Papa's Visit, Part 2--Grand Canyon

Dad was able to go to the Grand Canyon with my aunt and all my uncles: Rose, Merrill, Mike, and Jim. They had a great time sightseeing, and especially enjoyed the helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon.  They stayed in an Airbnb and had a wonderful visit.  They left on Saturday morning and came back on Tuesday. Mike and Jim drove to California, and Rose and Merrill drove Dad to our house before heading home.  We had a nice visit and I made dinner and it was so nice to see them!

Papa's Visit, Part 1

Papa has retired from his job!  Well, for now, anyway.  We are so glad to have him here for a visit.  We never get to see him this time of year.  He was supposed to arrive Thursday morning, but his morning flight was cancelled and he didn't arrive until 9:30pm.  We had fun on Friday, though.  He came with me on my errands and we went to lunch with Emily.  Friday night, we had dinner at home and watched a movie together.  Then on Saturday morning, Michael and I drove him to the airport to meet my Aunt Rose and Uncle Merrill.  They got their rental car and we went to breakfast at Wildflower Bread Company by McCormick Stillman Park.  Then they all drove up to Williams for their Grand Canyon trip and Michael and I went home.  My uncles, Mike and Jim, drove up from California and they are meeting up there.  I hope they are having a great time!  

Emily and Papa playing cards

Breakfast in Scottsdale this morning

Rose and Merrill will drive Dad back here on Tuesday and he'll get to stay another week!

Halloween 2020

We had a great time this Halloween!  I think we had more trick-or-treaters than ever, so thankfully I had plenty of candy!  We only had a few left over.  I had Emily make this cool "menu" for the kids to choose what they want.  When we ran out of a particular variety, we told them to take the one off the board and then it was off the menu.  It worked out pretty well and we received a lot of compliments on it.  The kids were so excited to get full-size candy bars!  

Emily was Belle from Beauty and the Beast, I was Elastigirl (again!), and Jonathan was Dr. Doom from Fantastic Four.  Andrew and Daniel weren't interested in dressing up.  Michael took Jonathan trick-or-treating for a while and then he and Andrew watched the BYU football game.  Emily helped me hand out candy and Daniel just hung out.  It was a great night!

Here is Jonathan the next morning with his loot.  Can you see how it's all organized.  😂

Happy Halloween!

Fall Break Fun with Cousins

We had a nice time today with my sister and her kids.  Michael and Andrew were watching the BYU football game, but the rest of us went to a new park near our neighborhood.  Even the big kids played!  It was nice to sit and visit.  We even went out for ice cream afterwards.  Now, it's back to school on Monday.

Our not-Cancun Trip

We were supposed to go to Cancun this week on Tuesday.  On Monday, we went back and forth on whether or not we should go because of the predicted rain all week.  We finally made the decision to go for it, and then an hour later we saw the news that there was a hurricane on the path to hit Cancun.  Once we saw that, we knew we shouldn't go.  Thankfully, I was able to cancel everything.  We quickly made plans to do something different.  After weighing our options and the cost, we decided to go to Tucson and spend a couple nights at a nice resort.  It was wonderful!  We didn't have to bother with flights and we were able to take our time packing and driving down there.  We drove there on Tuesday afternoon and came back on Thursday.  

View from our room

Relaxing at the pool

Night view of the resort on our way to dinner

Pinnacle Peak restaurant

Look at the size of their "cowboy" steaks

Do you see all the ties hanging down?  They have a sign that says, "No ties allowed."  So, they have a tradition that if people come in wearing a tie (which they do on purpose), the waitress will come over and make a big production out of cutting off their tie and they label it and hang it from the ceiling.  A table near ours did that and it was pretty cute.

This Pinnacle Peak area reminded me of Frontierland at Disneyland.  Almost all the shops were closed, but it was fun to walk around a bit.

More views of the resort

This was the path to the tennis courts

Relaxing at the pool

I couldn't resist going on the waterslide, and Michael recorded me, lol

On our way home, we stopped at a trendy brunch restaurant.  Michael had the biscuits and gravy and I had coconut almond French toast.  The plate in the middle is bacon beignets, which were really good.

As much as I would have liked to go to Cancun, I am grateful for the technology that warned us of the danger (I actually got a notification on my phone from the Weather app) and my heart goes out to those affected by these storms.

BYU Tour

It's hard to believe, but it's already time for Emily to start applying for colleges.  We thought fall break would be the perfect time for her to go up and see BYU, and we were able to spend some time with Nathaniel as well.

We arrived late Thursday afternoon.  Nathaniel picked us up at the Provo airport.  First, we checked in at the hotel.

We have the worst luck with views from our hotel room.  Here is proof, haha!

