My trip to UT

Ok so I went to UT last Thursday for my sister's graduation from High School. Now this little girl I admire so much. She is so responsible and dependable and strong. I could go on and on. My mom died when she was 14 years old. And before that my mom was inactive and she would walk to church in the snow about 1 mile both ways to go to church by herself. I can tell you I would not have done that at 12 years old. Heck I don't know if I would do that now. Anyway, so she lived with her dad (my ex-step dad) for a while but then she ended up living with her boyfriends grandma, and now just recently she has gotten her own apartment. AT 17 YEARS OLD, she is going to school (she got at 3.7 gpa, by the way) working, going to massage therapy school, doing an internship, worrying about how to pay rent, she bought her own car with no help, she pays her own insurance. (I didn't do that until I was married, bad I know)and has a plan for her future. She has so much more to worry about than the typical 17 year old. I love her so much, and I don't think she has any idea of that fact, no matter how much I tell her. So I was so happy I got to spend some time with her.

I flew in on Thursday and I will not go into Thursday night because it was a bunch of drama, and it's over now so it doesn't really matter.

Then Friday, I met up with my friend Cheri, who I have not seen in about 14 years. We found each other on Facebook and I'm so happy. It was like a day had not passed. We went to lunch at El Madador, and met my cousin Stacy and her husband there. Then we went back to Cheri's house so I could meet her kids, who I love by the way and would take home with me, if she gave me a chance. Then we went to Hobby Lobby, which was my major goal of this trip (other than be with my sister of course) we have one here but it's like 45 mins away, and everyone says go without your kids, and I'm always with my kids. So I went and got my album for my 365 (which is this scrapbooking thing where you take 1 picture a day for a year and document your life for future generations). And we walked around. Then we went to Sam's club, to get gas, since she had drove me all over creation (thank you so much by the way Cheri, I loved spending time with you and I appreciate you driving me everywhere). And across the street from Sam's club was..... guess what????? A Distribution Center!!!! Yes, just sitting there. So I asked, do you think it's open? and she's like yeah, of course. (well our distribution center is in Mesa by the temple and it's open weird days and hours and..... well enough excuses, I don't get there, EVER. and my garments are um about 8 years old, I know kinda gross, but I do bleach them, so they are clean. So I asked if we could stop and I could get some garments. She said sure. I bought 4 new pairs!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! It was so nice to have new ones that actually fit me!!!! Then she dropped me off at my sister Marlise's house. Which I did not take a pic of Cheri and me!!!! I'm so mad about this!!!

Then Michelle and I went to Olive Garden to reserve spots for our family to have dinner. When your family is 19 people you need to get there early. So we met Corinne there. Here is a pic of us waiting. My friend Jen met us there too, and Stacy and Brian came to show me Stacia, who I have never met. And I love her. I asked if I could take her home and she said ok. But then changed her mind and went to daddy instead.

Here is everyone at dinner. This is the best family pic I have. Pathetic I know. I was not good about taking pictures. Bad Photo Journaler I know.

This is Michelle, Preston, K.C., Kate, Colleen, Carter , Joe (my ex-step dad) who by the way did not pay for dinner, even though it was his daughter graduating and he did not chip in for her graduation party either, needless to say I do not have a lot of respect for this man).

This is after Corinne left. So it would have been her, then me (but I'm taking the picture) then my friend Jen, then Nate (my bro in law), then Marlise (my sis) then Monica (my sis) she is passing her baby to her dad.

Then after dinner Jen and I went to the Dee Events Center to save seats for everyone. We needed 19 seats. (yep I have a huge family) so we saved two rows. While we were waiting this old lady came and sat right in the middle of the row. So I said These are saved, and she looks at me and says Well isn't that considerate? I said Yes, I think it is that we would come early to save seats for my family. Then she said, well next time why don't you get a banner and proclaim it. I said That's a great idea, I think I will. (if you can't tell we were both being very sarcastic, she was being quite rude I thought) then she walked away and said B_____!!! Hello an old lady swore at me because I was saving seats for my family!!!!! I can't believe it!!!!

