Utah Part II – Family & Memorial Day

Thankfully the next day was Sunday and we could sit back and enjoy time with family. We all came back to my Mom’s after sacrament meeting and my Aunts and Uncle left for Kay's house in St. George.  Ray’s family came over for lunch and games and we were able to convince Brenda and her boyfriend to join us for a few rounds of nines when they dropped by. Val's son has moved out of their basement so we had the entire basement at our disposal, including the theatre room! We'd picked up a few movies at Redbox to enjoy that evening.

My Mom had a bird’s nest in her BBQ.

They’ve peeked inside every so often to watch the process from egg to naked freshly hatched babies to growing baby birds with feathers.  We hoped the kids would be able to take a peek so we all gathered around and as my Mom lifted the lid the birds flew out in a panic.  Actually we’re not even sure they could fly yet, but they glided away.

Whoops!  Hopefully the babies were old enough to take care of themselves or the mama bird was able to gather them up.  Val had quite the task cleaning up the mess they’d left behind.

Cammy picked up a little birthday cake so we could sing a proper Happy Birthday to my baby – who was now 2 years and 2 days old. 

He thought the smoke was pretty neat

We took a little walk around a nearby pond.  Drew was pretty excited about the ducks.

Ray suggested a great plan for our Memorial Day. We headed up north first thing Monday morning and met Ray and his kids at the newly renovated Ogden Temple. This was the temple nearest to me while growing up. Not only does the temple look entirely different, but the entire block seemed unrecognizable as well.

Drew was being absolutely adorable!  Do you see him resting his little hands on top of Justin’s head?

the west entrance

After a few pictures we caravanned to the Ogden City Cemetery to visit my Dad’s gravesite.  

Drew REALLY liked sitting on the headstone.

I sure love this little boy and those baby blues!

My paternal Grandparents and Great Grandparents are also buried near my Dad.

Next stop was Farr's Better Ice cream, a favorite of my Dad's.  Justin and Ray even got one of Dad’s favorite flavors - green pineapple.

Then it was lunch at Zupas, a first for Justin and the kids. It was a big thumbs up for everyone.

The caravan continued to Antelope Island where we attempted to rope cattle and roamed through some old ranch buildings and nearby woods.

Jayden was really close to roping the cattle

Who wouldn’t want to rope these two cuties?

“more”

We spotted antelope, deer, lots of bison, and a coyote.

Drew and Katie enjoyed driving with the windows down.

We hit a few stores (and three different eating establishments) on the way back to my Mom’s. Utah's plethora of shopping and food amazes me every time we visit! The girls got to stay up late playing games with me, Justin, and Grandma. We decided we wouldn't set any alarms in the morning and instead just got up and ready when the kids started waking up. We were on the road at 8am.

I wish I could say the long ride home went as perfectly as the ride there but by this point the kids were pretty tired. There was some whining, a few spatial issues (understandably so with three kiddos squished along the back seat) and apparently we didn't dehydrate the kids enough because we had to make four stops along the way.  One potty break at a rest stop also included a little family volleyball.  

I'm typing this as we are driving home and Justin wants me to include all the quantifiable facts so insert here how long it took us to get home we pulled into our driveway just before 8pm which means it took us just shy of 13 hours to get home.  Seriously though we can't complain. We've been blessed with great little travelers who thankfully don't mind being restrained for an entire day.

Thus ends the fastest trip to Utah ever! Totally worth it! We were so glad to be a part of Grandma’s 100th birthday celebration and we very much enjoyed the time we were able to spend with family.  

Utah Part I - Grandma’s 100th Birthday Party

My Grandma Ikhaml turned 100 years old on Thursday, May 21st. A big party was scheduled for that following Saturday and I knew I wanted to be there. The original plan was just for me to fly down to Utah for the weekend but as the event neared there were so many more reasons we felt it would be great to take the whole family down. The kids had Friday off of school due to an unneeded snow day and Monday was Memorial Day so we already had a four day weekend. Carly's wasn't getting back from her overnight field trip to Mount St. Helens until late Thursday night so we couldn't leave until Friday morning. My mom posted this picture on Facebook on Grandma's actual birthday. 

I love that my Grandma spent her 100th birthday in the Provo Temple. And don't let the wheelchair fool you. She was strong enough to even stand and participate in the prayer circle.

Our goal was start the nearly 13 hour drive to Utah by 6am and we were backing out of the driveway at 5:59am. A perfect start to a perfect drive. Ok, so perfect would consist of a much shorter drive, but the kids traveled beautifully. The drive was peaceful and pleasant and we made awesome time with only two brief stops for gas and restrooms.

Unfortunately, the day we drove to Utah also happened to be Drew’s birthday. Nothing says Happy Birthday more than being woken before the sun and restrained in a 5-point harness for 12+ hours, right? Good thing Drew is such an awesome kid and didn't mind at all. Bonus of it being his second birthday is that he was able to move from his rear-facing baby seat to a forward-facing car seat, which means he could watch movies with the rest of the kids.

Near the end of the drive we started awarding high chews when one of us spotted certain scavenger hunt type items (pink car, lighthouse, triple trailer, roadkill, a boat, etc...). As we entered Utah we also gave a high-chew to the first person to spot each temple. The kids also made cards to add to Grandma Ikhaml's basket of 100+ cards. No one even asked to play the DS the whole way down. Like I said, couldn't have gone better.

