New traditions, Memorial weekend 2014

One of the weirdest things about moving to Utah is having to erect new traditions around everything. I almost didn't even realize how predictable I was until I moved multiple states away from my close-knit, big family around which all of my holidays revolved.

My mom and dad with the grandkids, including Aidan snuggled up on mom's shoulder

Me, mom, Jen, Amy, and my grandma - family party circa 2010

Memorial weekend in California meant going to a family party at my mom and dad's house. Usually all of my parent's nine grandkids would be in attendance so I would not see Aidan from the moment we arrived until the moment we left, except for the 15 minutes or so when I would coerce him into eating something.

Christmas, 2013. Note the handmade stockings in the back. My parents are the best. 

These family parties are super special to me, and I am literally tearing up right now that they are no longer a part of my normal routine (side note: I will never say "literally" unless it actually happened or is happening. In this case, my screen is actually getting blurry.). We fly out for Christmas, but Memorial Day? My niece's and nephews' birthday parties? At $750 for the three of us to fly out, not so much.

My family having fun without me. No photo credit given to whomever didn't try to avoid the backlight. 

At least once a week someone asks me how I like Utah and I always give the same answer, "I love everything about it here except that my family isn't here." The trees, the mountains, the little brick bungalows in Sugar House, my digital library job at the U, Dilworth, the wacky yet endearing Mormon culture; it's all good. I just wish I could move Mom, Dad, Bob, Jen, Zach, Nick, Abby, John, Merric, Travis, Amy, David, Bob, Tripp, Tanner, and Curran here too.

Okay, enough moping. Memorial weekend rolled around and we had to do something, to find some new traditions. This is what my first Memorial weekend looked like in Utah:

Impromptu hot tub and BBQ at our house:

Wormdahls, Whelans, Cummings, Fuentes, and Hawkes

We were supposed to have a pool party at our friend Dani's house, but it rained all morning on Saturday and the pool party was rescheduled for Monday. A few of us decided to pre-party at our house, cook up some hamburgers, and hot tub as a substitute.

This is where I'm hosting next month's book club

I had to leave my own party a little early because I had Bunko plans for that evening. For those of you that have never played Bunco, it's a dice game that requires no skill, very little experience, and is loads of fun. In other words, it's a perfect game for competitive new-comers like me who love instant gratification.

Playing Bunco at the "low" table where I stayed most of the night

Even though Bunco is technically a game of chance, I do think there is some skill in the way you roll the dice. The experienced Bunco players roll very quickly, barely even moving their hand, thereby giving them more chances to rack up points. I felt like a bumbling idiot my first few rounds when I rolled too quickly and even lost the dice under the couch at one point with my over-enthusiastic rolls.

Kinza's beautiful house

I also experienced my first pocket of diversity in Utah (even the University doesn't really count since it's only vaguely diverse compared to the rest of the state). When people say a neighborhood is "diverse" in Utah they mean that it is less than 70% LDS. My lovely friend Kinza is from Pakistan and her Bunco group is mostly comprised of glamorous Middle Eastern women. I was delighted when someone entered the house after me and exclaimed, "I thought I was in the wrong place when I saw a white girl going in the house!"  One of the things I miss about LA - besides my family - is the exposure to lots of different cultures. This was especially true when we lived at UCLA family housing and our friends were from all over the world.

Thank you for inviting me, Kinza! 

On Sunday Robert, Aidan, and I headed down to Draper, UT to try out the new Living Aquarium that just opened. It was surprisingly good and well-organized with exhibits that represented Antarctica, South America, and Utah.

Fish with teeth

Penguin  crossing

Climbing around the South America exhibits

Fake orcas, no animal cruelty involved. Lookin' at you Sea World. 

Shark Tank

Aidan also had a sleepover last night with his two friends Abby and Aiden who live next door. We baked cookies and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and no one got up scared in the middle of the night. Success.

Aiden F. is the only one who woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

Abby hiding from the camera

Another thing that I loved about this weekend - that doesn't have an accompanying picture - was an amazing conversation that I had with Robert and Aidan yesterday. We talked about history over breakfast, covering everything from Columbus to the Mayflower to the Articles of Confederation. Afterwards, we read "Shhh, we're writing the Constitution" by Jean Fritz and talked more about the three branches of government, the Virginia Plan, and America's balance of powers. To any other eight-year-old, I'm pretty sure this would have been some form of torture. At the end, I thanked Aidan for listening and engaging to which he responded, "Thank you, Mom. That was a really interesting topic" and turned and walked away. My heart grew three sizes.

Memorial weekend is not over yet since we still have our rescheduled pool party later today, but I can say that it has been surprisingly good. I still miss my mom and dad, but our new friends here have made Salt Lake City a pretty wonderful place to be.