Family Celebrations

I really timed the summer festivities right because this week we had more family celebrations in the form of another temple trip, 90th birthday bash, reunion with Jaden and dinner with friends.

Temple Trip

My cousin Jacie received her endowments at the Bountiful temple this week and we got to be there in the temple with her. The Parr girls are actually my second cousins but honestly felt like immediate family growing up. My parents lived across the street from them when Jordan and I were first born until my family moved to Layton and Bridger was born there. We remained close and went on plenty of vacations, sleepovers and outings where plenty of memories were made that we still look back on and laugh about today. Right after Jaden and I moved out to Pittsburgh the Parr's family moved down to St. George so visits won't be as quick as a 10 minute drive down to Farmington anymore but it was fun to see them when they drove up to the Bountiful temple. Family and the temple is truly what it's all about and I'm glad I could go an additional time while I was in town and see even more extended family. Also the flowers on the grounds were so bright and vibrant I loved them.

90th Birthday Bash

The long awaited day came for Grandma Moyle: her 90th birthday bash. Her wish was to have her full family together and share a meal and celebration and we almost made it. My dad and Jaden were the only two that couldn't make it. My dad was out of town on a hunting trip and Jaden was in process of traveling back but didn't get in until late that night so was unable to be there at the Mad Moose Cafe. Mom and I printed out coloring pages for my cousin's young kids, brought some cute 90 centerpieces and confetti and the star of the show was grandma in a tiara and 90th birthday banner. She was "so tickled" to have everyone there. And an event wouldn't be an event if Grandma didn't meet someone or see someone she knew so she paraded around the cafe and met some new people and of course found a cousin that just happened to be there at the same time. She is remarkable at the way she connects and finds a friend or family member wherever she goes. She closed the day with a little speech that was hard for all of us to hear but thanked everyone for being there and gave everyone a printed copy of her personal history she had been working with a neighbor to write up and give to everyone. It was a good happy day and I was so glad I could be there to celebrate her. 

Side note over the weekend I went and had a sleepover at Steph's house so I could visit her and take an exam in peace because my cousins were in town for the birthday party and were going to stay at my parent's for a night. I was gone for a day and a half and when I came back half of the people had dyed their hair blue... It was a wild time I guess.

Reunion with Jaden

Finally the day came to go pick up Jaden and his parents so the real party could begin. It was sweet seeing him and Bridge give each other a big hug. Bridger only had one shot at getting a good brother-in-law since I'm his only sister and I think they have a really good relationship. Jaden's flight got in late so he was pretty tired but we went home and chatted with Bridger for a while before everyone went to bed. Then the next morning we went back to school shopping and Jaden used his computer expertise to get Bridge setup with a new laptop for his first semester of school that starts up in a couple of weeks. Jaden and I are so excited to see where Bridge goes on these next paths of life. It makes us sad that we have to watch from a distance but we feel grateful for the times when we can be together and spend quality time catching up, making memories and just spending time with the family we love so much. 

Dinner with Friends

We feel blessed to have family that goes beyond blood relations and truly consider our friends to be like family. So although I don't have pictures of the entire group trust me they were there in all of their loud, excited, goodness to see both of us and go to dinner at Jaden's fav: The Mandarin, and grab dessert at Nelson's frozen custard after. Two of our favorite Bountiful eats that are always on our bucket lists to go to when we are home. 

Peaches:

• Reading/listening scriptures together as a family. It's evolved over the years, we used to have one person read per night but that quickly grew too boring and everyone else would get distracted. So then we moved to everyone having their own copy of the Book of Mormon and we'd divide a chapter into four sections and everyone read, that was what stuck for years but more recently after I moved out and Bridger was on his mission my parents started playing the chapter on a speaker so we listen to it now. Sometimes the pace is increased so you have to strain your ears a little bit to understand what they're saying. But I think all of us would say reading scriptures together really blessed and strengthened our family and still does. 

• Made our schedule detailing all of the events we had planned while we were home. We always say there are three types of recreational travel: trips, visits, vacations. Trips are news places that are so jam packed with things you are always walking, doing, seeing that you almost come home more tired than when you left and need a vacation after the vacation (think like Europe or DisneyLand). Visits are when you travel to see people which is what trips home are, and vacations are when you sit on a beach and just relax. Our visits are great don't get me wrong but one thing about living out of state is your vacations become visits and we want to get to the point where we are back in Utah around family full-time instead of visits. But we know that won't be for a few more years since Jaden's full-time offer will be out of state but that's ok we're excited for another adventure on our way back home.

• Grandma's birthday
• Hanging out with Steph, seeing her new house and staying over in her guest bedroom like old times
• Going to the temple
• Seeing Jordan & Jacie
• Picking up Jaden from the airport 
• Going back to school shopping with Bridger
• Dinner with friends
• Nelson's custard
• Beautiful flowers
• Sunsets at home

Pits:

• Was stressed about my exam and homework that follows and slips into any cracks of free time I have
• Haven't been able to layout and enjoy the sun and pool because of homework