OH MY GOSH!!! The climax to a very happy birthday!

I spent a couple of hours searching on the computer for a trailer hitch . . . I don’t know what you call them and maybe that is part of the reason I couldn’t find what I wanted!  I had seen a SUV with a BYU trailer hitch cover and have been coveting it and really wanted one, thus the search.  Well after a few hours of hunting and have no success I kind of gave up. 

Today, Maren came by and brought my birthday present.  I opened it up and low and behold the birthday present of all birthday presents!!!  Just exactly what I was looking for.  I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am.  I ran outside and immediately put it on my Jeep.  Now it is looking classy and certainly is a styling Jeep!  Thank you so much Maren and Greg for a fabulous birthday present.  I’m sure Tucker will be so jealous!!

Sunday dinner at Lyndsy’s

Lyndsy called Neal and I on Thursday and ask if we would like to come to dinner.  Of course we accepted.  We would never turn down a nice dinner invitation.  We had a wonderful dinner of chili, salad, a special gluten free bread and fried bananas rolled in coconut and topped with chocolate.  The whole menu was perfect and delicious.  Thank you Lyndsy!  James was working so he couldn’t be there with us.  Neal had a lot of work to do to get ready for the beginning of the fall semester so we couldn’t stay very long, but enjoyed the time we had with Lyndsy and River.  Pictured below are the fried bananas which were delicious and colorful.

I noticed that Lyndsy was working on a puzzle.  I believe she said it was a 2000 piece.  She is a brave soul to tackle a puzzle that big and one that is a lot the same colors!  As you can see she had the castle done but still had the mountains, sky and foliage to do.

We drove all the way to St. George for lunch?!!

Well, not really.  Ron and Judy Stanfield had a couch and a love seat along with a coffee table and a lamp table from their St. George condo that they had replaced with new furniture.  One conversation lead to another and they offered their old furniture to Lynda Ann for her basement.  Lynda and Jeff had been given a large screen TV from Thurbers who had bought a new one.  They wanted to put it downstairs in their unfinished family room so the kids could watch movies down there, but they had nothing to sit on.  The furniture from Ron and Judy would be perfect.  The only problem was that the old furniture was down in their garage in St. George!  Lynda Ann, Emmi and Abby and I got in the Jeep with a rented U-haul behind and traveled to St. George yesterday to pick up the furniture.  We actually had a fun time.  After we loaded the furniture (and I might add here that there was a worker who pulled into the parking lot when we were loading and sat there and watched four women carry, lift and load.  Didn’t bother to offer to help. I would hope none of my boys would sit and watch someone who needed help!)  …… we headed to the Pizza Factory and had a great lunch, then to Jakes’s House (Life is Good t-shirt shop, and then to the outlet stores and then home.  We drove through some pretty wild rain storms.  We got back about 7:00, stopped at RC Willy and bought a 10 x 12 piece of carpet remnant for the basement and then on to Stansbury to unload, drop the trailer off and call it a day.  I got home about 9:30 and was glad to be home.

One never knows what you will see on the freeway.  This is a great example.  Just had to take a picture of it!  None of us could figure out what it was.  Any ideas from you?

I just had to post these two pictures from out Park City adventure.

River was crying because I made him take his hat off.  I believe his whole day that day was a rough one.  He just wasn’t a happy camper.  It started off with a sudden stop at Target to buy him some extra clothes and kind of went down hill from there.

This is what greeted me when I got home from Mexico!

Thanks Tucker for teaching yet another grandchild how to be Tucker!  There was a note left on the counter that said, “Welcome home Gam.  I love you.  Emmi”  I remember just standing there in puzzlement!

The best lip gloss I’ve ever had! What’s your favorite?

I just received another birthday present.  I had mentioned to Lyndsy how much I love this brand of lip gloss.  She is the one who introduced me to it.  She ordered some for me and knew what colors I would like.  Thank you Lyndsy.  I love them.  If any of you are into lip gloss, this is the best there is!

