Utah Trip 2017: Last Couple Days and Back Home

On Sunday (June 25) we went to Stake Conference with Ann and James/Kirk and Eliza's stake, then we got everything packed to go back to Brigham City for a few days. On the way we stopped for a Glenn family dinner at Debra and Tony's house. Natalie shared some videos with pictures and then she got these pictures of Grandma and Grandpa with the grandchildren (top) and great-grandchildren (bottom) who were there. What a treasure.

It was nice to get to talk to whoever we could, even if it was short. I guess when we live far away we just have to take whatever we can.

We spent the next couple of days with my family again. My mom seemed to be doing a lot better. She was mostly using a cane instead of the walker and she had made some good progress with bending her knee.

These were the best pictures I could get of Ann Marie and Lena.

Everyone get on top of Ian!

All good things come to an end, and it was time to go back home. We turned in the massive ten-passenger van and decided we're never buying that model (blind spots everywhere, driver's seat not ergonomic, and lots of other annoying quirks).

The flight home was hard for me. The morning sickness had gotten pretty bad for me by this point (I don't throw up when pregnant, but I feel icky and most foods make me gag). In Denver I ended up taking a power nap on the floor, which helped a little. I remember there was some turbulence on of the flights that was about too much for me (normally I can handle it).

Also, would you believe this little sweetie can be a little pill sometimes? I sat with her from Denver to Atlanta and she didn't stop talking or moving the entire time. She was constantly putting her tray (and mine) up and down, asking for things from her bag, tossing things into my lap (including food and drinks), and poking and prodding at me. The car seat at least kept her in place, but she was still a lot to handle.

But eventually we made it and somehow got all the suitcases and bags and car seats to the shuttle and then our van. (Heidi was very tired and wasn't much help this time.) We had an extra backpack that we checked with the suitcases because I had a bunch of my books.  My grandparents had apparently been storing them for several years and passed them on to my parents when they moved out of their house. I found my copy of War and Peace, and after talking to Ryan's sister Amy about it I decided to try one more time to finish it (I'm almost done--just part 2 of the epilogue left!). There were a lot of other things I had forgotten about (including some things I decided to throw away). I had to leave a lot there because we wouldn't have been able to take it all on the plane, but we brought some of my old jewelry boxes (which the girls love).

It's kind of hard to get to the airport and feel like you're done and then realize you still have a two-hour trip home in the car. But it was pretty great to finally get home. My flowers had gotten huge while we were gone.

Utah Trip 2017: More Time with the Tanners

We spent the rest of the week staying at Becky's house and visiting with whoever was still around. 

We took the kids to see BYU campus one day. It was the first time I'd been back on campus for probably seven years, so that was interesting. We looked at the library and showed the kids the family history section where James and Ann are missionaries, and we explored the Eyring Science Center. It's fun to go back and reminisce, but at the same time it doesn't seem so meaningful when I know that there isn't really anyone I know (except professors, but they probably wouldn't remember me) who is still there.

Ryan and I were able to go to the Timpanogos Temple together one morning, which we don't get to do very often. We were planning to do initiatories because we have a lot of male initiatories, but once I got to the dressing room I found out I would be waiting at least 45 minutes and they were only going to let me do 3 names. It just felt like it would be a waste of time when I can do 6-10 initiatories in an hour with no wait time at the Columbia, SC temple, so they called the workers in the men's dressing room so that I could meet Ryan and we could decide what we wanted to do. We decided to do an endowment session instead. I didn't have any male endowment cards printed, so Ryan ended up doing a temple name and I did one of my family names. I felt kind of bad that he wasn't getting to do an endowment for family too (especially when between everyone in our family we have a lot to do), but he said it was okay.

It was a nice session. I thought a lot about how all the things we do in the temple ordinances that seem so foreign connect us to other people and also to God. Afterwards when we were sitting in the celestial room I started wondering why things worked out so that we ended up doing endowments instead of initiatories, and I had an impression that the woman whose endowment I had just finished was there in the celestial room and she was the reason things worked out the way they did. So that was a cool experience.

