Friday, August 31, 2007

Swiss Days

Since I moved to Utah 4 years ago I have heard of Swiss Days. Then I became friends with Sandra and when I would visit her home, it was decorated with some cute chachkis and nick-nacks. When I would ask where she got it most of the time the answer was, "Swiss Days." So when Sandra invited me to come along this year with her I of course took her up on it. We (Sandra, her sister Julie, friends Jennifer and Jill and myself)met at 6:00 am at Sandra's and began the trek up through Parley's Canyon to Midway.

We visited a few of the booths, but soon our morning hunger got the best of us and we stood in the popular, but long line for scones. They were HUGE!!

I was seriously amazed at how many booth there were. What a great place to come and buy cute stuff to decorate your home. The magnet boards were very popular. One of the booths had LARGE on with a calendar printed on the upper half and a memo board on the lower section. That is the only thing I am a little sorry I did not buy. Sandra and Jill both purchased Large ones as gifts that had a sampler stitched on the top that said, "GRANDKIDS" and the bottom half was magnet board to place pictures. These were quite popular. As we walked around, both Jill and Sandra, would be stopped by people and they inquired what booth the cute frames had been bought at.

Some of the booths were so packed with women you could hardly get in and if you did get in, it was quite a feat to get out. I quickly learned that if a booth was packed, that was a booth we needed to stop in and see what they had.
If I had an unlimited budget, I could have gone hog wild and Sandra would have needed a trailer on the back of her Suburban. BUT...this s what what I purchased instead:
  • 2 Iron hanging hearts
  • Wooden blocks that spell out HARVEST
  • A wooden block that holds magnet board to hold recipes
  • Some cute headbands


On our way home we stopped in Park City and had lunch at a restaurant named HAPA GRILL . We introduced Jennifer to edaname as an appetizer. Then we each enjoyed some yummy salads and Jennifer ate her HUMONGOUS hamburger. Our salads came with an orchid as a decoration. Then Julie said she thought it was edible. We all gave it a little bite and then opted to tuck it behind our ear instead.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Yard Fun


One of the coolest things about summer and kids is sitting in the front yard and watching the kids play. I usually pull up one of the green Adirondack chairs, that sit in the front of the house, up to the lawn. The kids usually do chalk drawings, jump rope or ride their bikes around the circle.

Just a few nights ago the children pulled out an old, misshapen hula hoop and began to dive and somersault through the hoop as Steve stood there and held it. Belle got a little silly and thought it would be funnier to not make it completely through the hoop, but rather get caught by her stomach instead. I was funny to watch once or twice, but after a while it was just frustrating.

Katie and Becky were quite good at getting through the hoop and doing a beautiful somersault, like a flawless gymnast's dismount off the beam.


This weekend Becky brought home Buddy Bear from her class. She had to take Buddy along with her and then write a page in his journal, as if he were the author. So Friday night as we all gathered in the family room to watch "The Best of the Muppet Show", Buddy also joined us I could help taking a picture of Becky with the Bear. One of her main concerns for the last few weeks has not been the book report that is due at the end of the month, but rather whether she would get to bring Buddy home soon. I hope it lived up to all of her expectations.

One more thought...today at church I had the neatest feelings. At the end of Sacrament Meeting we sang, "FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER". I sat there and listened as all my children and my husband sang these words:

I have a family here on earth
They are so good to me
I want to share my life with them
Through all eternity
Families can be together forever
Through Heavenly Father's plan
I always want to be with my own family
And the Lord has shown me how I can

It just gave me chills and I walked out of the meeting with such an awesome feeling. That is all I really want. I love my little family so much and do feel so blessed to have them.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2

Last night was the night that "tweens" have been waiting for all summer. The premiere of
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2
We had Belle's friend Maddie over to watch it with the kids. We popped popcorn, drank rootbeer and ate chocolate as we watched the kids from East High head off to summer vacation. It was fun to sit in the room and listen to the two girls, Maddie and Belle, discuss the plot. They speak of the characters as if they are real. It was too cute. As the songs were sung the littlest girls would stand up and dance along. Katie even sang along to a few of the songs. I am so glad that there is a few shows out there for my children to watch and I know that there will be nothing inappropriate and it even has a lesson on being of good character.

Once the movie was over the kids were excited to see the latest episode of Hannah Montana. They were excited to see the Jonas Brothers. It is so cute to see the little girls swoon over these "pop stars". It was definitely a fun night.



