We started the month by attending WHS Baseball dinner on a Saturday night, even Binnie came. Matt said, " I am surprised she wanted to come on a Saturday night." I pointed out, "To be waited on hand and foot by cute High School boys??" He had a look of dawning on his face, guess he hadn't thought of it from that angle. We felt pretty generous by purchasing the $40 dinner ticket, but then the auction began. Holy moly, people were digging deeeep. Hundreds, if not thousands of dollars were bid for trips, equipment, and services. Wow.
Annual Cultural Celebration at JR Smith
This gets bigger and bigger every year. I don't see how they will fit one more grade in next year. It was a packed house. I knew it would be so we go there half an hour early and we still had only okay seats. This was thanks to seat saving. Pet Peeve. There was a lady on our row saving quite a few. She was a nervous wreck trying to hold them. People would come to the row and ask me, "Are these saved?" I would respond, "I am not saving them." As they shimmied down the isle the panicked girl on the end would apologize, "Sorry these are saaaaved."
Callie looked like a dream. We loved watching her practice her dance all around the house over and over and over again in the days leading up to her big performance.
Best little buddies Lilly and Logan
Graham was in the square dance number and felt jipped that it wasn't as exciting as the Mexican dances. I think that WE are not as exciting as the Mexican's! I loved watching how they would stand and dance along to their favorite dances while whooping and hollering.
Combined that with the fact that Callie also had a costume change and that left him wanting.
I will concur with Graham though. Callie's group walked out in their flowy whites while balancing candles on their heads, it was tough to beat!
Sunshine
A stroll in the glorious sunshine. Springtime teases with a pretty day every now and again. Here Callie and me stroll up to Red Ledges.
St. Patty's
We face-timed with Mallerie who had just returned from a week-long back-packing trip in Southern Utah. She had a towel on her head and was so animated in her tales that it wiggled loose. We loved every minute of it.
Puss n' Boots
March 14th is the anniversary of adopting Poe. We have now had her for two years.
Temple to Temple March 18, 2017
Last year after the Provo City Center Temple was dedicated I had the idea to walk from the Provo Temple to the Provo City Center Temple. And outing such as this is more fun with a cousin or two so I threw the idea out to the group. We could not find a date despite our best efforts. The only day that worked for everyone ended up being rainy and cold. Spring is like that. So that the weather didn't get in the way this year, I chose a day that was gorgeous and said, "We are going!"
Katrina stayed over the night before while G was in Nawlins. She came up for breakfast and I noted, "Hey, I want to look cute too..." She and Binnie were in like, actual outfits.
There was a gal on the lawn with her baby who we asked to take a photo of us. We told her we were walking Temple to Temple. She asked, "To the Ogden temple?" We answered, "The City Center Temple." She said, "Oh, I'm not from here." I guess not;)
After a picnic on the lawn, we were off.
The Geertsen's met up with us at the MTC a half a block away. We were quite the group!
Love the reflection of the mountains. When I was little I asked my parents, "Is that the box the temple came in?"
We used the restrooms at the Bean Museum and then got out of there. This is definitely an outdoor group. The kids found an old egg, which when Christian dropped, we learned was rotten.
Time to head to the hills.
Graham with Brigham himself. The blossoms and flower beds were glorious, we tried our best to keep the kids out of them.
The Science Museum was open and we were delighted that we were soon the only ones there.
Lots to see and do and feed on Campus.
So cute of Will with his Kiddo's. Because they live right across the street they were right in their element.
Though things were greening up there was a patch of artificial turf that the kids spotted right away. Samantha was determined to see how it was attached. She started pulling at the edges. Eliza said, "She could have this whole thing torn out." We moved on and found a park.
Before long the Temple was in sight, what a glorious sight.
When people ask, "How long does that trip take?" I say, "How long does it take or how long did it take us?" There is a difference.
By now we were all hungry again. We picked up food and met at Veterans Memorial Park. If looks could kill, Katrina would have dropped dead.
Till next year!
PIE! HIGHLIGHTS! DAIRY KEEN! SNOW COLLEGE!
I taught my Laurels how to make little Peanut Butter pies. We made them from scratch start to finish in ONE hour. These Laurels have places to go, people to see. You might wonder if it was my famous Thanksgiving PB pie. No. I don't give that recipe out to just anyone.
At my semi-annual hair apt I tried balayage highlights. It makes it easier to go six months between appointments. Callie had a coupon for a free haircut at the local beauty school. She wanted it cut into a bob. I gave instructions to the student about the length and style we had in mind. I sat down to watch. Oh boy, I knew we were going to get what we paid for after the first cut. Oh BOY. I took my scissors to it when we got home to cut off the uneven length. Now we just wait for it to grow out. But Callie? She loves it.
