As Summer Comes to an End ...

The days are definitely getting a bit cooler, and it's almost always still dark when I go for my morning walk.  Yes, fall is definitely waiting in the wings.  I love this time of year ... the days that are cool except for the very middle, which are still warm.  Winter hasn't reached her icy hands into me yet ... every year I dread that just a little bit more.  But, for now at least, the weather is just right.

I must say that I have enjoyed this unrequested vacation that I've had, even as I become busier and busier with our new business and other ventures. 

So here's a small snapshot of how the rest of my summer went:

I went with Steph and the kids to the Parade of Homes' "Up" House in Herriman.  Very, very cute ... although I don't think I'd want to buy it.  It seems you'd have people gawking at it all the time!  And apparently they did have the balloons attached at one point, but when we went the balloons were all in a closet. 

My mom and I went to a celebration for my Aunt Ev's 80th birthday.  Wow!  What a gathering.  It seems like just yesterday it was an 80th birthday party for my grandma.  This is my mom on the left and Aunt Ev on the right.  And the next photo is of Aunt Ev and Uncle Lindon, who came down from Washington.  Uncle Lindon recently lost his wife, my Aunt Kate (who was the baby sister of mom's family). 

I went to Lagoon with Steph and her family, which is always fun.  Kris and family weren't able to make it this time, but hopefully next year.  Apparently I didn't get any photos, however.  Oh well.

As I mentioned before, I decided to implement a special "Grammie date" for my grandkids' birthdays, and just recently it was Kaiya's 5th birthday.  I asked her if she wanted to choose something, or have me surprise her, and she wanted a surprise.  So I decided to take her to the Afternoon Tea at Grand America.  She loves to play tea, and one of the first things she purchased (and planned and saved for) with her allowance money was a tea set.  So mom curled her hair, and Grammie gave her a new party dress, but she still didn't know where we were going.  I think she was a little nervous about it when we left, and she kept asking me if we were going to a party.  I wasn't sure how much she really liked the experience, but when I asked her if she wanted to choose something for her next birthday, she said yes ... tea.  So I guess she did like it.  We decided, however, that next time we want Mom and Aunt Kris to come too for a girl's day out, and hopefully sometime before her next birthday!

This was some kind of blossom/plant that "flowered" in the glass of hot water, and made a kind of tea.  We decided that it was fun to watch it open up, but we'll pass on drinking it.

Sterling recently ran in one of the Ragnar relay races, called the Red Rock Relay, I believe.  For those who are not familiar with the Ragnar events, a team of 12 people (or 6, called super teams and each person has to run twice as far) run a course that is approximately 180-200 miles.  So each person runs A LOT.  The Red Rock started near Brian Head resort and ended up at the entrance of Zion's National Park.  I went down with Kris and Atty, and we met Sterling at the finish line.  What an accomplishment!!  And Steph has a Ragnar coming up next month.   I think they're a little bit crazy!

Here's Sterling's "fake finish."  He told us it would be about 5 minutes before his team assembled to do the official crossing of the finish line, and then all of the sudden they were doing it.  So we didn't get any good pictures of the real thing.  This is his reenactment.

Sterling with his team.  Also one picture of one of the many interesting teams, this one with chicken heads.  Another team all wore tutus. 

We stayed in a great condo in St. George, and had fun just relaxing (especially Sterling after the race - I think he was pretty wiped out).

We decided to drive home through Snow Canyon, then up Highway 18 to Cedar City, which was the way that the relay race went.  I didn't realize that the Mountain Meadows Massacre site was along this road until we came upon it.  Apparently there had been a dedication of the new marker earlier in the day, since that day - September 11 - was the anniversary.  We missed that, but stopped for a few somber moments.

So Sterling's driving along and all of the sudden pulls over - he had spotted a HUGE hairy tarantula walking across the road!  We made a somewhat poor attempt (but successful in the end) to help it across the road.  Sterling wanted to take it home, but it was not about to cooperate!  I think Kris was pretty relieved at that.

This past weekend I went to the Utah State Fair with Kris and Sterling and Atty.  I only go to the Fair once every several years, and when I go I always remember why I don't go more often ... too many people, and too many weird people.  But it's always interesting!  Atty liked the animals, but even though Kris was initially gung-ho to see them, caged animals always make her sad.  Plus, of course, they stink. 

And, of course, there's always the butter sculptures ...

But I think my favorite was the fine arts entries, especially from the kids.  Amazing!!  These were all done by kids age 11 and younger - the last one age 7.

I really, really had a craving for a weird fair food item.  However, the line was way too long at the booth that was selling the truly weird stuff (maggot melt sandwiches, chocolate covered scorpions, etc.), which was probably for the best.  We ended up sharing a cheesecake-stuffed scone.  YUM!!