Utah! Part II

Wednesday was our Idaho trip. We drove three hours up to visit my mom’s mom and my dad’s dad. We went out to eat with my mom again and, this time, took my gramma Cunningham and dined at Sizzler. My gramma made fun of Jason for not knowing where to park and reminded me, once again, of how funny she is. The pictures are of the girls at Gramma Cunningham's house playing her organ. It's so brightly colored and looks so fun to play! I too loved to play on it when I was a kid. Unfortunately pressing those buttons doesn't really change the sound the organ makes - it's not a keyboard after all - so it wasn't ever as fun as I thought it would be. We then drove to my Uncle Jim’s new house to visit his family and Grampa Elison who was staying with them for the week. Grampa is pretty frail these days and doesn’t really remember us all but I was glad I got to see him and even more glad that I got to introduce my grandparents to my kids.

Thursday was Jason’s 30th birthday and we celebrated in true Winn style. He invited everyone he could think of to join us for a birthday dinner at PF Chang’s. Unfortunately, Jason overestimated Mr. Chang’s facilities and assumed they would have room to feed half of his extended family. We simply could not find a way to invite the 30+ people Jason wanted to come so we had to disinvite a few of them and opt for a later meal time. Our friends, Melissa and Thayne, and family, Kris, Patrick, Mindy, Savannah, Coralie, Justin, and Jaden made it through the eliminations to the final round and were rewarded with a dinner with Jason and me. Juliet and Adri were there as well but both of them fell asleep and stayed that way until dinner was done - it was awesome. (Below: Adri playing with cousin Savannah in the fountain at Gateway before our birthday dinner)

Friday we joined a playgroup at cousin April’s new house where Adri found more Barbies than she could shake a stick at. We got back to my mom’s house just in time to have lunch with some old friends, Jake and Toby and their adorable kids. (Below: Juliet munching on foam carrots with Anna)

Us with Jake, Toby, Chandler, Thomas and Anna

That evening we had a BBQ at my brother’s house in Sandy. Adri has a cousin there, Jacy, who is just her age and also in love with Barbies. Adri and Jacy jumped on the trampoline and played with Barbies the whole night (did you see Jumpsuit Barbie in the picture? Awesome). Juliet got plenty of attention from her cousins, Keller and Carson. They were very sweet to her and, when they could no longer keep their energy bottled up, would tackle Jason in the front yard. My dad and Cat were able to come as well and we all had a great time. Thanks to Keith and Kari for hosting us!

Adri developed a nastly cold sore during our trip

Saturday, Jason and I took advantage of our close proximity to the temple and made one more visit before we left. The girls were grumpy and tired but we forced them to get some frozen custard with us before we left. We packed in a hurry and met Jarom in the airport as he and Alixa had just arrived back from Costa Rica. We handed them the keys to their car and boarded our 12:01 am flight. It wasn’t too terrible and we ended up with several extra seats so at least the kids slept and were comfortable. It was extremely hot when we got home. We immediately turned on our cooler only to find that it was broken again (we just got a new one last summer). It wasn’t the best welcome home but it’s fixed now so don’t worry.

Lastly, I was able to buy a new camera last month and so I will be taking a lot more pictures now. I love the camera and am having trouble controlling my trigger finger. Good thing it’s digital. I have even been documenting the progress of my tomato plants. I get one every mother’s day and I’m hoping to have a better harvest this year than last. Wish me luck!