Aw.....Fall........is in the air....

....not quite here yet but I've been in SLC and it's very apparent there, especially in the evenings. I traveled north on my yearly trek to Acappellastock.....Oh, yeh....and once again was NOT disappointed. It was an amazing (surreal, that's for Lauri) evening and we enjoyed almost 3 hours of great acappella groups, not just the usual Barbershop Quartet although there were some of those but frankly, I wish they would not be invited as they get realllly upstaged by the "new-wave" stuff....but they were good and entertaining but "hard core" rockappella is what I go for. It was sooooo much fun and I plan to go again next year and the year after that and so on and so forth. I wasted 2 tickets because I was really optimistic that I would be able to convert someone but I will not give up. I will continue to be persistent, (but will probably get committments before I buy too many tickets again) but the offer is out there. It's in Ogden, so a little far up the road but WORTH....ITTTTT! So, back home again and feeling the Fall....got a few decorations out and all day today I've been remembering the scents of Fall....spicy tomatoe soup cooking (haven't made any yet but plan to) and I especially love the scents that come with the cool crisp air (which will come later but I'm anticipating) and the feeling of getting all the kiddies back in school, into a routine and life back to a little normalcy. Even though I have no kiddies at home to take to school, I still feel the sense of peace that comes from knowing yours have a place to go each day. Right now my house smells like "Pumpkin Spice" Salt City candle, my favorite, and my center piece is in place (oops, it looks a little uncentered, oh, well). Welcome Fall..... how do you feel about Fall?

Been there.......

.......that's why I'm lovin' the Olympics. This morning while watching the Today Show, Meredith, Ann, Al and Matt ventured onto the Great Wall exactly the same place that we did in March. It was so cool....and there are lots of places to go to the Great Wall and maybe this isn't really the same place we were at but it sure looked like it. They rode the gondola up and then took the bobsled down and all the same things we did. I felt like a little schoolgirl that wanted to raise her hand and tell the whole class that..."I've been there too." Anyway, when they got off the bobsleds, there's these Mongolian Warrior guys there to meet you and have a picture taken with you. We did that. So, I couldn't get a very good picture of the Today Show crew doing it (it is online as a video) but I have a picture of us so I'm posting that today as my "Show and Tell". Also, I've been pretty busy lately so haven't had time to put some follow-up pictures of Lauri's birthday party so I'm doing that as well. I collaged a few fun pictures from the party. Enjoy!!!

Send birthday wishes to Lauri.......

Top Ten Reasons I Love Being With Lauri:

10. She can dance.
9. She loves the color orange.
8. She makes really good cookies and other fine foods.
7. She likes to laugh.
6. She is mostly happy and when I'm with her I want to be happy.
5. She thinks kind thoughts and when I'm with her I want to think kind thoughts.

4. She gives me something to spend my money on.
3. She will do the driving for me.
2. She has a peaceful nature.

Ta da da da...... The number one reason I love having Lauri around......she does my grocery shopping for me.

When I am old I may not wear purple but I want Lauri to take care of me and she will because she stands to inherit my diamond ring. A shoutout today and for the rest of this week as this sweet daughter of mine turns 25 on Monday. Only 25 years ago on Aug. 18 we welcomed a little girl after 4 boys and I haven't stopped smiling since. Well, maybe one time when she told me she was dropping out of college but it was o.k. because she fulfilled a successful mission to Arizona and can speak Spanish so now she can interpret Dora for me and I really smiled when she graduated from BYU last May. I hope her good nature will be enough to sustain her in the small Mexican village of Irapuato and I don't really want to know how "quaint" it really is. She will head there for 3 months for post-graduate field study and I will miss her. Carry on daughter-0-mine and thanks for letting me dress you up and do your bangs curly when you were little and for shopping with me and for me and for raising Traci. You did a fine job. Now, go forward with faith and know that I love you. The only thing keeping me sane right now is not thinking about the next 3 months. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON MONDAY!!!!

The Whole Fam Damily.......

The second day of our First Annual Wells Family Reunion took us to Town Square for pictures. After 200 plus shots......not all of us are having a good day but what can I say....it's great to be together.
I have 9 precious little grand-sons and 3 sweet-as-punch grand-daughters. My baseball team and cheerleading squad.

Money, Teeth and Pain........

........now all this family needs is a good auto mechanic!!!!!! Yep, I made them (threatened them with their inheritance) drag out their caps and gowns for this.....do ya blame me? I'm just a red blooded, American mom. Lauri and Traci, I'm proud of you too and when you get your doctor degrees you will get your spot on my blog, k?

