A few days after Rob and I had a discussion and decided we didn’t want to date other people, it was General Conference weekend and Rob’s family was getting together up Payson Canyon to have a fire… at least that is all the information Rob gave me 🙂 I learned quickly that I had to be specific if I wanted any details out of him. He had just said they were getting together for dinner and a fire up the canyon, but forgot to mention that his family was camping in their RV for 2 nights and had invited us to stay the night there with them.
Rob and I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon Saturday evening and hiked a short distance up one of the trails not too far up the canyon. We both love being in the mountains, so we go up there as often as we can. Since the General Priesthood session is now being publicly broadcast live, we were able to listen to the Priesthood session while sitting on a large rock that looked out into the ravine; the sun was setting between the jagged rock faces as we listened. It was a beautiful scene. I really enjoyed listening to conference out away from the world in a sense; in the mountains, in God’s country.
We hiked back down to the car as the last speaker was finishing up so that we wouldn’t get to Payson canyon to meet his family too late. By the time we got to the base of the canyon, it was already dark. We tried to call and text Rob’s Mom and sister, but cell phone service was really spotty. As we drove around looking for the RV, I had no idea what we were looking for so I wasn’t much help. I had this picture in my head of his family having a small little camper; but after passing several campers and rv’s without Rob slowing down, I started to get the impression that the picture of the family RV I had in my mind was a lot smaller than the Spangenberg’s RV.
We made several loops around the campgrounds in the canyon, but still hadn’t found their RV. After driving around for probably a half hour with no luck, we passed a large RV on our right side, parked by itself in a big open dirt lot with a few trees, but I didn’t even look twice, because I had no idea we were looking for a bus that big! Rob called and was able to talk to his sister for a minute to find out where they were. He flipped the car around and a few minutes later we pulled up near the huge bus I had seen. I said to Rob, “That’s your family’s RV?!” The whole time I was looking for a little family camper, boy was I wrong!
We parked the car in the dirt lot near the RV. I don’t normally get nervous, especially to meet new people, but before we got out of the car, I got a little nervous. Rob had been a little bit hesitant about bringing me to meet his family, or so it seemed, so my nerves were a little tense as we approached his cute family standing around the campfire. He hadn’t told me a lot about them, other than a few basic things, and I was pretty sure he had told them very little, if anything, about me, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. His entire family wasn’t there, so that was a little less intimidating. His brothers TJ and Ryan, and sister J were doing other things that night, so only 2 of his sisters, Lins and Sarah, Lins’s 2 boys, and his parents were there.
I don’t think I realized how big of a deal it was for Rob to bring me to meet his family, especially so early on in our relationship, until several weeks later. I was the first official “girlfriend” Rob had ever brought home, so I think that is why he was a little bit hesitant and nervous to have me meet his family. And for that reason, I think his family, especially his mom and sister Lins, were anxious/excited to meet me as well. Lins had mentioned to him several times that she wanted to meet me and Rob’s mom had asked about me quite a few times too, but Rob hadn’t said much. Rob and I had gone four-wheeling up behind Aaron and Lins’s house in Payson a week or two before he brought me to meet his family, and we had forgotten our muddy shoes at their house in the garage. Lins told Rob she was going to hold our shoes hostage until she got to meet me. I thought that was pretty cute and clever!… So maybe the real reason Rob brought me to meet his family so early on was because he really wanted those shoes back 😉
Anyway, meeting Rob’s family wasn’t nearly as nerve racking as I thought it might be. Rob quietly introduced me to his family as we walked up to the campfire. We roasted marshmallows and visited until the fire died down and it got chilly. I got to hold little baby Ledger, Aaron and Lindsey’s 3 week old little boy, as we got to know each other around the fire. He was adorable. Everyone was friendly, warm, and easy to talk to. As Mom Spangenberg and Lins asked me questions, I realized how little Rob had talked to them about me. Seemed like everything they were hearing, they were definitely hearing for the first time.
As everyone settled down for the night, his family invited us to stay the night in the V with them and have breakfast and listen to General Conference with them in the morning. We hadn’t brought clothes or anything to stay the night, which wasn’t an issue, but I had my crossfit exam the following afternoon and wanted to be sure I was well rested and not stressed about getting to Park City on time for the exam. We decided to stay, but let them know we wouldn’t be able to stay after breakfast because of my exam. We like to be spontaneous! We stayed the night at Aaron and Lindsey’s house just at the base of Payson canyon.
The next morning when we showed up for breakfast, in the same clothes (didn’t really have any other options), not having showered, me wearing whatever traces of makeup were leftover from the day before, smelling like campfire, and both having been roughed up by Ralph the night hair dresser during the night, we were looking real good. I wasn’t too concerned about our appearance, but when I walked in and everyone else was looking fresh, clean, and put together, I just had to laugh inside; Hoping they are all well acquainted with Ralph the night hair dresser on occasion too 😀.
That morning I found out what an amazing cook Dad Spangenberg is when he made us homemade ebelskivers for breakfast – holy delicious!! To me they are basically thicker, glorified crepe balls smothered in coconut syrup. I seriously just stopped counting how many I was eating and kept enjoying them until I thought I might burst, then made room for a few more, because they were so yummy! I love food so much and dang the Spangenberg’s know how to make delicious food – all day all night! It was cool to watch Dan as he worked to make these tasty pancake creations; perfectly baked, lightly browned, all the way around. I certainly can’t make a pancake look or taste that good.
We visited a little more during breakfast and then after we were stuffed to the rafters we played outside with cute little Hudson, Rob’s 3 year old nephew, and his 11 year old sister Sarah before we took off. I had fun spending time with and getting to know Rob’s family a little better and hoped that they had enjoyed our time together too! I hoped we would be seeing more of each other 😀.