We pulled into Herriman 12 hours and 20 minutes after leaving Snoqualmie and went directly to Cafe Rio to get some dinner to enjoy at my Mom’s. My Aunt Kay and Aunt Marlene and her husband Bob were also staying at my Mom’s.  It was nice to have some time to visit with them. I don't think I'd seen any of my Aunts since my Mom and Val's wedding 5.5 years ago.

Grandma’s birthday celebration was held at a church near the Provo Temple. Each of her eight daughters was assigned a color for their family to wear. It actually was a brilliant idea since there were over 160 of my relatives there and it helped place them with the aunt they belonged to. 

Marlene, Laurie, Linda, Joyce, Fran, Barbara, Kay, and Eileen

Getting everyone in place for a family picture was quite the task.

My family less my sister Robyn who was out of town with her husband, my brother Lee who lives in Iowa, and my oldest niece Kaitlyn who is serving a performing mission in Nauvoo.

And my own little family. Crazy to think that someday my posterity may fill an entire stage.

There was a neat display of pictures from each decade of my Grandma’s life – including a picture of an automobile and telephone from that time period.

The gym was also decorated with pictures from past family reunions and a display with the latest Ikhaml posterity statistics.

It seemed strange to me to see that I was one of only 46 grandchildren.  Not that 46 is by any means small, but when I was growing up it seemed I had hundreds of cousins because some of my cousins had kids my own age.  And then when you add in spouses on top of these numbers – Wowsers!

There was a yummy catered lunch and then each of the sisters was in charge of a certain part of the program. 

We sang Happy Birthday and divvied out the cake

My mom was over the guessing jars. Guessing jars were a part of every Ikhaml family reunion we had growing up. I remember winning a glass jar of runts when I was in college. Each sister brought some sort of jar and the Hipwell family ended up taking home half. Some claimed conspiracy, but we Hipwells just have mad math skills. (Not pictured is Justin with his winning jar of coins!)

Emily won the jar of jelly bellys

Ashley won the red vines

Caylee took home the pretzels

After each sister introduced her family in attendance the grandchildren all sang “Love at Home” and “Signe Ikhaml’s Favorite Things” to the tune of “These are a few of my favorite things” from the Sound of Music.

Signe Ikhaml’s Favorite Things

Eight charming daughters and hundreds of grandkids;

Thousand piece puzzles and card games with high bids;

Re-unions and cabins and wild horseshoe flings –

These are a few of your favorite things.

M&M’s, licorice, butter on bread;

Landscaping, fruit trees and one murphy bed;

Sewing new dresses and quilts tied with strings –

These are a few of your favorite things.

Going on road trips and luxury cruises;

Matching recliners to watch the late news;

Lladros and art works and bright diamond rings –

These are a few of your favorite things.

When the styles change, when the chair’s old,

When that color’s through –

You simply re-paint it, re-build it, re-do

And then your house looks brand new!

My Aunt Barbara had a “special presentation” for Grandma.  A high school diploma!  I had no idea my Grandma never graduated from high school.  In addition to a diploma, the high school also sent her a 1933 yearbook and mug.  So awesome!

We watched a slide presentation of Grandma’s life and then my Aunt Laurie, who has been compiling my Grandma’s history for the last few years, had a book printed for each of the grandchildren to take home.  What an incredible keepsake!  It is so well done and even includes a CD of all the pictures and documents collected throughout Grandma’s 100 years – I love this kind of personal history!

My cousin took this picture later that afternoon in my Grandma’s apartment.  So much love for these sweet lady!

After the party the Hipwells decided to pop into Waffle Love for a sweet treat. Yum!

A little bizarre to spend the day walking around town in matching green shirts.

We had a little time to do some shopping before heading even further south to the Payson Temple open house. We were so excited for our kids to be able to attend their first temple open house! We had tickets for a 6pm tour, but since it was the last day of the open house it was CROWDED and our tickets meant absolutely nothing. We had to wait about 35 minutes to get in, but Oh My! It was worth it! Everything about the Payson temple is elegant and exquisite. I can see why they have record number of weddings scheduled this summer. It is gorgeous! 

We couldn't be so close to the Evans family, friends from our 10 years in Auburn, without stopping in to say hello and meet their new baby. It didn't take the kids long to become reacquainted and we nearly had to drag them out to the car when it was time to head back to my Mom’s.

Day one was non-stop fun and wore a few of us out.

Mother’s Day 2015

My Mother’s Day was quite different this year since I spent it in California with two friends instead of five kiddos.  It was still a wonderful day though in an entirely different way.  I didn’t get my traditional Mother’s Day picture with the kids – perhaps I should make a note to take one this Sunday instead – a few weeks late is better than not at all, right?  Anyhow, I did want to post the cards Katie and Jason gave me when I got back.

A few of my favorites from Jason’s fill in the blank card…

What do you LOVE TO DO THE MOST with your mom?  Play games

What kind of stuff is your mom REALLY GOOD AT?  playing monobly (no mercy!)

If you could CHANGE ONE THING about your mom, what would it be?  to run more. (what??)

What’s ONE THING you think your mom should do LESS OF?  Clening up

What’s ONE THING you thing your mom should do MORE OF?  Playing monopoly

What’s the CRAZIEST THING you’ve ever seen your mom do? run (he’s got that right!)

Complete this sentence.  I know my mom loves me because she said so