Father's Day Weekend + The Rest of My Utah Trip

The night I flew in happened to be the night my high school girlfriends were getting together, because our friend Amanda also happened to be in town. My flight didn't arrive in time to get dinner with everyone, but I made it to the post-dinner bash at Amanda's parents' house. Some of the girls were still around, and it was so, so fun to see them! Lee and I were the only ones NOT pregnant! (And let it be known that these are NOT first babies. These are second and third babies!! Basically, by the time Lee and I -- or at least I -- have babies, my friends' babies will be old enough to BABYSIT my babies. Ha!)

me, Sue + 1, 'Manda + 1, Raech + 1, Lee (photo from Amanda's phone)

The pregnant ones! Look how cute they are. :)

Oh, and Chris and I saw the most AMAZING sunset (from the Walmart parking lot- ha!) the night before the wedding!!

#nofilter

Since my sister got married the Friday before Father's Day, I decided to stay the whole weekend to celebrate the ACTUAL day of Father's Day at home.

But first Saturday. Now Saturday, I basically took nearly ZERO photos due to a combination of forgetting my phone in the car all day and my phone overheating. Saturday consisted of yard sale-ing with my mom and brothers in Park City, eating lunch at Cafe Rio (where an entire gaggle of Mormon girls in pioneer skirts -- they were in the middle of a youth conference pioneer trek of some sort -- joined us. I tried to take photos but they were all blurry, because I was trying to be discreet!), bike riding with my youngest brother, making tamales with my dad and his mother, then eating said tamales with my mom, dad, dad's mom, and my two youngest brothers (and all of us falling asleep to an obnoxious TV movie afterwards).

But actually, let's back up just a bit. The yard sale-ing with my mother deserves some elaboration. In fact, it deserves its own header. Like this:

Yard Sale-ing w/My Mother, Queen of the Bargain Shoppers

My favorite story goes thusly:

We drove past a particular yard sale and stopped by. The family had a sign in front advertising their swing set (for sale for $50). My mom went to look at it (even though no one in our family is young enough to actually USE a swing set anymore... But hey! $50!), and while she was in the backyard with the father, she noticed a shed. That was still in use and was definitely NOT for sale. (She wanted to use it as a doghouse, because our crazy dogs don't like their current kennels very much.) And my mother, being my mother, was somehow able to talk the man into selling her the shed that wasn't even for sale! AND he said that if she took the swing set, too, he would personally deliver everything to our house in the Ogden area! And everything (including the swingset) for the low price of $75! That's one heck of a drive, people! She didn't take any of it, but I loved the fact that she persuaded someone to sell her something that wasn't even for SALE!

A few other bargains: 

We found two (older-but-still-good, mountain) bikes for sale for $10 each. My other talked them down to $10 for BOTH bikes. And so we acquired two bikes for $10! She also purchased an upholstered rocking chair + ottoman in great condition... for $4. $4! She DEFINITELY talked the seller down on that one!

So, yes, that was Saturday.

Saturday night, I stayed at my dad's, and we drove his mother to Provo on Sunday morning. She is staying in California for a few months (she came from Guatemala to stay with one of her sons) and drove to Utah with my aunt and cousin. We took her to Provo where my aunt was staying so they could drive back to Cali.

As I mentioned before, this was the first time in my memory that I've met my dad's mother. (I mean, sure, she met me when I was a baby, but I have no recollection of it.) And again, the circumstances of this are a terribly long story that is best saved for another day. Or maybe not, because I'm not sure on the details of all these circumstances. In fact, in an effort to document our family history and really to just clear the air and establish the truth once and for all, I sat down with a notebook with her and my dad and asked them both to tell me the story of my dad's life (together, at the same time). Suffice it to say that their versions didn't exactly match up. Some details did; others weren't even close. I don't know that I'll ever know the full truth of everything that happened, but I was grateful for the opportunity to ask my grandmother my burning questions -- questions I've been wanting to ask her for a very long time. 

Before we dropped her off, we took a three-generation photo (Darn blurry iPhone photos! Can't believe I forgot to bring a REAL camera on this trip...). (Re: her little hair turban. I thought it was kind of cute, but really, she said her hair was too unruly and she didn't know what to do with it/she didn't want to deal with it, sooo she kept it on. Now I know where MY hair unruliness comes from...)

Re: the height department... I never even had a chance! I mean, look at where I come from! And I'm in HEELS here!

We also hung out with my aunt and cousins and my cousins' cute babies!

Little Tristan on the right is such the little charmer! Little girls of Provo, watch out for this heartbreaker! ;)

We made it back from Provo in time to attend Sacrament meeting with my mom and brothers. After Church, my dad took me to visit my friend TaNisha, who just had her beautiful baby girl, LyNea. I LOVED meeting Baby LyNea and visiting with T and her husband, CJ! TaNisha was one of my girls during my second year as an R.A. in college. We became great friends that year and were even roommates for a year before our missions. I was a bridesmaid at her wedding right after my mission, and I'm grateful that we're still friends after all these years and across so many miles. :)

Blurry photo, beautiful baby!

We capped off our Sunday with a Father's Day BBQ at my mom's house.

This one cracks me up!

And then we watched the Spurs vs. Heat game, I rode bikes with Chris, I packed my stuff up, and my mom and brothers took me to the airport.

I took a red-eye flight home, and the only good thing I have to say about red eyes is that there was hardly anyone at the airport, and I didn't have to wait forever, which was amazing!!

In conclusion, I had a lovely trip! See you at Christmas-time, Utah! :)