The first Friday in November found me winging my way to SLC for short bookend visits with kids and grandkids, and a short but oh-so-sweet visit with my parents in St. George squeezed in between. Arriving after 11pm, Tanja & Brad were right there to pick me up. We all crashed pretty much as soon as we arrived at Soren & Rachele's (Soren gone on a trip), but Saturday started with fun and games with the kids. Rachele was a sweetheart and fixed us pancakes for breakfast.
Too bad I can't get the video of Aubree walking in my boots to post - it's hysterical.
I love this casual and rugged look for Curtis
Mitchell created some cute Lego animals in no time at all!
Diamonds are a girl's best friend, but Aubree seemed happy enough playing with my beads
Side note - Aubree's favorite lullaby is "Ring of Fire" and her nickname could be "Boo", as in Monster's Inc.
Rachele, Brad, Curtis (on his scooter), and I took a run through the neighborhood and enjoyed a beautiful fall morning. The sky was blue, the air was crisp, leaves crunched beneath our feet....and it was not easy keeping up with Curtis!
After, the girls got all cleaned up and left Brad in charge of the kids while we headed south - up Hobble Creek Canyon (south of Provo) for a baby shower for Kristen Adams, one of my Adams Family daughters. It was so fun to see almost all of the Adams; only Eric and Ryan weren't there. I can't believe these girls are all grown up and married and even having babies! Ah, the good old days in the neighborhood. (Come back, come back - even if it's just for a visit!)
Lauren, Tanja, Cheri, Laurie (feeling short), Kristen, Alison, Rachele
Baby Bronson (notice the bread in his hand - there's a story involved!)
Arriving back on the homefront we found things well under control. Good job, Brad! Dinner at Fuddrucker's and watching "How To Tame Your Dragon" brought the day to a happy ending.
Sunday morning we walked to church - more crunchy leaves - and - a leaf fight on the way home! Soren came home from his trip and we lounged around a bit. We made a drive-by to Brei & Kelly's home - they had just returned that afternoon from their family trip to Disneyland (!) and then went to Birgid & Gordon's for Sunday dinner. What a treat, as always. Yummy roast beef. Yummy potatoes. Yummy vegetables. Yummy salad with Birgid's famous lemon dressing. Yummy red velvet cake - Jutta's contribution. But most of all, wonderful company and catching up - never enough time though.
Some Halloween spooks tried to scare me away!
I love that I get to share my grandkids with these wonderful friends!
I was sooooooo tired that I had decided to sleep at the Bunker's that night and drive down to St. George early in the morning. But after breaking my fast with Birgid's great meal I was revived and decided to follow my original plan to leave that night. It worked out just fine except I hadn't been able to reach my parents to let them know I was coming.....I pulled in about midnight to a dark home and thought I might have to sleep in the car but was happy to find the door unlocked. Boy, were they surprised to see me in the morning!
On Mondays Mom has about 3 hours where someone will stay with Dad and she can run and do things away from the home. As soon as Heidi arrived we left to do a temple session, only to learn that on Mondays the last session starts at 11:20. We arrived a 11:30. We came up with Plan B pretty fast - lunch at a lovely little restaurant called the Painted Pony. We enjoyed every bite! When we arrived home the Hospice chaplain and a musical therapist were in the middle of a songfest with Dad. It was great! The therapist had her guitar (sometimes she brings a harp) and they sang a lot of oldies, then ended with some of Dad's favorite hymns. It was just lovely and sweet and special.
That evening we attended a performance of "Phantom of the Opera" at Dixie High School with Judy, Omer & Bryce. Wow. Really, WOW! I was astounded at the quality of the production. The costumes and sets were divine. The voices and the acting were far beyond any high school performance I have ever seen. It was so worthwhile.
The following morning I was able to get a nice run in along the Virgin River. It was a beautiful morning and I loved that it felt familiar this time. We relaxed for the day at home. I did a little shopping, ran a few errands for Mom, and made some soup for dinner; Judy & Omer came by to watch the Jazz game. It was an enjoyable, relaxing day, and so nice to spend it with my parents.
Wednesday morning I visited my friend Kacey from El Paso who moved to St. George several years ago. She has 3 adoreable kids - Kate was a baby when they left, but it doesn't seem that long ago. We worked together several years on Girls' Camp; she is amazing!
