one time i bought a ticket to utah : part dos

after getting home from the cabin we went and picked up seattle sister natalie from becky's house and brought her back to hang out with us. for some reason saturday afternoon and night's activities were not photographed so i have no memory of what happened haha. i did take the picture below of my mother's parents (aren't they hotties?!) and our snow covered house and i do remember mickayla and i painting our nails so i'm sure they were full of productive things. 

that night kim and baby stella came back over and we all just sat in our basement laughing and talking. times like that are always the best part of my trips.  once again, can't remember a thing we talked about but i do remember thinking how much i was enjoying myself.

 

i took natalie back to becky's bright and early sunday morning and we were welcomed by the prettiest sunrise/snow scene outside. 

mickayla and i got nervous we were going to forget to take a photo together so we made this happen before church. it is a good thing we did because the picture we had someone else take later on in the day is not my favorite. how about my niece being a beautiful college girl! so weird and great, all at the same time. 

it turns out i hated taking pictures that day because these are really the only two i took of my nephew's get together after his farewell talk (he is the guy behind my sister in the white) so i'm glad he is at least in one of them. he did such a great job! my sister kim and niece emmy played a medley of songs in their sacrament meeting as well and it was beautiful. i was really grateful i was able to be there for it, i would have been SO sad if i was in boston and not utah for that day. 

i mainly took this picture for what was happening in the background but hey look it's ryan! he was kind to come and support jackson, he has always been pretty close with becky's family so it was nice to see him and catch up.  i loved hearing about everything he is involved in and am excited for him and his plans for the future. that guy is going places! 

i was really lucky to be chosen to dine at "bon appetite!" that night. not only did the waitresses give great service but they also gave a song and dance show while we ate! great food, great entertainment, and great company. i would recommend bon appetite to anyone traveling through the taylorsville area!

i felt bad i brought my real camera and didn't really take any photos so i snapped one of the girls before leaving. lilly bug wasn't really loving me this trip if  so that was sad, it is kind of hit and miss with that girl. i can't remember if she is crying in the picture below or if she is in the stage of saying "cheese" looks really painful.  

the next morning i (finally!) got a haircut from my favorite hair gal and it was so nice to know going into it that i was going to be happy with how i looked coming out. i do not have that luxury here in boston! my boston haircut was a bit of a disaster so i'm hoping i can hold out till i go to utah next and have her cut it again. every time i've gone to her over the last few years we discuss the possibility of bangs and i always talk myself out of it but not this time! they are a bit crazy higher maintenance than i'm used to but it's been a fun change. anyyyyway right after that i had a lunch date with my sisters, parents, nieces emmy and stella, and kamden. it was nice to be with them all again before leaving the next day and i didn't even mind being on bathroom duty with kam. that little guy just gets more and more pleasant every time i see him. he used to not be very interactive - wouldn't really converse with you or look at you and he seemed to always be upset about one thing or another. then the past year or two he has transformed into this sweet, fun-loving, talkative boy and it thrills all of us to see him so happy. 

the rest of the afternoon was spent shopping (bless my parents and sister natalie's hearts) because dang it boston hates a lot of stores that utah loves! or i love, more accurately. i purchased some pretty great things in utah but i'm most proud of that burnt melon bag that i had pinned on pinterest a few weeks before which would be what i'm holding up in my hand as proof. it was even more great when i clicked on the pin and saw it was sold out! yes to retail miracles happening every once in awhile and yes to finding that bag because i needed one that size for clothes to change into after yoga. 

after driving everyone nuts with my shopping frenzy we met back up with kim and scott and got some frozen yogurt (i mean how could we not?). it was nice to see them and baby stella one more time before leaving, i loved seeing them so much this trip!

late that night i broke away from the family time and had my one planned friendship time with these gals (i also got to see bf emily for a few minutes earlier in the trip which was great). a utah trip tradition has become us eating chik-fil-a together and having a sleep over or better yet what kalie's husband spencer calls it - a slumbee party. it is nice because we get together pretty late and then just stay up talking into the night so it never really conflicts with family things going on but does make us all extremely tired the next morning. 

the good news about this night is that after we went to spencer's soccer game ryan and richard came back with us to hang out. i noticed they owned the newylwed game and proposed the ridiculous idea of us playing since ryan and i knew each other pretty well (understatement? haha) and richard and melissa are siblings. kalie agreed to be the show host and filter out any uncomfortable questions so we got to it and had a great time. it was hilarious how accurate we all were. the picture on the above right is an example of one of (the many) times we were dead on.  i was glad we had something to show for those five years of dating and i'm grateful ry guy and i can still be friends. since the only people that read this are family and friend family i can say i didn't think that would ever in a million years happen.  i'm a relationship bridge burner by nature so to have positive closure and be in a good place just a year after breaking up with someone feels like a tender mercy MIRACLE from Heavenly Father and in all honesty, a gift. my heart has been at peace over that whole situation since returning from utah and i couldn't be more grateful. 

but back to the slumbee - LOOK AT THESE GALS. i love them so much and feel 100% okay with this tradition happening the rest of our days. they are the best wenttohighschooltogetherbutreallybecamefriendsafewyearslater friends a girl could ask for. 

on the way back to my house i stopped by to see becky and the girls and felt SO glad jackson was there so i could give him a proper goodbye. that boy went on his mission last wednesday and i just can't believe he is now elder beck. i'm going to throw out the used way to much phrase of but i changed his diapers! (which i really did, which is kind of weird because i was only six when he was born..) he is going to be a great missionary and i'm so excited to see him transform and become even more than what he already is. 

