A Great Summer!

So it has been awhile since I have been able to properly blog.  So much has happened and it has been quite an eventful Summer and I want to update this blog.  I have been able to get a few projects done and so I thought I would start out with them. 

I did this little quilt for one of the YW advisors who is having a baby boy in Sept.  We did a shower for her for one of our Mutual activities.  A lot of the R.S. sisters showed up too.  It was fun to show off the yard and put it to use.  

When I was down in Castle Dale I saw these patterns that Les had drawn of the fruits for embroidery.  I did a set for myself or for anyone who needs them and then I wanted to do a set for Whit as a house warming gift as she had moved into a new place.  So I did this set with the Spanish names.  I loved how they turned out.  I am working on a few hot pads for her now as she told me that she was having to remove things from the oven with a pair of her jeans.  Morgan and I just laughed and then got to work.  We are doing a green hot pad that I started and then Rebecca worked on it and then Morgan worked on it.  Hopefully I can get it down this afternoon.

On the 23rd of July we had a family dinner and invited Whit's mission president, his wife and some of her other mission buddies.  We had a great time and once again it was nice to be able to share the backyard with people.  I still love spending as much time as possible out there.

Essie having some Alaskan Mud.  I will have to post that recipe sometime.  It was a hit.

So this is the famous Pres. Cruz and his wife.  Look how cute Whit's hair is.  She was a stunner

To celebrate the 24th we had a big breakfast in the morning and then we got together for a little Mexican food for dinner.  Nothing says "Happy Pioneer Day" like a little Mi Ranchito's.  Then we went and saw the fireworks and the day ended literally with a big bang.  Tenny and Banner had the firework experience of their lives.  It was a night to remember.  Thank heavens none of us ended up in the burn unit.

Then Liz and I went to the Opera Festival in Logan.  We had a great time and were very entertained by our new favorite baritone Mark Womack.  I wish that more of you could have been there with us.  Lizzy and I followed in Banner's footsteps.  We both got a little crush on Sky Masterson.  While we were up there we found a cute little fabric/quilt store.  There were some amazing things to look at and of course we had to each pick up some fabric.  Our collections of fabric were just not large enough, we needed to add some pieces.

Here was a very cute quilt that we saw.  We thought that Jenny could probably whip this up.

When we were going in to be seated for "The Sound of Music"  everyone started to stand and we were not sure what the commotion was about.  Then in walked the prophet.  At the very last minute right as the lights were going down, I decided to take the picture.  Should have done it sooner.  Anyway he was a row behind us and a few seats down.  It was a really great play.

Then I had one of my great ideas, a family camping trip.  Morgan was going to be in town and why not have our last horray before the kids go back to school.  So John, Josh and their families, Whit, Morgan, girls, Becky and Noah and myself were going to head up Big Cottonwood Canyon on Friday night.  This has happened to us about 3 times now.   Note to self, " never go camping in Aug. without reservations"  But we were flexible and durable and made the best of the situation.  We had a nice hotdog roast in the canyon and even had a rattlesnake scare and Morgan got some great pics of the kids.  

Whit.  She is thinking of that rattlesnake that she just saw and wondering why they can't be killed with a shovel.  Who cares if they are on the Endangered Species List.

Gabe enjoying the flashlight and preparing for the Sardines game

The girlies are enjoying the dirt.  

Hanny looking all grown up

Kelsie chewing on heaven knows what

Jonas having fun being outside.

Last weekend we had a family dinner because Seth was going to be returning home and we wanted to all get to see him.  Liz and Banner were also there.  

The kids enjoying the food and the good company of their cousins.  

It was great to be able to see Seth even though it was just for a few hours.  

It has been a Summer of good memories, family get-togethers and lots of fun.  