Nathaniel and Emily played a few games on their phone and we got settled, then we left for dinner.  On the way, we drove to Great Harvest Bread Company to get a loaf of bread and sample their pumpkin chocolate chip bread.  Then we went to Sweet Tooth Fairy to get cookies.  

Next, we walked around the mall until it was time to go to Texas Roadhouse to meet my brother Joe, his wife Brandie, and their sweet little girl Delilah.  Thankfully, I had called ahead and we were seated right away.  We had a very nice dinner with them.  Delilah is so cute!  At first we was a little wary of us, but she came around.

After dinner, we went roller skating.  It was the same place that I used to go roller skating when I went to school there, but it was remodeled and also had an arcade, bouncy slides, and a snack bar.  I had so much fun skating!  I haven't done that in forever!  They had advertised that it was throwback night, so I thought that meant it would be disco night.  My roommates and I used to go to disco night all the time and it was awesome.  I guess I'm old now, though, because apparently throwback night means they play bad rap music from the 1990s.  We left shortly after that started, haha.

Nathaniel was doing great at skating.  Emily was very new at it, but she was brave and got on the rink for a while.

Finally, we drove past the Provo City temple.  It was so beautiful at night!

We went back to the hotel and hung out for a while and then Nathaniel went back to his apartment.  

Nathaniel picked us up on Friday morning at 10:30am and we went to campus.  We went to lunch at the Cougareat, which is a food court in the Wilkinson Student Center.  After we ate, we headed over to the library.  Nathaniel likes to go there to do his online classes.  He was supposed to have his in-person class, but it was cancelled today because his professor was ill so they had class online, as well.  That means Nathaniel was on his computer for about three hours straight.  This was taken right outside the library.

While he was in the library, Emily and I went exploring.  First, we went to the study abroad building. She was pretty excited about an opportunity to study in multiple European countries. 

Next, we headed further south on campus and went to the LSB, Life Sciences Building. Emily really wants to study something in the health and/or biology field.  The building was beautiful! I had never been in there before.  It was built after I graduated.  Emily was excited to see the greenhouse. We weren’t able to go in but we peeked in. It wasn’t that exciting. They had a beautiful atrium with tons of stairs going down and displays on both sides. 

Here we are at the Eyring Science Center.  I took a physics class there when I was in school, and the building looks mostly the same.  This cool pendulum was there when I was a student, and now there is a little cafe there.  

Outside of the science building, we saw a little rose sitting on a ledge with a cute note. It said, “You are a gift to those around you.” I'm not sure what that was about, but it was cute.

After the science center, we went to the Joseph F Smith Building. That’s another beautiful building, and it's where Nathaniel was supposed to have class today. Next, I took Emily to the Joseph Smith Building. I remember that building being a lot bigger, but it was still really pretty. We walked out and I showed her where the testing center is. Then we walked toward Talmage building. We saw the former president’s house and guest house. I had to stop and see the stairs that come up from the Smith Fieldhouse. I used to park in the lot down there and then walk up these stairs to campus.

Then we went to the Talmage building. That's the math building, so it is my favorite building and the one where I spent most of my time as a student.  We sat down for a little while and took a break. After we rested for a while, we walked over to the Wilkinson Center. I showed her around downstairs and then we headed to the BYU bookstore to do some shopping. I got some shirts for the boys and for Michael. Nathaniel met us there, and then we all went over to the Creamery get some ice cream. Emily said, "You can't come to BYU and not go to the Creamery!"  

After the Creamery, we went back to the Wilkinson center and bowled a game together.

Emily seemed to enjoy my "tour."  She said I'm basically a professional tour guide now, haha!

After bowling, we went back to the car and drove around for a while. We drove down 800 North, up University Drive to Canyon Road and past Helaman Halls so Emily could see where they were. Then we drove past the Provo temple and back to south of campus. I showed them the apartment that Michael and I used to live in, and then we drove past Liberty Square and the Villages at South campus. Finally, we went to Nathaniel’s apartment. He showed Emily around and then we played a couple hands of cards. We also went to look at the clubhouse. Then we went to dinner. On the way, we quickly drove into the Crestwood, where Michael and I lived when we met. When we passed the gas station that was right near there, we had to laugh at the marquee that was posted that said: Red Bull, Twinkies, prom, we have diesel. So random!

We had a nice dinner at Chuck A Rama, which is a buffet like Golden Corral, then Nathaniel drove us to the airport.  We packed a lot into a day and it was a great trip!  Nathaniel was a great chauffer!  Even though we couldn't go on a "real" tour, Emily feels like she got a good feel for what it would be like to go there.  She has some big decisions to make!