That afternoon we took a drive to Dammeron Valley, about 1/2 hour north of St. George to visit (for me, to meet) my dad's cousin Betty Ann and her husband. We had a great visit, and I picked up a few family history tidbits. Betty Ann is an artist and showed us her studio where she teaches. I fell in love with a sculpture she did of herself. Both she and her husband do a lot of family history research - she is definately someone I hope to stay in touch with. They were so warm and welcoming, and I felt very humble as we visited to be reminded of how precious family is - immediate, extended, living, already gone, yet to come, known, unknown. We are connected, regardless, and I love the way that feels!
Our drive home took us through Snow Canyon just at sunset. Gorgeous!
I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures - none of my parents, so shame on me, but am happy to have one of the Jack-o-Lantern my mom decorated to look like my dad. It's a perfect likeness, and even captures his great love for fishing!
I think she is going to add an array of turkey feathers on the back for Thanksgiving.
That night we tried some new Martha Stewart recipes that had called to us - butternut squash soup, flautas, chickpea salad, and apple-cranberry cobbler. The soup and the cobbler are worth repeating. The flautas were OK. The salad - nah. Another Jazz game, another Jazz win - I was surrounded by happy Jazz fans! (Judy and Omer joined in again - always fun company to be in!)
The following morning Bryce and I left for SLC. He had a dentist appointment, and provided good company for the 4-hour drive. I don't get to spend much time with any of my cousins, so I felt really lucky to have some time with him, and he read some of the things he has been writing as we drove. He has a great imagination!
We drove through Cedar City (shoutout to my niece, Mel!) Enoch (shoutout to my niece, Sister Cheryl Jensen! wait - I never actually saw the city of Enoch. Maybe Cherly had something to do with it being translated??), and Provo (shoutout to my nieces Angela and Sandee & husband Matt, and cousins Derek & Sunny). Next trip must include time to see all these favorite people! Most of the way we could see storms around us and snow on the mountains but we didn't encounter any bad weather. By the time we came around the point of the mountain we saw plenty of blue sky!
View from Soren & Rachele's neighborhood. Love the autumn colors against the snowy mountain!
Finally, I was able to spend some time with the Bunker family, although I only saw Kelly briefly because of his travel schedule.
Elena and I had a Birthday Date, as she had turned 7 the end of October. We started with a visit to the Quilted Bear where there are so many things to oooh! and aaahh! over.
She scouted things out, and after some deliberation, chose a darling pink treasure box.
Next on the agenda: a visit to the Cheesecake Factory. This little lady knows how to savor the experience!
And then to her dance class where I was able to observe a rehearsal of her Chrismas program!
Little girls in tutus are too, too cute!
Of course, she was the BEST dancer in the class!
(When I asked her where she got her beautful dancing skirt she told me she thought it had been a pair of Jake's soccer shorts that her mother sewed some trim onto. Brei assured me that that was not true)
ALL the kids were HAPPY when we brought home HAPPY FOOD from McDonalds.
This is Jake's "I'm just pretending to be bored" look
Like I said, ALL the kids were happy about Mickey D's!
Soren & Rachele went on a date while Brei, Brad, back in SLC for some meetings, sans Tanja :(
and I held down the fort. As usual, the kids were highly entertaining.
Kyle - loves anything Star Wars ....
and hanging upside down (we learned later it was because he was coloring on the bottom of the piano bench)
Mitchell has another loose tooth!
Friday morning Brei spoiled us with Breakfast Cake and then I made a quick visit to my bestest friend from high school, Elaine. We didn't have nearly enough time for catching up, but even a little bit of a visit is better than none at all!
Janis & Jerry let me drive their sweet Volvo for the week - I was tempted to put the top down and turn up the heat!
After returning the car to the Mariners we scooted back over to Soren & Rachele's to assist Curtis in the Hot Cocoa Stand he had set up in order to earn some $$. He and his dad put signs up around the neighborhood as soon as he came home from kindergarten. They were immediately swamped with customers!
Yummy!
After debating at length the many options for fun that evening we decided to go with the K.I.S.S. plan - Keep It Simple & Sweet! Easy dinner at home with a fun movie and just hanging out together. I loved every minute of it!
Jake was extremely expressive as he ate his pizza. Could it be he was practicing for the district storytelling contest he is going to compete in next week??
I don't think I can adequately express how much I LOVE my kids and grandkids. Everyone takes such good care of me when I come to visit, and we have so much fun regardless of what we end up doing. Hurray for eternal families! Only two complaints: too short and no SvenHyunaSethGabeAlexKevenKris.
* I was really gone for about 175 hours, but I'm not counting any of the very few hours spent sleeping and traveling.
