Visit with Kayli

Last weekend, Clara and I flew to Utah to see Kayli.  I have been dying to see her for a long time now but she was busy doing sales all last summer and then she flew to Texas over Christmas while we were in Utah so it just hasn't worked out.  But I have been keeping my eyes open for decently priced tickets to Utah (is it just me or have ticket prices been way higher than in the past?) where Kayli is going to school and I scored big last Thursday when I found roundtrip direct airfare from SFO to SLC for $220 on Delta as long as I flew out Saturday and came home Tuesday.  So after a flurry of text messages with Kayli to make sure she was available, I booked the ticket and started packing. 

 

It was SUCH a great visit.  Kayli's homework load was light and she had Monday off of work to boot so we were able to spend a lot of time together.  We have been missing this girl SO, SO much.  Since we got in Saturday evening and Kayli had work, she said that she would just meet up with us on Sunday for church.  She drove up to Farmington to attend church with us in my parent's ward, which worked out great since she and I were able to hang out in nursery with Clara for the last two hours of church.  Clara got some coloring help from her Kayli.

 

Clara also tried on Kayli's shoes, which were amazing.  I can't get away with wearing heels like hers but I wish I could.

 

After church we got to go spend some time with Kayli's grandparents (Clara's biological great-grandparents).  We love these people so much and they are so kind and good to us and they love Clara so much.  Kayli's grandma is in a care facility so we ate dinner there with her and Kayli's grandpa and Clara had fun watching two fish in a fish tank.  Kayli's grandpa even found some fish food so that Clara could feed the fish, which she thought was hilarious fun.  Unfortunately, Clara didn't think posing for a picture was quite so fun.  Sundays are long days for her with interrupted nap schedules and she decided to be uncooperative for this photo, but I still wanted to capture a pic of her with her extended family anyway.  And just so you know, even though this looks like a sad face on Clara, it is actually a tantrum.  She just knows how to turn the waterworks on and off at a whim, which she decided to do once I pulled out the camera.  The moment I put it down and she got to slide off Kayli's lap and run around, the fake crocodile tears vanished.  You almost have to see her do it to believe Clara is capable of such trickery.

 

 

After dinner we got to go to Kayli's aunt and uncle's house and hang out there for a little bit meeting more of Kayli's family that I hadn't met before.  They are such incredibly nice people and we had a fun visit with them.  Clara was in a better mood by that time and showed off by giving a double round of hugs to everybody before we left, the little minx.  I wish I had thought to take a photo with them too, but I guess it will have to wait until next time.

 

On Monday my mom, my niece Emma, Clara and I drove down to Spanish Fork in the morning to my sister Jennie's house.  Jennie had let Emma stay with Grandma Cece for the whole weekend so that she and Clara could play as much as possible while we were in Utah.  Emma is possibly Clara's favorite person in the whole world and those two laughed and giggled and hugged and chattered with each other all weekend long.  Clara hasn't stopped talking about Emma since we left and "Emma" is often one of Clara's first words after waking up from naptime.  Jennie doesn't live too far from Provo where Kayli is going to school at BYU so Kayli was able to come by with a friend for part of the afternoon.  We enjoyed Cafe Rio salads and then played downstairs. 

 

 

Clara's imagination is really starting to develop and if you show her how to pretend things she will pick it right up.  She and Kayli were "washing" their hands in the sink of Emma and Lily's new kitchen that they got for Christmas.

 

 

Then they were baking up something delicious, I'm sure.

 

 

 

 

This is the best photo I have of the three of us together and unfortunately I look wretched in it.  But it was so fun taking it because Clara had just reached her arms around both our necks and pulled us all the way in to her until both our faces were touching hers.  You can't see her little hands or arms since our hair is covering them, but she was giving us both a little squeeze for this group photo and it was such a precious moment. 

 

We wish Paul could have come too but he had too much going on at work to get away.  I loved catching up with Kayli and hearing all about how things are going at the Y for her.  As I have been working on this blog post, Clara has been pointing at each picture and describing them for me by excitedly repeating "Kay-yee! Quair-uh! Momm-mee!" over and over.  We sure love our Kayli and we love open adoption.  Hopefully we can meet up again soon!