The Imblers

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Utah

Jett loves this statue. I had to pull him away. He wanted to just sit there and read his book with him.

Got this picture while we were in Utah. Arizona had a big storm after we left. The winds were so long it blew the cover off of our hot tub. There was even cement blocks holding it down. It blew it over the fence and down the way. YIKES! Glad we weren't there for that!

Rusty has mornings off so we drove to Swig (a place with really good drinks and cookies) and then went to Pioneer park.

We went back to the hotel (which was in Salt Lake) to chill for a little bit. I opened up Instagram and saw this post...

I immediately text Kaylee and asked her if she knew where it was. She didn't, but asked Rusty and he knew exactly where it was! I drove Kaiya over to watch Ivie and pick up Kaylee and we went on the hunt! Kaylee found the box! There was a $50 gift card in there. It was so spontaneous and so much fun! We had some good laughs about this and we were both surprised Rusty knew exactly where we should go! Impressed!

They love each other.....

Utah - Grandpa's Birth Mom

I have been on this big kick lately to find my grandpa's birth parents. I don't know why it started but I got Cirdan, Kaiya and my DNA tested and I think that was when I realized that we could be linked up to his birth family. I then convinced my mom to take a test. That same time my dad and my Gradma took one also. My Gradma taking one would help us eliminate her side of the family from my Grandpa's when studying the DNA results for my mom. LONG story short I found his birth mom. Everything matched up and as soon as I saw a picture of her I almost peed my pants. Such resemblance to my mom it was crazy!

While I was in Utah I wanted to see if there was anything else I could find out about her. Her name is Dorothy Heddlesten and she died when she was the young age of 26 from Ovarian Cancer. She had been married for a short time to some guy (much older guy).

We drove to the place where she was brought up. There was a little apartment or house on the back of a business. Her dad worked at the business and they lived in the back.

Storefront...

We also went to the cemetery. It took us a little while but we (as in Kaylee) found her parents graves. Then we drove around a bit to try to find Dorothy. We had the lawn it was on but this cemetery was huge. I drove and drove. I wanted to give up but Kaylee didn't want to (thankfully). She knocked some sense into me (we were sitting in the car talking about whether to just leave). Just as I started to drive more it was no more than 20 feet when we saw the lawn we were looking for. It was crazy how that happened.

Kaylee found her grave. The kids were all running around and doing their own thing but as soon as we found her grave they all gathered and Ivie sat on it. I look at this picture and it gives me chills. Did Ivie know something? She didn't do this to any other graves there. We were able to find out some more info about Dorothy by her gravestone. I had done so much research on her and didn't even notice the info that was staring right at me! Kaylee pointed it out! It said that she was part of the Naomi Rebekah Lodge No I.O.O.F. we didn't know what that meant but looked it up online to find out more information.

We drove past her house (these pictures are out of order) and the GPS told me to turn around. I didn't for some reason but decided to drive down a street around the corner. Kaylee once again noticed that there was a big brick building on the corner with I.O.O.F on it!! It really was so crazy. Like things were just happening that was supposed to.

Since then more has happened. We have contacted Dorothy's family that took the DNA test and also I am pretty sure that I found his dad. I am so thankful for technology! My mom searched years to find the birth mom. We have realized that the birth certificate was false and she was going from incorrect information. Without DNA there would have been absolutely no way I would have found what I have so far. I feel like I am being helped along the way. This isn't just me doing it. I feel a connection to these people and I don't know why. Sound weird but its true. :)

UTAH

These pictures make my heart happy. We were gone all of July. Did a lot of really fun stuff. To me though...this was the highlight of our trip and a great way to end. I miss Ivie, Kaylee and Rusty so much!!! I wish they lived closer!!

I didn't know how Ivie would be with us since we really haven't seen her but I am happy to report that she LOVED Kaiya and I. She didn't really like Ella which made Ella try extra hard to win her love. Ella is used to kids loving her and was confused why she liked Kaiya more than her. It made for some sister rivalry.

This was our last day there.

Ivie is such a character! Look at that face!

Kaylee and Rusty got me a gift. It was a selfie stick!!! HA HA! They know I love my selfies. :)

Either that day we drove to Ogden to see Cirdan's mom. The boys had never met her and Ella only saw her when she was a little baby so she didn't remember her. It was really good to see her! Cirdan needs to go to Utah more to spend time with her. We picked her up, got some In N Out and went to a park to eat it.

Kaiya fell asleep and Cannon thought it would be funny to put leaves on her.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Arizona 13th - 18th

July 13th
Love looking at fun faces on our SkyBell cam in Arizona - this one is brought to you by Jemma

The guy that loaded up all of our stuff did an amazing job. Very impressive.

On our way to ARIZONA for the next leg of our vacation

We arrived and had a birthday party that night for Cannon and Jemma. Stacey made an ice cream cake which was a hit!

Happy Birthday!

Then we got right down to business - THE POOL!

Of course this happens when I go try to open the sliding glass door. Everyone had a good laugh wondering who would be the one to break it. Yep. It was me. Good thing it was us though and not someone renting the house.