On the way home...

I wrote this a while back - finally finishing it and posting it!

On our way home from Bear Lake and the Farm, we got to spend a day in SLC with some of Jared's siblings and families plus we got to go visit Jared's mom at a rehabilitation center there - she had back surgery a couple weeks prior and after many months of horrible debilitating pain, the surgery really seems to have helped - but there's a lot of recovery still involved.  Jared spent a good chunk of July with his mom (while we were at Bear Lake), trying to help her get through the last hard part before the surgery could be scheduled.  It was a real blessing that Jared had a flexible enough work schedule to be able to spend some time helping her and helping his brother who runs the farm a little as well.  You know, having 9 kids sure comes in handy when you need some help later in life.  It's been great to see how each of Jared's siblings has stepped in to help out at different stages of his mom's difficult last few months.  What a lot of excellent people I inherited by marrying Jared. 

We had SO much fun at Aaron and Michelles house.  They were wonderful hosts and treated us to great food and tons of fun.  My kids think their house is about as fun as it gets - they have kids their ages, a great backyard with a super fun play structure, all kinds of bikes and scooters, a Wii and Michelle had such a fun idea - the kids loved making roads out of construction paper - so simple and so creative and fun at the same time.  The kids spent hours making crazy roads and loved it.

The twins were so busy having fun with their cousin Logan that this is pretty much the only time the three of them were still enough that I could take their photo - how cute are they?  I love that the twins have such fun boy cousins their same age on both sides of the family.  They wish Logan could be their neighbor.

Michelle also had a great idea for a simple but very cute banner the kids could all help make to brighten up Grandma's room at the rehab place.  I wish I had more abilities when it comes to thinking up stuff like this.  Here are Liza and Ike with their beloved cousin Abbie.

After our fun at Aaron and Michelle's and our doctor appointment for the twins Achilles tendons issue (wrote about that before), we headed over to spend some time with Grandma (banner in hand).  It was SO wonderful to see her looking so much better.  She had really been doing poorly when we'd been up there at the beginning of July - and she's usually so energetic and vibrant - it was so scary and sad to see her in so much pain that she could hardly do anything at all.  She stood up for us and walked a little and we were so happy to see her looking so much happier and stronger.  It's still a long road to get her strength back, but she's one tough lady and she's getting better each day.

By the time we finished hanging out with Grandma, it was a little late and we were too tired to drive back to St George that night so Joel and his family (another of Jared's brothers) were kind enough to let us crash at their place that is right near the rehab place.  The kids loved playing with their chickens and cat and cool teen-age daughters - and squeezed in a little Wii there as well.  They want a Wii so bad.  But I keep telling them it wouldn't be nearly as exciting if we had it right in our own house....  Plus we've got a couple kids with somewhat addictive personalities and having a Wii in the house would involve issues I just don't want to deal with right now...

Better late than never - there you have it - the final leg of our big fat fun summer trip!