Snowy Salt Lake

I regret that I didn't take a good variety of pics. from our last vacation. I did manage to snap this shot of Stephen and Brooklyn though. They were returning from a quick walk to the temple in the snow. We stayed in a condo that overlooked the conference center and temple square. Talk about an awesome view! This photo, sadly doesn't show the cool view because it's facing the opposite direction of all the cool stuff. Anyway, there they are, I'm sure they couldn't feel their fingers and toes at this point because they didn't have on all their proper snow gear.

The Sisters

Utah Trip

Hunter's Baptism
The D-town footballers.. Ha!

Jessica turns 22. (The two skinny candles represent the second 2.)

3 Little Turkeys!

When Brooklyn begged me for turkey the day after Thanksgiving, I shouldn't have been surprised that she was not referring to left-overs.It was these little oreo/candy-corn/malt-ball creations. If I only knew my mom was going to do this little craft, I would've brought up all those left-over candy corns from Halloween. Instead she and I hunted them down in a grocery store on the day when everyone else was grabbing the green beans, boxed stuffing, rolls, and canned pumpkin.
This is Brooklyn helping Mark, a college-student friend of ours living with my parents, pack for his trip home. Sometimes she's only a little too helpful. Mark said he didn't mind. I think he knows he has a little admirer.

Beep-bo Turns 3-0

Hopefully he doesn't mind my "cute" title.☺

Anyone up for some traditional Badger birthday cake...
and thrice recycled hats?

Stephen was a really good sport to enjoy his very quiet and low-key birthday. Sadly, since his was the last of three immediate-family birthdays in a five-day period, we were a little bit partied out. On Friday, his actual birthday, he took a half-day off from work, and enjoyed a nice nap. The next day, Saturday, we were supposed to go kayaking. Unfortunately, because I didn't book the reservations far enough in advance, we had another very low-key day of house-cleaning and laundrying and beach wandering (see next post). Our kayak tour took place on the following Monday instead. (Another half-day from work - oopsie!)

For some reason, the blue plastic hats cracked me up. I had to take a picture.

While we waited for our tour to begin after checking in, we had lunch at a corner deli and we were totally mistaken for tourists. Maybe it was because I was carrying about 7 brochures of attractions for future adventures around here. All in all, the tour was exhilarating, educational and now highly recommend (by me.) It was the kayak tour of the 7 caves of La Jolla. We didn't go in any caves, but we learned a lot about the history and science behind them and the cool ecological reserve where we always go swimming. The funny thing is, about 12 different vendors offer the same tour and if took us a minute to find the correct location of our touring company. Talk about some stiff competition!
We did get tossed overboard as we tried to paddle past the crashing waves. It was quite a rush! I was much braver kayaking than I was snorkeling, that's for sure! Maybe it's because the kayaking was being supervised by our tour guide. (Incidentally, it was just the two of us in our group with the guide.) I was bummed that I couldn't take my camera on the actual tour. In the end, I was glad that I didn't try to sneak it because it would have been long gone! I didn't quite get the translation that their warning about us getting "wet" on the tour meant that we would actually get SOAKED and potentially, DUNKED! We recovered quickly though and remembered how to get back into the kayak. After that, it was smooth sailing. I hear the kayaking tours around Mission Bay are a little less turbulent... maybe next time. Nah! I like the surprise dunk, it really kept me on my toes! And we did see a speckled shark! Very cool! It was at least four feet long. Now I know why I was a little nervous to be snorkeling here the week before. (Especially since both Stephen and I were completely clueless about what we were doing!)

P.S. Not that it hugely matters, but the arms of those wet suits in the picture are hanging down and making our thighs look a little funkdified....So no, it's not the return of MC Hammer pants, wet-suit style in case you were wondering.

Sight for Sore Eyes

"Snorkeling"

Here's our attempt to go snorkeling for my b-day. We didn't see much because the visibility wasn't great and because, well, I got a little cold feet. Not just from the water, I uh, guess I would rather not know what creatures are sharing my swimming water.
Stephen saw a stingray. He's pretty brave. It was a fun to feel like we were dating again without a care in the world, sort of like the pre-marriage days. We didn't technically do much snorkeling, but we didn't spend any money on our attempt either. What we did do was laugh a lot, shiver a lot, and smell like seaweed for awhile.

