Let’s see how much I can get done while bambino sleeps for awhile. We all caught the bug and I was up for most of the night with a crying sad little girl. She was inconsolable and so was I. I would just get her calmed down and then I would go into a coughing fit and she would start up again. I ended up downstairs and then in the crib room so Brian could sleep. He works a 7 to 7 today and needed the rest more than I. Thankyou Gary and Liesl for the Lullaby tape at Christmas. She finally stopped crying long enough to listen to it and fell asleep. I put her down in the crib for the first time at night so if she woke up and cried she wouldn’t disturb our breadwinner. The tape was a lifesaver. She stayed asleep until 8 this morning and after crying a bit and then eating she is out again. And so here’s my chance.
Tuesday, August 27th, we arose early and were on the road by 8am. We listened to a book on tape all the way to Provo and so the drive flew by. We first vistied Brian’s Aunt Lynette. She is Dwaine’s older sister and was on her way to Tahiti or someplace great like that the next day, so we didn’t stay too long. Then on to Uncle David’s. We saw all except him. He was out of town on business. Grandpa finally got to see Serra~V~ and the girls were cute as ever. Kaitlyn took off for fightn’ lessons while Jessica and Allison kept us entertained. They are so cute. Shayla was just around the corner so we stopped by her home and were impressed. She has a beautiful home. I don’t know how she keeps up with her kids. They have more energy put together than a tornado. Monson spent his afternoon at the doctor with a busted face. Coffee tables and faces don’t make great buddies. He was a little out of sorts. But we enjoyed seeing the whole family for a few minutes. Brian’s Grandparents had dinner waiting for us and so we headed to their house in Provo. We spent the night there and took off in the morning.
Wednesday we headed to Salt Lake. Tracie Peirce was first on the list. She was my good friend growing up in California. She had a baby 2 1/2 months ago and we wanted to get a look at her critter. She is much more petite than our little monster. Kelly, her sister was there too. When we put the two babies side by side for pictures, Serra smiled and hammed it up while Savannah sat there wondering what was going on. Tracie kept prodding Savannah, telling her she was being outdone.
Jeff and Maren weren’t around so we headed to Temple Square. We hadn’t seen the finished product. We took a short tour of the Conference Center. WOW! The spirit there was incredible and there wasn’t even a conference going on. I would love to attend sometime. The giant mural of Christ in the Americas after his death sent shivers up my spine. (And it was painted by a non-member, go figure.) We also saw The Testament. Very good. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place. Brian said “Judging from all the sniffles, I think the film was successful.” One of the highlights was seeing a set of missionaries get a jaywalking ticket. oops. We were to Julie’s in Logan by dinner time. Julie outdid herself with Italian Cuisine. I sure felt good to be back in Cache Valley. I must record that Brian admitted he would like to move back someday. After he has made his fortune and can simply enjoy the good life he thinks it would be a good place to retire.
Thursday we spent the majority of the day on campus. Boy has it changed. All the beautiful giant chestnut trees by the Biology building are history. The walk down that lane is not quite the same. (Hmmm…a poet I am) Jared says people chained themselves to them in protest when they were cutting them down. That would have been a sight. We visited Julie at work and little Serra made quite a stir. She really knows how to lay it on thick. She was cooing, giggling, and cuddling and making all the ladies want a baby.
We enjoyed Aggie ice cream, of course.
In the evening Katie Barnes volunteered to feed us all. After we made sure she understood how many people she was talking about we went over. They have a very nice home and were able to accommodate all us Arnell’s quite well. We had a BBQ and Brian says he got eaten alive by mosquitoes. I didn’t get touched, however. Picture time with Morgan was interesting. Morgan found Serra’s hat and shoes intriguing and insisted on getting a closer look. Serra is not quite advanced enough to defend herself and sat there like a slug and took it. We had a good time.
So many people, so little time. Friday morning saw us headed to Bear Lake. When we got there Grandma and Lolita were sleeping. We have been told not to call during nap time, so we sat out on the lawn and took a nap ourselves. We still got scolded. Grandma was apparently willing to give up some of her nap time to see us, I however didn’t want a cranky grandma later that evening.
There is nothing better than a meal at Grandmas. Everything was fresh. Even the meat was home grown. We stuffed ourselves until the top button on our pants had to be undone. Then Grandma declares that we needed to save room for peaches too. So we found room in the cracks. Julie and Serra came up too, and Serra saw to it that we had ice cream before bed as well. Serra~V~ had her usual affair.
Saturday, we were able to see most of the Mathews and Arnells as they were headed to the Lake, with the exception of Steve and Jennifer who chose not to come see us. Maybe they thought we were coming out to the lake later. We couldn’t though, we had a previous engagement back in Logan to get to. It was nice to see everyone, even if it was only for a moment. Someday we will stay longer.
Brian’s family, which included, Diane, Amy Jo, (Dave), Eric and his fam, and 3 wiener dogs were waiting for us in Logan. We had a picnic and visited for a few hours.
Then Dallas put on a BBQ for us at the newly face lifted apartments. The hot tub made a great serving table. All the sibs and spouses were present with the exception of Gary, Liesl, and Dave. We missed them but it just meant more food for us. Dallas made Brower Chicken which I will say is now his specialty and as soon as we had made short work of that we headed up to the game. USU vs. UTAH. Jeff is now a traitor and wore red. It was embarrassing to have him sitting with the Aggies. Just kidding Jeff. We lost. Oh well, it was just fun to be there cheering. Serra~V~ thought the fans were much more interesting than the game and flirted with all around. I think the girls enjoyed her more than the game.
Sunday, we said goodbye to Cache Valley and all of my family and headed up to Park City where Brian’s family was. They have a cabin up in the mountains that has been in an unfinished state for a long time. It is time to finish it for financial reasons and so we went up to help. Walls, floors, electric and plumbing all needs to be done. Dwaine had been up there a week already and had done a good portion of it. There is still a lot to be done though. While every one kept busy with that I tried to stay clean with Serra~V~. (Not an easy task) The wiener dogs were a sight. They were covered from head to foot with dirt and soot. They were ready to leave about five minutes after they realized that no one was sitting still to cuddle with. They hung out by the cars barking to be let in. I found a clean place to lay Serra down at one point and Harvey found her and cuddled his dusty self up to her. Her mortified mother found a place upstairs were the dogs are afraid to go for further naps. Most of Monday was spent working as well. They got a lot done. I didn’t sleep AT ALL that night. I started getting sick on Saturday and it was full blown by Sunday night. I lay there all night in the pitch black cursing my plugged nose.
We took a long time getting back to Vegas as Serra was a little grumpy from all the car time. She was inconsolable for the last hour and so I sat in the back with her. That helped a little. Diane dropped her youngest Amy Jo at BYU, we hear the parting was not so sweet. Quite emotional we gathered. What does a mother hen do when all her chicks are gone? Dwaine stayed on at the cabin by himself to continue the work. Brian will be back up this weekend to help for a few days.
We really did have a good time even if we were only able to spend a little time with a lot of people. We appreciated everyone putting us up and feeding us.