Trip to Mexico

We had a wonderful time in Mexico again.  It is always fun to be with Ron and Judy.  We left Friday early afternoon and met up with Ron and Judy who were already in St. George.  We spent the night there and headed to Mexico Saturday morning.  After shopping all along the way we arrived in San Diego late that evening, picked up Rod (a friend of Ron and Judy’s) at the airport and headed across the border.  We spent the whole week golfing, playing bridge, putting together three puzzles, reading, sewing and just enjoying the ‘no responsibility’ life.  We attended church as well and enjoyed mingling with the Saints at their little chapel.

We left the next Sunday about 10:00 a.m.  It was the usual long wait at the border.  We actually made it right to the crossing and sat for about1/2 hour waiting for a car in front of us to get clearance the pass through into the United States.  When we got to the gate we asked what the long delay was and the guard said that the car was full of a bunch of college boys and one of them didn’t have the proper papers!  Why anyone would leave the U.S. without a passport is beyond my understanding. 

We dropped Rod off at the airport and found out that he had missed his plane by 1 minute!  The plane hadn’t left yet but they had given someone else his seat and because he had not checked in with them 1/2 hour prior to boarding he lost his seat.  He had to stay in San Diego that night and leave on the next flight in the morning. 

Because of an accident going out of San Diego and road construction coming into Las Vegas we didn’t arrive in St. George until 2:45 a.m.  We were exhausted but happy to have a place to sleep.  Neal and Ron went golfing that morning while Judy and I shopped.  On the way home we stopped to see Neal’s Aunt Erma.  We arrive home in Salt Lake safe and sound about 8:00 p.m. on Monday evening.  All in all it was a delightful time and I look forward to going again next Spring.  Ron and Judy are thinking about selling their place and it will be sad to see it these trips end.

I love humming birds. In fact, I’m fascinated with them.

I tried to capture a picture or two of them but the little rascals are nearly impossible to get a picture of.  They are in constant motion and dart from blossom to blossom.  My little camera just can’t telescope close enough to get a clear image.  I was sitting on the patio chair patiently waiting and sure enough here came a couple of them.  This is what I got.  You really have to look to see them.  If you look carefully toward the bottom right you will see one.  And if you look on the right side of the feeder you will see one hovering. 

More birthday wishes

Jeff, Mindy and the kids came by last week to wish me a happy birthday and leave a fun birthday present.  I have never seem Min’s Island and am excited to see it.  I saw the new True Grit in the theaters but don’t have my own copy so was very happy to be able to watch it again and add it to my movies.  It was fun to visit with them for a few minutes.  Thanks Hintzes for the gift of love and the presents!

Getting ready for football–GO COUGARS!!!

Tucker, don’t you just love my new sweatshirt?  Really, don’t you just love it?  Seriously, don’t you just love it?

The presents just keep coming!

Just as we were leaving for Bear Lake, the mail came and with the mail a package for me from my California family.  I opened it and much to my happiness there was one of my most favorite pictures on canvas.  I can’t wait to get it framed and up on the wall.  That picture tells a lot of stories and that is why I love it so much.  What story do you think of when you look at it?  The old guiding the footsteps of the young.  The safety in a hand hold.  Security and wisdom.  The ideas are endless.  I always get a bit teary when I look at this picture.  Thank you Jamie, Tucker and girls for the picture.  Peyton, this shall always be our picture.  Just in case you don’t remember, this was the first time you would put your little feet on the sand and so we went for a walk together so you could gain confidence and learn to be OK with the sand under your feet. 

Then came Bear Lake–my birthday from Ron and Judy

It has probably been 15+ years since I’ve been at Bear Lake.  Whatever little appeal it had for me was completely taken away years ago.  Ron and Judy have a small family cabin at Bear Lake.  They called us and asked if we wouldn’t please come up and join them for the weekend.  We didn’t have anything planned for my birthday weekend, so we accepted the offer.  We met Ron and Judy at the golf course.  Neal and Ron stayed to golf 9 holes and Judy and I headed to the cabin.  Their cabin is on the East side of the lake but way past the Scout Camp.  We visited for a long time and just before the men got back we fixed a steak dinner.  Judy is an excellent cook and the dinner was delicious.  After dinner we played bridge and then called it a day. 

