Easter in Arizona Part 4 of 4

We have had a wonderful morning of General Conference. It comes and goes so fast. It has been especially wonderful since it is Easter. After the final session we took a trip to visit Mita, my grandmother who is 96 years old. We wanted to make sure she knew we were thinking of her and also get a picture of Drew with her along with a four generation picture.

After our visit we headed home to have Easter dinner with the family. We had the traditional Ham dinner. The food was great and once again the weather was good enough to eat outside.

Since Grandpa Gaisford was at dinner we took the opportunity to get some pictures, including a four generation picture. When all of my sisters wanted to get a picture with him he said he felt like he was 19 years old again.

We finished the evening with a dessert get together at Tony and Nicole’s house. When I was growing up we would all get together at my Papa and Mita’s house for homemade donuts and apple juice. Over the years after my papa died we continued the tradition, but started changing the foods from donuts to salads or other desserts. It was fun to see extended family that I hadn’t seen in a few years along with those that I get to see more often.

This trip has been a good one. It was good to give my family a chance to see Drew. We gave my parents a web cam and also set up Skype on their computer so they could see him more often. My parents will be coming up to Utah in a few weeks for Drew’s blessing and my three sisters in Arizona will all be visiting at different times over the Summer months. We can’t wait.
The trip back to Utah started off early. Luckily the weather behaved for us and we made it in good time. Drew slept the whole way again. Both on the way to Arizona and on the way back were the most he has slept in the last few weeks. If things don’t get better we might be taking more car rides.

Easter in Arizona Part 3 of 4

In between Saturday General Conference sessions, my Dad, brother, and I trimmed the fruit trees on the side of our house. Michelle came out side to take some pictures, but she also wanted to pick some oranges to make into fresh orange juice. I only received a little flesh wound during the project, but my allergies started to act up.

After the second session on Saturday Michelle, Rachael, Scott, and I took time to color Easter eggs. It has been years since I have participated in this activity. Michelle and I might start making it a part of our festivities next year. We enjoyed decorating and coloring the four eggs we each got.

After we finished with the eggs it was our job to hide plastic eggs for all of the grand kids to find. All of the kids were excited to search for the eggs and they were surprisingly good sports. I didn’t hear any crying.

At the end of the hunt some of us men got together and attended Priesthood Meeting together, followed by dinner at Joe’s Real BBQ. It was some good eating and we didn’t get home too late. That is one of the benefits of being in AZ. Everything starts an hour earlier than Utah so we get out of Priesthood at 7pm instead of 8pm.

Easter in Arizona Part 2 of 4

Today was full of family togetherness. It began with a birthday party for Jacob. In Arizona the schools have Good Friday off. We got together at a park near Christin’s house for lunch. All the kids played together while we had pizza, fruit, and pasta salad. Jacob opened up some gifts and then we had ice cream and cake. I took the opportunity to use my new camera along with the larger lens. Once again the weather was wonderful. We can’t wait to have this kind of weather in Utah.

The birthday boy, Jacob

Ryan with his little girl Alexis

Becky's little girl Julia

Emily, Michelle, and Rachael

My niece, Summer

My nephew, Dean

Kate

Scott acting all cool

Rachael's close-up

Joshua and Rachael are all about the cheese

Hailey, I had to take pictures of her when she wasn't looking because she would just hide.

Mom and Dad with some of the grand kids

Party!

Peyton and Kate

Taylor

Mom with Jacob and Joshua

Scott acting all cool again

Don't ask me what I was doing. Michelle got hold of the camera. Brian swore Scott was copying him.

After a quick nap we embarked on our second family gathering, family pictures. This has been a talked about event constantly over the past week or so between my Mom and the rest of the family. I didn’t know it had to be so complicated. The location was nice for the pictures and I think the photographer might have gotten a few good shots, for the price my parents were paying. Noah, my brother-in-law’s son, wasn’t able to make it to any of our activities this weekend, including these pictures , so the photographer would have to take his picture later in the same spot and Photoshop him in. I’ve included some of the shots that I took myself.

I think they are pretty good. I can’t wait to see what the professional ended up getting. After the pictures we all headed out to Tia Rosa's for some Mexican food.

I think it was a great day and Drew handled it well for a kid his age. I imagine it could be a while till the next family pictures. Who knows.