Hope you all had a great one too.  

just checking

just checking

This Summer's Biggest Event

It has taken me a few days to actually get the time to get a blog done.  As some of you know I had the opportunity to go to the Paul McCartney concert on Tues. night.  My love for Paul M's. music started back in the 70's when at a young age I memorized the words to "Silly Love Songs" when Shelley played it on the stereo over and over.  Well that is all it really took and I have been listening to his music for the past 3 decades.  So when I found out that Sir Paul was coming to Utah for the first time ever, I knew that I needed to be a part of it.  I bought the tickets back in May and I was so excited and then had sort of put it in the back of my mind until just a few days before and then I started getting hyped up for it again.  So I invited Whitney to go with me and we ended up going with one of my co-workers and her sister-in-law and then we separated to go to our seats.  Whit and I had seats down on the field towards the back.  Thank heavens for the big screens on either side.  By the way I have still not figured out this new blogspot.  I need some tutoring.  Back to the story.  So we had to wait about 45 mins in our seats.  Before the action really began.  Actually there was a lot of people watching that we participated in.  It was so interesting because there were lots of 50-60yr old people and quite a few teens and 20's.  Not a lot of people my age.  That was my perception anyway.  So we actually had seats on the edge which made me excited because that meant I could stand whenever I wanted.  He started out with a bang with "Jet".  It was so exciting that I was screaming and jumping up and down.  I did not really see myself as the screaming fan type but I think Whit can vouch that I spent 3 hours standing, singing, screaming, dancing and I would have stood there for 2 more if I could have listened to him sing.  He ended up singing 37 songs.   He is 68 yrs old and he did not take 1 break or 1 drink of water on stage and ended up doing 2 encores.  It was practically a life altering experience for me.  I know that sounds a little sappy but it was by far the best concert I have been to and about the best thing I have ever seen in my life.  Some of the highlights were when he sang " The Long and Winding Road", "My Love" and said he wrote it for Linda.  Also when he explained that he wanted to sing a song that George Harrison had written  during the civil rights issues in the South and then he proceeded to sing "Blackbird" which is a song that I love.  I video recorded him singing it and then played it later at home and it has me singing "Blackbird" because it picked up my voice and your can hear Paul a little in the background.  It was so loud there that I could not hear myself and therefore did not realize my voice was being picked up.  I was singing it quite badly, I might add because I could not hear my voice to stay on key.  It made me laugh.    He sang "Eleanor Rigby" and it reminded me of how much Jenny loves that song.  He sang "Band on the Run" which made me remember those days back in the 70's. Then Ob-La Di, Ob La Da., Back in the USSR which was totally cool.  I was screaming the words.    Then one of my absolute favorite moments was "Live and Let Die"  There was fire on the stage and fireworks and it was crazy load and I was again screaming at the top of my lungs and jumping up and down again.  "Day Tripper"  I knew every word of this song thanks to Nancy Sinatra.  And of course I cannot forget "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday".   He was quite a ham on the stage and very interactive with the audience.  At one point he ra out on stage with Utah's flag and also the Union Jack.  My 2 very favorite places.  I was out of control by that point.  I think Whit was totally surprised to see her 41 year old aunt acting this way.  Believe me, some of you would have gotten caught up in the moment and acted that way too.  I spent a good portion of the concert in a state of surreality.  It felt like I was dreaming the whole thing. It was so much more than I ever imagined.  During the second encore he said to the audience " At some point you are going to have to go home"  I recall thinking.  No. I don't want it to end.   I guess the amazing thing about him was he made it all seem so effortless.  He played 2 different piano's, electric and acoustic guitars, ukelele, mandolin and so on and so forth.  He sounded the same live as he does recorded.  I guess that is the mark of true talent, unlike some of the artists that I hear these days.  Anyway I have gushed long enough.  It was amazing, unforgettable, and truly the chance of a lifetime.

Blogspot is Freaking Out!

Okay, I just put all the pictures on the post and something has gone awry and I can't do any commentary.  So here it is.  I had a great weekend and most of the pics are of  the BBQ that I decided to do because I actually have a backyard worthy of sharing with others.  Thanks to Shelley, Alan and Morgan who were visiting last week and basically did the backyard makeover that I have always been dreaming of and I didn't even have to do a silly reality show video and submit to anyone.  Again a huge thank you for all the work that you guys put into making my backyard a place that I now want to hang out in.  We had a great BBQ and as you can see everyone who lives up here was able to be there except poor Madi who had to work.  After the BBQ it was fort building time and dance partying and of course a little freeze tag.  Josh had to drop Stacy and her mother off at the airport for their big trip to "The Continent"  particularly the area of France.  On Sunday night I got down my Madame Alexander dolls for the girls to play with and Maren was in 7th Heaven and even needed to try on Rapunzel's hat.   Before that I had met John and his family at Wasatch Lawn Cemetary to put flowers on Grandma and Grandpa Thomas' graves as well as Nana.   We had a fun visit and those pictures are on my cell phone and so they have not made it on the post.  One of the things that I wanted to for sure do this weekend was attempt a strawberry rhubarb pie.  I had lots of help from the kids and I think they turned out quite nice.  It is one of those things I like to eat in May, albeit the last day.  I made it in the nick of time.  It was a very fun weekend and I hate the thoughts of returning to work tomorrow.  This next little while is going to be a little busy with helping Josh out with the kids.  We are hoping to inlist Whits help.  Between the 3 of us adults we should be able to make somewhat of an attempt to do what Stacy has to do each day.  Wish us all luck.  By the way Shelley I did get over the Engh and buy that peach colored climbing rose and Josh put it in today.    I am excited to see what it will look like when it finally gets established.  The last few pictures are of the kids working on their lastest project.  We had some watermelon at the BBQ and Gabe got the bright idea to plant some of the seeds from the watermelon.  They found the little shovel and went to town.  I just let them do it.  Jonas has promised me that in 8 years I should have a great watermelon crop.  They crack me up as usual.  Hope you all had a great weekend.

