trip highlights

After a busy day of unpacking, grocery shopping, teaching piano, and just generally settling back into my home life, I finally have a chance to outline some of the highlights from our trip to Denver.

I should probably say that this could be an extremely long and boring post for those of you who don't know my extended family. So feel free to move on another blog right about now. Suffice it to say that I had a really fun visit. For the rest of you:

First of all, it was so fun to see the new homes: Grandma & Grandpa and my aunt Denise and her family moved about a year ago and I hadn't seen their new homes yet. It's so satisfying to be able to think of them now and visualize them where they currently live, not where they used to live! I wondered how it would be to go to a house other than the one where Grandma & Grandpa had lived throughout my lifetime (and much before that). There was a real security in that house that always remained in the same location since I have never lived in one house for longer than seven years. Happily, it still felt like home. It is still filled with so many of the furnishings and objects that I have fond memories of, but most of all it is just Grandma & Grandpa's house -- I guess as long as they are there, that's all that matters. It was the same way with Denise's house. I know she was disappointed to leave her former home that was more spacious and easier to entertain crowds in, but her new house still feels like home to me.

Mom, Dad, Eva and I stayed at Grandma's house. It's a ranch style, with a finished basement. The basement is like a little private suite for visitors, complete with a bathroom, a loveseat, a rocking chair, bookshelves -- so cozy! It's always nice when you can unpack some of your stuff and spread out. (I dream of having accomodations like this for guests at my house!) We put Eva's portacrib in the very dark and quiet room that holds food storage and Grandpa's workbench. Grandma calls it the cockatrice den (just a little Book of Mormon reference for you) and we joked about Eva taming all the creatures and looking around for scorpions and such. She slept very well there.



Bella and Eva really enjoyed having so many people around to dote on them. Today Eva seems to be wondering where all her fans have gone... not one, but two grandpas to play clapping games with. Two grandmas to hold, feed, and buy new clothes! Not to mention the aunts and cousins.

We took Mom for her first trip to Walmart because Jessie and I were looking for some baby shoes. We were all a little amazed at all the cute things we found there, from clothes to swimsuits to ribbon and scrapbook supplies. I never thought I'd see the day when we had a marathon visit to Walmart during a family vacation. (Grandma stayed home to make pies. She said she would be tempted by T.J.Maxx, but not Walmart!)




The women in my family like to cook and are very good at it. These two desserts were from one meal -- I wish I had taken photos of everything we ate. Denise made a batch of her famous chocolate chip cookies, Grandma made two more pies and homemade ice cream, Mom and Grandma made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Dad's birthday. We were only there for 3 days and 4 nights!



Not only did we spend a wonderful Mother's Day together, but we also celebrated my dad's 60th birthday. We had a celebration dinner and followed the tradition in the Wood home of going around the table so each person can say something they like about the birthday celebrant. Jessie wrote down what everyone said so we can do a layout about our fabulous dad. When we got back around to Dad, he was supposed to tell something he likes about himself -- he had difficulty with that, and somehow kept turning it around to what he liked about the rest of his family! My cousin Emily played a piece on the piano for us, and after dinner we were serenaded by a string quartet made up of Emily, her sister Charlotte, and two of their friends. They played so beautifully and I was really struck by how accomplished Denise's daughters are.

On our last night there, a family friend who cuts hair came over to give Jessie and I a haircut. She was so cute to sit down and talk with us about our hair before doing anything else. She soon found out how frustrated I have been with my hair for, oh, ever. She cut about four inches from my length and styled my hair amazingly well. I could actually run my fingers through it, which is a miracle! She taught me a couple of styling tricks that I have never seen before. She actually gave me a glimmer of hope that I might be able to have cute, stylish hair someday -- that is, if I practice a whole lot and can manage to acquire some styling skills. I am very challenged in this area. Mom took photos so that I can remember my hair looked really cute, at least for one night.



My only disappointments are that this trip was too short and passed far too quickly. And that I didn't take more photos! I enjoyed using my new camera and took about 90 pictures, but somehow there are people that didn't make it into a single shot. And how did we not manage to get a four-generation picture?? Sheesh. It was just a whirlwind, I guess, and by the time I realized all the photos I should have taken, it was too late. Sheesh.