Meet the Nephews Tour + ManTrip 2008

Micah, Jason and Daddy started a tradition to get together every year. It started last year when Daddy came out for Micah's graduation. Micah defended his thesis the weekend before he came and unfortunately, the professors got really excited when they learned his research and were curious and wanted him to run more tests to add to his thesis, so the whole week Daddy was there, they barely got any time to play. This time there were no other responsibilities and Micah and I drove up after work on Wednesday and Thursday morning, I picked up Besty and we started our nephews tour. The guys spent the day fixing cars and planning the trip and made it down to Zion's and did some cool hikes over the long weekend. But I have no pics of that and wasn't there to make much more comment, so unless Micah gets on here, that's about all of that trip that you'll hear.
Besty and I surprised Carrie's kids and showed up Thursday afternoon. We brought a little pizza party for Alex's birthday. Maybe that wasn't very wise because I don't think we'll be able to keep up with that for Brigham's birthday which is coming up next. They were riding bikes in the driveway when we pulled in. I seriously had to do a double take from Brigham to Alex, as Digs has grown up so much! Lissie is as pink and dresses and frills as they get, but somehow holds her ground with them. And Taylor is the smiliest baby around!

They were calling her wimpy because she didn't want to get out of bed early. Carrie explained that some people aren't morning people. We totally lucked out- Alex ended up not having school that day so we got to go to the park and play and have hot chocolate and popsicles after!

Sorry Best, here are the pics you were asking about!



Friday afternoon we drove over/down to Logan and totally surprised all of the Andersons. We pulled into the street and saw that her garage door was open, so we parked a house before it and walked up the driveway, into the garage, in through the kitchen door, thought they were gone maybe, except Payton was sitting in a seat right there. Kenzie comes running out of nowhere, then started yelling "Mom, mom, guess who's here?!?!" we follow her into Nicole's bathroom and there she is scrubbing a toilet. She turned around and was quiet for a minute and I believe the first words out of her mouth were "Oh no, now I better get the house clean. Christopher will die if he knows guests showed up and it was this dirty!!" Being about 5:20 and him being expected home any minute, we hurried and helped. We had a fun time there as well and Payton is so tiny and precious! We went to 'the pumpkin walk' which was really cool.

They had a family pillow fight, which was so fun to watch! The kids love running up to Christopher and trying to over power him and throw pillows at him...and then they would laugh and squeal as they got clobbered.

Here's Payton during the pillow fight...look at those cheeks! He's trying not to expend any energy, and save it for growing.

The Pumpkin Walk-most of it is made out of pumpkins and gourds and this Noah's Ark was REALLY cool!


This is FREAKY-the face looks REALLY real, but it's just painted!


"Open Heart Surgery"

Indian Jones and The Crytal Skulls or whatever...
These next 2 were taken especially for you, PADRE!!!






In memory of the recent election:

Sunday, we stopped and visited Cris in SLC. He had a lot of after church responsibilities so we left Logan later so we'd be driving through SLC right when he was ready. But then we didn't have tons of time to visit because we were trying to make it to Provo for family dinner, too. Cris is always a blast to visit. Never a dull moment and he is one I really enjoy talking with. We helped him get acquainted with his roommates as well. Cris of course did his usual introduce me as his fiance (it used to be girlfriend but now that I have a ring I guess he had to up it to make it more believable). Then he said it's his sister and they could see the family resemblance; then we joked that Betsy has always looked a little bit different. She started defending that, though, saying mom always said she looked like Bryce (which is apparently the name of one of the roommates, too, I think) so they were utterly confused. I started laughing because I don't know how you could distinguish that one looks like Bryce and not Cris. The roommates were confused and apparently didn't know that Cris had a twin, so it's a good thing we were there and were able to have some roommate home evening time.
We made it down to dinner and it was great to have beans and see the rest of the fam and I couldn't believe how much Sophie is talking now! and Travis is such a sweet big guy! Micah called right after dinner and invited me over, as they were back in Provo now and his sister, Tiffany was coming over for a movie so that meant that mantrip was officially over. I was all excited like I was going on a date or something! I went over, but didn't get to visit very long, as all his old friends knew he was in town, too and showed up to visit. I went back to Bryce and Lisa's and had a sleepover there and got to visit for the morning. When Sophie woke up, I heard her come through the kitchen. I called her over to the couch and she stopped and got her stuffed animals first that were in the kitchen and started bringing them over by the armloads. She handed me a white bear first and said 'His name is white bear' so when she handed me the next one, I asked his name and she answered in the sweetest and kind of sad and most serious voice, 'I don't know Aunt Katy, I don't know.' I thought it was very funny. Lisa introduced me to some new hot cereal, which I loved and will have to find here in Abq. We had a good visit for the morning, then I left to pick up Micah.

and how is it that every little girl can recognize makeup from a mile away?? She was very excited to find 'sparkles' in my bag!! What a cutie!

