Shaha Shenanigans: Livin' the Dream in Utah

We've been back in the states for six weeks now and I must say it has been WONDERFUL to be back. The actual trip was horrendous. We missed both connections in Frankfurt and Chicago and what was supposed to be a 20 hour trip turned into a 50 hour trip!! Honestly, the worst and most exhausting traveling experience of my life, and that's saying something. BUT, it has been glorious to be back in the states. During my first outing to Target it felt so awesome to be able to approach an employee and ask her in my own language where something was and understand her! Back in my comfort zone again. Sigh of relief.

But then there were other things that kind of bothered me. Like how many dang restaurants there are, particularly burger joints! It was seriously difficult to find any good joints in our Warsaw neighborhood, but I swear within a 2 mile radius of my mom's house in Orem you have a plethora of choices from the likes of Apollo Burger, Arctic Circle, Carl's Jr., Wendy's, In-N-Out, etc, etc. It kind of grossed me out. After about my fifth burger in one week I was done. And I'm done with burgers for awhile now. Something else that struck me was Utah's vast arid desert climate. Poland had such a cool temperate summer, plus it has so many trees. Utah was a 30 degree difference, so HOT!

Here is a recap of our last six weeks in Utah.

At the airport in Warsaw before our whole debacle unfolded. Em was too cute pushing C in the stroller, but what's even more interesting is Ben in the background. Notice he is wearing a backpack on his back AND front and carrying the mother of all car seats. Those were just our carryon items!

I had to laugh when I looked up from my magazine and saw Em like this. The rest of the trip was too awful to take any pictures of... so let's fast-forward to the land of milk and honey...

My mom's backyard. So happy to be off the plane.

And check out that beautiful American backyard grass. Missed that like crazy.

The girls got to hang out with cousins they hadn't seen in over a year.

At the Shaha reunion C fell in love with the Cozy Coupe. In and...

Out.

We went to a cousin's wedding

C was a self-appointed flower girl

Em and her Gwampa

And her Uncle Steve

Cousin Natalie

And you got to love the forced tortuous photos... must get all the cute cousins together!

Dave discreetly trying to hold up his 10-day old baby's head cracks me up in this one.

Sunday of Mary's farewell. All the girl cousins playing out on the lawn

We said farewell to my sister Mary who is departing on a mission to Argentina. The four daughters.

An outing with the grandparents... C loved the carousel

And every now and then I unsuspectingly find a photo like this on my camera...

We spent some restful time at the cabin... although it is tough to go back there as my dad's thumbprints are everywhere.

The kids bunk together in the loft.

We always go rafting down on the reservoir, like we're all piled on this old inflatable raft while all around us speed boats are zipping by... so this time around someone actually offered to take us for a spin on their "Great Big Mable." When I said, "Wow, this is so nice of you to take us for a spin!" The guy was like, "Yeah, we saw you rowing your raft over there and thought, 'that would seriously suck.'" Thanks, I think.

The fearless riders included Phil, Reed, Beck, and myself. Oh my, it was a lot of fun.

No trip to the cabin is complete without a game of "King of the Court."

After the cabin, a visit to Grandma Williams in Jerome... she turns 90 this month!

After a trip to the city pool. C won't wear a hat, so I tried to rub sunblock on her scalp... the result.

So precious

My very awesome, funny, spunky roommate from college, Kat. I have so many fun memories with her. Her four year old daughter took the photo, hence the slight crookedness.