Thursday, June 29, 2017

St. George June 2017

My siblings and parents had a family reunion that piggy-backed on an extended Garrett family reunion in Santa Clara (St. George), Utah. We rented several vacation homes on a street and the Lance Garrett family filled an entire home ourselves. All my siblings were together for the first time since Austin left on his mission, and we now have 7 kids + 1 on the way.


The extended Garrett family (minus about 8)
My Garrett cousins + spouses + children
We took the drive to Utah nice and slow, stopping at temples, fast food play places, a hotel in Barstow, and the Stratosphere in Vegas. Evan has a collection of pictures of him in front of different temples. We got to add 3 new ones this trip: Fresno, Las Vegas, and St. George.


Fresno LDS Temple
Las Vegas LDS Temple
It was something like 110 degrees at each temple stop. In Vegas, Seth was walking around with a red face and his tongue hanging out. My tongue is out in this picture because our family photographer insists on crazy faces whenever he's behind the lens.



Our stop in Vegas also included the boys dropping me off at the Stratosphere to ride one of the roller coasters on top. I loved it. Bucket list item = Check!


Sunday: Father's Day
Church in St. George, hanging around the house, decorating fruit pizzas

Monday-Wednesday: Pool time (waterslide included), Kan Jam, Spikeball, Hot Wheels, temple trips with and without the kids, shopping at D.I. (a novelty for the East coasters), Nate's b-day dinner at Winger's, hiking Dixie rock, lots of grocery shopping, games after the kids went to bed--Two Rooms and a Boom, Loaded Questions, One Night Werewolf, Killer Bunnies--, roasting marshmallows, meeting new cousins, and lots of talking. I frequently caught myself thinking, "My family is so cool." "My brothers are awesome." "I really like being with these people."













The extended family came Wednesday evening. On Thursday we had a hike through the red rocks, some cousin connection time (all the 0-6 year olds in one house!), and Newsies at the Tuacahn at night. I loved the show. Or was it that I loved leaving the kids with a babysitter?

Friday included family picture time, afternoon splash pad, and an evening of pizza and games at a nearby church. Naturally, we sang songs like Little Brother Vegetable and Families can be Together Forever. We also told family history stories and played games that made us look silly. I heard the comment, "Our family is so strange," which I both agree with and love. 

Evan ran circles around the gym, dribbling the basketball, all night long. Several aunts mentioned to me how impressed they were his physical improvements. This is how they remembered him from the last Garrett family reunion 3 years ago:


This reunion he went the entire time without any assistive devices, and he even did most of the hiking on his own. He is impressive, for sure. Don't you miss the little gold walker just a little, though? It was so cute!!

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

June 28, 2017

Prior to being a mom, a day like today would have done me over.

1. For the first time in forever, I ironed a shirt this morning...on the floor. (I'm way too lazy to pull out the ironing board.) I unplugged the iron (still on the floor) and told my 1-year old not to touch it. Overestimating my child's self-control and obedience levels, I continued to get ready and forgot about the iron. He grabbed it and burned his teeny little baby hand. He cried for a really long time as I tried to persuade him that holding an ice pack is helpful even though I know it still really hurts. I eventually put on some ointment and wrapped his sweet hand in gauze. Most of the day he was a trooper, but occasionally he'd look at the wrap and whine.

2. We had some friends over and all the boys were jumping on the trampoline. I was sitting on the bench just beside the trampoline. Suddenly I saw Evan's body fly onto the bench next to me. His wide eyes matched the horror of someone quickly pulled underwater. I reached out and grabbed him just in time to prevent his head from smacking the cement ground. He scraped his back as he fell onto the bench but he was mostly crying out of panic as I held him, both of our hearts racing.

3. During all the falling out of the trampoline hullabaloo, I missed the knock on the door that was my new phone being delivered. (My current phone is all but broken.) Since I wasn't there to sign for the package, they didn't leave the phone. They'll try to deliver it again tomorrow.

4. After our friends left, Evan had a pediatrician appointment...during which he failed the eye test. Add optometrist to our list of doctors. Oh, and I may have neglected to tell him the appointment would include a finger prick, TB test, and 3 immunizations. (5 pokes total and many more tears) Thank goodness the donut store was just a few doors down as a consolation prize.

5. During the check-up I received a voicemail. Jennifer from such and such child development center...she had some questions for me about the developmental questionnaire I filled out for Seth a few weeks ago. I called her back when we got home. According to the answers I gave her, Seth wasn't passing the autism/asperger's screening. I'm no child specialist, but personally I thought the questions were dumb and non-indicative.
Her: Do you want a referral to have a further consultation?
Me: No, thank you.

Somehow I ended today with peace and positivity. Being a mom has made me strong.