Thursday, October 25, 2012

Family, family and more family... our time in Utah! (Part 1 of 2)

So... our trip to Utah was over 3 months ago. I guess it's time to tackle this. I MUST get caught up on my blog. And I've got an astronomical amount to catch up on! This is no small feat, whatsoever. Get ready for the picture parade!

We arrived sooooooooo late in the night after our crazy California adventures and obstacles. When we pulled up to my sister's house we found my parents and a few of my siblings and their spouses holding signs with individual letters on them spelling the word "Welcome!" standing in the driveway doing a little oompa loompa up and down dance of sorts. It was hilarious and obvious that they'd passed the point of no return in regards to late night sanity. I can't tell you how much I wish I'd busted out the camera. Alas, no pics. But the picture in my mind is awesome!

We were late to participate in any family reunion activities which was a total bummer, but we had a great time on Saturday anyway. We went and had Romig family photos taken for the first time in about 7 years! When we were trying to decide how to coordinate families and such for the photo shoot, we all decided to each take a main color for our individual families so that when looking at the group shot you could tell who belonged to who. My siblings started claiming colors and Willy volunteered orange for our family. So of course we had to follow through on that! Fortunately my brother-in-law is a hunter so we were able to secure enough orange to outfit the whole family.


The whole Brent and Suzanne Romig family! Including FIVE new nephews that I hadn't met since the last time we were all together in 2010!!! Our family has grown a LOT during the last few years.
Without the orange...
Awwwwww
<3
Our first Sunday in Utah was just in time for our newest extended-Romig family
addition's baby blessing. So happy to be there to meet brand new baby Sam, my baby sister Sarah's newborn!
I just love this gorgeous little man!
Got to see my beautiful Grandma Norma Romig for the first time on our trip
the day of Sam's baby blessing. I love this woman so much! She has called
me Rosebud my whole life which is why Molly was given the name
Molly Rose. Grandma (aka GG) is someone awfully special!
Getting a good shot of all the grandkids with Nana and Papa the day we all got together as a whole Campbell
family was no small feat. Getting funny faces, however, was MUCH easier!!
The best we could get.
Willy, his siblings and parents.
What better way to have some fun, uninterrupted family time than to go camping! We got to enjoy Crystal Hot Spring
camping with Willy's parents, most of the Campbell cousins, and Willy's brother Guy and his brother's wife Haley. Fun!
Best part of camping at Crystal Hot Springs? The swimming, of course!!
Molly was NOT a fan of the tube slides, but we dragged her on them twice (for pictures, of course LOL) The boys went on the slides over and over and over again!
Wouldn't be a Nana sponsored event without some fun crafts for the kids! They made Fairy Jars and Paper Airplanes (and had a throwing contest, of course!)
Nana, Papa and most of the Campbell cousins.
While we were in Northern Utah we took time to go visit my Grandma Ruth Mitchell's gravesite.
Grandma passed away last year and I was unable to return to Utah for the funeral. It was good
to go pay our respects as a family and leave some kukui nut leis for her. She loved the
Pacific Islands, particularly Tahiti, after spending so much missionary service time there during her life.





We went and visited the Logan Temple Grounds while in Northern Utah. Beautiful temple,
and particularly special and important to me because this is where my parents were married.
We also stopped in Brigham City to see the newest LDS Temple. It was not quite
ready yet but was dedicated just a few weeks after we were in Utah.

GG and her sucker tree! She has figured out the secret to getting grandkids and great-grandkids
enthusiastic about visiting. Molly remembered the sucker tree from our last visit and she was
only TWO on that visit! Grandma has had this sucker tree for as long as I can remember and
it's always well-stocked with Tootsie Roll Pops.

We always try to stop at the Salt Lake Temple Square
when we're in Utah.
Took a tour to the top of the Church Office Building to get a
killer view of the city and learn a bit of Salt Lake history.

View from the top.
No beautiful spring time tulips, but the gardens are always pretty at Temple Square.


We got to go to the Jordan River Temple with Willy's entire family. Very cool experience.

Enjoyed a fun BBQ visit with Willy's brother, Adam, and his family which includes some of the friendliest dogs alive.
And of course the newest cousins to become permanent, forever parts of our extended Campbell family! We were so excited to meet Layla and Lily, two gorgeous sisters adopted by Adam and Lacey! Molly was especially excited since Layla is just a bit older and Lily is just a bit younger than Molly is. A perfect trio!!
Willy had his bike shipped to his parents house rather than all the way to Louisiana because he was desperate to get in a good mountain biking ride before finding himself in the flat, flat landscape of Louisiana.

