Utah Trip - Day 6

Our trip was almost over...So we made the most of our last full day in Utah.  We started out at Alex's house visiting with him and his family.  They had a new addition to their family - a turtle.

 Peter showing the turtle some love - ew

 I put Max down for a nap in the swing with the hopes that he would be happy for his photo shoot later.

 Max and his Aunt Tawny - lots of love!

 Uh oh, these two could be trouble together!

Max was doing really well at this point in the trip with going to people for a little bit and letting them love on him.

Max wore his Utah hat just long enough to show Uncle Alex, then we quickly removed it.  :)

We went up to my friend LeeAnn's house for a photo shoot.  She is a photographer (took my senior pics, our engagements pics, my bridal pics and our wedding pics) and at my baby shower gave me a present of a photo shoot for Max once he arrived.  I was excited to see her and do the photo shoot before she moves to Hawaii.  While I am excited for this new adventure for her family, I will miss seeing her when I come to Utah.  I will post the pictures from the photo shoot in their own post, because they are so cute that they deserve their own post.  :)

After LeeAnn's, we drove past the house I grew up in (LeeAnn was one of my young women's leaders in my ward).  Oh my goodness was I shocked when I saw the house on Valley Ridge.  Boy had it changed!

The trees on the parking strip were HUGE.  I remember when we planted those!  The bush by the mailbox was huge - I remember when we planted that too.  The front yard though was a mess.  I don't know if you could call it landscaping.  It was almost like some dumped one of those packets of wildflowers seeds all over and then just let it go.  I am not even sure if there was grass.  Everything was overgrown.  It looked to me like it had become the house that everyone sees as the eyesore on the street.

Were there hippies living here?  The window shutters were painted purple and they had tiled the stairs.  All of the trees needed to be trimmed.  I couldn't believe that was my house (it took a while a second to convince Peter it was).  All that time I spent meticulously weeding the flower beds and front lawn... I loved mowing the lawn...Oh my.  My mom would be shocked.  I feel bad for the neighbors.

Front yard

Side and garage

Front Porch

Looking at the side yard towards the back.  My swing set is still there though.  :)  Although it's hard to tell that for the overgrown forest you have to look through.

We had to, of course, stop at Cafe Rio!!! So yummy.

Then we headed back to West Valley for one more visit with Peter's family.

Korben, Max's cousin, actually played with Max.  Up to this point he didn't want much to do with him.

Korben and Max

Max and his cousin Felisha

Max playing with the girls - Felisha and Mariah

Kisses from cousin Mariah

Kisses from Grandma Donna

Grandma making Max smile

Jaxsie, Mariah, Felisha, Mark, Max, Peter, and me

After the visit we went back to Tammy's house and had dinner and visited with them for the evening.  Heather came over with Aaron, too.  Max tried crawling on the grass for the first time and wasn't a fan.  Peter and I got eaten by mosquitoes, but not Max.  I am glad because I had totally forgotten about those dang mosquitoes, especially at dusk, in Utah.

Aaron had a great time with the Buzz Lightyears.

Kisses from Dad

Shooting the breeze - Taylor and Nathan

Aaron and Maryn

Time to go home - put me to bed.  Heather and Aaron

On this trip Peter taught Tammy how to solve a Rubix cube.  She was a good practicer.  :)

Taylor taught Max how to high five.

Thanks for letting us stay, Tammy, Nathan and family!  It was lots of fun.

Utah trip - Day 5

Sunday was another full day.  Man!  I knew each day was packed but I'm exhausted just looking back and trying to blog it all.  I should have probably split this post into 2 different posts but I didn't realize that until I had loaded all the pictures, so now that's not going to happen.

Max and Maryn watching Baby Einstein

We had breakfast at Alex's and my friend Brittney came over.  We have been friends for nearly 20 years!  I love her to death and was glad she was able to come over, visit me, and meet Max.  She was so thoughtful and brought Max a present.

Max and Brittney

The yummy breakfast spread.  Nice job Alex!

Alex helped Max walk. I think Max's face is so cute in these pictures.

Video - Max wants to walk but he doesn't want help doing it.

"Come on!  Let's go faster Uncle Alex!"

After breakfast we went to my Grandma Nelson's for another visit.  My Uncle Terry was also home so we got to see him as well.  Max still loved the dogs and this time Gizmo AND Sybil both liked him.  In fact, when it was time to leave, Sybil followed Max's car seat to the door as if she wanted to come with us.

Happily playing with Gizmo who was so sweet to Max.

 

Video - Max giggled like this whenever Gizmo licked his hands.

Getting sleepy - that's the only time he will lay back like this in your arms.

Grandma and her babies - Sybil and Max

I told you he was tired!  Max fell asleep in the car between Grandma Nelson and Grandma Blank's house

We went to my Grandparents' house for a family party.  I miss these regular parties!  Today we were celebrating a bunch of birthday from like March to May.  Grandma knows that I love spaghetti so she made spaghetti for dinner.  It was fantastic.  Thanks Grandma!!!

It was a lot of fun to be around this side of the family and introduce them to Max.  He did a great job being around such a large group of people, mostly strangers to him. 

We had dinner, sang happy birthday 5 times (each of us celebrating a birthday get Happy Birthday sung just to us individually) and watched everyone blow their candles out.  I got pretty close on mine - I got all but 1.  Not bad, next time I will practice!  After that we opened presents which was pretty much a candy exchange and then played a game of reverse charades.

It was odd celebrating MY birthday but not my mom's (which is 4 days after mine).  We always did them together at these family parties.  I certainly felt her absence.  I wondered if anyone would talk about her and they really didn't.  And the random times she would come up, it just turned into awkward silence.  Looking back at it now, I wish I would have suggested that we still sing happy birthday to her and celebrate the day she was born.  I want to continue to celebrate her and the great person she is.  Although, I imagine if we had sung to her, it would have ended in tears for many. 

Here's some of my thoughts on that...I wonder why we aren't comfortable morning together.  Isn't that what we are told to do in the bible?  I imagine that most of us are still mourning her, so why avoid the situations that bring those tender feelings to the surface?  Why do we strive to keep on a "brave" face and only cry and feel sad when we are alone.  So what if we are sad, why not cry together, and at least get to give each other a hug at the end?  I don't know...but I'm guilty of it too. 

I really enjoy spending time with family at these family birthday parties but they are certainly different now.  The "kids" that were "kids" before I left Utah are no longer "kids" and instead some of them now have "kids" of their own.  There are cousins of mine that I barely know their names.  It's weird being disconnected like that.  My mom was always the bridge that kept me in the loop about the happenings and now I feel a little like an island.  If it's not posted on facebook, I don't know about it. 

 

Max and his great aunt Tammy

Max had really warmed up to Maryn at this point

Aaron and Maryn

Max playing with the toys on the floor - apparently Aaron was worried that Max was going to go after a certain toy.

Happy birthday to AJ

Stay classy, bro!

It's always an exciting thing to be big enough to be allowed to light the candles.  I remember wanting to do it so badly.  Way to go boys!

Preparing Grandma's candles

Our family

Singing to Grandma.  She loves birthdays.  I appreciate how much effort she puts into making sure everyone's birthday is celebrated.  There is always a present from Grandma and Grandpa.  (I still get them - even though I live out of town and am an adult.  How generous is that?)

She's got great technique!

Max and Uncle AJ

Aaron opening his presents

The group - watching

Hanging out

Max and his Great Grandpa Blank

It was hard to drive away.  I never want time with my family to end.  :(  It's sad that my children won't grow up with basically all their extended family close.  I feel extremely blessed to have grown up close to my grandparents and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.