What a super fun weekend! At the beginning of this past week, Caya talked with Nichole and let her know that she would like to "impose" on us and come stay with us for a few days. Grace had come here to BYU for soccer camp and was going to come here to pick her up. She came over to our house on Wednesday evening and was here through tonight, Sunday. She will be here through Tuesday and we will get together tomorrow again for Lagoon and dinner in the evening. She then goes back home to Idaho on Tuesday just in time for Grace to get back for her girl's camp. Grace is now 12 and got along great with Brad, Jake, Ava and Eli. They just became instant friends and were super nice to each other. They had so much fun. Grace was like a big sister Ava never had. Those two got along amazingly. It was like they just bonded and connected. A fun thing they liked to do was to play on the trampoline and do "tricks" with the sprinkler spraying them at the same time. It felt to me that even Nichole and Caya bonded, too. Nichole has always liked Caya, but it seemed more special this weekend...like they were old friends. So, that was super nice and made the whole weekend just that much more enjoyable. We were literally one big happy family, and it was awesome!
Friday was our fun day at Lagoon. The family and Caya went to Lagoon at 11:00 and I got there shortly after from work. I went in early trying to get all my necessary work items completed before heading over to spend the rest of the day with them. I made a huge mistake by riding a "kid" ride called the Dragon. Well, it was one of those rides that just goes in circles. I cannot handle those rides. It got me sick, so I was miserable for the next couple of hours. In fact, I had to go relax at the Lagoona Beach area by taking a nap and resting in the water. If it was up to me, I'd stay in the pool all day long. I love the water, especially pools and water parks. It has to be probably my favorite thing to do. To just relax by the water and play there is my idea of an ideal vacation and relaxation. After an hour or so, I was finally able regain my equilibrium composure and get back on some rides with the group. I got to ride the old wood Roller Coaster with Jake, Grace and Ava. Ava got scared and kept saying during the ride, "I don't like this. I don't like this". So, she spent the rest of the day with Annaka, Eli and Nichole on the little kid rides. And, yes, those are the "kid" rides that I could not handle. She is much better with roller coaster than her daddy.
The afternoon was spent riding the "big kid" rides with Caya, Brad, Jake, Grace and Justin. The funnest ride I finally got to go on was the Cannibal. Grace and Caya taught us a couple fun games...chicken, taco, chicken, taco, boom and the hand-slap game, not sure what it is called
I think more than anything, it was just fun and meaningful to spend Wednesday and Thursday night reminiscing as well as just hanging out and having fun together. Even Saturday was spent going to Bridal Veil Falls in Sundance Canyon, feeding a couple horses, going to Dairy Queen and getting some ice cream and then coming home for dinner where we made some crepes together. While eating dinner on Saturday after making crepes, we watched our old high school yearbook video. That was fun looking at old pictures and just enjoying memories.
As Caya and I looked back at how we became friends, we don't recall an instance where we just "connected". In fact, we didn't really know each other too well in grade school and she even had Don in a class. It was while looking at the old grade school picture that she realized he was in her class and she did not even know it. So, how did we become such good friends? I think it was just more of a bond and a connection with nothing really in particular. Somehow, we just connected and became special to each other. Our friendship was a true friendship where you just really cared for the other's welfare and well-being. We did stuff during school hours together, but we didn't really do a whole lot out of school together. But, for some reason, we just always connected and cared for each other. She is a true and dear friend. Caya now has Grace who is 12, Caya Junior who is 20, a step-daughter Taylor who is 25 and a step-son Cory who is 33. Sunday, Caya came to church with us. That was really cool to me. It meant a lot that a friend who I helped introduce the gospel to was able to come to church with me! A meaningful thing that happened was that she was able to come to my third hour Priesthood class and share her conversion story with 5 young men...Mitchell, Brad, Liam, Aaron and Elijah. It was good for them to hear her story. Caya invited these 5 young boys to share the gospel with someone outside of the church. The thing that helped Caya feel the gospel was important was the testimony I shared in the beginning of the Book of Mormon that I gave her. So, she told the boys to write their testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to someone
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| Grace with Ava and Eli. This picture says it all...they got along great |
