Brielle Comes to Visit

 Lucky us!  Our oldest grandchild, the precious little girl that made us grandparents fourteen years ago, came to visit for two weeks.  Her name is Brielle.  She, since moving to Colorado, goes by Bria (her dad, when presenting to the family the opportunity to move to Colorado suggested many great things about moving, including that they could even change their name, among many other things.  Brielle picked up on that and said she was now Bria.  Her dad, grandpa, and I are hold- outs on keeping her Brielle name and she says that's fine.  Actually, I often call her Brielly or Brielly Lu)  Ken drove to Grand Junction to meet she and her mom there on Saturday, July 25th.  They had lunch together, then Ken and Brielle came here.  It was a wonderful two weeks.  She chose to stay in the other bedroom that is upstairs by us (she had her pick.)  Bria is the oldest of six children.  I think she really enjoyed the peace and quiet. She swore up and down that we weren't boring!

On Sunday, the Prince family stopped on their way to their reunion in northern Utah to go to the bathroom and get their wiggles out.  Kenny challenged Grandpa to a race around the house.  It was hot out, but Grandpa raced him several times.  Grandpa Ken played a trick on him.  They would start out.  Ken would wait until Kenny went around the corner, then Ken would sneak back to the start/ finish line and be there when Kenny got there.  Grandpa would declare himself the winner.  Kenny could not figure out how he could have won.  They did that a couple of times, then Grandpa explained it to him.  Kenny thought it was hilarious and was so cute when they came in and he told the rest of us the story of how his grandpa tricked him.  It was a great trick to a five-year-old.

This is Grandpa helping little William race later

This is Kenny just sure he is winning the race!  He is a fast little runner, as is his brother, Jaron.

They were just here for a few minutes, but it was a fun stop.

For my birthday and Father's Day the kids had a puzzle made with family pictures.  We put that together on Sunday.  It was fun.

Cinnamon rolls

We cooked and baked together.  Brielle is a great help in the kitchen.

We played lots of games together, mostly SkipBo, but also Rook and UNO.  I sent her home with a SkipBo deck and now she and her siblings play a lot.

In the evenings, we watched an entire season of Relative Race together and several movies.  She said the best one we watched was the 2005 Pride and Prejudice.  She had just finished reading the book and loved seeing the movie.  At first, she didn't want to watch it here because she said it was her and her mom's tradition to watch a movie after she finished the book.  But over the week, she wore down and said she wanted to watch it.  She would just watch it again with her mom.

Brielle is writing a YA novel.  She has studied several websites on writing a novel.  She has hers outlined and, when she left, was about 40% done with what she estimates will be about 80,000 words.  She reads a lot and that has sparked her interest in writing her own book.

I told her she should dedicate her book to Grandpa and Grandma's naps.  She would write while we took naps.

She helped me prepare temple ready cards so she could take them with her.  When the temples reopen, she and her brother, Nathan will have a lot of baptisms and confirmations to do!

She and Grandpa had watermelon parties. ( I'm not a watermelon fan.) They stopped in Green River, Utah on their way here to buy the melons.  Green River claims to be the watermelon capital of America. And neither Brielle nor Grandpa argued that claim.

Brielle has just blossomed on the piano during COVID.  She practiced while she was here most every day.  She just got a new teacher at home and is very motivated.

We enjoyed our home church with her.  She gave a talk on the new childrens/ youth program and the first part of the new theme.

On the next Sunday evening, the Prince family came back on their way home from the Prince family reunion.  As you can see, they purchased kayaks while they were up there.  They had kayak trauma on the way here as one of the kayaks kept slipping, but they have that solved now.

Brielle, Ken and I prepared a pasta bar for them for Sunday dinner.  Brielle made alfredo sauce, we made roasted vegetables, marinara sauce, chicken, cantaloupe, sliced tomatoes, and three kinds of pasta, with ice cream treats for dessert.

William and Kenny weren't interested in eating and were downstairs playing.

Suddenly William was interested!  But he wanted to eat the cone first.  Brielle convinced him otherwise and got him a bowl.

I love this picture taken just before they left.  How I love all these people!

While Brielle was here, there were fires burning all around us.  It made for beautiful sunsets, but smoky air.  Ken got several pictures.

It was such a delightful two weeks.  Brielle flew home on Friday, August 7th.  Because she was an unaccompanied minor, Ken was able to go the gate and wait for the plane with her.  Her mom was able to go the gate in Denver to pick her up.  We love you, Brielly!  Thanks for coming!