My China Adventure

I've just returned from a few days in Beijing, China visiting friends, Janet and Mac Coleman who live there for a few more weeks. He's been there at the Embassy as an attache (meaning: A military attaché is a military expert who is part of a diplomatic mission; this post is normally filled by a high-ranking officer.) They showed us a really good time and I think we got a pretty good overview of the culture and were able to see up-close and personal the preparations that are going into the 2008 Summer Olympics. We've seen the building in progress and witnessed the outward attempts to make the city presentable even down to getting garbage cans and American toilets. It's all good though and I'll be very interested to watch it and see how that already crowded city handles the crowds of Olympic attendees. The Great Wall had to be the highlight of the trip and it's pretty cool to me that I was there..... I traveled with two other friends, Kathy McCleskey from Texas and Phyllis Snow both longtime BFF's and that in itself was a kick! We had lots of BPP time.

Spring has sprung......the grass is riz...

I know where the flowers is....and I do love my daffodils. Evan does too. He wasn't quite sure what to do with them so he was hitting them and laughing. We finally taught him to smell them (they don't really smell but it's better than hitting them) but it made for a cute picture.

So, how is the sock making project coming along?

I thought you'd never ask.....but since you did well, I've learned a lot since the first pair. Here's a picture of my 2nd pair and there are about 5 lonely socks in the UFO (Un-Finished Object) cupboard (a couple re-wound into balls of yarn to be used again) because I found that when I finished one sock, if it wasn't impeccably perfect, I just lost interest and couldn't muster the desire to make a matching one; so guess what?????? Now I work on 2 at the same time.....and when I'm finished, perfect or not.....I have a pair!!!!! I'm sure this isn't a new idea by any means but it's nourished my addiction and given me great satisfaction. So....in my almost 3 pairs of socks, I've only made one trip to the yarn shop to help me pick up lost stitches (and I'm even kinda learning how to do that or knit more carefully so I don't have to do that.) Anyhoooooo......"I knit socks" and "darn" (pardon the pun) proud of it if you don't mind me saying so. Now, as for what I will ever do with all the socks; I wear them. As to giving them away, let's just say....I'd have to know the recipient would really appreciate them and only wash them by hand and, by the way, I'm really looking forward to finally making a pair worthy of the giving. It's coming. I've got to get a lot faster and a lot better. Hey, do any of you (my children, I'm not sure anyone else looks at this) remember when I used to make those silly pot holders that looked like citrus (there was an orange, lemon, lime and watermelon)? I was so hooked on those because I loved to give sets of them away and I thought they were the coolest things to hit my yarn basket.....I made hundreds of sets and flooded the earth with them. Then I got tired of them or they went out of style, I'm not sure (probably both). I just wonder if that's the way my sock making craze is going to be but my yarn lady sadly reassured me that this probably isn't going away anytime soon and if it does it's because I will lose interest because socks are here to stay. But there's always going to be someone who will ask "why don't you just go buy a pair at Wal-Mart for 2 bucks" and I don't have an answer for that because I'm still wondering that myself but you can bet that person won't be the first recipient of a pair of my perfect socks.........

A Beautiful Day in Zion National park

Today was the last day of Kyle's yearly national park pass so we piled in the Odyssey and headed up to the land of God's handiwork and enjoyed the day running on the lawn, hiking to "The Crying Rock", honking and screaming through the tunnel and enjoying the beautiful sunshine on this February afternoon. It was really a lot of fun and we topped it off with some playtime at McDonald's on the way home. I've added a picture I took as we passed by one of the windows going through the tunnel.

Don't go to Kentucky in February.....

I flew into a tornado warning (the plane hovered for 45 min. until it passed) and flew out in a snowstorm. The weather was cold but it was wonderful to be with my families in Kentucky and see the grandkids again. They just grow too fast and change too much to stay away very long. I got to hear them all play the piano, watch Drew play basketball, watch Maycee dance, take Seth and McKay to McDonalds, hold Jack and watch him crawl and climb up to things and yes, we did make it to Grandma's Hotel on Friday night. Always a fun time.

Sock it to me.......

Da ta da da.... drum roll please..... Here they are. I finished a pair of socks; a real, wearable, comfortable pair of socks. Ah...accomplishment. I love having the time to learn new things. I've tried socks before but never successfully and I finally took a class and wallah.....socks!!! The hardest part is getting them to be exactly the same but what the heck. I can wear them and I made them..... mistakes and all. I did it! I'm taking orders. State your size, color preference and act quickly to get your pair by 2010.

A good chick flick and a good read......

Lauri and her roommate Ashley came down last night to get out of the Provo guck and enjoy the Dixie sunshine. We went to a good chick flick, "27 Dresses" and enjoyed it immensely. Now I've got to get ready for my book review of "Some Wildflower in My Heart" this coming Wednesday. As I've read through it the 2nd time I've come to realize why I love it so much: lovable, believable characters created by a talented author that can weave a story and teach me some valuable lessons as well. A very good read........