The first annual Scott Wells family reunion....

........is almost history. Spencer rolled into town on Thursday and the partay started. Friday was the official start of this momentous occasion and as I peruse (not sure if this is the right word but I like it) the pictures I can't decided which ones to blog and I'm dead tired right now so I'm putting on the basic "blue shirt" shot of us after a day of dentist appointments (cavities filled for Russ and Spencer) then lunch catered by Cafe Rio, activity provided by City Recreation Department hydrotube and pool, grilling provided by, um....not quite sure, I was busy inside cutting tomatoes but it was good) and then an awesome talent show and games. Tomorrow is family pictures (first time this family has been together in many, many years) then breakfast and moving on up the road to finish off the festivities in Pine Valley. So, until further notice, this family is on it's way to reunioning for many years to come. It's been an awesome day for this tired grandma......

You don't know Jack....

.....so I'm introducing him to you...I've been tending him since yesterday and got a wicked case of food poisoning but there couldn't be a better kid to help me get through it. He's so good and while I lay dieing (sp?) he just wandered around and allowed me a few hours to re-coup (sp?) and what a joy he has been. I always love to have my grand-kids one-on-one once in a while. It's good to have them play with each other but I like this. It forces me to play and sing with them and get to know them better. I've enjoyed getting to know Jack.....I think I can now say that "I do know Jack".....

Another day of so much to blog........6 days to go Spence...

When the cousins are in town, everyone wants to be where the action is and today it was at Mason and Mandy's and oh, my!!!What action there was. I will post these fun pictures for all to see and you will know what a time we had. We started with fun on the Cyclone then Happy Meals, then a trip to the dentist for George and Emily and ended up at the ball park watching Kyle and Mason play ball. Cousins Eric and Clint on the team too....so lots of family togetherness. McKay was not to be left out. We did the best we could to keep his little cast dry but he'd pull himself up to the top and slide right down into the water, plastic-covered leg and all. It really did stay pretty dry. Oh, he looks so sad dragging that thing around. Kyle made him a little crutch and we call him "Tiny Tim". He says, "I'm not tiny" so we just call him Tim. I also added some pictures of the kids herding the ducks back to the pond. This has been a very full day.

A few pictures of some summer fun.....

Roadtrip!!!!!! We did it.......

Yep, we did it without stopping....28 hours!!!! We left Kentucky at 1:30 Saturday and arrived here at 3:00. The kids were soooooo good. The only near miss was when Seth said he had to go....we found a sack and he was giggling, ready to let it go into a sack when I found a quick stop by the side of the road, one of the "gas only" kind of scary stops, smelled a little like the outhouses in the campground at Pine Valley but it served it's purpose. We got through Kansas and into Colorado by daylight and little Jack actually went 12 straight hours without as much as closing his eyes. The kids busied themselves with movies, treats, nintendos, leapsters, more treats, little naps, and whatever kids do in cars for 28 hours and it was just fine. We're glad it's over but it wasn't that bad at all.....but I'm the grandma. Now Shana would probably have a whole different take on it. We, or rather, I was going to take pictures at all the state signs but Shana wouldn't have it....she forged on stopping for nothiiiing.......I did snag a few pictures from the window as we drove by just to show that we really did it. We did stop for a really good meal at Denny's and I included a cute picture of Seth getting his Mac and Cheese and grapes. Anyway, there' s no place like home. When Drew was sittin' up to the bar this morning eating breakfast and watching my little t.v., he said...."...this is the life". Now that's what a grandma likes to hear.

Non-stop socks.....enter my contest!

I'm pretty much into making socks and once in a while someone will ask me how long it takes to make a pair. So....on my trip to Kentucky, I thought I was on a non-stop flight but found out I had to make a stop in Chicago. (a 3 hour stint) So....I decided to see how much of a sock I could get done by the time I landed in Chicago. So as we took off from Vegas,I began knitting and only stopped for a quick o.j. and crackers which probably took up about 5 min. then on with the knitting. I figured it would be a pretty fair 3 hours of knitting. This is how much of a sock I got done....About half. This really wouldn't be a fair assessment of how long it takes me as I usually use a finer sock yarn and needles but for this particular pair, I figured 6 hours per sock, 12 hours per pair. The yarn costs me about $6.00 a skein, each pair taking 2 skeins (of this particular type) so approximately $12.00 worth of yarn. If I pay myself a mere $12.00 per hour to make them, I figure this particular pair of socks costs approximately $156.00. You could win a pair of these socks. Go to my knitting blog and see how!!!!! http://knitnpurls.blogspot.com/

Kentucky Kids......

