Thursday we left for Grandpa Great's house. We knew it would be our last time for a while, so it was bitter sweet. We had a lot of fun playing Word on the Street, and several rounds of Pandemic. Grandpa let us wash our car, and we went for a run almost every morning we were there. The hill up to Grandpa Great's house is long and steep, it's a tough way to end a run! The Brady family reunion was limited to only Saturday afternoon because of the risks of COVID. It was so fun to introduce Jay to everyone, and to see those we haven't seen in a while. We talked a lot, M played a lot of football and then we all played wiffle-ball, volleyball, water balloon volleyball, and had popsicles. Yumm! Little Hugh (Lisa's son) loves Jay, and seemed to be mesmerized. In the evening after everyone left, Katey and Jason and their kiddos stayed for a winnie roast. Winnie roasts with s'mores are a classic Idaho summer tradition, and it was wonderful.
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Tummy Time
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| Huge Otter Pops to finish the celebrations |
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Klaire, Katie, Kylee, Jason, Randi, Alexa, Uncle David, Uncle John, Andy, Mikey, etc.
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I always love me some sparklers & fireworks.
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Fireworks
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Kylee, Jay, and Hugh
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Sunday was a special day. We enjoyed having the sacrament at Grandpa's house, and had a great Come Follow Me discussion following. Bob Studley's (Aunt Karen's father) funeral service was later in the afternoon. Bob passed away late March, and they were unable to have any services for him due to COVID-19. Bob would always stand up when he saw me and give me a hug. He'd tell me I was beautiful and proceed to ask me about all about my work, dating, marriage, baby, etc. He was such a gentleman. Seeing Donna at the service was quite shocking, her health had deteriorated immensely after Bob's passing. I don't know how long it will be until she follows. The service was very nice, and it was special to hear each of the Brady cousin's share their memories of Bob.
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Grandpa Great & Jay
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Klaire, Jay, Oma - Jay loved playing with everyone
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It was so fun to introduce Jay to Michelle!
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| Jay, Me, Oma, Grandpa Great (4 Generations) |
Monday we packed up and left Virginia. We have loved being close to Grandpa and will miss it so much, it's hard to describe. It was nice to leave before some of the company so we didn't have to be the last people to leave him alone. We were anxious to get back, as we knew we needed to start on our moving adventure. M had packed a lot, and we still had a bit of packing to go. I had to call into a couple of work meetings, and M started to pack. Once Oma, Papa, and Klaire arrived, they jumped in to help. In an hour or so, the rest of our packing was basically complete. We had dinner at Aunt GayLynn and Uncle David's house that night, which was a huge relief as we didn't have any kitchen supplies.
Tuesday was a big day. Papa and I went for a doughnut run in the morning so the moving helpers could have a treat, and the truck was there by 9. Within an hour and 15 minutes, the truck was packed up. We had a couple ward members come, Nathan, and Tabitha. I was amazed at the speed, and we had plenty of room in the 16 foot truck. All night I was tossing and turning thinking about what I was going to get rid of that wouldn't fit, luckily I didn't have to decide. After the truck was loaded, M, Papa, and I started cleaning. As I am writing, I just realized, we forgot to clean the inside of the oven!! We got our full deposit back, so I guess they didn't care. The whole house was as sparkly as it could be, that's for sure. The biggest fiasco was the stove. It was dirty, very dirty, and we bought new pans for the burners because I knew we wouldn't be able to get them clean. As we went to put them in, the two small ones fit perfectly, but the big ones didn't fit. Yikes. We scrubbed, soaked, scrubbed, soaked, but still so stained and dark and dirty. Papa and M even took the new ones and tried to make the right cuts to make them fit...they got the cuts right, and realized the whole itself was too small. What a mess. We told the landlord when he came by and he told us to not worry about it, and he'd find some new ones. When he saw what Papa and M had done to the new pans, he said "Looks like something a farmer would do." Haha, he was so right. Anyways, we finally finished cleaning after about 6 hours straight, ordered pizza, and enjoyed the evening with Nathan and Michela. We played Catch Phrase and chatted, not staying up too late as we had a big day ahead. That night as we were going to bed, M and I heard some rattling. We were nervous about the truck, so M went out and checked, it all looked fine. About 3 AM, Papa woke up thinking the same thing, went out and all looked good. We still don't know what made all the noise, but luckily our truck was fine and so was our stuff.
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Getting all loaded up
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| M's map for where things go, lesson learned...purple and blue are too similar |
Wednesday, July 8th, we rolled out on our way to Colorado. It was quite the feeling to walk out of that apartment knowing it was no longer home, and heading officially to Colorado. I started the drive with Papa and about two minutes onto the freeway a semi in front of us blew a tire. We narrowly missed the remains, and my heart went a-racing. I was on edge for a while after that, but eventually calmed enough to get a slight nap. We met up with M in Grand Junction, ate lunch at the park, and I moved over to be with M the rest of the drive. We made good time to Glenwood Springs, and then hit a dead stop on the highway 70. We learned there was a fire ahead and the road was closed, and we missed the last exit ramp. We stayed there for about an hour and a half. M got a good nap, I played with Jay and gave him some food. And, finally we were on our way! We rolled in about 7 PM, got the keys to the place and by 8:30, we were unloaded. Grandpa Blaylock, Mike, a cousin, Anna, and a couple people from the ward were there to help, and we were so grateful! Grandma Blaylock also helped watch Jay which was amazingly helpful. We ate dinner at about 10 o'clock, and hit the sack.
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984 S will always have a special place in our hearts!
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Like father, like son - lunch break in Grand Junction
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Daddy taking a nap while we played while stopped in Glenwood Springs
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Thursday was a busy and special day. We unpacked the main floor and kitchen so things could be somewhat together. We also did a much needed grocery and Costco run. Katey, Jason, and their family arrived earlier in the afternoon and we had a great time with them. Katey brought dinner, which was so nice! And, later, Bishop Johnson, Grandma and Grandpa Blaylock, and Mike and Jenna and their family arrived. We FaceTimed Oma so she could listen to the blessing. It was such a special evening. We love Jay and he is such a miracle and blessing to our family. I hope he always knows we love him and that his Heavenly Father loves him. We had ice cream sundaes to top off the night. Katey and her kiddos stayed over, and she and Papa left early in the morning for Arizona.
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M, Me, Jay
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| Papa, Grandpa, M, Jay, Uncle Mike, and Uncle Jason |
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Me, M, Jay, Grandma, Grandpa
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M, Jay, Me, Papa
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Kylee, Me, Jay, Tia
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Kylee, Tia, Aunt Katey, Jay, Me
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Caden, Tanner, M, Me, Jay, Jenna, Emery, Uncle Mike, Brady, Cambrie
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Jay
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Jay
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Very happy to be blessed
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| All the girls loving on Jay |
The rest of the week/weekend, we unpacked and got situated in our new home. We have a pool in our community which is awesome, and rarely busy. We also have a path behind our house that leads to a big park that's really fun. Jay tried the swings for the first time, and LOVED them. He also tried the slides which he enjoyed too. We already really love where we are living and feel so blessed!
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Loving our time at the pool
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Cuddles
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Swinging
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Sliding
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Jay has been growing a ton and has been such a trooper the past two weeks. He has started to mimic lip smacking which is cute and fun. We also tried hamburger for the first time, and did pretty good eating it. He is so happy and is almost rolling over from back to belly.
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