It turns out when I'm involved in a ton of awesome conversations and visiting family and old friends I forget to take pictures. Blame me for being in the moment.
I flew back to Utah and a couple days later, on the fourth, Dad and Townsend flew in. They spent only a couple days in Utah but we made it worth while. We had a rather large family reunion with my Judd relatives. Grandma, aunt, uncles, a lot of their kids, and grandkids. It was a bit crazy but it reminded me of when I was younger when we had those big crazy dinners twice a week.
Good times man. One of the days we went to a carnival in American Fork. It was pretty fun and I probably had the best corn dog I've ever had. Do take into account that the only other corn dogs I've had are the ones from Costco. So not much competition. But it was still delicious.
I also rode a ferris wheel for the first time with Townsend. It's not as exciting as one would hope. Maybe if I went on a bigger one like the one in National Harbor or in Seattle. I can say I did it though. So that's something.
It was a lot of fun spending those couple of days with my Dad's fam. We left the night of the big family reunion and drove through the night to Colorado. It's a good thing Dad's a pro night driver. Cause that was a really long drive. We spent the day with one of Dad's friends and his mom. I had met them before but I was like 1. But hey it was still cool getting to meet them again.
We drove through the night again till we made it to Grandpa Done's house. We got there at like 8 in the morning and we pretty much just crashed and slept for a good 5 hours or so. And then.......Let the trip within a trip begin!
Grandpa drove us down to the Houston area and we saw our old family friends, the Martins. Now you'll have to excuse me. Before I go much farther. I didn't document this trip as well as I would've like so you'll just have to suffer through it. Anyway I haven't seen the Martins in like 13 years or so. I didn't know any of their younger kids but it was cool getting to see the parents and the kids I did remember. It brought back cool memories. We stayed at their house and had dinner with them at a pretty yummy pizza place and then ate blue bell ice cream and brownies. Guys that ice cream needs to hurry up and be sold nation wide. 'Cause dang it was good. They also taught us how to play a game called Nertz. That's a pretty intense game man. But also really fun. I can't imagine playing it with our family though. It'd get confusing fast.
The next day we bowled and played skee ball with my Aunt Jenna and her boyfriend. It turns out the more I bowl the worse I get. I was doing really well getting a fair amount of strikes and spares the first game and then the second game I just utterly failed. It was horrible. We also went out to eat at Texas Road House with them for dinner. It was pretty delicious. Those rolls man. That was really fun to see my Aunt again. I haven't seen her in like two years since the last time we drove through. So that was really awesome.
After dinner we drove to San Antonio. We got there kind of late but hey we wanted to see the river walk by moonlight so that's what we did. Who's gonna stop us?! We saw cool street performers underneath a bridge by the rivers edge. Very picturesque minus the pictures. Because I suck at taking pictures.
And then by the light of day we saw the Alamo. And now I can say I remember it.
We went to the river walk and walked the loop.
Saw some cool bridges and cool boats. Probably the American version of Venice.
Townsend rocking that pony. Be jelly.
We had lunch on the river walk and it was delicious. Like so good. It was tex-mex respectively.
During lunch we talked to mom and the kids. Here's dad talking to Norbaby. Isn't he the cutest?!
After lunch we went to the movies. Saw Spider Man in I-Max. That was awesome! Spider Man is like my favorite super hero movie. Just a lot more funny moments and less action. My type of movie. After the movie we drove to Austin and had dinner with Uncle Kyle and his girlfriend. That was a really good visit.
From there we drove up back to Trophy club were Grandpa Done is staying. We got back kind of late so went to bed when we got home. That morning we chilled and went swimming in the pool grandpa had in his back yard. That was really fun. And then later that night we went to dinner with my uncle Troy and his girlfriend Aegis. That was really fun. After dinner Aegis was performing in a band she was in so we went to her concert. She was amazing. She sung and played the harmonica. It was so impressive. I wish i could do it.
This was after the first set. We like her.
That was our last night with grandpa. So that was kind of sad. The next morning we took off and arrived in Texarkana around lunch time. We hung out with Johanna and her husband. It was really good seeing them again. I sure do love them. Anyway we went to a delicious bbq place and I got me some brisket! Pretty dang delicious man! This picture was hanging up at the bbq place and I just felt like it perfectly portrayed mothers life.
They're supposed to come visit in September sometime and I really hope that all works out. It'd be so much fun!
After our visit with Jo we drove to Birmingham and stayed the night there and then we woke early the next morning and made our way to North Carolina. We had dinner with our old buddy Terrill. It was really good to see him again. We haven't seen him in like two years so it's been a while. We went to a place called cookout that had really delicious food that was also really cheap. We should get them in VA. That's all I'm saying.
After our visit with Terrill and a good nights sleep we finished our road trip and got home around 4 in the afternoon. I sure was happy to get home. At least to sleep in my own bed. The kids were all excited to see us but more so for the gifts we brought. Hotel paper cups, shampoos, and soaps! My dad's version of a gift can be pretty interesting sometimes. Literally every trip he takes that's what he brings home for us. It's fun.
I was really glad I was able to take this trip. That I was able to see most of my Judd relatives, visit old family friends, and see my Grandpa Done and all that side of the family. It was just really cool to have all those conversations and really get to know those people. It was cool to get to know them instead of just staring at them warily as a kid.
It was awesome to see how much people love my mom, dad, and the rest of the family. But especially mom. People seem to think she's a saint. Probably because of the cancer. Or probably because she actually is.
My favorite though was being able to spend time with Dad and Townsend and have cool conversations with them about everything. Spiritual things, relationship things, mission things, funny things, random things, etc. Especially since I'll be on a mission here soon enough and won't be able to see Dad for 18 months and Townsend for even longer because he'll be on his mission when I get back. So that's kind of sad.
I've got my Spain trip bonding time with mom and my road trip with Dad and Townsend and now I need to focus on the middle people. We'll see what I end up doing with them.
Now for other news...... I got a job as a Nanny again and I'll be going on vacation with them for two weeks. Be jelly. It won't all be vacay though. I'm going to be watching her kids while she's in meetings and at conferences for 5 of the 14 days but hey that's not bad at all. And I''ll get to see Colorado and all the nature it beholds and go to her sisters wedding while we're out there. Then I'm going to southern Utah to see arches and canyons and all the nature there. And lastly to the beach! To Cali I'll go! I think I'm most excited for that. I really love the ocean man. It's probably one of my most favorite places. And then back to home to continue saving money for the mission.
So my next blog post will probably be of that amazing adventure. Till next time!
