Vacation Odds and Ends

We were very blessed to get to spend time with family on this trip. We were fed very well and often by them and did not use most of the meals I had planned to fix on this vacation. This is good since we are eating those meals now that we are home!
I did not include many of our photos of extended family visits during our trip, so I am blogging about it now. Here we are with Grandma and Grandpa Loomis and Aunt Lesa. It is a bird that has Annalina's attention. Grandma is birdsitting for a friend this summer and Annalina enjoyed watching that bird, as you can tell!!!! Grandma helped Annalina plant her first cactus garden. We picked up another cactus to add to it in Arizona. Annalina LOVES her cactus and was holding it an hour into our journey on to Utah. I asked her if she wanted me to put it someplace safe and she reluctantly gave it to me for safe keeping!

So the next photo is not family, but I have always loved the fact that Palm Springs disguises its cell phone towers as palm trees. I noticed this years ago, but did not have the chance to take a photo until now. Richard was kind enough to turn around and take me back so I could snap this picture! Can you spot the imposter?

The Family with Great Grandma Kay.
She was so sweet. I really enjoyed my long conversations with her! And she absolutely adored watching the kids play.

Richard, Grandma, and Grandma Great

Grandma Great gave Joseph a stuffed Thomas the Tank Engine toy and he loves it so much! He fell asleep with it on the way to Utah and slept with it every night for the rest of the trip. Isn't that cute?? Grandma had a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine play sets for Joseph that kept him busy for hours, building tracks and running the trains around on them. He also enjoyed playing with the Mr and Mrs Potato heads. Grandpa Blaine took Annalina and Joseph outside to play from time to time. They saw lots of critters and got to help feed the "chickens", more commonly known as quail! The kids really enjoyed Grandpa and I could tell the appreciated the time he took to play with them. Grandpa let Joseph borrow a hat when they went outside and when it was time to leave he told him he could have it. Well, Joseph did not want that hat, he wanted an older bleached out hat that Grandpa had for years(it was once black, but is now a tie dyed brown and pretty cool looking). I think Joseph was drawn to the history of the hat and knowing it had been worn by Grandpa made it that much more special!! Annalina spent hours playing with Grandma Great's doll house full of dolls and furniture and played with a suitcase full of Barbies that belong to Grandma.
Jake was excited to get to see the Energy Solutions Arena, home of the Utah Jazz. We love to watch the Jazz play! I used to go with my father to watch them when I was a girl. Back then they played in the Salt Palace.