A Lighter Dish: a taste of Southern Living. Destination? Huntsville.

Last night's post was pretty heavy, so I thought I should go for something a little on the lighter side. [note: lighter unfortunately does not mean shorter. But hey, at least there are pictures!]

Once upon a time, I was waiting to sell my house. I was living in a sea of boxes [sidenote here. has there been a post since the move that I have not mentioned it? probably not. i apologize for beating it to death, but clearly it affected me to a devistating degree.] and it was driving me crazy. I was getting anxious to start our new, albeit shortlived, life in Idaho.

Then I turned on the radio. Wait, I didn't. It was packed. So let's pretend I turned on the radio. This is what the weather forecast issued for the next few days. Ugh.

... Wind chill watch remains in effect from Wednesday evening through Friday
morning... A wind chill watch remains in effect from Wednesday evening through Friday morning. Dangerous wind chills are likely following our next storm system overnight tonight and Wednesday. Strong north winds will lower air temperatures below zero Wednesday night through Thursday night. Brisk north winds through that period will combine to create dangerously brutal wind chills at or below minus 30 degrees. A wind chill watch means there is the potential for acombination of very cold air and strong winds to create dangerously low windchill values. Monitor the latest forecasts and warnings for updates on this situation.*

{*Excerpt plagarized from this post. Thanks, Kelli!}

I considered the weather forecast and the bad news. Then I did something that I rarely do. I began planning a last minute trip down to Alabama. I hadn't seen my grandparents and cousins for so long, not to metion Alabama was sounding very tropical at the moment. The week prior the temperature had hit 70 degrees. Niiiiice. Kyle and I had planned on taking a trip out there once we got settled in Idaho, but I'd be danged if I was going to waste away another weekend sitting in the house in Chicago waiting to move. I checked on flights leaving the next morning. 300 bucks. Not bad for a non-stop last minute roundtrip ticket to Huntsville. Then Kyle (the fiscally responisble one in our marriage) suggested I google how many hours away it was. With gas as low as it is, he pretty much felt like we were getting paid to drive down there.

10 hours!

10 hours? I felt awful. I had been living in Chicago for the last 2 1/2 years and didn't even know how close I was to my family. It was pretty much a no brainer to drive. And so I called up my beloved Aunt and Uncle to ask if we could crash their quarters for the long weekend. Uncle Robert and Aunt Gwen are the essence of southern hospitality and enthusiastically agreed. (or they were really good about pretending to be enthusiastic). The catch was to not tell my Grandparents we were coming down. If you don't know my Aunt Gwen, you really don't understand what we were asking of her (she ended up just avoiding my Grandparents until we got there, just to make sure she didn't spill the beans).

Naturally I was still on a high from the whole I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-something-spontaneous, and wanted to continue the fun full throttle. So, I took the kids to the Children's Museum with Cade's friend, Delaney (Savannah thinks she's her friend, too and Delaney thinks she's Savannah's mother, it's so cute.) Oh how we miss sweet little Delaney. She's Cade's age and they look more like siblings than he and Savvy look, don't you think? Several times I was asked if they were twins. Sure, I said. And I even decided to have another one, can you believe it?!

Standing inside a big bubble

D. and S. Only little girls like this can still look adorable in goggles.

Once home from our fun-filled morning and afternoon, we hurriedly packed up the car and by dark we were on the road.

I'll spare you the road trip details but I will say that we have decided Hampton Inn is choice of road trip overnight stops. The kids LOVED having a TV in the room, those poor television deprived souls, and Kyle and I loved having a TV to turn on in the room so we could sleep in. Totally a win-win.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about the Huntsville Henriksens. First, there's Robert and Gwen, the most fun-loving, hilarious, and kind folks you will ever meet. They have 6 children. 5 of them have children of their own. All 6 kids live in the same county just miles from home base. Most of them are even in the same ward. It is a very tight-knit family. In the 3 days I was there, they all (and I mean ALL) convened at "Grammy's" (Gwen's name of choice) at least once each day. If I get my math right, that meant Auntie Gwen was cooking for a grand total of 15 adults and 12 children. It was a zoo. The most delightful zoo I have ever been a part of.

Spending time with my cousins and having Cade and Savvy get to play with their cousins (2nd cousins? once removed?? who knows) was absolutely wonderful. Cade got very used to having at least 3 or 4 friends to play with at a time and if we ever opened the door to just find Robert and Gwen alone, Cade would ask, "where is everybody?!"

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Michael's little girl, Maycie. The calm, quiet, and gentle one of the crew. ;)

Layla. This was Savannah's favorite. Everything she does now is in reference to "Like Layla does!" whether it's going potty, wearing a pony tail.... my she sure left an impression on Savvy.

Trouble,Emma, Beaux, Ava and Cade

The name is Danger. No really, that's his name. Danger.

Look at those eyes! This is Jennie's youngest. He is the cutest baby I have ever seen. Just a year old and weighs more than Savannah, who is twice his age.

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Another highlight was introducing Kyle to Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro. This is where all the unclaimed baggage goes and is sold for cheap, or it used to be. My cousin says they've gotten pretty proud of themselves and now the deals aren't as great, but it is still fun to see what sorts of things people left behind (or the airlines didn't try very hard to return). Wedding dresses, canoes, strollers and everything in between.