I'm continuing on my "Bucket List" and one of the items on that list is to get good at making socks. I went to our local knitting shop this past Wednesday and stayed all day and got to the heel part of the sock and was feeling pretty proud of myself. I'm on my way and hopefully next week I can show my finished product.

Welcome 2008 - Happy New Year

How can you stay inside on a day like this!!!! Oh my gosh, it was gorgeous. Lauri and I took the kids up on the Temple Quarry Trail and hiked as far up it as we could until they started to complain. They were quite proud to be good little hikers (for the first 15 minutes) but we made it to the south edge where we could look over the valley and see where the Wells Dairy used to be. The milk house is still there. I'm pointing to it as I look off to the south. I tried to capture the beauty of the day with Pine Valley Mountains in the background but no pictures can ever do it justice. It was just beautiful beyond words. I love this place. If you want to see some more pictures of the beauty surrounding us here, go to Camille's or Maggie and Justin's links listed at the bottom right of my blog.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Christmas Day Homerun Derby - 07

It was a beautiful day for the derby. We meet every year at Snow Park and go at it. It was a tight race this year with Mason coming out on top. (Spencer wants to make sure you all know that he wasn't there) with Eric a close 2nd and Jarrett giving them all a run for their money. JoEllen made a good showing for the women of the group with Russ and Ryan taking home the prize for "Most Improved". Way to go guys (and girls). It was a goooooood time for all.

A quick trip to the Happiest Place on earth leaving Tuesday morning at 3:00 a.m. arriving at the gates in time to find whatever rides had no lines, enjoy our favorite Disneyland cuisine and just have a great time leaving the "real world" behind for a while. It was an awesome 2 days and a fun time was had by all. After getting stuck on Splash Mountain (pictures below) and getting off the boats and being ushered off the ride with George viewing, in awe, the behind the scenes workings he exclaimed "Nothin' in Disneyland is real" and really folks, isn't that why we love it????? Buzz Lightyear has become one of our new favorites with even Scotty scoring a cool 1100 points for the day. George has given up Thunder Mountain for his new favorite The Matterhorn and Emily would have been pleased to just stay in the stroller and write in her new Tinkerbell notebook. "Please, just let me stay here, I'll be o.k." she would say at each ride but she did go on Space Mountain (oh, wow) and I won't say she was coerced, just really didn't know what she was getting into and neither of the 2 adults with her at the time wanted to stay and tend her but, oh well. I personally think there is quite a bit of child abuse going on at DL with children being "bribed" to go on rides they don't want to and dragged around in the cold (and heat) way past their bed time in the name of "happiness". But I have to admit, I love it for the escape from the "real world" myself so whatever it takes; those babysitting passes are great.

Stuck on Splash Mountain.....one of the highlights of the trip; being able to be ushered through the 2nd half of the ride and see all of the characters up close and personal and then out the back door to where my engineer son could marvel at the structure and creativity involved in this place.

Thanksgiving Day Fun at the Holiday Inn

Thanksgiving in Kentucky

Lauri and I went to Louisville for Thanksgiving, picked up in the early morning by Spencer and greeted a few hours later by the kids.....then took the fam to Micky D's for breakfast/lunch. Lauri and I had a restful night at the Holiday in preparatory for the big day and arrived there to be surprised as "guest of the day" which came with my name at the entrance of the hotel and an upgraded room (meaning only moved to a higher floor) but I felt important. On Thanksgiving Day, we buffeted at the Inn then swam and the kids spent the night with me while the adults had a wild game night. I love havin' the kids stay with me at the hotel and they are so good. Sethy even joined us this time and I actually had them all to sleep by 9:30 miracle of miracles. I think we pretty much wore them out in the pool and the hot tub. Hope you can all enjoy my slide show. (Who am I kidding, no one looks at my blog) O.k. now......was it a good thing to "eat out" on Thanksgiving Day? Well...here's my take on it. If it's about the food then the answer is NO. But.....if it's about the family, then it was a resounding yes, yes, yes. We had a wild, fun time with no mess, no fuss but then again.....NO LEFTOVERS. I have to say I was glad to get back home Sunday and be able to go to my mom's and have her leftovers. Would I do it again? Probably.....it really was fun but I did miss the home cookin'. So to those who may say "how could you break a tradition", well we did and it was o.k.

Back home now and enjoying my kids here. Had George and Emily over last night and spent most of today with them. They are a joy to have around and Emily came in yesterday and announced that she was here to help me put up my Christmas Tree so that's what we did yesterday. She emptied out the Christmas Box and when George saw it today he asked if he could have it and I said "it's my Christmas box" and he asked if he could have it when I got through with it and I said "Probably, but it's been my Christmas box for 26 years" so I'm not sure when that will happen. It's my microwave box so you all know how old that is. He could have made something fun out of it I'm sure but I wasn't quite ready to give it up to my little "lover of boxes" just yet.

Looking forward now to Christmas having Mason's family and Traci's family with us this year. It's been good to enjoy the rain this past couple of days. The leaves are wet and heavy on the grass but the sun will be out soon to dry them out then hopefully more rain will fall.