In Utah

So after the Davis Family Reunion, my mom took my girls back to California, while I stayed in Utah with my sister. I was only with my sister, Amy and her husband Joe for two days before we all headed to California too. But it was a fun two days without the kids, just me and my sis. On Sunday evening we went to a park to hear Joe play in the Utah Premier Brass Band that he was in. My cousin Brittany and her hubby, Matt came and met us there. When the concert was over I walked with Matt and Brittany back to their house and on the way we stopped at the little house that Dustin and I used to live in when we lived in Provo. So, this is the house. It wasn't our first apartment as a married couple, it was our second. But, we did bring Adelynne home to this little house. I have many memories of our two years in this house: hosting Easter with cousins, sending my sister on her mission while we lived here, hosting our very first Thanksgiving feast with my family (minus sister), and my dog dying (not a happy memory, but one none the less). I did not bury my dog here however, but he was placed in the economy size freezer in the shed in the back until we drove him to California to bury him in my grandma's backyard. My family loves telling everyone how I put my dead dog in the freezer. Sounds morbid, I know, but if you are like me, and have/had a profession in the animal kingdom, it really isn't that strange). Anyway, this is the house, cute isn't it?

And here I am with two of my beautiful cousins, Emily and Brittany. Amy snapped the picture for me, wish she were in it too. But we all met for ice cream and had a great time chatting.

Davis Family Reunion

The main reason for traveling back to Utah with my mom, brother, nieces, and my daughters was to see my great-grandmother, Nana, Alice Bennett who is 98. My Nana lives in Florida, but she traveled to Utah for her family reunion, The Davis Family. I was grateful for the opportunity to quiz my mother about this line of my family history. If I remember correctly, my Nana is a granddaughter to Brigham Young's granddaughter. This is the chain of people from Brigham Young to me: Brigham Young, Valet Young, Miriam Valet Decker, Charles Davis, Alice Davis, John David Bennett, Patricia Irene Bennett, Tracy Irene Biggs. I have a wonderful heritage, and I am super proud to be a descendent of Brigham Young! Going to the Davis Reunion was a first for me, and I was very glad that my grandfather was there as well as my mom's sister, Jill and some of her children too. I didn't know any of the other people.

Cousin Daniel-I used to change this boy's diaper-now look at him! He's going to be a senior in high school.

Big sister to Daniel, my gorgeous cousin, Lisa-marie. She's expecting the first great-grandson on this side of the family.

having fun in the bounce house

Daniel picking on J.D., another one of my cousins. J.D. will also be a senior this year. They grow up so fast!

The 4 great-great-granddaughters to Alice Bennett

Picture for posterity: 5 generations of Brigham Young's descendents

My mom's children and grandchildren

Back row: Uncle John, J.D., Joe, Amy, Nana, Daniel, Aunt Jill, Papa, Chris, Adelynne, Mom, Amy, Me, Lisa-marie.

Front: Jordan, Mark, Kathryn, Heather, Courtney, Charity.

After the Davis Reunion, we all went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open house. It was a wonderful experience to be in this beautiful temple with so many family members. I especially enjoyed the opportunity for my daughters to walk through the temple. Adelynne was especially excited to get to go in the temple. She became so excited when she saw the baptismal font. She was shouting (as loud as she dared) "There it is, there it is! Its so special." She was very excited to point it out to me. Then she just oohed and ahed over the beautiful chandeliers in each of the rooms. It was the perfect experience for her, especially considering the opportunity she had to give a talk on the temple in primary a few weeks ago.

Sac Zoo with cousins

While in California, my mom and I took my girls and my brother's girls: Heather and Katie, to the Sacramento Zoo. The four little girls had a blast together, and they were awfully cute (until nap time). It was odd for me going to this zoo because I remember going as a child on school field trips and such, and it seemed so big to me. But actually, it is a very small zoo. But it has some great animals anyway. It was a fun activity to do with the girls.

Listening to heaven

I just listened to a moment of true, pure love. I love the feeling of heaven in my home. As I lay on the couch, still sick from this torturous cold, Dustin took the girls off to bed. As is usual bed time routine, he began singing "I am a Child of God." Just as I switched on the television, I heard Adelynne and Amy singing along. I quickly turned off the tube and listened intently to the sweet, untrained voices of my little angels as they sang along with the deep tenor voice of their daddy. The words of this hymn have never touched my heart in such a manor, despite the numerous times I have sung it myself. Sometimes heaven is just closing your eyes and listening.

