Tiffany's Treasure

Smiling

2011-02-11T11:10:00.005-07:00

I'm smiling today because...

- the sun is shining.

- my house is clean. ish.

- no one in my family is sick.

- my wonderful nephew just got engaged to an amazing girl.

- even though I have painfully slow internet service, I have internet service.

- there are horses in my bathroom.

I don't know why there are horses in my bathroom.

I'm just glad they're there.

Horses in your bathroom mean you still have a youngish child.

Thanks for the horses Em.

Tchaikovsky and Willam Christensen. Perfect.

2010-12-17T23:55:00.009-07:00

I just got home from a wonderful evening at the ballet with my daughters. It was beautiful and dreamy and so fine. All three of us loved it. I was transported back to the early 70's... a little girl seeing the Nutcracker at Ballet West for the first time. Magical.

I've stolen a few pictures from Ballet West's blog. Tres convenient. I've also grabbed a little bio of Willam F Christensen, the founder of Ballet West, from Wikipedia.

Snow Queen and her Cavalier. The girls want her tiara.

Willam F Christensen (1902 – 2001) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer and founder of the San Francisco Ballet and Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is known for bringing the complete version of the Russian ballet The Nutcracker to the United States, as well as staging the first American performances of Swan Lake and Coppélia. Christensen's Nutcracker was first staged in 1944 in San Francisco, where the ballet remains an annual tradition, though the production now staged there is not necessarily the Christensen version. (Ballet West's Nutcracker is the original Christensen version and it is in my opinion, the best)

Christensen left the San Francisco Ballet in the care of his brother, Harold, to help choreograph a stage production at the University of Utah in the summer of 1948. While there, he was asked to stay on and help the University create a department of ballet. He agreed, and spent the remainder of his life working in Utah and the Intermountain West. The University of Utah was the first accredited University to have a ballet department in the United States. While in Utah, Christensen also founded Ballet West.

Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

Sugar Plum Fairy en pointe with rockin extension.

Waltz of the Flowers. Yum.

More chicas from the Waltz of the Flowers.

As a little girl, I dreamed of being Clara; dancing with the handsome prince, being whisked away to a magical kingdom. I don't dream of being Clara anymore. I have a handsome prince who loves me and our amazing daughters and treats us like royalty. Thanks Rich for the curbside taxi service and thank you Sarah and Emily for wanting to go tonight. Thank you to my mom for helping me love ballet and carting me to dance lessons all those years.

The everyday stuff makes me happy.

2010-12-11T23:14:00.001-07:00

I walked by Em's room the other day and found her nestled in bed, enjoying a good book. Don't we all want to throw convention to the wind, put on a tiara and a pair of warm gloves and just read?

The following scenario took place in mid November. Emily was doing some homework (note the turkey) whilst sporting her light-up Christmas antlers.

Emily's justification for wearing the fabulous headpiece was that the radio stations were playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving and she could start celebrating too. Excited much?

She wore them for several days. All day.

What does Sarah do for fun these days? Sadly, no exotic headwear. She does have her darling girlfriends over to watch flicks and make cookies every now and then.

Kristine, Michelle and Sarah with Wasatch Mountain Ranger Cookies.

Yum.

St. George Springtime - Part III

2010-11-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... enough already with the vacation pics. I can't help myself.
Here are some pics from the pool in Green Valley.

Emily, Sarah and cousin Hillary

I'm watchin' you.

Rich was on dive toy duty. He has a better throwing arm than me.

A gaggle of goggled girls.

After some fun in the lap pool, it was time to move over to the diving pool. The deep, unheated pool.

The plan: "Let's hold hands and jump in together!"

Not so much according to plan. Sarah's name was mud for a while.

This child cracks me up. Esther Williams just rolled over in her grave.

Complete and total abandon. Check out that smile.

I love water. I took this one when we were at Sand Hollow Aquatic Center in Santa Clara. The girls had a great time there as well but its an indoor pool and the pics of them were grainy.

School Pics

2010-11-05T15:20:00.000-06:00

Emily - 5th Grade

Sarah - 8th Grade

I could swear I was just taking pictures of these little girls at their preschool Halloween programs. The annual school photo shoot sure makes the growing up of my babies seem more real. Dang.

Serene

2010-11-04T16:13:00.001-06:00

I nabbed this glorious photo of Sarah off facebook.

I saw it for the first time today.

It took my breath away. Then it made me feel peaceful.

She looks serene and regal.

Sunset at the Bountiful Temple... a great idea for a YW activity.

Sarah was a great idea too.

St. George in the Springtime - Part II

2010-11-03T00:04:00.003-06:00

For our little family, a trip to St. George means taking it easy. Mellow is what we're after. One of our favorite places to go have fun these days is a new park on Dixie Drive called Cottonwood Cove.

There are fun swings and spinning things... In fact there's one aparatus you can sit on while someone else spins you. It was Hillary's first time at the park. She's a gamer and sat right down and let me spin her but good.

She got dizzy and laughed and then fell off. Love it.

The rain came and we ran for cover.

We felt shortchanged by the weather so we came back a few days later.

Hillary: "Sup home dawg?"

Fabulous hanging recliners under the play structure.

A good spot for cousins to hang out and be in the shade.

Things to know in case you go:
1. The toys will support adult sized peeps.
2. Bring dramamine for motion sickness if you're over 40 or
3. Avoid the spinning gizmos if you're over 40.
4. You'll have more fun if you don't act your age. Trust me.

St. George in the Springtime - Part I

2010-11-02T00:10:00.002-06:00

Last spring, we loaded the car and took a roadtrip down south. And the really great thing about this particular roadtrip is that we stole my niece Hillary and took her with us!
Location: uncomfortable minivan bench, somewhere on I-15

We jumped at the chance to go to Zion's on Thursday. We're not going to play tourist and go to the park on the weekend. No sir. You can keep all those tour buses full of gawking Europeans. We don't care if its going to be nice weather all weekend. A frosty Thursday is better than a crowded Saturday. Thats how we roll.

Even though it was cloudy and chilly... the scenery was still breathtaking.

Out came the cameras.

We hiked just long enough to find a spot where we could take a picture of Hillary in the clouds.

Soon it was time for the mandatory grossing out of the children.

Going in for the kiss. Listen to 'em squeal! Its a simple pleasure.

The spring rain adds to the splendor. We don't usually see this in July.

My handsome husband and our lovely girls.

Such a beautiful place to be.

More Southern Utah pics coming.

Red

2010-10-30T12:54:00.002-06:00

Emily's favorite team color is red. For sure.

Last Saturday she went to her first college football game with Grandpa Darrell.
Very wet and very fun.
It rained and rained yet her enthusiasm wasn't dampened.
This closeup gives a great view of her stylin new frames. Em's motto is 'go bold or go home'.

This girl could potentially be a future Crimson Club member.

My only regrets about this event are that I wasn't actually at the game where I could observe Em's instruction in the finer points of football and that I didn't get a shot of her date picking her up. I was off delivering Sarah to an activity with friends.

Emily reports she had a great time in spite of the rain. It helps that her sweet Grandpa stood in a very long line to get her a hot chocolate and then took her out to the Training Table for dinner afterwards. (This is how to be treated on a date Em!)

Thanks Dad for loving my girls. oxox

Happiness

2010-10-27T10:44:00.003-06:00

Last week our family participated in a truly happy event.

We welcomed my wonderful nephew Chase home from his mission in Chile. (There are 8 names on the banner because 8 missionaries from Chile were on the plane and we're proud of all of them)

These are just a few of the welcoming committee. There were grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, siblings... it was a big group.

Chase hugging Sarah. Two years is a long time!

There were a lot of happy tears last Wednesday at the Salt Lake International airport. So much love and joy concentrated in one small space- I wish everyone could have even a little sample of that every now and then. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

What a blessing my family is to me.

I am rich and life is very good.

What I've been doing lately.

2010-10-21T11:00:00.009-06:00

So, I've received some heat lately for neglecting my little blog:

"Um... you know you haven't blogged in 3 months don't you?"
"How about a post Mom?"
"I can't keep up with your family if you don't update your blog!"
"Are you guys okay? Helloooo?"

Apparently I have some 'splaining to do.

It started with me being completely wrapped up in Stake Girls Camp this summer. I have to say that this was a mighty big church calling for me. Very time consuming and stressful and in the end, absolutely wonderful. I loved it. It just took a huge amount of time. Blogging had to take a back seat for a spell. Well, the blogging sabbatical went on a little longer than planned and then I was just embarrassed at being such a slacker. Now I can barely remember how to do this and I'm relearning. Goody.

Many happy times have been had in recent months (And not so recent. I have trips from spring that need posting) so I'll be catching up. But before I do, I'll tell you what I did last weekend.

In honor of Halloween, I made a little purchase.

My sweet Emily is a Halloween enthusiast. She talks about Halloween for months beforehand. We have detailed discussions about costume possibilities and new decorating ideas for the front porch, yard, back porch, various rooms in the house, etc. She'd paint bats on the car if I let her. Sadly, she has a mother who has never been all that jazzed about decorating for Halloween. Oh... she also thinks it would be swell if I wore a costume to hand out candy. Dang.

Because I'm trying to support her interests and not be such a lame mom, I made some new decorating purchases and got her daddy to help her make some tombstones to go out in the yard. I also thought it would be fun to buy a spooky movie to watch at Halloween. Why not Poltergeist? I remembered it (vaguely... it was made in 1982) as a good scary movie with a lovely/haunting theme song. Since I have a very underdeveloped sense of delayed gratification, I offered the movie to the girls last Saturday rather than waiting till Halloween proper.

We were all enjoying the show, about 2/3 through the movie when I had to run over to my parents' house. I left the girls watching the movie, in broad daylight mind you, and hopped in the car. Fifteen minutes later they were calling my folks' house wanting to know when I was coming home. "We're not watching any more till you get home!"

5 or 10 minutes later I walked into the house to find this:

Really. Squealing and screaming. I thought it was a show for me.

Nope. They really were a little freaked out.

I laughed, they laughed and then we started up the movie again. Right after they've recovered Carol Ann and are getting ready for bed. The kids are tucked in. Remember the scarey clown? Emily completely and totally freaked out.

Not a little. All. The. Way.

Sarah was scared but wanted to watch the rest of it. Emily wanted us to break the DVD and throw it out of the house. She went outside and waited for the movie to end. I went outside after the movie ended and found my Emily- my baby- sitting under a tree with tears streaming down her face. Very upset. Thats me... the good mother. I thought she was just being dramatic. Not so much. Just scared senseless and scarred for life. Thats what she told me.

Em has been sleeping with the lights on since Saturday.

That being said... please leave your contact info in the comments section if you would like me to discuss some of my tried and true parenting techniques with your church or PTA groups. I'm available on short notice.

Shopping

2010-07-09T22:12:00.008-06:00

I decided to take the girls to a movie after all the chores got done today. There was a huge line at the theater, so we chose to kill some time shopping instead. We found ourselves at TJ Maxx, and because we weren't in a rush, we ended up looking at, touching, smelling and trying on whatever struck our fancy- purses, perfume, sunglasses and my favorite... shoes.

I found a cute pair of wedge sandals. Something along these lines...

I kicked off one of my sensible flat sandals and tried one on just for fun. (I never wear heels this high. Possibly some leftover issues relating to Junior Prom and the very short German foreign exchange student who was my date)

Sarah thought they were the most darling shoes and that I should absolutely buy them. (She may have been hoping there might be an opportunity to borrow them at some point. Strange, because I don't think she'll ever hit a size 11)

Emily watched quietly as I walked in front of a mirror to see how it looked. She watched some more and then broke her silence.

"Trip. Fall. Break her leg. Look, she's limping already!"

I really wasn't limping- just walking with the unusual gait of a woman wearing one flat and one outrageously high heel. But then I got the giggles and almost did fall over.

So much fun to hear fashion advice from my two girls. Thanks for giving it to me straight Em.

Heaven Scent

2010-06-24T00:26:00.003-06:00

Summer is finally here. For real. In all her glory.

I can step out onto my patio and water the flowers and just inhale some olfactory loveliness.

I like how geraniums smell- all earthy. I even enjoy the smell of the tomato plants. But what really gets me weak in the knees is our Mock Orange. Dear me.

I came inside after getting a good whiff of it the other day and commented on how much I love that smell. Emily asked, "We have an orange tree? Which one is it?"

After explaining that we wouldn't have a citrus crop this year, she ran to check it out for herself.

She came inside a minute later and said, "I think I just smelled Heaven".

I think she did too.

Monitor down!

2010-06-23T13:45:00.003-06:00

Twirling a camera by the wrist strap on your finger + sitting in front of the computer = a teensy little accident.

Two thirds of my lovely desktop background.

It wasn't completely unusable until Rich mashed on it a little. It's the engineer in him. ...must....see....how....it....works.....

We're working on cause and effect in several age groups here.

Damage done on Monday. New monitor purchased on Tuesday. It's a bigun. 23 inch screen. Everyone's happy again. Yay for Costco!

Up on the Roof

2010-06-19T11:30:00.004-06:00

We're up on the roof because yesterday morning I woke to some strange noises coming from the living room. I thought perhaps some birds had gotten into the house and were having a smackdown.

After closer inspection I found no animals in the house but located the source of the noise. The chimney. I consulted some experts (my Dad) who congratulated me on my newest houseguests.

