Utah Week 1

We were all set to leave for Utah Tuesday morning around 3 AM. I got up at 2, showered and got out as Andy came into the bathroom to tell me our flight had been canceled. Super bummed we spent the next hour trying to get in touch with Delta to come up with an alternative plan. Andy searched for outgoing flights from the three closest airports and I sat on hold for over an hour until I read an article that said one person interviewed had been on hold with Delta for over 7 hours. I was like, uh, never mind. I’m calling it. I ended the call, but both Andy and I were wide awake at this point so we decided to be like teens and eat a midnight snack and watch our current show. After an episode we went back to bed and woke up around 6:30 to panicked kids. “Mom! We missed our flight!” “Sorry, kids, it got canceled.” They were all super bummed but Bev sat outside our door and cried till we finally got up. We took them to their favorite buffet for lunch and then ordered pizza for dinner (we had no food in our house because I had planned on leaving that day). We tried to make the most of the delay and took them to Urban Air the next day. They jumped for 5 hours! I got a lot of writing done on my novel and then we headed home and ate leftovers from the day before. We went to bed super early because this time we had to leave at 2 AM to get to the airport in time. Everything went mostly smooth once we got there… except Max’s phone had fallen out of his pocket and didn’t notice till the parking shuttle dropped us off at the airport. Andy went back, searched the car, couldn’t find it until he heard it ringing under the car. Thank goodness he went back, because there’s no way it would’ve still been there when we got back from Utah. Aside from a not so surprising spilled chocolate milk (more surprising that it wasn’t one of the kids), things went pretty smoothly. I thought for sure the kids would fall asleep in the 2 hour car ride to the airport. They did not. I thought for sure they’d fall asleep on the four hour flight to Las Vegas. They did not (ok, fine, Beverly did for an hour). Then when we arrived in Utah, I thought for sure they’d fall asleep on the 3 hour car ride to Flaming Gorge. Only Harvey did. But we finally arrived in Flaming Gorge, caught up and unpacked and fell asleep around 11. That was an incredibly long 24 hours, but we are so glad to be here.

Day one, we hit the lake. It was supposed to rain around 2, but it didn’t hit until 3:30. As my dad has explained, Flaming Gorge makes its own weather. It makes it really challenging to predict. According to my weather report, we had a 5 % chance of rain at 2, but it down poured when it finally came. Before it hit, we knee boarded, swam, hiked up a small hill and hunted for fossils. We found some interesting rocks that would’ve been fun to cut open. The kids enjoyed catching dragonfly larva and collecting/tossing rocks. It was a mad dash to beat the storm on our way back, but after a delicious pulled pork dinner, we had fun playing with cousins, roasting marshmallows, and having a glow-in-the-dark dance party. We cheered when Adrienne’s family finally arrived around 9 PM. Everyone was exhausted, but we still had a good time catching up, especially when the kids were all finally in bed.

Day two, we hit the lake again, unfortunately the weather was a lot more rough than the day before and we only wound up on the lake for a couple of hours. I did get up on the wakeboard for a minute, but then I decided it was too rough and I was too old to try anything crazy without prime conditions so I only stayed up for a little bit. Once we made it back to the cabin, Adrienne and I took some kids (and Dad and Sara) for a spin on the side by sides. I was a little nervous because I didn’t realize how capable the side by side was, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and Sara was a great teacher. I must’ve driven ok, because both Avie and Beverly fell asleep in the back seat. Avie was a bit confused when we got back to the cabin because she thought we’d never left.

On Sunday, we when to sacrament meeting and then had come follow me with the kids back at the cabin. It was a great lesson and I was surprised by how the kids were mostly reverent and participated. After a quick rest and lunch, Nik’s family and ours headed to their favorite little hike up in the mountains. It was cooler up there, but I forgot to pack Max’s sweater. He said, “It’s ok, I like being cold.” I had a sweater and offered him mine, but he didn’t want it. It was absolutely breathtaking up there. The kids had so much fun playing in the water, collecting flowers, and tasting wild garlic and onions that we didn’t even complete a full mile before it was time to turn back.

On Monday, we celebrated Nik and Effie’s birthdays. First, with Sara’s delicious homemade yeast waffles. Then we headed on the lake for two hours, came back to clean ourselves and the cabin up, then hit the road to Santaquin to visit Grandpa. After spending too brief of a time with Grandpa, we went to Nik’s favorite place: Clint’s Reptile Room. This is where Nik discovered his love of snakes. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous at first, but after a half hour of being around these busy, but docile snakes, I wanted to hold them all. Andy said nervously, “It looks like you’re enjoying yourself… we are NOT getting snakes.” I told him I didn’t want another living creature to take care of and that he didn’t have to worry, but he was right, they were very calming.

Tuesday was a bit of a recovery day. Monday was awesome, but so packed that we were all exhausted. We prepared for the baptism and headed there around 3:45. Effie looked so pretty in her baptism dress. It was such a beautiful experience. Effie asked me to give a talk at her baptism. I did one on the Holy Ghost. When preparing a talk for an 8 year old, it really reminds me how simple the gospel can be. As I prepared for the talk, scriptures flooded my mind, but then on the day of I only summarized one and read another, but the importance of the Holy Ghost and the simple nature of it really became apparent to me. If we can be guided by feelings of peace and love, we can know that we are being guided by the Holy Ghost.

I might have to come back and add more pictures later. Some were taken by siblings and some were on our GoPro. But the one below is a picture of all 24 grandkids (you can’t see Yuli, but she’s there behind Ori). As you can see from this picture, it is very hard to capture all of these cuties in one shot.

Wednesday we met Sara and their kids at the ice rink. We had a blast. Later We met Nik, Sara, Adrienne, and AJ at a Ben Fold’s concert. I’ve never been to one of his concerts before that night and even though he’s now 57, he’s still a showman and the concert was a lot of fun.

Thursday night, Crista’s family came down. It was so fun to catch up with her and her family. My mom gave up her theater tickets for Crista, Bridget, Beverly, and I. We had so much fun. Bridget was so enthralled by the “fanciness” of Hale Center Theater. She informed me as we were headed to the theater that I had to hold her hand while we were there. I held her hand as we went into the theater, but once we were seated, she was glued to her mom. Bev is very outnumbered at our house, so these mommy-daughter dates are a lot of fun.

I spent as much time as I could holding Zack. He is such a sweetheart. His tender spirit fills the room. He smiled at me while I held him in the pool and I couldn’t help but blink back tears. He definitely knows how to pull on your heart strings.

Friday we had a sibling lunch date. We have never done one of these before because we usually have spouses and kids with us (we were missing Dan-no, we’ll have to try and do another one next time I go, but maybe bring the spouses). After lunch we headed to Grandma’s ministering sister’s house to utilize their pool. We ended the evening with games, chatting, and a pizza party. As my mom dropped us off at the airport the next day she told me this trip was too short and that she felt ripped off. I agree. I too feel that. Our trip was already pretty short and then we lost two more days because of Delta’s catastrophe. We had a lot of laughs, a little bit of crying (spiritual and healing from over-due conversations). I already miss the crazy lot.