Friday, July 25, 2008

So long, Farewell....

Things continue to be busy for the Winn household. After returning from Las Vegas, they promptly packed up to head out to Cleveland to spend a week with Alixa’s family. As per Winn family tradition, they arrived at the airport late for their flight. Fortunately, the flight had been delayed and they were able to make it. The first order of business once they got to Cleveland was to do some more traveling and head down to Knoxville to find adequate lodging for their new adventure in the Smoky Mountains. After looking at a number of options, they settled on a two bedroom, 1.5 baths, two-story town home. It has new carpets, and no pets are ever to be allowed in there, so I will have to be kept on the down low. It is OK though, because I never leave messes on the carpet anyway.

Both Jarom and Alixa are nervous and excited about moving to Tennessee. It will be nice to be closer to family (8 or 9 hour drive to both Cleveland and Delaware) and Alixa can’t wait to have another bathroom. But they will be sad to leave some wonderful friends that they have in Utah, and the unknown is always a little scary.



After making sure they had a place to live they drove back up to Ohio and spent the rest of the week hanging out with family. They swam in the pool, played a round of golf, saw the new Batman movie, did some shopping, played games, and even managed to go to the local tea house for an interesting meal. Jarom doesn’t really like tea, and the whole experience was far too fancy for his liking, but the food was pretty good and it was an interesting experience. It seemed very much like he had been shrunk and placed inside a dollhouse for about an hour.

They showed up at the Cleveland airport to find another delayed flight, which was good because they were late again. It was good to get back to Utah, even though they would only be staying for a week before beginning their cross country trek.



On July 24th, Alixa had her anniversary. She has survived four years with Jarom, a feat that should be admired. They celebrated by hiking up to Squaw Peak, a hike that Jarom did several years ago and wanted to do again before he left town. It is a 6 mile round trip, climbing up 3,000 ft to the peak, which is almost 8,000 ft high. It was a good workout and very pretty, with a great view of the valley from the top.



Our last few days in Utah will be spent packing, which is where my lack of arms is a serious drawback. The plan is to get everything packed up and hit the road on Monday or Tuesday. There will be a stop in Kansas City to visit some friends living there, and then it is on to the Volunteer State.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Vegas, Baby!



Our time here in Provo is drawing to a close, which means that Lixi and Jarom wanted to make one last trip down to Las Vegas to visit their favorite Vegan. They took the trip with the Grants and the Carters, and spent three days in the dry heat of the desert. A great time was had by all. They visited assorted hotels and casinos, played some mini golf, ate at wonderful restaurants and generally enjoyed each others company.  Much thanks to Grandpa Winn for sponsoring the event and hosting the participants.

Much to Lixi's surprise, this guy was NOT a statue

Jarom won another softball championship, this time in an Orem City league. He was a sub and only played a few times during the season, but he did earn co-player of the game honors in the championship for going 2-3 with a double and a triple.

Alixa collecting eggs from Jarom

Jarom also bought and sold his first set of golf clubs this past week. He was very excited about them until he heard that he would be getting his dad’s old set for his birthday. Free clubs always beat cheap clubs, so he took advantage of his friends accommodating return policy.

Alixa is officially tired of working. She had been doing very well the past couple months, but last week she hit a wall. It is OK because we will only be in P-town for about 5-10 more days anyway. We are all getting excited about the move. Not the actual move, which will be a terrible pain in the tail, but being in a new place and starting at a new school and stuff. That part will be fun. We are also excited to see Tennessee. We have heard great things about it.

The Winns with their diminutive friends, the Grants

Tomorrow I get left again as Jarom and Lix go to Cleveland to visit the Hegewalds for a week. They are also going to swing down to Knoxville and find an apartment to live in. It should be a wonderful trip.

Looking typically excited at Church