Here are the highlights of our trip to southern Utah a week after I gave birth to JJ. Jake and Cooper were already down there visiting my parents.
We left on a Friday around 1pm and stopped in Nampa, ID and crashed with our friends the Hamiltons from our Forest Grove days. Technically, Alison and I are actually related! Distantly so, but thanks to my dad's work on our family history, we realized this when we were students there. That was a fun, "small world" discovery.
To make our goal of St. George by dinnertime Saturday, we had to leave Nampa really early. Before the Hamiltons were up, actually. We didn't have much of a visit, but we were so grateful for their hospitality.
We hit Lehi around lunch time and gratefully were fed real food (as opposed to take out) by my sister in law, Chris. I was able to nurse JJ and we were super happy to stretch our legs before getting BACK in the suburban for another 4-5 hours. Before we left Lehi, however, we stopped by the Urgent Care in town where Jared's dad works. JJ was "too tiny" by Jared's standards and consequently Jared was a little obsessed with checking his weight, so we swung by the "office" to do a weigh-in. Karcyn and Calvin didn't go in and were upset about that, so Doc came out with some candy and made a balloon dog for Karcyn and a balloon sword for Calvin. Back in the day when Doc had his own private practice in the midwest, he would make these balloon creations for his young patients. He also bartered--a turkey here, some fresh milk there. Those were the good ol' days.
Having a tiny baby has its perks. We didn't have room to bring a cradle or pack 'n play with us, so Grandma improvised with....a plastic rubbermade drawer! It was perfect!
Jake and Cooper enjoyed some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Lee the week before we arrived. They went on lots of hikes and out to eat, saw "17 Miracles", had more treats and swam a LOT in their pool.
I believe the popular hiking spot was Snow Canyon.
As much as I miss the charm and magnificence of all things Alaska, I have to admit that southern Utah IS growing on me. It really is remarkable with the mountains and red rocks in contrast with the blue sky.
Jake's vacation took a dramatic turn to major "epicness" when he came across THIS in his path on one of their hikes with Grandpa.
As the story goes, Grandpa was taking pictures of a yucca plant. I guess that wasn't exciting enough for Jake so he continued down the trail on his own when he spotted a snake right in front of him. This is like a dream come true for Jake. If he could catch snakes all day, he would. An opportunity presented itself, so he picked it up. His first attempt landed him a snake bite in between his fore finger and thumb on his left hand. If you click on the picture you can see the puncture holes and blood from the bite. Jake said it didn't hurt too bad and calmly worked the snake to release his hand.
By that time, Grandpa and Cooper had arrived on the scene. Grandma, who was back at the house, was NOT pleased to hear after-the-fact that a snake was involved in their hike and that Jake picked it up without Grandpa with him. Jake tried to placate her by saying he knew it was a kingsnake (and therefore not poisonous) from some museum they had gone to just a day or two earlier. Apparently, if you go on a hike or drive in Alaska and see a moose, it's a success. And if you're one of my boys and in southern Utah (or anywhere for that matter) and find a snake, it's an epic day! Just glad I wasn't there.
One of the big things we did was take the kids into Zion's National Park. (Oh look, a picture of me and JJ who was 13 days old).
It's been almost 14 months since we did this and I can't remember what I wore yesterday, let alone the name of all the bus stops and mountains in Zion's, but this was one of them! Left to right...Cooper, Jake, Karcyn, Calvin and my dad.
And another.
Jake.
Cooper.
Considering how HOT it was, I thought the kids did really good this day. Eventually, we had to throw Calvin in the backpack (which was intended for JJ but was waaaaaay too big for him--so glad I had the front pack). The good news is, the next time we go, the kids will be older :)
The last leg of our Utah trip was spent in Lehi with Jared's brother Kevin and his family (with Jared's parents close by). Their kids had already started school so we just kicked back and hung out. On Sunday, August 28th, we blessed JJ. This is a family picture taken later that day with my parents and my brother's daughter Kaitlyn in the purple dress.
We were so honored to have 4 of Jared's mission buddies take time out of their busy Sunday schedules and responsibilities to stand in the prayer circle during JJ's blessing. (That was a better turn out than our temple sealing!) They came from up and down the Wasatch Front AND...St. George!
Other distinguished guests included my college roomate Sarah and her family, plus my cousin Mark and his wife and family and my Uncle David. It was a wonderful reunion, albeit super fast, and we didn't even know my uncle was in the area. He and Mark also joined the prayer circle. That brought the total to 10 (plus baby)! That's definitely a record for us and in a ward we didn't even belong to. We're so grateful for them letting us crash their meeting.
We traveled home on Saturday, Sept. 3nd...just in time to get home, unpack and throw the kids back in school on Tues. the 7th.
*Oh yeah, we weighed JJ again in Lehi on our way home and he was still measuring small. He was gaining, but not as much as Jared would have liked him to. So instead of resisting, I began supplementing with formula when we got back to Oregon. JJ weaned off nursing totally on his own at 4 months, in December.
1 comment:
I love Southern Utah. Ethan and I went to Zion on our honeymoon and haven't had a chance to go back yet... we're hoping to move close next year and amend that. :)
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