Fall with Family

 This fall was so fun for me! Mom spent almost all of October with our family, Dad came for the last weekend of her trip, and then early November Nelson and I went to Utah. 

Mom started her trip cracking me up, I tried to offer her a sparkling water and her response was, "Oh I'm scared to death of those things. I took one drink of one of those and wasn't sure what to do with it. I wasn't sure how to tell [Mel] that was the worst thing I've ever tasted!" Dad tried one when he visited hoping that he would end up liking this time and immediately regretted it. 

Mom got to witness a few of Riley's classic moments. Riley's skin is so sensitive so she's always got skin stuff happening. One night Ben collected 5 different creams to put on various places. As he appeared with all the creams Riley exclaims, "Wow! You really are a doctor!"

I asked my gym about adding my mom to my membership for October and they said that'd be fine and they didn't even increase my membership fee for that month. So nice of them! One day she told me at one point in her walk she was sure it was the end, not due to difficulty breathing, but because the sound coming from behind her was surely a rocket about to blast off. Haha I guess one of the runners behind her was really going for it on a loud running machine. (It's not a treadmill or at least not a normal one.) 

While Mom was out of town Dad had quite the adventure at home. He had to capture a mouse in the house! Listening to Dad tell the story of accidentally concussing a mouse was hilarious. It was even funnier a few weeks later listening to him tell the story to Britt in person. Watching him act out the mouse staggering away in a dazed state was hilarious. Although it took a sad turn when Britt found out the mouse died and said, "My guinea pigs are literally rodents!" He also threw in an extra detail he hadn't said over zoom that after he'd thought he saw the mouse, but wasn't sure, "for the next few days I'd go around kicking things." Hahaha just that image of Dad kicking everything he walks by cracks me up. 

It's so nice when Mom visits to not have the expectation to go and do a bunch of things. We tried doing outing the first time Mom and Dad were here, but now we just get to enjoy our normal life with extra help and it's wonderful. Just getting to leave Nelson or Riley with Mom when I needed to do something with the other child was awesome. Although, this did lead to me accidentally leaving Nelson in the car the first time I took Riley to preschool after Mom left. Luckily, it was still fall so it wasn't too hot or too cold to be dangerous, but I definitely felt a little silly. 

Dad flew in for just the last few days of fun and then Mom and Dad travelled home together. I picked them both up from the airport when they arrived, but we agreed they could take an uber to go to the airport on their way home. Well I kind of felt like a horrible daughter letting them get into the car after watching the driver drive back and forth past our street multiple times, finally decide to turn the wrong way up our one way street, and then make it worse by making a u-turn into oncoming traffic to get to us waiting on the sidewalk. Miracle of miracles they arrived to the airport in one piece. 

General Conference entertainment. Our craft loving girl used a whole bottle of glue within the first session. 

Nelson's General Conference entertainment.

Riley's "Pumpkin Patch". I had told Riley that we were going to pumpkin patch one day. I thought it would be a fun Grandma activity, but when the day arrived it was very wet and cold. Grandma definitely couldn't go, but Mom didn't really want to go either. It was a big drive and I knew it was just gonna be all muddy. Soooo instead we postponed the pumpkin patch, but I still didn't want to make the long drive. I knew there was a little farmer's market near our house that had a bunch of pumpkins. So I crossed my fingers that Riley would accept that as a pumpkin patch. When we arrived she was THRILLED. No complaints at all. We will see how many years I can get away with this. :) 

Mom and Dad left a few days before Halloween, and then just a few days after Halloween I followed them to Utah! The sisters and I had sprung an impromptu clean out project on Mom and Dad in hopes that it would help them feel like moving was a viable option for them if they decided it would help mom's health. Ben had asked for a few days off in November for a trip his sister ended up having to cancel so it worked out perfectly! Ben had this Thursday to Sunday off during which we had no commitments. I told Britt and Mel the only weekend that would work and they both said they could make it work too so we all booked a ticket for Utah. I brought Nelson with me, but Riley stayed home. (When I told Mom that she said, "Well at least I would've just seen her.") Britt and I booked the same Frontier flight there, and on that same day vowed to never fly Frontier again. (Our next trip together is a nonstop Delta flight...treat yo self!) 

We were getting in at midnight, and had been expecting to take an Uber to Springville. A few days before our trip Mom told us that Dad didn't like the idea of us having to Uber so he was going to pick us up from the airport. Awesome! Well then at some point during our travels I get a text from Mel saying that it's looking like it might snow in Utah so Mom is starting to talk about staying up to be moral support for Dad in the ice and snow. So Mel is putting a stop to it and saying she thinks it'll be like $60 to Uber and she'll spot us $20. Well I'm thinking it's gonna be more like $80, but I'm not going to argue with Mel and insist our parents go out in dangerous weather to get us. So, we land in Utah and I check Uber, it's a $120 ride. Oh dear. Welp, just don't think about that and maybe it'll change. By the time we are off the plane it's down to closer to $80, but then Britt tells me to check Lyft. On Lyft I had some credit for some reason so it ended up just being $55. Such a blessing! 

