St. George and Salt Lake City

We arrived in St. George very LATE, but Rachel, Richie, Mom and Dad were all still up to welcome us.  It is hard to describe the feeling of being in my mom and dad's home.  Even though I didn't grow up there, it is still like home to me.  There is just an overwhelming comfort there.  And boy, oh boy, did I need that!  Russ, Nat and the girls stayed at Chris and Adrienne's so almost everyone was in St. George.  (Ben, Becca, Izzy, Theo, and Adeline were at their home in Ames.)  We had a "Christmas" dinner the following evening.  Check out these adorable kiddos:

George

John

Josephine

Tess

Paris

Liesl

Zadi

Erma

Zadi and Ilah

Henry and Taysom

Miles

 (Unfortunately, my camera was having some issues.

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While we were In St. George, my mom showed Taysom how far she had come with Tay's t-shirt quilt.  Ever since seeing Rachel's t-shirt quilt years ago, I've known that I wanted my kids to have one when they went away to college.  There was only one problem - I cannot sew and am poor.  So thankfully, my mom offered to take on the sewing part and have her friend machine quilt it.  Looking at the quilt brings back so many memories.  I can hardly believe that my little girl is 18 years old and away at college.  Time flies!   

Thank you so much, Mom.  I know it turned out beautifully. 

 We made a trip over to Great Grandma's house.  Here she is with Tucker, Taysom and Henry.  (Ilah and Zadi were gone shopping.)

 I LOVE this woman.  Look at that smile.  She is such an example of finding joy in the journey.  I think she understands me better than almost anyone.  I loved visiting with her and being with her in her home.  I just wish we could have gone to the temple together.

After Grandma's house, we went over to the park to play frisbee, etc.  Unfortunately the 'astonishing flying ring' got stuck in a tree.

 A lot of time was spent trying to knock it out with the softball.  We attracted quite the crowd.

 Richie even tried climbing up to get it out.  Finally, Mike hit it with the softball just right and it fell to the ground. 

 Here is Erma, Paris, and Liesl watching the show.

 Look at these cuties!

Of course we had to make some time for games.  Here we are at Chris and A's new home within walking distance to Mom and Dad's... yeah, I'm jealous!

 Chris is really concentrating!

 Russ and Nat

 

Rachel and Richie and Natalie

 Zadi and Adrienne

 A and Tay

 Tucker and Chris

 

Ilah and Zadi

Then it was time to say good bye and head for Salt Lake City.  Here is Henry (11) and George (8).

Ilah (12) and Zadi (14)

I hate that this one turned out blurry!  But look at these beautiful girls :)

More beautiful girls - Rachel and Gwen

Ugh - another blurry one.  I wanted to document Tucker's height compared to his uncles.  Chris is really stretching, but I guess he still edges out Tucker.

Russ, Tucker (16) and Chris

Crosby grandkids (minus Josephine, Izzy, Theo, and Adeline)

My mom and dad decided to travel with us to Salt Lake City.  They got us tickets to watch BYU play San Diego so we made a pit stop in Provo.   What a fun surprise for Tucker!

 Grandpa and Tucker

I loved learning that Dad was offered a scholarship to UNLV for basketball, but he wanted to go to BYU.  He decided to try and walk on BYU's basketball team, but after they wanted him to play a different position than he played in high school, he quit.

 LOVE this picture!!!

Then we headed to Salt Lake for New Year's Eve.  We ate a delicious dinner at Little America.

 Tay, Grandma and Ilah

 Grandpa, Henry, Mike and Tucker

We took TRAX (?) over to Temple Square.

 Grandpa with Ilah and Henry

 Everyone near where Grandpa proposed to Grandma

 The Nativity

Christmas Beauty

 In the Joseph Smith Memorial Building... 

There were concerts going on all over the place and people everywhere, but we were tired.  We took TRAX back to the hotel and were in bed by 10:30.  We rung in the new year watching 'The Music Man'.  

To be honest with you, I was glad to see 2011 come to a close.  Goodbye 2011!

The next morning we headed to the Conference Center for Music and the Spoken Word.  It was beautiful as always.  My favorite part was still 'God Be With You Till We Meet Again'.  This time that song took on a little different meaning as I thought of saying goodbye to my mom and dad - and then Taysom.  

I am so thankful that I could have a little extra time with my mom and dad.  No matter how old I get, I still need my mom and dad (even at 40)!  Just being with them helped heal some aches and pains that I had been carrying around.  I wasn't ready to say goodbye, but Taysom was ready to get to Rexburg.  So after lunch, we packed everything up, hugged G&G, and headed to Idaho.  Ready or not- (see next post).

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