Anyway, then everyone got there. And we were taking pictures ,

Here Corinne getting her picture taken. Then as soon as she got up to the front of the line and they called her name, guess what?????? MY CAMERA DIED!!!!!!!!! I looked at Jen and said take pictures take pictures!!!!! Then after it started working again (of course).

Here is most everyone after the graduation. Some people had already left but this is the best pic I could get. After this Corinne went to her school graduation party, and I went over to my brother K.C.'s house. I made key lime pie cheesecakes for the party the next day.

Corinne came home Sat morning around 6am. I heard her and I went and laid on top of her and asked her if she had fun and what she did. She said get off and leave me alone. She was so tired.

Finally after I made enough noise she woke up and we went to lunch at Uncle Leo's or Utah Noodle Parlor. She had gotten her nails done for her graduation and I wanted to take a picture of them so here they are. French Tip with green on top. Kinda cool and very different. But hey whatever makes her happy right?

Then after that we went to the cemetery to look at my mom's grave. The last time I was in UT was for her funeral and they didn't have the headstone then so I wanted to see it.

Here it is. She drove a Harley Davidson and her birthday was on the 4th of July so she loved the flag and was very patriotic. I think this was perfect for her.

After that we went and got ice cream. Then met my brother's and their families at the Dinosaur Park. It was pretty fun and I know Elijah would have loved it.

Here I am petting a Triceratops. Hey I had to take pictures of something to show my kids.

And this T-rex wanted to eat me. Elijah loves this picture. I'm sure my brother who was taking this picture thought I was a total dork, oh well.

Here are the mountains at Ogden Canyon. I lived right next to these for 21 years and I don't think I ever really noticed them. This time I loved looking at them, and how green everything was.

Here are my nephews and niece in front of a dino, I don't know what it's name is.

And this Brontosaurus was going to sit on me. I was pushing him up. Look at my brother looking at me, he is like what are you doing??

I found a frog to give me a ride.

Corinne found a dino that she liked, she said she was going to trade in her jeep for a dino to drive around.

Here are her and my nephew, Preston or Carter, I kept getting them mixed up. They loved this dino head.

Corinne was amazed at how big it's horn was, she wanted a picture with it.

My friend Megan met us there and hung out for a little while. Here we are as we were leaving. My brother said say BFF, so I think I was in the middle of talking when he took this picture. Everyone there was laughing that I was freezing the whole time, I had on a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and a jacket. Most other people were in shorts and tank tops or short sleeve shirts.

After the dino park we went to K.C. and Colleen's house for the party. Here is the spread. Colleen worked so hard on it and I heard it was delicious, I didn't eat any. But she made Cafe Rio pork and rice and watermelon. Thanks Colleen for all of your hard work and your hospitality. You are amazing.

Corinne wanted Key Lime Pie Cheesecake, so I made mini one's I thought they would be cute, well she wanted a big one and she said they were ok. Everyone else loved them.

After the party my friend Jen came and picked me up. We went back to Logan and watched National Treasure 2 and I talked to Robbie. The next morning we went to her singles ward and Robbie was so worried about this, but nobody even talked to me. So obviously he had nothing to worry about.

This is the mountains on Sunday afternoon. They were so pretty.

After church, we drove back down to Layton and Corinne got her patriarchal blessing and I was able to be there for that. It was a wonderful experience. She is such a strong person and I know there are wonderful things in store for her. I just hope she keeps on the same path that she is on now.

Then we went to Jen's parents house and had this yummy cake and played games, I learned how to play 4 new games in one day, but I love to play games. Then the next morning we went to Kneeders or something like that, it's a bakery and got breakfast then she dropped me off at the airport, Robbie came and picked me up then took me to Abuelo's for lunch. Then I dropped him off at work, took the kids to Costco then picked up Kylie from school, and it was back to real life for me.

It was fun to go up there and see everyone and hang out with people I haven't seen in such a long time. And to be more than just Mommy for a couple days, it was good to be back too though. The one thing I think I enjoyed the most was just going when I wanted to go somewhere, and not having to go to the bathroom every 5 seconds at restaurants.