My cousin Connie and her husband David were so sweet to chauffer us there and shop with us. Of course Connie found all the great steals as I looked on with envy. Kyle also found some good stuff, too: noise cancelling headphones (maybe he wanted to wear them on the drive home) and some cologne to add to his 14-strong bottle collection. I don't even remember what I got....but whatever it was, I'm sure it was a screaming deal on something I needed very much.

On the way home, David pulled over to a remote spot off the highway and led Kyle on a little excavation adventure. They were sucessful in their search and came home with some pretty rad looking rocks* --- they weren't rocks, but in order to honor David's sacred excavation grounds, I had to be very general here. Kyle and he were like little kids in a candy shop and were so proud to show us their finds. They were like two peas in a pod. I think they ended up deserting us and going gun-shopping the rest of the day. Those hicks.

Aside from the instant influx of friends, the highlight of this trip for Cade was getting a Spiderman Umbrella. All year long he had begged to receive this for Christmas. Santa forgot, and by the time he remembered, Umbrella season was over in Chicago and hat and glove season was there for good. I promised him I'd take him to Wal-mart in Alabama (it never snows there, well, except for this one time as documented by my fellow cousin, Amy) to see if they had a Spiderman Umbrella for him. When Cade found it, pretty much the entire store heard about it. To say he was elated is an understatement. He slept with it the remainder of his visit. To Cade, Alabama will always be known for three things: the spiderman umbrella, cousins, and lots, and lots of toys.

I will most treasure getting to visit with my Grandparents. They were so sweet to hold a feast at their house to also feed the same insane amount of adults and children, complete with amazing southern bar-b-que pork sandwiches. Yummmmmmm. I had been craving them for months. It was the sweetest gesture of love. The kids enjoyed running the loop at their house and kept trying to sneak into David's Room. It was near impossible keep Cade and Savannah out of David's room. David is my mom's brother (also simply translated to my uncle) who is autistic. My grandparents keep a room for him when he comes home for visits. David's room is a child's paradise. He has an affinity for toys that light up and make noise. He is also a master at pipe cleaner art. He can make anything out of a handful of pipecleaners. The problem with David, though, is that if his things have moved, he has a very hard time with it. So Cade and Savvy so badly wanted to touch and play with everything, but they couldn't so we wouldn't have to subject my Grandparents to serious consequences. It was pretty funny actually.

Great Gramma and Savannah

Mr. Humbug himself with the kiddies.

My grandparents were also so sweet to let me come over one evening to pick their brains about our family history. My grandmother has kept an amazing living history and as I looked through her pages of memories, it was as if I was walking in her shoes for those few hours. I learned some truly remarkable things about my grandparents and our ancestors. I am a direct descendent of the first Swedish convert to the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day saints, John Erik Forsgren. I realized then that I have much work to do in the world of geneology, but I am excited to begin.

And as always, having the chance to sit and visit with Uncle Robert and Aunt Gwen was delightful, inspiring, interesting, and absolutely hilarious. Despite their very full schedules, they were sweet to sit down with us for some wonderful conversations. On our ride home, Kyle remarked to me something that quite eloquently describes my Uncle. "He is the most honorable, just and kind man I've ever met." I couldn't have said it better myself.

It was also amazing to watch my close-knit relatives gather together. All my life I've lived away from extended family. It was neat (and hilarious) to watch my cousins interact and get a small taste of what it would be like to have a Sheppard family compound. My cousin, Jennie, really gets superwoman of the year. Mother of three (ages 1, 2, and 3 I believe), and pregnant with her fourth, at the ripe age of 25, and she's currently serving as the Relief Society President in her ward. And you'd never guess who the bishop is. My Uncle. You know he would never have called her to serve in such a capacity unless the Lord wanted it. She is amazing. And each of her sisters pitch in and help her carry the load, just as any sister would. I'm so mad I didn't take a picture of all of us, but we did get a few shots of the kids and some others. Next time I suppose!

Meet Trouble. Jennie's second boy. (not his real name. had to clarify) He has a very mischievious grin.

Grammy and Katie. Katie is as sweet as a spoonful of sugar and honey. Love that girl.

In the middle of our Alabama Adventure, Kyle got a phone call from our attorney telling us we were for real closing on the house in 3 days. Of course we were. In order for the closing to really happen, we had to leave the state and take a vacation. Isn't that always the way it goes?

Our last day in Alabama, my Uncle treated us to lunch at the most authentic southern cuisine possible: Tim's Cajun Kitchen. We gobbled up such delicassies as fried alligator (surprisingly good) and gumbo. Never had it before, and I would have it again, if you paid me. Kidding. My favorite dish was the bread pudding. It was heavenly.

We got to be spoiled one last time by the Grandparents, who treated us to an all-American dinner at a restaurant on our way out. Cade got his Mac and Cheese and Icecream, which was perfect. Otherwise I don't think we could have bribed him back in the car. Leaving behind all those friends and toys was almost too much for him to bear.

As we pulled onto the interstate, I promised myself to come back in the summer. You can't stay away from the Henriksen's too long. I mean, look at what happened when the kids tried to move away.