Friday, August 17, 2007

What's Going On?

*Last night was book club at my house. We were short a couple of our friends due to girls camp. We met on the back deck and enjoyed veggies and chocolate dipped cream puffs. This past month we read Empire Falls by Richard Russo.

As usual we had a great discussion and lots of laughs. I really look forward every month to getting together with my friends and visiting. I have enjoyed reading the different books that have been suggested, but to be honest I just love getting together, talking and laughing.

*Steve spent Tuesday and Wednesday up at girls camp in Heber. He was asked to give a presentation on the stars. So for the past few months he would spend his free time reading upon the stars, looking at charts and staring up at the night sky. All of this was in vain...mother nature did not cooperate and instead brought in a cloudy sky. He stayed t the camp that night and helped with the hike that they girls did the next day. It sounds as though he enjoyed his time at girls camp.

*My favorite time of the year is quickly approaching...no not Christmas, although it is a close 2nd...FOOTBALL SEASON!! I have gotten signed up for my Fantasy League and have even watched some of the preseason games. For those who do not know, until I met Steve, I knew nothing about football. But since Steve taught me about it I have been hooked. Steve has been a Chargers fan since our days in San Diego and I have as well been on their bandwagon, but I also enjoy other teams: The Colts-because Peyton Manning is so stinkin' funny, oh yeah he is a good quarterback too; I had liked the Steelers because the Coach, Bill Cower was so entertaining, but he is gone so I may not enjoy them as much this year.

* The kid's school year is in full swing. We have gotten caught up from our unexpected trip to Rhode Island. Zack turned in his 1st of 10 book reports, Katie has been working hard on memorizing her math facts, Becky has some very challenging spelling words this year, and Belle has been studying geography. We have about 3 weeks left until we are off track again.

I think that is the basics of what has been going on in our lives. I apologize for the lack of pictures today. I promise to pull out the camera and take some photos for next time.
/p>

Friday, August 10, 2007

Our Beloved Dad and Papa

This last week has been such a blur. Last week Steve's dad passed away unexpectedly and within hours Steve, the kids and I were on a red eye flight to Rhode Island. For those who did not know Ken here is a link to the article that ran on the front page of the Providence Journal last weekend: Projo Article It was amazing to see how many people Ken had touched through his writing, work with the Audubon Society, coaching athletics...I spent many hours in the last week thinking, remembering things about Ken. I loved talking with Ken. He always seemed so interested in whatever I had to say. He would ask questions, sometimes I would have the answers and sometimes he would just stump me. He also had a great laugh. I remember playing cards with him last summer and something funny happened and we all began laughing, but he was by far laughing the hardest. He nose and cheeks turned red and he even began to tear up. I have thought about my 1st visit to Rhode Island and he took me out to see my beaver. It was so amazing to watch that beaver. When I think of him, I see him outside. He enjoyed nature. He took people out for walks to identify animal tracks in the winter, would visit places where he knew foxes lived or had heard certain animals had been sited. He had spent the last few years writing a weekly article in the Providence Journal about the nature he saw and experienced. He loved his grandchildren. One summer we came out for a visit and he had set up a tent in the backyard and he gathered the children in there with him and began to tell them stories. He had their undivided attention. When they came out of the tent the climbed on him, wrestled with him and tickled him. I feel so priviledged to have married into his family and been honored to call him Dad. I am especially blessed that my children have him for their grandpa.

In the program, that was handed out at the funeral, there was a poem printed:

THE BROKEN CHAIN
We little knew that afternoon that
God was going to call your name.
In life, we loved you dearly
In death, we will do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you
You did not go alone,
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.
You left us peaceful memories
Your love is still our guide
And though we cannot see you
You are always at our side.
Our family chain is broken
And, nothing seems the same.
But, as God calls us one by one
The chain will link again.


After the funeral we went back to Mom's and gathered in the house and on the porch. Some of Ken's brothers and sisters were there and shared stories about him when he was younger. It was so fun to hear about what Ken was like when he was a youth. I hope someone will write these stories down or retell them so my chidlren will get to hear ALL about their Papa.

My children are blessed to have 5 other cousins in Rhode Island and they spent most of those 5 days we were back east together. These are just a few of the pictures I took of the cousins all together. They all got along so well. They played outside, swam, climbed trees, played crab apple baseball. It was fun to watch them play and I kept thinking how much Dad would enjoy knowing that all the kids were together.