St. George Blaylock Reunion

A few days before we left for St. George, Jason came and stayed with us on his way to Arizona and we played Dominion. M loves Dominion and I have to be in a mood where I am okay losing to play or add another person into the mix, so he was pretty excited when Jason was up for learning a new game. And, we tied. M actually won because he had less turns, but he's gracious enough to let us have a portion of the victory because we all got the same number of points. We love having guests, so it was a fun evening.

Because of COVID, Aspen Grove closed for the summer and our family reunion was switched to taking place in St. George. We decided we'd rather fly than drive, and we were so glad we did! The drive to the airport was filled with heavy rain, which immediately put us on edge. I was uneasy before we left, but I wasn't sure why. Then, within only a few minutes of being on the road it started to rain, I knew why I felt uneasy. I was grateful Heavenly Father heard my prayers and filled me with as much peace as possible as we drove. We were so grateful to get to the parking area, be off the road, and on to St. George via an airplane. We had about an hour and a half layover in Salt Lake, and got to St. George about 11 PM that night. It was late, and we're very grateful Grandpa Blaylock was willing to pick us up. Jay did amazing on the flights, and on our way to Denver we had an extra seat so he was able to sleep in his car seat. We were so grateful to get to a nice bed and sleep that night.  

At DIA - Jay's first airport adventure outside the womb!

Sunday was our first full day with the family. We shared a town home with Andrew and Brad and their families. For church, Olivia and Tanner gave talks, we sang the EFY medley (As Sisters in Zion and Armies of Heleman), and Grandma Blaylock gave a little primary lesson. I felt the Spirit, and I know others did as well. In the afternoon we played "Who's Who." Andrew got 100%, he was able to decipher every single person's baby photo. I was surprised at how difficult it was to tell the 36 people apart, especially when I've only known them for a few years. 

Jay loved all the attention, here he is with Elise and Katelynn. 

Matthew joining the fun of Sudoku puzzles with Kyle and Olivia

I won't hit on every day in particular, rather highlights throughout the week. Of course, we had delicious food every day and everyone was so thoughtful to make sure I had enough to eat that was gluten free. We went swimming so often, and mostly had the pools to ourselves. Matthew, Mike, and Nathan did a variety of tricks in the pool, including throwing kiddos. The biggest adventurous one was the three man ladder, impressive and scary. Every day during nap time, we'd enjoy being with our town home peeps and catching up. 

Nathan, M, Brady

Mike, Nathan, M

M, Me, Jay, Claire

Every evening after the kids went to bed, we'd all gather in a town home for the evening adult time. I'm not sure how this started, but each night different couples shared their stories of how they met. It was so fun to hear everyone's! I loved it, and felt like I got to know everyone so much better. We tried to focus on hearing the story from the in-law perspective, which made everything even funnier. One of the best things was we found out at the end of Steph and Ken's story that they are expecting baby number 4 in February! Woohoo! And, on the last night, we all got together and did an escape room game. We won, with a few minutes to spare! 

Kate sometimes joined us for adult night fun.

Escape Room! 

Storytime!

Steph made shirts for all the grandchildren, and it was so fun to see Jay in his little t-shirt and he had a great time playing with Daniel. Brad and Kirsten's kids were so good with Jay. They loved on him, gave him smiles, and tons of attention. Jay ate it up! Towards the end of the week, M got into a little kick of scaring James and Elise. Well, he stepped away for a minute to get Jay something so, of course, I stepped in. I would scare them and chase them to the stairs and they would run up screaming, they'd come down and I'd hide in a new place and jump out and scare them again. They did it over and over again. My voice was a little hoarse by the end, but we all had a great time. M tried to scare them one time when I was busy and they looked right at him and said, "I'm not scared of you, I'm scared of HER." Too funny, because 10 minutes earlier they were running from M. James didn't play with too many of the adults, so I felt pretty special that he was so "afraid" of me and willing to play. He's also a master of dinosaurs and sharks, so M and I would ask him all the time about what facts he could share. 

