Carissa's Family Comes to Town, Part II

A week and a half after Randy and the boys left Carissa’s mother, Kathy, came to town. Leah loves her Grammy and Grammy loves her Leah-pooh.

This was the first time Grammy had flown in quite some time and also the first time she had visited the Beehive State. So we took her on the obligatory tour of Temple Square. We visited the Conference Center first. Then we walked the grounds around the temple giving Kathy our own self-guided tour. We visited the Tabernacle and listened to the sister missionary give a demonstration of the unique acoustics of the historic building. We stopped by the North Visitor's Center and paused and reflected for a moment before the beautiful statue of the Christus. Then we walked across the street to the Church History Museum to see the collection of art and the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Mom and daughter posed for a shot here in the LDS Conference Center. They’re both beautiful.

Temple Square was serene as always and the day couldn’t have been more perfect. Leah loved the opportunity to run around and have a good time. She met a few new friends when Jason ran into a childhood friend from Kahuku and his family. Sissy and Leah got busted for picking pansies and tossing them in the fountain. They must have had a lookout from the Joseph Smith Building to the east because within minutes a custodian appeared on the scene with a skimmer to clean the fountain. The Church is connected.

The best part of the visit was that Kathy was able to attend the Ward Halloween party. It was a good time. Kathy was a dead ringer in her costume as grandma, though she did look about 20 years too young to play the part. Carissa made Jason's heart melt when she came out rosy cheeked and freckle faced as Strawberry Shortcake. Jason claimed financial hardship for lack of costume. Though he really was just being a grump and truth be told if he did dress up it would have probably been inappropriate. Leah, adorable as ever, did her very best to be the monkey that she is.




















Three generations represented. And no, the little one in Carissa's arms isn't ours. He's little Dillon and Carissa can't seem to put him down when he is around. Jason wishes Carissa gave him that kind of attention.















We were very sad to see Leah's Grammy go. But after Grammy taught Leah this trick it was time to go: