Fifty-Three-esta

 

 

Mom flew back in town Thursday and we pretty much partied non-stop until she left. We sent her an invite a few weeks ago in the mail inviting her to a “fifty-three-esta” birthday fiesta. We also invited the Carnegie Crew so she was able to meet our friends and we all enjoyed a yummy taco bar and played games. It was a blast. It was super fun to throw mom a party for once since she always throws them for us. She loved it and was a good sport about helping us cook and put together the cutest skeleton charcuterie board. Pinterest for the win!!! 

 

While she was here we toured the Heinz museum, had a party, watched movies, drove to see the Flight 93 9/11 memorial museum in Shanksville, PA, went to a Monster Pumpkin Festival, ate at some of our fav places, went to church, explored some parks, got lost finding places to park, visited the zoo, made it just before closing to a cute apple orchard and farm and just overall soaked up every minute we could with her here.

I’ll never forget driving up to the airport with Jaden and seeing her jumping up and down waving us down. I immediately jumped out of the car and ran to hug her and it honestly took me back to when I got home from my mission. I really don’t know how people live away from family long term. I know they do it all the time… I’m just grateful that she was able to come visit us. We stopped and grabbed pizza at Slice of Broadway and took it home and had pizza movie night and watched Free Guy. It was a pretty funny show, Ryan Reynolds will forever be one of Jaden’s all time fav actors. We got mom’s air mattress all setup and went to bed ready for a full day of birthday fun the next day. When I got up the next morning I went in and peeked in my office where mom was sleeping and it honestly didn’t look like anyone was laying in the bed… I checked all the other rooms and couldn’t find her and then heard some movement and went back and sure enough she was there you just could hardly tell. I guess the air mattress might not have a tight seal because it did not stay fully inflated but she claims that it was the best night’s rest she’s had in a long time despite the fact that she was sleeping in a half inflated “taco bed.”

 

 

I had the day off of work, but unfortunately Jaden had class (even though it was technically his mini fall break) so mom and I  got up, made breakfast and got ready to head out to the Heinz Museum. At first glance the museum looks like it should be all about ketchup but it’s actually all about the history of Pittsburgh. It’s six floors of fun facts, historical depictions and memorable quotes. Did you know Mr. Rogers was from Pittsburgh? How about Johnny Appleseed? Well, neither did I! One of the best floors is the Western PA Sports Museum that takes you through the history of Pittsburgh’s most famous sports teams: the Steelers, the Pirates, and the Penguins. We checked our throwing accuracy and putting skills at some of the interactive stations and I learned that famous golfer Arnold Palmer grew up in Pittsburgh area and also was reminded that Dad’s fav football player of all time: Dan Marino played college ball at Pitt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After making it almost the entire way through the museum we decided to try to head over to Point State Park which was recommended by our friends Tanner and Amanda. It’s a park situated at the point of where the three rivers Ohio, Monongahela, (pronounced muh-non-ga-hay-luh) and Allegheny (pronounced al-a-gain-ee) converge to form a point at the top of the city. Well unfortunately Google Maps took us to a point on the bridge over the park and said “arrived” rather than the actual park. So we hurried and got off the bridge before we hit the tunnel leading outside the city and then circled back and decided to skip the park and hit the store to pick up some grocery items for our party. Then we went home and prepped all of the food and got ready for our friends to come over. We made a taco bar with chicken and beef options and all the toppings and fixings for awesome street style tacos. And of course we constructed the Día de los muertos style skull charcuterie board mom and I had found and saved on Pinterest months prior. Our friends arrived and it was super fun to introduce them all to mom so she could meet our crew out here. We had dinner and played card games and mom was able to talk to Bridge on the phone for a bit. Then everyone left and we got ready for bed and another full day the next morning. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaden had lots of homework and an afternoon flag football practice so we went with him to breakfast at Pamela’s and introduced mom to crepe style pancakes and then dropped him back off at home and decided to head out on our own to the Flight 93 9/11 memorial so we could be back in time for a pumpkin festival in the city that night. I was not expecting what we found driving up to the memorial site. It was so moving I think it deserves its own post so I’ll share a few pictures and then reference the next post “Let's Roll” for more details about our experience there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We picked Jaden up on our way back from the memorial and headed straight down to what is known as the Strip District... contrary to what it might sound like the Strip District is an area downtown that is known for having some of the best restaurants, farmers markets, festivals and bars in town. One open air convention space was hosting the annual Monster Pumpkin Fest which is an event where pro pumpkin carvers come together to carve amazing designs in humongous pumpkins. Like we’re talking 2,000+ lbs pumpkins. They also do a “pumpkin drop” where they lift one of these massive pumpkins up on a crane and drop it into a three foot pool of water and raise money. Unfortunately we missed the pumpkin drop but we were still able to see the carnage of exploded pumpkin guts all over the area where the drop happened. We met up with Tanner and Amanda and took pictures with the award winning big pumpkins and then got to watch carvers work on huge pumpkins and carve new additions to the medieval knights and dragons theme. There were also pumpkin sculptures, pumpkin paintings and a glass blowing booth where we watched two guys make a wine glass that was pretty awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Pumpkin fest we headed down the road a ways and took mom to Kayas our Caribbean burger place. Then we stopped by the Incline which is an old funicular (cable car on tracks). The tracks are 800 feet long and take you 400 feet in height up the face of Mount Washington providing one of the best views of the city. It was awesome to see it at night. We also rode up and back with some hilarious people who shared that the cart used to be used to transport people up and down the super steep hill as well as cargo so they didn’t have to hike themselves and freight up the paths of the hill. After returning safely back to the bottom of the hill we went home and watched Utah beat Arizona State ensuring Jaden was in good spirits the rest of the weekend.