Jay and Olivia

Jay loves Grandma and Daddy

Daddy and Jay, Jay won the basketball because he's youngest camper

Daniel and Jay, number 18 and 20

We spent a few mornings outside, which included a hike and rock climbing. Our hike was in Snow Canyon on some petrified dunes. Everyone seemed to love it, even though we got a little lost. M and Nathan went way farther than the rest of the crew, and had a great time reaching the peak. Jay was a trooper as it was hot, and probably even hotter in that little carrier. Nathan and Michela took the family rock climbing on Dixie Rock. M was the champion, he was the only person to complete both of the hard routes and get totally to the top. What a stud! We were so grateful for Grandpa Blaylock, he took Jay in the baby carrier and carried him all morning so that M and I could both climb. Everyone had a great time, and we were grateful to Nathan and Michela for showing us the ropes, literally. 

M climbing

Andrew climbing

M and Nathan at the peak of the dunes

Jay having some fun with Mommy

Family photo of our first "real" hike

We also got to make tie-dye shirts! I love a good tie-dye party, and so many good shirts and pillow cases came out of it! We also had the kid Olympics, which consisted of sock races, M&M sorting, cup stacking, and Oreo racing. The kiddos loved it, and it was really fun to watch. Of course, M had to show them how the Oreo racing should be done, just like he showed all the Brady's a couple years ago, and everyone was amazed with his skills. 

Magic in action!

The Cup Challenge

My new tie dye

We also got to celebrate Mike's 40th birthday. 40th Birthdays are a big deal for the Blaylock family with themes and such, mostly inherited from the Eddington side, I believe. It was all a surprise, and BYU themed with game highlights, BYU brownies, BBQ, and a lot of people in BYU gear. The siblings gave little gifts that have memories of Mike attached, like M gave him some chocolate chips because Mike used to sneak into the freezer in the basement and eat chocolate chips while bribing other siblings not to tell on him by sharing the chocolate chips. 

Matthew doing Heavy Heavy Hangover

More birthday shenanigans 

Wednesday was a big day for us. M and I made dinner, which was quite the adventure. It started with about 8 pounds of hamburger which we made into 195 meatballs. Olivia was happy to help as we mixed the meat, oats, sauce, and a dozen eggs together. To help us start the baking, Grandma Blaylock put the meatballs in the oven while we were at the Aquatic Center. Which, we had so much fun! Elise and Caitlin weren't quite big enough to go down the slide on their own, so I went with them over and over again. I love slides, so it really wasn't a problem for me. We had a great time, thanks to Grandma Blaylock being willing to start the dinner cooking. Halfway through the baking, the oven in our town home stopped working. With that failure, we only had one oven to finish the meatballs and roast broccoli. I cooked five pounds of rice in two Instant Pots, and then rotated the broccoli into the oven between shifts of meatballs. Eight pounds of grapes was the last dish which thankfully didn't take the oven. Everyone loved the food, and surprisingly, we had very little left over. It's amazing how much 30 people can put away in one meal! 

Step 1, mix it all together

Ever seen a football field full of meatballs, well, now you have.

Kiddos having fun with the candy bar game

While on our trip, we started our self-reliance class, Personal Finance. We've been wanting to participate in this class for a really long time, and we were excited when the stake said we would be doing it virtually this semester. Perfect for us! We don't have to find a sitter and we can attend wherever we are. M and I have been blessed to usually be on the same side of the finances, and hope this class will helps us as we prepare for the future. 

Our last night there we had a big dance party, just like we would have at Aspen Grove. The kids relished the dancing and some of the adults too. I'm not a big dancer, but we had a good time. We were up way too late, as usual for a family reunion. We left super early Saturday morning and while we were in the security line we heard they had overbooked the flight to Salt Lake and needed three people to fly to Denver or go on a later flight. I went to the desk and said we were flying to Denver, and they switched us from Delta to United and a direct flight that was leaving only 10 minutes after our departure to SLC. Woohoo! Such a blessing with a direct flight, we were home by 10 AM. Jay again did great and slept most of the flight. 

Jay loving his toes

Claire loved Jay!

I did a fun new hairdo on Olivia

Dance, Dance, Dance

Another of Jay and Claire

The cutest travel bunch

Jays babbling got the attention of many in the airports

We were excited we got to go to church in our new ward on Sunday. It's great to be in a new ward, meeting new people, and embracing service opportunities. The last highlights are for Jay. He's consistently rolling back to belly with us watching and starting to do more torpedo rolling. He's very chatty, and learning to sit up. I think seeing Daniel was a big help, Jay really liked seeing someone close to his size at family reunion. 

