Provo Canyon

I have never been to Provo Canyon. Yes, I lived in Utah for 25 year or so and I've never been to many places. It's very sad. So when I overheard Kayla saying she was going to take mom to Provo canyon, I decided I would invite me along. 

We drove by the waterfall viewing area first.  

Then we stopped and had lunch. Rebekah had a good chat with Henry.

The crew:

Don asked if Rebekah would share her cookie with him. Here is the portion she allotted.

More of the canyon:

Think this is basically the same picture with a different camera. Not sure which one I like better.

Don took his girls for a walk. Daughter on one side and a granddaughter on the other. I kind of like that Paige and Rebekah are so close in age, especially since there is such a distance between her age and her brother and sister.

Don kept asking me to get this picture and I kept trying to nonchalantly bring his attention to the shirtless tattooed man behind him....

Paige has been here before, many times, and wanted to show the out-of-town-ers around.

I decided I would look around at the beauty when I turned around and saw this. Motherhood may be hard but how much your heart melts when you see your little one running towards you with open arms!

More family pics:

Grandma and Rebekah danced for a while.

Loved watching them explore.

And seeing Rebe's excitement.

I asked Don to take a selfie. It didn't turn out well.

But since Don now had the camera, he took this:

And this:

On the way back Rebekah got tired and assumed her favorite position:

Beautiful canyon. Need to see more of Utah. Can't believe I missed out on so much! Not going to make that mistake with Indiana.

Getting There and Meeting Henry

Rebekah and I flew out Saturday afternoon. It was a mess getting to the airport, including leaving a little later than we wanted, a 30 minute delay when Don realized I didn't eat anything yet and decided a drive through at MacDonald's was appropriate only to leave the drive through line and go inside to discover they were out of eggs, and major traffic on the freeway. At one point I looked at Don and asked if we were going to be okay. After he said,"yes, we'll have plenty of time," I asked about the extreme speeds at which he was traveling. He lovingly responded, "that's how we'll have plenty of time."

We get to the airport and someone gives us their parking space. We go inside and the lady checking our car seat falls madly for Rebekah and makes her day by letting her put the stickers on the car seat  and giving her a ticket for her doll.

Once inside the airport Don makes sure I have some food and again says we have plenty of time so I should eat it. Now. Kind of an order. I do and we head to security. 

They see me coming with Rebekah, lead me through another way, help with the stroller and other items, and apologize for not having a sticker for Rebekah. 

Did I mention I love the Indianapolis airport?

We had a 3 hr lay over in St. Paul. It was an interesting airport complete with a man playing a bass flute for tips! 

Finally we get to Utah and meet uncle Joseph and my mother. Even though it was past bed time Rebekah was in prime form. When we got to uncle Daniel's she found Abby and promptly began the dance party.

Somewhere around ten - midnight her time - I shut the party down and sent her to bed with the promise of 2 weeks worth of play ahead of her.

Don and mom left just after we did. They decided sleep and comfort as over rated and drove straight through, stopping briefly at a rest stop to "sleep a few hours." They showed up Sunday night late and Rebekah woke Monday morning to say, "is that my dad?"

Monday morning aunt Shelly volunteered to take Rebekah while Don and I did some shopping, car cleaning, and had some early lunch. Then Don went to the library to get some work done. After that we headed over to Kayla's to meet Henry. Rebekah and I officially met him in July but we were more than ready for another long glance.

But grandpa had first dibs.

Then it was grandma great's turn.

And since we were taking pictures....

While they snuggled with Henry, Rebekah and Paige got acquainted.

We played and played but occasionally checked in to see what the other people were doing.

This is such a great picture of mom and her great grandchildren. Just need to realize Paige was hungry and eating cheese at the time....

Paige also has a love of shoes. She very quickly found Rebekah's.

When it was time to go, Paige gave Rebekah some lovin'.

And had a little left over to give her grandpa. Notice Rebekah's jealous eye. She did not like her daddy giving snuggles to anyone but her.

We got back to Daniel's home and Rebekah wanted to play with cousins. I informed her it was sleepy time and this is the face she pulled.

So much desire to play, so little time. Who needs sleep anyway?

A Last Minute Trip

I was working on reading with Rebekah. Ever so slowly she sounded out the sentence, "Sam is mad at me." Then she said it fast and what she said sunk in. Looking at me with great concern in her eyes she said, "But my Sam isn't mad at me....?" I assured her it was just a sentence and that, in fact, the picture showed that this Sam was a cat. She was greatly relieved. 

I decided I couldn't keep this story to myself so I texted it to Shelly (mother of Sam). She assured Rebekah it was just a sentence too and Sam was not mad and sent her this picture:

Rebekah has always had a great love for her family. When she found out on Wednesday that we were scheduled to fly to Utah, (yes, we actually bought the tickets on Wednesday,) she was so excited it was hard to contain her. For the next few days all she would talk about was seeing her sister, brother, and Abby and Sam. 

You're probably still wondering about those last minute tickets. Yes, that's the way the Walker clan rolls. Eventually I'll get use to it, right? We had talked about coming to Utah in the fall but one thing led to another and we were uncertain it would happen until just Tuesday. After talking with mom Walker it was decided that Rebekah and I would fly so there would be more room in the car and less Rebekah strapped down time. 

So, tomorrow we go. And yet here I sit. Getting Rebekah down tonight I fell asleep. Now I have so much to do and that awful - I fell asleep and my body still wants to be asleep - feeling. So here I sit writing. 

The good news is I did get a little bit of a head start. Rebekah helped me start the packing:

I sent that picture to Shelly too with the caption, "I'm coming...!" I got a picture of Abby patiently waiting....

And now my friends, it's back to work for me. Or bed. Still haven't decided which one is most important.....

Sept Misc

Trip to the children's museum

Ready for winter

Playing with friends

Rebekah pointed out this really cool squirrel

Patiently waiting for cookies

No problem with her self esteem

Completed Goldfish Swim Level 2

Decorated the front door in honor of fall

Daddy love

Playing with grandma at the park

Wearing mama's shoes at church

And finally, after 5 long years, Don finally let me retire his shoes.

Tuttle's

September couldn't go by without a trip to Tuttle's Orchard. Rebekah very enthusiastically agreed. 

She wanted to hit the playground first. Even had time for a little picture.  Say moooooo!

She wanted one of me too. Mooo!

Then she had a great time in the mini hay maze,

Saw how she measured up,

Drove the tractor,

Tried to hay maze again,

Climbed the tire tower and made it to the top!

Then she sat and pondered her life thus far.

We finally made it into the apple orchard for some picking. Golden delicious was the apple of choice.

We walked across the street for an apple cider slushy.

Rebekah decided to share.

Then we headed across to the store to find daddy some caramel dipping sauce. Don said we couldn't come home without it.

On the way out Rebekah found the toy area. We were there for a while. You're only young once isn't true. You get to do it again when you have a snuggly little girl.

We got home, washed the apples, and dug right in. Mmmm... Apples.