On Thursday evening (June 22) we were able to attend Ethan's baptism, which of course is always great. He was baptized in the same font where his dad was baptized.

Friday was Heidi's birthday. In the afternoon we went to visit my grandparents for a little while. Earlier this year they moved to live at my aunt's house (they had the basement finished to be a little home for them). It seems to be a good arrangement, but they're still adjusting. Grandma has a lot of work taking care of my grandpa (who has dementia). He was still able to remember me. The kids mostly played upstairs with Nesha's kids. We enjoyed talking with Grandma and Grandpa.

That evening we had a birthday party for Heidi with whoever of the Tanners could come. Some of the teenagers set up water games in the backyard, we had pizza, and there was also a piñata. Ann made a cute doll cake and cupcakes. I really appreciated everyone who helped put together the party--I didn't really have to do anything. I think Heidi had a fun time.

Heidi got a new ducky for her birthday. A couple of years ago she had a little surgery to remove a mucocele on her lower lip, and somehow between the surgery and the recovery room her beloved ducky was lost and never found. She was still talking all the time (sometimes to the point of tears) about how much she missed her ducky and wanted it back, so finally Ryan found this one as a replacement. It's not exactly the same as the old one, but Heidi loves it and carries it everywhere.

Saturday was a great day because we got to go to the temple and see Amberly and Evan be sealed!

For the reception in the evening Tiffany had made several different kinds of bundt cakes. They were so pretty with the flower decorations on top.

And Mindy decorated her second wedding cake in one week. The end result was beautiful!

Utah Trip 2017: Cascade Springs

Wednesday was our last camping day, so in the morning we had a simple breakfast and packed everything up.

Before heading back to Provo we took a lovely hike at Cascade Springs. I loved it. Such a beautiful hike.

Look how clear that water is. Pretty incredible!

After this we took the scenic route back to Provo with a lunch stop at a park.

Utah Trip 2017: More Camping

More pictures from Day 1: unpacking, chatting, smores.

The first morning a lot of little girls got their hair fixed in French braids (including Heidi--thanks, Mindy!). We had breakfast burritos by Amy's family with some help from others.

We all had matching reunion shirts (Mindy made the design), so we got family pictures again with those. Here are all the grandchildren who were there:

Then we went on a nature hike. There was a trail near the camp, and we stopped to see some old cabins that are being restored there.

Ann Marie enjoyed hiking with Aunt Mindy (picture stolen from Tiffany's blog).

We got back and had lunch (grilled cheese sandwiches) and then there was playing/trying to stay cool/chatting/various other activities. I managed to get a nap in a hammock at some point.

Having lots of cousins is a pretty special blessing.

Lots of people had fun trying out the slack line. Heidi and Kevin gave it a try and actually did pretty well.

At some point during dinner a couple people checked the weather on their phones and we realized we were going to be hit by a thunderstorm in less than fifteen minutes. All of a sudden everyone was hard at work getting all the food, cooking equipment, chairs, and anything else put away, and it was pretty amazing how fast it all got done. Then as the wind picked up and it started to rain we got in our cars to wait it out. I'm not really sure what we did. Just got bored and watched rain, I guess. Our car had been parked next to the trees, but Ryan moved it out into the open, and it was a good thing because a lot of branches fell into the road where we had been parked.

Tiffany took this picture of the rainbow after the storm, and if you want to see what our rental looks like, it's the tan ten-passenger van in this picture.

After the rain we had fun making giant bubbles!

Things were for the most part fine after the storm. Thanks to everyone working together to get everything put away, all the small stuff was in the cars. I know Tiffany's family's tent leaked and their bed got wet, so there was some shuffling to get them some dry sleeping bags, but I think everyone else's tents stayed dry inside.