Merry Christmas 2008!

I just got a new camera for Christmas. I hope I can figure this thing out in time for the next holiday!.... This is the latest quilt. It took forever because it was taken as a class and we only did one embroidery block and maybe 2-3 star blocks per month. I started in January 2008 and finished it in November 2008!

Boy did we get a White Christmas this year! This is looking at our back yard from the deck. When the snow hits the swing seats - we know we have a lot of snow!

A New Day!

Whether you supported Barak Obama or not you have to admit -this is an historic day for our country. I have heard a lot of people express genuine concern and fears for the future of our nation and way of life - sometimes expressed becaused of the election, but also because of the general state of things in this world.
I would just like to say that optimism is a good thing to have and really, when it gets down to it, that's all we have control over anyway--our own attitudes.
So whether your candidate won or not, whether certain issues were decided in your favor or not, it is still a wonderful world we live in. We have many blessings to be thankful for, and hopefully many days ahead of us to look forward to.
Happy Days!

Yellowstone with the Carsons

We love going to Yellowstone. I think it has something to do with the air there. Usually around the end of August, we are so tired of the heat that we can't wait to take the 5 hour drive up to West Yellowstone and stay for a few days. A friend of mine once said that their family would make the trip north each summer and I asked her what it is that drew them there. She really didn't have an answer but after our first trip there - we were hooked too and have probably been there 10 times or so.
Anyway, we had been wanting to take Rick and Marta for a long time now and we finally made it. The big worry was that we had never been there this late in the season and didn't know what weather we'd be facing. Luckily, it only rained a bit the first day, but after that the temps were in the 70's. The day after we left, the first snow arrived in Yellowstone and this past weekend we had 6" in Farmington. (just in the nick of time, I'd say!)

The Love Birds of West Yellowstone!

Jackson Hole, Wyoming- Some elk is awful mad that his antlers have been stolen - again!

You know, pictures never, ever do nature justice - you just can't believe how big it is out there until you see it! Looks fake don't it?

Beautiful Jenny Lake -Tetons

The Mrs.....

...And the Mr.

Some More Wild Life!

I'm used to seeing red cones in the occasional parking lot to direct you around some little pothole or wet paint or something -

But, COME ON - isn't that steam coming out of that pothole? HOT!
There's a Grand Canyon in Wyoming?? Again I say....HOT!!





Overlooking the Madison

Marta and Me

I'm so excited that I can now post some pictures on my blog! The sad news is that since I still don't have a digital camera, I can only post the pictures that I just developed! I guess I shouldn't do anything or go anywhere until Christmas when Santa brings me a new camera!

Marta and Rick just left us in West Yellowstone last weekend and went traipsing all over the western states on their way home to So. Cal. I got a few pictures of our time together - which is never enough for either one of us.

We always go to Gardeners Village - a goldmine of an idea (one of those "wish I had thought of that" ideas). A woman started "gathering" up old houses in the valley and moved them to the site of an old grain mill. It's very picturesque - it's set up like a village with the shops lining the "streets". There's a pond running through the middle of it complete with ducks and a couple of covered bridges. We hardly ever spend any more than maybe $40.00 each but I love going there with my Marta.

If you look close enough you can see the wicked witch flying through the air on her Schwinn.

My Pretty Sewing Room

I have re-done my sewing room and it's fit for a sewing princess! it's so girly that anyone setting foot in there is in danger of an estrogen overload. When I was a little girl I always got pretty hankies for presents. You just weren't fully dressed without your hankie! I remember wrapping my milk money in a hankie and taking it to school.

I have been buying them up on ebay and have a collection of about 40 of these little walks through time and hung them up as the valance in the Pretty Pretty princess Room.

But, to know the total transformation this room has undergone is to know what it has looked like for the past 10 years...

The wall under the chair rail was painted deep forest green with off-white above and pine cones stencilled every few inches just above the chair rail. soooo beautiful--right? Well, now it's the prettiest shade of aqua and white. I loooove sewing in here now.

UGH!

I bought this little table top ironing board from the D.I. for $2.00 and made an aqua froo froo cover for it!

I tend to keep things more organized now




The Princess's throne, uh, (froo froo chair)


One of the best things about my new room is that as pretty as it is, it is now much more functional. I re-arranged the space and hung a lamp next to my sewing machine for much needed light - of course, it's dripping with crystals!

