Memorial Day Trip to Denver

Well, the last two weeks have definitely kept Jason and I moving. Last weekend Jason and I flew to Denver to visit with the Rogers, Eliasons, and Roberts. It was so nice to see Melody and Brandon again since I haven’t seen them since our wedding, and Emily and Mordechai are definitely entertaining. We arrived Friday around noon and spent some time throwing the Frisbee with Emily and taking her to the nearby park with her bear named “Fabulous.” Melody and Brandon came in that night and we talked and played games a lot of the weekend. We went to the Butterfly pavilion on Saturday and Jason (as well as everyone else except me) had a tarantella walk across his/her hands! I was too afraid to get that close. Sunday we had a good day at church and after the kids were asleep that night we had a great FHE for Memorial Day about remembering what legacies our grandparents had left us. We listened to part of Grandpa Rasband’s funeral and then we each shared specific traits or characteristics that we had learned from our grandparents. Monday morning the girls went to IHOP for breakfast and to do a little shopping. We didn’t find anything we wanted to buy, although Kristilyn and I had fun trying on really, really high heels and trying to practice walking in them. We had a good laugh. ☺ Melody and Brandon had to leave in the afternoon and then later that night we went to Red Robin and played some mini-golf. All the little kids were having a ball trying to drag the balls into the holes . . . until this huge, loud volcano went off right next to us, complete with fire coming out the top and a lot of heat that came with it. James and Emily were scared to death and started crying hysterically. James kept saying for the next several hours, “no like volcano.” Emily actually flipped out again at the end when the last statue totem pole that eats up your golf ball and sporadically sprays water surprised both Emily and Mike and soaked them both. Other games that we played were Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Dance, Dance Revolution, and Mariokart. We would have liked to get outside more, but it rained all weekend. Oh well, we had some good lighting and thunder storm which taught Grant and James the word for thunder.

Another hit with James and Grant was the cool slide in the basement and the two banana chairs. They loved going down the slide over and over again and also pushing their toys down the slide before them. They also loved standing up on the banana chairs and facing the back of the chair and then leaning into them to make them fall down. Then giggling, wiggling off, and running around the chair to do it again and again. It was quite the entertainment.

Desi was an amazing hostess and prepared delicious meals every day we were there. I tried to help her with the meals a couple of times, but she always managed to be just finishing with it. We also had yummy desserts almost every night. Thanks Desi and Mike!

Tuesday we drove back to Salt Lake with Kristilyn and Mark and boy do they know how to take a trip with two-year-olds. The boys did really well with the rest stops every couple of hours, a nice long lunch at the McDonald’s playland, and a couple Disney movies to watch. It was a nice little break from work and it was hard to want to go back.
Unfortunately, every vacation must have an end, and I feel like I’m been running around in circles a lot ever since. The night we drove into Denver we didn’t even make it to our apartment. Jason’s brother Steve and his wife were away last week and this week saying goodbye to family and trying to find an apartment to live in New York City for next month, so Jason and I have been staying at their house on the weekdays to help take care of Scottie. (He’s the one that came to Jason’s and my sealing. He’s 6’ 3’’ and several hundred pounds, so you can’t miss him.)

Last week Scottie participated in the Special Olympics for the 25m dash, 50m dash, and the softball throw. We watched him compete on Thursday last week and some a little time with his parents Elder and Sister Zwick of the Seventy. Scottie did really well and medaled in all three events with a gold in the 25m dash. He was very proud, and so were his parents. I think he’s been wearing his medals around his neck every day since.

Another funny moment with Scottie was Sunday night when we were sitting upstairs on the couch waiting for Jason to come home from a home teaching appointment. Scottie was in an especially good mood and when Jason came home we were all laughing with Scottie and having a good time. Well, as we were laughing we heard some creaks in the couch which only made us laugh harder as Scottie would say, “Oh no, there it goes again.” After several minutes when we all got up to go to bed we realized that all those creaks was Scottie sinking further and further to the ground, and by the end, his side of the couch was pretty much on the ground. The sad thing is that the couch is broken, but the good thing is that we were all laughing really hard when it happened.

Other than that Jason and I continue to work a lot and spend the rest of our time together. We discovered a new game this last weekend called “Dominion” that liked so much that we bought it on Saturday and have been trying to find time to play it. We’re still learning how to play it, but we really like it so far. We’ve also started playing tennis with Jason’s parents occasionally on Tuesday mornings which is fun. I haven’t played tennis much, so it’s a good thing that Jason is on my team. :)