Time with Family

Me and the boys spent a week and half down in Arizona. Jed didn't get to stay quite that long. We left Monday the 29th to go stay with Shane and Talease and then headed the rest of the way on Tuesday. Jed had the idea to go Tuesday so we thought we'd surprise everyone by showing up on their doorstep. We left St. George about 3 and of course, the surprise didn't quite turn out how we'd planned. Once we got to Las Vegas, the car started shaking and pulling to one side really bad. We exited in hopes of finding a tire store, but drove around for about an hour looking... until I finally convinced him to stop and ask someone! We had to get two new (used) tires for the front. They had started separating. I'm extremely glad that we were in a town when this happened. After 2 hours in Las Vegas and a few detours to get to the right freeway... we were off again. I finally called Shara about 9 (8 her time) to let her know that we should have been arriving in a couple of hours, but instead we had about 3 or 4 more to go! I didn't want her freaking out when someone started knocking on her door at midnight. The boys rode pretty good. Ryker wanted fed about every 2 hours and cried if his arms weren't tucked under the blanket. We were never more happy to see the Higley exit! Jed drove the whole way and got pretty tired the last 15 minutes.

We did get to surprise my mom the next morning when Lucas walked into Grandma's house. She obviously wasn't expecting us to be there until that evening. It was good to see her and my grandma and give them each a hug. Later that afternoon, my dad, Jess, Tawn & Landon arrived. There was a big family get together over at Jeanie's that night. It was so fun to be together as family and visit with so many of my cousins.

Thursday was Grandpa's funeral. Everything was perfect. It was emotional for me to see my grandpa, but also reassuring to know I'll see him again. Each of his children talked and did a wonderful job remembering his life. All the cousin's sang "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good" which I knew would be hard for me since I had a hard time just practicing it! He was carried in the back of my uncles truck to Virden, NM for a graveside service. Virden is about 4 hours from Mesa and they were going there and back in the same day. We decided to stay back in Mesa since we had just had a major travel day and a baby to stop and feed. Shara also stayed back since she's so close to having her baby. It was a great tribute to Grandpa to see all the people who came to both services.






All the grandkids except 4.




Arriving in Virden fashion... back of the pick-up.




My grandparents headstone... their 3rd one to be exact!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out, swimming, eating & visiting. Jed, Jess & my dad left early Sunday morning. The boys, Tawn and myself stayed for a few more days so my mom could come back with us. I was glad Tawnya stayed to help me with the kids. They were extremely busy. Between my three and Abby, there wasn't much down time. Nap time was a welcome part of the day. Lucas spent one night over at Grama Great's house with Grama Carole and Tawnya. He loved having all the attention to himself. Shara showed us how to make the cute onesies with the appliques on them. She had given me two for Ryker and now I can't wait for him to wear all the other ones... they are so cute.













Thursday night the Call's had a baby shower for Shara. I was glad we were able to stay and go to it. She got a lot of fun things for their little boy. I know she was glad that he didn't come while we were there, but I would have loved to see him. He'll be well taken care of with Abby around! She was very helpful with Ryker... sometimes a little too much!







Abby and Kody were great buddies and enjoyed crossing into each others personal space! Abby liked to reach out and pinch his cheek until she got a reaction. He'd usually retaliate by giving her a kiss on the head. Towards the end he got a little more aggressive and would push her down. A couple fun things they did were...

• Play in the bathtub with their clothes on... a few times
• Kody drenching Abby in some nice smelling air freshener (so much that her hair was dripping).
• Spread lotion and diaper rash cream on the crib

They had so much fun together!

It's amazing how this pretty blue eyed girl could do this to ones face...

We left Friday morning to head back to Utah. We took turns driving and it actually wasn't too bad. Ryker was a complete angel the whole way and only made a little noise when he wanted fed. Lucas and Kody did really well together and only slept from Holden to home. We dropped Tawn off with Landon and Reese in Holden. She missed Reese a lot and was excited to see her. It was nice to finally pull in the driveway! It was nice to see Jed. We missed him and (I think) he missed us!

Thanks Aaron and Shara for letting us disrupt your lives for so long. We had a great time.