We packed the car and headed out to lunch with Daddy and Tiffany and Renee. I didn't get to visit with Ren too long, but she's always a cutie. I found a book for her that was called "Jelly Belly" so I was pretty excited to give that to her, since she loves books and Jelly Bellies, although the book had nothing to do with the candy!
Then Micah and I took off for our next adventure.....San Diego!!

and since we LOVE to spoil the grandkids....I've found a store that sells all the kids' books for 10cents!! So I've gone a few times and collected some. It's so fun to look through kids' books and all of a sudden have deja vu about books you read as a kid! So some I had to keep for myself and then I was so excited to bring the rest up for the kids, who all love reading!

Carrie's kids are SUCH entertainers!

Happy Halloween!!

We were gone for Halloween and didn't get the sweet decorations mom sent until after we got back. But the week or so before, while the girls were here, I went back to my elementary school days, pulled out the Elmer's glue and construction paper, and this is what I managed. (the ghosts are actually way cool-made out of dried elmer's glue! I'll add in the link in a bit...I have to find it again first)

Micah's contribution

The Girls Visit...

About an hour after I finished the last day of my temporary job, 3 of Micah's sisters drove in. Cassandra just came home from her mission last month and with Sammy and Savannah did a big road trip to see lots of her long missed family and friends. We had a lot of fun with them, and unfortunately, Cassandra too pics the whole time and so I didn't really and therefore have no proof of our late October campout in the mountains! We woke up to ice all over the car and chairs and on the tent a bit, too. What an adventure! We only stayed one night, but that was plenty of adventure for all of us. Micah very much encouraged one of his sister's fears by telling her about Roswell and alien abductions and about the wildlife there in the mountains. It didn't help either that there was NO ONE else around. On the way home, there was a shorter route marked on the atlas, so we took that. Well, it soon turned into this windy dirt road that led up to the peak of one of the mountains. The big problem was that storms had washed over the dirt roads in a lot of parts and carried big rocks and left them in the middle of the roads, and washed out the dirt itself, too. Not really good for a VERY tightly packed car, with all seats full. (the girls were good sports as Micah continued to find air pockets and fill them with more blankets and more coats and laneterns (we sure were grateful later at least for all the goods!)
We went on base, got a great view of the sunset at the temple, watched WALL-E at the theater, played dirty marbles....lots, went to the Sandia Peak for a picnic, carved pumpkins and had fun having sleepovers and hanging out and having family around!






Early Monday morning, we all left Micah high and dry! I drove for the next 2 days with them so they'd have another driver as we went from Abq and they dropped me off in Chicago at the airport Tues afternoon (after a picnic at the temple) before they continued on the last few hours home.

My Birthday and Mother's Visit

Micah's mother has been wanting to come visit Abq ever since Micah moved here last fall, so finally she was able to come over my birthday weekend! We took her to some of our favorite spots, as well as some new sightseeing for us, too. We climbed some volcanoes on the west side of town, went to a New Mexican restaurant (which in reality is not much different than regular Mexican food), toured base and saw all the planes, hit some golf balls, stopped in on some of our favorite book stores where she picked out some of her favorites for us, sold hot dogs (for which she was definitely a lucky charm!), and went to Petroglyphs National Monument (petroglyphs are the indian symbol/carvings in rock...it was kind of hard to tell what was authentic and what was graffiti though). It was really fun to have her here!
For my birthday last year, Micah remembered a kid's book his mom used to read called "A Time to Keep" by Tasha Tudor, about a family's traditions. One of the traditions was that they would float a birthday cake down the river, all lit up. I thought it was so cool that Micah thought to do that last year (well, we made a few newspaper sail boats and taped 25 lit candles to the big one (and a few to the others) and floated it down the Provo River. I hinted (aka told him) that I thought that was a very fun tradition, so this year, we made a big old cake (on fast Sunday afternoon!) and floated it down the Rio Grande at dark. It was really cool! I was a little afraid of being in such a desert, though, that maybe we'd start a wildfire or something! Micah learned from last time and thought to use trick candles this year, because the wind doesn't blow them out as easily.

getting ready to launch!!