After Rich got home, we went up on the roof (me with some serious sweaty palms and tachycardia. Me no likey the roof) looked down the chimney and found these rascals.

"Excuse me... we're trying to sleep here!"

Really. Could they be any cuter? A mama and her three babies. We're going to try the mothball remedy. Hang some mothballs on a rope into the chimney and the smell will run them off. That's the theory anyway. I didn't see any luggage, so I'm hoping they won't stay long.

Oops!

2010-06-18T23:35:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we went to the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. We've been before... last year with the girls as a requirement for their piano lessons. Its an amazing opportunity to hear some of the finest pianists on the planet.

This year, now that Sarah is a teenager, she was able to volunteer backstage during the competition. Her duties were to be an escort for the competitors. Show them their rehearsal room. Show them where they can change into their performance clothes. Take them up to the stage at the appointed time and bring them back down when it's all done. Emily and I got to see behind the scenes as well while they showed Sarah the ropes.

There are 38 competitors from 13 countries ranging in age from 19 to 32. Sarah's first competitor was a man from France. She said he was really nice and surprisingly, very nervous.

Emily and I were in the theater, transfixed by these musical geniuses. We had great seats and were able to see all the facial expressions and body language. We watched their hands flying back and forth across the keys. Kind of like a marshall arts action film on a piano. Em's comment while watching a female competitor going crazy on the keys, "... she's gonna lose a finger!"

When Sarah was done she said she'd had a ball and that she'd do it again if given the chance. She then added, "That was the scariest thing I've ever done!"
What? Do you mean talking wth the competitors?
"No! I almost crashed a Steinway!! I had to move a Steinway!! Each competitor can choose if they want the Hamburg Steinway or the American Steinway. We had to make a change and we ran into the other Steinway!!" Apparently, one of the pianos hadn't been moved far enough out of the way and 9 foot concert grands don't turn on a dime.

Just for kicks, when we got home, I looked on the internet to see how much a big old Steinway costs. I found a gently used concert grand for almost $150,000.00. Oopsie! So glad she didn't roll it off the stage.

Good save Sarah Bear.

Baked goods.

2010-06-16T19:24:00.009-06:00

Oh dear.

Emily was invited to the birthday party of a darling little girl in her school. Courtney's her name.

Today was the big day. Meet at the birthday girl's home, laugh, visit, then head over to the rec center to go swimming. Fun!

I picked Em up and asked if she had a good time. This story poured forth:

Em- "...we were swimming and then when we were done we saw this naked lady! Just sitting on a bench. Naked!"

Me- "You mean, where everyone could see?"

Em- "Yeah! She didn't even go into the place with the curtains where you're supposed to change! She was just sitting there on this bench!!"

Me- "So... you were in the girl's locker room? Well that's not so bad then."

Em- "But she was just there right in the middle of everyone! And then she stood up and dried off!!!" (oh the horror. At this point, Em is in the passenger seat showing me how this woman held her towel behind her back and dried herself. Her face is distorted in various grimaces)

Me- laughing. silently.

Em- "And that's not all. There was another naked girl. A teenager. And she put on a bra and it was NOT modest. It went like this (motions with hands how low this bra plunged) and her mmm mmm's were round. They looked like cupcakes! That other lady that was old.... her mmm mmm's, do you know what I mean Mom? Her mmm mmm's looked like loaves of bread!! Scarred! I'm scarred I tell you!"

Me- driving erratically while cracking up.

Let me state that Sarah and Emily have both been swimming with the local swim team for a year now. I've gone in the locker room to find them when they were dawdling and typically see people changing in the shower or private changing areas. I did think that by this time Emily would have run into a few nekkid ladies. Apparently not.

May I also state that I have always tried to use correct anatomical terminology for body parts. Scratch that. Not always. But usually. I can stipulate that I have never referred to a body part as an "mmm mmm". I can only guess that she was substituting for something that rhymes with shoebies.

I'm loving this gig.

A Decade

2010-06-02T11:45:00.002-06:00

Emily is ten! Actually, she's been ten since March 29th. I thought I'd wait to post about her birthday until she had her friend party. She wanted to wait till it was a little warmer and have a party with dinner and dessert cooked over the firepit outside. She waited and waited and waited some more for a decent patch of weather until finally in May it happened. So here's a little celebration of my darling Em:

A princess deserves to be spoiled occasionally.

Breakfast casserole and strawberries!

A birthday celebration at Grandma and Grandpa's. The cake is another one of mom's masterpieces. Emily requested it be in the shape of a shamrock this year. My little lamb thinks she's Irish.

Sierra, Baige, Allie and Emily. Darling girls.

Goofy girls.

The sweetest ten year old I know. Really.

Even though she's hit double digits... she's still my baby. Forever.

She is gifted in the hands on department. Massages, hugs... no one is better.

A chilly Emily at the Overlook in Zions.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, intelligent, kind, hillarious, tender, beautiful girl. How I love you.

I really shouldn't...

2010-05-12T00:05:00.001-06:00

particularly after the last two lovely posts, but I just can't help myself. Please enjoy this "semi-nice Mother's Day song".

Thanks for indulging my occasionally warped sensibilities.

(Sorry it comes with a short commercial)

Page 85

2010-05-11T13:21:00.002-06:00

Sarah came home from group piano lesson yesterday with a big smile.

"Have we got the May issue of the Ensign yet?"

Someone informed her she'd been spotted in the magazine. I ran down to the distribution center and bought a few copies. Sure enough... that's my girl on page 85!

The mothers in our Stake were invited to attend the Young Women General Meeting at the Conference Center with their daughters. It was such a wonderful evening! Our favorite talks were by Sister Elaine Dalton and Pres. Uchtdorf. The best part of course, was being with Sarah.

In a few years, Emily will be in Young Women's and I'll be able to go with both of my lovely daughters!

Influence

2010-05-09T16:44:00.006-06:00

Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother's image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness,

the first assurance that there is love in the world.

David O. McKay

St. George Utah 1967

As we age, we begin to realize the value of a mother's love

and the enormous depth of her commitment to us.

No other relationship we form can ever be as close

or profound as that with our mothers.

Anonymous

Alta Lodge September 1978

I'm so thankful not only to be a mother to Sarah and Emily,

but to also be the daughter of such an amazing, lovely and talented woman.

Happy Mother's Day.

Spring Break: Part Deux

2010-04-15T21:33:00.002-06:00

(involving a ridiculous number of photos)

Thursday we went to see Les Mis at my niece Megan's school. It was a girls night out and I loved it. Not just the great music, but the company as well. Connie and Megan, Tatiana, Maddie and Hillary, and me and my girls. I'm so grateful we live here, close to our family and not in some far off corner of the world.

p.s. Nicely done Bonneville.

On Friday afternoon, we went to the aquarium along with the rest of Northern Utah. What a crowd!! The parking lot was very full and we were lucky to get a spot close to the aquarium. We were happy! The woman who tried to pull into the same spot... not so happy. I was 3/4 of the way in just as she began to pull in. Nose to nose.

Sort of like this:

(bulls courtesy of The Pioneer Woman)

It was a teensy bit tense in the parking lot. I was in the spot and felt I had every right to be there. The 'lady' in the other car did not appreciate my presence and requested that I leave. This was done with raised voices and arms flailing out the window. Having never encountered anything similar, I didn't budge and just laughed. Loudly. The other driver left and from the backseat I heard Sarah say, "Tawanda!". Oh my.

(May I recommend the addition of an athletic supporter to your ensemble if you're planning to visit the aquarium on a busy day. You'll feel safer and perhaps more confident in the parking lot this way. Gird up thy loins)

Petting the stingrays is a highlight.

Little Henry, Em and Sarah peering into a coral reef display.

Love these anenomes.

Intrepid explorers paddling the Amazon.

Cousins. Yay!

Even with all of Northern Utah vying for a spot in front of the exhibits... it really was worth a visit.

(I'm happy to report, the gold bullet sustained no damage while left unattended in the parking lot. We were a bit wary of the 'lady' with a temper)

On Saturday afternoon, we drove to Provo for the BYU Ballroom Dance Team's big year end performance.

A fun tribute to Hairspray.

A great jive number.

Mmmm. Dreamy. It's hard not to like a waltz.

The team was celebrating 50 years and included a big number with nearly 200 alumni from as far back as the sixties. The team is internationally ranked and puts on quite a show. Gorgeous costumes.

(Along those lines... contrary to the costume designers on Dancing With The Stars, it is possible to perform a Latin dance while clothed)

It was a wonderful opportunity to see them perform. Definitely worth the drive down, although Rich and I have decided we're not fond of University Parkway. Oh the humanity. Even with lights and a siren you'd be hard pressed to get through that stretch in a reasonable amount of time.

That wraps up the highlights of our spring break activities this year. I think the girls were able to relax and have some fun. I sure enjoy having them home. By the end of the week we got some sunshine and the snow melted. Happy spring break!

Spring Break '10 and Word Power

2010-04-07T09:36:00.005-06:00

The girls are out of school this week. Hooray! Its so fun to have them home with me. We won't be going on vacation till later this month. Instead, we're having a staycation. Nothing too exciting... out to lunch a few times, the aquarium on Friday and we're hoping for a cousin sleepover too. Utah weather can be temperamental in the spring, we all know this, so we didn't make any outdoor plans. We weren't thinking it would be this fickle!

This is what our neighborhood looked like Tuesday morning.

Our trees and shrubs were heavy laden with wet snow.

Even our patio furniture is tired of getting snowed on.

A pair of finches were glad we still had seed in the feeder.

On Monday, we finished the fifth and last book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. This has been a great read aloud series. Sarah's comment was, "This is so much better than those Twilight books" (she's read the first two) "Fablehaven beats them into the ground with a stick!" I concur. Sarah took this pic of me from across the room and in low light, hence the grain. We were getting close to the end and things were getting tense!

One of the things we like about Brandon Mull is he doesn't dumb down anything, even though these are books for young adults. In this picture, I'm trying to figure out the pronunciation of a word. Stumped? Possibly. If a word comes along that I think the girls might not be familiar with, I stop and ask them if they know what it means. Halberd? Anyone?

Here's a quote from near the end of the book:

"...they carried slender spears and swords, and gave haughty looks to the astrids"

I asked Em if she knew what 'haughty' meant.

"Umm. Does it mean that they think the astrids are hotties?"

Oh Emily. What would we do without you?

Happy spring break all!

A Date With a View

2010-03-22T15:13:00.006-06:00

Rich and I went skiing a few weeks ago. So much fun!

As we got off the lift I spied a photographer set up out of bounds. It was just like being at a high school dance again! There was another couple getting their picture taken in front of us and we (I) heckled them to get them to smile.

Soon enough it was our turn and I'm pretty sure if we agreed to all the poses the photographer suggested we could have put together our own portfolio and started heading out on 'go-sees'. We opted not to go with the pose wherein we would be sprawled on the snow with our heads tipped toward each other.

We thought our photo session was over until an hour or two later when a photographer (ski paparazi) jumped out from behind a 'slow' sign in the middle of a run. Slightly disconcerting.

Dig Rich's sweet slalom!

It was a glorious day at Brighton! Sunny and cold but not windy. And to top it all off there were a few inches of fresh powder. I ended up not skiing after lunch because shortly after these pictures were taken I wiped out and knocked my melon pretty good. Headache. Of course just that morning as we were driving up I said we should probably buy some helmets. The girls wear them but we never bought any for ourselves. Duh. Anyway... lesson learned.

Thanks for a wonderful date Rich. I love you!

Ahh... here it comes.

2010-03-21T00:18:00.003-06:00

I knew it would finally happen.

Spring is coming!

This is the tree I see when I look out our kitchen window. And those fluffy white clouds in a blue sky were gratefully received after our fair share of inversion days.

This is looking toward the West. There's a scrub jay at the feeder and some fatboys (a.k.a. male California Quail) in the tree.

I don't know what kind of bird this is other than tiny and darling.

The beautiful bird hanging out in our bush is a Rufous Sided Towhee. He and his pals really like it in there. I took this pic on a grey day a few weeks ago.

More of tiny and darling. I know this isn't in keeping with the Audobon Society's mission, but I would very much like to paint those itty bitty toenails fuschia.

These are Cedar Waxwings.

Check out the little crests on their heads and the bandit masks over their eyes. Love these birds. We don't see them all winter long. It's fun when they show up.

They're very social. I've never seen just one. More like seven to ten at a time. This picture was taken looking through our tree... they're sitting in the neighbor's tree.

This beauty is a female California Quail. I love seeing them up in our tree rather than running around on the ground. Much more elegant when they're not waddling about. (words to live by)

Now you know... I've become a birder. Not a very good one. But I'm having so much fun watching the birds outside our window.

Get ready folks. All signs are pointing to Spring!

Celebrating...

2010-03-12T09:39:00.008-07:00

Sarah

Sarah taking an important business call over a power breakfast?

No... just birthday breakfast in bed and a birthday call from Grandma and Grandpa.

This year she wanted homemade bran muffins hot out of the oven.

And here's the big news. She is now a Teenager!!

How did that happen?

Credit for the amazingly wonderful pan full of frosted brownie goodness goes to Grandma. Sinful, but it's what Sarah requested and it would have been rude not to eat any.

Clothes for sure.

New earbuds and a giftcard to buy some tunes. And some darling bangles that jingle jangle from Aunt Hona. Perfect.

