Trip to AZ--part 5: Trip to Mesa

While I spent extra time in Arizona, one of my days was spent back in Mesa, visiting with Grandpa and a former college roommate.

I loved seeing this pairing of Grandma's scriptures and her glasses. While I know it was Aunt Beverly that left them on this little table, not Grandma, they are two symbols of her life and I loved it. Grandma always wore large glasses because she couldn't stand the thought of being limited in her vision by her frames. Oh, how her blue eyes twinkled with love behind those frames!

This will forever be a memory of mine--Grandma and Grandpa's formal living room with that huge mirrored wall and those velvety soft couches. Those couches are probably about 60 years old, and in excellent condition!

We wanted to leave Grandpa's refrigerator full of the tangerines that he loves so he could enjoy their juice. So on this day in 115* heat, we took our Alaskan-tempered selves out to the trees and picked tangerines for Grandpa. David was red in the face and hot, but he was a good trooper in spite of the heat.

Never to be one that idly sits by while others do work for him, Grandpa the Great was out there with us as well. At 93 years old, he was lifting a full bucket of oranges.

I climbed a tree for only one reason--not because it was fun, or easy, or had a nice cool breeze to enjoy. I climbed a tree under that penetrating sun to pick oranges for Grandpa. I tossed the oranges gently into a bucket as I picked them, then when I was back on the ground I saw that all of those oranges were so hot that they split open when I tossed them into the bucket. I hope we didn't leave a bigger mess for Grandpa, hopefully he was able to juice them before those hot oranges went bad.

As I said goodbye to Grandpa, he kept asking me, "Are you sure you can't use any more of Grandma's fabric?" I had taken a small stash, so I thanked him and went on my way.  Grandma was a quilter. And she bought fabric, and stored it in every nook and cranny in her house. Grandpa was happy to give away the fabric, but he really wanted it to go to someone who loved Grandma, and not to just goodwill. When I dug through the fabric, it was a large trailer overflowing with boxes of fabric.

Two days later I returned to Mesa again, and I said, "Grandpa, I think I'd like to take another look at the fabric!" He was giddy with excitement, and had me follow him home from church. With sweat dripping down our backs, Grandpa would pull a piece out and say, "There now, wouldn't that make a lovely blouse?" Oh, it was treasured time together. Then he handed me a half-used package of snaps and said, "Would these be helpful to you?" Of course! I would have taken the whole lot of it if I could-- I found a few more pieces to take home with me, and Grandpa was so pleased that I could use more fabric.

Another thing I want to capture about my visit with Grandpa was how he sensed when I was about to leave (we were all gathered at Aunt Carol's for her youngest son's mission farewell.) and Grandpa stood patiently by the door while I said my round of goodbyes. He gave me a hug, and walked me to the front porch while telling me his tricks about how to stay awake on my long drive the next day. "If you eat popcorn, it will keep you awake, and it doesn't fill you up like peanuts do." and "When I drive to Utah, I like to have home movies playing in the seat directly behind me. I can't see the pictures, but I can hear the voices while I drive, and those memories keep me company and they keep me alert." How grateful I felt for Grandpa's concern and counsel as we parted ways. Oh, how I love Grandpa Ray!

On Sunday evening, I slipped away from family to visit a dear and treasured friend. Amy was a college roommate, and one of the dearest people to me! David and I enjoyed being in her home with her sweet family, and Amy's ability to express her love lifted me and helped me remember those carefree college days. I love your guts, Amy Ann!

Trip to AZ--part 4: Pool Party with the Gilstraps

I called up Sam's sister who lives in Prescott, and they were wonderful to drive the 1 1/2 hours to see us in Phoenix. We had a fun BBQ and pool party. Then I thought I would show them the ways of visiting Glendale, and I introduced them to the chocolate factory in downtown Glendale.

Evelyn and Elyce were great little swimmers! They each got braver with each pass across the pool, and they encourage David to improve his stroke by showing him what they were learning in swim class.

Thank you, Uncle Andrew, for being the Daddy figure and letting David jump off the wall to you. David was getting very comfortable in the water at this point, and jumping to Andrew took him to the next level.

I have to say that Matt and Monica were gracious to let us host a party in their house when we were their house guests! Matt has a gift at the BBQ and made us some delicious steaks. I didn't see how he did it, but I know that a whole cube of butter disappeared from the kitchen while he was outside at the grill--so I knew better than to ask too many questions. The food was melt in your mouth good, and we had the best chef on the block at our service! Thanks for your hospitality, and your extended hospitality, Harmons!

Trip to AZ--part 3: Staying with the Harmons

Since we were in town for a couple of days, I decided to stay for an extra week. My sister Monica, and her family were wonderful to host us. I lived in Arizona for 17 years, then my family moved to Utah the summer before my senior year of high school. My visits to Arizona seem to be about every 5 years, and it's usually an intense walk down memory lane, as well as a chance to get reconnected with friends.

