The End of the Trip

After the shocking amount of photos from all the other days of our trip, I'll be honest--we don't have a single photo from Friday, Aug. 27 or Saturday, Aug. 28.
That's probably because Dan's stomachache of Thursday lasted through the night--and in fact, got worse.  By the middle of the night, it felt a lot like the ache he'd had back in March when he spent the night in the hospital and nearly got his appendix out--but didn't because the pain subsided and his labs didn't look suspicious.
However, this time--the ache continued to worsen (of course it did--good thing Friday was a "free day" on our itinerary for the trip).  He woke me up around 7 am on Friday to say he thought we should find an ER.  Sure enough, it was his appendix and after a few delays for more pressing cases, he finally went into the OR around 5 pm.  An hour and a half later, my very groggy and now appendix-less husband made it out to a room to spend the night at the hospital. 

Dan (appendix intact) resting before the barbecue on Thursday...

The upsides (if there were any) were that we went to a hospital that was just a few minutes from Dan's parents' house and Dan's mom was kind enough to take care of our girls all day so I could be with Dan.  Oh!  And Dan's mom had a copy of The Hunger Games that she let me borrow--I read the whole thing that day...while paying full attention to my ailing husband, I swear.
The real adventure was deciding whether or not we'd be making our 1 pm flight on Saturday.  The surgeon assured us that Dan would be fine and made sure we got checked out early--we were back at Dan's parents' house by 9 am Saturday.  We got on the flight just fine and luckily (?) our girls were running fevers so we happily gave them alternating doses of Tylenol and Ibuprofen and they slept most of the flight.

Then it was back to real life :).  Don't worry Brookie--vacations are great but coming home is great too.  I promise.

Gateway, Grandfather, Temple Square...

Wednesday, August 25 we got to take things a little slower in the morning.  We decided to head to the Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake.  Dan's sisters Michelle and Heather and their kids met us there around 10 am (sadly, Ali and her kids were sick that day). We got to enjoy the museum for free because it's a partner museum of the Children's Museum here and we have a membership!  Woo hoo!

Megan fell asleep on the way there and didn't wake up for about 40 minutes--I think her sporadic naps and late nights were catching up with her!

Michelle's kids, Isaac and sweet Sarah

Heather's kids, Jakey and Lily

See, Brooke was there too :)

The kids explored and played and had a great time.

These blocks with a light under them were a favorite attraction.  I'm so glad we drove all that way so they could play with blocks.  Isn't that how it always is?  The simplest toys are the favorite.

Dan and two of his four sisters:  Michelle on the left and Heather on the right. 

We enjoyed a picnic lunch outside on the roof pavilion and then headed down to the nearby splash pad. 

 

Splash pad:  Megan LOVED it.  Jake liked it.  Isaac...he looked at it :).  

I love that look-back smile.

Brooke's turn to nap...

Dan and Michelle kept an eye on the kids so Heather and I could go buy some shirts.  Right after we got back, Jake took a dive off some rocks and got a sweet bloody nose--poor kid.  He was very tough though.

We headed back to Dan's parents in the late afternoon and got ready to go to the Bountiful Temple that night.

Megan helping Papa pick tomatoes Wednesday afternoon.

Dan's Mom works in the temple on Wednesdays and she was able to do a session with us, Michelle and Robby, and Ken.  Being together in the temple was such a nice, peaceful time during our busy week. Thanks Kaitlyn (Dan's cousin) for watching the kids--and refusing payment!

Thursday was another quiet morning.  Our first agenda item was a visit with my Grandfather and his wife, Mama Laney (they live in Salt Lake).  I love the way Grandfather's face lights up when he plays with his great-grandchildren.  His memory isn't what it used to be, but when we called the night before to tell him we would be visiting, he made a special trip to the store to buy cookies just to share with our girls.  Megan remembered where the toy cupboard was and she and Brooke had a great time playing while we chatted.  They even warmed up to their great Grandfather enough to give some hugs on our way out.

We then drove over to Temple Square to walk around and enjoy the beauty of the temple grounds and visitor's centers.  As we walked around, Dan mentioned that he wasn't feeling so great (as you can see from his grimace face!).  More on this to follow:)

Yay for digital retouching--I removed Megan's awesome scabs from her run-in with Wills earlier in the week.

Anyway, we cut our Temple Square visit short to let Dan get some afternoon rest before we had friends over for a barbecue that evening.  We spent the afternoon getting food ready for our get together and other than Dan not feeling well, we had a great dinner.  One of Dan's high school friends, Josh, wife Lisa, and their four adorable blonde kiddos and my former roomie, Maren, husband Brian, and their two handsome boys were able to make it.  The kids ran around like crazy, played on the swing set, and watched some Cinderella while we got caught up.  Bedtimes came too soon and our friends had to hit the road.  Thanks for making the trek up to Bountiful to see us!

Maren and Brian...awesome face Brian--Maren, you look lovely!

Josh and Lisa and their sweet little Camryn...