The lovely smiles and gracious thank yous Sarah gave were even more special because she was sick. She was not feeling well that evening. In fact when we went home she went right to bed in tears with the flu. She was sick and then the rest of us got sick with various ailments. She wasn't able to celebrate with friends but we're going to rectify that soon!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

We are so grateful that you are ours.

We love you like you can't believe.

Pre-plague 2010. Naturally.

2010-03-02T16:27:00.003-07:00

A few months ago in the blogosphere I noticed a trend towards honesty in posting. It was kind of a dare to post something more realistic than the beauty and glamour shots we usually see. I was intrigued and had a brand new camera I was (and still am) trying to figure out, so I ran around the house the Saturday after Christmas and took a few pictures.

First up - Sarah.

Saturday mornings = sleeping in and reading. Perfect. She was up before I was and when I staggered into the kitchen she was wrapped in her blankie, hunched over a new book. I grabbed a pillow from her bed and put it behind her so she could be a bit more comfy. She doesn't care. 'Must. Read.'

Next up - Rich.

Saturday mornings = not shaving. Sweet! Love that man.

Next up - Moi.

Saturday mornings = Leftover mascara. Choice. (I'll let you in on a little secret. See the baggy/puffy eyes? Well, the week after this photo, I bought some magic eye beautifying/puffiness reducing concoction that caused epic swelling and an angry red, itchy rash directly on the aforementioned area. Vanity. Tsk tsk.)

Lastly - Emily.

Saturday = sleeping in and reading. Concurrently. And the most beautiful skin in 6 counties. Whatever. I put her picture last so you wouldn't be left with that old mascara taste in your mouth.

The real reason I finally dug these pics out and posted them was so I could remember what we all looked and felt like before the onslaught of germ warfare commenced in our home during late January and the entirety of February. We looked content. Happy even!

In my last post I proclaimed that I was through being sick. "Tough!" I said. Well I'm obviously not tough enough (insert The Fabulous Thunderbirds singing Tough Enough here). Nope. I'm apparrently an immune challenged wimp. (insert I'm a Little Teapot here) I broke down and went to the doctor. Again. Good news is I didn't get Emily's mono. Bad news is and I quote, "You're sick". Really. The antibiotics are gonna get 'em this time for sure.

"Lord, forgive me when I whine.." etc, etc. All really is well. Rich has never gotten sick this winter. Em is much better and Sarah continues to be robust even. Sarah just walked out of the room singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Spamalot. Ha! Thanks Sarah.

So I'll get over this little bump in the road and be happy while I'm bouncing over it. Promise.

I Choose...

2010-02-25T23:38:00.004-07:00

to climb up

and out

of my February funk.

We've been sick, a lot, and I'm having a hard time shaking whatever is hanging on. So I've decided I'm just through with it. Tough.

Enough already.

In honor of this important decision, Rich is taking me skiing. Just us. A date! That hasn't happened for a very long time.

I'm prepared to have a most excellent day.

Back from the pediatrician

2010-02-15T15:00:00.002-07:00

Diagnosis- mononucleosis/mono/Epstein Barr Virus

Miss Em will have to stay home from school again this week. Her liver and spleen are enlarged. Had 6 vials of blood drawn. She was very brave.

So sorry Emmy.

Off to the Pediatrician... again.

2010-02-15T10:28:00.002-07:00

.

We have been sick. 'We' being the women folk of the fam. Rich has been healthy all winter. Thank heavens for tiny miracles.

Today will make Emily's third trip to the pediatrician's office in two months. Strep in early January, sore throat and cough last week (after having a nasty cold for a week) and again today for a heinous cough, an ear ache and two infected eyes. Last night she finally said, "I hate being sick!" She has been such a trouper and maintained a good attitude for a long time. She's finally had enough.

A few weeks ago, Sarah had the flu. High fever and the joyous stomach upset. Then a week later she developed an ear infection. Happy to report it didn't rupture like last year, and antibiotics did the trick. She's back in good shape.

I got sick a few weeks ago with laryngitis. It hit at two in the morning while I was at work. The inability to speak adds a whole new degree of difficulty to caring for critically ill patients... particularly the elderly, hard of hearing patients who can't lip read. The laryngitis proceded to body aches, flu and then a ripping good case of bronchitis. I experienced my first bronchospasm at the instacare. Scared the bejeebers right out of me. I can now use an inhaler with ease and have a true empathy for people with asthma. I'm almost back to normal, spending only 10 to 15% of my day coughing. Antibiotics and cough syrup with hydrocodone rule!

Richard, who is my Valentine day in and day out, took care of laundry and shopping and cooking and cleaning as well as bringing home the bacon. Really... how did I get so lucky to land him? Thank you husband.

My fabulous mother stepped up and took over chauffeuring duties with the girls. Thank you Mom. There are just days when a girl needs her mom. I'm so blessed to have mine so close.

Hopefully, Emily will be up and at 'em soon.

Because I've felt blah to 10th power for the past few weeks, I haven't picked up a camera lately. In lieu of some fun family pics I'm sharing a picture I took in December. I looked out my kitchen window and found this handsome guy looking back.

I'd never seen a quail from that angle before and thought it was so beautiful!

Happy February people.

Swimmers take your mark...

2010-02-03T10:09:00.003-07:00

Emily had a swim meet in January.

Em on the block during warm up.

The 'game on' face.

Freestylin'

Congrats from the big sis.
This was a pre-comp meet so Sarah didn't swim.

And look who's here! Cousin Hillary!
She's cheering for the team.

This would be Hillary and her excellent butterfly.

Hillary and Emily even got to swim in the same heat. Fun.

Hillary edged out Em in the breastsroke.

Newsflash from Sarah: "You took 5 seconds off your old time!"

A perk of having cousins on the same team...

sitting next to your sister at the meets.

My brother in law Henry... a Real* man.

Able to hold a fuzzy pink robe for his daughter and a purse for his wife and have fun doing it. Love this guy.

This was a small, dual swim meet which made for an easy Saturday morning outing. Love those. Love Emily. So proud of her hard work and great attitude!!

*Go Real Salt Lake!

Baker's Dozen

2010-01-24T23:57:00.008-07:00

I have a friend who posted a random sampler about herself. Twelve mostly unrelated tidbits. It got me thinking (dangerous, I know) and I decided to share a few of my own.

1. I'm typing this while wearing my daughter's U of U baseball hat. I've never been a baseball hat girl. I was just curious how I'd look in it. My hair's up in a ponytail and pulled through the hole in the back. I'm not including a picture because this look doesn't increase my hip and cool quotient, at all.

2. There is a green twig in a little ceramic pot on my kitchen windowsill; the remains of an orchid given to me by a friend when our dog Ralphie died. I nearly threw it out because I'm not gifted in the horticultural arts. I'll be darned if there isn't a little bud on the end of that twig!

3. The Superbowl is in two weeks. I don't particularly care about the game, but I'm interested to know who's going to be playing during halftime. Tom Petty a few years ago was great. I know... I'm old.

4. Even though Emily is 9, I still love to watch her wake up in the morning. That was my favorite time of day with my babies. I rub her back and brush the hair from her face. It's a sweet time for me. Sarah wakes up earlier and to an alarm clock. She is so good that way, but mornings are hard for her. Dark winter mornings are no fun.

5. Rich and I made Tortilla Soup to take to dinner at my parents' tonight. Topped with green onions, deep fried tortilla strips (sinful), sour cream and grated cheeses. It's pretty good. My sister Tatiana (who I adore and who makes me laugh) said, "This soup is off the shizzook!" Her hip and cool quotient is in the savant range.

6. Sarah and Emily both gave talks in church today. Sarah in Sacrament meeting and Emily in Primary. They did such fine jobs! Sarah's was about strengthening the family and Emily's was about Jehovah and the Plan of Our Heavenly Father. They are amazing.

7. My mom has high blood pressure and so do I. Just had to up my BP meds. Dang. Although, if this is as bad as it gets, I can deal. While we're on the topic of my health... I may have a tiny little buzz going on from all the cough drops I've had recently. Riiiiicolaa!

8. My dad is having a total knee replacement tomorrow. Good luck Dad! I Love you. My family typically avoids illness or surgeries that might render my skills necessary. Really, the only time I've known my brother and dad to shiver with fear was at the mention of me being their nurse someday. Heh heh heh.

9. I'm the Music Chairperson in our ward. Is it totally inappropriate to get the ward choir to sing 'Love Shack' by the B-52's? We've got a great director and very accomplished accompanist. I'm even singing in the choir now, but only for moral support. I do NOT have a very good voice. I am, however, enthusiastic.

10. Rich wore a shirt today that made my heart race. A black and grey longsleeved baseball shirt. Nothing fancy... but he sure looked fine. It reminded me of when we were dating and I'd watch him play softball. Smile.

11. I love Sunday dinner with my family. I can't believe how blessed I am to be so close to my family. My brother and sister are fabulous and wonderful and they crack me up and I love them like crazy. I have the best parents, the best inlaws, the most darling nieces and nephews... you can see where I'm going with this.

Love. Them. Do.

12. I serve as the accompanist for the Primary in church. It's a great calling! We're starting to learn new songs for this year's program. Beautiful music. It makes me so happy to hear their voices singing about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love that I get to be there while Emily is still in Primary.

13. I have 9 billion pictures in boxes and piles in my house and zero scrapbooks. I need to do something with them and I can't bring myself to get started. I love looking at pictures of my family and our life so far, I just can't even imagine where to begin. I think this is how the hoarders they show on TV must feel. Overwhelmed. I guess I'm going to have to be brave and just dive in.

There. I feel better now.

Lodge Minivan

2010-01-21T19:23:00.005-07:00

This is the color of ski cheeks.

You may have heard it described as a healthy glow.

In reality it is the body's outward sign of a desperate attempt to not freeze solid.

This is the color of relief.

"I've made it through the first half of the first day of skiing for the year!"

We didn't ski much last winter and it was a challenge remembering skills learned a while back.

Dashboard dining.

Rather than paying $8.00 for a cup of chili, we brown bag it and eat lunch at Lodge Minivan conveniently located in the parking lot of Brighton Ski Resort.

This gives us a little time to kick off the ski boots, warm up and relax for a bit.

Sarah relaxes with a book.

Daddy relaxes with a coma. (Kidding. I'm just jealous of his ability to drop off anywhere, anytime)

Emily relaxes in "full backseat splendor". (Em's words)

If you look closely you can see my little one's golden hair under the cocoon of blankets.

After some food, some tunes, some good literature and a few zzzz's, we take our warm again selves back into the elements and ski!!

Let me state several objectives of our little ski outing:

1. To have a day of wholesome family recreation.
2. To be active and exercise our bods.
3. To develop our mad skiing skills.
4. To get above the ultra nasty inversion and find some blue skies.

Mother nature chose to play games with us and we skied in very cold, zero visibility, sideways snowblowing, snowdrift forming conditions.

Back in the valley, our neighbors enjoyed blue skies, sunshine and temps in the 40's.

Tiny weather bitter.

Okay, now I'm done.

We really did have a fun time. I'm looking forward to our next day on the slopes!

Fair enough.

2010-01-07T14:32:00.004-07:00

Some History:

This is me at 17... fit, athletic. My body did whatever I asked it to do.

I won a few races. Life was good. (Life is still good. It's just not 17 good)

This handsome man is my dad. My adorable sister Tatiana is on the right.

This is a picture of my dad when I was in high school. In this shot he's just about the same age I am now.

Back when I was an obstreperous teenager, one of my favorite pastimes was mocking my parents. In particular, my dad. Dad has a good sense of humor so he could take it. Besides... there was just so much good material! I am a kidder, I kid (said in a cheesy French accent)

More History:

Back in the day, we had a Zenith corner console TV in our family room. It had a remote control and a vertical row of shiny silver buttons down the right side of the screen for manually changing the channel, volume, etc.

More often than not, when you entered our family room you'd find Dad laying on the ground in front of the TV. Feet close to the screen, head away. I think there were a few reasons for this.

1. Dad worked hard and needed some down time.
2. Dad had some lower back problems and it felt good to lay flat.
3. Sometimes he couldn't find the remote and laying close that
way he could change the channel.

Dad was gifted in the art of channel surfing using only the big toe. The toe. It is legend to this day.

We teased Dad a lot about 'the toe'.

The real entertainment happened only infrequently. The whole fam would be enjoying a show (or trying to enjoy a show but unable to do so because 'the toe' was surfing) and without warning Dad would call out, "OH! OH!" and leap vertically off the ground from a completely supine position, hopping to the wall and clutching at his calf.

Cramp. Charley Horse. Either way... good laughs. Me as egocentric teenager lacking empathy? Pretty much.

Fast Forward approximately 27 years (ouch):

I worked a graveyard shift last night. A very pleasant night as these things go. Came home, hugged Rich hello and goodbye, then got Miss Emily off to school. Sarah had already left by the time I got home at 8 am. I sat down, had breakfast, watched some news and unwound for a while until I hit the wall. That's when I happily climbed into bed and fell asleep. Sound asleep.

One and a half hours of wonderful, much needed, deep sleep.

At the one and a half hour mark, I awoke in confusion and pain. "OH! OH!!" In my half asleep state I'm hitting my calf, pinching my upper lip (I heard that helps once upon a time) and pulling on my big toe (ironic, no?) trying to get my calf to unclench. I finally woke up enough (it was the screaming that did it) to hobble out of bed and force my foot flat on the ground to stretch out my calf. I'm ready to disown my left gastrocnemius. Traitor.

