President's Day at Grandpa Great's

One of my most favorite places in the entire world is my Grandpa's house. People in Jay's generation call him Grandpa Great. I love visiting Grandpa, making him food, doing small chores that will make his next few weeks a little better, watching BYU sports, and participating in anything else he would like to do. We watched the weather forecasts throughout the week and when Friday arrived, we decided it looked clear enough to head up there. We grabbed a gluten-free pizza on our way and headed out. Getting out of the house on time with a little one, especially for a weekend trip, was a little tricky but we were only a few minutes later than we were hoping. Up until last year, I never had any qualms about going up there, but after two accidents while on our way I get nervous. Luckily, it was a beautiful day with very few clouds and M let me drive to see if that might help my nerves be lessened. With much prayer and positive self-talk along the way, we made it.

First family rode trip, and Jay's first time out of state.

Jay did amazing in the car, he slept all the way to Grandpa's house. I was so excited to be able to introduce my baby to Grandpa Great. He's one of the greatest men on earth, and how grateful I am that Jay got to meet him. It was so sweet to see their first interactions, both of them were smiling and happy...even Jay who was crying in the car just before we pulled up.

Grandpa had a frozen pizza ready to go in the oven for dinner, and we cooked my gluten free one right afterwards. The rest of the meals I made, and it was nice that the first dinner was super easy with little dishes. M does the dishes after every meal at Grandpa's (and our house), and Grandpa loves it. He often jokes that it's like being at a restaurant, he gets food served, then it gets cleaned up and he doesn't have to do anything. He's the most easy person to please. One evening while M was studying, Grandpa and I watched Andy Griffith for some good laughs. The other evening, we watched the BYU basketball game at Aunt Karen and Uncle John's house. Sunday night, we had our Come Follow Me discussion with Grandpa. It was wonderful to have a spiritual lesson and discussion together and to share our testimonies with one another. We also pulled out photo albums and looked through lots of pictures, which is so fun.

Grandpa loves to hold happy babies, and sleeping babies. 

Jay likes to pull whatever he has in his hands to his face, so here he is with his thumb blanket from Oma.

Grandpa Great & Jay

Saturday night feels after eating.

We were up pretty early every morning with Jay, and this particular morning was beautiful!

3 of my favorite men, Grandpa often went to check on Jay wherever he was

Jay after our car ride home, happy to be stretching.

I usually try to do something a little extra to help Grandpa, and this time he wanted me to thread Grandma's sewing machine because he was trying to stitch a sheet back together and couldn't figure out how to get it threaded right. I went downstairs and tried to sew first a patch together with some rag material, and then finally sew it to the sheet. In the process, I realized it wasn't just not threaded but the needle wasn't picking up the bobbin thread as it should. Sadly, after trying for a while, I couldn't figure it out and we had to call it quits. Both Grandpa and I were disappointed, and I'll do some research so maybe next time I can fix it. I HATE leaving a job undone, especially one I should be able to figure out!

Grandpa asked me one evening if I thought Grandma would be excited to see him again. I told him "Of course!" I know she'll be so excited to see him again, I don't think she planned on going as quickly as she did so I am sure she misses Grandpa a lot, as I know he misses her. Their love is sweet, and I can always tell how much Grandpa loves her by the way he talks about her. I miss Grandma too, and sometimes being at her home without her is so hard. But, I am so grateful Grandpa still welcomes us and lets us visit. Visiting helps me miss Grandma a little less because I get to hear stories about her and see photos and reestablish my testimony of eternal families.

Time at Grandpa's always goes too fast! I think it's because we unplug from technology since he doesn't have internet, and we just focus on relaxing and truly taking a vacation. We're also removed from the busyness of the city and surrounded by people we love, that's why we love it there and why it is always so hard to leave.