One would think that having been on a swim team that had 5am practice in February I wouldn’t mind fridged water temps. Oh! Contrar! It has to be pretty unbearable outside for me to suit up and swim nowadays. It was near 80 I guess and that didn’t stop Jeff and and little girls. Maren and I watched from a safe distance.
I picked up a scrapbook program recently and have been messing around with it the last few days. I figured out how to save it as a JPEG and to My Pictures and was able to have Costco print up the whole page. I am so excited. I have been stressing about printing all my digital stuff at home because who knows how long that ink is going to last. Anyway here is the test sheet.
Last night I just couldn’t stand the cuteness and I had to snap a photo.
This afternoon I walked into my office and this is how I found Rose.
She looks pretty official…at what? I’m not sure yet.
The more time passes the harder it is to sit down and do this.
Shortly after posting last Mom and Dad arrived in Las Vegas. They were with us a few days. In that time we spent some time showing off some of Brians work as well as our lot. We also had the Shahs over for chocolate fountain, icecream, and chat. We also toured Marens school which was very interesting and great to get a visual on the place that it all happens. I would love to take selective classes there.
Any of you girls remember doing this to Dad’s hair.
On Wednesday the 7th me and the girls preceded Mom and Dad to Ceder City where we spent the next few days hanging out with the Arnell contingency there. It was so great for the kids to see their cousins again and I hardly saw them except when they wanted something from me. As for me, I spent a bit of time brushing up on Nintendo as I needed to make sure it was in good working order before I leave feedback on Ebay. It worked great and I’m afraid I wasn’t the best influence for the kids. There were occasions they wanted to play more than work on the chicken mansion being assembled outdoors. We were also treated to a Safety Kids presentation that was well done by Ceder’s best.
Cousin tub time…
Rosie ‘helped’ build the coop…
Saturday we headed to Logan stopping for gas, lunch and to pick up Maddox chicken for all the folks in Logan. The girls were great travelers even without DVD entertainment. They sing and play, sleep and snack and I rarely heard a complaint. Serra asks how much longer about every 15 minutes though.
We saw all the sibs in Logan several times and managed a trip to Bear Lake for the day. The smell of farm in the spring was quite pungent and at one point Grandma’s front door was open and Grandma asked what that smell was. I would have thought she was familiar with it after so many years. Maybe with 2 diapered babies in the house she just wanted to make sure it wasn’t coming from a closer source. It was hard to stay clean as everything was steeped in mud and little peoples shoes seem to end up on big peoples clothes. We visited a bit with U.Dallas and A.Theresa too and she seems to be recovering from her double knee surgery and cancer ordeals, although that seems quite a lot to deal with in a few short months.
Julie was preparing for a big Enrichment dinner and ordered some cute picture holders from the Oriental Trading Co. Of course, she failed to read the fine print and when they showed up they were in need of assembly. They took about 10 minutes a piece to put together and she had about 60. Do the math. With little children it’s hard to find time to get your everyday stuff done let alone 10 hours worth of do dads for some activity. We spent the better part of an afternoon finishing those up.
I was finally able to locate and purchase (after 9 years of marriage mind you) a picture of our temple in Logan that I liked well enough to hang on my wall. Now I just need some wall space. I might have to wait until we move.
Mom and Dad bustled about the whole time, barely sitting for a minute. They seem to have a lot of business to attend to. We got a few mission stories at meal times and in the evenings though when places were closed.
Wednesday last we headed back to Vegas and again the girls were faboo. No crying or complaining. We broke it up with a few stops which really helped and were back in time to spend a quiet evening with our missed Brian.
We came back to record breaking heat for the season. We all got a little scorched at the park on Friday. It has been in the 90′s since and the plants outside are going wild. While I went to a great Relief Society program on Saturday morning, Brian spent time in our Desert jungle and got rid of weeds and mowed the lawn. (It hasn’t needed mowing since October…weird)
Back to the RS Program. A woman from Africa spoke to us of her tragic story and about how as a refugee she lived off of a hygiene kit and blanket sent by the church. It was really great. They also had this great display of BandW photos all over the cultural hall of women in the stake. I didn’t even know they were using some photos I had taken at RS events this past year. It was fun to see some things I had taken blown up and displayed.
I had to leave before it was over so we could attend an Irish drinking party. It was actually a ST. Patty’s day party thrown by one of Brian’s client. They threw it in conjunction with the completion of their remodel and invited folks to come and “meet the contractor”. Brian was able to meet a few people and pass out cards. We went with the girls and they charmed the “old folks”.
We dropped the girls off at Jeff and Maren’s where Maren had crafts all ready for them to do. It’s no wonder they adore her. She really gives them undivided love and attention whenever she is with them. Jeff also wore them out by taking them for a walk to the pool and tossing them in the giant sac. They were beat when we picked them up.
