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Each year we do our best to take a little trip somewhere without the kids to celebrate our anniversary. Due to the fact that my grandparents are very old and that we likely won't be able to get back to Utah for a couple more years, we decided to combine our trip and see some family before we spent some time celebrating. We decided to head to Utah and arrived on Friday, August 3rd. Ragnar happened to have 3 of his 4 sisters in Utah as Sandra lives there, Pamela's family was on an American tour, and Daphne drove up from Louisiana. With that, we were able to meet together at Chuck A Rama, his Oma's favorite choice while she was alive, and we had lunch together.
It was nice to be able to be all together. We were just missing Naomi!
After lunch, we drove the 3 hours down to Vernal to visit my grandparents. We stopped by my Grandpa Haws' and said hi to him and then headed over to my Grandma Wall's house. It is very convenient to have your dads mom and moms dad live only a couple minutes a part. My grandma fed us well, as always, and we played games and hung out together.
The next morning my grandma fixed us a nice breakfast and we headed to the Dinosaur National Monument. Grandma wanted to show us around Vernal. She is 93 and still pretty vibrant. She cooks and keeps up with a lot. Her walking for long periods of time is a struggle though so we helped her along.
There were several fossils to look at and it was a beautiful day.
We drove up around the mountains and stopped at the caves and the water.
It was a beautiful drive, despite the smoke in the air from all the wildfires.
After lunch and several games, we headed to my Grandpa Haws' house and visited with him.
I love the creek in his backyard and we always used to play and race boats in it.
Ragnar and I had to do it again for old times sake! My boat sneaked past and won at the end ;)
There are lots of boats and lots of grandkids and great grandkids to race them!
My Aunt Charm and Aunt Laurie still live in Vernal, so we were lucky enough to meet them and catch up. It was great to see them. They are great women!
We had dinner together and then I went through some of grandpas scrapbooks and then he showed us some more of his art work. He is a fantastic artist. He had a flip chart of the first discussion he made to teach as a missionary and it was amazing.
He has a lot of talent! It was so great to see him. He looks good for almost 89 years young!
He's been in the same house for longer than I've been alive, and I have a lot of memories there.
I'm glad I had a chance to go visit it again.
We went to church with my grandma the next morning and it was hard to say goodbye. At 93 years of age, you never know when each goodbye is your last. It was great to visit with her.
After Vernal we headed towards Morgan, Utah to visit with our old friend Kristen Arzani Toone. She is a talented woman who is a saint and raises her 5 kids in a cabin up there. It was fun to visit with her and see how she's doing.
Our next stop was Perry, Utah. My cousin Ryan Jackson lives there and he was kind enough to host a big dinner for us so we could see all my cousins on the Jackson side and their families (Tricia, Mike, Jenny, Steph, and Ryan) and my other cousins Jannika and Deidre. I also was able to see Aunt Becky and Kevin and Uncle Randy and Jana. It was wonderful to see them all! I wish I had taken a picture! He has a beautiful home and it was so fun to see them after several years!
Monday we spent the day in Logan visited USU. We loved going to school there and it was so fun to go back. It has changed so much!
We took a picture of the apartment where we met! We love Old Farm!
We got to have lunch with Ragnar's old co worker and friend Ryan and Amie Leonhardt.
Then we drove by our old house. It still looks pretty good. It was a great first home for us and we loved it. The townhomes are maintained pretty well and we miss them!
Then we went to see our old friend Camille and Jeff Ferrin. They were a blast to talk to and had us laughing and picking up just like old times.
That evening we stayed the night with my Uncle Randy and Aunt Jana who moved to Logan a couple years ago. They were fun to converse with and very hospitable. They even let me join them on a morning 7 mile run which was beautiful and they live close enough to campus, that the end of the route was right through campus. I loved it and was so glad we got to stay with them.
Tuesday morning was August 7th, our 14th anniversary. After our run, we went to the Logan temple and did sealings together. We try to do this most every year to remember the promises and covenants we made together.
Right afterward, Ragnar took me back to the bench where he proposed. It is right down the street from the temple and while we were friends/dating we used to walk to this bench most Sunday's to talk.
We were glad to see it was still there.
