My dad's funeral could not have been any nicer, and his burial ended up being the same way.

I brought all the pictures from California that I'd had framed, and we had a table all set up to put them on but the wind kept knocking them over.  So I put them on the ground instead, all around the grave.  I liked it better that way anyways.









There were so many things we needed to bring for our trip.....normal vacation stuff, plus all the funeral stuff.  I must have asked a thousand times, anytime we left somewhere: "do we have my dad.  Is grandpa in the car.  Someone check and make sure Grandpa is back there."  :)


My cousin (my Nana's sister's son) "officiated" the whole thing and dedicated the grave.  My other cousin (my Dad's brother's son) who I haven't seen in probably 15 years or so, he spoke and he was very eloquent and appropriately emotional and it was so nice.  Me and Jesse laughed afterward because during both of my cousins talks, they mentioned Jesse more than me!  What a great man he is, how much my dad loved him and thought so highly of him....etc. 

Anyhoo, then it was my turn, and I really hate speaking in front of people so much I can't explain it, but the feeling of wanting to honor my dad was bigger than the feeling of fear & embarrassment, so once again I spoke. 

Then it was over and we mingled and packed everything up.







I looked high and low for the perfect flower display.  I didn't want to spend a TON of money, but I didn't want to go cheap because that wasn't my dad's style.  I didn't want to WASTE money on flowers that would maybe freeze if it snowed that night or the next day.  I checked the florists but found what, to me, were the perfect flowers at a grocery store.  The hydrangeas there were too pricey and not up to my standards, so I got this real pretty bunch of azealas in a pretty little woven basket type thing:






We took them afterward and I left them at my cousins house that we were staying at, so that they could enjoy them.


I guess how it usually goes is that the grounds people are watching you from afar and as soon as everyone leaves, they descend upon the scene and do the actual burial and clean everything up.  But I wanted to put it in the ground myself.  I thought it would make me feel good.




So the groundskeepers let us do that, and I put the urn in the ground, and then we put the framed pictures of my dad with each of the girls in there too.  And then all the kids, my girls and their cousins, put in red roses too.










And then when we were done, that nice man in the overalls put the gravel on top, put the square of grass back on, and packed it in.








Then we headed back to my cousins' house that we were staying at, and they opened their house & graciously put on a nice lunch get-together for everyone.

Best sandwiches I ever did have.










The girls met some new cousins:










Played with friends:






Perfect weather, perfect day.  Felt so happy with it & hope my dad was pleased.

a REAL snow day

The day before we left Utah, we got the kind of "snow day" that we had been hoping & wishing for:



















Our smartphones might downplay it as "flurries" but it was plenty substantial to us!













The girls were SO excited.  Me & Jesse were too!  They woke us up just like on Christmas...... they were up before anyone else and they came downstairs in hushed & ecstatic voices & begged us to look outside and get up! get up!  it's snowing!!!  It was so pretty and they couldn't wait to get out and play in it.










Arissa & Mallory risked frostbite & hypothermia and played in their jammies.  


Judging by Mariah's emotional outburst at the temperatures the last time we were in the snow, we figured she'd better borrow some proper gear:








She looked all puffy & cute.

Even so, she went out............ & came right back in.  :)

Arissa made a snow angel, and walked around in the yard & noted that this freshly fallen snow was a lot different than the icy, packed snow we had been in earlier in the week.

Mallory stayed out the longest, jumping on the trampoline in the falling snow, unfazed by the cold. 









By the afternoon it was sunny skies again and by the end of the day most of the snow on the ground was gone.  It was an awesome thing to wake up to!

snow day part 1

The weather in Utah was nice and sunny and pretty much like San Diego weather....which was THRILLING for the Utah locals, but kind of a bummer for us....

Everywhere you go up there, they ask for your zip code when you shop....when they heard our foreign zip and asked where we were from and I said "San Diego", it was so cute: the cahsiers' eyes would light up and they would, 100% of the time, say something like "so how about this weather!" and they would literally beam with pride.  And I didn't have the heart to tell them that, honestly, we were hoping for some snow.

So we went out to find some on our own.

We figured a place called "Snow Basin" ought to have some, and we were right.  There wasn't as much snow in that basin as there usually is in April, and it was kind of melty, icy, brown-at-the-edges snow.  But there were some skiers at the resort so we figured if was good enough for them, it should be good enough for us.

 And some good old "sledding down a hill in jeans":

As well as "making snow angels...........in jeans":

It's hard to make snowballs without gloves:

What on earth could make poor Mariah cry like this? 

She didn't get slugged with one of the snowballs her sisters were making, she didn't slip on the ice or fall down the steep hill.....she was crying cause it's cold.

She was real emotional about it. :)

 

 

The Lake

Going to Utah without going to Salt Lake is like coming to San Diego and not bothering to go to the beach.


So of course we went.


It was a gorgeous day (like every other day we were there).












The scenery was so beautiful and there was so much to look at and take in.




















I got out of the car to get some pictures of the buffalo. They were all slow-movers, but when this one made eye contact with me, I suddenly felt pretty vulnerable and didn't completely trust Jesse not to drive off and leave me if the thing should charge at me, so I snapped a fast one and got back IN the car. :)

The Treehouse

A super fun thing on our vacation itenerary was a day at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden.