After dinner Ron and Judy gave me my birthday present.  One of the presents was a ball marker that you attach to the rim of your golf hat and the decorative part stays on with a magnet.  You simply pull it off, mark your ball and then put it right back on your hat again.  Clever and very fun.  I loved it.  After the presents, came some surprise fireworks for my birthday.  Each box had 25 shots.  Ron decided that 50 was plenty!  In case you can’t see, my marker is a pink flamingo. 

Saturday morning we went to Mountpelier and played golf.  It is a hooky little golf course but very lady friendly.  Very wide fairways and hard to loose a golf ball.  Neal did have a fight with two pine trees!  On the way home we bought the famous fresh raspberry shakes only we had chocolate raspberry and it was out of this world.  Thanks Ron and Judy for a fun filled weekend. 

Neal and I got up bright and early and headed back to Salt Lake for our Sunday responsibilities.  On the way down the canyon as we were passing Park City we saw the big air balloons.  They are beautiful and fascinating.

August and I am officially 68

My day began at work.  I walked in and was greeted with a group of my co-workers singing happy birthday to me.  I looked over at my desk and it was loaded with bags of candy.  They all got together and decided the best gift was to give me candy for my candy dish that they all eat.  I believe I now have enough to last me for a couple of months.  That will save me a healthy sum of money.  Kevin Okleberry in the background.  He is the same height as Jeff G.  Also notice that I’m sporting a new hair do.  Just got it cut the day before and it feels so good.

I left work at noon to meet Neal and head to Bear Lake to join Ron and Judy Stanfield.  We were just getting ready to walk out the door when the Gertsons came bursting in with Happy Birthday Gam!  What a wonderful surprise!  Each grandchild had created a card for me.  Because they are personal messages to me and because I don’t want to embarrass, them I will only tell just a little part of what they said. 

Abby made me a pin cushion and made this card with the cute message that went with a package of my favorite cookies, that I LOVE!  I took them to Bear Lake and only shared three or four of them and ate all the rest by myself.  Thank you Abby.

 

Abby also created a card with each letter of my name representing something.  Pictured below is the front of the card and an example of the inside.  Yes, it make me cry tears of happiness.  These personal cards are my treasures!

Mallory created a card that had 8 (the same amount of letters to spell my name) pages of different memories of things I have done and do that have affected her life.  Every page had something she had made to illustrate what she was saying.  Thank you Mallory.  This certainly touched my heart.  I always hope I am creating good, happy and warm memories for my grandchildren along with inspiring them in some way.  Yup, more tears.

Next came a card from Hayley that she wanted me to be sure and notice that she had not only made me a special card but had made the envelope to go with it.  Thank you Hayley, I LOVE it.  By this time the tears are evident and I don’t want to stop them.

Andrew gave me a flower with I Lov Uo on the stem along with a little booklet that he explained to me was full of hearts of love.  Thank you Andrew for the hugs and the many hearts of love.

Emmi gave me a card with her personal thoughts inside that I won’t put on my blog but will read that sweet message over and over. The card said, “It’s not the miles, it’s the memories.” 

Lynda Ann and the kids made me fortune cookies with a message inside each cookie.  Some of the messages:  “#1 cookie #1 Gam,” “You are not the average grandma.” “You will be told you are the best grandma ever.” “You are the best mom and best gam.” “Happy 68th.” and my favorite, “This project wasn’t easy.  We love you!”  By the way, the fortune cookies were delicious!!

Annie surprised me with a picture of the kids.  She noticed that I didn’t have any pictures of her kids at work and I made the comment that if I had a picture, I would certainly be proud to display it at work!  Thus this great final birthday present.  The girls all told me that Andrew ruined every picture.  Boys will be boys, right Tucker?

I also got a big bag of trail mix to take to Bear Lake or Mexico with me.  Thanks, Gertsons for all your creative efforts in my behalf.  They are loved!!  It certainly was a happy birthday and a happy surprise!