 

 

 

 

Since Utah games are on so late out here with the time difference we took the opportunity to sleep in and have a lazy Sunday morning before church. Church meetings were good and we were approached by several people saying mom and I looked so much alike which is funny because we had our masks covering half of our faces yet people still thought that. I think it’s a compliment I’ve always liked being told I look like my mom. After church we came home and made quesadillas for lunch with our leftover taco fixings and then headed out to try to go to Point State Park round two… unfortunately we were unable to go AGAIN but this time it was because there was next to no parking in the area because there was a Steelers game so it was packed. We turned around and went and checked out Schenley Park which is right around the corner from us. We went on a walk through the trees, they’re still super green out here I was hoping they’d be prettier for mom but unfortunately they still haven’t turned colors yet. We gathered some fallen sticks and branches for a craft I wanted to do for our Halloween entry way table. So we came back and Jaden did some homework while mom and I did a craft and cut out dozens of bats out of construction paper and glued them on our branches and put them in a jar on our entry table. Mom told me about how she remembered helping her mom cut out hundreds of shapes, patterns and letters for her bulletin boards in her classroom before there were die cuts or cricut machines to cut out designs for you. It made me think about how I am grateful to have grown up with a crafty mom who was raised with a DIY attitude and helped foster a creative desire in me. I know it’s not for everyone but we love a good craft or DIY.

 

  

We watched mom’s fav movie Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn and then headed to bed before one last day of fun before she went home. We got up and I worked a half day and Bridger called for his Monday call. Jaden had his first day of new classes (his semesters are made up of four classes and two of the four classes are “minis” so they only run half of a semester so he had two new minis start up). Mom and I set out for the Pittsburgh Zoo which honestly was a lot more fun than I expected. I don’t know if I just remember the Hogle Zoo back home being boring but it seems like every time I went there as a kid over half the animals you saw were curled up in a corner sleeping. But not here! Almost every single animal we saw was actively walking around, coming close to the glass/fence and were honestly all so entertaining to watch. I kept saying to mom “they must slip caffeine in their food and water to make them this active!” It was honestly so fun, the zoo is set on beautiful property and the weather was awesome we had a great time. I remember one of our last days of summer before we started school when I was in junior high and Bridge was in elementary mom woke us up and said “let’s go to the zoo!” It was so spontaneous but was also so fun to drive down to Salt Lake with mom and go to the zoo on a whim. I love mom and her spontaneity and willingness to go on adventures together.

