Sunshine & Ice Cream

It's been a long time since we've attempted a 12-hour road trip with an infant. It all comes back to me so clearly now.

We just returned from a week in Utah where we celebrated our niece, Ellie's, marriage to Mr. Jon Cox. Isaac urged me to fly up separately with the baby, then meet up with him and the older kids once there. But I insisted we go The Togetherness Route and all take the car.

Little bub did rather well. Of course, this is because we drove all night for each leg of the trip. Now it's time for a vacation from our vacation. Isaac and I need sleep.

Isaac comes from a giant, collected family which claims 10 kids. Those 10 kids have kids of their own, ranging from 2-months-old to 30-something. It's entirely too rare that we get to visit with a large sampling of this boisterous group. This is a family which will actually DANCE at a wedding. Dance-dance, not sway.

Ellie was radiant in a 60's-inspired silvered dress which made a gentle bell, just skirting the floor. (Such a neat girl—I really need to tell you more about her and the charity work she is doing!) As Ellie is Charlotte's true doppleganger in the family, my own life fast-forwarded for a few minutes here and there as I caught glimpses of Charlotte as a woman on her own wedding day.

Charlotte looked like sunshine and ice cream, wearing her new Easter dress to the wedding; Ellie paid her a mighty compliment, saying, "Charlotte is so adorable; she's my top competition today."

The reception was held at the Salt Lake Hardware Building—crazy cool place. I didn't have the camera out much, as my arms were full of baby. At nearly 9-months old, holding him is like wrestling a thorny bludger. His will is developing more quickly than his motor skills. Scratchy nails are his best negotiating tool. I haven't processed the photos yet, but if there are any of note, I'll post them.

At the reception, Elijah learned DJ skills from his cousin Izzy's husband, Johnny. Elijah has since been reading up on sound boards and other equipment in the B&H Photo catalog. (Izzy is one of Ellie's two vibrant younger sisters—the one whose wedding we attended two Christmasses back.) Izzy has a blog now at A Dose of Lovely—that's another post to add to the queue.

From these photos, you can see that I never got around to posting about Granny's Easter dresses. I pulled up the photos—in a timely manner, I add—but every image was so breathtakingly delicious that I couldn't decide which ones to use.

So I postponed.

Here at last are Charlotte, Haley, and Chloe, my mom's three granddaughters, enjoying the Arizona sunshine outside my sister's home on Easter Day. Granny coordinated these three in my Hello Roses fabric, accenting each dress with a unique twist of lemon. These dresses—and the little girls wearing them—make my heart pit-a-pat.

Charlotte's slouching white socks and mary janes give me a distinct thrill that's surely grounded in the slouching church socks of my own childhood.

It was a truly wonderful trip. As I wrapped up a new fabric collection the day before we left, the timing was perfect to enjoy a brief escape with my kiddos before immersing myself in the next big project.