Spring Break Smash Up

We decided to go to Utah for Spring Break this year since Katie was expecting her first baby around the same time.  Little did we know Grandpa Ogden would be hospitalized with a staph infection from his hip replacement.  We felt so blessed that we could be there and visit with him in person.  This has been a tough thing for him and for my mom.  He just found out he has another 3 1/2 months of surgery and recovery time.  We hope he can hang in there not only physically but mentally/emotionally as well.  We want him to get well and be around for a lot longer!!

 Paige celebrated her 18th birthday the day after we arrived.  We took her to Divergent and then out to eat at The Roof with both sets of grandparents.  Luckily Grandpa O got to check out of the rehab center for a few hours and come.  I still can't believe she is an adult.  I'll never forget the words I muttered through sobs and tears that first week of her life, "I don't know if I can do this for 18 more years??"  Somehow we made it and she is an intelligent, kind, helpful and productive member of society ready to take on her new phase of life.  I love her so much and look forward to watching her launch into whatever she chooses to do!

 

 

We loved meeting the newest baby in the Park Clan, 

BRAXTON MICHAEL REDD.   He is just too cute for his own good!

 

 

This is the room at Indian Hills Middle School where Mike and I first met each other.  He sat behind me in Ms Matthews 6th grade math class ( because of alphabetical order) and realized for the first time that girls grew armpit hair.  Apparently I hadn't come to that realization yet.  I was too busy noticing how obnoxious and loud he was.  But I do have to admit he was a lot friendlier than me! 

Great Grandma Arnell.  She is 92 and looks amazing! The girls also saw Hayley, Madison, and Ashlyn for a few hours.  They've all grown up so fast!

Critter gave us 2 tickets to the Jazz game, so Mike and Jackson went together, and Grandpa Park bought himself a ticket.  I think Jackson was pretty much in heaven watching Carmelo Anthony play with the Knicks. 

We spent a day in Provo checking out where Paige will be living next year and went to the Sacred Gifts exhibit at the Museum, which I loved.  But the favorite spot was the new Legends building where they have BYU sports memorabilia. 

 Even Grandpa's name is etched into the wall.

 

 One of my favorite things we did was to spend a day skiing and snowboarding at Brighton Resort.  The kids had never gone before so we signed them up for lessons in the morning and by afternoon they were all up and going.  (Although there was a lot of frustration, tears, and falls at first) It is a lot of work and money to make it happen, but I think we will do it again because we all had so much fun by the end of the day! 

 

 One of our last days there we met up with the Forbes family whom we hadn't seen in 5 years since we moved from Washington.  All of the kids have grown up and changed so much.  It was so fun re-connecting!

 The day before we flew out we took the kids to the Saturday morning session of General Conference.  I was so happy we got to hear from Pres. Holland who is one of my favorite speakers. I think the kids enjoyed it, even though it was a battle to get a couple of them to wake up early and go.  Because we are such a minority here in the South, it was a special feeling to be in the conference center with so many other Mormons and feel united.