It's been three hours since I awoke to the above described terror. Unable to go back to sleep I'm now further sleep deprived and limping because of the residual pain in my calf.

Sorry Dad. Really. Sorry. I love you.

Christmas '09

2010-01-05T11:08:00.003-07:00

The traditional opening of jammies on Christmas eve.

If only Emily were more expressive.
We never know whats on her mind.

Sarah in her snowflake pj's.

Em giving a leopard print MEOW!

The annual running of the girls.

"Oh boy! Oh Boy!"

"A Wii! No Way!"

"And Beatles RockBand!"

Em's first pair of toe socks.

Trying to play the piano in her new toe socks. Priceless.

Watching all the fun on Christmas morning.

G & G came over to check out the loot.

You think you know a guy...

Em bowling a strike.

Wearing the neck warmer Emily made for me! So warm and cozy, my head was beginning to nod. A happy Christmas morning for sure.

She's making a list & checking it twice.

2010-01-01T23:24:00.004-07:00

Emily, who is nine years old, is a big fan of Christmas. She's a big fan of life. That's more accurate. Emily is so full of joy and is such a happy little girl!
It shouldn't be a surprise then that for a big event like Christmas Eve she would get organized and make sure she's not forgetting anything!

Here's the full translation and explanation of the above photo:

Christmas Eve to do list

Make treat for Santa - check (She made darling cupcakes)

Hang up stocking - check (It was placed with care on a chair by the fireplace)

Arrange the presents nicely - check (They looked good to me! This may have been a front for tallying up numbers of presents and for fondling/shaking as many as possible before the big day)

Wrap and finish Mom's gift - check (It's the sweetest handmade gift ever. I get cold and sometimes put a scarf on to keep warm in the house. Em made me a neck warmer. Pictures to follow soon. I love it!)

Set out eggnog - check (A nice big glass was set out by the cupcakes)

Be a shepherd in the Nativity - check (See earlier post. She was an angel in the church nativity and had enough of that role)

Wrap presents - check (Wrapped and placed thoughtfully 'neath the tree)

Give Sarah her's (hee hee!) - check (Inside joke having to do with a tiny crush)

Tidy up the living room - check (Please note that none of the tidying and arranging was assigned to her by a parental unit. These are things she saw needed doing. What a wonderful ability to have developed at the tender age of 9!)

Play on Free Realms
Visit Snowflake and buy her winter clothes
Earn foo gems - check, check and check. (These last 3 items have to do with Em's love of computer games. In between wrapping and tidying and handcrafting gifts she took a little time to unwind on the computer. Not only did she accomplish all of these things, but she also cheerfully delivered neighbor gifts)

Fall asleep fast - negative (She was so excited for Christmas Eve and Santa's visit that my darling Emmy didn't fall asleep until almost 1:00 am! Sometimes its impossible to get everything done on your to do list)

I love you Emily! I would be sad without the happiness and excitement and giving you bring to our Christmas.

Thanks Sweet Pea!

Here comes Santa Claus...

2009-12-30T23:13:00.004-07:00

After the Nativity, things loosened up a bit.

We sang some Christmas carols.

And then this guy showed up!

Tony's smiling because he's been a good boy all year. Nothing for him to worry about.

Santa happened to be in the neighborhood and stopped to say hello to some of his favorite people.

"Well... I'd really like a puppy"

Santa very gently explained that he never brings dogs on the sleigh because they bark at his reindeer.

Santa was so charming that even though the puppy request was nixed, Emily still liked him very much.

You just know a girl who wears light up antlers is going to get along really well with Santa.

Sarah's thinking, "Oh man... its been a while since I sat on Santa's lap. This seems a little awkward"

Hey. If Tony can do it, so can you.

She was good all year and didn't ask for a single thing. Typical and awfully sweet.

Santa was so patient to let us get our pictures taken with him on his busiest night!

Santa loves Grandma and Grandpa. They're some of his best helpers.

What a fun Christmas Eve!!

"...shepherds abiding in the field,"

2009-12-30T22:22:00.006-07:00

For as long as there have been grandchildren in our family, there has been a Christmas Eve Nativity performed in my parents' house. This year was no exception. The only difference this year was that we were missing our big boys (my nephews). Chase is in Chile and Clark was still in Logan. The show did go on without them and they were missed. Here are a few moments from the production.

Backstage.

Maddie cracking up over Emily's comments about 'Mary's' need for some support undergarments. We'll just leave it at that. 'Nuff said.

My brother Tony, reading the account of the Savior's birth from the scriptures. Perfect length, just the right amount of love and reverence. Great job Uncle Tony.

Sarah as one of the Herald Angels and the star in the East.

Em as a shepherd and cousin Hillary as a lamb.

Big Henry, Little Henry and Grandpa were wisemen. Grandpa was cast and paparazzi so he's not in this photo.

The Nativity is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. It is a special thing to be able to do this with my family every year. So important to remember what we're celebrating.

2009-12-24T00:50:00.006-07:00

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

Norman Vincent Peale

Greensleeves... the performance.

2009-12-21T23:50:00.006-07:00

On Saturday afternoon we attended what may have been my favorite piano recital ever. It was a Christmas recital made up entirely of Christmas carols, duet style. There were brother and sister combinations, brothers together... even cousins. Some students don't have a sibling and played with another student or with the piano teacher. The duet that tipped the balance toward best recital ever was this one...

... a sister act.

Finally. All the hardwork and practicing paid off. They did such a fine job. I'm the mom but really, it was fabulous!

This woman is amazing. She is one of the very best piano teachers in Utah. Her name is Susan and she has raised teaching piano to an artform. She is calm, patient, kind and expects much of her students. Our girls are very lucky to be learning from her.

Each student was asked to bring a dozen cookies to the recital for refreshments afterward. The night before, Emily made her first batch of cookies without any help from me. She counted them up, "I've got a baker's dozen here Mom. I'm ready"

This nine year old is hardworking, creative, independent and a good baker and I love her like crazy. Yummy gingerbread cookies sweetpea!

The other selling point of this recital was the attendance of both of my parents. Dad just retired two weeks ago and is now free to come to recitals and programs. We're so happy about that!

A fun afternoon for sure. Rich and I are very proud of Sarah and Emily. Keep up the good work!

Celebrating Connie

2009-12-16T13:47:00.001-07:00

Almost every Sunday the whole family gets together at my parents' home for dinner. We usually help out and bring a side dish or dessert or rolls to add to the bounty. The food is always delicious. Better than all the good food is the time spent together. Its just plain fun.

Sometimes we get to celebrate a birthday! A few weeks ago we celebrated Connie's birthday. Connie is my brother's wonderful wife. That makes me a lucky girl because I get her as a sister.

Here's Mom bringing in the cake as we sing.

Make a wish!

Henry, Hona and Sarah waiting for some cake.

Check out Hillary's reflection in the mirror.

Sarah likes to perch on laps. She's a snuggler. She's also a little glassy eyed from the big dinner and lots of cake.

Henry, Maddie and Megan on the love seat watching the birthday girl open her presents.

"Aunt Connie... I picked this card just for you!"

I love my family.

Sleepover Sugar

2009-12-05T23:15:00.005-07:00

This is my niece Hillary. She's one of my sister Tatiana's darling children.

Hillary slept over at our house Friday night. Yay!! Fun for us!

In honor of this auspicious event, we broke out the gingerbread house kit we got at Costco several weeks ago and had some fun.

There would have been even more colorful candy decorations on our masterpiece had there not been such rampant snacking of the building supplies.

Even on camera we're hard pressed to keep Hillbill's mitts off the gumdrop walkway ;)

Later that evening we had crepes suzette with fresh strawberries and real whipping cream. Mmmmm.

This is where the girls lapsed into their sugar coma/sleep.

The next morning we had cream cheese toaster streudel for breakfast. Nary a complex carbohydrate in sight for close to 18 hours.

Glad to see those college nutrition classes paying off.

Come back soon Hillary!

Sweet Baby James

2009-12-03T14:17:00.004-07:00

I love Christmas music. I picked this up last year and have enjoyed it thoroughly. Of course I've liked James' music since the 70's, so it stands to reason I'd like this CD.

Here's one of my favorites from the album. Relax for a few minutes and enjoy.

Ivana

2009-12-02T22:49:00.003-07:00

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' home. It was a wonderful time. Delicious food and all our family to enjoy it together. I love Thanksgiving.

After dinner, Emily and a few cousins retired to the basement to play. There are loads of dress up clothes down there and after a while, Emily came upstairs attired thusly.

One of Dad's old ties for a sash

Some leftover lace for a skirt

An old pink chiffon robe for a scarf/cape

A beaded clutch bag

Just the right amount of costume jewelry. Nothing gaudy.

She swept into the room and in her snootiest tone introduced herself as Ivana RichMann. Emily has some pretty large (and by large I mean big ticket) goals. World travel and owning and running a big ranch with lots of horses are at the top of the list. It would appear Em has determined that marrying into wealth is not a bad option.

She's nine... but she's got a plan.

She then invited any interested parties to join her in the basement to play Pictionary on her team.

I do love this girl. Go get 'em sister.

Chores can be fun!

2009-12-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

If this fabulous music is playing in the background while I'm performing various household tasks...

doesn't it stand to reason that this gentleman

is helping me fold the laundry?

Works for me.

Technique

2009-11-28T09:28:00.001-07:00

Last week, Emily gave me a foot massage. It was better than chocolate. Really. She ushered me into her room (She's calling it Emiliana's Spa. Tres European.) and had me lay down on her exceptionally soft and comfy bed. I got a washcloth to cover my eyes so I could be all relaxed and then the fun began. She did a fabulous job! She had a few different moves and as she transitioned into a new one that was making my whole being one with the universe she said, "This is a massage technique I learned from Sister Bell." (The girls age 8-11 in our church get together twice a month and have some fun activities. One of them was a mini class for yoga and then learning about massage. Thank you Sister Bell.) I rose from Em's bed a relaxed and happy camper. I told her all I wanted for Christmas was for her to give me some more foot massages.
Then Rich got the treatment. He fell asleep. He was happy too.

The day after our wondrous foot massages, Emily saw a commercial for a massage therapy school. It showed students giving massages. She watched transfixed for a minute and then hollered, "Sarah! Come here! I want to try a new massage technique on you!!"

I'm glad it was Sarah that got to play guinea pig.

Sarah's sense of self preservation kicked in and she assumed the fetal position.

Apparently, this massage technique needs some refinement.

Smiling

2009-11-24T22:20:00.002-07:00

Doesn't Sarah look grown up?

This photo was taken at our church's Harvest Fair. A very nice girl from our ward was strolling around taking some candid shots. She gave us this one and I scanned it. Combine that with the gymnasium lighting and you get grainy. I don't care. It was a wonderful day and this will help me remember.
(Emily was off to one of the booths with her friend so she's not in the shot.)

I am extremely thankful to be a mother. It took a while... but oh, it was worth the wait. How I love my daughters! It is my great joy to watch them grow and learn. Life is so good.

A switch to non-fiction

2009-11-19T19:27:00.003-07:00

A Thousand Acres is a 1991 novel by American author Jane Smiley. It won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel is a contemporary deconstruction of Shakespeare's King Lear and is set on a thousand acre farm in Iowa that is owned by a family of a father and his three daughters. It is told through the point of view of the oldest daughter, Ginny. (Wikipedia)

I finished this yesterday.

Very well written. Interesting trip into the world of agriculture. Unpleasant voyage into the realms of dysfunctional family. Sometimes there's a little fun in dys'fun'ctional. Not here.

This is my new read.

An early Christmas present from Rich! Yay!!

I've never had one of these machines and I'm very excited to crank it up and start cooking.

For the first 15 years of marriage, Rich would frequently remove the knife from my hand and offer to chop, dice, mince or julienne whatever might be on the cutting board in front of me. This typically resulted in an insulted and cheesed wife. I don't deny I may have nicked a finger in the past, but I'm not a danger to myself or others when wielding a knife.

Either I've become more competent with a knife or Rich determined it wasn't in his interest to insult my food prep skills when I was near the cold steel. Good man that he is, he hasn't stepped in for years. I love it when we cook together, just not when he tries to play through.

Now when he tries to butt in it'll be because he wants to play with the shiny new Cuisinart! Woohoo!!

Mug Shots

2009-11-16T22:55:00.003-07:00

Emily brought home her school pictures today, and now that I have them from both of my girls I thought I'd share.

~4th Grade~

Emily wanted braid waves, so we braided her hair the night before. She's wearing her favorite t-shirt. Its got a funky, multicolored peace sign. She likes a little sparkle. Adorable.

~7th Grade~

Sarah opted for a simple updo. Darling.

I've yet to see Emily's class photo, but am fairly sure I'll know where to find her in the picture... back row, middle. For some insight into the tall girl experience go to my sister's blog here.

I'm so grateful this blue eyed girl got two brown eyed beauties.

Cold

2009-11-13T23:50:00.002-07:00

Take a look at this picture and see if you can guess what we're doing at our house these days.

If you guessed nursing a cold, you were right. This is what Emily's room looks like in the morning. What you can't see in this pic is the garbage can Em is aiming for. Lots of blowing and honking occurs in the night and she tries really hard to lob the tissues into the garbage. My sweet girl is beginning to look as though she could audition for the part of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in a Christmas musical.

The cold weather is keeping us inside a little more. Emily turned to an oldie but goodie to keep herself entertained the other day. She set up shop booking cruises for all of her stuffed animals. Sarah very graciously played along. She is a darling big sister for her sweet Emmy.