After that we went to campus to see where my Aunt and Uncle worked and then to see Ragnar's old roommate Fran Hopkin. Then we drove down to see our last stop and family member Aunt Sheri and Dale. We had a nice lunch and caught up with what was going on in our lives.
Finally, we made it to Park City! Wednesday we went water rafting on the Weber river. The water was mostly calm, but since it was so pretty outside, it was nice to just watch the scenery.
We went to dinner and relaxed and played games, watched a movie. We really just enjoyed our time.
Thursday morning we went out for a hike. We had stayed at the Wyndham, so we were able to just hike from our condo right to Rob's Trail. It was about 7 miles but lots of uphill :)
It was a gorgeous site!
I'm glad we went, but I don't love hiking as I have a hard time walking and not running. So, we compromised and ran the last mile home ;)
Since our legs were pretty sore, we opted to get a pedicure and relax afterward.
Then, we went to Olympic Park and watched some amazing athletes train.
Friday morning before we headed to the airport we went to temple square and visited the beautiful grounds and the Christus.
We really had a wonderful trip together. It was so nice to see family, and then also have a few days to relax. We have had a wonderful 14 years together and I am so grateful for the person I get to have by my side. He is wonderful to me, and for me. My incredible parents were great enough to watch the kids and they had a fun time with their grandparents. Happy 14 years to us!
On July 30, 2018 Deacon turned 4 years old! He was so excited!! He loves birthdays and having watched all of his siblings already have their birthday for the year, he was ready for his! We decorated his door and he was excited about that and waking up to donuts! He could barely sleep the night before as he kept singing "Happy Birthday to me!" I hope he enjoys birthdays for a long time, they aren't so fun when you're older!
He loves balloons, so he was excited to see his door!
No better way to start the day then with a donut!
His activity of choice was to go to Chuck-E-Cheese! We were lucky and went right when it opened and got to collect all the tickets from when they turn on the games. There was hardly anyone there, so it was great!
He had a great time with his siblings.
Ella scored a lot of tickets and they each had fun spending them.
Deacon took a nap and then my parents and Natalie joined us for a small family party. My dad brought balloons and came up with a game where they threw the balloon down and tried to hit a certain mark when it landed. It occupied them for a while! Afterward we went and had dinner at Chick Fil A.
Deacon requested a sports theme with a baseball cake. As you can tell it was VERY amateur, but he loved it so that is all that matters!
We had cake and presents. Deacon loves Paw Patrol, so we got him a paw patrol cruiser and characters and my parents got him the helicopter. His Oma got him a sliding soccer ball and then he got baseball bases, water guns, and a cobra hot wheels set. He was pretty excited about it all!
He was a happy boy and was excited the day was all about him!
This is our Deacon. Four years of having him in our family has brought us so much joy! He is always saying he is super strong! Then he adds, when I am bigger, I will be jumping off the diving board. He always compares time to when he is old enough to jump off ;)
He is a very sweet kid, but very active. He is always on the move. Every store we go to he starts at the front of the aisle and will say, on your mark, get set, go! Then he will proceed to sprint down the aisle. He sure keeps me fit!
He is a great napper and still sleeps 3-4 hours a day and loves to sleep next to a big husky dog he won at the rodeo named Wolfie. He is always playing with a ball. It doesn't matter if it is a basketball, baseball, football, soccerball, or whatever, he is playing with a ball. He is very naturally talented with dribbling, shooting, and kicking and he is fun to watch. When he occasionally puts the ball down, he is playing with his cars. He loves to race them.
Deacon has beautiful blue eyes and wherever we go, people comment on how beautiful they are. He loves his big brother Cavin and always wants to be with him. He also is a mini Ragnar and can't wait to spend time with dad! If dad is home, he doesn't need his mama!
His favorite food is macaroni and cheese or nuggets. He only likes vanilla icecream and he loves m&ms. He eats goldfish like they are separate food group!
He has unlimited energy and always wants to be a part of everything. He is getting pretty good at Uno and likes to play. He loves to watch sports and even more to go to sporting events. He still loves James Harden and the Rockets. His favorite color is red and he knows his colors and numbers pretty well. He loves to dress up as a storm trooper. He is a fun kid with a lot of personality and we love him!
