07/20/18-7/22/18 Grandpa Laurito's 80th birthday celebration

Becky, Kevin, Aspen, McKayla, Katie, Dallas, Shelly, Ruth, Sidney, Sam, Suzanne, Andy, Ray, Bryce, Marlee
AJ, Eli, Ruth, Robert at Grandpa Laurito's 80th Birthday Celebration

Friday morning we got up and spent the morning cleaning and working on getting the house ready for a showing (it's on the market, we'll see what happens). Then we all loaded up the car and headed to SLC. Since Andy has recently had surgery travel is not advised -- however if you must travel -- frequent stops are suggested.

So we drove to Parowan and stopped at our new favorite Mexican Restaurant Cavallaro's and the bakery. We had a nice lunch and then proceeded. We only made one other stop before arriving in Orem at the Hampton Inn.

Aj had arranged for us to go up the mountain and see Shadow Mountain -- the camp he worked at for about 6 weeks this summer. We drove about 40 minutes and then stayed up at the camp about 3 hours. We sat around the camp fire and had tin foil dinners and smores. The kids talked and visited and teased each other and had fun. His roommate Paul joined us.

Saturday morning we went to Dad's house from 12-5. Ruth and Robert prepared an amazing meal and hosted the party. Becky and I brought sides and dessert. Most of the family was there (a couple missing kids!!) It was a really nice afternoon and a fun celebration. Dad and Suzanne even acted like kids for a little while...shooting water guns and running from getting squirted etc. It was fun to see them act like 12 year olds for a little while!

One of the toys was overinflated and no-one could stay on it. So we had a game of "Ride the Duck." Aj offered $5 to anyone who could stay on for 8 seconds. Sadly no-one succeeded!! But lots tried and the pool chanted "Ride the Duck" as each person took his/her dive at the duck.

Saturday evening we went and looked at a condo AJ is considering purchasing and then brought Brick Oven Pizza back to the hotel lobby and hung out and ate. His friend from Jersey joined us...Jake Johnson. They went on to a dance and we all went up to bed!

Sunday we got up and ate and headed out. One of our stops was Cedar City Temple. We were able to make it back for the end of church.

Meanwhile, Grandma Griffin was over at the ER getting checked out for low sodium. Her level was alarmingly low (117) so they admitted her and are giving her IV treatment to bring her level back up. We went to the hospital and gave her a blessing and visited a little while.

The whole Taylor clan stopped in and had ice cream and a visit -- impromptu - the kids all have come home from college and missions. It was fun to see them and visit.

Andy's buddy Scott Telford had been smoking meat and invited us to stop by and taste his latest concoction. So we went over there from 9:30-10:30 p.m. Whew! Busy fun weekend!

Happy 80th Birthday to Dad...And I guess he'll stop saying he's 29 now that it is out that he is 80?!