Ted, Stef, Julie and I all drove together and had a surprisingly fast/enjoyable ride. I thought the 10 hour drive each way was going to be arduous but Ted brought along a couple of books on tape which made for a good time.
When we arrived in UT our oldest nephew Isaac had a basketball game that we got to see. His dad Ben is the coach, so it was great to see them down on the court working together. Isaac is their star player, and did great...although if you're reading this Isaac, keep workin' on that defense and on those rebounds.
The next day, Julie and I went up to my grandparents house in SLC. My grandma had recently gotten out of the hospital so we wanted to see how she was doing, and you know? for an 89 year old woman who had just been released from the hospital, she was doing quite well. My grandpa, who is currently suffering from dimensia seemed to have one of his better days while we were there. There were a couple of funny things, like when we got there he asked: "hey, have you guys talked to Rick? he said he's coming over" (I had talked to him on the phone on our way there). He obviously didn't recognize me, which is kinda sad, but then again, he doesn't really recognize his own kids a lot of the times either. That's okay grandpa, I won't remember you as you are right now, I'll always remember you as the hip, outgoing, hard-working grandpa you always were.
When we got back to Alicia's everyone had showed up to the house. It's always a bit surprising to see just how much kids grow in a matter of months. We lounged around, visited and ate food. The next day was Thanksgiving. So the morning was pretty crazy, everyone getting ready, making their dishes (Julie and I were in charge of the mashed potatoes, green beans and Julie's aunts famous pumpkin gooey cake...delish!) When everything was ready we sat down to a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was very nice.
After dinner, everyone wanted to follow tradition and take a nap. But I asked that we start a new family tradition instead. I asked them, "why don't we go on a family walk instead?" Everyone was very hesitant at first, but after a few people agreed to it, most everyone followed suite. It was awesome, probably my favorite part of the trip. We walked up to a park by the house, where they had to coolest playground I've ever been on. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or the adults. It was great!
On Friday, Dave, Patrice, Ben, Alicia and their families, along with Julie and I went to the Christmas lights at Temple Square. That's always a good time.
To top things off to a great weekend, BYU beat Utah. Does life get better than this? I submit that it does not.
