Dad picked me up from the airport Thursday night and we went straight to Liza's. Em and Collin were already there and Liza had delicious fruit and cream cheese dip and regular cheese dip too. We all hung out and watched the countdown for a few minutes before ringing in the new year. So crazy that it's 2016. I think I went to bed at 2am or something.
On New Years I slept in til 10 maybe and ran downstairs to talk to mom and then ran to the basement to see grandmother. I still feel so horrible but I was aoooo excited to see her that I hugged her way too tight and probably killed her shoulder. But we eventually let go to look at each other's faces and she got all chocked up and told me how grateful she was that I came to see her. I'm hoping it wasn't just residual tears from the pain of her shoulder (she had a fall on Christmas Day stepping off the curb at the bowling alley) but I really am pretty sure it's because she was so touched. I was having a moment too. So so so so so grateful to have this trip work out the way it did.
I was debating hiking stone mountain or not because I felt like I should be spending time with granny. Liza convinced me to go and I had an awesome time with her family and dad and Walter. It's a good New Years tradition to have. Only one day into 2016 and I've already climbed a mountain. It gives me more confidence going forward. ; ) The top of the mountain was ridiculously cold and windy but the hiking up and down was great and dad was awesome to get everyone hot chocolate at the top. It was crazy how busy the mountain was considering years past when we would be basically the only people hiking it. Feels kinda like the bowling alleys on Christmas.
I think we got back around 4 maybe and hung out downstairs with granny and ate dinner downstairs with her too. That was super extra fun. Mom made chicken and rice and zucchini and salad and I ate at granny's table with her and then got us both ice cream (black jack cherry for her and milky way for me) and two "tastes just like homemade" chips ahoy cookies for her two. The plan was for her to share one with me but she at both. ; ) Just as I'd intended it. It was like a baby party. I loved watching Collin and walden and garner. We hung out down there until it was time to put the babies and granny to bed and then we moved the party upstairs to the den. Except that I brought Elizabeth with me because I'd ignored her downstairs and she fell asleep just laying on the floor. Should've gotten a picture of that. Whoops. Hanging out is always so fun. You know you're with your favorite people when you prefer to do nothing over something. Like I didn't want a movie or a game or an activity to distract me from just talking with and soaking up the quality time with everyone. Em and Bekah and I stayed up late talking. I'm pretty sure I went to bed at 2am again.
Saturday, we had plans to go to costco and get granny a comfortable recliner for the basement. Elizabeth woke up around 7 I think and I was afraid to go back to sleep because I didn't want to waste any of the day. I ate chocolates for breakfast (as I did the previous day) and showered and went to costco with mom, meeting Jeff and Skye and Nathan there. We got the most perfect recliner... It's sooo similar to her one at the farm. Elizabeth and I hung out with granny and mom started making Milky Way ice cream and I ordered leggings from kohls.com since it was my last day to use the $10 kohls cash I had. So we hung out at home until I went to another costco with Emmy (meeting Walter and Bekah and the boys there) to pick up pictures and walk around. The samples were good and part of the time, we sat down on the furniture and just talked. Elizabeth was home napping and Collin was asleep in the wrap so it was just fun and easy. We bought our stuff (including lettuce for mom) and em used her $0.07 costco gift card. ; ) We got home after 4 and dad was having a blast with Elizabeth. And then she had some fun cousin time getting pushed around the kitchen by the twins.