I don't even know how to describe it, to even start to convey how much of a fun-filled wonderland it is for kids. It's not like anything I've ever seen and the girls had a blast just running wild throughout it and trying to soak up all the fun it had to offer.




First we tried our hand at various Utah-trivia questions with the help of this giant map.

The girls were pretty happy when they got the answer right:









A quick (and cute) sidenote about Utah trivia....

Arissa is pretty stellar when it comes to that (I'm talking withOUT the help of google....like just off the top of her head).

Take my word for it, or find out for yourself.....


...ask her what Utah's state flower is.


If that's not impressive enough, ask about the state bird.

And if you still aren't impressed (although you probably will be, she's all-around impressive like that) try the state ROCK or state GRASS, or state COOKWARE (do all 50 states have their own State Cookware, or is that just a Utah thing?? I dunno).....she will spout them all off like it's standard knowledge for a 10 year old (who's NOT from that state!).


I guess she must get that from Jesse who, after our very short stay in Utah, can explain to you how to find any address in any city in that state. Even though all the addresses are just a jumble of numbers that make my eyes glaze over (no good old "Main Street" or "Cornelius Place" in the Beehive state).

Not only that but we tested his knowledge on our way home, when we made a stop in one Utah city we've never been to (to deliver those knitted dolls that I made) and Jesse drove us right to the house we were searching for, without the help of a GPS....

...or a map

...or any general "how-to-get-theres" whatsoever.


Amazing to me!




But I digress. (a lot. Sorry!)





M&M loved the larger-than-life chess game:













Jesse asserted his authority (and managed the "Howard-family-communications center") from his throne:












Mallory, as an electic superhero:












My little ladies in the Oval Office:











Jesse too:







SO much fun!

love love love

Every time I start to post about something from our vacation, I always type "one of my favorite parts of our trip....". Then I realize I can't call EVERY part my favorite part. But I can't recall any moments out of the whole week that weren't my favorite! And I mean it.


BUT, one of my seriously favorite parts happened on day two, and only lasted less than 10 minutes.






We came out of Zion canyon, still amazed at all the beauty we saw there, and drove in to a pocket of light rain. Then we saw the biggest rainbow I've ever seen in my life....full & complete and stretching across our whole view of the sky (my camera couldn't even capture the whole thing).


We pulled to the side of the road, and it was just the 5 of us on this long road, in the middle of all this beautiful scenery and a perfect rainbow in the sky.

























The rain let up, so we got out and took a couple pictures. We were already running late so we had to get back in the car and get back on the road. I realize I might be a little too excitable by rain and pretty views and rainbows...

But it was just a perfect moment.

home is where your mom is....

My family in Utah is really good about putting flowers on my mom & grandpa's graves. I'm sure thankful for that.

And I was thankful too for the chance Jesse, the girls, and I had to bring them our own flowers and spend some time.

We brought daisies for my grandpa, and white hydrangeas for my mom. :)
































It was sooooo cold that day! It felt much colder than when we were in the snow, even. The girls were sweet to me though and smiled for a picture.

I tried to get more than one picture and they all ran to the car, crying.





I followed right behind them because I was freezing.





Jesse was the last man standing.

























The girls loved the little note cards at the flower shop. They wanted to take one for all their friends and everybody they know and send them like postcards, but when I explained their purpose, they settled on 1 simple one for the task at hand:

















The floral shop had tons of cute little gifts and knick-knacks, most of them geared towards mother's day since it was coming up. So I got myself a little souvenir in remembrance of my mommy:















Happy mother's day to my mom,

my wonderful Nana,

and all the other mothers in my life.

I haven't encountered one yet that hasn't been an example & inspiration to me!

and we're back...

We just got back from our long-awaited, almost-didn't-happen, savor-every-second, week-long vacation.

To sum it up, it was a glorious, amazing, lovely 8 days that I will cherish forever and ever and ever. :)

And thank God I have over 1500 photos to help me remember!!

:)

Even though I took every oportunity to tell strangers that we were from "sunny san diego" (cause I'm weird like that and it's a good conversation-starter), that fact was pretty obvious by how excited the 5 of us were about the current weather, compared to the locals.

From the second we got out of san diego county and saw the first bit of snow on the tip tops of some mountains, we were giddy. My Utah-family (and several other random people) kept apologizing for the weather, but I would have been pretty disappointed if there'd been nothing but blue skies and sunshine the whole week!

We put probably 80 miles or so on our rental car just in attempts to see the snow.

One day we drove up to Park City and got our first taste of actual falling snow....the girls were elated! We pulled off the freeway and played in it, on the side of the road:

Then we drove further to one of the ski resorts, and we had the whole place to ourselves!

Of course we didn't really have the right snow-gear. We froze our toesies and fingers (and may or may not have ruined Arissa favorite faux-suede boots) that's for sure, but it was so worth it.

Snow is awesome for lots of reasons.....like:

1) It makes for great portrait shots because it creates instant, flattering under-lighting

2) It's sooo cold you just want to snuggle somebody!:

SO much fun.

Today in San Diego it's got to be at least 90 degrees. And I am longing to be back at that empty ski resort, freezing my fingers, and grabbing someone to snuggle with!