For the remainder of our vacation we stayed with Mom in Vineyard, Utah.
Brad and I always like to walk along Utah Lake when we stay with Mom.
These beautiful pictures of the lake were taken Christmas day.
I also try to decorate dad's grave every time I visit.
I loved hanging out with Mom and all the kids again,
and Sean and Iris fit in so nicely as an extension of our family.
One evening when we were all together at Mom's (Breck & Iris stayed the nights at Brittney and Sean's house in Sandy, UT) Breck & Iris gave everyone an early Christmas present--unusual soda pop they picked out especially for our individual tastes.
But we also had fun taking sips of each others,
and trying to decide which ones were our favs.
The unanimous first place went to Brad's Dang root bear, which was a very appropriate name because every time you took a sip you would say, Dang that's good!
Brad trying Breck's ginger root bear which I also tasted, and it actually wasn't half bad.
Aubrey's Bawls was okay. It's claim to fame was the name...it just made you giggle every time you said it.
Mine was an old-fashion Nehi grape, which was perfect since grape soda is one of my favorites.
Brittney and Sean got strawberry rhubarb OOgave, which I thought was second best,
and Mom got Jopa, a pinapple/coconut/nutmeg concoction,
which nobody liked but her.
But the wildest soda of the night goes to Merinda's blue Brain Wash drink, which was a blend of herbs, jalapeno oil, caffeine and who knows what else. She tolerated it quite well because she loves spicy things.
And Iris couldn't get enough of it!
I especially loved Iris' blue teeth and lips every time she took a sip.
For the rest of us however, Brain Wash was just a bit too strong...
as evident by Mom's reaction after she took a sip!
(Seriously, Mom's expression says it all!)
After our soda tasting, Iris, Merinda and I were all ready for several rounds of Just Dance which Breck loaded on Mom's TV. We don't have any pictures of us dancing because our only photographer (yes, me) was too busy dancing her little heart out! But we do have this lovely picture of Breck's due, which looks like it was doing a little dancing of its own!
Another evening we enjoyed visiting with Jared and family who came downstairs to visit with us,
and give Mom her Christmas gifts.
But the center of attention was definitely Maru their dog!
Mom's kind of obsessed with Maru (but she's like that with all animals).
And of course all the kids love Maru,
especially since Jared has trained him to shake hands,
and give hugs.
Maru is pretty awesome,
but so are these guys, I sure love them!
We also visited with Matt and family one night on their way to the movies.
It was great to catch up with them as well...we sure love them too!
Some other things Brad and I wanted to do while in Utah was go on double dates with our married kids.
So Brad chose to go Ax Throwing with Breck and Iris thinking he could smoke them (since we've been before but this was their first time).
In fact, Brad was so confident in his abilities that he kept making bets with Breck the whole night.
Let's just say by the end of the night Brad had to pay Breck & Iris about $30.00 cash, plus dessert, plus the cost of throwing axes (it was an expensive night!).
So note to self...don't throw axes after you've had your cervical spine fused, and don't make bets with your son and daughter-in-law who are actually very good ax-throwers!
After ax-throwing we walked up the street for some ice cream from Rockwells. Which was very good, but not cheap (which Breck and Iris didn't mind one bit!).
For our date with Brittney and Sean, we went bowling. And did I mention that Brad is also a really good bowler? (Hmmm)
Brittney, who is usually a pretty good bowler, was just not on her game.
Sean is a smooth bowler just like Brad,
and tied Brad for 1st place the first game.
Brad didn't do as well as he usually does, but then again, maybe not the best thing post-spinal surgery?!
And then there's me ...
I tried not to get gutter balls every time (escpecially since I didn't have the bumpers on). Which was okay...I was just happy to be there with Brad and the kids!
