July Reunion Pics from Wendy's camera

October Summary

So here's what's gone on this past month:
September 26 to October 1 - I flew to California to see my sister and her family. I had so much fun with Jill and her girls and it was a great break from Utah! Poor Holly had broken her leg the week before but she was a trooper and did most everything, even on crutches, AND she gave up her bed for me! I LOVE this girl! Then there's Rissa Roo, who is always busy dancing and singing and playing games. She loves playing "Find Me", a simpler version of Hide n Seek, watering the plants on the deck, swinging/playing outside and eating gogurts and M&M's! She's fully potty trained at just 26 months and a very independent little girl, which reminds me of an incident where she had gone to the potty ALL BY HERSELF! Scene 1: She is found in the bathroom flushing and flushing the toilet, which was of course clogged and starting to overflow... Her clues to us were 1)wipes, 2)hand and 3)ball (Oh NO!) Scene 2: After plunging and plunging and trying to unclog it every other way the toilet had to be removed finally. Scene 3: In the neck of the toilet there was a giant, and I mean GIANT, wad of toilet paper rolled into a, what else, Ball! So she had been telling us the truth: she had made a giant ball of the TP by wrapping it around her hand several (like hundreds) of times for the purpose of wiping. Oh, we (at least I)laugh now, but at the time it was pretty late and it had been a long hard day for both John and Jill and it wasn't a welcome little diversion. Kids! Pretty cute!!
Also while I was there Jill and I had some good time to talk and laugh and yes, sometimes just plain ol vent about life. I helped her put together some pages for the Baby Shower Scrapbook she was making for Angelique and also got to go help at Holly's school's "Bulldog Trek" with her. Then late Thursday night we got their vehicle all packed up and John drove us through the night back here to Utah where they spent a little over a week here with us.
10/2-10/14 - It was conference weekend. Mom and Dad came down Friday night after their mission reunion and spent Saturday with us all. Matt and Angelique and Alli and Jon spent a lot of the weekend with us too. It was a crazy madhouse but fun, fun, fun! Tyler made his yummalicious Dutch Oven BBQ Ribs on Monday so everyone came back for that too. We had some good Nertz games and played some Bananagrams too. It was back to work for me during the days, but non-stop shopping, playing, eating, and planning for Angelique's baby shower the rest of the time. The shower was on Saturday Oct. 13th and it went really well. She had lots of friends come and Great-Grandma Judy even came back down from Idaho just to help and be there.


10/15 on - Back to normal life, whatever that is! The house was sure quiet and meals became much easier and simpler. Hurray! Jill has this thing about needing dessert every day when you are on vacation, so we had altogether too much yummy stuff around to munch on while they were here! Dixie, a friend from work, and I had been thinking about joining Weight Watchers for awhile but the week after Jill and Family left I knew it was truly time! I also got a terrible cold that week, must have been all the late hours and then the letdown of having them leave. The H1N1 virus has been rampant around Utah and has definitely hit our neighborhood and ward and also many on BYU campus have been out very sick so I was grateful it was just a cold.
Rick and I were able to get some needed "fall cleanup" done in the yard and then take a nice long drive up into the Uintas and see the colors change the next weekend. It was just in time I think because we've had some frosty nights and even a little snow in the valley this last week. Fall is definitely here and maybe even on it's way out soon it seems. Hopefully we'll get some great November days before ol man Winter really comes!
The best thing about November coming is we are expecting our first grandchild then. She is due Nov. 18th but Angelique would be oh so happy to have her any day now. AND we have a 2nd grandchild on the way! I've known for quite a while, but since Allison is 19 weeks along now I think it's safe to announce to blogland. (see her blog here) I am SO EXCITED!! She has an ultrasound scheduled in early Nov. and hopes the baby cooperates and will let them see him or her so we'll know better who to plan for!
And since today is Oct. 30th, that's about all for this month. I don't do much for Halloween, but next year should have some really cute pictures of grandchildren dressed up!

Labor Day weekend trip

We went on a trip to Victorville, CA area to visit with Rick's sister and husband, RaNea and Barry. We also saw his brother Randy and girlfriend Sue and his cousin Debi and Mark and their grandkids, Evie and Logan. It was a great trip and Rick loved driving his fast sporty car!

We visited some cemeteries and found Rick's grandparents graves. Here is Rick with RaNea and Randy. We're just missing Rob, who lives in the far away country of New Jersey!
At Debi's house in Riverside I got to swim and play Barbies with 5 year old Evie. She is begging, fenagling and manipulating her grandma, Debi, to take her on a plane next summer to come see me in Utah! And I think it'll happen. :)

I got a camera!

