Tales from a camera

My little camera has been covering a bit of ground lately. Not from anywhere I've been going, but it's been sent on a couple trips with people in my family for the road trips they've had.

Its first ride was with my dad from a couple weeks ago. Grandpa Farns finished his chemo treatments in December, but in the follow up tests he had the results showed that there is still quite a bit of cancer that came up even through all the chemo.

Anyway, the nurse at the Huntsman talked to Grandpa and told him it would be good to meet with one of the head doctors to discuss the options. They also told him and Grandma that they were welcome to bring any of their family so they could hear the discussion or in case they had any questions for the doctor.

So Dad drove to Jerome early on the morning of the appointment and was able to ride to Salt Lake with two of his brothers and their sister (and Grandma and Grandpa) to meet with the doctor.

Of course, no matter how potentially serious the situations are that we sometimes go through as a family, there's still alot of laughing and joking that goes on. That's one of the things that I love about our big family!! I wish I had been able to make that day trip with them because Dad came home with some great stories of things that happened while he was with his parents and siblings that day.

One of their first stops in Utah was at a favorite store of many of the family, Smith and Edwards.  

  Before I knew that he was coming out of Smith and Edwards, I laughed a little when I saw this picture of Uncle Jared coming out of a store. Uncle Jared is infamous for his love of stopping at gas stations/souvenir shops. When we took our Christmas day trip to Utah last year, Aunt Lisa (my dad's sister) told everyone that if we saw Jared heading anywhere near the gift shop we had to let out a warning call of, "KAW KAW!" so we could stop him from going into the store. :)

  Here's the crew: Uncle Jared, Dad, Uncle Dave, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Lisa. I think it was pretty cool that out of the seven kids in my dad's family, more than half of them were able to be there with Grandma and Grandpa while they met with the doctor. My grandparents have been making the drive from Jerome to Utah several times a month, almost every month since last summer and I'm sure it was a fun change to go with a bunch of their goofy kids to keep them company.

  I've never seen the Huntsman Building before - it's pretty impressive.

 Grandpa lookin' like a champ! :) He's got to be an entertaining patient. One time Dad went with Grandma and Grandpa when Grandpa had to have some tests done. Dad was telling us that during the test, the nurse had to put a bunch of little sticky dots on Grandpa's chest and after the test was done and she pulled the stickers off it pulled some hair and Grandpa winced and raised his hands in surrender as he said, "Ok, ok! I'll tell you where the gold is!!"

 Stopping for some tasty dinner before heading back to Jerome.

 Our cousin Hali, Uncle Dave's oldest daughter, lives in Utah and is going to school there. She got to meet up with them before they headed home and they all got a little treat.

 Grandpa had to go back to the Huntsman a week or so later and have some radiation done. It left him pretty wiped out and he's just been home taking it easy for the last few weeks. I asked one of my cousins, who lives right next to my grandparents, how Grandpa was doing and she told me, "He's been radioactive this week and pretty much just stays in his room. But he's seems to be doing ok." She's so re-assuring! :)
 Maybe he'll end up with some kind of superpower or something. :)

  Then a week or so ago, my camera got back from another road trip and covered some ground that none of us has ever seen. David started a new job selling home security systems and the company took him and a few other guys to Texas, which is apparently a hot spot for salesmen. They were gone for about 10 days, which included driving time. David loved his new found freedom and he had a great time! He even made a couple sales while he was there. He'd call and tell us about all the amazing BBQ they were eating all the time, or the awesome ice cream they have over there.
    I sent the camera with him, but without too much hope for as many pictures as Dad took in Utah.
 Clearly David had other things to do than take pictures. He got home and gave me the camera and explained the handful of pictures he managed to snap during his stay.
 
 1) Six Flags (notice that this was taken through the window of the car as they drove past).

 2) One of their favorite restaurants, Rudy's BBQ. And yes, that is a gas station in front of it; but no, it's apparently not just some cheap-o little roadside restaurant. For some reason I just laugh at seeing the gas station right in front of some fairly nice sit-down restaurant.

3) David's other work of art - New Mexico (again, taken randomly as they passed through). I'm guessing  this one was taken because one of our cousins served a mission in NM, so David wanted us to see the area. :)

Ok, so obviously David is an 18 year old guy who isn't as interested in taking pictures as his big sister is. But even though his picture taking career might be non-existent, he did think about us (and only needed a few subtle hints) and brought each of us back a little Texas present. Dad got a Texas Longhorns shirt and all of us girls got a Longhorns pair of slippers, which was a surprise to me since David told me that for my souvenir he might bring me the shampoo from their hotel. :) 

                                                                 It's fun to have him back!
   The next adventure coming up around here is St. Patrick's Day! So far we've got quite the schedule of performances and it's bound to be a blast!! For us March = non-stop dancing, and St. Patrick's Day isn't just a day it's a season.