My dad and his sisters had been planning this birthday party/family reunion celebration for months and it finally came to its fruition on Saturday... it was a lot of fun and so wonderful to see some of my family/cousins from New Mexico and elsewhere that I haven't seen or talked with for so long.
So here's who started it all... Allen & Ruth, my Grandma and Grandpa Beck. I love this picture of them and wish I could travel back in time to see what they were like then. It is so sad because... without saying too much... my grandpa is pretty messed up these days and I hadn't seen or talked to him for years. But I have some AWESOME memories on the Beck side; memories that made my childhood magical.
My grandma turned 80 in January and my grandpa turned 90 last December.
The celebration was thrown for 3 of the siblings and their descendants, and so here's our section with a bunch of old pics
I love this old pic of the original Beck family... can you spot my dad? He looks EXACTLY the same!
This pic of us cousins was taken at the Lagoon Saloon! It is ever so classic. There's my cousin Dak at the top, then cousin Lindsay, my brother Cam, my cousin Ryan, and me.
The best word I can come up with for my Grandma Ruth is sturdy. She is a sturdy woman in that she withstands A LOT! I can't imagine the antics she's put up with over her long life with my grandpa. She is a strong strong woman to have raised 5 children, and all with a smiling happy face I'm sure. I love her very much and she is an example of strength to me. She embodies the definition of endurance. Also she is so smart. I can sometimes just look at her and see wheels turning in that mind. I'll always remember my grandma's voice and the sound of her laughing. I loved the days as a kid when all of us cousins would go play at her house in the room upstairs where the ceiling was the shape of their pointed roof. She played the piano and I loved the sound of her out of tune piano. There was the piano bench with random patterns and patches of fabric. Putting ice and Pepsi in her purple metallic cups in the summer and seeing the sweat drip down the side. I can't put my finger on how her house smelled, but it was familiar and I loved it.
Grandpa Beck is an inventor. His life has consisted of nothing but projects. The memories from childhood that I have of him are nothing but a smile on his face, fun, and new ideas. He had an enthusiasm for ideas in general. I remember talking to him a few times where a regular conversation would seem to spark his imagination unexpectedly. I always admired that about him; he let everything influence him in an innovative way. His whole life he has discovered ways to make various things out of tires! As a child this was outrageously cool. He made a huge train out of tires when we were little... I remember sitting in the dining car of the train and peeking out the peepholes. There was a tire treehouse, a tire trailer with a spiral staircase. His claim to fame was tire horses that he would anchor on a spring in a circle slab of cement. He would put real horse hair on them for manes and encrust their faces with colorful gems. They gained popularity so he started to sell them for money. My cousin Lindsay said on Saturday how she remembers the tire carousel he made and one of the "horses" was a pink Miss Piggy that he made just for her.
Some snapshots of horse heads
Crazy odd but so cool!
Lindsay and I were poring over some old pics her mom had brought and there were many that I had never seen so I had to take pictures of pictures. The one at bottom right was a sleepover all of us cousins had one summer. We just piled blankets on Grandma Beck's lawn, walked to Dairy Queen (when there was one on 13th South!) and bought a Dilly Bar, came home and slept under the stars.
My mom and dad!!!
Steve, Cam, and me playing the piano at Grandma's
Cam and Tab and the famous piano bench that I love so dearly
The Becks. (minus Tab) It was pulling teeth to get all these folks for a picture. Rosy, Alice, Jared, Julie, Ruth, Allen
Some of the cousins... Steve, Dak, Lindsay, Lis, Cam, Ryan
Yolanda (my cousin Ryan's wife), my cousin Lindsay, and me
Ryan, Cam, and Steve
D had been tiling Jon & Susan's house all Friday, all Saturday, and then ended up having to pull an all-nighter through Saturday night. He's done this numerous times on tile jobs and I know he has his reasons but I hate it so much. They were out of town and he was trying so hard to get it done but I just worry about his health and his heart.
Anyway we had tossed around the idea of driving to Panguitch and back on Easter Sunday to visit Vee (my grandpa -Pops' - brother on my mom's side) who is I believe 94 and in the hospital. We don't know what his future holds health-wise and so we really really wanted to go and see him and tell him we love him before we might regret it. Still not quite sure on Saturday if we would go or not, D finally said, "Well how important is Vee to us?" And we looked at each other and I started packing for our day trip.
Needless to say I was a bit concerned about our drive because I had woken up in the night 5 different times between the two boys and then D was in no condition to drive as he was wrapping up the all-night tile job at 7 am on Sunday. But we knew we could do it, so we had Croz check out the Easter bunny goods as we were scrambling to leave.
