Time flies

My last post was in April and so much has been going on.  Here is a quick recap:

My sweet friend Marcy. 
We were roommates in college and we've been friends every since.

Morning walks through the orange and avacado groves

Her beautiful home and grounds

My sweet mom in her chair
watching her favorite show - Jeporday!

• I went to visit my friend Marcy in southern California for four days
• I visited my mom in Logan - April - stayed with Lee and Mike
• Many more visits to the ENT to get on top of my Meniere's disease and ALL the annoying symptoms
• A visit to the Jordan River temple open house with all the local grandkids
• Rick's family came to our home for our by-monthly game night and dinner
• Claire and I attended HAMILTON! Wow!
• Rick went to St. George for his annual training and I was unable to go because of...
• our trip to Israel.  Jordan and I left on our two week trip - More on that later
• Lots of yard work, cleaning up our yard and planting flowers and our "crops"
• Mother's day dinner at Claire's
• My ladies group May meeting on a beautiful spring day
• Visiting the 10 Relief Society groups in our stake
• Grandkid sleep overs
• My annual check up with my oncologist - my 5 year anniversary since completing treatment.  So far so good!
• Going to plays, final projects with the grandchildren; Lauren's graduation and Hope of America award event.
• Rick gave me a message board and he leaves me messages, every day.  I love it!
• Visiting my mom in Logan - May - stayed with Carol
• Memorial day - taking flowers to 8 different graves in six different cemeteries: Vern, Gramps and Gram P, Jon, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma G, Grandma and Grandpa F, Jim, and Jake
• Spring cleaning - this year I hired cleaning ladies to help me
• Attending the temple
• Going to North Carolina to visit Dave, Courtney and their family
• Getting our assignments for our ministering families and individuals and making plans
• Father's day dinner at Claire's

Day 6 & 7 - Relax and enjoy

What's not to love about being in California in January?  We were very fortunate to be blessed with amazing weather the week while we were there.  Some days it was even too hot!  We loved lounging around the AirBnb house on the 6th day.  We had planned to drive to the beach, but when it was all said and done, we just stayed at the house and hung out.  We played games, watched a move, played in the game room, played the game of Things and Telestrations (our two favorites!) and went swimming in the heated pool. 

 That evening the men went to watch BYU basketball against Loyola Marymount Univeristy and we women and children just relaxed and got packed up and ready to leave the next morning.

Day 7 was the drive home.  Time to say goodbye, hug, and go our separate ways.  Andy and Chelsea returned to their home in LA, Dave and Courtney to NC, and the rest of us returned in the two vans to Utah.  Our lovely vacation was over, but the memories will hopefully remain for years to come.  We missed Jake.  We talked about him and we always will.  There is a vacant place where his humor, his personality and just his physical presence use to be.  We all love him so much. 

He will always be missed.

I love my family.  I love to spend time with them.  It was pure joy to to enjoy this vacation as a family and I'm so grateful for each and every member of our group.

The flowers were amazing!  Springtime in Anaheim.

I loved these lovely gardens outside of Disneyland.

Look at those tulips!

Look at those hydrangeas!

Many, many good laughs playing Telestrations!

Some people are not artists. (a leopard in case you wondered)

Even family history events were recreated.

The morning of the 6th day, I went out early and saw two geese
 swimming in the pool.  I also saw that they had left a
mess on the side of the pool, the narrow part around the hot tub.
 I went out with a paper towel to clean up their mess,
and mis stepped and fell into the hot tub in my PJs! 
I scrapped my leg, but no other damage was done.
 As the kids looked out from their breakfast,
 they saw me just soaking up the heat and they all wanted to get in.
 So at about 8:00 am, a party commenced at the pool

Movie time!

Dave and Sam enjoying a soak.

Then Grandpa dove in with his clothes on.  Again.  As usual.

There were lots of games of soccer and football in the lovely green grass yard.

So fun for everyone!

Day 5 - Disneyland!!

Oh yeah!  The long awaited day finally arrived.  I was shocked beyond words to see everyone in the family show up with the blue Disneyland shirts on as we headed to the park.  I thought I would see the shirts at the family photo opp and that would be the end of it.  Not so.  R and Andy were good sports and everyone else was on board to varying degrees.  Score!
Claire had the day all mapped out in advance.  First off we went to the Star Wars area to get a number for the kids so that they could do battle with Kilo Ren and Darth Vader.  It turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the day.  And so, without further adieu, here is our day at Disneyland wearing matching shirts that really helped us keep on eye on each other.

Annie checking out Kilo Wren.  She wasn't a fan.

It was another huge day from opening at 10:00 am to close at 9:00 pm.  We all left with happy smiles and thanked Grandpa Rickey for making this day possible.  

It was his idea in the first place and he paid for us all to go!