Birthday Shout Out For July and Home Work

Our Miss Adelaide 

holds the BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT for July

all by herself!

Addie is dainty and petite and is a beautiful girlie girl.

Her favorite color is most definitely PINK!

She plays fantasy games, complete with dialogue and songs

and she could charm a snake!

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Roger love to chat with this

high vocabulary little sprite!

Being home for more than a couple weeks in a row, 

Roger and I have been working on PROJECTS:

• He fixed my oven and clothes dryer doors
• We did closet cleanings, resulting in several bags of clothes being donated to DI
• We sorted through several boxes in our rented storage room,
• (with the goal to eliminate that monthly bill)  
• Gathered all of our 8 Mm home movie reels,
• super 8s and VHS tapes to send away to be digitalized (a long overdue thing to do!)
•  I hooked up this Pipes of Pam blog to be made into books.

Ahh, feels good to get long-put-off things done!

And we visited our dear friends, Jane and Dan Madsen, 

from college days before they head out to Brisbane, Australia 

on their LDS mission.

So many fun things are coming up in the next three months - 

can't wait!

Adelaide Is Four!

Was it time already - really?

Yes.  In fact. it was past time to head Up North 

for Jess to color/cut my hair.

A-n-d, Addie turned 4, and was having a family birthday party/barbeque in their new backyard in Highland.

Mindy's family has lived too far away (New York, Denver, Houston) for us to attend birthday parties, 

so now that they live in Utah, 

Grandma and Grandpa were excited to go to one.

And, oh, was this little Miss Adelaide excited!

Addie opened our gift before all of the guests arrived.

She was tickled with her DOTS purse, 

filled with little girl make-up and a little bit of money.

Jeff and Mindy have been working hard to get their front and back yards planted, their fence up, their patio built AND Jeff assembled an amazing playhouse in the backyard.

Grandpa Roger was recruited to hang Mindy's party lights from the back of the house to the new playhouse.

The menu for the BBQ consisted of grilled marinated flank steak . . .

. . . grilled fresh corn salad, grilled fresh pineapple and Lion House rolls (Mindy makes great homemade rolls, but the goal for this menu was to not have to turn on the indoor oven).

All of Jeff's family who were in town were invited -

 Matt and his girlfriend, Susie and her new husband

and, of course, Grandma Rosemary and Grandpa Brent.

Mindy's college friend, Anna, and her little girl, arrived to stay overnight with Mindy,

so they also got to come to the birthday party.

As luck would have it, a big thunderstorm let loose just when we were ready to eat, 

so we ate indoors, but it worked out great.

I absolutely love Jeff's mom, Rosemary, 

and it was great to catch up a little with her.

Addie was the belle of the ball, 

and she flitted from guest to guest, laughing and playing with them.

When it was Present Time, we all gathered around.

Aunt Susie covered up Addie's eyes.

When she opened them, there was a big pink (Addie's favorite color) chair from Mom and Dad.

Now, close them again, tight . . .

(Pugly closed his eyes, too1)

. . . WOW, a new purple bike (Addie's other favorite color)!

SOOOO happy!

And a new crash helmet and a Belle doll from Grandma and Grandpa Lind!

Hey, Charlie, you're lookin' good!

Grandpa Rog takes all of the great pics,

and we can't leave him out, 

so he gets a cuddle from the birthday girl.

We were treated with Cupcake Wars Champion cupcakes from Pleasant Grove - 

Yum!

Time to blow out the candles.

Addie blows . . . 

. . . and blows . . . 

. . . .and blows . . . 

. . . and . . . 

what's that?

Not all out?

I did it!

!

A new purple bike, a pink and purple crash helmet, and a sucker in your mouth - 

- does it get any better than that?

I don't think so!

A Vegas Pre-Fourth And Happy Birthday, USA!

I am of the age that I need reminders, more than I used to need.

Someone told me that we of a certain age have so much crammed into our brains, 

that it is like having to access multiple files, 

stored up through all of our years of memories and learning.

Picture a giant filing cabinet, 

with tabs poking up, labeled in years, events, people, places, things, etc.

It takes me a little longer to pull something up these days.

I love the 4th of July, because it helps me remember and focus on how much I love my country.

I have many, many memories of times I have felt that chill down my spine of pride and love for the USA.

