A Trip to CA

A couple of months ago when it was supposed to be Spring in Utah but there was still a foot of snow on the ground, I had a little mental breakdown and decided that as soon as school was out we were high tailing it to CA. I called my parents, picked a date and bought plane tickets in one afternoon. 

Our trip finally rolled around a couple of weeks ago and we had a blast! We did have one little set-back though - I randomly came down with the flu the first day of our trip and was kind of out of it for a couple of days. I think Erik actually ended up being happy about it though because it meant he got to relax instead of being dragged around town doing every fun thing I could think of :)

And now here are a million pictures from our trip...

Erik's cousin (and my boss), Scott, invited us to a Dodger game. We loved getting to go with him and his wife, Mickell. Plus, Scott hooked us up with amazing seats! Erik has been a Dodger fan since birth and we've been to the stadium for a tour, but this was his first time getting to see a game there. He was basically in heaven. 

My one request for the trip was to spend a lot of time at the beach. We ended up only getting to go twice because of my lame flu, but I loved every minute of it. For some reason growing up I didn't go to the beach that often, but now that I can't just go anytime I want I find myself missing it so much. There is nothing more relaxing than chillin' on the beach with a good book (I read City of Bones and LOVED it). 

We had to go to an Angel game of course. My parents don't have season tickets anymore so we bought tickets from a friend of my moms. Our seats were in the nosebleeds but my mom has another friend who is an usher on the field level and he let us come and sit in his section. It totally pays to get to know the people who work at the stadium. The Angels weren't playing so well when we were there and we ended up leaving the game early, which is completely unheard of for my family! I didn't believe it when my mom said she was ready to go home in the 6th inning. 

On our last day there we went on a whale watch. There have been a ton of whale sitings recently but we didn't get to see any unfortunately. Bummer. But we did see a huge pod of dolphins. I've seen dolphins a million times at the beach bet never this many at one time! It was sooooo cool. We also saw some super cute sea lions and just generally enjoyed the beautiful weather and views on the boat. But my poor mom got totally sea sick. She just does not do well on boats :( We ended the afternoon with lunch at a cute place right by the Balboa ferry. The view was gorgeous looking out over the harbor. 

Looking at all these pictures is making me miss CA already! If only we didn't have those pesky jobs and had all the money in the world to head to the beach anytime we wanted to...a girl can dream right?

Gramps

My sweet grandpa, who I always referred to as "Gramps," passed away a year ago tomorrow. However, last year Memorial Day fell on May 28th, and since Gramps was a WWII veteran, I think I'll always  remember this particular anniversary on Memorial Day. 

I'll never forget this day last year. Erik was working so I decided to hit up all the great sales at the mall. As I was getting ready to go I got a call from my mom. I let it go to voicemail, thinking I would just call her in the car on my way down to Provo. After listening to a frantic voicemail telling me that something  was wrong, I called my mom back. She told me that Gramps had a heart attack that morning and that the paramedics were unable to revive him. I just started to sob (and I'm holding back tears as I type this even a year later). He'd had some heart problems in the past but was generally healthy. He still played golf, rode his bike, volunteered frequently at a local thrift store, and was very involved in his church congregation. His death was just so unexpected. 

After crying on the phone with my mom for a few minutes I hung up and immediately knelt down next to my bed and said a prayer. I always thought I had a strong testimony of the Plan of Salvation and life after death, but that testimony had never really been tested. Gramps was the first person I was close to, that had passed away. I prayed for comfort and to know that I would see Gramps again someday. I immediately felt this warmth come over me, assuring me that death was not the end and that Gramps was in a better place. 

Despite that reassurance, I was still pretty choked up. I knew I would see him again but it was going to be a very long time before that happened. I just missed him so much already. I called my sweet Ganny and cried with her. Gramps was her everything and she already felt so lonely.

Gramps wanted to be cremated so Ganny decided to wait to have his memorial service until July when most of the family could attend. 

The service was so wonderful. It was nice to be around family and to reminisce about our favorite memories of Gramps. He really was the most wonderful man you could ever know.

 He was a master fisherman, and I'll never forget the joy of fishing with him when I was a little kid. I remember not even being able to sleep the night before one of our fishing trips at a local park. I will also never forget all of his great stories and his seemingly endless wealth of knowledge. Besides my dad, Gramps is probably the smartest man I've ever known. And he had been just about everywhere. Anytime someone brought up a town or tourist destination in a conversation, you could bet Gramps had been there and could tell you all about it.

Gramps was actually not my biological grandpa. My mom's parents got divorced when she was in her 20's. Her mom married Gramps just a few years later. Her dad passed away when I was just a toddler and my dad's dad died before I was even born. So Gramps was the only grandpa I ever really knew and he never treated me any differently than one of his biological grandkids. He and Ganny spent holidays with us as often as they could and frequently joined us for summer vacations. He was just a constant in my life and I miss him so much. 

I surprised myself by bawling through his whole memorial service. I don't even think I was sad necessarily, just missing him and still a little shocked that he wasn't with us anymore.

It breaks my heart that my own kids won't get to know him (at least in this life), but I know he'll always be watching over us. I hope that I'll always remember his example. He was an extremely dedicated Lutheran and probably the most Christian man I've ever seen. He was kind and loving to everyone he met and the best way I can think of to remember him is to live the way he did. 

