A visit from a Grandpa Moon

I think it's finally time to give a more detailed look at life lately. Especially since we've had 3 straight weekends with family! (Would it have been better to have them all consolidated so more people could see each other at once? Probably. But one-on-one is good too.) So, without further ado, I will work backwards, starting with this weekend.

We were happy to find out that my dad would be able to come this week.  He's been in Princeton for a few weeks, but because he's been busy we weren't sure if or when he would make it up here. He managed to get a lot done before Friday, so by early Saturday afternoon he was here!

Unlike the glorious sunny weather last week, this Saturday was cold and drizzly. Any hopes of going on another little hike to see fall colors was dashed. But that didn't matter, because Grandpa was here to play! Before he came Joseph stood at the window waiting for him, and while I was upstairs frantically folding laundry (that I didn't finish . . . errands went long this morning leaving little time for folding) I heard him knocking on the window and giggling. After Grandpa had come in and eaten a little lunch, Joseph gave him his card with "FALL" written on it, covered in beautiful red and orange and yellow crayon (to indicate that there was a fire and a fire truck, of course). Matthew snuggled up to him immediately and insisted on stories. Joseph just wanted to tell him everything (and have repeat it back, of course, as is protocol) and thought it was pretty special that he had two Grandpa Moons.

After a bit of playing, we decided to go to the top of East Rock. We hadn't been yet, and we figured that since we could drive to the top it would be the least painful way to see nature on that rainy day. So up we went.

Don't my dad and Joseph look exactly alike?

The view of New Haven from East Rock

This little city has grown on me.

A windless, balmy day.

Joseph needed an extra jacket, so Kevin went without.

The tower at the top commemorating several early American wars. Side note -- it felt like we had climbed pretty high, but we were only at 366 feet!  

Cute boy with red nose and blue lips and exposed legs.

After that chilly excursion, we headed home, made some plans, and decided to get some New Haven pizza. Then, because we couldn't turn down more free food, we went to the Institute Date Night. The idea was my dad would join us at the table, but he ended up hanging out in the nursery learning a new programming language (which was fine with him, and I don't know how we could have kept my maiden name a secret for too long with him chatting with the others). As it was, some people saw him with Kevin and said, "So your dad is in town?"

And, as it turns out, the dinner was a bit heavy at the top of the food pyramid. I guess when you have Halloween-themed side dishes assigned out potluck style, sugar cookies are a pretty versatile treat that can be cut out in several Halloween-esque ways. After 3 slices of pizza and a bowl of ham chowder, I just didn't have it in me to eat all the treats. Even when the garlic bread came around I could only eat a small piece and got teased for my Sacrament-bread-sized portions. And even then, this morning I still felt so junk fooded out that I ate baby carrots with my breakfast!

Shortly after said breakfast, we headed to church. Someone asked if Kevin would translate for the Spanish speakers but he couldn't because he was giving a talk.

"I'll do it," my dad said. The Spanish coordinator asked his name and he gave it.

"Oh, so you're Kevin's dad!"

"Father-in-law."

"Oh," he said. Blinked a little bit. "That's right." That's what they all say. So off he went to translate into faulty microphones while Kevin and I began our wrestling match with Matthew.

The rest of church went pretty well -- Kevin did a good job shortening his talk, my Sharing Time lesson went fine, Matthew fell asleep, etc. We went home, ate leftover pizza, and then decided to take advantage of the unexpectedly sunny and mild weather to go for a walk in a nearby park.

We didn't take any pictures of the wedding going on. We have crashed so many weddings I've lost count.

This secret passageway was not creepy looking at all.

He raked a pile of leaves and then fell into it.

Since it was sunny, we thought we might like the top of East Rock Park better compared to yesterday. As it turned out, everyone else had the same idea as us so it was crowded and cigarette smokey. And windy. But, the view was a little better.

We came back, let Grandpa have a well-earned nap, played some riveting games of Paw Patrol and Chutes and Ladders, ate some pumpkin roll, and then said goodbye to Grandpa so he could enjoy some 5-10 mph speeds on the ever wonderful I-95.

We have some boys who sure love their grandpa, so hopefully we'll see him again soon!

Nifty Fifty

Last month, the boys and I headed to Utah for a week to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. Everyone not on a mission managed to be there, so it was a lot of fun.

I've talked before about how awesome my mom is, and my sister did a fun tribute to her as well, so this post will be more of a recap of what we did while we were together.

Here are some highlights:

• Not being on an airplane anymore.
  

  

  This was such a lovely, welcome sight . . . for the last 20 minutes.
• Sitting on soft Kentucky bluegrass. Seriously the stuff feels like velvet compared to the poky grass in the Midwest.
  