Utah Trip continued...

Monday, Aug. 23 we got to tag along with Ben to some orientation at Utah Valley University.  There is something so exciting about being on a college campus at the start of fall semester.  Dan had fun showing me around his other alma mater and we enjoyed spending the day with Dan's parents and Ben.  In the late afternoon we headed over to Nathan and Stephanie's house for some dinner with them and Bryan (Nathan and Bryan are Dan's cousins).  Dan made us a delicious Adobo dinner (his favorite dish from the Philippines).  We had such a good time with them.  Stephanie and I were roomies and Nathan and Dan were roomies when we were all dating and getting engaged.  We got married 3 weeks apart and both have 2 kids each--2 girls for us and 2 boys for them! 

Megan and William (Nate and Steph's oldest) playing the piano, Aug. 22

Lunchtime in the quad at UVU (this was her best "cheese" face)

Enjoying the beautiful weather...

Brookie squirming to go see the nearby water feature...

Tuesday, Aug. 24, Dan got up early to go biking in Provo Canyon with his Dad, cousin Bryan, and some other friends (*including the father-in-law of a family in our ward--small world!) while the girls and I hung back with Dan's mom and met the boys in Provo around 10 am.
We did a little school shopping for Ben before meeting up with Stephanie and her boys at Cafe Rio for some yummy lunch.  After lunch we walked around the BYU bookstore and campus for a while.

The girls ready to go for another fun day!

Megan and William outside the WILK.  (*Good things kids forgive and forget easily--while at dinner the night before, Wills used Megan to hone his face-scratching skills--apparently all was forgotten after a good night's sleep!)

Stephanie and her tired boys, ready to head home for naps

We bid farewell to Stephanie and went to the Bean Museum on BYU campus to meet up with another roomie of mine, Maren, and her two boys.
Maren and I were attached at the hip for most of our college careers (until those husbands of ours came around) and hadn't seen each other in 2 years!  It was so fun to spend some of our time with her.  The Bean Museum was great, but our kids needed to get some energy out so we let them run it out at Kiwanis Park.

Amber, Maren, Brooke, Megan, Ben, and Brigham.  So happy to have marriages pre-arranged.  It was great of Maren to have boys older than my girls--thanks friend!

Childhood=balloon, brothers, teeter-totter, and Mommy

I loved coming to the swings at this park when I was at BYU.  It was fun to share them with the girls.

Megan and Brigham

Maren and Ben

Dan and I with the Y behind us (hard to see, but it was there, really)

After that, we met up with my best friend from growing up, Jenn and her husband Chris at the Brick Oven.  We laughed.  We talked.  We ate.  We reminisced.  Megan fell asleep mid-bite at dinner.  We met Jenn and Chris's new puppy.  It was a great end to a great day!

This one's for you Jenn--another great eating face!

Spending time with 3 of my long-lost best friends all in the same day was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  I have been so blessed by these friendships.  Love you ladies!

Ben's Homecoming Part 2

Sunday, Aug. 22 began with a little Megan/Alonzo photo shoot before accompanying Ben to be officially released from being a missionary.

Handsome boy...

Cute girl--not really cooperating with the photo shoot, but giggling often

Being "reverent"

They're happy AND they know it

There's some real smiles :)

Ben seeing Grandma for the first time since being home

And we just couldn't do a photo shoot without including our other cute girl!

When Dan was released, he just met with the Stake President for a few minutes and that was that. Ben's Stake President invited the whole family to be there and made it a really tender experience for all involved. After that, we went to church (where Ben gave a really nice talk) and after the block we headed back to the house for more family, food, and chatting.

Megan reading with Grandma-Great outside the Stake President's office. Grandma-Great is so good with all the little great grandkids--they love to be around her. She has an amazing ability to make each great grandchild feel like her favorite.


Dan's Mom and baby Whitney in her cute dress


Whitney ready for church--and a little concerned that we're going to let Megan pick her up


Still a little concerned, but very happy to be sitting on her favorite blanket (What? You love it? Yes, yes, I did make it but I don't like to show off)


Finally, for the first time in 2 years, Dan and all of his siblings and their children were all together. Don't worry, we took pictures to prove it. It was a busy but wonderful Sunday. We were glad our visit coincided with Ben's homecoming because it allowed us to see a lot of extended family all at once.  We are so thankful for Ben's missionary service and are excited to have him home. We love you Ben!

A group of the grandkids waiting for pictures to start

The tallest in the back!

Everybody else, squeeze in...

The best one as far as faces go, not as far as lighting goes...you win some, you lose some, but all in all, not too shabby!

Everyone acting totally like themselves...

My attempt to do a family portrait for Michelle--what do you think?  My thoughts are...cute faces on everyone...next time we won't sit on such a busy surface--maybe if I play with Photoshop a little I can just blend the background together.

The Granddaughters...

The 4 Girls born while Ben was gone (Whitney-3 months, Sarah-6 months, Brooke-12 months, Lily-16 months)