Belated Happy Birthday to my Krissy Lou

Well, I missed a shout-out to my darling baby girl on Friday, when she had her 27th birthday. I'm afraid she pretty much missed it herself, as she was absolutely drowning in finals for her Masters degree. What a way to spend your birthday. I did call for my usual "this is the time you were born" call, but her phone got wet and was not working, so she didn't even get that. Ah, the perils of having a Christmas-time birthday. At any rate, Happy Birthday, darling girl - your celebration is yet to come. Kristen, you are my best Christmas present EVER!!!!

Queen of Everything

I have long joked that my title is "Queen of Everything," but in doing some goofing around with genealogy stuff, it turns out that it's not far from the truth! The longest line I am able to trace goes back to the year 80 AD (can you believe that??) with a guy named Godwulf, who lived in Asgard, Asia or Eastern Europe, and includes many generations of Kings and Princes of Wessex, Kent and Mercia. A couple of lines go through William the Conqueror and his son, Henry I, King of England. I found numerous lines (some crossing at the same people - in particular, John Ferrers, Earl of Derby) with royalty of Finland, Bohemia, Sweden, Scotland, and my favorite, Queen Swietoslava, Queen of Sweden, Norway AND Denmark (born in 970 AD). That's very nearly the Queen of Everything, isn't it? Oh, and another King of England.

So you know I will now be insufferable with my claim to the title of Queen of Everything.

Banana Banana

Banana Banana. That's my new name. We were talking the other day about the kids possibly calling me something besides "Grandma" ... because they have so many of them! I said, "How about Nana?" and that was pretty much the end of it. Well, the next time they came over, you can see what Kaiya took away from the conversation ...



This apparently evolved from Nana to Nana Banana, and finally, to the grand prize winner. I guess this is pay-back for all the years I have called Stephanie "Anna Banana" (for no logical reason, in her opinion). If it were another child, I would accuse Steph of coaching, but I do believe that Kaiya came up with this all on her own.

GM Meeting

This past week we've had the international subsidiary General Managers in Utah for management meetings. Though this meeting is small in size, it's a bit complicated because it involves four languages, and nine break-out meetings in addition to the main meeting.

On Monday, we went to dinner at Benihana, which is always fun. On Tuesday, we went to Boondocks. That was fun, especially the part where the bus driver got lost! I wasn't really paying attention, until my ears started to pop - then I noticed we were headed up into the foothills. I guess he misunderstood - when I said "Boondocks" he thought I meant the boondocks.

On Thursday, the final night, we went to dinner at the New Yorker. And in between the fun, of course, we had very productive meetings. I think it turned out well this year, but I'm always glad when it's done. Due to lack of sleep during the week, I am vegging this weekend!

Soccer

I went with Steph & Mickel to their soccer game the weekend before last. Sorry I didn't get any action shots, but I was pretty busy with the kids. Teague was okay as long as we were up and moving, and Kaiya was busy with her new friend, Natalie (in the grey sweater). It was kind of funny to see Steph a little unsure of herself in a sport (since it's only the second time she's ever played), but I think she did great. Of course, I always think that.

Teague's Blessing

On October 12, we gathered together for Teague's blessing. What a special occasion, for a special boy! We love ya, Teagster! And I love this picture ... so cute the way Kaiya and Teague are looking at each other.

Maui

My last trip this year - barring anything unexpected coming up - was to Maui. And yes, this was for work. And no, I don't need (or at least can't talk my boss into) anyone to carry my bags for me. If that changes, let me know if you want me to add your name to the list. :-)

At any rate, as I always say ... if you have to work, Maui ain't a bad place to do it. It turned out that the place we were going to stay was full, so they put us up in some adjacent condos. Let's just say that this place was MUCH bigger than my house. I very much wished that I had someone along with me for the trip. Both of the girls and their families could have stayed and we would not have been crowded. Oh well. :-(

The island is beautiful, of course, but I was surprised at how dry it was in certain places. We visited different venues that we thought might work for the group, one of which is a helicopter tour. What fun! The tour we took went up over Haleakala (the volcano) and then down the green side of the island.

Another tour we're considering is a submarine ride leaving from the town of Lahaina. You go down about 135 feet, and the fish just come swimming up to the sub (I guess there's good stuff on it for them to eat).

Kaiya Jane Turns 2

Our own little reincarnation of that lovely Disney beauty, Cinderella (also known as Kaiya Jane), turned two years old on Sept. 8. (I know I'm a little late in getting to this, but I'm having camera issues :-( )

Mom made her a Cinderella cake, and the great cupcakes in the background (gee, Steph, I just thought of another business you could do at home ...).