Jay was exhausted after his first day in the new ward.

Settling In

We've been settling into our new home and loving it. We feel so blessed to be here in Colorado, and grateful for all those who have made us feel welcome. Even a member of the RS presidency came by to welcome us to the ward, which was super nice. Here's a few highlights from our first couple weeks in Colorado. 

We love to go swimming. There is a really nice pool that we have access to through our HOA. It is rarely busy, has pretty warm water, and even a little kid pool for Jay. We got him a little floating device and a swimsuit so we could more easily go. He loves the pool, which makes us so happy! 

Friday night for our first date night, we went to the Rice Bistro. They do gluten free breaded chicken of any kind and it's delicious! M and I got sesame chicken and orange chicken and split it. We really liked it and will definitely go back, especially since it's only four minutes from our house. 

Saturday morning we went on our first family rollerblading adventure. We were on the trail a little before 10 and there were sooooo many people! Bikers going every direction and people walking every where too. When we were approaching a wooden bridge, I got a little nervous. I told myself to keep my skates pointing straight and I'd be just fine. Almost as soon as I hit this uneven wooden bridge, a biker passed me quickly. It scared me and I lost my footing. I was able to grab the side bar, but not without banging my knee on the edge of the bridge and a sliver lodged into my hand as I grappled for balance. That shook me up a bit, but we continued and a couple days later I got the sliver out and had a nice bruise for a few days. Needless to say, we decided Saturday mornings wouldn't happen again. 

Jay, Me, M

One of the best perks of living in Colorado is living near Grandma and Grandpa Blaylock! I really lucked out in the in-law department and feel blessed to be near them. We had them over for dinner and games last week. We made chicken salad and I tried a new muffin recipe, which luckily turned out well. We then played Forbidden Island, which we actually lost one time. We usually don't lose, so it was a fun new challenge. We had a great time and it was so fun to know when we said goodbye that we'd see them again soon. 

We continue to love on Mr. Jay. He brings a lot of joy to us every day. M takes such good care of him during the week while I am at work, which is such a huge blessing. He's now 7 months old, and starting to roll a little bit more. He's really discovering his voice, for good and bad (he can be very loud). 

He got this new toy from Kade, and loves it!

Sometimes you've got to destress with your baby by doing the happy baby yoga pose.

Naps on the floor will not work anymore, as we found Jay here this week. 

Hard to believe he's already 7 months! 

He's such a happy kiddo.

Family Time & New Adventures

We had two weeks left in Provo and we really made the most of them. Nathan and Michela came over a few times for games and talking, and on Wednesday, July 1st, Klaire arrived. I worked a half day, then took off the rest of the week and the following. It was the longest break I'd had since Jay, but really only half vacation. In the afternoon after Klaire arrived, we went out to Aunt GayLynn and Uncle David's. They made us dinner, and Klaire cut everyone's hair. It was windy, and she kept a calm and cool attitude with everything. She did an excellent job and everyone was beautified by the end of the evening. We also had yummy s'mores for dessert which was the perfect ending to the evening. 

I've never seen Clara be so still in her whole life.

Yummy s'mores for dessert!

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. 

Tummy Time

Huge Otter Pops to finish the celebrations

Klaire, Katie, Kylee, Jason, Randi, Alexa, Uncle David, Uncle John, Andy, Mikey, etc.

I always love me some sparklers & fireworks.

Fireworks

Kylee, Jay, and Hugh

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. 

Grandpa Great & Jay

Klaire, Jay, Oma - Jay loved playing with everyone

It was so fun to introduce Jay to Michelle!

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. 

Getting all loaded up

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. 

984 S will always have a special place in our hearts!

Like father, like son - lunch break in Grand Junction

Daddy taking a nap while we played while stopped in Glenwood Springs

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. 

M, Me, Jay

Papa, Grandpa, M, Jay, Uncle Mike, and Uncle Jason

Me, M, Jay, Grandma, Grandpa

M, Jay, Me, Papa

Kylee, Me, Jay, Tia

Kylee, Tia, Aunt Katey, Jay, Me

Caden, Tanner, M, Me, Jay, Jenna, Emery, Uncle Mike, Brady, Cambrie

Jay

Jay

Very happy to be blessed

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! 

Loving our time at the pool

Cuddles

Swinging

Sliding

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.