Life with Snow White's Brother and Our Trip to Jackson

It is a little known fact that Snow White had a brother. I only know because I married him. I didn't know intially that he was Snow White's brother. Last Friday it was made evident that he has a penchant for small woodland creatures, or that they have a penchant for him. One of which made us about an hour late for a dinner party last weekend.

So, the story goes... we were out in the garage area last Friday afternoon scrubbing refrigerators (acquired via KSL.com for the business -- there's a story that goes with the fridges but I'm too scared to post it lest the gentleman who was also racing to Spring City to purchase said fridges happens to stumble on our site and put faces and names to Lui and me as the scoundrels who got there minutes before he did, whisking the bargains away). Anyway, Lui and I were out scrubbing our newly acquired appliances when from literally out of the blue, a lone sparrow (or finch? or starling?) landed perfectly on Luis's shoulder. Just like that. A flutter and a flap, and we had us a bird. For an hour.

We tried feeding it brown rice and flax seeds, nutritious snack options quickly found in Ali's pantry. And it seemed, momentarily, that it would work as a way to lure the bird from its perch. Well, the bird ate.
But it hopped right back on Lui's shoulder when it finished eating. And then it did this:
The bird took to my shoulder as a temporary resting spot while Luis went inside to change his shirt, but as soon as he came back out the bird returned to his initial post. On other days, days where we did not have places to be and people to see and things to do, this quirky bird would have been perhaps more whimsical than it was. But truth be told, after an hour, it got wierd. That blasted winged creature would not get off Luis! Watching the clock, we knew we were going to be late to our dinner party and neither of us felt that showing up with a stray bird was appropriate, we did what any desperate people would do. We grabbed the bird, gently and humanely 'threw' it up in the air, and made a run for the back door. Twenty minutes later, washed up and ready to go, we opened the back door to leave and sure enough, there was our bird... sitting patiently at our back step, waiting for his pal. We promptly shut the door and opted to exit out the front. And there, my friends, is a glimpse into life with the brother of none other than Snow White.

We had an amazing trip to Jackson Hole for the annual Williams Family Reunion. My dad's side of the family has been making this trip since I was 12, the year my grandma passed away. It was a way to get Grandpa out of the house, away from memories, away from reminders, and to surround him with family around what would have been Grandma Dona's 59th birthday. It stuck as a tradition and the trip is now something we all look forward to months in advance. My sister Adrienne and I start planning 'Jackson Outfits' and 'Jackson Meals' well before it's actually time to. But there was something special about the trip this year... Luis came too!

There was no Jackson trip the year we got married, as most family made the long trip to Utah for the wedding. And last year, Luis had started a job with BMW just two weeks before we were supposed to go. But this year (thank you, This Economy, for providing the unemployment), we were able to go together. I was more than excited to share this long tradition with the love of my life. We drove through Lava Hot Springs and Alpine and thoroughly enjoyed the time in the car together. It felt like a second honeymoon, really. We talked and took pictures and stopped to admire nature (and to answer its call from time to time) and oooh-ed and aaaah-ed at the beauty of the world around us. It was a lovely trip and we were happily joined with the rest of the clan in Teton Village just in time for dinner.

Among the highlights of the week were Lui's debut as a mountain biker (thank you, Dereck and Nick, for making sure he arrived safely each time), spotting lots of wildlife, including bears, elk, coyotes, deer, and moose, Canadian water rugby in beautiful String Lake,
re-designing my sister Jessie's glasses to include a third and all-knowing eye,time with my sweet Pappy and his wonderful wife, Collene, at Jedediah's House of Sourdough (can I get an 'amen'?),

a day trip to Yellowstone (including Old Faithful, all the huckleberry ice cream we could eat, West Thumb paint pots, and the Fire Hole Canyon loop) with my handsome esposo,

and lots and lots of time with my wonderful family. We feel so blessed to love and be loved so much. I don't know many families that could happily, willingly, and peacefully stay in a crowded cabin (22 people and 4 bathrooms, you do the math!) for an entire week together. We had a blast and it was a real treat to finally have Lui there with me. He gets along famously with my family and the kids totally dig him, as do I. Thanks to my grandpa for a wonderful week! I'm already thinking about next year's outfits...