But before we picked them up we celebrated our anniversary with a nice dinner at a nice Italian place called Lucios. Then Brian surprised me by taking me to see Donny Osmond in concert. I have always loved the purity of his voice. Brian thought he would just sit back and take a snooze but ended up having as much fun as I did. It was a small theater and so even though we were on the back row we were still right there. He put on a great show, really interacted with the audience, and made me want to run out and buy his new CD. It was a great way to spend an anniversary since we got to sit close and listen to great love songs sung well. If you ever get the chance to see him perform… do it. We both agree if he comes back we would love to go again.
So today is our actual anniversary and we think that it seems like we have been together forever and yet just like since yesterday.
We have started collecting things for the new house. Last week a mosaic for our entry way arrived from Syria. It’s very pretty. We also have a fireplace taking up place in our garage as well as front doors. We don’t have anymore room so we better get started.
First Phase…the dirt.
Apparently Mom and Dad thought they made it clear they didn’t want any of us traveling to CA to welcome them home. I’m not sure why they thought we would obey that. We actually planned for months to come down a few days early and tackle the yard at the old homestead for a few days. When we were there a few months ago it was such a mess. We arrived Thursday evening and someone had beat us to it. (Tracy C) Then we learned that the house was in escrow. So….what to do with a whole day with nothing to do? Brian thought it would be fun to not tell Serra where we were going and head to Disneyland. We gave her clues all morning. There are mice and ducks and dogs. Some people call it the “happiest place on earth”. She was still convinced we were going to rake leaves and pull weeds and Grandpa and Grandmas. When she figured it out it was one of those priceless moments and she immediately asked, “Are cousins going to be here too?” Sorry kid you’ve just got us. She was able to live with that knowing she was going to visit some cousins next week.
We spent the first half of the day at CA Adventure and Serra declares her new favorite ride is Tower of Terror. We thoroughly enjoyed our day and took vicious pleasure in calling Maren and e-mailing Gary’s family a picture of us on Buzz Lightyear. So. Cal. was in fine form as the weather was a perfect 70 with a cool breeze. We still marvel on how well Disneyland handles crowds so well. We never waited more than 15 minutes for anything and it was pretty crowded. We ended our day with the new fireworks show and the girls were delighted with Tinkerbell flying around the castle. The show is different than last years 50 year celebration but they kept some of the best parts. The girls crashed hard in the car and settled quickly when we got back to our hotel. I think today we finally feel recovered.
Waiting our turn for Sourin’
Something snuck in our picture.
Happy girls.
I never thought of doing a theme for the ride pics with the folks you’re with.
It sure doesn’t look like her favorite.
Serra was there but got covered.
Mmmmmmm
I thought the horse Serra picked out was funny.
Yo Ho Yo Ho…
Done!
Saturday the fun was not over. We slept hard and woke with a start at 8am. With the curtains closed it was really dark in the room and Serra asked why we were up since it was still night time. We headed to Olsens where Mom and Dad arrived the night before only to find them not there but off buying a suit for Dad. Jeff and Maren had just arrived. Then the mission folks showed in just the nick of time for their release. They haven’t changed a bit, not that we expected them to. Serra was so excited she had to hide for a few minutes. Sophia won’t have anything to do with the strange people. She kind of keeps an eye on them but would barely let Mom pick her up as we left Sunday. Hopefully over the next week she will warm up.
Pres. Petersen showed up a few minutes later and proceeded with the release. I thought there was something a little more formal involved but he talked to them for a few minutes, asked them about their plans for the future, and said “you are released from your mission.” The end. Mom didn’t like taking of the tag.
Shortly after that, they were off again. Places to go, people to see. Brian headed to Expedition to help them with their website. Jeff, Maren, Serra~V~, and Gregg went sailing, and I hung out with Julie Olsen and Rosie all afternoon. That evening there was a dinner with the Onkens, Olsens, including Tiffany Ann and Nick, the Cianflones, and the Hansens. We sure miss those folks. Rosie was a bit of a challenge. She seemed to be a bit worn out from our previous days activities.
Debi brought over some pretty fancy desserts.
Lot’s of stories.
The Olsens faboo tree swing and Serra tries on Grandpas new duds.
Sunday we headed to church. Many people that have since moved to other places came to welcome the folks home. It was a great testimony meeting that started with Mom and Dad taking a few minutes. The highlight of the meetings for me though was Relief Society where Mom took the whole hour and reported and answered questions. That was GREAT!
We had and late lunch with the Olsens and our family and visited for a few hours. Then we headed back to Vegas. We expect Mom and Dad in tonight sometime. They will be here for a few days and then the girls and I will follow them north for a week. We’re not going to miss out on the fun.