He was so excited because he got a new sand bucket with fun tools in it. He started calling it his firefighter bucket because it has a hose. Crosby's favorite color is light blue, so he has a light blue Easter basket. The bunny brought him some light blue Dove chocolate eggs, a sugar bunny with hummingbird eggs inside, some sidewalk chalk. Although he loves chocolate, his favorite surprise was definitely the bucket and he wanted to bring it on our trip.
While Croz & I were celebrating Easter, these guys were doing their low-key thing. D fell asleep on contact
Lennox didn't miss much though because this is what the Easter bunny brought him
We finally got on the road and it was a bit rough because Lennox didn't really sleep but Crosby was an absolute jewel for the entire day. He was incredible and I was praising him left and right. We had to stop numerous times because Lennox was screaming and too many of those times were off the side of the freeway because I had to burp him and a highway patrolman stopped to see if something was wrong. I said nope just burping my baby. He goo-goo gaa-gaa'd at Lennox and said, "Want to come ride in my truck with me?" He was really kind and helpful.
Our first destination:
In Panguitch the hospital definitely isn't hard to locate! Beth had made custard (Vee's fave) the night before and ran out to Marie Callender's for a lemon meringue pie to send with us. We packed things up to take into his room but Lennox was hungry so we sat in the hospital lobby while I fed him a bottle. D was chasing Crosby around, little box of chicken nuggets in his hands as he's pacing the hospital lobby saying, "Take me to Vee, take me to Vee!" It was the best.
I love Vee. D really feels a special connection with him. I think part of it is he reminds us of Pops, who we miss so incredibly much. He was darling. His eyes are amazing and they remind me of Pops too; blue and clear. He looked pretty good but the main thing we noticed was very worn out. We visited with him for a while. The times D has visited with Vee, he has always called him "Lee." He really does think D's name is Lee. When we first walked into the room, I reminded him who I was and then said D is here too, my husband, and he was like say what? After D visited with him though he recognized him and when we left he said, "Bye Lee," so we were laughing pretty hard.
Beth was so cute and had typed out a long note to the nurses telling them exactly what to do with the custard. He needs a piece of it warmed in the microwave. And then the rest can be shared. When we told him what Beth sent: custard, pie, and a box of chocolates he closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth slowly. "Where the hell am I going to put all this food?" He asked about how everyone at home is doing. He said he wished they gave him more physical therapy. He seems to resent the fact that he does nothing but sleep. He wanted us to hand him his cell phone to call Beth but then asked the time - it was 2:45 - and he said oh no, she's still at church. So he's totally sharp, just tired.
When we first walked into his room we had Crosby say hello. The room was completely silent as Crosby looked at Vee and said in his sweet high-pitched three-year-old voice, "Hi Vee. I was wondering if you want to come to the zoo with me." I think because we were singing "Going to the Zoo" in the car.
It was bittersweet to give Vee what felt like possibly a last hug and last look into his eyes, but when we told him we were headed to Bryce Canyon before driving home that very day, he said, "You better get on the road." Love you Vee!
So onto the next destination with Frog and the Jigga. Crosby still had not eaten his chicken nuggets because he kept saying, "No I want to eat them in the canyon."
As soon as we hit the park entrance, sunshine turned to wind and blizzard-like snow! The weather was a mishmash up there, but it is incredibly beautiful to go there; I love it so much. We hit the last day of free national park week, so that was a bonus.
Picture ops were popping out to me left and right, but it was cooooollld, the wind was harsh and Lennox was beat so we had to be choosy with where we took his picture!
Croz fit in a nice little trail run in the snow
We hit all the lookout points (it's too bad it was so freezing cold, not that we had time to hike anyway) and D would stay in the car with Lennox while Croz and I would hop out and see what there was to see. He took his bucket with him at every lookout. At this one there were about four other people just silently looking down at the canyon. Croz & I approach the lookout and he broke the silence with a hearty, "Mom I want to scoop some snow or sand!" Poor guy, I kept telling him we'd find a place for him to play with his new tools and he was so patient.
The wind about blew us down into the gulley
The snowflakes were silently floating down into the canyon. It was gorgeous.
Once we got back down to Red Canyon the weather was still pretty cold but not windy. We told Crosby that there's Bryce Canyon and Red Canyon. As we were driving around Red Canyon, he said, "I want to call this smash tree canyon, because it's like the trees are smashing out of the canyon." Ahhh, poetry.
We found a spot to park where D could walk with Croz up to the red dirt and rocks he had been eyeing as I was crazily circling the campsites for the perfect spot. Me and Jigga stayed by the car so I could feed him. He was soooooo sweet because at this point he was exhausted. I can't believe he had it in him to take even a bite of "real" food. But the end-of-the-day sun kept peeking in and out and so he was watching the shadows and shapes and colors. Hopefully breathing that fresh air deep into his little baby lungs. My serene little Lennox.
D & Jigga; it started to get freezing cold
Crosby and his firefighter bucket, getting all packed up
The road home. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!