Petroglyphs

Volcanoes

and the one you've all been waiting for!!!!!

Timing was perfect for her trip. The day after she left, I was scheduled to fill in and work for 2 weeks as a home health aide, so it worked out great! And that was the start of a month full of travel and busy-ness and off our normal routine, which is fun! You're all welcome to come down and visit, too!

Bad news from abq....

can you see what this is? NKOTB was supposed to be here TonIghT!! I was kind of excited, with no intentions of going. However, they dropped Abq off their travel plans, apparently for this reason: "It was ticket sales. As of yesterday the show had only sold 2,100 tickets. Since Tingley was one of the smaller venues on the tour, they were having to charge $80 a ticket..."
My heart sank just like two other times back when I was about 10. and now that I think of it, they both have to do with good ol' lifelong family friend brian sweeney! (this one's for you!)

Once upon a time, Brian invited Lisa, Carrie, Nicole and I to a New Kids' concert, along with his niece. What a guy! Going out of his way to give us one of the most memorable experiences of one's life (ok, we were way into them. i have never really cared about any band since then, but for some reason, we got into this trendy one). Mom and Dad said nik and i were too young. heart sink over nkotb #1

Once upon another time not too far from the first time, Brian was a limo driver. He promised us that if he ever picked up nkotb, he would stop by our house so we could meet them. (for some reason, at that age, I thought that was totally doable). So, you can imagine my excitement when one saturday morning, I wake up and see a limo in our driveway. there was only one thought in my head!!!! Oh, how I hurried down those stairs! only to see it pulling away as I got to the front door. No one else was there (or they were in bed still if they were). I had missed them! and now my family was riding around in the limo with nkotB and NO ONE woke me up!!! (they'd wake me up for saturday morning chores, but not for this?!?!? hello!!) heart sink #2... (turns out brian was just in the area and had some time on his hands with the limo, so he took the fam-that was awake-for a spin. no nkotb)

And now heart sink #3. but this time's ok. I'm composed. I have long forgotten about them and now that Micah's in my life, I don't see them ever making a come back for me...but for those of you who were looking forward to the concert tonight, I thought I'd just empathize!

ps. lis and car-I was thinking about you guys a lot with all this!

Good news from Abq!

So for the first time in a VERY long time, we've seen gas drop down below $3 this week! Amazing, huh? Except that doesn't really matter to us, since we buy diesel, but that has dropped about $1.25 or so in about 2 months and I saw it yesterday for $3.37. Amazing!
Also, I have a temporary job. I know, don't faint. I guess summer is over :( Also, the international, Abq claim to fame (I know you're all wondering what this place is famous for!) Balloon Fiesta ended today. My point in these 2 things is that on my way to work every morning this past week, I see this great view of about 100 hot air balloons that have just launched. It's pretty cool! Also, they'd be 'crashed/landed' already in the shopping center parking lots along the road, too. They're pretty close and are everywhere!

This is kind of the view I had of the valley, only from a lot further away and the balloons were higher by the time I could see them. But it's amazing to see the sky full!

I had to throw this one in for the Andersons. They have one day called 'special shapes' with all cool balloons and apparently this one's always a hit!

We didn't get a chance to actually go the fiesta this year; you have to get up to the Northern part of the city by about 6 am. Since we didn't make it on the weekend, it didn't happen. But we'll have a few more chances in the next few years, I'm sure!

We are definately not in Provo anymore...

So in between sessions of conference yesterday, Micah wanted to get something quick to eat and a billboard for Little Cesar's caught his attention. We pulled off into the parking lot and I was first to the shop's door, but I thought it was closed or something because it was locked and I couldn't see anyone at the counter. Then I read the note on the door: "Please take off any hoodie or mask that is covering your face. We will not let you in until we can see your face; then ring the door bell to be let in." Hello!!! Apparently there was a robbery that went bad and turned into a shooting not too long ago. They are a little bit cautious now...and as you can bet.... we are too!