Wednesday night you were up every hour during the night. Early Thursday morning Mommy lost it and started crying. She was so tired, she didn't know what else to do to help you and we were supposed to be driving Thursday night to Hermiston, Oregon. I wasn't sure how we were going to make the drive with such little sleep.
I text my friend Kirsten and she came to the rescue. She picked you up so Mommy could get some much needed sleep. You had so much fun with Kirsten! I don't know what she did, but when you got home you were all smiles!
Thanks to Kirsten we were able to make the drive to Hermiston. It was a late night, but we did it.
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| One tired Bubba. |
Friday we hopped back into the car and drove to Spokane. Great Aunt Renee and Great Uncle Todd were kind enough to let us stay with them. Not only did they let us stay with them, they watched you for a few hours so Mommy and Daddy could do a session at the temple.
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| Andy & I. |
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| I love the peace I feel every time I enter these sacred walls. |
When Mommy walked into the temple and sat down a woman turned around and looked at her. Mommy instantly recognized the woman and went up and gave her a hug. It was your Great Grandma Charlene (Mommy's Step-Grandma).
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa had wanted to do two back to back sessions at the temple but were unable to get into the second session. Great Grandpa suggested that they go outside and walk around and wait until the next session. Great Grandma was frustrated by the wait, but you can imagine the surprise on her face when she saw Mommy walk in. Great Grandma said it totally made her night going through the temple with Mommy and Daddy.
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| Great Grandma Charlene & Great Grandpa Keith. |
Later that evening we hung out at Aunt Renee and Uncle Todd's house with Mommy's cousins. It as good to catch up with everyone. Just before we were going to get up and get ready for bed the cat came in. It wasn't too long before Uncle Todd said, "The cat has a mouse." Next thing you know the cat dropped the mouse on the floor and Uncle Todd said, "And it's alive!"
The mouse took off running. Aunt Renee freaked out and woke Rischel up (she was sleeping on the couch). She started screaming, "Rischel! The cat brought a mouse in and it's alive!" About this time you woke up Bubba, you had been asleep in the bedroom.
The cat caught the mouse and Daddy picked the cat up to take him outside and the cat decided to drop the mouse again. The mouse took off running for a second time.
Aunt Renee stomped around the living room with her hands in fists saying, "In thirty years, I've never had a mouse in my house!" A swear word slipped out somewhere in the dialogue. Daddy was laughing so hard because of Aunt Renee's reaction- she is normally a very calm individual. She told Daddy to stop laughing. The whole thing was really funny! We spent a good amount of time tearing the living room apart looking for that mouse, but we never found it.
On Saturday your Uncle Russell was baptized by Papa. His baptism was wonderful! A lot of family traveled a long way to be there for his big day. Mommy's cousin Casey gave a talk on baptism and Great Grandma Charlene gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Mommy really enjoyed both talks. We are so proud of Uncle Russell for making the decision to be baptized. Afterwards we took some family pictures and had a lunch/birthday celebration. You were also able to finally meet your Great Nana (Mommy's Nana).
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| Cousin Hazel. |
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| Papa & cousin Hazel. |
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| Four Generation Photo: Me, Bubba, Papa & Great Nana. |
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| Most of my family! |
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| Great Nana with most of her kids. |
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| Nana, Papa & Uncle Russell. |
After the baptism we went to the cemetery. We left pine cones (it's a family tradition) on Great Great Grandma Hazel, Great Great Grandpa Joseph, Great Uncle Mark, Great Uncle Greg, and Great Papa's graves. It felt as though our ancestors were there with us at the cemetery that day.
Our next stop was your Great Nana's house, we visited with her for a couple hours. Nana is getting up there in age and we aren't sure how long she will be with us. It meant a lot to Mommy to get to spend some time with her.
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| Great Nana & I. |
Then we headed over to Great Uncle Aaron and Great Aunt Theresa's house to say good bye to the rest of the family and then we drove until late at night back to Hermiston to stay the night with Daddy's Aunt Ilene and Uncle Randy.
The next morning we met Daddy's cousins (Aaron, Lynn, Joey and Cassie) and their kids (Ethan, Brodie and Cora). It was so good to meet and visit with all of them!
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| Cousin Cora. |
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| Great Aunt Ilene & Bubba. |
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| Daddy's extended family. |
Then we hit the road and headed for home. On our way back we stopped at the Bonneville Dam to watch the salmon go up the fish ladder.
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| Fish ladder. |
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| Me & Bubba. |
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| Bubba. |
We also stopped to see Multnomah Falls. There were so many people at the falls that day, we didn't stay very long.
We are so glad that we were able to make the trip to Spokane to support Uncle Russell and see everyone else. We are grateful to those who fed us and let us stay with them- we couldn't have done it without them.
