Hanging with Celebrities?

Jeff, Erica and the kids came out to Salt Lake from Connecticut for Erica's Great Grandma's 100th birthday at the end of August.  They didn't have very much time so my Mom, Lyle, Suzie, Shelayne and I drove up Friday August 24th to spend the afternoon with them.  On our way up there Jeff texted to ask where we were.  We decided to tease him and we just told him a mile marker.  He wrote back with "Oh so Fillmore area?"  And yes, that is where we were.  I am pretty sure the only people who would know that is truckers and Jeff.  The night before our trip NBC aired a special Rock Center about Mormons.  Jeff's father-in-law had been one of the people that they had interviewed.  We had know it was on but hadn't been able to watch it but my Mom had recorded it.  Here is how the next bit of me and Jeff's text messages went.

Jeff:  "Are you all nervous to be meeting celebrities today?"

Me: "What celebrities?"

Jeff: "Um..Me, Erica and Ellie.  We were all on national television last night on NBC."

Me: "We didn't watch it but Mom recorded it.  What roll did you play?"

Jeff: "There was a family pic from Daniel's wedding on the screen for like 5 seconds."

Me: "Well we are not just meeting you.  We have already met you."

Jeff: "I know but it's only last night that I became a celebrity.  And it's gone straight to my head."

Me: "Are you buying lunch then?"

Jeff: "I didn't say I had cashed in on my celebrity, so no.  I just meant that I'm probably going to be insufferable."

Me: "We are turning around and going home."

Jeff: "You can't do that to me!!!  I'm Jeff Goulding!! I have a minuscule amount of tangential fame!!  You will come and you will eat lunch with me and my famous family!!

Me: "Well I hope we don't have to cut our visit short."

Jeff: "Your visit will last as long as I want it to."

Me: "Well here is something you can't control.....we are going to eat all of your honey candy (my sister had made for him) before we get there."

Jeff: "How dare you!  You can't do that to me and my tiny amount of fame.  It will be in no tabloids and no one will really care!"

Needless to say we were all laughing pretty hard.  He is such a dork.  A funny one though.  

So here are some pictures from the trip.

Ellie

Shelayne cheesing it for the camera.

Ellie wouldn't let me get a good picture so I had to surprise her.

Adam wouldn't smile.  But he was letting Lyle hold him without crying.  None of the rest of us had been able to do that.

These two had a lot of fun together

This was Ellie when we were about to leave.  I think she was sad that we were.  It was too short of a visit.

This was the final shot of Adam before we left.  He is a sweet little guy.

Quality Family Time

My family was altogether for the first time in four years this summer.  It was so fun to have us all in the same place at the same time.  It gets a lot harder when one sibling lives in Alaska and one lives in Connecticut.  But at the end of June we were able to make it happen. 

Here is just us siblings together. Well with a couple little girls in the background.

My oldest niece had a baby so this is a five generation picture.

Each family got pictures with the grandparents and so they made me too.

Here is me with Trystan, my great nephew.  I know what you're thinking and you are right, I am not old enough to be a great aunt.  This is the first time any of us were meeting the little Alaskan.

This picture is blurry but I had tried so hard to get him to smile and was pretty proud of myself when he finally did.  He sure is a cute little guy.

Ellie and Grandpa Neal having a heart to heart.

This is sweet little Adam.  Since my Mom had been on a mission she had never met this little one either.  He is a pretty chill little guy.

This is Ellie being mean to Adam.  I love that I captured the look on her face right before she pulled him down.  She is a silly little stinker.

Hopefully we won't have to wait another four years for us all to be together again.  We had such a good time meeting new family members and barbequing with extended family.