Getting ready for Christmas

For our family Christmas party we decided to take the family to Wolf Creek this year for a couple fo days. I think everyone had a good time. It's hard to get everyone's schedules worked out so that everyone could be there the entire time but we did a pretty good job. Zach had to leave a day early to go and pick up Hayan at the airport. Hayan couldn't make it up at all, she was in Korea. Karie and Tyler came up late Friday night after Karie's family party and Jocelyn and Brandon came up mid-day on Friday. Wayne and I were there on Thursday night just to get things settled in before the kids arrived. Pretty eventful weekend actually when it comes right down to it. Someone stole Wayne's snowboard out of Zach's car - discovered that on Sunday morning in the middle of a snow storm as Zach was getting ready to leave for the airport. Zach was pretty bummed and he did his best to let everyone he could find that morning know that his board was missing. That seemed like a hopeless idea but about an hour or so later the front desk called and someone had ditched the board in the snow and some kind sole had found it and turned it in. Blessing!! Count your blessings! Tyler wasn't so lucky when he found out that while he was away relaxing, Brigham City impounded his truck for parking it on the street during a snow storm. It was an expensive life lesson. Other than that things went pretty much as planned. We played games, watched movies and the kids played in the snow. I baked cookies with the girls and we had a great time. I'm so glad most everyone was able to be there. Maybe next time Hayan will be able to join us. Now we are all looking forward to Christmas.. I love this time of year. Jocelyn and Brandon gave us great news, they are having a baby girl. I guess it would have been great if it were a boy too, either way. We are just excited to be grandparents again and we're excited for them to be parents.

Girls Night Out

Tonight we had a girls night out - 18 of us to be exact! 10 of us started the night out with dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. Linda celebrated her "not" birthday with a saddle ride and a yippy-aye from the entire restaurant crowd. How old are you again Linda????
Menopause the Musical finished off the night. It was a blast. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Actually, it mirrored life so closely that we often have very similar laughs in our office on a daily basis. When we told our boss we were going to "Menopause" tonight he said "I didn't know you could go through it in just one night"!

Our last day in Victoria

Today is Sunday and we leave Victoria tomorrow. We will board the ferry for Vancouver in the morning and we will do some sightseeing on on our way. We will stop in Seattle and visit Waynes cousin Cindy and her husband Calvin. We left it up to them as to where we will eat, I'm excited to see what the choose for us. Today we started the day early - or I should say early for us 0900. We picked up Wayne at his conference and we headed to Buchart gardens. We spent nearly 3 hours there. We came back to the condo and walked down to the warf to a place called "Barbs" for what was touted as the best fish and chips. It was super busy so we figured the ads were right. It was good but they failed to add the part that it was way over priced! Wayne and I spent over $40 for 2 baskets of fish and fries and 2 drinks. It was good but $40 good? Seriously. Anyhow. After lunch we walked back home and took the car to the art museum. It was really good and we spent 2 hours there. They had a couple of munks there doing sand art. It was really interesting to watch. We came back home, played some cribbage while we waited until we were ready for dinner. We grilled steaks and had potatos and corn and salad. It's kind of sad we have to leave tomorrow but the vacation has been great and I've enjoyed my time with Wayne.

Day 2 Victoria

Another great day! We started off picking Wayne up at the Marriott downtown - his anesthesia conference ended around 12:30. From there we went out on a walking tour. We did "Old Town" and covered a lot of area, that's all I can say about that. Hayan and I are both stiff and sore. The last stop on our walking tour was the Craigdarroch Castle. It is really beautiful. Afterwards we walked to dinner down by the warf to a place called Nautical Nellies Steak and Seafood. Wayne and Hayan had a plate of oysters to start with. Zach had a steak for dinner and the rest of us had incredible seafood dishes. It was really good. Afterwards we walked a few more blocks to a little shop that sells gelato. $7 for a small cone! Crazy!! I'm telling you this place is not a bargin by any stretch! Tomorrow we are going to Buchart gardens and an art museum. Then we are going to drive around the island before we head home on Monday.

Day one in Victoria

First day was pretty interesting. The sun finally came out
today after a rainy day yesterday. I started the day out with a walk along the waterfront. After a small misunderstanding with Wayne between where we were to meet, we finally figured it all out and we headed out for an afternoon of walking and sightseeing. We shopped along the way, stopped in a great chocolate shoppe called "Rogers" and took a tour of the Paliment buliding. Afterwards we headed to dinner at a German restaurant called Ratskeller's. It was my first experience with German food. I know, hard to believe but it's true. I expected to disappointed but instead I was very impressed. Wayne and I shared a plate that was much like a sampler plate. It was a little bit of everything. We had an apple fritter for dessert served with ice cream shared 4 ways! Yummy. Afterwards we stopped by a bunch of local shops for shopping.
The weather has been cool, however fall is not really here yet. The leaves have only begun to change. We are probably a week early.
As for the price of food and things here... very pricey. I walked down to the local market this morning to pick up some butter and cream cheese for the bagels we bought. I paid $3.99 for 1/2 pound of butter and $4.79 for a small tub of cream cheese. Oh well, it's vacation right?!

