A Surprise for Nana

My mother-in-law, Kathy, lives in South Jordan, Utah. For her July birthday our family and two of Brian's siblings and their families all traveled to Utah for the ultimate birthday surprise. We gathered at a restaurant and waited for Nana to arrive.

With everyone present, there was Lynette (Kathy's BFF), GG (Kathy's mom), Aunt Lois (Kathy's sister), Cousin Stephanie (Kathy's niece) with her husband and five children, Aunt Karen (Kathy's sister), cousins Brett and Makenzie (Kathy's nephew and niece), Uncle Allen (Kathy's brother), and two of Brian's siblings, Angie and her husband and four daughters, and Brett and his wife and daughter.

The trip was so worth the effort. Just the look on Kathy's face when she saw her grandchildren rushing to greet her was priceless. She kept saying, "What are you doing here?! What are you doing here?!!" And when she began crying tears of joy there were a few other wet eyes in the group. It was sweet to see her truly surprised.

Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera into the restaurant so I didn't capture the original surprise, but here are a few pictures of other things that we did during our stay at Nana's house...





Before we were allowed to enter the rec center for open swim, we passed our time by playing a game of family tag.



And my childhood personal favorite, Red Light Green Light.





 South Jordan has the best rec center pool I've ever seen.  Twisty slides, a little lazy river, whirl pool, kiddie area...  Everyone had a great time.



The cousins all enjoyed hopping from car to car just to be with their cousins.  Branson became fast friends with Brynlee.  Natalya picked up where she left off with Toree and Ashlee.  Kaytee is so grown up that she spent most of her time with the adults.  Kylie soaked up the attention she was getting from all her cousins.  And Irelynn was usually content doing her own thing or tagging along with the others.





 Brian, Jared and Brett grilling dinner: burgers and dogs.







 Irelynn, Kylie, Branson and Brynlee.





Kathy had so many birthday treats we honestly couldn't eat them all.  But we did take a minute to sing Happy Birthday.

German chocolate cake and coconut cream frosting.



With 8 grandchildren running around, a bounce warehouse was the perfect place to wear out all the kids - and the parents, too.



Brian and Irelynn













All dressed for the pool (again).  We detoured to the park.





 One of the highlights of the trip was karaoke.  Everyone participated!




The most memorable karaoke moment was when Brian and Brett sang Ghostbusters.  It was comical and awesome at the same time.

 

Sunday dinner was a special treat.  Stephanie invited all of us over to her house for a barbecue.  She had a great backyard that fit our big family perfectly.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed the trampoline, swing set, and getting to know their second cousins after a few long years of not seeing each other.

Branson met his second cousin Conner for the first time on this trip.  They hit it off immediately when they realized that they both liked Disney's Cars.  It's no wonder they gravitated toward each other - they are each the only boys in a family of all sisters, older and younger.  Poor kiddos.  :) 

Leaving was more bitter than sweet.  In fact, Natalya cried from South Jordan all the way to Payson because she realized that she never really spent time with Nana.  Prior to our trip all she talked about were the things she wanted to do with Nana.  But when we arrived, she was so involved with her five girl cousins that she just "forgot" to hang out with her VIP.  We'll just have to find an excuse to visit again. 

Going home...