Trip to California...

We're back from a quick trip to California. We zipped down on Wednesday for my niece, Kira's, wedding. We went through the Newport Beach Temple with her on Thursday, she was sealed to Jeff Fisher on Friday in the San Diego Temple, with a reception on Friday night. We swam at my sister, Debi's on Saturday morning, then jumped back in the car to return late that night. Stacy, Brooke, Shane and the babies went to Disneyland on Thursday and had a really good (hot) time. Austin was old enough to ride the Matterhorn and was heard to say "There's a monster in there". She was a little scared by the 3D movie, "Honey, I shrunk the Audience" too. Her favorite was the "Gumbo" (Dumbo) ride. Amanda went and hung out with Jon. (We heard they had a really good time too).The temple sealing was beautiful, the reception was gorgeous too, as was Kira, with really yummy food. Speaking of food, we stopped at the Wynn Buffet in Vegas for quite the meal. Shane ate 8 creme brulees. They were quite tiny, but delicious. Shane knew the secret of arriving at 3:15 to pay the lunch price, but they put out the dinner food at 3:30 (crab legs/creme brulee). We planned our departure time accordingly and got there just in time! The restroom sinks were also quite impressive, as you can see from my picture.We are a little tired today, but as usual, it is so nice to sleep in our own beds again! Stacy and I both got subs for our Sunday School classes, so we are trying to figure out how to look "not home" when everyone walks/drives by our house (2 doors down from the church) on their way to church today, then show up to Sacrament Meeting, seemingly just arrived in from out of town. Thinking...

Five Reasons I LOVE September...

1. It's my birthday month!
2. It's the beginning of fall! (Getting Cooler)
3. For many, many years, my kids started school in September! (I still have wonderful feelings about that!)
4. Utah Quild Guild - Quilt Festival!!!! (4 days in Ogden with a bunch of crazy quilters like me!)
5. Doug is coming home after 2 years!!!!!!!

Moving Along...

Getting some quilting done on this baby. My goal is to get it out of the family room before my next Creative Memories (Scrapbooking) Crop - Sept. 12. We'll see.

We've Been to the Fair!

Today, the girls (Brooke and Amanda) and I took the babies to the Utah County Fair in Spanish Fork. After singing a little of the "Templeton" song from Charlotte's Web (The fair is such a smorgasboard, smorgasboard...) we hit the road. We borrowed one of my friend Megan's 5 (or 6 or 7) strollers - thanks, Megan, and headed down to SF. We joked we would be parking in a field and when we got there, it was true. Austin got a spray-on Tinkerbell Tattoo, Amanda got some stars. We went over to see some sheep taking a bath and Austin got to pet one. Shaun didn't want to get too close. We saw chickens, rabbits, big cows, horses and a couple of pigs. They were QUITE aromatic, Amanda was worried her snow cone was getting "contaminated" from the air in the big shed. We went to the midway and Brooke just couldn't walk by the people who were running the booths, "Every try wins a prize!", etc. She "picked a duck" and got Austin a tiara. She paid for darts and had Amanda (the expert) throw them to win another prize (Amanda was 4 for 4). She threw some wiffle ball for a big blow up zebra thing. The kids loved the rides, they rode a boat, a motorcycle (way too fast for the grown ups idea of safety), the Merry-go-Round - Amanda and Brooke rode with them to hold them on and after the snow cones and cotton candy, both girls felt like they were going to be sick and it lasted forever!!!

The last ride was the "Fun Slide", I wanted them to go on it, because it reminded me of the "sky slides" they used to have when I was a kid, burlap bags and everything! As they were hauling the kids up those skinny, rickety stairs, I was really glad I'd volunteered to take the pictures! After a couple of hours at the fair, we were all pretty sweaty and headed back to the car (Air conditioning - hooray!!) Well, now we can say, we've been to the fair.

