june: UTAH for Grandma's bday!

In mid-June we found ourselves traveling to Utah for a momentous occasion: Grandma Thomas' 81st and a half birthday party! Granted, not the usual milestone age for a big celebration but that's how we roll and it was so, so fun!

The beautiful honoree, Patricia Thomas.

(Photo definitely stolen from fb, thanks Brei!)

We piled the kids into the van that morning and headed south. It was actually Chuck's and my 11th anniversary that day and I kid you not, a road trip was the perfect date: we just got to sit and talk for five hours straight. Minus, you know, the road and the four children behind us, we had the beautiful gift of undivided attention ;).

We met up with other assorted family members at Melissa's house and headed to a nearby splash park for some fun. Carma was NOT a fan, possibly because she straight up looked like a boy. The (actual) boys had a blast running around between the water and the playground and having fun with their cousins.

At this point, Grandma was thrilled to see so many grandchildren in town but was still unaware of the birthday celebration to come. We took a brief recess to change clothes and gather food and then reconvened at a different park to party :). Because Grandma lives in Pennsylvania, we aren't able to celebrate with her in late January for her actual birthday, but she comes out west to visit every summer - hence the '1/2' aspect. It was so fun to watch her walk up to the picnic area and see all of us and put it together!

The party came together in large part due to the amazing efforts of Sue, Terri, Melissa, and Amanda. Miss Amanda in particular spearheaded a beautiful birthday book project - she gathered pictures and memories and birthday wishes from the entire extended family (requiring lots of reminders and follow-up!!) and spent hours creating an amazing keepsake for Grandma. So, so special.

We spent the evening eating and playing and relaxing and taking pictures, of course! We had to do some 'second cousin' pictures: here are some of Carma and Maverick, just six weeks apart in age (Mav's older) and James and Hudson, just about two months apart (James is older).

Some sporting events transpired, including ultimate frisbee during which there may have been some mid-game fraternizing between opponents Steve and Amanda ;).

Cousin pictures! George and Clyde are the cutest.

Ahh, the babies of '08 - Lily, Will, and Bri. Sweetest trio around!!

These pictures just melt me - Anna is five months older than Jackers and it's obviously now my goal to take a picture of them hugging like this annually until they refuse to cooperate (18 maybe? Sooner?)

 Mallory and Courtney and I forced Carma into some group selfies with us. Carma was... difficult this trip. She was tired and fussy and just had a rough time overall... which translated to a bit of a rough time for me... but we caught her smiling a couple times at least!!

 At one point we all gathered for some more 'official' pictures, starting with Grandma and all the great-grandkids in attendance: 

Bri, Lily, Will, Jack, Clyde, Carma, Eli, Hudson, George, Anna, Courtney, James, Mallory, Maverick. Not pictured: Pennsylvania residents Raelyn and Xavier.

Next we added in the grandkids and spouses - I'll include three here since they all make me laugh.

 In no particular order: Lehi, Brei, Rachel, Taylor, Melissa, Kevin, Chuck, Jana, Lee, Aleesha, Amanda, Steve, Rebekah, Nickie. Not pictured (man I hope I get everyone...): Jesse, Kit, Brian, Chris, Liz, Jared, Amanda, Matt, Sam.

And then finally we got Grandma's kids in the picture! Dave, Terri, and Sue were in attendance with East Coasters Bill, Gina, Bob, and Melissa not pictured.

Grandma with her two daughters!

And while we had these four Izatt kids together, we stuck them together for a couple quick pictures:

 Lee, Melissa, Amanda, Chuck. I'm such a sucker for sibling pictures ;).

And a couple more to commemorate our anniversary:

 

I'm not saying we're the best at family pictures... but everyone else is free to say it, haha.

This was yet another suuuper quick trip for us; we crashed that night at Amanda's and then availed ourselves of delicious breakfast at Melissa's and then hit the road to be back in Boise for a temple sealing that afternoon. We are so glad we could make it for the party and for the company. I've long been a proponent of celebrating half-birthdays and this cemented my dedication to the cause! Thanks to everyone who put in so much time and effort and to Terri and Melissa for all the pictures I stole from fb and HAPPY birthday again Grandma!!