This is Em in the 'ticket office'. When the specs are on the end of her nose, you know she means business. She may end up in the travel industry yet.

The shorter days and colder nights have helped the color along on this beautiful tree. This is what I see when I step out my front door.

I like this tree a lot. Eye candy.

Happy November people. It feels to me like it's finally here.

Ballet West Rocks!

2009-11-11T21:54:00.006-07:00

Last Friday I went to the ballet with my daughters. It was such a treat for me. I got to see world class dance* and have a sweet daughter on each side. Perfect!

This was the kind of ballet I really enjoy. Rather than a lengthy Swan Lake or Giselle, we had three separate ballets. For those of us with a shorter attention span this works out very well.

First off, Songs of the Valley set to American Songs by Aaron Copland for orchestra and baritone. The baritone was Darrell Babidge and the guest conductor was Kurt Bestor. Lots of Western inspired dance. Very accessible to the girls and they enjoyed it. Copland's arrangement of Simple Gifts and the dancing of it was so fine.

The second ballet was Three Preludes set to music by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The only accompaniment was from the piano up on the stage with the dancers... a couple. A simple set made to give the suggestion of a ballet studio with a barre in the middle of the stage. It was breathtaking. Beautiful pas de deux. (Here I must confess that in my many years of ballet class there were quite a lot of daydreams that someday I might be lifted and partnered and made to look absolutely delicate and fragile like these ballerinas. Never happened. I mean really. But those were some very nice daydreams.)

The third and final ballet and big event of the evening was The Dream, based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. Music by Mendelssohn. Oh my. The costuming, the set, the music and the incredible dancing. I loved it. The girls loved it. Darling humor, yet still elegant. Beautifully done. Kudos Ballet West.

The benefactors for this fabulous night of culture were my mom and dad who were relaxing in a luxury hotel somewhere in Puerto Rico. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us have the tickets. Your granddaughters had a great time. Four generations have sat in those same seats. I thought of Grandma Wright while I was there. How could I not?

Transportation for the night was provided by Richard, in true Grandpa Wright fashion. (My grandparents had season tickets to the ballet and Grandpa was always happy to play chauffeur. Rather than being dropped off in front of Capitol Theater by a black limousine, we would step onto the curb from a beautiful blue Cadillac.)

First, Rich took us to dinner to celebrate Sarah and Emily's very impressive report cards. Well done girls! We're so proud of your hard work. Then he dropped us off and headed back home to take it easy while we enjoyed the ballet. The only glitch was when I called Rich after the ballet to see where he was and when he'd be there to pick us up. "Well... its going to be a little while. I've been pulled over and I'm getting a ticket." Dang! Emily was concerned that Daddy was going to jail. :{ Soon enough, Rich was there to get us. Did you know that a speeding ticket for 5 miles over the speed limit will cost you $90.00? We didn't. Now we do. Here's an impressive stat.... that was Rich's first ever speeding ticket!

It was a lovely evening and I'm so grateful that I could spend it with my daughters and that I have a sweet husband who cheerfully schlepped us around, even after his ticket. That's a real man. No foot stomping, police bad mouthing or otherwise nasty behavior. Thanks for helping to make it a happy night Rich.

*It wasn't til today that I remembered I'd seen this ballet before. The summer before my senior year of high school found me in Paris. I saved up my money and went with a small group of students to France. The big incentive for the trip was that my brother was serving in the France, Paris Mission and I was able to spend some time with him. While we were there a few of us went to The Paris Opera Ballet.

Crazy huh?

What's crazy is the fact that it was 1982.

It was different staging and a different choreographer, but guess what? Ballet West is every bit as good. Ha!

Greensleeves and an Updo

2009-11-06T09:20:00.006-07:00

Who knew piano practicing could be so much fun?

Last night the girls were practicing a duet for their Christmas recital. Well, horsing around is more like it. Lots of laughter and giggling. I love these moments, when they're having a great time together. The laughter soon turned to shrieks of indignation.

Please note Em's mischeivous grin and the tap she's giving her sis with the left arm. Something along the lines of "Oh come on... it's not that bad."

This is, "You got spit in my eye! If I had my glasses on you could see it all over the lenses!!"

Brief pause while we all laugh some more.

Aaaand we're back.

They really are starting to sound quite good together.

By way of celebration, after the piano practicing was done,

Em decided to do my hair.

This asymmetrical coiffure is what Emily called a messy bun. Apparently its all the rage right now. (And yes, that is Thoroughly Modern Milly on the screen. We can't help ourselves.)

Thanks Miss Emmy... it was soo much fun. Love you!

The art of the costume

2009-11-03T22:13:00.004-07:00

One last report on our Halloween festivities.

The day before Halloween, Sarah and Emily came giggling into my room. I looked up and found a pair of Cousin Its. What you see here is the extent of Sarah's costume. This Halloween marked the end of an era. It was the first time she didn't dress up and go trick or treating with her sister. Instead, Sarah had a small group of friends over for a party. (Mixed, I might add.)

Cue 'Sunrise, Sunset' here.

My Emmy dressed up as a W.I.T. or Witch in Training. Darling. She went trick or treating with her dad and I stayed home to hold down the fort.

This little bit of heaven lives across the street. Oh my.

It's official. I'm in love with Baby Ethan.

Russell and Carl

"Tents are hard."

If you haven't seen Up yet, please make a point to do so in the near future. Its good for the soul.

If you have seen Up you'll appreciate how amazing this costumed duo is. I don't know who the children are or where the picture was taken. It was on someone else's blog and I just couldn't resist.

Happy Halloween all.

Pumpkincide

2009-11-01T21:45:00.007-07:00

The last week of October usually finds me trying to catch up with everything that needs doing by the 31st. For example: finishing touches on costumes, putting up and out some semblance of spooky decor, carving pumpkins, etc. I just am not a big Halloween lover. (Kind of a non holiday in my book) My daughter Emily doesn't appreciate my attitude. She loves Halloween and was already discussing her plans for next year's costume and festivities as we were blowing out the candle in her jack-o-lantern. If it were up to her we'd have an authentic looking graveyard in our lawn with every spectre imaginable floating from the trees, rigged up on zip lines to fly through the yard. Alas, she got 'unenthusiastic about Halloween mom' as a parent. I will defend her right to love Halloween and will facilitate her enjoyment in every way... just don't expect to see me in costume as I hand out candy.

Note Emily's two handed assault.

Daddy stepped in when Em's arms tired out.

If only she could open up and express herself.

Sarah wearing the cute apron she just made in school.

Sarah's Pumpkin of Peace

Em's Scary Snaggletooth Pumpkin

I was in charge of the Jack-o-lantern display and judging at the elementary school family carnival.

Sarah came to help with voting for the best in show pumpkin.

Sarah and a friend checking out one of the winners.

The girls had a fun time at the carnival and okay, so did I.

Blue

2009-10-23T21:02:00.008-06:00

O suns and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather.

Helen Hunt Jackson 1831-1885

West Point Volleyball

2009-10-20T08:13:00.007-06:00

Because it's a grey, rainy morning in October, lets go back to a warm, dry evening from summer.

Towards the end of summer we got together for a big family dinner and some fun and games at Grandma Jeannine's place in West Point. Volleyball was the feature event and for some of us it's a bit unnerving. I played volleyball my senior year in high school. Well, practiced really. When tryouts happened I was working out for track and thought I'd join in just for the exercise. The coach thought it would be great to have my legendary wingspan up front blocking shots and I made the team. Silly coach. That was my first and last year of organized volleyball. Loved the workout. Feared the games. Sure its a big ball, but you could still lose an eye.

Due to my volleyphobia I haven't spent any time teaching my girls how to play. This was painfully evident at the big family game.

Not. In. My. Comfort. Zone.

Nervous, but still smiling.

Aunt Renee loving and coaching.

Sarah is warming up... Em still not sure.

A little coachin' from cousin Brock.

Comparing sports injuries.

Okay. Now it's fun.

Aunt Amelie and Uncle Dave

My nephew Kyle and his beautiful boy Cole.

Our sweet nephew Ryan and Grandpa

Our niece, Emma Claire. What a dolly.

Em midflight.

It was a fun evening. Good food and a nice time visiting. Rich's sister Renee was in town getting ready to pick up her son Dallas from his service in the Alaskan Mission. Ohio is a long way away and we don't get to see her often enough. It was so great to be together! I didn't catch a shot of Grandma Jeannine because she was a blur keeping us all fed and watered. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a lovely time.

The rest of the story

2009-10-18T23:49:00.004-06:00

These are the last of the pics from our Fall Cabin Fun '09. We had such a great time.

This is one of Megan's friends (I can't remember her name but tres adorable) getting a ride from my nephew Clark. I'm so sad this pic is a little overexposed because I want you all to see his face. Look closely at that smile! I love this boy. He's in his twenties but I used to change his pants so he's still a youngun to me.

Hona, Megan, Connie and Henry kicking puzzle booty.

When the sun went down or the weather was uncooperative, the jigsaw puzzles came out. 1000 piece puzzles with ridiculously small pieces.

Rich and Hona deep in puzzle mode.

My beautiful sister Tatiana and her Hillary.

We listened to all four sessions of conference, but thats a lot to ask of these kidlets. Found Em and little Henry (bud bud) up in the loft engaged in an intense game on the DS.

Early one morning, Bambi dropped by.

I remained true to the tradition of Church in your jammies on Conference weekend. Very seductive I know. Make-up next year for sure.

(Glamour Shot courtesy of Sarah)

And again, for your viewing pleasure... another dignified shot of my brother. Why? Because I can. I only wish his face was in the frame. Choice.

Once more, thanks Connie for the invite and for the time together. It really is the best.

Oh dear...

2009-10-17T23:57:00.005-06:00

It would appear that I have inadvertantly corrupted the youth of my family.

A while back I posted a clip from SNL of a lovely and warped skit satiring the Lawrence Welk Show.

Up at the cabin I'd hear someone humming the tune and within seconds they were joined by others 'til we were all singing along. Then one night, Megan came downstairs and recruited some of her cousins to do this...

A reinactment of The Merrill Sisters

"and I'm Juneece"

Please look closely and note the use of props. Megan found a sad old doll in the loft and ripped its arms off. Love the baby hands. Tank you, Tank you Megan. It was fabulous.

Just in case you missed the skit the first time I posted it, here it is again. Please forgive the little commercial that accompanies it. I couldn't ditch it.

"And a one and a two and..."

Building a Snow Moose

2009-10-16T16:24:00.007-06:00

Can you see how happy Emily is? Pure bliss at being back at the cabin.

We leapt at the chance to go to the cabin this fall! Mom and Dad were traveling but we had the rest of the fam (minus Chase in Chile) all together. It snowed during the drive up and when we arrived it was just getting dark. Silent, dark, snowy and then the sound of very large animals nearby. It sounded like elk but we're told they don't hang out there so it must have been moose. Do moose bugle?

Upon arriving, Em found some Christmas music, cranked it up and asked for the pleasure of a dance with her cousin Hillary.

Then the flame master got the fire going.

We woke to this lovely sight.

Emily was a little disappointed there wasn't enough snow to build a snow moose, so she busied herself by brushing the snow off arts and crafts projects from years gone by. (Yes, that is a teenage mutant ninja turtle rock.)

Later in the day it warmed up enough to go ride the four wheelers.

Happy girl.

Prepared girl. Em brought her ski goggles and serious boots.

Meg brought along a fun group of 6 friends to stay over one night. They were darling. It was cold enough that the always fashionable cabin coats were brought out for some of the friends when they went four wheeling. Only really adorable girls could pull off this look. Way to choose good friends Megan.

More cold weather cabin fun coming soon.

You put your right foot in...

2009-10-14T12:05:00.004-06:00

Actually, this is not the hokey-pokey gone ugly. It's eleven of the thirteen of my clan who went bowling in Heber City recently. (Rich was searching for the perfect bowling ball on the other side of the lanes and Big Henry was tying up some business and hadn't made it to the alley yet.) I wish I had more pictures to show how much fun we had.

You'll just have to trust me.

My parents were in Europe having a blast cruising riverboat style. (Think modern, Viking cruise line... not Showboat, Huck Finn era.) While they were gone, the rest of the family went back up to Connie's family cabin over conference weekend. Four days and four nights of great fun and relaxation. While we were there we drove down to Heber for some bonding time while wearing recently sanitized shoes. More pics to follow.

And just in case you're wondering, not surprisingly, Connie beat the rest of us bowling. The girl is a natural. At everything.

p.s. Thanks Connie for the photo. Love it.

The Enquirer

2009-09-26T23:28:00.010-06:00

Emily has an inquisitive mind. I think she may one day become a journalist who digs deep for the big story.

Maybe she'll be a detective or private investigator. She loves Nancy Drew.

Possibly she'll unlock the mysteries of disease and genetics as a research scientist.

Em is always wondering how things work or what people are doing or any number of life's little puzzles.

This is when things slow down and she isn't asking, delving, questioning to know for herself.

Any guesses what this is?

It's what stopped Emily from landing on the driveway.

This is the view straight down from Em's window.

It was after ten last night when the girls were finally getting ready for bed. We heard Emily cry out and found her with a scrape on her arm. "What happened?"

Em said she'd heard some older kids outside at the neighbors' yard across the street. Of course she was curious, so she put her face against the screen, cupped her hands around her face and went for the big look-see.