as soon as i got home it was time to take natalie to the airport. i wanted to spend a few more minutes with her so i went along for the ride and made my dad take a picture of us. i remembered afterwards that i looked like a freak with my astroid galaxy pants on but i feel happy about it nonetheless.

as i was making this post i was feeling so sad that somehow i never get any pictures with my parents when i go home and so i didn't think i had a picture of my mother and i until I FOUND THAT PICTURE OF US IN THE BATHROOM. who knew such a crappy photo would make me so happy but it did. apparently i felt the need to document my mother giving me a demonstration of her latest HSN (home shopping network) purchase, a steam cleaner. if there was a contest for the person with the most purchases from seeing something advertised on television mama jan would win. 

and because it just wouldn't feel right to leave her out - here is my moment with cortina. 

for the last three trips i have not gotten to ride my precious bike because i never have time to fix her forever flat tire or put enough time into figuring out how to get her back to boston. seeing her hung up in that garage is always the saddest but i think we both know we will be back in each other's lives at some point so we just focus on that. 

and last but not least, STELLA. 

did you guys really think i didn't take one hundred photos with her? she is too young to run away (ahem - LILLY) so she was the victim to lots of crappy self-taken photographs with me. 

exhibit a - k:

               

and that my friends, is what my last minute 6 day trip to utah looked like. other than not getting to spend much time with my brother and his family, it was exactly what i needed. but of course i'm already up for another one july, come faster! 

one time i bought a ticket to utah

..and then i was on a plane 12 hours later hahaha

basically my sister kim called me tuesday night to tell me they found out scott could adopt kaitlynn and karter and it would be happening thursday morning (in less than two days). she then reminded me that they would be going to our cabin to celebrate the twins birthday, seattle sister natalie would be flying in on friday, our niece would come down from byu-i if i flew in, and our nephew jackson's farewell was sunday. 

i already had been feeling so sad about my decision to not go home (since i was gone so much of january i was nervous to ask for more time off) and now with this new turn of events i looked up flights, called my supervisor to get her okay, and had booked a flight within the hour. my flight was double what it would have been if i had got it back in january but dang it  i wanted to be with my family so i just didn't care!!!

within minutes of my arrival sister kim decided i need to experience what my sisters call "the junk store". i can't actually remember what the real name was but it really was just a bunch of junk. since i was there i felt compelled to buy some of the junk and then regretted it minutes later.

that first day was pretty low key, i can't remember doing much of anything and i didn't take any pictures (which is usually how i remember what has happened in my life) so we will just move on to day two.  

thursday morning found us waiting in a judge's office at the courthouse downtown. this picture above is my favorite because you can see how happy little kamden is to be taking pictures of himself. 

after some legal documents were signed and kind things were said to scott for doing something he really didn't have to do, kaitlynn and karter became official moysh's! it was a special experience that i'm very glad i did not miss. 

afterwards we all went to breakfast together and i got to sit at the end of the table with these boys. 

me: "korbin, why does kamden have spoons and you have knives? that doesn't seem very fair"

korbin : "well kamden is the good guy and i'm the bad guy"

..i also have this moment on video if you are interested

that afternoon we headed up to our beloved cabin and lucky for us it was covered in snow!! 

we celebrated kaitlynn and karter's birthday in true kim fashion with balloons and streamers and banners everywhere. we ate a delicious dinner, watched the twins open their presents, and then watched their most recent favorite show "here comes the boom". 

so many stripes

(i forgot to mention another reason why i needed to go home. STELLA)

friday afternoon we headed to soldier hollow for some serious tubing. 

it brought back sweet sweet memories of this day. 

i loved being with happy kamden and his tiny tube! 

things got really wild when a worker let all four of us go down together. 

kamden decided to entertain everyone in line with his snow angel making skills

i don't know why it took me 25 years to go to do that, if i ever move back to utah it will definitely be done every winter. we had so much fun and i'm happy kim is a good mom/sister and made it happen!

 kim and i went through provo canyon to pick up our niece mickayla so we could spend some time with her. i was so happy to drive through that thing! it had been over a year since doing so and i was reminded at how much i love it. it had also been over a year since i last saw mickayla so i'm glad she could join us!

spending time with these kids was the loveliest. 

friday night was dedicated to some papa tom bingo. 

that bingo wheel is probably best thing our family has ever purchased! i highly recommend it to one and all. 

when you are a twin in the moysh family you actually get two birthdays so thursday night karter had better than tractor (as my grandpa calls it) cake and friday night kaitlynn got a boston cream pie cake. being a twin probably isn't all that bad with this kind of set up!

i spent some time with my grandma emmy and grandpa "sollie". 

sollie (as everyone called him) passed away when my father was nine so i never had the chance to meet him. isn't he so handsome? he seems to have such kind eyes and my father's mouth (or more accurately said my father has his mouth). my sweet grandmother never even went on a date after he died and stayed true to him the almost 50 years she was on the earth without him! she is an angel and i'm blessed to have her strong and faithful example in my life. 

saturday morning we decided to leave a few hours earlier than we had planned because a storm was rolling in and we didn't want to get stuck in the canyon (if jackson's farewell wasn't the next day i don't think any of us would have minded!). it had already started to snow so our drive through midway and back down through parley's was beautiful. although short, it was a perfect few days at the cabin. my sudden and rather expensive trip to utah already felt so worth it at this point and it wasn't even halfway over!