Grandpa, Crab's on sale!

Every now and again we get a call from our sweet little Sydnee informing us that crab is on sale and can we please have her up to our house for crab dinner. Wayne is always eager to oblige! This time was no exception. As you can see from the pics Savannah is getting the hang of it too. Eating crab for a little one is not so easy. Cracking the crab without getting poked can be quite tricky but Sydnee is eager to teach her sister her crab eating skills. This particular day Savannah was most interested in the "see food" diet as she gave us an open mouth view of most everything that went inside. She especially loved the whipped cream on the berries it made for a lovely mess. I love having the girls up, they are such a delight. It is obvious to Wayne and I that we have been richly blessed and hope that our children continue to bless us with more grandchildren. It is truly what life is all about! I hope that one day when the kids are older they will be able to look back at their days with us with fond memories and these pictures might help them remember some of the great times we've had.

My mom is home again!!!

Well, she's gone from nearly dead to wow in a little over a month! There is so much to be grateful for. August 16th mom underwent emergency bowel surgery and was septic with a serious infection. Due to her age and condition, physicians were not overly enthusiastic about her ability to beat this. However, here she is, just 5 weeks later. She's received 3 weeks of excellent rehab care at Alpine Transitional Rehab in Brigham City and she is now back at home with my dad and doing very well. As my dad would say "I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in!". We enjoyed a nice fall evening outside on their patio, listening to the waterfall and enjoying one anothers company. We had fresh peaches and ice cream and played cribbage. My kids are all sick with colds and such so only Zach was able to visit. My brothers youngest, Michael and his wife Christa and their baby Hadley came by. My mom just loves babies and especially her great-grandchildren. It's so exciting to see mom look and feel so good. She actually looks better today than she did the day she fell and broke her pelvis. I think she's moving better and I think she has more confidence. Oh sure, she still has a walker for those longer walks but as far as getting around the house, she is doing just fine. I love my parents and I'll never be ready for them to go but I think each time our time is extended it makes me appreciate my time with them even more.

She's come a long way!

Wayne I left for our family vacation to Lake Powell on Friday August 14th but not before spending Thursday night in the ER with my mom. 2 weeks into her fractured pelvis and now she's looking either to have a UTI or just dehydrated. An ambulance ride to the ED and a general workup and they weren't too much closer to a diagnosis. With mixed feelings I went ahead and headed on vacation Friday morning. By Saturday morning they had moved her to the ICU because of hypotension. An abdominal CT would eventually reveal a surgical emergency. Basically mom was septic and very sick. These first pictures are of mom immediately post-operatively Saturday night. She was septic from diverticulitis. It wasn't until days later that the surgeon was open with mom and dad and told them that he really didn't expect her to make it and here she is just a short 2 weeks later in her bright orange scrubs learning to walk again. She's actually a fisty little thing. She is doing so well it's just amazing! She says she isn't smiling because she hates her picture taken. You should have seen her the other day when she had the biggest case of the giggles ever! We are so blessed to have mom AND dad here to enjoy with us.

Have you ever stopped and thought "Hey this is where I live!"

I went for a walk last night with Wayne and we walked on the new walking path around the lake. It's beautiful here in Mantua and I love living here but sometimes I forget to notice or appreciate all of the beauty. We had our dog Hank with us last night and we passed many neighbors and friends out doing the same thing - exercising and enjoing the beautiful scenery and weather. At one point during the walk I just kept repeating - "I live here." I LIVE here" "I live HERE". After 17 years of living in this beautiful valley, I think it finally set in that this is my home. This is where I live. It's small town with a country store and a little town hall. A cop that everyone knows no matter where you go! I never in my wildest dreams thought I would live in Mantua or Brigham or anywhere around here. It wasn't until I was an adult that I really stopped to think that this is where most of my family is originally from. I actually have Great Grandparents who came to Mantua in the late 1800's and are buried right here in the Mantua cemetary. Here are a few pictures I've taken these past few weeks of "where I live".

Weekend on the lake

This is my 4th attempt at a post, the site keeps crashing. So Saturday we went over to Mantua for some boating with the family. Kids are mastering the wake surfing and I continue to enjoy the sun. Syd and Savannah enjoy it all. I'll include some pictures.

Margaret and Emmett's 50th Anniversary

We celebrated with Waynes parent's yesterday for the 50th anniversary. We went to lunch at Maddox followed by an open house at the Roy 8th ward. Besides the many friends and neighbors that came to celebrate we had most of our family there too. My parents came, all of my kids except Zach but Hayan was sweet and came without him. Her sister (Sooah) along with her darling baby (Sohpie) came, her mother and her mothers friend also came along. It was especially kind since neither her mother or her mothers friend speak any English so we were back to the head nodding and smiling - funny how much our faces can communicate without actually saying a word. Happy Anniversary Margaret and Emmett, you are great examples to your family and we love you!