Autumn In the Air

I think Autumn might be my favorite season. When I was a kid -no doubt about it - Summer was IT --but now, I really appreciate mother nature and what it does to my soul to see the leaves turn, feel the crispness in the air and listen to the wind and rain come down.

We took a drive in the "back country" this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed what we saw -I can't even imagine what New England must look like. We don't have even a fraction of the hard woods growing on our mountainsides that they have all over the place.

There is something quiet and calming about it and makes me think of family.

Happy Autumn!

Happy 37!

Whew! We have made it to 37 now! Aug 14 was our anniversary and we had such a sweet time celebrating. I get 7 paid vacation days this year so we only took two days off and drove down to Lehi to Thanksgiving Point and saw Brian Regan at the amphitheater there. What an absolute beautiful place! After walking through unbelievable gardens, we came into the amphitheater. The stage sits at the bottom of a grassy hill and situated behind the stage, is a tall rock face with 3 waterfalls coming down. I just couldn't get over the amount of trees they have planted in that place.
As for Brian Regan, well, let me just say he can make you laugh. If you don't believe me, look him up on youtube. He captures the everyday funny situations we all go through and puts his weird twist on them -(and he does it all without uttering one swear word).
We spent the night at the Marriott there and did some shopping the next day before we went home.
I find that as I get older I can recognize the magical moments in my life as I'm going through them - I don't have to wait years, look back and think, that was fun, why didn't I enjoy it more?

Campfire Lodge Resort of West Yellowstone on the Madison River

Campfire Lodge Resort of West Yellowstone on the Madison River

J.T - It's a Little Thing

James Taylor was in Salt Lake City last night and Kate and I went to spend an absolutely wonderful evening listening to one of our favorite singers. I had seen him in concert a few years before and last night was just as entertaining as I remembered. He of course sang all our favorites - but had such a great back up band with horns, fiddles, organ, accordian and harmony singers that even the old classics sounded new and the new songs were great!
We sat on the lawn and were able to spread out a bit - I don't think I would ever want to sit in seats again.
As I was listening to this amazing music and all his off the cuff remarks to the audience that made us laugh, I knew that this was one of those small moments I would remember for a long time - one of those 'little things' we choose to do that make life a little sweeter.

2 Chips off the Old....

We got together last night at Katie's house and my two genius kids starting swapping stories. It wasn't a more typical situation of sibling rivalry -one trying to top the other with feats of accomplishments. Oh no, these two told us of some of their rather 'less than fabulous' talents (something their clutsy mother can definitely relate to).

Andy started the evening with the "Lunch Time Pick-Up Game". He was eating his lunch in his car at the local park when he noticed a group of highly unusual friends playing a game of basketball. As he watched them, he wondered if they belonged to some weird kind of club or something, because they were all eight of them, left handed! "I don't think I've ever seen 8 left handed basketball players all at once playing together!". He was so intrigued, he got on the cell phone and called his good friend, Cake, (unusual nickname, uh?) and told him of this X-Files phenomenom. "Are you watching them in your rear-view mirror?" "Well, yeah". "Everything's in reverse!!!"
---Now he has to wonder on the odds of 8 people playing together all being right handed -eerie.

Kate got a new cell phone last week. Her hubby was nice enough to program it for her with all the new features her old phone didn't have. (by the way, the old phone died when someone washed and dried it in the Maytag). Anyway, as she was walking in Kohls, she noticed they were playing James Taylor on the overheads, which she thought was a nice touch compared to the normal fare of horrible girl singers. As she moved through the store, James Taylor followed her - even to the parking lot. Wow, they pipe the same music outside - what a nice touch!
--As she got into the kitchen, James started crooning again and that's when she realized her new phone with the James Taylor ring tone had been ringing off the hook all morning!

Next one: Kate was once again in the store - this time the grocery store. And once again the cell phone was involved. As she walked down the aisle with the phone in hand, she all of a sudden started doing a 'moon walk' - she was slipping and sliding all over! She demonstrated her 'moves' last night with her arms flapping and legs flayed out almost to the splits. She looked down and saw the BIG RED CONE marked CAUTION - WET FLOOR.
--Of course, it was even worse than a wet floor - it was coated with a film of soap!