 

 

For our last Pittsburgh sightseeing trip we went to Soergels Farm that has a nursery, apple orchards, pumpkin patch, and cute decor shops. We made it there within thirty minutes til closing and bought some fresh apple cider, honey and pumpkin butter. This upcoming weekend we have plans to carve pumpkins with friends and I think Soergels is the perfect place to find pumpkins. And the best part is they have apple cider doughnuts and slushees to bait the boys with so they’ll come with us girls! Unfortunately they only serve slushees on the weekends and the doughnuts were all sold out so mom couldn’t try either. Maybe next year!

 

 

 

We came home and made a parting dinner of filet mignon, mashed cauliflower with balsamic glaze, asparagus and salad. Then we went and picked up Millie’s ice cream and watched a movie and reluctantly went to bed dreading the airport drop off the next morning.

Jaden has an 8:30 class so I took mom to the airport by myself. These drop offs absolutely do NOT get easier! It was definitely a tearful goodbye but knowing we’re heading home in exactly two months made it bearable. I just love my mom and our entire family so much and already can’t wait to see everyone and celebrate Christmas together.

My fav A.A. Milne quote applies once again,
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Mom is definitely a peach in our lives and although it was a major pit to watch her go get on a plane again I’m so glad she was able to come visit and celebrate her birthday at a fifty-three-esta with us.

Peaches

• I’ve got an awesome ministering partner
• Had a great conversation with Amy about her upcoming talk about being a true disciple. The very first time I met her when Jaden and I were dating she was preparing a relief society lesson and we talked about what she was preparing to teach. I still remember it to this day, it was on Bednar’s talk on meekness… But ever since then she’s continued to call and get my view point as she prepares to speak and teach. I’m so grateful I’m able to have not just a close bond but a close spiritual bond with my mother in law
• Having a job that offers a flexible schedule  
• Mom came to visit
• Seeing mom jump up and down so excited to see us
• Finally went to the Heinz museum, I’ve wanted to go since we got here
• Watching mom open her birthday presents
• Birthday fiesta with friends
• Skeleton charcuterie board
• Laughing hard at funny comments and card games with friends
• FaceTiming Landon, Mady, Bryn, Logan, Sam & Kennedy back home
• The solemnity at the Flight 93 memorial
• Feeling awe and respect for the people that sacrificed their lives and saved so many that day
• Monster pumpkin festival
• Incline views
• Utes won
• When a scripture shared at church perfectly with a conversation you have had
• I thought of a comment to make in Sunday school and thought it was awesome when another guy in the room raised his hand and shared almost exactly what I was going to say, new way of understanding being “one with the Saints” again it’s so amazing to have those spiritual conversations and connections with others. Really helps solidify to me that we truly are spiritual brothers and sisters and children of God
• Being told I look like my mom
• Sunday walks in the park
• Zoo was so fun
• Soergels shops and markets
• Watching movies and laughing with Jaden and Mom
• Mom and Jade have such a good relationship

Pits

• Ministering visit was eye opening and heart breaking all over again
• Grief over Flight 93 memorial
• Not communicating expectations and plans well
• Jaden was unable to join us for a lot of our adventures
• Missing exits and paying for parking nearly everywhere you go
• Not having chocolate chips while trying to make chocolate chip cookies
• Unable to successfully make it to Point State Park
• The leaves still haven’t changed much inside the city
• We have a suspicious crack that’s getting worse in our living room ceiling. Maintenance came to check it out but only said they would notify the painter…? Hopefully it’s not a water issue.
• Pittsburgh has a place called “Eat N Park” that’s supposed to be known for its smiley face sugar cookies… they’re cute but extremely overrated and quite gross. Checking yet another “Pittsburgh classic” off the list as an experience rather than good eat

Lessons Learned

• Blueberry and vanilla covered goat cheese is actually really yummy
• The essence of a true disciple is helping others along their own paths to discipleship “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren”(Luke 22:32)
• Dropping mom off at the airport is not getting any easier
• Voicing your goals and aspirations to others is exciting and may be surprising to see how much they support you
• A group of turkeys is called a rafter