Family Matters

We ended the month of August off just right: spending it with family. Jason’s sister, Amy, came into to town one weekend with her son, Oliver. Oliver was just about to turn two, so she wanted to take advantage of his free flying time. Apparently, children under two fly free. Oliver has been obsessed with planes and had never flown in one, so this was the perfect time. Amy also had a free flying voucher, so they spent the weekend in Alpine.

Jason, Charlie, and I were lucky enough to spend a large portion of the time with them. We met up with them for dinner the first night, lunch with them the second day, and Saturday afternoon was spent on a fun adventure. We walked around the beautiful Provo Temple grounds and visited good old BYU campus. We discovered that a lovely new walking path has been added on the south hill above the duck pond. Gorgeous! Jason and I want to go back there again soon to spend a little more time on that beautiful trail. After our nostalgic walk, we all enjoyed dinner at Milagros (a Mexican restaurant by Winco....so yummy!)

Amy and Oliver left on Sunday morning, and by Sunday afternoon, we were welcoming Grandpa Banks and Uncle Alan into town. They were coming for a week long stay, and again we were able to spend a lot of time with them. 

Tuesday night, we met up with the gang for dinner at Kneaders and then showed them our little apartment. Uncle Alan gifted us with a small, old school chair with Charlie’s name etched on the back (it is tradition that Uncle Alan gives each family a small, old school chair with the names of each child carved on the back. Since Charlie was our first, we finally received our chair). Such a cute and special tradition that Uncle Alan has started!

On Wednesday, we met up with them in Midway for a yummy lunch at Fanny’s Grill. While we were there, we took a peek at the hot pot from the inside of the crater. Pretty  neat. Thursday was another family filled day. We had a pancake, egg, and bacon breakfast up American Fork Canyon, lunch at Trellis Cafe, and then Charlie and I met up with them again at the Grubers for a Cafe Rio dinner (while Jason went fishing with Max, George, and Uncle Alan up middle Provo). 

Saturday was the day of Grandpa Banks and Uncle Alan’s departure. On their way out, they stopped at our apartment again to see Jason’s newly mounted fish (from his fishing trip back in May). Jason had actually just picked up the finished fish just minutes before they stopped by! It was especially great because Grandpa Banks was the one paying for the fish mounting! So it was really special to be able to have him see it in person right before he left. Grandpa Banks also left us with another gift, a cute little silver cup for Charlie. It is a sweet, old-fashioned tradition...and we are so grateful to him.

Here it is mounted in Charlie's room a few days later

What a fun, activity-packed week for us and the Gruber family. Nothing beats time with family!