Grandparent trip

I finally figured out how to get cute blog backgrounds like everyone else. I know, I'm slow. I chose a spring background because I am optimistic that spring will eventually come to Rexburg. It was nine degrees when we woke up this morning - not the best spring weather. But the weekend forecast goes up into the 40's. I guess we'll see what happens.

Anyway, back to the reason for my post. This past weekend Darren was out of town again with a student trip. My kids were out of school half a day Thursday and all day Friday because of the end of the trimester. So I decided the kids and I could take a trip of our own. I am very fortunate to still have both sets of my grandparents around. My Grandpa Bartholomew has cancer and my Grandma Christiansen's health has been declining quickly. We decided to take a "visit my grandparents trip". Thursday we drove all the way to Fayette (that's a long drive with kids and only one adult). Friday we spent the day hanging out with my dad and also spent a couple of hours visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Bartholomew. There was a lot of talk about sheep -- I learned a few new things about my Grandpa. My mom had to work on Friday so she didn't get to hang with us until late afternoon. The boys had fun with four wheeler rides, carving with grandpa and pretending to not be afraid of the cat. (It's sad that my kids have so little exposure to animals that they are nervous around a cat.)




















The boys at Grandma and Grandpa Bartholomew's house. Why didn't I have my grandma and grandpa get in the picture, too? I wasn't thinking.




















My dad has some new carving tools. He let Kevin and Ethan each pick out a picture they wanted him to carve. He cut it out and then let Kevin do some of the carving on his. Ethan just watched my dad do his. The picture I had of my dad and Ethan wouldn't load for some reason.


















After 4 wheeler rides, carving, and lots of tickling my dad needed a nap.

Saturday morning it was my mom's turn to clean her parents house in Salt Lake City. So we drove up there and spent several hours cleaning, trying to get rid of ants and visiting. Rose, MaryAnn and Ryan also came to help so it made it more fun. When we got there my grandpa was sitting by my grandma's bed with a bottle of 409 trying to keep the ants off of her because she can't do it herself. It was hard to see my grandma like that because she has such a fiery personality - she can keep right up with my dad's brothers and that's saying something. It was very touching, however, to see how much my grandpa cares for her. We spent the night at Rose's house, went to church with them and then headed back to Rexburg. We hit a snowstorm around Pocatello and Kevin said he could tell we were in Idaho because the weather was bad.