I am a Child of God

and He has sent me here.

Has given me an earthly home,

with parents kind and dear.

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do,

To live with Him someday.

What a night

So yeah, it was quite the night. With the storm sirens sounding, torrential rains beating down, thunder vibrating the walls, and the the storm guide suggesting we seek shelter in our homes' safe zones, I was feeling a little sorry for the newcomers to Indiana. It was a threatening evening. Dustin and I bundled up the girls and ourselves in preparation for a trip down to the apartment basement, but we never went down, much to Adelynne's dismay. It didn't help that I developed a raging fever on top of this lung-hacking cold of mine that I've been fighting all week. After Dustin decided we were okay to stay inside, he put the girls to bed while I fell into a feverish sleep on the couch. It was 9pm when I got up and went to bed. I lay there wishing I could go back to sleep and wondering if I should go see a doctor the next day, when at some point I finally fell asleep. Then at about 2:15am Dustin and I woke to Amy screaming in terror. Dustin jumped out of bed and went to her. He was comforting her and trying to put her back to bed, but instead she screamed louder when he tried to put her in her bed. Finally in frustration, Dustin asked Amy what was wrong, and she cried as loud as she could that she was scared. Why was she scared? Apparently there were scary bugs in her bed. Dustin checked her bed and found no traces. It must have been a nightmare. But she would not settle down unless in our arms. So I held her in our bed and kept reassuring her that there were no bugs and mommy and daddy were here. After a while it seemed that she was settling down into her restless sleep. She was climbing over me, trying to find a place to settle, when she looked back at the spot next to me and cried out in terror again. I grabbed her up and held her and told her there was no bug there, it was just the bed. My child was really freaked out. Then this morning, when Amy and I woke up in my bed, she proceeded to tell me about the scary bugs. "They gone. Keelled the bugs, they all gone." Whatever this nightmare was, she remembered it well.

Then Adelynne, who has been up for quite some time, comes in to greet me with a smile, which soon fades when I notice the haircut she gave herself. That's right, she cut a good chunk of hair off the front of her head. Pictures coming soon. It looks a little like a front mullet, but not too bad. Now she just has some bangs.

Oh, what a night.

The Jelly Belly Factory

I was anxious for a visit with my cousin Tammy and her new baby boy, Bryce. During our visit we decided to take a trip to the Vacaville, CA Jelly Belly Factory. Thinking the girls would enjoy the tour, we mistakingly embarked with anxious children. Only Tammy knew the truth, yet didn't say anything, as she was embarking on her 100th tour, (or something like that). So I don't recommend this tour for children under 5. Its a little long for little girls and mommies that have little girls. But at least it ended well with all the Jelly Belly's you could ever desire. But really we did have a good time with Tammy and Bryce. It was a treasure to hold little Bryce, to comfort his little cries, and to encourage his sweet smiles. And I loved sharing and swapping mommy stories with Tammy. I wish we could do it more often!

cute, cute girls

little Bryce

he wanted to eat Jelly Belly's too

she looks like a pro driver

lovin' the ride

all tired out on the drive home. yes, she fell asleep like this

not asleep, but cute anyway

Continuing On....

Our first Sunday in California with my family was my Uncle Scott's and Aunt D'Anna's mission farewell. They are called to serve a Church Education System (CES) mission in Sri Lanka. For this farewell they gave talks in church, the grandchildren sang, as did all of the adults in their family. The Spirit was so strong and present throughout the meeting, and I am SO glad that I was there to wish them a teary goodbye with the rest of this gang. Below is evidence of the awesome family I have always been a part of. When something big or small occurs in this family, we come out in packs. Rows and rows of the Biggs Family members take up chapel pews, displace regular attendants, (sorry)! take up all available parking spaces, shove into small homes, eat any thing resembling food, and always, always have a memorable time.

Here is the gang.

LtoR: Uncle Scott; my Dad, Guy; Aunt Lanea; Uncle J'Earl. My dad and Uncles are the 3 little boys of their family of 9 children.

As soon as a few pictures were snapped and tearful hugs and goodbyes were given, we sped off to the airport to get Dustin on his flight to Indiana. Here is Amy and Uncle David, enjoying a good snore in the car.

