Teague's 3rd Birthday

Our handsome little guy, Teague, turned three a little over a week ago.  I decided to start a tradition of having a "Grammie Date" for the special birthday child, so Teague and I headed out to have some fun at This Is The Place park, to be followed by lunch at McDonalds.  However, I severely underestimated the response to TITP park's Free Admission Day.  After sitting in traffic that moved about half a mile in half an hour, I suggested to Teague that maybe we should go to the zoo instead.  He was absolutely happy with that idea, so the zoo it was.  I also suggested that maybe we could have lunch inside the zoo, and he was okay with that too (such an agreeable child!).  We had a grand day at the zoo, followed by ice cream at home with Mom and Kaiya.

Also followed (although not technically part of the Grammie Date) by a tea party hosted by Kaiya.

Dance Recital

Kaiya has been taking tap/ballet lessons, to the absolute delight of her Aunt Kris, who was (and still is) so very passionate about dance.  Recently, Kaiya's dance company had a recital at Kingsbury Hall.  I had no idea that the company was that big, because every time I have taken her to dance, there weren't many students around.  But I forget that the older kids would only be coming in the afternoon, evenings and/or weekends, while the preschool crowd comes during the day.  At any rate, it was a HUGE recital, with something like 50 different numbers.  Here's a picture of Kaiya's group on stage, which isn't a very good shot obviously.

Here's some much better shots of after the show.  Kaiya was pretty delighted to receive flowers from her mom and dad.  And we're all so proud of our newest little ballerina!

Lake Powell

We have been planning a family get together at Lake Powell for some time now, and last week it all came together, thanks mostly to my sister Karen and her husband Mike.  They spent the week there, as did Steph and Mickel and the kids.  I decided to go down the Wednesday after Memorial Day.  Kara and her family also went down then.  We missed Hunter, as he had decided to visit a friend in Flagstaff for the later part of the week.  And Brandon, and Kris & Sterling weren't able to make it down this time (we sure did miss all of you!!).  We had so much fun, we decided to make it an annual tradition (though perhaps a bit later in the year ... the water was COLD!).  I owe a big thank you to Steph and Mickel for letting me bunk with them.  It's always nice to spend as much time as possible with my grandbabies. 

Kaiya and Teague had a lot of fun before I got there, fishing and hiking.  Apparently, their fishing skills put the adults to shame.  

We had some gorgeous weather, although a bit windy at times.  The first day we had a lot of beach time.  Kaiya has always loved playing in the sand.  Teague, not so much.  But this trip, he ended up having a lot of fun in the sand.

We also went on a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam, which was very interesting.  It's weird to be inside and at the bottom of the dam.  It's truly amazing what man can build.  I believe that Kaiya and Teague enjoyed the tour, even if Kaiya did say later that it was boring.

So ... new family tradition: Lake Powell.  Let's get even more people there next year!

Mother's Day in Moab

Steph and Mickel invited me to go with them for a weekend jaunt down to Moab for some hiking. I had not been down there for quite a few years (the girls and I used to go regularly), and I forgot just how spectacularly beautiful it truly is. We went for quite a few hikes in Arches National Monument. When we weren't doing that, the kids were swimming. The weather was absolutely perfect - in the 80s, with sunny skies and a breeze. It was pretty hard to come back to Salt Lake's cold rain!

Delicate Arch, while being one of the more challenging places to get to, is so dramatically beautiful - it's almost shocking as you come around that last bend. At least this time we managed to not get lost on the trail and end up coming up the face! And you know how you meet people you know in weird places? Well, I ran into a former co-worker (DJ) at the top. It's a small world!

The kids loved Balanced Rock. Teague especially wanted to always be sure that it hadn't fallen yet.

Kaiya is an absolute fish in the water. She dives, retrieves stuff off the bottom ... pretty much anything.

Teague's already in Level 2! He has always loved the water. Sand ... not so much.

Thanks again, Sharp family, for an absolutely perfect Mother's Day! 

Family

This weekend, in addition to it being Easter weekend, I was lucky enough to have both of my sisters in town for a visit - Valerie from Nevada, and Karen from Arizona.  It was really just a coincidence, as both had planned earlier visits and had to postpone.  I was so glad it worked out that they were both here at the same time!  The sisters had a sleep-over on Saturday night, following a fun dinner with Steph and family, Kris and family and Kara and family.  What a houseful!  And what fun!  Here's baby sister Karen on the right, Val in the middle, and big sister.

Our very own Charlie's Angels!

On Easter, the girls and I (my girls, that is) and families went for our traditional Easter brunch at Market Street Grill.  Our kids all (young and old) looked so great!  These are my favorite people in all the world.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. 

 

  

 

Visit from Tim and Mark

My friends Tim and Mark were up from Tucson for a visit a few weeks ago, and it was fun to have the chance to hang out with them.  Tim received a Christmas present of tickets to the Donnie and Marie show ... here in Utah.  Now, if I had really been paying attention at all, I would have figured out that the show isn't playing in Salt Lake City, and I would have called Tim to tell him so.  Luckily (?) I have been in my own little fog, so it truly never dawned on me that I hadn't heard anything about the show being here.  I was just glad there was a reason bringing them here for a visit.  So ... the reason for the visit obviously wasn't Donnie and Marie.  Instead, Tim's true surprise was tickets to the Lady Gaga concert.  And, on top of that, the surprise of a California friend joining him for the show (the "other Susan").  Anyway, we had a lot of fun during their visit.  We went to brunch at Market Street, hung out at Shannon's, and had lunch at Little America.  I always have such a great time with them!