Some Summer

It's the first day of summer and our family has already had some fun.

These guys are lazing on a Sunday afternoon. I can't believe Jordan. He continues to grow. He's surpassed Becki and is within 1" of Dan and Aaron. Good for him!

Above, I went with to a girls camp with our Young Women at church. Very fun to be with those girls. Even tho' we got some rain, some hail, and some sun, it was a still a great experience. The camp theme was, "All You Need is Love" with 60's style decorating. Groovy!

Jordan went on a campout with his scout troop. Those guys are awesome! He has most of his merit badges before he can work on his eagle project. For Jordan, camping out with friends the best. They definitely know how to really camp, none of that sissy stuff like going to the campgrounds with running water and flush toilets.


The campsite. :)

Mark & I took a weekend trip to Las Vegas. We attended the Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. That was my birthday present. It was so nice to have an extremely relaxing weekend. We enjoyed it so much, we'd like to do it again.

We're not very good at taking pictures of both of us. Either Mark needs to get shorter or me taller. Here's the ceiling at the Venetian.

The entrance to Phantom.

Here's some random pictures from earlier in the year. These 2 pictures were taken in Seattle at the Music Experience Project. Yes, I know, I don't act my age. Oh well.

Here's a picture of Dan's condo. There's 3 units in the building. He's got the biggest one.

Let it Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

That song was on my mind yesterday as I watched the fat, heavy flakes come down in the morning. I don't think I've ever seen it snow on my birthday. Definitely a first for me. Fortunately, the snow did not stick around long. By afternoon the sun was out and there was no trace of snow. This has been a crazy spring. You know the old saying, "the snow has to fall 3 times on a robin's tail before it's really spring." Well, the snow has fallen on the robin's tails about 10 times!

Let's look on the positive side. First, our grass is very green and we haven't had to turn on the sprinklers once. Second, we won't worry about water shortage this summer. All the run-off will fill our reservoirs. Third, because it's been cooler than normal, I haven't had to turn on the air conditioner either. So...snow in May can be good :)

I'm Falling...

behind, that is, with updating this blog. Lot's of things to keep us busy: school, sports, church activities, etc. Aaron went to North Carolina to give sales a try. After 1 month and approx. 5,000 miles on his car, he's back home. It just wasn't for him. But I have to admire him for at least trying. It definitely was an adventure for him.

In the end of March Becki and Ben announced their engagement. We are so thrilled. Here's a few pictures of the darling couple.

No official date has been set but they are hoping to be married by the end of the summer. Isn't that exciting? Ben is a wonderful man; he treats Becki like a princess. It's so nice to see her happy.

I've discovered the perfect thing to do for Mother's Day...go visit my mom. This year Dan, Becki, Adam, and Jordan accompanied me back east. Aaron met us there on his way back from NC. It seems these kids of mine are never without a camera and a little fun.

Our flight was not bad going out. It's unfortunate I can't say the same about our travels thru Chicago. The GPS in our car suggested the fastest but, not necessarily, the best route out of town. Believe me, Jim Croce said it best when he sang, "Oh, the south side of Chicago, is the baddest part of town..." Remind me not to fly into Midway airport.

Remember what I said about my kids always having a camera with them for a little fun? As we were cleaning out a cupboard at Grandma's house, the kids discovered a bootie of booze Grandpa had. Aha! Their acting talents came alive! For the record, it was in jest...not for real. They loved the photo ops. Notice the top on Adam's bottle.

This reminds me of the drunken sailors you see at Disneyland when on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

After all was done, the contents were dumped down the drain. Grandma probably has the clearest running drain in town. She was concerned; however, about what the recyclers would think when they saw all the empty booze bottles in the recycling bin!

Here's Grandma with all the grandkids and Ron.

We were able to take care of some projects for Grandma while having a great time visiting. It's just too bad we always have to bring cold, wet weather with us. They have told me I need to come back in the summer.

