Last weekend I went on a trip with Alice. Nikolay stayed home with the other four kids. This is the first time I have done this besides Sarah's funeral at which time I tool Annika, who was about the same age and Alice is now. When I found out that I was pregnant with Alice I got the idea for this trip, that I wanted to go see my two grandmas in Fredonia, Arizona and San Diego, California. When we lived in Salt Lake, we could jump in the car and go see them often enough. Now that we live in PA, it is hard to imagine making it out to see them with the whole family in the foreseeable future, so I decided that after Alice was born I needed to go see them myself. My dad was planning on going to my neice Addie's baby blessing in Las Vegas, and driving down to see his mom from there, so I decided to coordinate my trip with his. I was going to make the last leg of the trip from Las Vegas to San Diego and back myself, but he decided to accompany me, and I am so grateful that he did.
Here is my Gandma Beth holding Alice. She said that she had blue eyes and rosebud lips just like her mother said that she had as a baby. I made some short videos of her telling stories from her life. I was so impressed to see the quilt that she is working on and to find out that she is till crocheting and cross-stitching. I also got to catch up with some of my cousins who I haven't seen in years at Grandma's house. We spent that night at my uncle's house in St. George and all his kids came over so i got to catch up with those cousins too.
Here is Dad with his two youngest grand babies. It was so good to spend so much time with my "mean old man." We talked politics, global economics, parenting, moral dilemmas, Church doctrine, and rehashed old family issues. It was great.
Jacob, Emily, and Addie. When their Bishop announced that "...Adelaide Kathleen Stephenson would be blessed by her father, Jacob Stephenson," I got all choked up. The blessing was beautiful, and so was his testimony. I still can't get over that my blond haired little brother isn't running around catching frogs anymore, that he looks more like my dad than a little kid and that he is actually a father.
When Emily saw Alice for the first time she said, "Your baby could eat my baby for lunch!" I had a feeling someone was going to make this observation, and the phrase was going through my head, but being the mother of the proverbial cannibal, I couldn't exactly be the one to voice it. I can't wait for them to be big enough to play with each other at family reunions.
It was so fun to hang out with all of the Van Natters and get to know them, but the conversation didn't get really good until I came over to the girl's side of the room. I think the Muslims have something right with men and women socializing separately. That evening Dad and I drove half way to San Diego, and stayed in a hotel because Dad had a 4 am teleconference with people in India. The thought crossed my mind as we were walking in the hotel that it might look like I am a gold digger and he is my sugar daddy, so Dad was certain to ask for a crib for his
granddaughter.
Grandma Bell holding Alice in San Diego. It was so good to spend time with Grandma Bell. We got there Monday about noon and left almost 24 hours later. Last time we visited 2 1/2 years ago, I had wante to take some of my Grandpa's old church books with me, but didn't manage to as we ended up in the hospital with Ariel for 10 days and actually left for the airport directly from the hospital, so this time I went through all the books and settled on his copy of Mormon Doctrine and a copy of the Miracle of Forgiveness that Grandma Bell had written an inscription to her father in. Tuesday (my birthday) I spent most of the morning searching for some baby pictures of myself. I didn't find them, but came home with a bunch of other pictures that I am going to scan in and send copies to everyone. Grandma also let me take an old scrapbook that Grandpa's mother kept of his school work in I think 2nd grade.
My cousin Lianne and her daughter Sienna joined us for dinner at Grandma's favorite, Outback. It was good to spend time with her too. Alice is only two days older than Sienna, so it was fun to see them together.
Before we got back on our planes Tuesday night, we stopped by Emily and Jacob's again. One of Dad's cousins from the Stephenson side met us there. Her name is Bonnie, and she would be the life of any party. While we were there Alice flipped over for the first time from her back to her front. I didn't actually witness it, but Emily's sister Heidi did. I got a picture of her on her tummy. I won't forget the date of this milestone, because it was on my birthday.
