Leaving Iowa at 6 am meant that we got to Palm Spring CA at 9 am. We had our entire day to play in warm sunny CA!
We went straight from the airport to my grandparents house since they were the main reason we were there. My grandpa was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer which had spread to his liver on January 4th and we wanted to go see him one last time.
When we got to the house we gave my grandma a huge hug then went in to see grandpa. He was asleep, but woke right up. He saw Corrine and said "you've got your pink boots on!" We talked with grandma for a while. Corrine sat on the cough with Nani looking at a Where's Waldo book. Corrine started giggling really hard. When we asked her why she said that "grandma can't find Waldo!" Corrine knew right where he was.
I talked with grandpa about when I was a kid and we'd have arm hair pulling contests with each other because when I was a little girl I had ALOT of hair on my arm just below my elbow, just like Ammon does now.
We gave them a hug and went to El Polo Loco for lunch. A restaurant I'd been craving and so wanting to go eat at. And I was not disappointment in any way!
We went back to their house and meet their neighbor. She gave us a tour of her beautiful yard. She has the neatest cactus tree in her front patio area. We didn't go back in to see grandpa because his nurse was there.
Since grandpa wasn't doing so well we decided it was best if we didn't hang around too long, so we headed to Nani & Papa's house in "their desert" as they call it.
Little did we know that we had just given our last hugs, kisses and said our last earthly goodbyes to Grandpa Jenson that morning.
At Nani & Papa's we met their 4 chickens. Corrine was instantly in love with them and wanted to play with them. One of the black ones likes to be petted. When you touch her she squats down and lowers her head so you can pet her. Corrine thought that was awesome! Papa let them out and Corrine watched them and then herded them back in their cage all by herself.
That night even with ice cream for desert being mentioned Corrine feel asleep on the couch. It had been a VERY early morning, and she was wiped out!
Saturday we spent the day meeting their friends in the valley and playing with the chickens. In the afternoon we hiked up to the rock house that I had heard so much about. It's amazing how you can't even see it until you are almost right at it. Once I've seen it, it's easier to pick out from a distance now.
The maker and age of the house are unknown. You can tell that it had a roof and wooden beams at one point, but you can see the evidence of a fire that burned that out. Outside there are spots in the rocks where they would grind their grain for meals.
Corrine got her 1st driving lesson from Papa on their golf cart. She thought he was joking (so did I at first). She picked up how hard to push on the gas and how to move the wheel just slightly.
We also got to shot Papa's gun. Corrine didn't want to shoot it, but she did pose for a picture with it. I shot it a few times and ended up hitting the can one time.
Sunday we went to their branch for church. It takes 45 minutes up a very windy mountain rode. Halfway up Corrine said her head hurt, then her stomach started to feel funny. She made it 1 block before the church when carsickness overcame her. Luckily we were there an hour early so she could settle her stomach. She was excited to go to primary with the 3 other kids there that day. Usually the primary has 1 girl. I went to Young Women's where they have 1 girl also. On the way back down the hill, Corrine again got carsick. We weren't so sure how all the driving we were going to do this week was going to sit with her.
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