A Week in Utah

I found myself and the boys on an unexpected road trip to Logan, Utah after my Grandpa Vic passed away May 3. My dad's father passed away a few months ago, and this time it was my mom's dad. He was nearly 80 years old and we were sad to see him slip away, so I wanted to be there with the family even though Luke wasn't able to take off work those days.

The drive actually wasn't too bad at all. It's an 8 hr drive from Denver to Logan and I think I made it in about 10 hrs since I stopped often to give the boys a break- McDonalds' play places were perfect. I also found an old portable DVD player to keep the boys occupied, and it worked great! That, and a lot of snacks and candy. I'm so glad that part of the trip went smoothly!

We stayed at my Grandma Susan's house and she gave us the playroom upstairs and the boys loved having all these new toys to play with. They stayed up late playing and reading books with Grandma the first night, and woke up bright and early to play some more.

 

Then my parents arrived and the boys were so excited to see them again. My mom helped Susan take care of a lot of things, and my dad took me and the boys out to lunch the first day. They kept wanting to get out of the house, even to just go walk around the neighborhood 5 times a day.  

  

 

 

Wednesday, May 8 was the viewing for my Grandpa. He didn't have a funeral service but a lot of people came to show their respects and my sister Andrea helped by making a really nice slideshow of his life that played throughout the viewing.

 Jacob and Blake were awesome and played quietly and watched a movie in another room so that I could be at the viewing and talk with people, including my brother James and his wife Tammy who drove from Seattle and showed up right on time. 

Immediately following, we went around the corner to the grave site which is on the beautiful northern hills of Logan. You can practically see the graveyard from my Grandma's backyard, which is nice.

My dad, brother James, Uncle Erik, and all 6 of Susan's sons helped carry the casket while a man played the bag pipes, it was really nice.

Then my dad offered a dedicatory prayer. As soon as he finished there was a large roll of thunder, and then a few minutes later it began to rain.

We went back to the church for a really nice lunch and were able to visit some more. Here is Grandma Susan with all her sons Eric, Jim, Dan, Chris, Ted, and Dave; my Uncle Erik, my mom, dad, me, and James. And again with spouses, and children. (Blake went for a nap so he missed pictures).

Good to be there with family.

Afterwards, we mostly were together to unwind at my Grandma's and just spent time talking with each other.

My grandpa loved chess and James is probably just as obsessed as he was, so it was like Christmas morning when James inherited a huge box of all my grandpa's chess books. James got to reading them right away, haha. He also went through my grandpa's score cards and played games that he used to play at chess matches. They tried teaching me and Jacob how to play, but I'm not sure I'll ever understand the game.

 

My boys were obsessed with the dog. Jacob was really good at offering him treats, "'training" him, and going with Grandma to take him for walks. Oly was a little more afraid of Blake though since he'd hug him so tight, poke his eyes, and chase him saying "doggie, wait!" Haha they were too cute with that little dog.

 

Thursday we got out as a family since it was a beautiful day. My parents met in Logan exactly 30 years ago on Mother's Day at this church building, and while my mom was living in this house. And they were married 29 years ago in this Logan temple. It was nice to drive around and have them show us these spots.

Then we went to the park, had snacks, and the boys got to run around for hours while I got to relax and talk with my mom, it was a really nice day.

The boys having a great time with their grandparents!

 

Luke surprised us by saying he could fly in to SLC Thursday afternoon so we had him take a shuttle bus to Logan and we picked him up and grabbed some ice cream together at the university creamery.

On Friday we took Luke and visited Grandpa's grave site one more time.

Then we took a little drive through the canyon and played at "the cave" for awhile.

Jacob playing in the upper cave. I used to come as a kid but I forgot how far it actually goes back!

We tried to go see a lake up in the mountains but it was surprisingly still snowed in, we couldn't even get through. So we had lunch at Cafe Rio then said goodbye to James and Tammy. Later that night we also said goodbye to my parents. I was so glad we got to visit with them, we all had a great time!

We spent one more night with Grandma, after taking the boys on another long trip to the park. Jacob stayed up late telling great Grandma Susan stories, it was so cute.

We said goodbye to Grandma the next morning. I was glad that we got to stay and visit with her, especially since I'm not sure when we'll ever be back in Logan. I had forgotten what a beautiful city it is though, my phone camera just does not do it justice. I hope we'll be back someday soon!

We made a little pit stop in SLC and visited around temple square. The boys got to see the temple and I enjoyed going in the visitor centers. I also got to see my old friend Seth and his wife and daughter, so it was nice to be able to visit with them while we there too.

 

Finally we made it down to Pleasant Grove to visit Luke's sisters. Since Luke flew out, we had extra time to spend with them over the weekend, and Jacob was very excited to get another chance to play with cousins.

 

They took us out into the mountains so we could do some shooting, it was pretty fun and a nice night. We even let Jacob have a try, and he seemed to like it.  He kept begging for more turns.

 

Jacob trying to throw the skeets too. Luckily Blake was content to watch a movie in the car the whole time. That DVD player came in handy so many times this trip!

 

For a little while I got to hold Dorothy while Jane and Kate had turns shooting, and this girl's faces crack me up, she is so cute. I had a couple turns with some guns too, though I have no idea if I hit anything, but probably not, haha. It was still a fun night out with them.

The next day was Mother's Day, so we went to church with Kate's family and then we started the drive halfway home. The DVD player broke on the way home, so we took breaks again to let the boys get out, and I was just glad Luke was driving, though I helped a little.

We stopped in Glenwood Springs for the night and found an italian place to have a Mother's Day dinner. Blake was completely nuts and wiggly so we ate as quick as we could, got back to the hotel and I shared a bed with Blake, who wouldn't wind down until 12:30! So much for a relaxing Mother's Day!

It had been a long trip, and all in all the boys did awesome! What I had planned to be a quick trip to Logan, turned into a week vacation throughout Utah! Though funerals are not the greatest of circumstances, I'm still grateful opportunities arise that we can get together with family and have a fun trip! Coincidentally, I already have a trip planned to take Blake out to Maryland for Memorial weekend next week so I'm glad I'll get another chance to visit with my parents again and see the rest of my family soon!