One of the things my Aunt D'Anna said in her talk that touched me the most (and that I remember), was that she shared why she wanted to serve this mission and leave her family and home behind for 18 months. Paraphrasing her words: "she wanted to express to Heavenly Father her gratitude for the blessings she has received in her life." This may not mean much to those that don't know my aunt and uncle, but to those who know something (because I don't claim to know all of her life in detail), know that yes, many blessings have been given to my aunt and her family, more blessings than trials, but there have been many difficult trials throughout her life. I am grateful that my aunt has remained faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ despite trials, that she is serving a mission, that she is a great example of patience, endurance, faith, and charity.

4 years old

I'm taking a break from updating our trip to post these pictures of Adelynne. She turned 4 on July 8th, which we celebrated in California with my family. I'll post about that later, but I took these pictures of Adelynne after we returned home. My mom gave her this outfit for her birthday, and she was such a doll with her hair all braided, that I made her pose for some pictures.



Yesterday, Adelynne gave her fist talk in primary, at church. She was so excited. I've been joking that Dustin and I also taught Adelynne her first lesson in procrastination since we didn't start teaching her the talk until Sunday morning before church. But Adelynne was very eager and excited to learn. The theme was temples, which was perfect since on our trip we were able to go to the Oqirrh Mountain Temple open house. Adelynne had been able to go in to the temple since it wasn't dedicated yet, and see all of the beautiful rooms. The benefit of this was that she was able to look at the pictures of each of these rooms from the pamphlet we brought home and say what each room was about. It went something like this: "This is the temple, Jesus' house, there are lots of temples. In the temple we sit quiet and be reverent and look at pictures of Jesus. We make promises with Heavenly Father, we get married, the temple is very beautiful. We do baptism for other people. I can prepare myself while I am young so when I grow up I can go inside the temple." The pictures on the pamphlet were perfect because it was as if she wrote it herself and she knew what to say with each one. She was very excited to talk into the microphone, (when she saw the microphone in the chapel, she wanted to get up and give her talk there, but I had to tell her she needed to wait until primary time). And when she was all done, in true Adelynne fashion, she fell off of the step stool on her way down. But she was okay. She really did a great job, Dustin and I were worried she would be too shy to talk, but she wasn't at all. We are both so proud of our little girl, who is growing up to be such a big girl!

Sharing ice cream with Bapa....

Grandpa, or affectionately known as Bapa, asked Amy if he could have a bite of her ice cream. She said yes...

so Bapa waited for a bite...

and waited...

and waited...

and waited...

prepared and waited...

waited patiently...

amidst the endless torture...

and maybe it would happen...

still maybe...

now its funny

but no...

Amy never shared a bite with Bapa

The End.

Sarah's "graduation" and last day at Cold Creek

Our last week in Vegas we got to go to Sarah's kindergarten graduation-or I guess they call it a "promotion ceremony" these days. (c'mon, who really cares)? I was so glad we got to be there to support her because we don't get to go to any of the family things that normally go on. I'm all about going to what you can go to and supporting the family as much as possible. The girls were glad to see their cousins again as an added bonus. And I wish we could be more apart of our families lives on a day to day basis, but for now, I'll settle for the little things we can do.

There's Sarah, just about to receive her certificate.

And enjoying the yummy cookie. Sarah was so fun to watch when all the kids were singing. During one song, ABC rock n' roll, the kids were all head banging and playing air guitar and other crazy moves, but Sarah just looked around her and laughed at everyone! Hilarious! She's a wonderful girl, and we love her!

On our last morning in Cold Creek, the girls played out on the porch with the baby dolls. They were having such a good time, they really didn't want to go.

I love this picture of the girls with their grandparents. Grandpa is showing a real smile in his laugh, and Adelynne is laughing along with him. My girls are so blessed to have these wonderful grandparents in their lives that are great examples of love, endurance, compassion, patience, charity, and much, much more. I also wish we could see them more often, and it is wonderful to see the girls know them more and more each time we visit.

This is the end of our visit in Las Vegas/Cold Creek. We had a wonderful time visiting everyone. I didn't get nearly enough pictures, I was too busy having fun, I guess. While in Vegas we also had a chance to visit with my cousin Scott and his wife Christy, and two of their little ones. It was a short visit, but we got to see their new house and all the work they've been putting into it. Next time we look forward to swimming in their pool and watching movies in their home theatre! We had a great time, and wish we could have stayed longer!