My Trip with 5 Guys

We took a long weekend in March and filled it full with fun in Seattle. This was the first trip there for some of us. I guess you could consider it an adventure. One of the first things we did was go down to the pier to experience the sights and sound of the city.

Dan

AdamJordan

Seattle is a beautiful city with many fine places to take memorable photographs.

One of the museums at the Seattle Center is the Experience Music Project. Three of the boys and I went and "experienced" it. Here's one of their exhibits of modern music collages.

We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island and were impressed with how well orchestrated the ferry system was run. I guess they've done it a time or two before. Once we were on there we could understand why it made more sense to take the ferry than driving around the peninsula and adding 1-1/2 hr. drive to the trip. The guys braved the brisk wind and stepped out on deck for awhile.

I was content to stay inside and see the views of Seattle from my window.

We got lots of walking in at Pike Place Market. I would've had no problem spending most of the day there. The guys on the other hand...

Gorgeous fresh flowers!

What a treat for the senses with all the various restaurants and shops.

I couldn't believe it. There's a pink elephant somewhere else besides, Iowa. Look at this!

No trip to Seattle would be complete without a picture of the Space Needle. However, we didn't feel the need to spend $20 just to go to the top of it.

Once again, the beautiful skyline!

Do I See Victoria Out There?

The title would only make sense if you've read the Twilight books. So if you haven't, don't worry about it, OK? Anyway, we spent the day on the Olympic Peninsula. The scenery is absolutely stunning!

These pictures were taken at Rialto beach which is very close to LaPush. It is amazing how different the beach is here compared to Southern California.

Sea stacks. Gorgeous!

Adam

Aaron and Jordan

Mark and Jord

Adam and I at Cresent Lake, along Hwy. 101. The forests here are so thick.

This is located at Olympic National Park, which is home to the Olympic Rain Forest. Wow! As you can tell by the look on their faces, Aaron and Mark are extremely excited about being in the Twilight neighborhood.

We hiked thru the forest for awhile. I was awestruck at the many different hues of green found here. Since we were in a rainforest, yes, it was R A I N I N G. Hence, the beautiful garb we are wearing!

Couldn't see any vampires running thru this forest.

Check out all the hanging moss!

Jordan as we were nearing Marymere Falls.

Mark wanted to get a drink.

It was definitely worth the hike.

It's Been A While...

Life around our house has been pretty boring. We've done the usual...work, eat, sleep, go to basketball games, etc. Winter has been pretty kind to us compared to other parts of the country. Most of our snow has melted and some of my daffodils are desperately trying to push thru the ground in my west facing flower bed. It's unbelievable that I'm anxious for spring to arrive but I'm just tired of the cold; I'm tired of wearing my winter coat; I'm tired of sitting around with a blanket over me. One good thing is our smog and fog has been gone. Yeah!

Mark has been going to class 2 nights a week...yep, we're back into study mode. I'm in the Young Women group with my church so that keeps me pretty busy. One of their activities was to take about 60 young people up to a cabin at one of the ski resorts for an overnighter. Fourteen adult leaders got to go up and chaperone them. I really wish I would've brought my camera for it was absolutely gorgeous there! We've got good kids in our group; and naturally hardly anyone got much sleep--typical. But it was a good time.

Jordan has been playing his basketball. He just loves it. And we have certainly loved going to his games. That kid is growing. He's now 2+ inches taller than me and continues to grow out of his clothes.

Who Would've Thought...

that the Great Salt Lake valley has the WORST air quality in the nation, as of 1/10/10. Yes, that means it's worse than LA and NYC. Here's a picture of the gunk we are breathing. It's not fog, my friends. It pure pollution!
The only way to escape this is to head for the mountains or pray for a strong storm to blow in and push this stuff out of here. The weird thing is that you don't notice it that much until you get above it and look down at it. No wonder I get headaches if I'm out in it for any length of time.

While I'm cooped up indoors I have different options on what to occupy my time with. Let's see, there's cleaning (nope), organizing (nope), watching tv (nope), shopping (maybe), or being on my computer doing Photoshop (yep).