Happily we're in the market for a new screen and new window treatment (the blinds got trashed) rather than a neurosurgeon. No traumatic brain injury, just a little scratch. We're very grateful Emily's okay. Hopefully she'll be more cautious the next time she gets curious.

Not 20/20

2009-09-21T17:48:00.003-06:00

This is a picture of Emily as we were getting ready to go snorkeling in Cabo San Lucas last fall.

So happy!

This is a picture of Emily after we went snorkeling and her glasses went overboard. The cutest glasses ever, now live at the bottom of the Sea of Cortez.

Very sad.

Emily spent the next 3 days blind. She was a good sport about it all. And she now has extra cute glasses again... when she can find them.

Love this girl.

20/20

2009-09-21T10:41:00.003-06:00

What do you do on a Saturday morning when you can't find your glasses and you want to watch a show with your sister?

Get creative.

We got these nifty prescription swim goggles for ten bucks at swimoutlet.com. Who knew they'd be so versatile?

I came downstairs to start a load of laundry and saw Em wearing these. She didn't stomp around and get frustrated looking for her glasses. She simply found a solution. She's a problem solver that girl.

Thankfully Em hasn't lost her glasses on a Sunday morning. I can't quite see the blue goggles with her Sunday duds.

{Remember when George Kastanza lost his glasses at the gym? He ended up sporting his goggles as well. Ahh Seinfeld.}

Sweet Ralphie

2009-09-17T23:22:00.006-06:00

Sweet Ralphie Prancer

1995 - 2009

Today our boy died. He had a good long life, nearly 15 years. He only barked when the doorbell rang. (he hadn't barked in a long time as he was deaf and couldn't hear the doorbell anymore.) He'd been losing his eyesight for some time and in recent weeks lost all vision. He was getting hurt running into things and falling down the stairs. It was time to let him go. Even though it was the right time and the kindest thing we could do for him, our hearts are aching.

Rich built a casket and we buried him in our yard in one of his favorite places. Emily wrote her goodbye on the wood and taped a doggie treat on as well. Sarah and Emily filled in the grave. Sarah did it almost singlehandedly... she insisted.

We love him and will miss him dearly. We're hoping tomorrow will be a little better.

The Whistling Season

2009-09-14T23:06:00.002-06:00

I just finished this book a few days ago.

It's not scary, suspenseful or action packed. There are no passages filled with passion. It's just a beautifully written story. Mind candy.

I highly recommend it.

Cabin Finale

2009-09-11T23:06:00.008-06:00

[Warning. Cuidado. Ridiculous amount of photos ahead.]

This post wraps up the tale of the cabin '09. If you were curious as to what we do there when we're not riding four wheelers or eating, speculate no further.

My fabulous sister-in-law Connie is the camp director. Every year she sets up some craft activities for us. It's supposed to be for the grandkids, but there are usually some grown ups who jump right in as well. It's very therapeutic. This year, Megan (assistant camp director in training) had so much fun doing tie dye at girls camp, they decided to do it at the cabin. Megan led the way with this activity.

Badminton court clothesline

The artists

We do puzzles and play games. Rummikub and Racko are faves.

We do some target practice.

We read.

Hang out in the playhouse.

Multitask. Note the remote control laying on Dad's lap.

Scene from 1980:

I turn off the TV. It's after midnight.

Dad- "Hmnh? What? Don't turn that off Sis. I was watching that."

Me- "What were they talking about?"

Dad- "I'm not sure, but I'm listening to that."

Me- "You're drooling. Goodnight Dad."

Some people like a glass of warm milk. Some like the glow of the TV.

We cook so we can continue to feed. Rich & I are making bruschetta. Megan & Connie are making roasted corn salsa with fresh lime, cilantro, avacados, etc. Oy.

We unwind.

Next activity. Custom covered journals with all the scrapbooking supplies a girl could want.

We observe.

We graciously pose for the annoying daughter with a camera.

We wrestle. New this year but it was so fun,

we may have to bring it back.

The clinch! Hona going for blood.

Tatiana triumphant.

We have the best time. It is our girls' favorite event of the year. I think they were more excited for the cabin than they were for our cruise last fall. Thanks Connie for getting us there and to Joyce and Earl for sharing. Thank you to my family who makes it a priority to be together. Love you all!

The Cabin - installment 2

2009-09-08T00:27:00.013-06:00

One of the fun things about staying at the cabin is all the four wheeling.

Yay for Uncle Tony! We love it when uncles take us for rides.

Often, you'll find a group of us on the back porch. It's a great place to sit and watch the parade of 4 wheeling enthusiasts go by. There's a little path that runs around the cabin so this is a good spot for waving and sending our riders off into the wilderness. Okay. Dirt roads. But thats pretty wild for some of us. It's also the perfect spot for photo ops. For example, how on earth could we pass up this splendid opportunity? (see photo below)

This my friends, is the white and delightsome leg of my brother, Tony. Please note the black sock and black pants exquisitely framing the flesh. It is a tad blurry and overexposed. I was just laughing so hard it was difficult to concentrate on photography. Tony is a very sharp dresser and generally speaking, a fastidious man. Way to shake it loose Tonyboy.

Little Henry, Megan (recently crowned 1st attendant of her high school's homecoming royalty - she truly is all that) and Sarah bear.

Big Henry with his girls.

Rich and young master Henry. "Twice around the cabin and then down to the beaver pond will be fine James."

This photo was taken 2 years ago. When the grandkids were on the smallish side of tiny, Tony and then his boys Clark and Chase in turn, would hitch up the wagon and take the little ones for rides. When did they get so big?

We are missing Chase. The people of Chile are blessed to have this young man serving among them for two years. I'll say it again. We are missing Chase.

LOVE this pic. Love my baby and her papa more.
Life is so good.

{stay tuned for another installment of The Cabin}

The Cabin - installment 1

2009-09-07T23:35:00.002-06:00

As I mentioned earlier... my sister-in-law Connie's family has a cabin. Every year, my side of the family gets to go for a few days. It truly is the best time of the year. Here's how we begin.

First thing we do upon arriving is to unpack all the food. This can be a time consuming task because of the obscene amount of food we bring. Silly really, but we can't help ourselves.

You must also have diet coke. Hona and Megan busting out the liquid gold that will help keep the party going late into the night. Connie's in the background getting the cookies and candy ready for the massacre.

This is my beautiful sister Tatiana (Hona). At her feet is my brother Tony. Tony's idea of fun is pulling up a nice bit of carpet. Hona's idea of fun is to mock Tony as often as possible. She shot him in his signature position to which he responded, "Let the shaming begin." hee hee hee

Em in her jammies all ready for the big slumber party. The stuffed moose is part of the cabin. Emily loves all things associated with the cabin. Its a great place.

My niece Hillary. "I gots my Yahtzee and my blanky and the party is on!"

Hillary the next morning, after the party. Its all fun and games until someone wakes up.

Stay tuned for more cabin fun.

With My, By Myself

2009-09-02T11:15:00.001-06:00

I love Lawrence Welk. Thanks SNL.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Addendum

2009-09-01T21:43:00.007-06:00

I just reread my previous post and have determined that it is adequate. There are some nice pictures (I just learned how to make them bigger so one isn't required to hold a magnifying glass to the screen) and there are captions that describe the photos. The meat and potatoes are there but it's missing the gravy, sides and dessert. Here comes the rest of the meal.

Before this outing, Rich and I had never been to Timpanogos Cave. We tried last year in the early fall but were turned away because the inn was full. They sell a certain number of tickets in advance and then allow the rest of the space for walk ins. We tried again this summer without having purchased tickets in advance thinking it was a weekday and we'd be fine. Wrong. Instead we went to Thanksgiving Point and then to Cabela's. Rich's coworker said to be there by 6 pm so we could watch the feeding of the fish. We thought that would be fun until one of my tender daughters' faces grew pale watching a whole school of adorable goldfish get annihilated by an assortment of bass, trout, catfish, etc.

I digress.

My sister in law Connie suggested over Sunday dinner a while back that we should hike up to the caves on our way to the cabin. (The cabin is our favorite vacation every year because we get to be together. Post to follow.) Because I'm a quick learner, I bought the tickets in advance for the whole crew. We drove down and met Tony, Connie and my niece Megan at the visitors center. We were supposed to begin our hike by a certain time to be at the cave entrance at the appointed hour. Tatiana and Henry and their kids hadn't made it yet and we decided we better start hiking. We took it slow and kept looking back to see if they were coming.

No sign.
Hope they make it.
Can't get a signal to give them a call.

That's when Connie turned around and hiked back down to wait for them at the parking lot. It was hot, and a steep hike and she'd have to do part of it over again. That's who Connie is. Later in the hike, Connie asked a mother toting a good sized baby up the mountain on her hip if she could carry her baby for awhile. Of course the mom said yes because Connie is Connie. You just know she can love anyone's child unconditionally. (I'm continually grateful for the sister my brother chose for me and the brother my sister chose for me. Connie and Henry. In laws don't get better than this.) A few minutes later we were able to look waaay down and see them in the parking lot. We hooted and hollered (Tony was yelling "Riiicolaaaa") and waved and were happy to see them.

Twenty minutes or so later, they caught up to us. They had worked hard to catch up and had the red faces to show for it. We cheered again and hugged and made a lot of noise. It felt so good when they finally made it.

The hike was beautiful. The views down the canyon are amazing and the dark cool of the cave with all its formations was incredible. The part of the day that is the most memorable for me is when we all came together. Corny, I know. I can't help it. I love my family.

Into the Caves

2009-08-28T20:49:00.004-06:00

As a prelude to our weekend at the cabin, the whole family (minus Grandma & Grandpa) hiked up to Timpanogos Caves.

Emily, Hillary, Sarah and Maddie. Intrepid hikers.

Flushed cousins. It was plenty warm.

Top of the trail. 1100 foot climb in 1 1/2 miles. Steep enough.

Flowstone, stalactites and helictites (the curly gnarly ones). The yellow and red colors come from minerals.

BIG stalactites.

Em and Hillary were much happier once they cooled off inside the cave.

See the rat? It's hanging by the tail. So said the park ranger. (They spend a lot of time in the dark.) Interpretation of these formations is akin to a Rorshach test. Spooky.

On the way down we stopped for a photo op at Lover's Arch. Sarah dubbed it thus and so it shall remain for us.

After Timp, we headed to Heber and dinner at the Dairy Keen on our way to the cabin. The DK serves up a very fine burger and shake. We were all feeling justified (calorically speaking) after having hauled it up and down the mountainside. A good time for sure.

This is me

2009-08-21T00:51:00.006-06:00

Observe the following pictures for clues to my identity.

Square. That's me.

Apparently I'm the female equivalent to this.

And this.

Sweet.

Yesterday Emily said,

"Mom. I should teach you how to text so you can be one of the cool moms."

Ouch.

a. When did my nine year old learn how to text?

b. To whom does she text?

c. On what phone does she text?

d. Isn't it enough that I can input names & numbers in my contact list on my phone?

If anyone needs me, I'll be ironing a crease into my mom pants.

Gotta look sharp.

82 is looking good on you.

2009-08-20T22:50:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago we celebrated Rich's dad's Birthday. We were at Rich's brother Dave & sister in law Amelie's beautiful home in North Salt Lake. Amelie had an emergency at work and wasn't able to get home... we missed her.

This is the birthday boy. Guenther. a.k.a. Dad, Grandpa, Ging, etc. He has one of the best laughs around and a great smile. If he's smiling, everyone wants to smile. One of the reasons he's smiling (other than his posterity had mercifully just stopped singing) is the lovely woman to his right. This is Jeannine, his wonderful wife and companion. Thank you Grandma Jeannine for loving Dad and for taking such good care of him.

Rich serving up some cake and ice cream to Sarah. Yum.

Emily taking a break on Dave & Amelie's couch.

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you.

Out to Lunch

2009-08-16T23:48:00.001-06:00

Last week, in an attempt to make sure we squeeze in as much fun as possible before school starts, my girls and I went out to lunch.

We went to the Pantry at the Lion House.

My, but it was delicious!

Sarah and Emily in front of a massive hanging planter outside the Pantry. The grounds of the church owned properties in Salt Lake are amazing.

Sarah took this closeup as we strolled the gardens.

I sure had a fun afternoon with my girls.

Scenes from Cherry Hill

2009-08-06T23:20:00.006-06:00

Today we went to Cherry Hill. Even though it was very windy, it was still hot and we needed some splash time. Happily for us, most of the mommies with little, little kids decided the weather was too rough for them so we had our pick of choice parking spaces and lots of elbow room in Lazy River. Sweet! After floating on our tubes for a spell we headed over to the swimming pool. (FYI- Cherry Hill's Lazy River has an old west mining town theme so I must use words like 'spell')

Photo from Cherry Hill's site.

Now Sarah and Emily are doing swim team, they feel obligated to get me really moving whenever I'm in the water with them. We were at the edge of the pool with Sarah on my left, Em on my right.

Sarah - "Come on Mom. We can hang on to the side and just kick!"

Me - "Okay." Willingly complies and begins to kick (and kick hard I thought). A moment goes by.

Emily - "Mom... she's mocking you."

Me - Turns to look at my sweet eldest child. "Really?"

Sarah - "Just a little."

When did I become mockable? Don't answer that.