Last, but not least: Jason had to go to the store to pick up some little item and while walking down the aisle found himself all of a sudden, slipping, sliding and doing the splits. He looked down and saw the BIG RED CONE marked CAUTION -WET FLOOR. 2 in one day - I wonder if the store management sits in the office watching these klutzes dancing in their aisles?

It's A Little Thing

I got to thinking that a blog can be a form of journal writing and so I plan on having this feature pop up regularly. It's my way of keeping track of those moments in life that may be little but can mean so much!
Yesterday was a great day. Jason's 'little' brother, Matt was married in the Salt Lake Temple yesterday. The hubby and I were invited to attend the luncheon held after in the unbelievably beautiful Joseph Smith Building across from the Temple grounds. I had gone down early in the morning to bring Kate and Jason's kids to them for pictures. As I was standing there watching the photographer get shots of extended family, Matt motioned to me to get into the group. It was a small gesture, but it made me feel happy that he considers me a kind of in-law relation.
Jason and Kate started dating in high school and Matt was oftentimes the chaperone and quite often came to our house to help eat the food. He is a wonderful kid and will make a great husband and dad.

Fun in Farmington

Our little Farmington has a big party this time of the year to celebrate it's heritage. We started this year a little early-- 6:30 am! Actually, Katie started early with the 10-K race. I was so proud of her - I can't imagine even walking 6 miles - let alone running!
After that, we had breakfast in the park and then came back at 10 am for the annual parade.

It's a strictly home town affair - a little corny but at the same time, very patriotic. Probably the highlight of my summers. I remember the year following 9/11 when everyone stood up at attention when the fire trucks passed. You couldn't help but cry. There was another year when they had just finished battling a blaze on our mountainside and literally saved our homes for us. We all stood up and cheered them down the street. (unknown at the time, they would again come to our rescue when another blaze started the very next year)

Another of my favorite entries in our parades are the high school marching bands. The horns and drums just get my heart going!

At night we returned to the Main City Park and watched some live music acts perform. There were fireworks, but Mr. Matthew was very, very tired and just wasn't going to make it to 10 pm, so, much to his sisters' displeasure, we went home.

I LOVE July!

Cousins Camp - Groovy!

Well, Cousins Camp was a success! The girls were so excited that I think they drove their parents buggy on the day of. We made lots of crafts to go along with our theme - Happy 4th of July. We made pinwheels, American eagle sack puppets, Uncle Sam door hangers and red, white, blue tissue paper flowers.

We had so much fun that I think we'll make this a tradition. After all, I know there will come a time when going to Grammas won't be the exciting, fun activity it is now. So, we'll try to milk it as long as it lasts!

Cousins Camp

We are soon to be overrun by little girls for our first (hopefully annual) Cousins Camp. I will pick the 3 oldest up after work on Wed. night for a fun night of dinner out with Grampa, back home for snacks and a movie. The next day I have crafts planned with cupcake decorating thrown in.

I am often times guilty of having a "Norman Rockwell" kind of imagination where everyone is having fun, not quarreling and loving the activities I planned for and not actually attaining it - so we'll see how they all do.

In order to be fair, I will pick up the 3 year old tonight and she'll get her very own sleep over. (I worried that she might not be up to the crafts - but I think she'll be happy with all the attention she gets from her Grampa)

The Dreaded Household Chore

It seems lately that there's always some horrible household job staring me down. I spent my day off last week sanding and re-staining our deck. It looks much nicer -but really, it's still a 20 year old deck. I told the honeyman that this will be the "last time we do this" - trex deck here we come!

Actually, we will have to wait a couple of years because they are so expensive.

The next job is removing wallpaper in the office and re-painting. Right now it's half scraped off and it's driving me crazy. The thing that is holding me up is I need to buy some fabric to make drapes so that I can match a paint color to it.

After that one is tackled, the sewing room will be next. It needs paint real bad because right now it is painted a deep forest green under the chair rail with pine cones stenciled just above the chair rail (this room used to be the office and I was going for an outdoorsy look at the time). I want it now to look like the girly room it should be - after all it's my sewing room!

I just finished painting the downstairs guest room so I guess I'm doing ok - just slowly but surely.