That kind of concludes my own thoughts, but my mom wrote a biography of Gramps for the memorial service program and I wanted to include it in this post:

Harold William Schlobohm 

4/24/1923-5/28/2012

On Memorial Day morning, May 28, Hal suffered a sudden heart attack at his home in Sun City Grand, Surprise, Arizona, and subsequently died at Del Webb Hospital in neighboring Sun City West. His wife, Virgina, was by his side. He was 89-years-old and had lived an exemplary life of Christian service, compassion and love for his family and fellowmen. A life-long Lutheran and charter member of Spirit of Grace Lutheran Church, he was a World War II veteran and a true Patriot who loved his God, his country and his family.

He spent many years in Alton, Illinois, raising his first family and as the Manager of the Owens Illinois Glass Mold manufacturing plant. He was very active in civic affairs having served as President of the Alton Chamber of Commerce, as a fundraiser for the United Way and the Red Cross and served on the Board of Directors of Alton Memorial Hospital. The Boys Scouts of America honored him with its highest award for volunteerism, The Silver Beaver, for his distinguished service to youth. 

During the Great War, he served in the Army Air Corps as a B-17 pilot, having graduated at the top of his class. He was assigned to remain at the flight school as a flight instructor. Near the end of the war, he flew missions ferrying our aircraft back to the U.S. from England.

Hal was a devoted father to five surviving children by his first marriage and two surviving stepchildren from Virginia, his wife of 35 years. He is also survived by 18 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren, a sister, a brother, and a sister-in-law. He and Virginia have resided in Sun City Grand for 14  years. He loved playing golf, traveling, and was an expert fisherman who spent hours introducing his children and grandchildren to the joys of angling. He was Surprise library's best customer and read hundreds of books of ever genre - fiction and non-fiction. He was an accomplished woodworker and made many beautiful pieces of furniture for their homes with his antique tools.

A Little Update

Well hello blogland! It's been a while...

...as in almost a year since I last posted. But I've resolved to start posting again!  If I had a nickel for every time I've said that on this blog I'd be a rich woman. 

So here it goes, a little (or really long) update on the last (almost) year of our lives. 

May

We became a family of three when we added our first four-legged child - the world's cutest boxer named Milo.

We're completely obsessed with him to say the least. You'll be seeing a lot of him around here.

June

We were able to attend my niece Emily's wedding. Her sealing was beautiful and it was a wonderful day spent with family.



The only thing that put a bit of a damper on the day was that Emily hurt her back a few days before the wedding and was stuck in a wheelchair most of the day. But she was quite the trooper and and still looked gorgeous and happy the whole time.



July

My sweet grandpa passed away on Memorial Day.  In July we went to Arizona for his memorial service and were able to reminisce about his amazing life.  I'm planning to do a whole post about my grandpa so for now I'll just leave you with this picture...



...which probably seems totally random. But this is one of the ways I remember my Gramps the most. Standing in my parents' kitchen in this blue robe (that I don't remember him ever not having) making coffee for himself and my Ganny and smiling from ear to ear.

---------------------------------------------------

Also in July, I started a new job! I was presented with an amazing opportunity to quit my 9-5 office job and go to work for my MIL, Jill and her business partner (and nephew) Scott. Jill's blog (onegoodthingbyjillee.com) has completely taken off and is now a little company with multiple employees. I'm the executive assistant so I basically keep everyone organized and on track and answer lots and lots of reader questions. I love what I'm doing and I get to work with some amazingly talented people. And I mean, what's not to love about a job you can do from your couch in your pajamas?

August

We went on lots of family walks...





Went to a Real Salt Lake game...





Saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at Sundance...



And attended the wedding of this gorgeous couple...



Erik's cousin, Steve and his darling bride, Sariah.



September 

I dragged Erik to the Utah State Fair.



 



Fairs aren't really his thing, but I think we still had a good time : )

October

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a little staycation in SLC. It was such a fun weekend. We stayed in this gorgeous hotel called The Monaco. It's in this historic building and our room was fantastic.



We went to the Salt Lake Temple, The Leonardo museum, shopped till we dropped at City Creek, saw a movie, and generally just enjoyed a weekend together without any interruptions. It was nothing fancy but it my opinion it was the perfect way to celebrate our first year together.



Here we are being totally silly at The Leonardo:

We rounded out October with a Halloween party at the Self's house.

Erik and I went as a Halloween version of Jim and Pam from The Office...super original. 

November

We celebrated my 26th birthday with a delicious dinner at Magelby's.

And then my amazing friends Kaitlin, Skylar, Brillante, and Darin completely surprised me with a party  when Erik and I got home. They also set up a Skype session with Anne, Michael, Molly, and Andrew - who all live out of state now. It was such a fun night but we somehow didn't get a single good picture of the whole party : (

I took a one day trip to CA and then drove back to Utah with my mom in our new (to us) car. My parents got a new car and, being the amazing people they are, gifted us their old car. We are now the proud owners of a Honda CR-V complete with 4-wheel drive - and we feel a lot safer driving in the Utah snow.

When I went home I brought back our wedding cake topper so we were finally able to eat our year old cake

We ended the month with the Mindy Gledhill Christmas Concert. Love her!

December

We made sure to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit by attending Christmas Around the World at BYU, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, and the Timpanogas Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert (one of my best friends, Kaitlin Rackham, happens to sit first chair in the violin section).

We had our Utah Christmas a few days early with the Nystuls.

And then we headed to California to spend Christmas with my family and loved escaping the snow!

We rang in the New Year back in Utah with our best friends. I had another picture fail and didn't snap a single shot of the entire night. But luckily Brillante documented the evening on her blog. 

If you made it to the end of this post I congratulate you :) Now you're all caught up on the last 8 months  of our lives.