Utah Trip December 2016

I had the opportunity to go visit my son and his family in the St. George area after Christmas. We had so much fun. The weather was beautiful and the sunshine was a real treat. Natalie and Scott took a break from their snow in SLC to join us for a couple of days.

I flew into Vegas on Wednesday, December 28th. Wayne, Avea and Amoura picked me up at the shuttle office. Avea is such a good interpreter for Amoura. After a few hours I could start to understand what Amoura was saying.

We went over to Ted and Grace's house for a tamale lunch. Andrea's brother was there with his family and they had a little Christmas. They have a new baby boy, so that was fun having a small baby around.

I stayed from Wednesday until Sunday afternoon. We spent time outdoors walking around parks, feeding ducks, enjoying playgrounds. And saw beautiful sunsets.

We played with Wayne's Virtual Reality glasses, watched movies, enjoyed treats. New Year's Eve was spent at a fun center where the kids got to play laser tag and various games as well as the balloon drop with prizes for the kids.

Amoura loved it there. The older girls had their cousins with them so they all had a lot of fun. The highlight of NYE was when I won the raffle and the prize was a giant, I'm not kidding, giant stuffed monster. We could barely get it in the car.

Annelise and I made an amazing Oreo Cheesecake for New Year's Eve. It was so much fun having a Christmas tree in my room.

I helped the girls make the craft that I had given them for Christmas, cute little hand sewn stuffed animals. Amoura entertained us with her love of dancing and singing.

Wayne, Annalise and I were able to visit Aunt VeLois in her home. That was a very special visit since she passed away 3 weeks later. She was my Dad's youngest sister and the last sibling.

It was a really fun way to spend the holidays and greet the New Year.

Oreo Cheesecake

Huge, I tell you, huge!

Visiting with Aunt VeLois

Natalie and Scott enjoying some winter sunshine.

Happy, smiling Amoura, age 2 1/2.

With my kids, Wayne and Natalie, love these two!

Annelise, Amoura and Avea, love these three!

Selfie with Annelise, the day I completed caked red clay all over my Nikes!

Super fun playground.

On the move!

With Aunt Natalie

Viva Las Vegas and Washington, Utah

In August I made a trip to Southern Utah to visit my son and his family. I flew down on a Thursday and Andrea and the girls drove to Vegas in the morning to pick me up. We went to the Hershey Store and had lunch in New York, New York hotel.

I remember in the mid 90's flying into Vegas to visit my parents who were living in Southern Utah at the time and I remember having some spare time before flying home. I had gone down to the strip and I remember walking around New York, New York.

 

 

After the Hershey Store we went to get burgers in the New York, New York hotel. Then it was off to the Las Vegas Children's Museum for loads of fun. There was dress up, there was climbing, there was inventions, there was water. Something for everyone. As we arrived at the Museum I discovered I had left my credit card at the hotel when we had lunch. I called them and they were holding it for me at security. So after the museum we had to make the trip back to the strip to retrieve my card.

 

 

After retrieving my card we made the drive home to St. George. Wayne came home from work and we had a nice evening at home.

 

On Friday and Saturday we visited Aunt VeLois, got to visit the Superior Threads warehouse store and fabric store, had lunch at Cracker Barrel and had a mega fun shopping trip to Costco. We also had dinner at my daughter in law's parent's home. Wayne and Andrea got to go out to a movie while I watched the girls.

On Sunday Wayne drove us to Vegas where we had lunch at the Rainforest Café inside the MGM Grand Hotel. That was quite a pretty site to see. Vegas was very warm and sunny.

 

 

After lunch it was time to go to the airport to head back home. It was a fun, fast weekend visiting the kids.

July 27, 2014

I must say a few things have happened in the last two months. The end of June was our annual family vacation to the cabin. Even though neither of my children attended this year I was able to enjoy a lot of family. We had a really fun week. And before heading to the cabin I was able to see more family at Sue's house.

It's quite the road trip for Wally and I. The first day we go 500 miles to Boise and spend the night. The next day is about 350 miles. We then stay six nights and repeat the process on the way home. It's a good thing I enjoy driving.

This year the weather was great. It wasn't quite as hot as it normally is when we are driving through Idaho.

A couple of weeks after returning home from the cabin I was able to fly to Utah to meet my newest little grand daughter, Amoura Emilene. It was so wonderful to spend time in my son's home with his sweet little family. She was born on July 6th.

July and August will continue to be very busy months. Summer is going by so quickly but I'm loving it all.

The Gaytan's

2014 Cabin Crew

Avea, Amoura, Grandma Trudy and Annelise (3 of my 4 grand daughters)

Three generations. Daddy Wayne, baby Amoura and grandma Trudy.

Sunny St. George, Utah Trip Part 2

After spending a couple of days with my sisters, on Saturday morning my daughter picked me up in Springville for our road trip to St. George in Southern Utah where my son and his family live.

It was a beautiful sunny day. We passed the time in the car by browsing through a AAA NYC tour book. Natalie and I are planning a trip there in August.

When we arrived in St. George we first went to visit another Aunt. My Aunt VeLois. She is the youngest in my Dad's family. She is 85 years old and lives in a lovely home in Santa Clara. We had a nice visit with her.

After our visit we then headed across the valley to Washington, Utah to what is referred to as "the fields". We arrived and were greeted by two adorable little girls outside waiting for us. Natalie and I walked down the street with them to their grade school and spent a little time on the playground.

Avea who just turned 6!



Did I mention it was very sunny? With Avea and Annelise.

Aunt Natalie with Avea.

There was also some trampoline time. It's been years since I was on a trampoline and I thought I did pretty good. Unfortunately the only photo is when I had stopped jumping.

We then went out to dinner to celebrate Avea's 6th birthday. She had picked the restaurant because she liked the sound of it, Sakura. It's a Japanese steak house and sushi. We sat up at the grill and were greatly entertained as our chef cooked our rice, noodles, chicken, steak and shrimp. Wayne had sushi and I tasted my first spring roll and a salmon piece. It was okay. I didn't gag.  The chef delighted the girls with the fire and flipping shrimp into our mouths.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, they brought out a piece of cheesecake with a Japanese flowering candle on it for Avea. Her expression was priceless.

We then went home and relaxed for a bit and then Andrea's parents came over for ice cream and cake. Earlier Avea had opened up one present and Annelise also got to open up one early birthday present I had brought her. They were both thrilled with their small quilts I had made them.

Big sister got pretty excited too!

We spent the night and in the morning we were treated to French toast and sausage. We took some photos then we had to hit the freeway.

We left in quite a dust storm which caused large tumble weeds to breeze across the highway. We had a 4 1/2 hour drive to get me to the SLC airport. We had wind, rain and then snow. At the airport they had to de-ice the wings before we could take off. For my 2 hour flight home I was entertained by the woman sitting in the middle seat who started the conversation off by saying, "sorry if I'm talking too much but I had some drinks before getting on the plane." It was an interesting flight.

The quilt on the far right is for my new baby grand daughter who will be joining the family in July. (This picture is before the binding was put on the quilts.)

It was a very wonderful trip to Utah. It was so great to spend time with so much family.