck on the aforementioned fists, so I feel obligated to keep her from eating lint. Not to mention stopping her from sucking on her fists because sometimes a finger gets loose and she tries to gag herself. Geez, kid.

Now back to our program.

We decided to go to Boise this weekend for two reasons. First, things are getting crazy stressful down here as we approach the end of the semester (and graduation!!!!!!!) and we needed a break to help us power through our tests and projects and finals week. Seriously, it was direly needed.

Second, my dad is going to India. His company is sending him out to train the new people after they outsourced the rest of his department. So he has to go for a month. He isn't all too thrilled about missing the concerts and recitals and my brother's Eagle project, not to mention the beginning of baseball season (my dad=Little League in Boise). So we thought we'd come bring a grandbaby to cheer him up before he leaves tomorrow.

However, this weekend quickly turned into a giant brawl over who got to hold the baby next. Which means it was "who can stress the Katie out the fastest?" I won't lie, she loved all the attention (and for some reason thought Parker's monkey face was hilarious), but getting passed around to a lot of people who were not her mommy made her a little tired. She slept a lot on the way home, and has spent most of today sleeping also.

The good news is that Katie is a happy traveler. She spent several hours in the car staring out the window and giggling. She likes going outside, LOVES her stroller, and we figure likes the car when she's not hungry. She's pretty stellar.

But I think this trip was really good for my parents. The next month is going to be hard for both of them, what with my dad being off in a foreign country where cholera and dengue fever are still rampant and my mom being alone for a month with a herd of elephants. They both really needed some Katie time and some love.

And some priesthood. Mike was able to help their home teachers give both my parents a blessing to help get through all of this. I missed the whole thing because Katie decided on that moment to get fussy and loud, but I think it really helped.

So now we must press on in the madness that is March. (Speaking of, BYU beat Gonzaga on Saturday. Pretty good. Did you see it?)