A little bit of history repeating...

As Adam mentioned in his last post, I went to California for a weekend all by myself. My mom's parents live on Balboa Island in Newport Beach. Its a beautiful area and I love to visit. Although a nice weekend trip to CA wouldn't have been bad all on it's own but I had other plans in mind. When I graduated in December, I panicked that with too much free time I'd slowly turn into a couch potato only to have Dennis Leary suck out my brain from too much TV (have you seen those commercials? creepy.). So, I went in search of some sort of project that would fill my time and interest. My Grandpa Hurley is my mother's step dad and my only living grandfather. He is a crazy old man who has the mouth of a sailor and the attitude of 15 year old boy. It may sound harsh but you just have to meet the man. He is known for his nicknames, mine being "Bee Sting Lips" because apparently, he believes I was stung by a bee, had an allergic reaction and my lips swelled. He calls Adam Buck Jepperson because he believes that if you live in Logan, you must be a cowboy. He's hilarious and even though we're not biologically related, I like to think I inherited some of his ridiculous candor.

After much persuasion my Grandpa agreed that I could be the one to record his personal history. Even though he has quite the mouth on him, he rarely talks about himself or his history. I just recently found out his father died when he was 5. Being that my Grandpa is getting older, I felt that his personal history was becoming even more important with each passing year. So-- I flew out to CA to record it for a whole weekend.

But... that didn't exactly happen. Once my mom heard I was going to visit, she thought it would be fun to fly in from AZ as well, so... she did. Then, realizing it was mother's day weekend, my Dad and brother, Alex, were not about to be left at home without a mom/wife (understandably so)... so they flew in as well. My nice, quite, personal history weekend, within hours, became a family event.

I was able to get in a few hours of recording with my Grandpa. We covered his college and military years. I tried to keep my comments to a minimum while recording because I kept wanting to say, "wow, really?!" I learned of his deep Irish background, his love for the song Danny Boy, his views on the military and the Vietnam war, as well as his time at the University of Utah while he was studying for his pharmaceutical degree. Needless to say, I was enchanted. This man who I only knew as a fun, witty, mostly crazy Grandpa had lived through so many interesting times, met so many interesting people. I plan to fly back and continue this recording because he has so much history to tell and share. (I also learned his mother's name was Rhea Riley... and decided that if I ever have a daughter, that's what I'm naming her.)

(The whole family minus a few :) )


(Grandpa and Adrienne on April Fool's Day)

After spending time with Gramps, my sister Adrienne (who lives in Newport), scheduled a photographer to take pictures of us, along with my mom and Grandma. She chose the clothes, setting and some of the props. I was skeptical but I think they turned out well.

(Mom, Grandma, me and Adrienne)

(Photos by Mike Cunningham, check out his blog)

For years now, Adrienne and I have been wanting to make a trip to LA to shop in the fashion district and the time finally came. We spent a good part of the day just wandering the alleyways finding sunglasses, clothes, scarves, purses, shoes and anything else that caught our eye. True to Adrienne's nature of taking pictures wherever we go, here's a lovely one of us in a sketchy dressing room:

We also found time to hit up Disneyland and squeeze in more shopping. It was kind of nice being back to just the two of us, without brothers or husbands. Overall the weekend was great and I was grateful to have my family around me.

PS. Every time Adam and I visit Balboa Island, we have to stop at this little shop called Olive Oil and Beyond. It has amazing flavors of Balsamic Vinegars and Olive Oils. The website is under construction but be sure to check it out.