Jet Plane

I feel like I left and came home on a jet plane--because it was such a quick trip! Sterling held down the fort with Ruth and Will (and our beloved Sister Kellogg, who I couldn't do without) while Molly and I flew to Utah so I could get all my continuing education credits at a BYU Dental Conference.

I haven't flown in forever and I have also never flown with children. I was a little nervous. Molly did ok. Not the greatest, not the worst. Actually, on the flights home she slept quite a bit, so that was awesome! 

We flew in late Thursday night, then I left at 5am to drive to Provo, the conference had a banquet so I was there until 9pm and then crashed at my cousin's house, only to be at the conference at 730am again. I got home around 730pm to Logan and saw my parents for an AMAZING meal of fresh garden food (namely, corn on the cob) and then we all went to bed.

Luckily, I stayed Sunday so I got to see my parents for a TEENSY bit before church (they both have meetings, argh) and then they dropped me off at my MILs and I got to see almost the whole fam there--that was so awesome!---before we left again at 430am. See? Jet trip.

Molly loves cupboards. Grandma said she'd empty out the cupboard beside this one and scoot her bum backwards until she was folded in half inside. Haha.

Nothing like Grandma's cupboards.

I was SOOO SOOO SOOO happy that Bridget and Cade drove over so I could see the twins!!! I held them in the NICU, but then we were sick at the end of our Utah trip and didn't get to see them again. They are getting so big and chubby! And it was so fun to see Bridget and Cade being mom and dad!

This was actually at the very beginning of our flights. She was all about the fries. Actually, the chicken pesto pita was also AMAZING.

On the airplane.

I do have to say though, the corn on the cob made the trip TOTALLY worth it! Hahaa. And the conference was amazing. Because it was an LDS conference, I got to hear a lot of family values emphasized within the realm of dentistry, and that always provides good take-home messages even if I'm not working right now. I also had to give myself a stern talking to when our pediatric dentist lectured for 2 1/2 hours and one point he kept coming back to was the 70% of all childhood caries (cavities) are interpromixal. Which means you have to floss to get that area cleaned. I am really bad for some reason about flossing my kids teeth. You'd think I'd know better, and I do, but now I REALLY do. Haha. I also was happy that I actually do have a lot of retained information floating around in my head, even if I'm not using it! ALSO--I missed my calling in life. I should have been a periodontist. I LOVED being a hygienist at a perio office WAY MORE than at a GP office and when I listened to the perio lecture I was SO EXCITED. I came home and told Sterling I wanted to go to dental school when he got out of med school. But not really, cause I want to get my master's in nutrition. Haha. Anyway. 

The other part I really liked about the conference was all of the networking and listening to people's AMAZING stories of how they got to where they are in life. Going to Poland to school, or living in Hawaii to pay off student debt (working for the gov), and I even meant a female dentist who works on the Blood Indian Reservation right outside of Cardston, AB! HOW CRAZY!?!?! I told her my whole family is from there and it was crazy to think about the stuff she sees in her office! Anyway.

Oh and the other part I really loved was all of the service opportunities that were emphasized. Through BYU they go annually to Tijuana, Guatemala, Asia, South Africa, South America, etc, and the photos and stories are SO amazing! I want to go on a medical mission with Sterling someday SO BAD! Also, also, I am a baby. I seriously could not even LOOK at some of the pictures of children in the third world countries. The stories of even the tiniest things made me tear up. It's a little ridiculous.

All in all, it was a great trip, if way too fast. I missed seeing everyone, but luckily we saw them so recently it wasn't quite as devastating. I love you all and miss you! Thanks to EVERYONE who helped get us around and watched kids and everything!