Elephant Rock
Hubba hubba. My sexy stud of a husband.
Not part of our "blood" family, but certainly part of our Hawaiian Ohana! We were thrilled
to be able to attend the wedding of this sweet couple. Ryker is the son of some of our best
friends on O'ahu.
Attending Taylor and Ryker's wedding in Utah County gave us an excuse to visit Bridal Veil Falls

After Bridal Veil Falls we hustled back up to West Jordan and joined my folks for dinner at Golden Corral. Then we crashed at Mindy and Damon's house for the night and I had to take Willy to the airport early the next morning. He headed to Louisiana without us to start his job while the rest of us stayed and soaked up as much more family time as possible.

Seems like a good place to stop. There are still so many more pictures and fun times in Utah!! I'll tackle the second week of our trip tomorrow :)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Between Hawaii and LA... Picture Parade

Here are the pics that should have accompanied my last blog entry. Details about our last few days in Hawaii and our travel woes between Hawaii and Utah are in THIS blog entry. These are just the pics and quick captions are are what we call the beginning of an extreme catch up!

I forgot to mention in my last post what a great friend I have in Wendy! She and her husband
Carl pulled together an awesome going away party for our family at the beach near our
home. It was so fun to hang out together with people we love the weekend before we left!

Good food. Good friends. Good fun!

They know how to potluck in Hawaii!
The rebel part of the group who closed out the beach park
and had to be kicked out by beach patrol at sunset :) 

Last day of church with our Honouliuli ward congregation. Pretty sure having the congregation sing Aloha 'Oe and present us with dozens of leis was one of the most emotional things I've ever experienced.

Gorgeous colors and flowers.

My special little Tommy. I love this boy. He calls me "Auntie Mom".
One last beach trip the day before we left Hawaii. We went with the Cummings.

After the beach we had some good ol' Dixie Grill BBQ together.






My heroes and besties. They totally saved the night when they came and helped
do the final scrubbing in order for us to be able to turn in our rental house keys
without leaving a mess behind. And they did it late, late at night with me because
I was so stubborn and wouldn't accept their offers of help before then. Still came to
my rescue. Love these ladies!

Stayed with our best friends the several nights before leaving Hawaii. On our last night there I woke
up with Tommy curled up in bed next to me hehehe. Sweet little thing.

Our Hawaiian Ohana the morning we left Hawaii. When Ben and I were recently talking about the Cummings and I referred to them as "like family" Ben corrected me and said "They're not LIKE family Mom. They ARE family." It's true. We're so grateful for them!

This picture makes me cry. 

The incomparable Durretts. Love these amazing and supportive folks! They took us to the airport
the morning we left. Last of our church ohana to bid us Aloha. Mary is convinced that we'll return
to live in Hawaii someday. I (not-so-)secretly hope she's right.
 
Leaving... on a jet plane. *sniff sniff* (Brady sat next to Willy but didn't make it into the pic. Whoops)

Ben and Toby were seatmates on the long flight. He's not unhappy about sitting
next to Toby, by the way. He was just as emotional about leaving Hawaii
as Willy and I were.

Molly and I kept each other company on our flight.

My last glimpse of the turquoise water just off Oahu. I'm pretty sure the people around me at this point
must have been terribly, terribly concerned for the hysterically sobbing lady in 37H. 

Seeing Kalaupapa peninsula on the island of Moloka'i from the air as we passed over finally
calmed me down. When we'd left that island a couple weeks earlier I worried that I'd never see it
again. Seeing it, even just from the air, gave me some hope that I'd see it and O'ahu again someday
and helped me get a grip and relax for the remainder of the flight.




   
First stop in Los Angeles... In-N-Out of course,
for some burgers, shakes and Animal Style Fries!


The evening air in Los Angeles was so "cold" that Molly and Toby
kept tucking their arms inside their shirts. I had perma goosebumps.
Quick stop at the Los Angeles temple, even in the dark.

Hanging out on Venice Beach the day we had to kill time while waiting for our van to be available for pick up at the docks in Long Beach.
Fascinated by the man on homemade roller blades rocking out with his electric guitar...

There are just no words for some of what we saw
while walking along the beach...

Crazy cool sand sculpture

Climb boys climb!
Hanging out at Muscle Beach.
Molly acted as if she'd never played in sand before. It was kind of hilarious
to see how enthusiastically she played in the sand!


Not thrilled with having to hang out at the mall while the car
battery was replaced at the auto dealership after we picked up
the van from the shipping company at the docks only to find
the battery completely dead and unable to hold juice. What
a way to screw up our travel plans!!



 
Kids weren't quite as bothered by the car trouble delay...



 And that concludes the picture parade from Hawaii to Los Angeles. Next up? Family fun in Utah!! (Whenever I manage to get around to it!)