Traveling to another country will do it for me every time.

I LOVE to experience other cultures, 

but I never leave them without a fuller realization 

of how much I appreciate the one I live in.

Sousa's, The Stars And Stripes Forever, accesses my folder marked Patriotism immediately.

Roger and I, without any plans with family for July 4, 2014,

had a little pre-4th venture to Las Vegas.

We looked at cars in car lots in anticipation of our Maxima, with over 250,000 miles racked up on her, 

dying in the probably not-too-distant future. 

We ate dinner at Mon Ami Gabi,

Steamed mussels (and steamed clams) are my all-time favorites!

and stayed at a firecracker special nice hotel room.

Next day we shopped the sales at Primm for gifts,

and had lunch/dinner at Joe's Stone Crab,

picked up groceries at Trader Joe's,

(I see a Joe theme here!)

then drove home.

The 4th at our house was very quiet,

allowing time for reflection on our afore-mentioned Patriotism files.

Our fireworks this year were the spectacular ones viewed on TV 

of the celebrations Back East.

It was an all-together satisfying reminder and holiday.

Rick & Josh Visit, A Sister Weekend, A Stacy Stop Over & Aggie Night

Hasta Luego, Jetta; Hello, Lake Powell; A Stacy Stop and Arriba! It's Our Aggie Night Fiesta!

In a recent trip Up North,

we discovered that extra wheels were needed at Rick's house, 

which now has two teen drivers.

With two other cars still in working order,

we volunteered my faithful little 1996 Jetta.

Rick and Josh came to St. George to pick it up,

but not before Roger gave her a hand wax job

and found some good lookin' wheel covers from 

another wrecked Jetta in a junkyard.

I've been driving my Jetta with three hubcaps

(couldn't find a match anywhere).

The guys golfed a couple of times

and we had some good meals together.

It was fun to just have the guys 

to ourselves for a couple of days.

Hasta luego, Jetta -

See you in ten months!

The annual Lake Powell Party on Jerry's houseboats

was the following weekend,

and this year, I begged off 

so I could catch up with my sister, Kay.

We slept at our house Thursday night,

then Friday morning the AC went out.

Yikes! My worst nightmare!

Over 100 degrees and no air conditioning!

I tracked down a repair man and the diagnosis - 

we needed a new one, 

and they couldn't install it until Monday!

I had prepared food for our weekend together,

so we hauled it over to Kay's in Bloomington Hills,

and proceeded on with our Sister Retreat.

We talked, ate, watched a video, talked, went out to eat, 

I went to her choir rehearsal, then sang 

in her ward choir, talked, ate and talked.

It was awesome!

Roger drove to Antelope Crossing on Thursday,

and returned Sunday afternoon.

When he arrived at the marina, he was last to get there,

and slept on the Swift Get-Away, instead of the Big Dog. 

They cruised both houseboats up the channel about two hours,

 then parked side by side.

He said that the meals were great,

and the company was even better.

There were 26 classmates and friends this year.

They took their annual boat ride up the channel, 

then hiked to Rainbow Bridge.

Stacy, with Sydney, Londyn, Maddy, Luke and Max, drove to our home from Mesa late Sunday night.  They were on their way Up North for Young family festivities and for Syd to be fitted for her YA costumes.  We stayed up late visiting, then they were off after lunch on Monday.  We were happy for the quick visit with this upbeat and much loved family.

The following Thursday night was our Aggie Dinner 

at our home - an Aggie Mexican Fiesta!

I made a fun layered dip with blended black beans flavored with sweet onion, fresh garlic, lime juice and cilantro on the bottom, avocado, fresh corn, cilantro and lime juice in the middle, 

then topped with fresh tomato and crumbled Cotija on top.

I found a good recipe for non-alcoholic Sangria,

with chopped up apple, pear and berries,

then you add ginger ale.

Our main course was Stacy's recipe for yummy chicken enchiladas,

and Mary brought a great Mexican tossed salad.

Anne made a delicious ice cream cake roll for dessert.

We remembered to take a pic after we had all cleaned our plates.

We enjoy these guys so much 

and have great fun at our get-togethers.

Posted a day late, 

that about sums up our June.

Here is hoping that our triple digit temps 

won't seem forever!