Next scenario. Emily decides that she will hold me. You know how in water you become light... buoyancy... that's it. I put my arm around Em's neck and she scoops me up in her arms (quite easily I thought), hefts me a little and then pronounces, "You're not the lightest fish in the ocean!" Lovely.

(A slight detour: Last week I was visiting with a male neighbor in our home when Emily walks in, interrupts our conversation and asks, "What size shoe do you wear Mom?" Extra lovely. I'm not revealing my shoe size here, suffice it to say it would be difficult for me to tip over in a very strong wind.)

Emily is shaking my confidence just a teensy bit. She's also making me laugh, so I guess its alright. I love being at Cherry Hill with my girls.

Pioneer Days

2009-08-03T22:26:00.010-06:00

This is my brother Tony & my darling sister in law Connie.

They're instigators.

They are the stimulus behind a lot of our good times.

They got the whole family to go to the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo. This is a pretty big deal as we're not typically rodeo going folk. Rich and I figured it's been close to 20 years since we'd been to a rodeo, so needless to say our girls were very excited! Mutton bustin'... they particularly liked that. Who wouldn't enjoy seeing little kids flying across the arena hanging on to a smelly old sheep for dear life? They also liked the barrell racing. Me? I like the ladies vying for the spot of Rodeo Queen. I love the fancy outfits and curly, aqua netted hair cascading out from under their cowgirl hats as they glide around the arena at lightning speeds with their smiles and patented 'come a ridin' wave. What a great night! Ropin' and ridin' and buckin' broncs and big old bulls. Finish it off with some amazing daredevil dirt bike riding and a firework display for the cherry on top.

Tony, Tatiana, me, Mom and Dad.

Mom & Dad were the generous sponsors of the evening.

The whole fam, except for nephews Clark and Chase and little Henry who was not ready for his closeup. Sometimes that happens when you're 5.

After the rodeo, all the cousins had a sleep over at Tony and Connie's house because they are the most excellent aunt and uncle around. We called the next day to see when we could get our girls and were told to not bother them... busy having a good time.

Later that day, we all met up at Mom and Dad's for a yummy barbecue and more fun visiting.

Sarah loves to be by her Uncle Tony.

Sweet Em with french braids courtesy of Aunt Connie.

Rich was on grill duty.

Emily put on the pre-dinner floor show. Mom in the background getting the finishing touches on dinner.

Emily is now an official lighter of the fireworks. Grandpa lent some adult supervision.

My beautiful niece Megan... love this girl.

We fell into bed on the 24th smelling of pyrotechnics, bug spray and having had more fun than should be allowed. I love my family.

French Cooking with Love

2009-07-29T22:40:00.007-06:00

Recently I've been thinking of Julia Child and her work to help the average American see that good cooking, (French cooking in particular) was really within their ability to create. That got me thinking of another talented cook... Sarah.

This was early last fall when Sarah did some French cooking for a school project. She picked the tomatoes, zucchini and crooked neck squash.

She chopped the onions and squash and sauteed them in olive oil. Then she added some minced garlic and gave it another stir. She cut up a lot of tomatoes and threw those in the pot too. Gave it some salt and pepper, put the lid on and let it simmer.

After about 45 minutes, she dished it up, put some parmesan cheese on top and served it with the braided bread she made. (She learned how to make the bread at activity days. Thank you activity day leaders... we love you!) Ratatouille and warm bread. Very nice.

A while later she made potage, which is just a French word for soup. For us, it means the yummy kind of soup you make with zucchini, cooked and then pureed with garlic, salt and pepper and some milk. Extra yummy with a shot of cream! We also grate swiss cheese and sprinkle that on top. The girls like it with some parmesan cheese too.

This is what Sarah made on New Year's Eve. Its called Coquilles St. Jacques. Shrimp and scallops in a heavenly cream sauce with swiss cheese and a few spices. Browned beautifully under the broiler till you nearly weep with joy. What a sinful way to ring in the new year. Thanks Sarah!

All of these dishes are ones that our family enjoyed eating at Grandma Marcelle's table. Sarah hadn't started cooking before Grandma got sick, but Rich's Mom taught me how to make these along with her delicious quiche and her chou a la creme (creme puffs). Not every girl gets a mother in law who really is a good French cook! Now Sarah is learning.

On New Year's Eve as Sarah was getting ready to serve her Coquilles St. Jacques, my mom gave Sarah this book. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.

"To Sarah because she is certain to be a wonderful cook. Be sure you always enjoy your time in the kitchen and you will make others happy with your efforts as well as yourself. With all my love, Grandma

...and in fond memory of your Grandma Marcelle"

My daughters were blessed to have lovely and talented grandmothers whose combined efforts represent an impressive repertoire of delicious food and an even more impressive legacy of love and devotion to their families.

Apricots

2009-07-27T22:23:00.002-06:00

From this...

...to this.

Twenty four pints to be exact.

I love apricot jam.

Tonight I had apricot syrup on vanilla ice cream.

Wahoo!!

Thanks Grandpa for sharing the delicious fruit and thanks Grandma Jeannine for letting me mooch a picture from your blog.

Bon Appetit!

2009-07-25T22:15:00.001-06:00

A new movie is coming out... Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Why didn't I think of that? I do like Miss Streep. Judging from the clip I saw she'll do a fabulous job.

The following pictures show the Julia of my childhood. I loved watching her and then I'd do my utmost best to imitate her.

Maybe I liked Julia so much because she was even taller than me. Maybe it was her voice... kind of nasally and not too fancy. She was forever making a mess or dropping something, yet she would always recover nicely. She could laugh at herself.

This is the Julia from my teenage years. Dan Akroyd used to do a great Julia on Saturday Night Live. He had the voice down pat and then he'd accidentally lop off a digit or two and just keep going.

Here's hoping the movie will do Julia justice.

What a lady.

Traveling without leaving home.

2009-07-15T19:07:00.008-06:00

One of our favorite summer pasttimes is reading. I usually read some books out loud to the girls which is so much fun because we can be scared stiff or laughing ourselves silly or teary eyed all together. We are literally on the same page. It makes for good discussions... "I'f I were him, I'd have done this" or "I think the Scarlet Hand is so and so" etc.

Our read out loud books so far have been:

The Sisters Grimm, book #7 The Everafter War

The Anybodies

The Nobodies (darling story)

Here's Sarah's list of books read since school got out:

The Moon and Sun Series, books 1 & 2
Pure Dead Series, books 1-6
The Key to Rondo
Holly Claus (she loved this one)
The Grail Quest, books 1, 2 & 3
Bella at Midnight
Dragon Lance, the New Adventures, books 1 & 2
The Wight Co. (Arthur Conan Doyle, a favorite of Sarah's)
The Encyclopedia of Music (thanks Grandpa)
King Arthur

Now Em's list of books read since summer began:

Geronimo Stilton Series, books 1-5
Avril Crump and Her Amazing Clones
Lady Grace Cavendish Series, books 3 & 4
Bella at Midnight
Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox
A Barrel of Laughs and a Vale of Tears
The Beatrice Letters
Nancy Drew Sign of the Twisted Candles
Nancy's Mysterious Letter
Sitting Ducks
Riding Freedom
The Perfect Pony

I found Em holed up rereading one of the Sisters Grimm books. That's a fun series.

We really do get out and play- but our library cards are seeing some action.

Fire Pit Fun

2009-07-11T12:36:00.002-06:00

This is where we're having some good times this summer...

out on the patio stinking up the neighborhood with scrap lumber from the varied home improvements we've undertaken over the years. (I'm using we've loosely. It's been all Rich, all the way.)

Richard is the flame master.

We had Grandma and our cousins over for some smore action the other night. Glow sticks make any gathering more festive.

Hillary sporting a lovely glow stick headband.

"What do you make of this?"

"I can make a hat, a pterodactyl, a brooch, a mustache..."

Name that movie - Airplane

"I come in pieces"

Em was being an alien with her glowsticks & instead of the traditional greeting ensuring a peaceable visit, she went with a more fractured hello.

Maddie & Sarah also came in 'pieces'.

Maddie and Grandma sharing a giggle.

Look at the fun you can have for $49.99. S'more ingredients extra.

MMmmmmm!

Henry knows where to go for perfectly toasted marshmallows.

This is from another night. Emily favored us with a bit of performance art she entitled 'Dance of the indigenous people around the fire pit'. I don't know if the indigenous people had Jazz Hands that early.

We've quite enjoyed our little outdoor soiree's. The nice thing about a campfire at home is the luxury of your own shower to get rid of the lil' smoky scent. Fun fun fun!

I feel pretty ...Oh so pretty...

2009-06-30T14:46:00.010-06:00

What do you get to wear to work?

Not always... just sometimes, I get to wear the lovely ensemble seen in the photo above. It's from the PPE or Personal Protective Equipment collection. This is the very latest in H1N1 Influenza (swine flu to you) protection.

Do I look like a rookie inductee to the KKK? (hope not)
How about Renee Russo in the movie Outbreak? (sadly, no.)
Perhaps a smurf... maybe a beekeeper smurf?

I spent probably half of my 12 hour shift last Friday in my own personal sauna suit. The tres chic cinch belt holds up the battery pack and fan that force filtered air through the hose and into the top of the hood. It provides positive air pressure so I'm not exposed to the virus.

I should be grateful that I'm strong and healthy and able to do this kind of work and not the poor patient lying in the bed hooked up to a ventilator. I am grateful... it was just a long weekend.

Sorry the pic isn't super quality. A coworker snapped it with her cell phone.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-20T23:41:00.000-06:00

I am blessed to have a wonderful father for my

children.

He likes to get out and do things with his family.

"You have taught me more than can be expressed in words. I am so glad that Mom met you. I wouldn't have anyone else for my father." Sarah

"I love you more than anything else in this world, and if it weren't for you we would have many terrible things happen like....... a flood in our house, no computer, no Friday movies, no kite flying and no new sinks!" Emily

He is a patient teacher. That's one of the things I found so attractive about him. I knew he would be kind and patient with our children.

Of course you need to have a good role model. Rich's dad is such a good man and taught Richard all the important lessons. Thanks Dad.

I can't forget my own Dad. I am so grateful that I get to be your daughter.

Happy Father's Day to these amazing men. Thank you for your love, work, patience, humor, strength and good examples.

Emily's Travel Agency

2009-06-16T16:12:00.007-06:00

I'm beginning to see a pattern in our days this summer. We get up early, head off to swim team practice and then come back home for a more substantial breakfast and some quiet time. This hasn't been scheduled, it's just happening. The girls swim hard and need a rest afterwards. If they're well stocked with piles of books from the library, they find a quiet spot to read and get comfy.
It was nice enough weather on Monday for Sarah to do some reading on the patio. I went out to water some plants and on my way up the back porch I saw a paper taped to the railing. Sarah & I had a closer look.

"Webkinz carnival cruise CHEAP!!!!!!"

Sarah and I looked at each other, smiled and followed the arrow.

"Office buy tickets here"

This was the efficient travel agent who helped Sarah purchase her tickets and plan her cruise vacation. I heard Em say, "Do you have any special needs that we should be aware of?" and "Oh, we can take care of that... no problem!" (Please, please double click that picture so you can get a good look at Emily being the professional woman.)

This is the cruise ship and the tiny little Webkinz kitten is the captain of this mighty vessel. (It may look like the foam pads Sarah slept on at girls camp, but really, it's a ship.)

I think the green bin may be the swimming pool. Please notice that the guests are all dressed for formal night. We loved going to a delicious dinner each evening. Emily hasn't forgotten. She loved the cruise we took last fall and was so sad to get off the ship when it was over. She is a great traveler.

I love Emily's creativity... she amazes me, and I love that Sarah put down her book to go cruise with her sister. Happy summer my girls.

Movin' on up!

2009-06-13T23:01:00.001-06:00

Sarah is advancing to junior high in the fall. Amazing. I can vividly recall Sarah's first day of kindergarten. Parents were invited to come into the class, help the children find their seat, put away their backpack and get acclimated to their new surroundings for a few minutes. We were then asked to leave so they could start learning. I'll never forget Sarah's lower lip quivering, eyes pleading as she looked at me and whispered, "Don't go Mom". My heart. I smiled, told her I'd be back soon to pick her up and then bolted for the door as my tears flowed.

Time goes so quickly.

No tears now! Just a lovely, confident young lady.

Sarah was asked to be one of the speakers for their graduation ceremony. She did an amazing job. She wrote the speech herself and spoke as though she's been doing it for 20 years.

We're so grateful for good friends...

amazing teachers...

and completely supportive family.

Congratulations Sarah! We are proud of your accomplishments and the bright, kind, hardworking person you are. We love you!!

Clothing Optional

2009-06-12T23:16:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago in May (A time when there was real live sunshine to be had. Tired of the cool, rainy weather? Why yes I am!) I was in the kitchen with the window open. I heard Emily talking outside on the patio. I thought she was alone and took a peek through the window and saw that Em was not alone. She was in the company of many naked Barbies. She said she was having a hotel with a fancy swimming pool/hot tub for the Barbies.

Emily could be quite an entrepreneur.

(By the way, that's not a tumor or wad of chew in Em's cheek, just a mighty big jaw breaker.)

Examples of the new Barbie Godiva by Mattel.

Long haired brunette Barbie is getting a shampoo and set.

Hotelier, cosmetologist... whatever you choose to be, it will be great fun to watch you do it. Love you Emmy.

Swing me!

2009-06-11T22:28:00.000-06:00

During the last few weeks of school, the students got an introduction to dance...

