visiting family

Last Thursday night, we drove to my sister's in Vegas and spent the night. Friday we drove to Mesa to visit Andrew, Heather, Henry, and Joy. We had a great time over the weekend visiting and playing a ton of games (most of which were won by Alex, but not all). And some of us didn't get much sleep. (Andrew, I hope you've recovered!). Andrew introduced us to a new game, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, which we loved so much, we bought it for ourselves.

Andrew also posted about our weekend. To read his post, go here:
https://agamedesignersblog.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-post-where-we-play-games-for-2.html

We mostly stayed inside playing games, though Glen and I had a lovely walk through Andrew's neighborhood on Saturday morning. Saturday night we went out for pizza at Organ Stop Pizza. They have the world's biggest Wurlitzer organ there and while you eat you get to listen to live organ music. It was quite unique!

Sunday we went to church and then stopped by the grounds of the Gilbert Arizona Temple to get a few pictures in. Sunday afternoon, Heather's parents, a sister, and a brother joined us for dinner (homemade enchiladas).

After we returned home, I saw a meme on my facebook page that said, "My hands have held many things, but nothing quite as sweet as the hand of my grandchild." It truly is a sweet thing to be with your grandchildren. Henry (4 1/2) is a ball of energy and Joy (almost 2) is kind of a quiet child, but she wasn't afraid of us and enjoyed having grandpa read to her.

the world's largest Wurlitzer at Organ Stop Pizza Mesa, AZ

Andrew, Alex, Eric, and me playing games (Caverna) in Andrew's kitchen

Alex, Eric, Andrew, Henry, Heather, Joy, Beth, and Glen after church

outside the Gilbert, Arizona Temple

this was so funny--Eric was explaining some deep plot to Henry (Book? Movie? Game?)

Story time! Glen is such a good grandpa.

Joy trying to brush her teeth

What a cutie!

On the way back to Vegas, we dropped in for a quick visit with Glen's Uncle Jim and Aunt Marilyn (Nancy's sister). It was so good to see them again and catch up on their news.

We spent Monday night at Deni and Pat's playing games there as well. We laughed so hard playing "What Do You Meme?" (edited version). We also got to see two of our nephews, Cory and Danny. I'm so glad that they took the time to stop by.

While there, I was able to pick up an old family Bible that belonged to my 3rd great-grandfather, Joel Jervis. It does have some family dates in it, but it's about 150 years old, so it's a bit scary to touch. So cool, though. I also was able to pick up a photo of the man himself. I hope to make smaller copies of the picture so others can have a copy, too.

hard to take a photo because of the glare

Yesterday was Dad's turn to host dominoes. Alex and I helped out setting up the snacks (yum!) and then got to play as well. It's always girls against the guys and the guys won this time (4th time in a row apparently). It was a lot of fun.

And fall has arrived here. The trees are turning yellow and the lawn can hardly be seen for the fallen leaves. Beautiful.

And more games are being played. Alex, Eric, and I just finished an 8 game campaign with an expansion pack to Scythe. Guess how many I won? If you said 0, you'd be right. Eric managed to win one, but Alex won 7 of them.  It was a blast, even it I lost.

And lastly, I sent the facebook link of this video to my children, then I looked it up on youtube. This is a wonderful Brad Wilcox 5 Minute Fireside where he's talking about us finding our personal mission. Great stuff.

Andrew's family, Happy Birthday Alex, blessings on our head

First off, Happy 19th Birthday Alex!!!

Heather posted a great picture on facebook on Saturday. I love it. And them. So excited that we get to see them soon.

Alex, Eric, Glen, and I were able to attend the temple Friday night and do sealings for our family names. Being in the temple is wonderful enough, bringing your own family names is extra special, but being there with your family is one of the most precious experiences. So sweet.

It was Alex's first time doing sealings, and because of some changes that just came out from church headquarters last week, it was my first time being a witness in the sealings. Pretty darn cool.

Other fun news is that for the few short weeks before he starts his mission, Alex gets to be a temple worker! What a special opportunity for him. David and Jackie work on Tuesday nights, so they can bring him to and from the temple. They took him yesterday and he had a wonderful time. He said that he really understood what people mean by not worrying about stuff while they are in the temple. He wasn't worried at all about his mission while in the temple, and he really felt at peace there. He wished he had more time to attend before he has to leave.

General Conference weekend was supernal. Maybe I'll post more about it next week.

Mozel tov, mozel tov...the blessings on our head deal with my car. Long story short, what we thought might have been a big problem with my car turned out to be a dirty air filter. Phew. So grateful. So blessed.