Hair-Do Look-Alike

Any guesses which uncle we tried to fashion Ian's hair after on this particular morning?"I know, I know!"

Nope, not Uncle Calvin. (Can you tell he's bummed for being shot down with his first guess?)
"What about Mark?" Not really, but now we're on the right side of the family...
"I give up, I'm outta here."
If you guessed Eric, the newest Badger dad, you're right!

These pictures are from at least a couple of weeks ago, but just the other day Brooklyn asked me if we could do Ian's hair like uncle Eric's again. I guess you're unforgettable, Eric!

Ian's 1st Birthday

The birthday boy was in heaven.
Friends, sand
Cousin Lily, zoo pals plates
a birthday hat and candle
edible "dirt"
unlimited grapes and pb&j sandwiches
center of attention
bibless messes
happy parents
Sota and Brookie
sunglasses and glamorous exit

A Grammy Award

This post is just for you, birthday girl! Happy Birthday! I won't mention any numbers, but you sure do look fabulous for someone who might be turning, sixty-something!
These are some of my favorite things about you:

Your...

1. Great sense of style! As I looked through these pictures, I was pretty impressed with all the details that go into these wonderfully coordinated ensembles. Even down to the accessories and jewelry!

2. love of art, in all forms

3. passion for projects

4. ability to mend two, 30-year-old quiet books in one night while vacationing in Arizona

5. determination to create individual quilts for each of your 20+ grandchildren

6. creation of "graduation quilts" for each of your 10 children

7. thoroughness in assembling or facilitating the completion of scrapbooks for each of your children.

8. ability to articulate your thoughts

9. willingness to accept change or adapt to new situations

10. your Pollyanna optimism

11. ability to be everyone's favorite cheerleader

12. determination to complete pretty much every task you undertake

13. ability to delegate tasks when necessary

14. diligence in sending birthday, anniversary, and christmas cards to all your children, son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren

15. unending generosity

16. always wanting to get your dad a new shirt at Christmas time

17. keeping a couple of fold-away tables and chairs at your house for the little people that visit

18. modern and wonderful ways of letting the husband help out with the house work, such as (see next)

19. ironing his own shirts

20. cooking dinners

21. meal planing

22. Training your boys to be able to do these things if they had to.

23. Sending all 5 of your boys on missions

24. and 2 of the girls

25. Willingness to jump in a car or airplane and travel thousands of miles to watch grandkids while their parents are on a cruise

26. Or to be with new grandbabies, or just "wearing them" (picture above)

27. Undertaking gardening beautification projects for family members when visiting them.

28. Teaching early-morning seminary to several of your own children

29. Homeschooling

30. Your extreme flexibility in juggling the many roles your play at work such as:

31. English Teacher

32. Fine Arts Survey Teacher

33. Drama Teacher

34. Speech 1 Teacher

35. Speech 2 Teacher

36. School Play Director

37. and script editor

38. Student Government Advisor

39. Academic Team Advisor

40. Mother of 10 "chiefs" and no indians, (to use Ted's words)

41. Wife of 1

42. Art Curator, especially of family artists

43. problem solver/solution seeker

44. not easily offended (Thank goodness!)

45. forgiving

46. determined

47. faithful

48. honest

49. encouraging

50. able to give individual attention to each of your children, their spouses, and your grandchildren.

51. Waited up for teenage children when they were out on dates

52. Listened to their stories and experiences when they got home

53. Remember and can reenact family stories/memories

54. I love how you sing out at church

55. and how excited you get when good things happen to people

56. of the hundreds of books stored in the many bookshelves in your home, you've probably read them all...

57. more than once

58. and know which ones to recommend to different individuals

59. how you made sure to get family photos each time there was a new child

60. how most of those photos have made the special wall in the hallway outside your bedroom door.

61. how you volunteer to help children move and do not want to stop helping until the last box is unpacked.

62. How you helped create the best husband I could ever ask for.

(I could go on, but I've gotta save some for next year!)

Happy Halloween!

from Prince Charming, the pumpkin, the dolled-up Cinderella, and the everyday Cinderella (working behind the camera).



So, Cinderella hadn't worn real tights in a while, so the only ones she found that were still functional have probably never been worn before because of the sparkly sheen. Lovely, huh? I'll pretend its just the "glow" of being an undiscovered princess. I'll have to get some more pic's of everyone in full costume, since I'm mostly covered up.