Friday, October 22, 2010

Memorial Day 2010 - Utah or Bust!


My bosses decided to take a week vacation, so we jumped on the opportunity for a family road trip ourselves. I'm not sure Utah was ready for us. On the way up we stopped in Fredonia to place flowers on My Great Grandparent's graves and other graves in my Grandma Palmer's family. I made the flower arrangements and was excited to do this. I had never done anything to celebrate Memorial Day before.
We were pretty tired after trying to drive through the night, so our first day was kind of spent lounging around at Josh's Aunt Jane's home. We stayed with her and were treated like royal guests. Sunday morning I wanted to go on a nature walk. Aunt Jane suggested a certain trail, and up the mountain we drove to walk around a lake on one of her favorite walks. We are from AZ, so the last thing we expected to see was snow covering everything and a frozen lake. It was kind of funny. It was almost June and because of an unexpected snow storm the week before no-one thought about it being covered. It made for some good pictures, and Kaige thoroughly enjoyed feeding the many squirrels his goldfish crackers. There were dozens of them, and they obviously weren't strangers to humans. That night we went to my Uncle Randy's home for dinner and spend the evening with them. They are always the best of hosts. Kaige had lots of fun with his little cousin Joycelyn.
On Memorial day we met my best friend Val and her family at Heritage Park. Kaige loved the animals and train the best. There is so much to do there, and it will be an even more fun place to visit when he is a little older and can be interested in older activities. We went to their home for a BBQ that night. The boys played really well together, and it was so fun to be with Valerie again. It's kind of weird to include our husbands and kids, when I think we would have loved nothing more than to be just the two of us......talking about them. I got to meet her daughter Lily for the first time. Their family is adorable, and I wish we didn't live in different states, but I am so thankful for her and the friendship that has stayed strong despite the years, and miles.
Tuesday morning I went shopping with my dear friend Sophany. She lived in AZ years ago, and we have always been close. She is Cambodian, and a riot. She took me all over the place, shopping all the stores I could only find in Utah. She cracks me up, and is so much fun. I spent way too much money, and laughed so much! That afternoon Josh, Kaige and I went to Temple Square and enjoyed all that it has to offer. As we juggled nap times and all that we wanted to do, we ended up short on time and didn't spend nearly as much time there as we would have liked. When we went and saw the large Christus, Kaige said, "Hi Jesus" as soon as he saw it, and every time he saw it after that. He loved looking at it, but if we tried to get too close to get some good pictures, or leave him by himself by it he would freak it. The size really intimidated him. We saw a presentation on family, and I know it touched me even more because I am a mom now. We had to cut our visit short to meet up for Cafe Rio with Josh's family. Everyone loves Cafe Rio, but my body sure didn't. I was sick the whole rest of the night. :(
Aunt Jane stayed home from work on Wednesday to spend time with us. We spent a casual day, and did some more shopping. I got a migraine in the midst of this, so by the time we got back to the house, I just wanted to lay in bed. We decided to try one more store to look for our "Prayer at the Valley Forge" picture. As I got ready to go, I realized I didn't have my wallet anywhere. I must have left it at the last store I was at.......5 hours ago...... We called the store, and the lady said I've been waiting for you to call. I know there are good people everywhere, but I have to think that had I not been in Utah, my luck might have been alot different. I am so thankful for the honesty of the person who had found it. I had $600 cash in there.....and it was safely waiting for me. I felt so blessed! Then we went and not only found the picture we had been looking for, but it was so much cheaper than the one I had been trying to get ordered. We both fell in love with a painting of Jesus and bought it as well. So much for that $600 cash, but I am so thankful that I was able to recover it, buy these beautiful pictures that have added so much to our home. I just love when Kaige sees the picture and says, "Jesus" with his little finger pointing up at it. That night Valerie was such a good sport and came out to see me at the house. She made the drive and even played some cards.
We love to play cards with Hedgecock relatives, so we played cards just about anytime we could. Aunt Jane gave Kaige his own little mini deck. We were to the last hand of up and down the river, and we were playing it Indian style, where you put the card on your forehead. Everyone but you can see what you have and you have to guess what to bid. Then we looked at Kaige and stuck to his forehead is his little mini card. It was the cutest thing ever! He was playing just like us.
I could have spent another month in Utah, catching up with loved ones, sight seeing, and enjoying the beauty and great weather. But it was time to come home. Kaige was a trooper and did so well most the drive. By Flagstaff he was done and the sun in his eyes didn't help. He cried, "All done chair!" over and over. Poor boy! It was nice to be back home and in our own bed....but we hope another opportunity arises to go up there again in the near future.
The next day, we decided to go to Tim and Jessica's house that is only 10 minutes away. It took alot of effort to get Kaige buckled in as he arched his back. He did not want in that seat again. He screamed the entire way over there. I think he thought we were going to be in the car for 10 hours again. Can you say a little traumatized????

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1 comment:

  1. The pictures from Temple Square are beautiful. It's amazing there are still honest people out there who would return something so valuable!

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