Our Secret Trip to Utah (3/28-4/1)

I can't figure out how to post the pics so they aren't all bunched up like this. If anyone can help, that would nice. So from top to bottom: Griffin bundled up in the car. It was the only way we could get him to nap, driving around Provo and Orem. Jason scraping SNOW off the car. Utah Lake on one of our nap drives. The water was so choppy that day and it sprayed us as we drove pass. Jason, Griffin and I sitting next to the fireplace at my Grandma's house. Jason playing with Griffin at Orem High and Griffin sitting in an extra seat on the airplane.































































Well, here I am finally blogging about our trip to Utah. It was a secret trip. See, Jason's mom has colon cancer and she had surgery last Monday to take a slice of her colon. So Jason's dad used his frequent flier miles to get us tickets so we could cheer her up. Mostly Griffin was the one doing the cheering up. Our plane left Friday morning at 5am. Yep that means we had to leave for the airport at 3:30am which was exhausting, but worth it because it gave us the whole day on Friday to spend there.
We stayed in Provo with Jason's parents, brothers, and sister. Even Jason's brothers from California came up to spend their Spring Break there too. On Friday we just hung around the house and napped and that night we went out with Jason's brother Nick, his sister, Jessica and her friend. We went to a bar in Lehi called Flirt's. It was a very funny bar to me. There was like maybe 10 people there and there was a band. The band members were like 50 years old and they played songs by John Mellencamp and Pink Floyd. They didn't look like they trusted our out-of-state IDs either. It was so tiny and funny. We stayed for about two hours, went home and crashed.
Saturday we went to Jason's little brother's baseball game at Orem High. It was so cold. We had to bundle up big time. It hadn't snowed yet, but it rained a little. Then as family, we all went and saw 21 at the Provo Mall. We even took Griffin. The plan was that if he cried, then Raeleen (Jason's mom) would just get up and take him out. I didn't really see the point in buying a ticket for her because I was sure he would end up "talking" or crying right away. But he didn't. He surprised us all by falling asleep on Jason's lap almost the whole entire time, 'cept for the last 15 minutes or so. Even then I just took him into the hall and I still got to see the whole movie. I really liked it too. Saturday night we had "Easter Dinner." That was really neat since we all ate in the kitchen together. That is something I have never envisioned myself doing with just Jason's immediate family. I mean I knew it would probably happen eventually, but it still is weird to me.
Sunday we just mulled about the house. Raeleen had to take all kinds of pills and drinks to clean up her system for the surgery, so she wasn't feeling good. We decided to take Griffin to Orem to see my Grandma LeeAnn and Grandpa Paul. They live on Main Street in the house where my Great Grandparents lived that have since passed away. They are the only ones that we told about our visit. They knew about the surgery because my grandma home teaches with Jason's dad's sister, who lives next door. We only got to stay about an hour, but I'm glad we were able to see them. Then we picked up Chinese food from Smith's (of all places) for dinner. That night Jason and I went to a movie with Nick and two of his friends. We saw Stop Loss. It was very sad. I don't usually like movies that have to do with war, but this one was different as it focused on their lives after they got home. I still didn't really like it, but it was different and informative, I'll give it that. Jason, however, said that he didn't like it simply because it didn't have enough war scenes in it. Go figure.
Monday was the day of the surgery. Basically, what they had to do was go in and take 4-6 inches off of her colon so they could do a biopsy on it and see how serious it is. The surgery was 4 hours long and after she came out, she was doing really well. They gave her an epidural and a morphine drip for her pain, so at first she couldn't feel anything at all. Griffin was seriously grumpy at the hospital so we had to spend most of the day at home. But Jessica had a paper due that day and she asked me to help her edit it, so it was time well spent at home. The next day we left at 7am for our flight. I'm glad that we got to go up there to visit, because all of his family was there and most importantly, Raeleen got to see Griffin. Oh and I nearly forgot to mention how bad it snowed! When we came out of the theatre on Sunday night, it was like a freakin blizzard outside. I couldn't believe it! But, I also loved it. I know it is hard for you Utahns, and I understand that is why I still live in Arizona, but sometimes, when you go home, you just want something to be the same. And I can always count on the snow.