A trip to Target, Texas Roadhouse and catchin' fireflies are the order of the day when I come to Kentucky. All is well here a few days before we hit the road to head to home......My second road trip across Kansas this summer! I haven't posted my Kentucky family for a while. Laynee, Drewby and Seth on the Target ball and Jack at Roadhouse. Cute kids!!!!!

Just a couple of things here.....

Saturday morning we were barely awake when my mom called and told me they were burning down the Maggard home on the corner of my old neighborhood, would I like to come watch. Well, I had the kids for a sleep over and figured it would be too bothersome but after a minute or two thought, "How often would a kid get to see a house burn down (or up as my dad would wonder) so I ran through the house shouting "Hurry, get your shoes on, let's go watch a house burn down!" I didn't even give them time to find shoes, (one would have thought my house was burning down the way we got out of there) but as you can see by the pictures (I'm glad I'm not in any of them) that I pretty much snatched those littles ones out of bed and as I drove up there trying to explain what we were going to do, I could all of a sudden see the fear in their eyes.....I can only imagine what each of them must have been thinking by now as we pulled up and ran to our "front row" seats of a house burning. Much better than Saturday morning cartoons...wouldn't you say? It turned out to be pretty much a drill for some new firemen and never got any more than a bit of smoke coming out of the windows as each of them donned their masks and ran in to see if their equipment was working. It made for an hour of excitement and a close-up view of a "fireman and his equipment". I love this picture of McKay. It looks like he's asking George so I won't notice, you know kinda like talking out the side of your mouth inconspicuously, "What in the *^&%* are we doing here?"

So here's another thing I want to blog about. I've been fascinated with these lavender fields up somewhere around Mona. A few weeks ago I saw a sign as I was traveling north advertising a Lavender Festival and when I went back about a week later, I really wanted to go to the Lavender Festival but couldn't figure out where the exit was. But yesterday as I was heading up north to Jake's blessing, the fields were totally purple like I've never seen before. Then today, on the way back, I snapped a picture as I was driving by (doesn't even begin to capture the color but maybe you will get the idea). Anyway, I was just really in awe to think that we grow lavender in Utah and I want to learn more about it. If there's anyone out there in "Blog Land" that knows anything about lavender, especially the Utah variety, please fill me in. Where have I been all these years? Did I know we have these really cool lavender fields in Utah? I think not....but I do now and I'm going to start doing my research and see if I can grow some lavender.

After I finished this post, I found this link http://www.younglivingfarms.com/ Cool!!!!!

Remembering a good man......

Seven years ago this month a good man was taken from this family and I’d like to pay tribute to him today as I’m finding myself a bit melancholy lately. July comes with a bang as we celebrate the anniversary of our independence but leaves me somber remembering where we were just seven years ago. I won’t be lengthy in my tribute but want to pay honor to a common man who taught us so much. He led by quiet example, never wanting any glory or honor, always wanting to be found doing good. He would never force us to read the scriptures but was seen himself doing it daily, making it a goal the last few years of his life to read the Book of Mormon at least once a year. He didn’t waste time nor money and always lived by the motto……”There is no dignity so impressive and no independence quite so important as living within one’s means.” I think he made it up but it was “his” philosophy and he never forced it on anyone but lived it himself in hopes that his wife would follow. She never did, sad to say and is struggling to do it today. I’m grateful for the “means” he did leave behind and I’m truly trying to follow his example. He was always found reading good materials, watching good movies and mingling hard work with his “mountain time” relaxing in Pine Valley. He taught the value of education, left behind a legacy of church service and was a loving father and family man. We all miss him but are ever grateful for the extra years we got to have him. We're all better having known him.......

It was a happy 4th of July......

We had a great time enjoying the fresh air of Pine Valley....We fished at Gardner's pond then headed up to Mark's cabin and reunioned with the Wells side of the family; then headed back down the road to hook up with the Sullivan's for the traditional pizza, pop and fireworks. Traditions are good...something constant in an ever-changing world. Thanks, Mom for putting up with the chaos for a few hours. I don't have pictures of that part of the evening as my camera ran out of battery but will post them as I get them. Below are the pictures of PineValley. We got a new carpet on the porch and the trees have grown...each year brings a bit of change but it always feels the same...it was good being there for a few hours. We love our "mountain time".