I was able to visit my best friend from high school and her darling family. Becca is the best example and friend a girl could ever ask for. It's wonderful to pick up where we left off, even though we only get to catch up every few years. No pictures, but David and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner and family night in her home.

I was also able to drive by the house where I grew up, my former elementary school, as well as my high school. I was surprised at how excited I was to see everything--mostly unchanged.

Monica was the hostess with the mostest while we were with her, and took us to this chocolate factory in downtown Glendale--three times in 4 days. Ceretta's has the best mint chocolates I've ever eaten. Mr. Ceretta himself was working the line when we toured this simple demonstration--he's the man with the white hair.

Here are the boys standing next to a giant Oompa Loompa made of solid chocolate.

This Santa is a solid 500 lbs.

David and I went swimming in Auntie's pool every day we were in town, twice a day. I began my day by doing laps in the morning, and by the time I was done with the rigor of the exercise, David was ready to join me for a swim lesson. One morning when I was doing my laps, my brother in law, Matt, walked out and said, "What is this! A polar bear dip!?!?" He was only half kidding. After all, it was 8 am, and the thermometer had only reached a mere 88 degrees. To an Alaskan, that is summer in full throttle. To an Arizonan, that is too cold to go swimming. He waited until it got hot before he jumped in.

The first time David got into the pool, I let him walk down the stairs and sink like a rock. I wanted him to know that the water is to be respected. We worked together on a few tricks to help him get accustomed to handling his body in the water. After about 45 minutes, I put him on the stairs and asked him to stay put while I went to get a noodle from the other side of the pool. Half way across the pool, I felt I needed to turn back and check on David. I immediately turned around, and didn't see him on the steps. I scanned the water, and saw him struggling underwater right next to his uncle. It was during the pool party with all of the cousins, so there was so much commotion that Uncle Matt didn't even realize that David was right next to him, struggling. I called Matt's name three times. Matt just looked at me, a little confused. Then I said, "David can't swim!" and then Matt looked down to see what I saw. Uncle Logan and Uncle Matt were on David in a hurry, and no harm was done. Except for the near heart attack it gave every adult that saw him brought up and gasp for breath. It did, however, give David a very healthy respect of the water. After that incident, he didn't try to do more in the water than what he could safely handle.

All of that happened our first day in the pool. After being in Arizona for a whole week, David was a little shark. I kept trying to call him my salmon, but he corrected me--he's a shark.

He willingly dove down again and again to get sink toys from various depths of the pool. While David was learning how to swim, I was learning from Monica about how to teach him to swim. She coached me on how to take him through the baby steps of getting  him comfortable in the water, and encourage him to improve his skill level. From the game of sending him after sink toys, I learned that it's better to give his little shoulders a shove down towards the toy when he goes after it--so he can spend more time working on getting his head above the water again instead of expending all of his air and energy going down. Everything about swimming seems to be teaching David to come back up for air, so anything I could do to encourage that along was a step in the right direction.

This picture has David going after a sink toy that was just on the stairs. (Oh, and goggles really helped him feel confident under water as well!)

I count myself as a strong swimmer, but the design of this pool was deeper than I could comfortably stay afloat and keep David moving around like he needed to in order to learn. So I discovered the wonderful world of the "noodle seat." It saved me tremendous energy in keeping both of us afloat when my feet were barely touching the bottom of the pool!

David eventually got confident enough to jump off the side of the pool--a huge improvement from that first day when he sunk like a rock, then followed me off the steps.

His dive in action--then he figured out how to get his arms out, his feet kicking, his bubbles were huge underwater, and David was an absolute natural. Now we need to just get him to come up on his own for a breath, then he can swim the length of the pool. In my family growing up, anyone who could swim the length  of the pool on their own got to go for ice cream, and they got a double scoop on top of a cone. More importantly, swimming the full length of the pool meant you were strong enough that you could play in the pool, not just hold on to the sides and stay on the steps. I am so grateful we had the time in the pool, and that Monica spent time to help both of us learn better our part so David could learn how to swim.

The Harmons also did David the favor of introducing him to Star Wars, light sabers, and jedi training.

The boys were learning from the best as the movie went along!

Monica also took us over to the Challenger Center--a museum on space exploration, named for the Challenger space shuttle. It was well done and all three boys really enjoyed themselves.

I had so much fun watching David interact with these two cute boy cousins. There were some moments when David had to figure out a few social skills--but I guess that comes with the territory. He doesn't have siblings to teach him, so we look to cousins for some of that. I am so grateful that David has so many dear boys his age in our extended family. I can imagine that in the coming years, their friendship will be a source of strength for each other.