...the scary kind in which you actually touch your partner!

Sarah's fabulous teacher decided to have a swing dance competition for the sixth grade. Sarah came home from school a few weeks ago with a very big smile.

"How was school Sarah?"

"Good. (larger smile nearly accompanied by a giggle) Kevin asked me to be his partner in the swing dance competition next week!"

Look at the fun they're having!

Way to be brave Kevin.

I'm not sure who had more fun - the cute couple or me.

I may be enrolling Rich and me in some dance classes. Really, a girl likes to be spun around the dance floor once in a while.

The Last Monday in May

2009-06-06T16:21:00.008-06:00

Memorial Day (originally called Decoration Day) began as a way to remember and honor those who gave their lives in the service of their country.

On May 5, 1868 General John Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic proclaimed flowers be placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery. It was to be a time of remembering and honoring and healing.

One hundred years later, the U.S. Congress designated the last Monday in May as the official Memorial Day. To some its a get out of jail free day... no school, no work. It is used as another day to vacation or to commence the first home improvement project of the summer.

In my family, Memorial Day is a day to remember our dear ones who are no longer with us and to honor our ancestors.

Throughout my life I have heard my parents and grandparents talk about going to decorate graves. I've had the opportunity to go with them to various cemeteries in Idaho and Utah. Those are sweet memories. To drive through the small towns and hear them tell 'who lived here' and 'whose business was over there' and 'the dances we used to attend at this church or school'. I wish I had a recording of them telling the stories.

These are the graves of my grandparents, great grandparents and great great grandparents. I dearly miss my grandparents and my sweet mother misses her parents. We stood in the cemetery and laughed and cried remembering them.

Here Mom is securing flowers near her grandparents marker. Mom has perfected the technique using wire hangers cut in half to help stake down the container so it won't tip over in the wind.

You also need a willing assistant who will fetch the water so the plants will have a fighting chance for a few days. Sarah was very willing.

Mom came prepared with genealogy charts so we could look for more distant ancestors. It took a little while, but we found some!

After the cemetery, I asked if Mom could drive us to the old family home. Here Sarah is listening to her Grandmother tell her stories of family and life as it was then... and how much Sarah's great great grandmother would have loved her brown eyes.

I am so grateful for the blessing of loving family and for the example of my hardworking, faithful ancestors.

Memorial Day is special to me.

911 Dispatch... what's your emergency?

2009-05-31T22:36:00.007-06:00

Now for your reading pleasure, the last story from our trip to St. George.

While we were in St. George, Sarah wanted to do some baptisms in the Temple. Rich and Emily stayed in the condo while we went. Sarah and I had a wonderful time and drove home (the condo) to find Rich and Emily playing pseudo badminton in the street. This is really a loose interpretation of badminton without a net or lines on the ground. Anyhoo, it looked like they were having a fun time. I was a little tired and went into the bedroom and laid down on the bed just to get my feet up for a while. Not two minutes later, Emily came running inside yelling, "The police are outside and I didn't do anything!!"

My next thought was, 'Oh she's probably hit something onto a neighbor's roof or into their yard and the police drove by and now she thinks she's in trouble.' So I say, "Emmy, honey of course you didn't do anything. It's okay." Fifteen seconds later I hear Rich calling for me to come out of the bedroom. "The police are here Tiffany and you need to come out." Me- "Huh?" I jumped off the bed and headed into the living room. Standing there in the hallway as if on his way to the back bedrooms was one of St. George's finest. What on earth is going on? Rich can see I'm totally lost and tries to fill me in. Apparently, just before we came back from the Temple, Rich had been taking a nap while Em was playing in the living room. It was a little grey and windy which is just as good an excuse as any for hot chocolate. She thought I'd brought some down with us and couldn't find it anywhere. She called my cell phone but I turned it off when we were in the Temple and hadn't turned it back on. Then she 'accidentally' dialed 911.

Perhaps she thought they might know where the cocoa was? In all fairness to Emily, the phone had been working sporadically at best. Back to the nice officer. We called Emily out of the bedroom where she was hiding. Em admitted that she called 911 but that she had been trying to dial my cell phone number. Hmmmm. After speaking with the nice folks at 911 for a brief moment, Emily hung up. Guess what? They called her back! Emily tried to assure them she was just looking for the hot chocolate and that she was okay. Just about this time, Rich woke up and took Emily outside to play badminton and we pulled into the driveway. All of this was explained to me as the very nice, very young police officer took in every detail of the condo. I kid you not, he surveyed every inch of the kitchen/dining, hallway and living rooms. It was a time consuming thing for him to do, not because the condo is so spacious, but because every horizontal surface was covered in swimming paraphernalia, arts and crafts and a kitchen/sink full of unwashed dishes and pans. Lovely. (I was on vacation!)

So the nice police officer had been sent to check on us and make sure that all was well. Thank heavens the only black eye I've ever had was skiing related and 10 years ago. I'm also grateful that Rich had shaved and wasn't wearing a wife beater T-shirt. 'We're good officer. No domestic violence. No illicit drugs. No drunken and disorderly. The children are well fed and relatively well supervised.' Needless to say, we had a discussion about what an emergency really is. We apologized for the false alarm and assured him it wouldn't happen again. He was very pleasant and said it was no big deal. After he left, Emily cried and wailed that she was going to have to go to jail. Not so little one. First offenders just get a warning.

Come on in... the water's fine

2009-05-24T23:01:00.013-06:00

Every year, like the swallows to Capistrano, we return to Green Valley. We love to relax in the sun and swim in the beautiful pools with palm trees swaying in the breeze. It is something I have always enjoyed. It is mellow. This year was no exception to our migratory pattern. It was a little overcast the first day so instead of swimming in the large outdoor pool, I opted to swim in the heated indoor pool. I found a chaise, dropped the bag, stripped down to the lycra/spandex and jumped into the deep end of the pool. **&!!!___%###><*

This year, not heated. Heater broken. NOT mellow. No sign indicating water temp is more frigid than the bathroom tile in January. I was able to get out of the pool and was treated by my quick thinking daughters who immediately initiated the resuscitation protocol for a hypothermia victim. Perhaps it wasn't quite as bad as I remember. But it took my breath away in a very serious fashion. As it turns out, the outdoor pool was heated and warmer than its been in a long while. It was perfect. We swam and had a great time.

Emily is the diver. She could do salvage work in the Caribbean.

Next year I'll be sticking a toe in the water before I do anything rash.

Parks & Recreation

2009-05-22T23:34:00.009-06:00

While we were on vacation we found the most amazing new park.

Em loving the new park.

This was a two person swing that can get some air. We were fairly tame on it, but we saw some other people really make it fly!

Everything spins. This one reminded me of an old record player. Hand cranked. The daddy winds it up and then watch 'em fly.

Hang on Emily!

Sarah is really good at facilitating the thrills.

Did I mention everything spins? I felt like I'd been in a salad spinner. As soon as I was extricated I had to park myself on a bench. Wow. Not a good feeling for me. The girls loved it though.

Yet again, more of the turning.

I would have been sitting with Rich on the swing, but it just moved too much.

Kudos to St. George City Parks & Recreation.

Zion's National Park

2009-05-21T23:40:00.005-06:00

We decided it was time to take the girls to Zions while we were in St. George. It's been a number of years since we were there. In fact, the last time we went, Emily was in a backpack.

A long time ago, you used to drive your own cars through the park. Now they have natural gas powered trams. It really is pretty convenient. We only had to wait a few minutes for a bus at the shuttle stops and you don't have to fight for a parking space.

Emily wanted to sit up front.

The girls talked about playing 'Pooh Sticks' but then thought better of it.

(Those unfamiliar with Winnie the Pooh should understand Pooh Sticks is a game in which you drop a small stick from one side of a bridge and then run to the other side to see whose comes down the stream first.)

Mom capturing Sarah capturing the flora and fauna.

The girls in front of the Patriarchs

Weeping Rock

These were fearless squirrels.

Cheeky little monkey

Em tired after enough hiking.

It was a gorgeous day. We'll go again in another year or two when the girls are up for some serious hiking. What a beautiful place.

Bikers

2009-05-19T22:30:00.005-06:00

One of our favorite things to do when we're in St. George (We've been back for two weeks... speedy aren't I?) is to go on bike rides. Washington County has lots to offer in the way of nice bike paths.

Our first snack break of the ride. One of many.

Check out those pink cheeks. Hurray for camelbacks. It was gorgeous weather that day. Perfect for riding. Not too hot, but just warm enough.

This is on the ride towards Snow Canyon. The road seems to stretch on forever. "Are we there yet?" was heard several times.

Even though it was a long ride, the scenery was beautiful. Cactuses were in bloom all along the trail.

Sarah took these pictures... nicely done! Daddy was mucho patient for all of our photo op stops along the way.

He even got a shot of his 'womens' in front of pride rock. (Those of you who've seen Lion King eight thousand times like any self respecting parent will recognize the similarity.)

This was another day and a different ride. This is along the Virgin River Parkway heading into Washington. After our semi strenous ride to Snow Canyon the day before, we thought we'd take it easy with a nice flat ride. We had a great ride to the end of the trail with cloud cover and a gentle breeze. It wasn't until we turned around to ride back to the trail head that we realized we would be pedaling all the way into a fairly strong headwind. It was much more difficult than the other ride!

Here I am taking a break, waiting for the fire in my thighs to diminish. The girls were good sports and just kept on truckin'. I'll be checking the windsock at the airport next time we start out for a big ride.

Mom

2009-05-10T23:32:00.001-06:00

"Beyond all lessons, beyond the model she provided, my mother gave me a parent's ultimate gift: she made me feel lovable and good. She paid attention; she listened; she remembered what I said. She did not think me perfect, but she accepted me, without qualification."

Fredelle Maynard

This is what my beautiful, wise, wonderful mother has done for me. Thank you Mom. I love you.

While We Were Out

2009-05-04T14:58:00.008-06:00

Recently we painted Sarah's room. She had outgrown her room and an update was in order. We painted it a pretty blue, moved her bed in (see previous post) and left it at that. Sarah was happy to have fresh paint on her walls but I knew there was going to be more to it. Unbeknownst to Sarah, her delightfully sneaky Grandma had plans. When we came home from St. George on Tuesday night, Sarah had the surprise of her young life. While she was out, her bedroom had a makeover!

My incredibly smart and talented Mom and very willing assistant (my Dad) hung new window treatments and art, bought new lamps, bedding, storage bins, area rug and a darling bedside table.

Not only did she make everything look pretty, but she completely organized the entire room!! ...clothes, desk, crafts etc. Quite the undertaking. The desk was in my bedroom when I was a girl.

The dresser, mirror and headboard were Sarah's great grandmother's.

This is one happy and appreciative girl.

There are still some unfinished touches. We need to get some more shelves for books and the dust ruffle and pillow shams aren't quite done, but it is so wonderful for Sarah to have a lovely room.

Mom didn't stop at Sarah's room. She hung art in Emily's room which has helped to finish it nicely. Then she rearranged furniture in my living room. Thanks mom for all of your time and energy and talent pulling this together! We are grateful to have you so near and so willing to help make our lives a little more beautiful and orderly.

Ralphie

2009-04-22T08:22:00.000-06:00

This is Ralphie, our very sweet, very old, mostly deaf and blind dog. It may look a little awkward, but he really is quite comfortable. Here he is relaxing after being bathed and having his nails trimmed. (Rich has become quite the groomer over the years.) That can be a little stressful for Ralphie so he's getting some TLC from the mama.

A tummy rub will make almost anything better.

I do love this boy.

Swimmers take your mark!

2009-04-20T23:17:00.014-06:00

It's official. We now have competitive swimmers in the family. On Saturday, Sarah and Emily participated in their first swim meet! They started in February with a swim team and they are having lots of fun. They practice 3 days a week for one hour and they don't just float around... they swim hard.

Here are some of the highlights from the meet. Double click the photos to get a larger image.

Emily is on the left in the green cap. Sarah is next to her in the blue cap. The facility was great as far as views were concerned. Not so great for spectator comfort. (Warm & muggy, close quarters topped off by bum numbing, backrest free concrete seating. It's not bad for the first two hours, but the last hour and a half was touch and go.)

Em climbing up to get into the pool to start her first race. The younger swimmers only swim for 25 yards and start in the pool.

Miss Emily going to town on the backstroke.

(top lane on the screen. I need a better zoom lens)

Emily rocking the breast stroke!

Sarah getting ready for her first race.

Poised to fly.

Sarah slicing through the water with her excellent breaststroke.

Both Emily and Sarah were great competitors and showed wonderful sportsmanship. It was a little scary to do this new thing and they both kept good attitudes. It also didn't hurt that they had their cousins showing them the ropes. Thanks Maddie and Hillary! We now have some ribbons to display. Congratulations! We're awfully proud of you!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-17T19:45:00.000-06:00

We had the most beautiful weather Easter Sunday. The sun was shining for most of the day. We went to church, then came home to find some eggs. It's always a treat to see our darling girls fly across the lawn in their new Easter dresses.

This is Emily's basket and her found eggs.

"How many did you find?"

Em & Sarah at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Grandma and her girls.

Connie, Tony and Megan

The cousins minus Clark & Chase

It was a very happy Easter for us.

Hope everyone else had a joyous Easter as well.

A Spring Baby

2009-04-13T22:42:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Husband!

(Rich is making 47 look mighty good)

Here's to another wonderful year. Love you!