April in So. Cal. for Spring Fling

We decided to head to Southern California for the Sorensen Family "Spring Fling." My cousin Ken Sorensen and his wife, Jeri, hosted it in Yucaipa.  Here is the whole group. There are a lot of Roah family members there, too. (And I am really NOT that short. I was stooping to avoid blocking Justin behind me.) 

 I brought some of Grandma Sorensen's sheet music with me to share with cousins.  It is over 100 years old, some of it!  And it is quite crumbly and brittle, but very fun to look at because she wrote and/or stamped her name all over some of the pieces.  Some of them, I have framed and they look quite nice, if I do say so myself.  Most of the cousins chose to take one or two. ( Only I forgot to show them when we went to Aunt Tuny's house afterwards!)  When I framed the ones I did for our kids, I also included some of my very few memories of Grandma Sorensen, and it was really fun to share some memories of her with cousin Randy.  He remembers  Grandma picking fleas off her little chiuhuahua, Cheena.  She would put the doggie on her lap, on it's back, role small segments of the skin between her fingers, and pluck off the fleas, one by one. Then she would *pop* the flea between her thumbnails and drop it into a little bowl of water she'd prepared--just to make sure the little bugger was dead--drowned, if not popped to death.  Eww!  But apparently sand fleas were a big problem in Santa Monica and other sandy soil areas in mild southern California.  And were there no such thing as flea collars back then?  Apparently Grandma was really good at smacking flies dead with her bare hands, too.  She really had a vengeance for bugs, huh? Oh! and MY mom told me that Grandma used to smack those miller moths out of the air, down to the floor, where she would use her shoe to smash 'em, grind 'em.  "They're good for the carpet," she would say.  We figure if they didn't grow up to lay eggs, then of course it was good for the carpet--it's moth larvae that eats woolen carpets! ha.

 Below. Randy, Brenda, Dylan.  Dylan's wife, Amy, was at a bachelorette party for a friend this weekend, so she was unable to attend the Spring Fling.  I shall lovingly refer to her as Dylan's "alleged" wife, having never met his spouse (I think I did meet her before they were married, however.)

 Ken and Jeri are SO NICE to let little ones take over the back yard and play with  balls. Sometimes they are none-too-gentle with the trees and shrubs, but Ken doesn't say a word. He has a lovely yard, and I wish I would have taken a photo of their roses. My. They reminded me of the ones in Alice in Wonderland.  Remember the ones the Queen of Hearts demanded to be painted red?  These were HUGE and very red and very beautiful.  Ken even has a few plumeria trees and even though they were not in bloom, he had a picture to show me of when they were.  Really pretty.  Below is Jill and Devin on the left, Christi's boyfriend Eric hiding behind the windchime.  I think they are playing badminton.

 Below.  There were also squirt guns.   THAT was fun for some of the younger ones. Including Randy. ha.

Avery, Devin, Justin

Gina teaching us how to play Tenzie.

Gina, Ken, Jeri. Cara was also at a bachelorette party for a friend this weekend, and Gina and Logan were with Ken and Jeri.

And Kenny K was there, enjoying the food, the company and meeting new friends all over again. And again.

Did you notice the GARGANTUAN strawberries in the bowl, above?  Yes, they are strawberries, not apples. ha.  Jeri has a neighbor/friend down the street who owns a fruit stand.  Each year in time for the Spring Fling, Jeri asks her friend to custom pick the biggest and best and ripest berries he has--just for her and her party.  And he does!!  THAT's why Jeri's strawberries are so magnificent all the time for this annual celebration.

 After the party was over, we followed Suz back to Temecula, using the back highways.  She made a quick stop at the local Stater Brothers' grocery to buy a particularly lovely rainbow bouncy ball for her family.  This is the Devin, waiting patiently in the van for her.  We spent the night in Kirk and Suzi's guest room (Sandi's Suite) and it was just lovely.  We had not seen the new addition to their home.  The last time we were there, it was still in the planning stages.

Sunday morning, we ate breakfast, then headed over to Huntington Beach.  First we visited with Aunt Maureen for a few  minutes.

 Then we headed over to Aunt Tuny and Uncle Gary's.  Sandi was there, too, and she took the photo below. It was great to visit for a few minutes. We missed seeing them at the get-together in Yucaipa.

Then Mike and I drove all the way home to Cedar City. We made great time on the freeways. The only really slow spot was in the Virgin River Gorge because of construction, and we had an interesting audio book to listen to along the drive.  Good snacks.  Good company. We were home by about 7:30 p.m. Safe and sound. It is so nice to be able to do a quick trip like that and have it all work out well.  It happened to be our stake conference, so I didn't even need to get a substitute for my Primary Class.