Trip to Grandma & Grandpas' Houses

I have gotten so far behind in my blogging....so little time, too much to do...

When Chase had a couple weeks off for the summer break, we took a random trip to our parents' houses.  We flew to my parents' then drove 6 hours to Chase's family, then flew home from there.  We loved it but always feel like we could use another week or two with everybody.  Here are just a few pictures of our trip. 

First off, I wanna recognize Chase & his brilliance!  This is my SIL with her little man, Kasen, & the one who captured this beauty-Chase!  He has been getting into panoramic and HDR photography and so this was him trying out the panoramic technique (he took 3 different pictures lengthwise and put them together using photoshop). I don't have any idea how he got that dog to not move. :)

 This woman (and camera) are so special to me.  That is my grandmother and this camera was her father's.  My grandmother gave this to me and I took it in a heartbeat.  I love how she kept it over the years and was so willing to hand it down to me.  Thanks, Grandma.  I love you.

 And the other half.

We went down to the river for a picnic & some jet skiing.

 

My other grandparents were in town for a short while from their long work trip.  After serving a full time mission at the Nauvoo Temple, they set out on a year long journey working for a company that sells steaks & other meat products to Walmart.  They have driven to all the southeastern states and now are traveling north stopping in all the coastline states including Washington DC.  They grill steaks and distribute  them up for samples outside of Walmart.  Yes, they are a HARD WORKING couple. I admire them so much for that.

And in case you were wondering, after a year long of grilling steaks my grandfather sure knows how to cook to perfection. I got a taste of that!

Darn that, technology!!!!!  I have a love, but mostly hate, relationship with it.  I tend to think I would love to live back in the day when all we had were books and rakes.  You either read or worked. I like simplicity. So when I walked into the living room at my parents house, you could imagine how flabbergasted I was to see this! Yes, every one of them had a phone, IPAD, or computer in their hands.

(if you can't tell, the little one in the middle of the above picture is my Sailor...arghh, already old enough to figure out the computer)

I loved watching Sailor help her Grandma make some blackberry pies from freshly picked blackberries from the bushes outside.

Kasen helped too. :)

Goof Ball

One of my favorite parts of this trip (as usual) was getting to casually converse with family.  One of our conversation was trying to come up with some catchy names for all the members of our family.  Names that all the grand-kids could use when referring to Gma & Gpa S, Aunt Tierney, & Uncle Sawyer for example. These are several that we came up with & we were definitely having some fun with it:

Grandpa Parrish: "Big Papa Par" or "Papa Par" for short
Grandma Shanna: "Nana Shan", "Grandma Shan," & "Sha Nana"
Kalvin: "Unc-Kal"
Macey: "Auntie Mace"
Madison: "Aunt Madi"
Payten: "Uncle Payt"
Sawyer: "Uncle Soy"
Tierney: "Aunt T" or "Aun-T"

We've decided my family likes to shorten everything hence all the incomplete names.  Tierney for instance has probably been called "Tierney" only a handful a times in her life.  From the moment she was born she was "Tier-Bo", then "Tier", then "T-Bo," now it's "T"....and just "T."  :)  We love her and love all the fun we have together......


This is when we packed our bags and jumped in the car & headed to the other Grandma & Grandpa's house!  We are so happy to have so much family that loves and supports us.....AND will drive 6 hours to come pick us up. :)

 

The next post will be the remaining part of our summer trip back to our homes.