When we got in the car I tried to make a little small talk with the driver (asking if the roads were icy...information I actually wanted to know!) I wasn't going to talk the whole trip, but he definitely wanted to shut that down immediately and just said, "Lady, I don't speak English." Haha so I respond with the question in Spanish, but he still only kind of mumbles. Nelson had been a champ the whole trip, but it is now 2 am in his time clock and he has been put in a carseat so he loses it after a few minutes in the car. Luckily, I remember Ben commenting about how he would always calm down when he put his cheek on his cheek. So I bend into the carseat and put our cheeks together while shushing him. It works and we just spend the rest of the drive with our sweaty little cheeks together haha. Near the end of the drive (I guess because now the option of small talk is only about 3 minutes) the driver to start to chat with me in Spanish a bit. Trying to earn that tip haha. 

Well all efforts of sneaking in are dashed when Nelson erupts into screams the moment I open the door. I'm trying to get him calmed down and ready for bed in my room when I hear the parent's door open. I know that is mom shuffling into the kitchen taking advantage of being woken up to say hi to Britt. At least no one had to toss and turn wondering if we made it there safe. 

The next morning we went to work! Or at least I went to work! Obviously, I should've had a talk about the priorities of this trip with my sister's because Britt didn't take off work so she was working a full day before she could help, Mel was quitting and starting a job and working on letters and contracts surrounding that, and Ana still had three children to mother. Yes, I had brought a baby with me, but I was the most carefree! So Mom and I got started on our own. We were determined that this trip not be a burden on Mom, she had just travelled home from a long trip, and didn't want to overwhelm her so we tried to make her job be simply making choices of what she'd like to keep or not keep. We started in the kitchen. Emptying out a majority of the cabinets and having mom vote keep, toss, or DI. We conquered the kitchen quickly and went on to clean out the game closet, bunk bed room closet, most of the boxes that were stored in the garage, the cabinet of tablecloths, the storage room, and the biggest accomplishment of all Britt's bedroom! Sure there is still work to do in Britt's room and with the photo books, but I was pretty proud of the three car-fulls of boxes we took to DI and the trash boxes that filled the back of Matt's truck. That's not to mention the things that escaped in our suitcases or into Ana's house. 

A house clean out may sound like a lame vacation, but being home and with family is always an enjoyable time. Also, getting rid of that much stuff had me feeling good! Cleaning out stuff makes me feel so accomplished. 

We had a lot of hug and release moments. Had take a moment to appreciate the joy these Josh Groban pins brought to my teenage girl life. 

Oh the treasures you find in Britt's room...

A sister workout is a must whenever we get together. The format ended up just being lunging back and forth across the gym. Mel was little miss teachers pet or trying to challenge her authority and take over the class. Whichever way you want to look at it. Haha she was right on the teacher's heals the whole class. Funny side note. When Ana was telling us about coming to the gym she said she had one guest pass, but the other person would have to pay and she said, "I think it's like $5." Mel laughs and said I was expecting it to be $20 or something, please we can pay $5 dollars! We all laughed at Ana making paying for a pass seem like it'd be a big deal. Then as we are arriving at the gym I show them the pass and Mel says she needs to buy a day pass. The lady says, "Great, that'll be $6 dollars." Mel and I look at each other and say without missing a beat.  "Ana owes you/me a dollar." 😆

Nelson got to have some quality time with Uncle Matt :) 

This little boy had it a bit rough this trip. Changing to MST really rocked him and it didn't help that he started off the trip with a very interrupted night's sleep. 

He was really hanging on by a thread the whole trip. 

Why does Ana look so much tanner than me in this picture? 

Our classic attempt at a model shot. 

We got one last family surprise at the end of November. Mel came to DC to meet some of her new coworkers and we were so happy that meant a little 48 visit for us. When we were discussing her arrival I was feeling very charitable and offered to pick her up. Then she reminds me she's flying into Dulles instead of DCA...ugh! My charity instantly vanished, but I'd already said I'd do it! I was dreading the drive in crazy traffic, but then a crazy freak accident ended up helping me out! A plane had crashed into some wires and power was down in a bunch of places. That meant many people stayed home instead of going to work or school so we didn't have to fight any traffic to the airport or back! Although the airport itself was a mess. They need a heck of a lot more traffic controllers. People were just acting like the pickup location was a parking lot! Luckily, Mel was waiting way at the end of the pick up and we were able to drive by the craziest of it. 

It was a real quick trip, especially because Mel was working for most of it, but we did get to have a fun night out going to dinner with Britt. We went to a Thai place up where Britt lives. The restaurant was playing some fun music and at one point Mel saw one of the waiters dancing. We asked her to show us how he was dancing and she said she had to wait until he wasn't looking because she "didn't want him to think I was dancing with him." 😂 I did end up getting a ticket during this dinner, but I was able to fight it and they got rid of it so it was still an enjoyable night for everyone. 

Yep, getting together with family is the best. We thoroughly enjoyed our fall with family. We can't wait for spring when we get to come visit family again!