Southern Comfort

The last few weeks have been very eventful for the Winns, and no matter how long this gets, I’m not breaking it into two parts. You may all feel free to regulate yourselves and break your reading into as many sections as you want. When last I wrote to you, Jarom had just returned from his weeklong vacation in the Western United States where Alixa and Jenna were continuing their own trip. Jarom once again was able to enjoy sleeping through the night, but certainly began to miss his family as the days wore on. He finished his internship at the University of Delaware, and then started a couple of jobs around the house for his dad (mostly the power washing of the back deck.) JD and Jamie arrived in Delaware with Hailey, so he also spent time hanging out with them. JD is now attending Villanova Law School and so they will likely be there for the next three years. They took advantage of their last remaining days of freedom to play a few rounds of golf together, which was fun for them. Jarom was even kind enough to donate a few golf clubs to his brother-in-law as payment for a 5 wood he broke a year ago. All in all, the last two weeks that Jarom spent in Delaware were mildly uneventful, and he then packed up the car with one suitcase of his own stuff and about 5 times as much stuff for Alixa and Jenna, and he and I began the ten-hour drive back to Knoxville. The ride was pretty great. There was an accident on the DC beltway that slowed us for a bit, and we made two stops for gas/food/bathroom (Jarom, not me). Jarom was very happy that he didn’t have to make that trip with a wife and baby.

Click the Picture to go to the entire photo album

Meanwhile, on the left coast, Alixa continued her vacation. She spent a few more days with her aunt and uncle going to parks and babysitting before moving into her friend Amanda’s house. Amanda has a baby boy and she and her husband are seriously considering procreating again, so they wanted to have another runtlet in the house as a trial. My sources tell me that the experiment was a success. Most of her time there was spent playing settlers of catan, both on a board and online, sometimes including Jarom via the interweb. Dave and Amanda were great hosts, and Dave even put up with all of Alixa’s stuff in his TV room, which surely pushed his hospitality to the limit. Lix got to have lunch with her old PG crew at the Pizza Factory, and was able to plan visits with her old friends Megan and Heather, which was a lot of fun. She very much loved showing off Jenna to everyone that she knows. After a week in Utah by themselves, Lix and Jenna went with Zak to Salt Lake to catch their flight to Cleveland for Abram’s missionary homecoming. Unfortunately nobody in that brain trust actually looked at their flight’s departure time and so they pulled up to the airport at 6:50 for their 7:10 flight. Luckily they made it through check-in quickly and they were barely able to make it onto the plane before it left.

Travel Buddies

Cleveland was filled with sports, sports, and more sports. Zak has been working on his tennis game, so he and Lix had some lessons scheduled and played a few games. The Hegewalds also played some Wallyball, a family favorite. Lix got to play a round of golf with her dad and brothers, and held her own. More games of settlers of catan were played, there was some yard sailing with Pidge, and the customary visit to Buffalo Wild Wings. Despite a serious talking-to from Mars about being nice to Abe, both Alixa and Zak teased him incessantly from the moment they picked him up from the airport. Sadly, no amount of talk can change the older sibling/younger sibling relationship, and Abe, like many a recently returned missionary, is a great target for fun making. But Lix enjoyed seeing her family, and they all seemed to love Jenna. Zak was especially helpful and seemed as though he might be ready for his own soon. The former Elder Hegewald spoke in church on Sunday, and Lix was impressed. “If I was a non-member in the audience I feel like I would’ve wanted to get baptized,” she said, “although he did go six minutes over the allotted time for sacrament meeting.” She finally made it back to Knoxville late Sunday night, with a Jenna strapped to her chest in her Baby Bjorn. That made four flights for Jenna, and she has been pretty good on all of them.

What if?

The next big task for the Winns was getting organized, which meant finding places for all of Jenna’s stuff and getting rid of some old clothes and things that were no longer needed. Four big trash bags were delivered to the local goodwill, and boxes were filled with clothes for a 6-9 month-old and a 12-18 month-old. Jenna got her two-month shots, which made her very sad and confirmed to Jarom that she is Alixa’s daughter. No creature that small should be able to yell as loudly as she is capable of yelling. But some baby aspirin was purchased and that calmed her down enough to go to book club, where Lix was able to see a bunch of her Knoxville friends again. Jarom is back at school and has started a new job tutoring football players. This makes Jarom part of an institution that Alixa hates, helping athletes who have no business (other than sports) being in college get through their classes. But it is a pretty easy job that will add a few dollars to the meager Winn accounts, so she doesn’t complain too loudly.

Alixa's favorite aunt, child, and treat

Finally, tomorrow is Jarom’s birthday. He will be very old. His loving mother got him some golf stuff and Alixa is going to make him a tasty breakfast omelet. Other than that it should be a fairly common day, which isn’t a bad thing considering that the last month has been constant moving around and visiting people. Vacations are great and we all love them as much as the next group, but after a while it sure is nice to be able to sleep in your own bed and sit on your own couch and not have lots of people around. After a few weeks they will probably want to go on vacation again, but for now everyone in the house seems content to just be.

Video Treat of the Week

What did Idaho?

I want to start off by mentioning the last post, which contained a picture of Jenna and I that apparently ruffled some tail feathers. It pains me deeply to see words like gross and Ewww in the comments about me. I guess I should just get used to people misunderstanding me and learn to deal with the negative perceptions of snakes, but it still hurts a little.

