Vacation

This month has flown by. We left at the beginning of the month and now it's almost over. I'm posting some of our photo highlights. We left Thursday March 6 and drove north to Utah. When we reached Decator, TX we stopped for lunch. Just before taking off again - it started to snow. It was a novelty and the girls and Jhonny loved it. . .at first. Then it got pretty rough as we tried to get out of the storm. Cars and trucks swerved and so did we, but we made it out of there okay with only a few close calls. I was happy to be out of the snow storm and on our way. We stopped in Santa Rosa, NM late but were able to regain an hour due to the time change. As we tried to settle down to sleep, Lily threw up. I hoped it was not the stomach virus and just car sickness, but I had little hope the next day when she had diahrea in addition. I hoped we could get through our vacation without passing it on to the rest of us.

On Friday we continued our journey through to Arizona and drove north from Flagstaff to Zion's National Park. We made good time and decided to take a short detour to see the grand canyon. We didn't make it all the way to the Grand Canyon, but did stop at the "little" canyon and took pictures. That was good enough for us - free and a whole lot closer. We got back on our path to Zion's. We made it to Clear Creek Ranch where the family reunion was to be held at about 10pm our time I think and though we meant to go straight to bed - I couldn't resist staying up and catching up with my family members and getting really excited about seeing them.

My parents showed up about an hour later with my sisters and their sons. I was so happy to see them that of course, I probably stayed up til midnight talking and catching up.

It was just as well since the bed was horrible! It was so hard and I was sore the next day. But I was up at 5 am because Jessica and Lily were up and ready to go. They fell asleep in the car and never woke up. I set them up with a cartoon while we waited for the more sane people to wake up. I couldn't sleep anyway. I was too wired to visit. We had a great pancake breakfast and then went to the "Lodge" for pictures with everyone. There we saw more of my family - some I hadn't seen in 10 years or more. We excitedly talked and moved from one group of people to the next. It seemed no one was in the mood for pictures as much as talk. There was excitement in the air as I introduced my husband to cousins, aunts and uncles that hadn't met him before. The kids ran around meeting second cousins.

After getting pictures taken, we lingered a little longer for more catching up and then reluctantly retired to the "Stables" where we were staying. The whole lot of us occupied three houses on the Ranch. We got stuck in the stables which really were at one time stables. Our room was in fact an old stall redone. There was a curtain in front of the bars of the sliding door to offer privacy, but no escape from the noise outside our room. It seemed unless everyone was equally asleep someone suffered while trying to sleep. We even got our own little mouse to make it more authentic! Yikes!

Talking

Grandma's kids

Kids and Spouses

Grandkids

Grandkids

Great Grandkids

I was exhausted and fell asleep despite the noise. We had planned to go to Zion's park that afternoon, but when I woke up it was snowing and extremely cold. No one wanted to venture out into that. After a while, Jhonny and I took a walk and ended up at the Lodge again. I talked with my cousin for a while and some aunts before rushing back to get the kids ready for our big dinner. We got the kids back up to the lodge with us and enjoyed a huge dinner with the whole family. I'm still surprised we were able to get everyone in there to eat.

After dinner, my uncle Jerry presented his documentary presentation for Grandma. It was her 80th birthday and the reason for our gathering. The documentary was excellently done and I learned tons about Grandma I never knew. But it ended at her 16th birthday and I was curious about the rest. After talking with my cousin and uncle (Both about my age) they promised to send me a copy of the written history that they had converted to digital format (PDF file.) with the promise not to talk too much about it explaining that some things Grandma would probably rather be left unsaid until after she dies. I just finished the history last night and now I understand what they were talking about. I loved it anyway and I really appreciated her candid honesty about the details of her life. It makes her triumphs even more significant in my eyes. She overcame many weaknesses and obstacles in her life to become the great woman that she is today. I understand a lot more now about some of the personality traits and perhaps character flaws that I possess. It's nice to know there is hope to better myself. She was and is a courageous person and possesses a desire to do the Lord's will.

Sunday we got up and went to church. I wasn't feeling so well but blamed it on staying up too late. After church we had a big lunch again with most everyone. There was plenty of food. Then we had a beautiful afternoon ahead of us. After rationalizing a bit and hearing the complaints of my poor husband who was looking forward to the park as part of this trip we found a way to go to Zion's park. We got lost trying to find the right path to hike, but eventually met up with some other members of our family. We joined them and then found the rest of the party we were supposed to go with. The girls enjoyed throwing rocks into the river with aunt Dixie. Jessica was intrigued with Aunt Dixie and wanted her to be with us the whole time. As we left to go back to the lodge, I started feeling sick and had the chills. I could only think about taking a hot bath and going to bed.

When we got back, Grandma was there and they were talking about a last gathering in our stables before everyone left the next day. I wanted to be a part of it, but I felt miserable. I took a hot shower because the only tub was occupied. It helped a little. I layed down and then decided I could lay down in the front room and at least listen to the talk. As I got comfortable I found a lot of sympathy and two aunts rubbed my feet. Jessica sided up to me and complained about a stomach ache. She got some attention too. Later that night, our illnesses manifested themselves as the stomach virus that Lily had passed on to us. We were miserable, but felt better after getting some of it out of our systems. To stay on schedule we needed to leave early the next morning.

We were late leaving, but got to Lehi in time for my uncle Garrin to work on our car and for us to check into a hotel and sleep. The car was ready later that afternoon and as much as we wanted to see our other side of the family, I didn't want to expose anyone else to what we had. We stayed in the hotel room and I SLEPT. Tuesday we headed back home stopping in Moab as is tradition and then went on our way. We made good time and by Wednesday night we were sooo glad to be back in our own beds. My bed has never felt so good.

Jhonny finished the tub and tiling work on his days off and I took my first bath in my luxurious new "spa". I love it. Jessica is right - Dad is good at fixing stuff. We'll keep him.

Master Bath Before (This is the only picture I could find. It doesn't show the tub - but it does show the "closet" reflected in the mirror which we replaced with closet organizers.)

During Jhonny's renovation which included taking out the tile, cast iron tub and redoing the plumbing. What a mess!

Master Bath After! The mess was well worth it for this beauty. Can you believe this is Jhonny's first tile job?

Guest Bath Before

Guest Bath Before (This is the same type of bathtub that was in the Master Bathroom as well. The tile on the Master Bath was a bright yellow.)

Guest Bath Now. Renovations for this bathroom included taking out the old peeling wall paper, replastering the walls, painting the sink, tile and tub with a tile refinisher, painting and sponging the walls and adding decor. Jhonny did the hard stuff - I did the ripping the paper off, painting, sponging and decorating.

Guest Bath Now.

Jessica came back to two days of festivities and is now enjoying her real spring break. Friday morning I went down to the park to hide Easter Eggs for her kindergarten class. They had a morning long field trip playing in the park and eating lunch. I hung around to help out the substitute with all the kids running around. Jhonny and Lily rode the bike down and joined us as well. Jess enjoyed being back with her friends and playing all day.

Saturday we joined her dance class at her dance teacher's property for another Easter Egg Hunt. What a week! It's great to be home and take a vacation from our vacation!