The Garvin Gobble

It had been nearly a year since my family piled into a very small Honda for a road-trip. So, naturally, we were due for another one. The wonderful thing about road-trips is that Kyle does about 97% of the driving, and I do about 100% of the sleeping. The extent of London's dialogue during the drive goes something like this:

"Hey, Mom? I'm sirsty. Can I have some juice, please?" 

Thirty minutes later......

"Hey, Mom? I have to go potty."

Ten minutes later...

"Hey, Mom? Can we listen to Taylor Sift?"

An hour later...

"Mom, I really love you and Dad and Bellie."

OVER AND OVER AND OVER....... for 13 hours..... all the way to San Francisco.

Cousins on a hike!

We arrived the night before Thanksgiving, with just enough time to bake pies and visit with my sisters-in-law. Thanksgiving day was spent in the KITCHEN!!!, and at 4 pm, we dined on Kyle's great-grandmother's china. Sitting around the table, I felt so at home, and happy, with people that I love.

Friday morning, we took family pictures! I am a huge fan of family pictures because when I was growing up, past the age of three, we didn't really take professional pictures. I love the idea of watching my family grow and change each year, so I hope we will continue this tradition. We spent the rest of the day in the hills on the other side of the Golden Gate, with Kyle's aunt and uncle. They thought of every detail in preparing to have eleven small children in their home. The children had a separate table, with a cover to color on, and a hundred crayons. They invited their grandson to play children's songs on a guitar, and all the kids sat on a mat, making music with maracas, completely memorized. We visited for hours. The air was sweet and warm and the sun was shining, and we ate appetizers until there was no room for dinner. 

BYU played Cal on Saturday, and my husband, his brother, and his sister's husband are the biggest BYU fans I have ever met. At the pre-game party, there was an announcer handing out BYU merchandise for anyone who could answer trivia questions. The questions went like this:

"Who was BYU's wide receiver with the most touchdown passes in 1972, and what was the final score in the bowl game that year?" Three eager hands shot up from the crowd. You have GOT to be kidding me. WHO KNOWS THAT?!   I'll tell you who.

And Kyle was the first person to throw a football through this target. He won a towel. It was seriously awesome. 

The game was by-far the most entertaining football game I have ever attended, with the Cougars and the Bears neck-and-neck, down til the very last second. We pulled off the W, as my husband would say. AND, we happened to have seats next to our dearest friends from our study-abroad in Jordan, whose home we had been planning for months to spend the following day at!

The Borgias are wonderful people whom I will love until the day I die. They live in Monterrey, and it is a heavenly place. Sunday was the final day of our road-trip, and there is nowhere else I would've rather spent it.