As for the Winns, last week was vacation. As you know Alixa was finishing up her cross country drive with Grandma Nancy, Loni, and what probably seemed like scores of little children. On Saturday they arrived in Idaho Falls and decided that they had had quite enough of sleeping on strangers/relatives floors/couches/beds and decided to get a hotel room. There they waited for Jarom, who was to arrive with Annie and three kids on a plane Saturday evening.

Jarom’s day began with a wonderful round of golf with his dad, Jesse, and a friend. It was highlighted by the fact that he shot fourteen strokes better than his father, despite being tied after nine holes. His only regret was that Alixa was not there to heckle Bruce during his meltdown. After a quick shower and packing, it was off to the airport to meet/help Annie and her crew. All of the Winns were on the same flight, but their tickets had been purchased at different times, so Annie, Adri and Luke were in adjacent first class seats while Jarom and Juliet were in the same coach seat. Jarom had already attempted (unsuccessfully) to be upgraded to first class so that he could be closer to Annie, which would make it easier to deal with the kids. I should tell you that Jarom had purely altruistic motives for this, and at no point thought about the additional comfort and benefits that he would gain by sitting in first class. He’s a great guy. At the check-in counter a seat change was again requested, and again he was told that they were unable to do it. The interesting thing is that each time he asked for an upgrade, the Delta employee would tell him that they couldn’t do it because his ticket was coach. Really?!? Obviously his ticket is coach, why else would he ask for an upgrade?

After a long walk through the international terminal to find some chicken nuggets and some playtime with a Mexican cat who was flying to New Jersey, it was time to board the plane. Jarom was checking a stroller and a carseat at the gate, so he waited until everyone else had boarded to avoid the lines of people. Upon entering the plane, he immediately saw Annie and Adri in their first class seats, and an available first class seat RIGHT NEXT TO THEM! Thinking that Delta would surely rather bump someone in need up to first class as opposed to leaving such a valuable customer service tool empty he asked the flight attendant if it might be possible to move seats and explained the Annie-helping situation. The attendant told him that only the ticketing agent could make such a switch, but that he was just outside the plane. Jarom went to him and asked, making sure to clearly ask to be upgraded so as to avoid any potential confusion. The response he got was a classic, and should be prefaced with some information about this ticketing agent. He is black, and although his sexual preference cannot be definitively ascertained from the interaction, he may be gay. Either way, he was definitely a flamboyant character. The best picture that I can paint is that he was very similar to Nathan Lee Graham’s characters in Hitch and Sweet Home Alabama, both in appearance and attitude. With that in mind, you must imagine him (the ticketing agent) smirking at Jarom, shaking his head exaggeratedly and saying, “Oh no, I don’t think so.” The only thing missing was a little finger wag and a “No he didn’t!” Jarom almost started laughing in his face, but instead got back on the plane and told Annie what had just happened. The agent was still within earshot and heard Jarom mocking him, so I guess he felt the need to defend his ambiguously gay refusal. So he comes on to the plane and says to Jarom “Well sir, the reason that I can’t do it is because [Annie’s] is a first class ticket but yours is a coach ticket.” It took all of Jarom’s restraint to not kick him in the shin right there. After that, the flight went pretty smoothly. Juliet was about as good as a two year old can be on a five hour flight, and Adri was wonderful. Jarom spent the 30 minute puddle jumper between SLC and Idaho Falls trying to keep Juliet, who was by now dead asleep, on his lap while blocking her mid-sleep arm spasms that kept hitting the poor kid in the next seat.

Clayton, Idaho

On Sunday Jarom drove their rental Jeep up into the mountains, away from cell phone reception and supermarkets towards Clayton, Idaho, population 26. There they found the May Family Ranch, site of the ’09 Holderness Reunion. The next few days were spent playing volleyball, basketball, Frisbee, cards, and other games with 50+ members of the Holderness clan. Some hot springs were visited, a mining ghost town was seen, and the overall beauty of the Salmon River valley was enjoyed. Jarom and Lix shared a room with Jenna, Annie, Adri, Juliet, and Luke. That many kids led to some funny moments, including but not limited to the time Luke woke up in the middle of the night and cried for about five minutes before Annie asked if that was her kid or not. After three days they packed up the jeep and headed south towards Zion.



In Utah they crashed at the Gunther’s, who are Alixa’s aunt and uncle. The rest of the week was spent visiting old friends and doing the same things they used to do. They went and sat at the Quigley’s house and made fun of the way they lift their shoulders when they giggle, had a roommate get together at the Carter’s and played scum and settlers, stopped by their old bishop’s house to say hi, and ate a pork salad at Café Rio. Lix and Jarom both got haircuts from Kristi at her hair school and got to see Jolie working the front desk at the tanning salon. Lix went up to Park City for a day with her cousins while Jarom played a round of golf with some friends, who were impressed with his improvement from last year. Jarom also played some lacrosse with Max, one of Alixa’s younger cousins who has taken up the sport and is pretty good at it. Alixa enjoyed watching them play in the backyard while she became friends with the Gunther’s pet chickens.

I don't know who taught Jarom to throw a frisbee, or why he feels the need to pick on younger cousins to make himself feel better

On Sunday Jarom got on a plane and left his little family for another two weeks, which Alixa will spend in Utah and Ohio. It was a sad departure, and some tears were shed (mostly Jarom’s), but I will say that it is nice to have someone other than Bruce back in the house, since he never plays with me.

To the few of you who are still reading, I apologize for the length of this post. Lix still has the camera out west, so there will be a slight delay in getting some of the pictures from their adventures, but those will be up soon enough. And in case you were wondering, She hoed her Maryland. Some other good ones: What did Delaware? What did Tennessee? Where has Oregon? Answer in the comments section for a chance to win a prize!