Giuseppe was back from Nawlins (I like calling New Orleans that) and he and Katrina were in town babysitting the Gordon's. While she was in school we took G to lunch. I thought we should surprise Graham and Callie at school, and bring them with us. The sister missionaries were just arriving at Dairy Keen so they joined us. We ended up taking up a whole long table outside with the seven of us. I looked over to see Callie jump-roping. She said, "I have to get my jump-roping in every day." The sisters laughed that she would just have it on her like that. Callie got the jumprope for Christmas but was un-sure how to use it. On Christmas day I was in the living room and so I demonstrated how to jump rope. The kids came up from downstairs, "Who is making that noise???" Oops.
After taking Graham and Callie back to school (they were so cute when they saw Giuseppe btw), I had some work to do at home as did G. He gave a couple of loud sneezes. After a while he asked, "No bless you?" That is something we could work on in this family. Sounds better than, "Blow your nose," said with an annoyed face. We've gotten better thanks to G.
Good ol' Eph
I took Ava to Ephraim to spend time with Mallerie for the weekend. We first enjoyed dinner at Ephraim's version of Cafe Rio. Mallerie told us more about her backpacking trip. I love the way she jabbers and gets laughing so hard as she remembers things. It was such a delightful meal, I was actually sad to have to get back on the road.
I wanted a full re-cap from Ava when she got back. A lot of games are played in that town, Mexican train, Phase 10, Skip Bo. They still hadn't eaten on Saturday when around 3pm Mallerie asked Ava if she wanted some oatmeal. They went to a baptism where cake was served afterwards. Ava said, "I had three pieces because I was so hungry." When I talked to Mallerie later I said, "That was so nice of you to host Ava, she had a great time but she was starving." Mallerie chirped, "That's the college life, always a little hungry!" Mal.
Back to the Future
Growing Pains. Our beloved Kings closed it's doors in March. Wa wa waaaa. The kids have fond memories of riding their bikes there in the summer. I could always find random things there that I couldn't live without. Ahh Kings, we miss you already. I still remember when we moved to Heber I was downstairs shopping there and it was eerily quiet. All of the sudden I had the most claustrophobic feeling wondering how I would get out if a calamity happened. I panicked and ran upstairs. I figured it was built in the 70's because of the way it looked and it reminded me of Cornettte's. I couldn't believe it when is saw an aerial view of this valley taken in the 90's and saw that Kings wasn't in it. It was built in the later 90's! Biggest shocker of my life.
Also, Movies 8 in Provo shut it's doors. It opened in 1988 when Rain Man reigned. The last movie we saw there as a family was Pete's Dragon in 2016. Ahh the memories of that place. It was my youth!
May as well stay in the 80's while we are reminiscing. My counselor went bust (or as Mal would say, buck) and threw a mother/daughter Back to the Future Personal Progress night. It was RAD.
One of my Advisers moved soon after this and then there was a boundary change and I lost another, but for a while, for a while we were the DREAM TEAM.
Natural History Museum of Utah
We may as well keep going back in time, how about to the dinosaur era. I attended Graham's 4th Grade Field Trip to the Natural History Museum of Utah. Never been! It's great!
There were certain things our group had to get photos of to show the teacher, kind of like a scavenger hunt.
Graham's grade has quite the rambunctious bunch. In fact, most of the time it is a problem. Not for me, but in the classroom setting. At Graham's parent/teacher conference his teacher told about some of the issues particularly with the boys in the class. She said, "But I want you to know that whenever the girls complain about the boys they always end with, everyone is doing it except for Graham." My eyes welled with tears that he is strong enough to hold his own in a tough crowd. His teacher also happens to be our Primary President and she shared this example at the pulpit, without naming names, but you could see Graham squirming.
Upstairs in the Native Voices room there was a video playing. An Indian was shown going to work, the kids shouted, "Look! He has a truck!" I suppose the kids figure they still travel by horseback...and don't go to work.
The museum wore us out!
Getting to see some of his classmates is nice but this here is my mate.
Sweet tooth to Toothache
One on one time is great with the kids. Ava had an orthodontist appointment and then she wanted to go to Lime Rickie to get a suit for spring break. We had lunch at JDawgs and dessert at Sweet Tooth Fairy. Shopping and dining with my daughter makes for a delightful day.
Another time I took Grayson to the ortho to get an estimate and we also enjoyed some one on one time. We went to Big 5 to get him boots for scout camp and to the scout store to get socks. I was poking around and he said, "Can we get out of here?" Shopping, even if it is for him is not his thang. He did enjoy his Charley's sub at the mall.
He ended up with a wretched toothache. It is a tooth that has been bothering him for quite some time. I finally just made an appointment and said, "Yank it." The relief on his face made it all worth it. His wisdom tooth will fill in there, so it's fine guys.