  

  
  

• Joseph surviving this slide.

  

  
  

• Meeting my 9-day-old nephew G., who is pictured here, but only sort of.

  

  
  

• Enjoying the lovely Logan River trail at its loveliest.

  

  
  

• Hanging with my niece (and soul sista) K., who mistook me for her mom enough to not be scared of me.

  

  
  

• Seeing Kaylie laugh at this sign.

  

  
  

• Going to a splash pad and running into our friends the Tanners there! (not pictured. oops.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Taking pictures of beautiful baby G.
  
  
  
  

  

  There are about 40 other pictures but I figured you couldn't handle the cuteness overload.

• Heading up to Utah State with my dad and sons. Kevin's train is still in safe hands.

  

  
  

• Watching my talented brother-in-law Matt win a few matches of tennis. He's pretty much famous.
• Sending Joseph to the backyard to go camping for two nights. (The other nights he slept diagonally in my bed, so this was really nice!)

  

  
  

• Dealing with Joseph going to bed at 10 pm Mountain Time and waking up . . . too early. (Actually, this was not a highlight . . . it was part of most every day. My poor child.)
• Seeing all my family members sleep-deprived, stressed, not feeling well, etc. and still trying oh so hard to be polite and patient with each other. And mostly succeeding.
• Attending the temple when my brother received his endowment. Spain is going to get an awesome missionary!
  

  

  
  

• Vacuuming a lot.
• Reaping the blessings of having a sister on the mission such as being able to borrow her swimsuit. (And lots of her other clothes made it home with me.)

  

  
  

• Enjoying a beautiful day at Bear Lake, complete with some sugar-coma shakes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  This girl had no fear.

  
  
  
• Having my mom give my boys haircuts because it always looks better when she does it.
• Driving very fast on I-15 down to Orem and still getting tailed. It was crazy land! (But I was never scared, which was a blessing.)
• Getting to see most of Kevin's family!!! They were so kind to all meet up with us, even for just a few hours. I don't think I have enough good things to say about them.
• Watching Matthew love on Craig's shirt.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Watching Joseph play with his cousins.
• Watching Joseph play with second cousins.

  

  At one point, the three big boys all had their legs out and Matthew crawled through, but by the time I grabbed my camera they were just doing this.

• Seeing my grandma. She even fed us dinner!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Attending my sister's stake play. I think this was one of my favorite versions of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Just the right amount of silliness. And it is the perfect musical to take a toddler to, even when it's way past his/her bedtime. (Especially with a child named Joseph.) And of course, Leslie was the most fun to watch of all the cast members.
• Talking with Spencer on the ride home about dating and whatnot.
• Not getting the gum and sunglasses stolen from my car.
• Not hiking the Wind Caves.
• Still vacuuming a lot.
• Not brushing my teeth with tap water from Mexico.
• Not buying my mom a tree because it was a rainy day. (We really did consider, it Mom!)
• Hanging out with Leslie.



The rain hadn't started by the time this picture was taken, but it started pretty soon after.

• Eating at Elements for my mom's birthday meal. (It wasn't actually her birthday, but we counted it.)
• Playing the "Person Game" with my family. We are hilarious.

  

  And cute.

• Celebrating K.'s first birthday with cherry chip cake. She ate a lot of it, and what she didn't Matthew ate off the floor for her.

  

  Happy cousin story time.

• Only being in the room for the cool parts of "Independence Day" when my dad was watching it.
• Being introduced multiple times at my parents' ward as Kyra Moon Moon (never by my parents, I might add). This never happens when I go to Duchesne.
• Losing a wipes box I had just found/claimed as my own/received as a gift from a friend who said she didn't need it anymore even though it probably wasn't the one I had lost. (I had been pretty excited to have it back, so it was funny that I lost it so fast.)
  

  

  Bright side is, I got to see him that day, too. He's cuter than a wipes box.

• Watching people make boats to sail down a nearby irrigation ditch.

  

  

  Joseph might have been cheating.

• Watching people extricate the boats from a long tunnel in the ditch using sticks and poles of all varieties.

  

  I think the milk jug was the main culprit, but there were others.

• Going on a walk with my parents again on the Logan River Trail, and having a picture taken by the Logan City mayor who was walking by.

  

  
  

  
  
  
  

• Watching the end of a really cool lightning storm.
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• Going through TSA Pre Check. It's been a while!
• Not being on an airplane anymore, and most importantly . . . seeing Kevin again!

It was a great trip, and at least 70% of the time it made me want to live in Cache Valley. (The other 30% of the time was probably when I was sleep-deprived and grumpy and trying to get Joseph to eat foods he didn't want to, so those probably shouldn't be factored into the statistics that much.)

Happy birthday mom! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you!