april: UTAH trip!

In late April, we took a quick road trip down to Utah to see these two ridiculously good-looking individuals graduate from BYU:

So awesome! They were able to walk together with the college of nursing (Eden's degree, Quinn's is elementary education) AND carry Isaac and Leila with them. As they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, a family picture was shown, along with a quote or scripture that the graduate chose. Eden and Quinn's was 2 Nephi 25:26 "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

Shockingly, the four Izatt children got a little squirrel-y during the proceedings, so we escaped outside a few minutes early. This proved to be the best move we made all day, because Will and Carma charmed the nice catering guy and he insisted we hit the buffet table ahead of time, like legitimately we kept saying, "Oh, we're okay, we'll wait!" and he kept saying "Please, go ahead!" so we did and OH MAN THE MINT BROWNIES. I'm not saying they made me question my decision to leave BYU after my freshman year and transfer to BSU... but maybe a little. BYU mint brownies are the stuff of legends and I definitely ate two. 

 And then we all headed back to Quinn and Eden's for a fantastic lunch and party, thanks in no small part to the amazing Pam Atkinson (Eden's mom) whose work ethic and generosity would have put Mother Theresa to shame.

All of the little cousins were in heaven with Uncle Cody on hand to play with!!

 OH, and did I mention it was Isaac's third birthday?? Eden and Pam A made an amazingly cute big cupcake for him to enjoy and awesome cake and cupcakes for the rest of us. The funniest part of the afternoon was quite possibly Isaac running rampant with the balloons and Quinn having to carry him over so we could sing Happy Birthday :).

Family picture! First time my mom has had all of us together for a looooong time:

 

 And a quick sibling picture. Man, it's a good thing my brothers have me around to pretty things up a bit ;).

 After the party, we headed back north to hang out with Chuck's sisters. Alas, the scenery along I-15 couldn't compete with three tiiiired boys:

But everyone was wide awake and ready for more fun when we hit Melissa's house! And as a bonus we got to see Aunt Sue and Lehi and Brei and Maverick too! The highlight for Will was being a team with Lily and Aunt Sue and crushing the rest of us at Apples to Apples. 

 MUCH thanks to Amanda for housing our crazy gang for a couple nights. Aren't James and Carma the cutest little babies ever? And don't Amanda and Chuck both look thrilled that I'm taking a picture right then? It was so fun to get to see both sides of the family on this trip; Chuck and Amanda got to talk and catch up a lot which is always fun for siblings.

 On our way out of Kays, we made a quick detour to see my BFSC Courtney and her new house!! They purchased a beautiful house that needed a lottttt of work and did most of it themselves, so cool. This was right in the middle of renovations and it was fun to walk through.

  We headed back to Quinn's for a couple more hours of bonding time and eating yummy leftovers from the party:

 And of course we had to break in Isaac's new water guns (from Sheets, I think?). Shockingly, the real battle ended up being between the two biggest boys, one of whom was carrying my daughter!! (spoiler alert: she loved it...)

And then it was time to head home! Except... a couple nights before we left Nampa, I saw a tweet by one of my favorite authors about a book signing in Provo. Chuck readily agreed that it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up and I responded to the tweet because I'm cool like that AND THEN BOTH AUTHORS FAVORITED IT and I pretty much felt like the coolest person ever:

It was so perfect! I waltzed in, there was no line, bought their newest books (happy early Mother's Day to me!) and got them signed. I kind of lingered after that, watching another person ask for a picture and wishing I had the gumption to do the same... and then the sweet and observant Josi Kilpack said, "Jana, did you want a picture too?" HECK YES! So awesome. If you need some clean romance books in your life, here are the amazon links for both Sarah Eden and Josi Kilpack. I've read almost all of their novels and a decent portion of the anthologies they've each contributed to and heartily endorse their books*.

And that was our Utah trip! Spoiler alert: we returned to the Beehive State in May... and June... and July... for equally fun adventures, so get excited for those. Congratulations again Quinn and Eden, we are so proud of you!!

*Okay, there's one of Sarah Eden's that I couldn't get on board with but she's writing a follow-up that I believe... and pray... will alleviate my heartache and general despondency... and Josi Kilpack's culinary mystery series was a little harder for me to get into, but well worth it - I've never been so invested in the love life of a fifty-something widow as I was in Sadie's by the end of the series, haha.