Dad and I walked into the kitchen to see and smell delicious chocolate cake that mom said was for after Sunday dinner. Dad made a funny comment to me about not understanding why someone would make a cake that wasn't supposed to be eaten for 24 hours and we convinced mom to serve the chocolate cake that night after dinner. Along with the Milky Way ice cream we were already making. Mom was making dinner suggestions and I told her we should go easy on dinner so we wouldn't spoil our dessert. So we had eggs and cheese grits and bacon. It was delicious and perfectly not too filling. We allll ate downstairs in the basement and it was insanely fun. I loved sitting on the sofa for dinner and having all of us right there. It was one of the highlights of the trip. We used the pocket talker to ask granny questions about her childhood and how she likes fried chicken. ; ) And then I ate myself sick with dessert. I had a few bowls of milky way ice cream, a piece of chocolate cake, and then at least one more bowl of milky way ice cream. It was beyond indulgent. I put Elizabeth to bed at 6, thinking it would probably only be for a late evening nap and then I brushed my sugary teeth. The thought occurred to me to go to bed because I was sooooo tired and people were winding down... So it seemed. But then I heard voices. Everyone was hanging out in the den. So, mom, dad, Walter, bekah, Emmy, and me all stayed up too late talking. Bekah went to her house for a bit to pick up clothes and stuff so she and Walter and the boys could spend the night and come to my parents ward with us in the morning and of course Walter was passed out within minutes of her leaving. We talked quite a bit about the panama trip and about the Hilliers (hey, exciting news! Chris's dad got called to be the mission president of the Salt Lake City easy mission!) and funny stories from life lately. Mom even cut dads hair and trimmed mine up. I'm so excited about it. It looks soooo much better. Eventually mom and dad went to bed. So it was another late night with Bekah and em and me. The highlight of my night was holding Collin... Which is funny because the purpose of this trip was for me to see him (since the original plan didn't include everyone getting together for a funeral over thanksgiving break) but Elizabeth has had that cough and I've had the worst sore throat of my life (except that it's not my throat, it's like swallowing pains so intense that it feels like someone is shoving a knife up from my left jaw bone to my ear every time I try to swallow. I think maybe my lymph node was infected or something? No clue except that I felt like I was going to die. So I kept my distance from Collin because he's still so tiny that it would be super dangerous for him to get sick and he'd have to go to the hospital. But, Saturday night, em asked if I wanted to hold him and I was so excited. I took a couple pictures of it and judging by the time stamps on them, I held Collin for at least an hour and a half. Blows my mind since it didn't feel that long at all. Anyway, lots of fun and I think I went to bed after 2am again. I'm so tired but with my trip being so short, it was better to sacrifice sleep for family time. At least Elizabeth cooperated well and would always wake when I went in for bed so I would just feed her and then I could fall asleep and not wake up until she stirred again after 7 or so. So that was a bonus... That my five hours of sleep each night were unbroken. ; )
This morning we got ready and went to church. I rode with dad and we picked up bagito (I have no clue how to spell his name) on the way to bring him. He's been blind for years and thanks to dad helping him out, he can see now!!! And he can see really well! I was shocked and amazed. Went I got to church I went straight to the mothers lounge to feed Elizabeth and em joined me soon after. We listened to the testimonies in there and bagito got up and told about how he can see now the rainbow colors that are reflected by the crystal chandelier in the celestial room and then mentioned that he had a special visitor this morning to wish him merry Christmas and she wasn't even one and her name is Elizabeth. HA! It was awesome. Little Elizabeth got a shout out over the pulpit. Sunday school was fun with em holding Collin, me hanging out, dad holding Elizabeth, and Walter and Bekah with their boys. It was like we were running our own nursery.
After church, I saw Diana's sil in the foyer and got to talk to her. I was so excited about that! She's super nice but I never get to see her so it was fun to talk for a bit. I rode back with dad but he dropped off Elizabeth and me before bagito because Elizabeth was falling asleep and I needed her to nap in her pack n play so she would be as rested as possible for our flight home. I got her down for a nap, I took out granny's rollers and combed and hair sprayed her hair, and helped set the table. Mom made us cafe rio pork salads for dinner! It was delish. We brought granny upstairs and Liza's family came over and we all ate together at the dining table. We had wonderful conversations about important stuff like how we still can't agree on suitable names for the three kid bedrooms upstairs. ; ) It was a blast. Then we had chocolate cake for dessert. With tons of freshly whipped cream and strawberries (for me) and sugar covered blackberries (for some others). Our family isn't really mindful of healthy eating when it comes to desserts. Bekah was the most. We all couldn't believe how little whipped cream she used (you could still see the chocolate cake under it).
After we were done eating, we took tons of pictures. Of the babes, the siblings, granny with her four grandkids, mom and dad with their four kids, and on and on. Walden was napping, but eventually he woke up and my flight got delayed so we had some extra time. The stars aligned. I thiiiink they got more pictures with all five babes while I was upstairs packing. I told granny bye at least three times. It was so hard for me to leave her. She is precious and she looked extra beautiful today all dressed up with her hair done and pink lipstick. I love her so much.
Dad took me to the airport. Something super special for me about this trip was how much time I got to spend with dad. So much time together in the car that was mostly one on one that normally doesn't happen. I was sad not to spend more time with mom since she was spending so much time caring for granny, but it was so wonderful to have so much time with dad. It was amazing and I loved it so much. I said goodbye to dad and thanked him for a great trip and was frustrated that my words couldn't come close to portraying my love for him and my appreciation for the time I was able to spend with him this trip. Hopefully he understood at least a bit. I know so many people think I'm spoiled for going on so many trips to cool places but truth is, they will never ever ever light a candle to the time I spend with my own family. I'm on a high and super depressed. It's always so hard for me to come back from Atlanta and get back into my regular swing of life. Perfect timing that Weed is coming to visit on Wednesday!!! Ahhhh!!! It's a dream come true!
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