Memorial Weekend

I updated my blogspot and now everything is a little funky and so I am hoping that this all works out. 

My latest project, learning this dance

Spring is Bustin Out All Over!

It has been a great couple of days despite the weather (snow this morning!). I was fortunate enough to have some visitors come for a while. Morgan, her girls and Shelley came down from Idaho to get away from their lousy weather, little did they know it wouldn't be much better than up north. While they have been here they have been up to a lot. including....

drawing fine works of art. Thanks to Lily we may make loads of money from her priceless art and she may even be asked to be included in the game of Masterpiece. Also there has been a little sneaking of tuna fish as pictured below.

She had a bit of a melt down after I had to grab both spoons away from her.

She also enjoyed a little ice cream sandwich after dinner this evening. She scarfed it down in no time; we're lucky we got the wrapper off before she inhaled it.

Also, our sweet Hannah turned 11 on Sunday. I was fortunate enough to make her birthday cake; a Texas sheet cake. I think I have found the best recipe that includes a secret ingredient (cinnamon, okay not so secret anymore) It was so good I couldn't stop eating the batter, I don't usually like cake batter but this stuff is delicious.

Just some pictures of the festivities.

Our delicious assortment of meats that Joshua grilled.

I was also very excited to be able to use my new drink dispenser I got from CostCo! It was perfect for it's job to dispense a delicious drink! It holds ice at the bottom to keep it cold without watering down the drink, Genius!

I wasn't able to get any pictures of the ceremonial opening of the presents but she got a lot of really cute clothes and some fun new things to play with this year. Happy Birthday Sweetheart! I love you!

The first morning Shelley was here she took a look out my back window and had this lovely view. I knew it was going to bug her.  Actually, it had been bugging her since she saw it the week before.

Yes, those are a whole ton of weeds that took over my back yard. So of course, knowing Shelley, she couldn't leave it alone and had to start a yard project.

She and Morgan and started weeding and digging. It wasn't as bad as they had first thought because they watered the ground for about 45 minutes and then were able to pull the weeds out quite easily, (shelley knows all those weeding tricks for she is an uber weeder). Lucky for them, because it was a an overwhelming job that I couldn't face by myself, and I was so appreciative when I came home i took them out for dinner and swimming and a pedicure the nexct day.

Thanks guys for even attempting such a task!

But the job didn't stop there, they decided to do some landscaping today with the newly cleared land. They added some curves and had several plans. One mishap did occur, Morgan was chopping at some roots and accidentally chopped right into the mainline of my sprinkler system. So I guess Andrew will be making a trip down to fix it. Oh well.... what's new!

At the end of the day this is what they looked like, Morgan had mud all over and was still drenched from her Old Faithful experience.

After they got the curves dug we headed to Home Depot to purchase some new plants. I got a variagated, a red, a burning bush and two privets. They look wonderful already!

Then today they spread out the black soil fabric down to prevent the weeds from coming back.

Then they planted the bushes and added the black plastic trim to outline the curves and added six bags of peat moss. It looks so great I hardly recognize it as being my yard! I'm so excited to love my back yard!

The plans are not exactly done, I hope to put in some bricks to outline the curves and that should make it look even better, and also maybe some wood chips to lay over it all. It will be beautiful and I'm so thankful that I have family who take over and just decide to go for it.

Insert by Morgan: A treat to Lagoon would be fun. jk :)