Summer Road Trip Part 3: Sacramento

This leg of our trip was the main reason for the whole affair.

But let me first start back in Utah.

We dropped Bruce off at the airport so he could get back to work (someone had to pay for this trip!) The next morning, my mom, the kids, and I took off for California. I was pretty excited to get back after so many years away. The drive through Nevada is still just as long and boring.

We arrived in Applegate, CA at my aunt Carolyn's house. The next morning, we went to visit my Grandma Lyman. I hadn't seen her in about 8 years! She just turned 95 in August. I have been thinking a lot about her lately and had a strong desire to go visit her. So the whole trip was based around this one visit.

She had just broken her leg recently and had been in a lot of pain. She couldn't always remember why her leg hurt and her confusion made for some bad days. So we weren't sure what to expect when we got there. She lives in a home with few other elderly residents. It's an actual house in a really nice, quiet neighborhood. The caretakers are wonderful to her.

When we walked into the living room, she took a few seconds to realize who we were, and then she was all smiles. I introduced her to Dylan and Travis, Courtney was the only one who had met her before. We talked and visited for a while, went on a walk to a nearby park, and took lots of pictures. The kids drew her pictures that we hung up in her bedroom. Since she was having such a good day, we called my aunt Carolyn to come pick her up and take her home with us.

Back at Carolyn's house, 4 of my 8 cousins came by for dinner. It was a lot of fun to meet their spouses and kids and visit, all the time having my grandmother next to me.

The next morning, we packed up and made one last stop to see Grandma. It was a teary goodbye, but wonderful being able to see her one last time.

We love you Grandma!

4 Generations

The kids loved spending time with Great Grandma Lyman. They were all loves for her.

mother and daughter

We sneaked some M&M's into her. If you're 95, you deserve to eat your favorite food whenever you want!

We made her cast pretty!

Travis loved her wheel chair. He and Grandma Jo fought over who got to sit there.

Summer Road Trip Part 2: Utah

(Okay, I'm actually going to finish these road trip posts so I can move on to the other exciting events happening around here.)

After having a wonderful visit in Lander with my parents and grandmother, we headed to Utah for a few days. My mom drove her car down also, reasons I will explain later. We stayed at our favorite Bed and Breakfast: chez Jeff & Jay, (aka my brother and his wonderful wife Jayleen.) They are so good to always let us crash at their house when we are in town.

We spent time hanging out with Jeff and Jay and their 2 kids, Ian and Morgan. Jay and I went to the salon and got pedicures. We took the kids to a local pool for some fun. Well, it's much more than a pool. It's located next to the Utah Olympic Oval, where the speed skating events took place. There are 3 outdoor pools: one for diving with diving boards and diving platforms; two for fun swimming with all kinds of slides, fountains, waterfalls, etc. There is an indoor pool with a big waterslide. There is a huge tank that fills with water and dumps on anyone hanging around. The kids had a blast. Courtney and Ian spent lots of time going off the diving boards and lower platforms. They couldn't work up enough nerve to go off the highest platform, only Bruce was brave enough. Dylan, Travis, and Morgan had fun splashing around with all the equipment in the pools. My mom took a lot of pictures, but for some reason they dissappeared from her camera or computer when she got home.

We were able to visit our good friends, Dave and Kathy. They have 2 boys that our kids love playing with. They got out the arsenal of Nerf guns and had a blast. Bruce and I got addicted to Rock Band. Dave and Kathy were patient with us as we stumbled our way through song after song. But it was so much fun. (Bruce loved it so much he surprised us with the game at home a month later.)

I was able to visit my best friend from San Jose, Brooke. Her newest little guy was only 3 weeks old. Her husband and 3 older kids were on their way to Grandma and Grandpa's house in San Jose. (By the time we got to her parent's house they had already headed back to Utah.) The whole gang went: Bruce and I and our kids, my mom, and Jeff and Jay and their kids. I took lunch so Brooke wouldn't have to lift a finger. After a little while, everyone else went back to Jeff's house while Brooke and I got some long-overdue bonding. It was great to hang out and giggle and remember all our crazy growing up years.

Bruce's brother Matt and sister Karen live in Utah, so we made time to see them. Our kids love Uncle Matt and Aunt Karen. The boys were in awe as Matt showed them his police car. We went to Fat Cats, where we bowled, rode bumper cars, and played games. Lots of fun. We went back to Matt's house and played a litte Guitar Hero. The guitar was the only thing working, but you'll see from the pictures, that didn't stop the boys from rockin out.

I was really bad about taking pictures during the whole trip. That along with all of my mom's lost pictures, and we just don't have many. Here are the ones I got from our visit with Matt and Karen.



























The boys had food on their minds during our jam session. They were making up rock songs about their favorite foods. "Oatmeal" and "Peanut Butter and Jelly" were particularly catching.