Grandma Time!

Grandma's Pool

It was unseasonably cool for the middle of June in Yuba City.  It made for fabulous days of sweat-free time outside, but unfortunately my mom's pool was freezing!  We only went in twice and William would shiver and cling to me each time so I gave up.  We went to the new Aquatic Center that had kids water slides and fountains.  I didn't have my camera for the public pool so you'll have to trust me that it was fun.

"Night Before the Wedding" Dinner

This was an informal version of a rehearsal dinner.  Both Marc and Kristen's families were there and we had Hawaiian haystacks, Grandma Barrow's potato salad and delicious pineapple-coconut cake.  As always, when we get together with aunts, uncles, and cousins, funny stories and lots of laughter are to follow.  This night was no exception.

 Marc and Kristen's Wedding

The whole reason for the visit was to attend the temple wedding of my cousin, Marc and his now wife, Kristen.  I was one of the last to get married so I wasn't endowed to go to the temple for most of my family's wedding, including my sister and brother's weddings.  I didn't want to miss out on this opportunity.  The ceremony was beautiful and reminded me of my own sealing.  Sacramento weather was beautiful, the couple was good looking and Kristen's dress was gorgeous.  After the photo session, we headed back to my Aunt Kelly and Uncle Sterling's backyard for the reception.  It was very tasteful and I loved the small jars of homemade strawberry jam as wedding favors.  Towards the end of the evening, William entertained everyone with his interpretive dance moves.  Very funny, but I couldn't get a good picture of it.  That Saturday was a long day, but a lot of fun.

Fairytale Town

A tradition in my family is a visit to Fairytale Town in Sacramento.  My Aunt Kelly used to pack us all in her car and take us there every Christmas Eve day.  As I got older, the park got more and more run down but in recent years they've renovated the park and now it's a pretty decent place to bring kids and relive old childhood memories.  William loved the slides and watering Mr. McGregor's Garden (from A Tale of Peter Rabbit).  Somewhere in my aunt's scrapbooks there are photos of the giant cheese "standing alone" from "The Farmer in the Dell" and all of us cheesing it up on it.  I got my mom and William to peek out of the holes and I even wedged my pregnant self inside for a photo.

Helping Grandma

William loves to be helpful.  He asked if he could help Grandma make a fruit salad and before she could respond, he was already pushing a chair up to the counter to stand on.  He also liked watering the flowers and filling up the fountain with water.  We went to In and Out Burger while out there and he insisted on getting a hat to wear like the workers there.  This is why he's wearing it like a chef's hat while helping Grandma in the kitchen.

Barrow Family Food Fest

It's been said that when the Barrows get together, it's always a food fest.  Yes, yes it is and yes it was!  Everyone brought good food to share and we had barbeque hamburgers and humongous Nathan's hot dogs.  Unfortunately, my mom forgot to take out the Lime Whip Jello Salad (my favorite family recipe!) from the freezer and it was ruined.  Darn!  Then we played my favorite game, Dirty Bingo.  This is when you play regular Bingo and get a wrapped prize with every Bingo you get.  Then when the gifts run out, you start stealing from each other.  When someone gets a blackout (a full Bingo card), only then does everyone get to open their prizes.  I was the game master that night to let my mom have a turn at playing.  I also got to pick out the prizes and that was fun to do.  My mom won the big ticket prize, a bag of chip clips from IKEA.  The rest were from the dollar sections of Michaels and Target.  I especially loved the patriotic hats that Kelly and Jeff won.  It was my cousin, Michael's, 28th birthday so we sang "Happy Birthday" and had mint chip ice cream cake, brownies, and cherry and berry pies.  Christian and Janay had their first baby and got checked out of the hospital that night so they came over for Baby Brynlee's family barbeque debut.

Visiting With my Mom

My mom was working most of the days I was there but we still got in some good "Girly Time."  We went shopping in Roseville, got pedicures, went to Home Town Buffet with Grandma Barrow, and stayed up too late in the night talking.  I also love my mom's back yard.  Sometimes we would just sit outside and watch the birds and eat breakfast or sip cold drinks by the pool.