I got my very own digital camera so now my excuses are all gone for not posting regularly. Do ya think I'll think of a few more excuses? Well, all I can say is It Could Happen! Just to post this I had to go thru the hoops of resetting my password. So now I just need to remember how to get pictures on here! Ahh, the joys of halfzeimers!

Blocks and Friendships

Way back in February I did a post titled Pay it Forward. Well, sadly, no one played along with me but I had done so with my friend Patti (Nana's News). 2 weeks ago we were able to get together and she gave me these super cute blocks as my present. Thanks Patti! It was a long overdue visit for sure. I got a tour of her new house, we went out to eat and visited for hours. You know how sometimes you have a friend that no matter how long it's been since you've gotten together you pick right up where you ended and totally fall right back into your friendship like you were never states and years apart... Well, that's how it is with us. It was so fun to spend the evening with her. I'm so grateful for her and other friends like her in my life. Do you have friends like that? I sure hope so! And aren't these blocks just ca-ute?

BEST NEWS EVER!!

Yes, it's a baby on the way... I'm going to be a Grandma!! It'll be our first grandchild. My son Matt and his wife Angelique are due to have HER Nov. 18th. We've known for a few months now but I wasn't keeping up this blog, so this is still catch up news sort of, but still the very BEST news. So I've definitely got "pink" and "girly" and baby things on my mind lately. Fun and Cute stuff out there--so many choices nowadays for new parents. I have a few projects in mind to make and get ready for a new little one so if I seem a little over the top on baby things now, you'll know why! I am totally excited for this new phase in life and am feeling blessed that they don't live too far away (in Saratoga Springs) so we'll be able to see this grandchild so easily. The last few weeks I have been able to spend some time with Angelique and it's been a good bonding time with us I think. We did some crib and stroller shopping and found a few cute outfits to start with. She's going to be a great mommy and Matt will be a super daddy. They have waited 4 years for this one to come join their family and are just thrilled that it's finally happening. And I am too--I get to be a Grandma!!

Paint and Vegas (No, we didn't literally paint the town...)

In the previous post I had said we repainted the living room, so here's a few pictures so you can envision the colors better. Don't mind the furniture too much please, and nothing is up on the walls yet, so you'll have to wait for another reveal on that. We did get our new sofa tho so it's coming along... New carpet and the Parchment color paint on the walls
Love my Red Red Wine wall! (not the old entertainment center so much tho.)

The last week of June we drove down to Las Vegas and met my sis and BIL John, as they were there for a work-related conference, for 4 days. We stayed at a great place called The Tuscany. They were having some awesome just-can't-pass-up room rates too that made it even more enjoyable. I have a brother (Dave and family) who live in Henderson so we spent three evenings with them also. We took a tour at Hoover Dam and saw the huge very (and I really mean very) high up new bridge they are building. We saw the Lion Exhibit at the MGM Grand. I just love kitties of all sizes! We went into the Bellagio and saw the current garden exhibit and also a few of the dancing water shows. I took a video of one of them but it doesn't seem to want to load on here. I'll work on it cause it was awesome to see! The last night we met for dinner at Memphis BBQ. We tried taking a family photo (3 out of 4 of us anyway)but the flash wouldn't work so it's a bit dark. Turns out it was me having it on the wrong setting, not the camera's fault--ugh!! All in all we had a nice relaxing time there. It was as hot as we expected but I enjoyed the pool at the hotel and Dave's house and finally got my tan started! Yeah, I love the sun! So here's some pics from our trip to Las Vegas:
Jill and I in Paris! (well, in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, errrr, I mean Las Vegas)
The Lion Exhibit in the MGM Grand.
One was playful and one not so much.
What big paws you have kitty!
Looking thru the glass enclosure from the walkway that goes underneath.

Such a cute ladybug!
The Secret Garden exhibit inside the Bellagio Hotel. Gorgeous stuff!
So colorful!
I loved this snail!

Here is the bridge they are building over Hoover Dam so that the new highway can bypass going over the top of the dam. It's Way UP there! When they finish the arch they can complete the road over the top and then they will take down the upper supports with the wires you can see now. Amazing!

This is my favorite sister, not to mention my only sister, Jill. HA HA!! Who's taking whose picture here really? Gotcha!

And here is the 6 of us after stuffing ourselves and having a great time visiting!Too bad I messed up the camera and it's so dark, looks like it might have been a pretty fair picture of us.

AND I am still working on the most exciting news post I promised... It shouldn't be too much longer... I'm hoping for tomorrow even...