Soon after the reunion we headed down to Snowflake Arizona to see family and attend a good friend's reception. The trip took about 6 hours, so we did stop a couple of times on the way.
Dawson decided to 'share' his candy......
We stopped at Glen Canyon Dam to show Dawson the bridge and the dam. He thought it was cool, but kind of scary. I will agree with the kind of scary- the bridge would move as the cars drove over it and the wind was blowing so strong!
We stayed at my Aunt Kathy's house. (My dad's brother's house). My cousin lives with her parents so Dawson had cousins to play with. They had so much fun! it was beautiful weather and their house is right below the Snowflake temple.
Saturday night we went to our friend, J.P's, reception. We were so excited to see him because we hadn't seen him for 5 years! The story behind J.P.: we worked at the Village Apartments for 2 years and while working there, J.P and his brother came in looking for an apartment. I noticed they were from Taylor Arizona so I immediately got excited because that's where my cousins (the other Shelley's) lived. They knew them and seemed pretty awesome people so i offered J.P. a job. He and J.D. became way good friends and we knew it'd be a life long friendship. He is such a genuine person and we had some awesome memories with him. We weren't about to miss his wedding, so here we are.
When we walked in, we stood back for a second just seeing if J.P. would notice us or even remember us. I told J.D. I didn't think he'd recognize us because we both have gotten fat. lol! His face made the trip all worth it. He just got big eyed and opened his mouth with shock. He was the only one there who knew who we were and so EVERYONE was giving us confusing looks like, "who are these people..." J.P. just left the line and grabbed us both. He started crying because he was in disbelief. We started tearing up because we all knew that our friendship was so much more and had missed each other so much. It was such an amazing night and the BEST reception ever.
Dawson was WAY into the girls and dancing. He'd go up and ask them to dance. It was the cutest and yet hardest thing as parents to watch. He'd slowly make his way towards the girl he wanted to dance with and right as he got upto her, she would run off or walk away (SHE didn't realize Dawson was right behind her when this would happen, so it wasn't like she was turning him down.) Dawson would then look at us and you could see he was disheartened. However, he tried over and over and over again. Finally, I gave him a little help by actually asking the girl and getting her attention... so here he is. Isn't he so handsome!???
He did come ask me to dance first before any other girls. It made me feel so special. He wanted me to dance all night with him, but I had to let him venture out and see other girls.
I was the happiest mother ever.
The next day we went to Heber to show Dawson and J.D. a little Shelley history. The Shelley's have been a part of Heber from the beginning. This is the Heber house the my dad and Uncle still own.
Here is a road named after the Shelley's.
We went to the cemetary to see my grandparents grave sights. Dawson wasn't super into pics today, but we got a couple.
This is my grandma and grandpa Shelley. I have little, but fond memories of them. My sister Amy always says that out of all the kids, I look the most like my grandmother... so we looked at pics of my grandma when she was younger and its funny how much resemblence there really is. I know where I get my face shape, my cheeks, and curly hair. (curly hair also comes from my mom's mother as well).
This is my dad's other brother who passed away when he was 13, Gary.
Dawson picked wild flowers and kept putting them in my hair- it was so sweet.
It was neat to show Dawson a little history of my family. He now thinks that every cemetary is where my father's father died. Little kids are so innocent and sweet. Sometimes their understanding makes life seem so simple.
We had such a good time and really enjoyed the weekend. It was short, but it was filled with amazing memories and we left feeling like it was more than worth it to come. We were so happy we could make the trip.
0 comments:
Post a Comment