LOCKED AWAY PHOTOS

Sueno Beach - Antalya, Turkey

Grand Resort - Limmosal, Cyprus
Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem)
Tel Aviv

Well, I've been meaning to update the blog with some recent stuff, but I've lost the cord to download photos from my camera, so I haven't done it. In the meantime, I've been to Israel, Cyprus and Turkey, and I'm sure had a few family things in there as well. So, I'll get caught up a little better later, but for now here are some "canned" photos of where I've been.

Happy Birthday Steph!

Tomorrow (Sunday) is my baby girl's 30th birthday ... she may be handling it pretty well, but I'm not so sure I am! Steph brought a sweet and wise spirit when she came to us, and helped me to learn and grow in ways I am still amazed by. There is never a day that I'm not so grateful for her presence, and so proud of the person she's become. And she is truly an AWESOME mom ... better than I ever hoped to be. I love ya, baby. Happy Birthday!

Start Spreading the News ...

I'm in the awesome and completely crazy city that could only be New York. Today a guy was walking along in front of us as normal as could be, and all of the sudden he laid down on the sidewalk, smiling into the sky. He stayed like that for maybe a minute, and then hopped up and walked away.

We're staying at the Waldorf Astoria, where "Brangelina" stays when they're in town. Also, all the Presidents have stayed here. Our hotel contact (a Utah girl, if you can believe that) said that mostly they get ample notice of these stays, but that Clinton was pretty notorious for just showing up. As you may know, they have to clear both the floor above and the floor below when the President stays anywhere, and the hotel is almost always fully booked, so you can imagine the chaos that caused.

Switzerland

I recently returned from an event (business) in Lucerne, Switzerland. Kristen and Sterling were able to go with me on this trip, which was great.

Switzerland is a beautiful country. Very clean, though a bit expensive. We arrived on Friday, rented a car and drove to the hotel, which overlooks Lake Lucerne. Kris was falling asleep on the way to the hotel, but she kept saying, "I don't want to miss anything." It's pure Heidi. Lush green hillsides rolling into green mountains (unlike the brown mountains of Utah), chalets (now I know why they call them "Swiss chalets"), a million lakes. And Lucerne is a beautiful (small) city. We didn't know it, but it happened to be the Swiss "independance day" so we watched fireworks over lake for hours that night.

The next day 180 people (from 17 countries!) arrived, so that was a busy and long day. On Monday night, we went to the top of one of the nearby mountains to a place called Stanserhorn. There is a revolving restaurant at the top - actually, the very center of it revolves, but not the outer part. After dinner, we had fireworks all around the 360 degree view. It was pretty spectacular.

On Tuesday, we went to a monastary/town called Einseindeln. Here's the group from the Ukraine.

The group had free time on Wednesday and Thursday, but I was busy getting things ready for the Gala night on Thursday. Kris and Sterling went to Munich on Wednesday. On Friday, the group went to Berne

And to Interlaken. Everyone felt that there wasn't enough time in either location, so I guess I should have picked one or the other.

We ended the event with a dinner cruise around Lake Lucerne. The next morning, I was up at 4:00 a.m. to see people off, so that was another long day. Kris and Sterling managed to make it into Milan, Italy for a day trip, although they did caught in a pretty big traffic jam. They said everyone just got out of their vehicles and started visiting and smoking.

I have to say that I enjoyed the event this time more than usual. This is a group where I know many of them from prior years, and it's always (or mostly) good to see them again. And I loved Switzerland! The only thing was ... I came home to an empty house. While I was gone, Steph & Mickel found a cute place in Sugarhouse and moved out. It's without a doubt good for them - to have their own place and for Mickel to be so much closer to work. But while it's good to get peace and order back, it doesn't quite make up for mornings with Kaiya. Or to be on hand for Teague's "firsts."

A "Free" Day

Well, today's about as free as my time gets during the TAC convention. Kristen and Sterling have gone to Munich, Germany for the day, and I'm just working on stuff for the Gala dinner tomorrow night and enjoying the view from my balcony. That's Lake Lucerne (or "Luzern") out there - I think there's a million lakes in this country!

More favorites

This is my last post for awhile, as I'm off to Switzerland on Thursday! But here's some more photos recovered from Steph & Mickel's camera ... plus a few older favs.

4th of July Weekend Photos

>

As I mentioned before, Steph & Mickel's computer equipment (and thus their picture-transfer capabilities) was buried in the garage. I guess they got a bit tired of waiting for the house move, and so they dug it out. So here's some of the photos from the weekend of July 4.