Here I am again behind on posting, but this summer has just been unbelievably crazy with some of the must joyful moments and some of the saddest. At the beginning of August we were able to go to Utah to visit family. We were originally only going for a week, but John was able to get permission to work from Utah, so we were able to stay a second week. We had known before we left that his dad was not doing well so that second week was such a blessing. Whenever we go to Utah the kids are in heaven. Being around John's family is always an instant party thanks to the 39 grandkids, who happened to all be in town. One of the highlights was heading up American Fork Canyon for some nature and smores. EZ absolutely loved roasting hot dogs on the fire. In fact he spent most of the night roasting hot dog after hot dog, even if no one was eating them. Netta also enjoyed being outside, but the part she enjoyed most was running around sneaking a taste of everyone's drinks. And of course, the Brown family is notorious for the copious amount of pop they have at every occasion so she had no shortage of beverage to steal. This actually became a nasty habit of hers the whole time we were there.
We were also able to go to Lagoon Amusement Park. I lived in Utah for 6 years and this is the first time I had ever been there. Things got off to a rocky start with EZ. I thought maybe Kennywood had helped him conquer his fears, but after 3 rides he kept asking to go home. To add to his anxiety, I forced him to go on this "kid friendly" roller coaster called "The Bat" where your feet dangle. John's family kept insisting that EZ would like it once he got on it and in their defense their 4 year olds liked it, but of course EZ screamed bloody murder the whole time. As I was body slamming him into his seat, I knew I was making a mistake, but I was kind of too embarrassed to take him off. I just wanted him to get over it like the other little kids. Well he didn't and he proceeded to hit me and yell at me when we got off. By some miracle he was only traumatized for about an hour and then he actually rode all the other kid rides and had a blast. I guess none of them seemed as scary after "The Bat". Netta of course tried everything and even though she bit off more than she could chew with some of the bigger rides, so always got over it right away and kept on going.
The reason all the grandkids were in town was the Hatch family reunion, which is John's mom's family. There were 150 plus people there and it was crazy, but awesome. Again same theme, tons of kids so EZ was in heaven and tons of beverage so Netta was in heaven. EZ especially enjoyed rolling down the hill in this huge inflatable ball and going down the huge slip'n slide, both of which I didn't expect him to take such a liking to. The last day of the reunion John and his dad and brothers were able to give King a baby blessing. In our Church, when you have a new baby they are given a blessing in which you enter the baby's name in the Church records and also give them a blessing for a healthy and happy life. EZ and Netta were both blessed back east with my family so it was so nice to bless King with John's family and especially with his dad.
Unfortunately, being around that much family and that many kids, while a ton of fun, is also a breeding ground for disease and EZ and I both ended up getting the stomach flu, which resulted in a lot of throw up, especially on EZ's part. I think he christened every room of John's dad's house. The poor boy was a wreck. While Netta and John didn't really get sick, they were exhausted too.
We also got to spend some time with my family. We headed down to Provo for the day and got to see Meghan and Jared, Katie and Brad and Sarah and Casey. Sarah and Casey aren't in the picture because they were busy packing for the big move to Austin!!!!!! More on that later. We took the kids to the Bean Museum at BYU and EZ insisted that he have his picture taken with the Moose.
While the trip was great, there was definitely some bitter mixed in with the sweetness. While we were there John's dad Phil's health started to rapidly go down hill and by the last night he told everyone that he wanted to start hospice care and we knew we would likely not see him again. It's hard to think of John not having any parents around and the kids not really getting to know either of their Brown grandparents, but as long as I have known Phil he has talked about wanting to be reunited with John's mom, who passed away 9 year ago while John was on his mission, so the thought of them being together again brings some joy.
We left Utah on Saturday Aug 14 and on Sunday Aug 22nd Phil passed away. His time in hospice care was blessedly brief and I am just so grateful we were able to be there for those two weeks and that the kids were able to make some memories with him. (In the picture below Phil is cutting some fruit up and sharing it with Netta. He definitely knew the way to her heart).
We will miss Phil Brown, but feel blessed to have the knowledge that this life is not the end and that families can be together forever.
