2016 :: week 12

March 13

Sunday night we went up to Salt Lake for a Fletcher family gathering, graciously hosted by Peggy and Mike. Mike is a big Star Wars fan and the kids excitedly dug through his stash of action figures. We had a great time catching up and visiting with aunts, uncles and cousins we hadn't seen in person for years and ended up staying much longer than we had planned. It's hard to leave when the conversation is so good. Despite keeping them up much later than their bedtime, Will and Lauren were great. (We ended up paying for it later, when both Lauren and Elliott got sick in the night and we were depleted from staying up so late, but it was still worth it.)

March 14

Monday we visited several family members in SLC, included Bobpa, Anthony's maternal grandfather. Bobpa will turn 95 this year and is still quite healthy and very sharp. We had to plan our visit with him around the classes he is taking at the U--not for credit but personal enrichment.

March 15

We visited the Museum of Natural Curiosity with the Nielson girls Tuesday afternoon. Anthony stayed home with Elliott who picked up a little stomach bug. The museum is pretty cool! Lots of fun exhibits that encourage kids to use their imaginations, but can teach them as well. Here the kids are in a rainforest market. They were more interested in hoarding the fake food in their bags rather than playing store. Will was adamant he was the shopkeeper. The Nielson girls love to play pretend, as do our kids. They were basically involved in a week long game of pretend while we were there. Camille looks a lot like Addy to me in this picture.

March 16

Wednesday we took the kids to BYU for a trip down memory lane. We met up with some good friends (Candace and Darren), siblings (Laura and Matt), and visited a few of our old haunts from our undergraduate days. We took a picture of the kids next the building named after their great-grandfather, Harvey Fletcher. Harvey is Bobpa's father, and was in the news recently for winning an honorary Grammy Award. He is the "father of stereophonic sound." He also designed the Y on the mountain in Provo.

March 17

Thursday was a quiet day. We hung out at the Nielson's and prepared for our return trip. Carly and Daniel were preparing for their trip to Austin, TX, for the BYU Women's Basketball NCAA Tournament game against Mizzou. Lauren developed a terrible nighttime cough and Elliott picked up a minor-but-messy stomach bug while we were in Utah. In combination with how late we stayed up talking to Carly and Daniel, Ben Gaines, and Brian Innes we were exhausted and not feeling quite as energized about our trip home. The kids played together pretty well in the morning, but by afternoon Lauren and Elise weren't getting along very well. They are both headstrong, confident women.

March 18

Our trip home mirrored our trip out. We drove 10 hours the first day, stayed the night at the same hotel in North Platte, then drove 7 hours the second day before arriving at home. We were much more tired than we had been the week before, but the time passed rather pleasantly Friday. Despite getting sick, Elliott was amazing on the trip. However he started to melt down as we were about an hour from the hotel Friday night. I went and sat next to him and he eventually calmed down.

March 19

 

Sometimes there really is no place like home. Lauren had another long night of coughing Friday night, made worse by the fact that we were all sharing the same hotel room. We got a much later start and had to stop more times than we did on our first day of driving. We were all so excited when we pulled into our neighborhood around 6pm. The grass even looked greener! I'm pretty sure it was, as it rained while we were gone. Our daffodils were starting to bloom when we left and I was afraid we were going to miss them. We had a fantastic trip west with lots of great reconnecting, but there is something about sleeping in your own bed.