I added Cousin Willie as a friend on Facebook when we got home from our spring break trip. I also told him he was welcome anytime he wanted to visit Utah. He jokingly said, "Well that may be sooner than you think." As it turns out he wasn't joking and texted Matt that he would be flying in that very next weekend! We were thrilled to have him. While we went to nephew Harrison's baptism luncheon the next Saturday Matt head to SLC Intl. to pick up Willie and give him a quick tour of SLC via car since this was his first time every in our great state. We offered to take him around to see more of the sights but he said, "Honesty, I am more interested in seeing how your loving family lives, I just want to spend time with all of you and get to know you." Wow. His first night here he made us delicious tortilla soup and then helped the kids make ice cream cupcakes. This lead to a cupcake eating contest between he, Matt, and Mallerie. We laughed so much that evening. During dinner Callie slipped away and came back with her doll. She set it on the table while Graham was looking down. The look on Graham's face when he lifted his head at finding a giant doll staring at him set off roars of laughter (think Macaulay Culkin when he gets into the back of that cab in Home Alone 2).
The next day was Sunday. Fast Sunday. We explained that this meant we didn't eat for two consecutive meals. Willie said he wanted to fast too. When he saw Matt filling out his tithing slip he offered to pay as well. Matt told him that wasn't necessary. The ward mission leader prepared a nice lesson on families during Sunday School. Having Willie at church with us was opened a great discussion later that evening about the beliefs of our faith and we were also able to share Manuel (his uncle) and Donna's conversion stories, which he had never heard.
Willie wanted to surprise Mark and his family and Kei and Ademir during Sunday dinner. We invited everyone over for Sunday dinner and then on que out came cousin Willie. Mark said, "Who the heck are you?" It's been 16 years since they saw him last and Kei has never met him. Willie had gone to soooo much work before the trip gathering family pictures and names on Matt's side to put into a slide show we watched downstairs. As Kei put it, you could feel the spirit as we looked at those family faces that we had never seen. It was the spirit of Elijah.
The next day Willie wanted to get in a ski trip even though it was April 15th and most resorts were closed. As luck would have it we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow. Matt, Mallerie, Kei, and Willie headed to Cottonwood Canyon where they skied in fresh powder. It was Kei and Mallerie's first time skiing. Matt has a video of Mallerie on her bottom going full speed down the hill screaming all the way. Buuuuut she loved it.