Make Your Own Mess/ I Mean Pizza Night

Amanda had a fun idea to have a "Make your Own Pizza Night" for our Sunday dinner. We bought lots of fun toppings and I made some pizza dough (I know, pretty impressive). It was fun to create our own masterpieces - Shane made a huge Calzone, everyone else was jealous - although, after he ate it, he was so full he could hardly move! When Brooke and Ben got there, Brooke said she wished she had known, she would have called ahead and put in her order - they had to wait for space in the oven for their pizzas to cook. We made them on cookie sheets and just a word of warning if you think this sounds fun - don't let people "over top" their pizzas, my cookie sheets are STILL soaking to get the gunk off them! (BBQ sauce, cheese, cornmeal, etc.)

We all had places to be soon after dinner, I left first and I got home first and it was so messy, I just had to take a picture!!

Summer Fun (?)

We decided to hike to Stewart Falls on Saturday. We told the babygirl we were going hiking, so that's all she talked about all day. We went in the evening, since we figured it would be cooler and we might luck out and enjoy a nice thunderstorm right in the mountains. (Instead of down here where we can only hear it and see it a little - no rain.) We took Amanda too, she loves to hike. It's only a 2 mile (each way) hike, so it was a good one to take for those of us who haven't been hiking in a LONG time. Right away, it became apparent that SOME of us were not in as good of shape as some others of us. Amanda has recently lost 50 pounds, I've gained a substantial amount of weight and Stacy has been slacking in going to the gym, so when Austin (32 pounds) was riding on Amanda's shoulders, that was about the right ratio to make it a fair hike/speed for all concerned. We enjoyed the thunder and some nice rain on the way back. (We also ran into my cousin, Nick DiPadova - which was totally random - but it was good to see him.) And yes, some of us are a little sore!!!

Grandma Makes the Best Brownies Ever!

It's a given that grandma's brownies are best! (Regular brownie mix, throw in some chocolate chips, frost with canned frosting when cool). Austin loves grandma's brownies, as you can see by these pics! Grandma loves Austin as you can tell by how much she squeezes her every time she sees that cute girl!!

Ready, Set, Quilt

I finished my quilt top! This one is going to go into my guest room (which, of course, means I have to make new curtains, pillow shams, etc.) This is the block of the month from last year (Quik Quilts), so yes, I have been working on it for over 1-1/2 years! I'm so excited to hand quilt it, even though it will definitely take longer than whipping it up on my machine. After Stacy and I set it up in the family room, we realized that it is the biggest one yet! I am hoping to keep it up for about 5 weeks, then I will baste it and "hoop" the rest of it, so I can stow it behind my chair when I'm not quilting. (This is NOT one of the quilts I'll be finishing this month!)

It's Here!

I've been kind of waiting for my pre-ordered "Breaking Dawn" book, the UPS man came earlier today and brought something else, so I thought I would have to wait until tomorrow. BUT... I went and got the mail and it was in the mailbox!!!! So...I'll be in my room, hiding/I mean reading for the next 8-10 hours!!!!! (754 pages!!!!)

Another Saturday, Another toy for the Grandbabies...

Austin came to hang out on Saturday afternoon and went to Costco and Walmart with Grandpa. He found a great sprinkler thing in the clearance bin. He came home and set it up and Austin thoroughly enjoyed it! We had it set up on Sunday too, in the backyard, but when we started taking off kids' clothes after dinner, the parents said, "no swimming on Sundays", I mentioned that getting a little sprinkled in the sprinkler wasn't really swimming, but I didn't push it, I am after all, only a grandparent. Later that evening, the kids stayed at our house and their parents, who shall remain nameless, went out to Alpine to visit a friend. You can imagine my surprise when they returned IN THEIR BATHINGSUITS, wet and having obviously enjoyed the pool at their friend's home ON SUNDAY. Well, I only made one remark and then I shut up, after all, I'm only a grandparent!

Let's Hear it for the Boy!

This is the "Jungle Baby" quilt I finished for the boy, his new room is going to be in a jungle motif, so here is my contribution. Of course, sweet baby that he is, he loves it. He actually loves all blankets, if you pick one up, to fold it or move it, he backs up to you, so you can snuggle him up in it, he is such a little cutie pie. Okay, I finished 3 quilts in July and it is my goal to complete 3 more for August. The way I figure it, the more I finish, the more fun fabric and kits I can buy!