11 days in a nutshell

This is going to be a long post because I am in catch up mode. It has been a busy week and a half and I'll put pictures on later today. OK here goes...

Monday 8/31--Get Fern ready for the day than pack all her stuff for her flight to Tennessee. She leaves at 1:00. Pick up Gary from school at 1:30 for his driving test in Tooele. Pack up for a 2 night stay at Brighton Ski Resort. Have dinner with Rick at The Cheesecake Factory. All I can say is WOW! Delicious! We bought 4 pieces of cheesecake to enjoy for the next 2 nights! Get checked into our room than go on a hike.

Tuesday 9/1--Have a late breakfast than play 9 holes of golf. Got par on 3 holes! Yea! The other holes I won't mention:) Buy some flower boxes for the front of our house from Tuscan Gardens. LOVE these boxes. Have to order 2 more 'cause I need 4. Go to Sports Authority and buy 2 new bikes for each of us. Rick's old one is down and out and I'm just ready for a new one. Test drive them around the parking lot and have the kinks fixed. Happily drive back up to Brighton to have patio seating at the Silver Canyon restaurant. Get back to our room and have an INCREDIBLE moose experience. (details & pics coming later today)

Wednesday 9/2--Pack up and leave. Greg and Leslie will take out last night here at the Chalet.
Have breakfast at Kneaders. Bought some ribbon there 'cause I'm a ribbon freak! Head for home to unpack, throw in a load of laundry and go to Walmart to begin my next project. Painting the bathroom. I buy a couple of shirts for my twins because we're having family pics next week. Meet with the countertop guy to choose some new granite. Woohoo! The bathroom's gonna be great! Come home, tape off bath and start to prime. Fix dinner, eat, send Rick off for church stuff than finish priming the corners. Fall into bed.

Thursday 9/3--Guys come early to start stuccoing the house. Chester's a nervous wreck and stays within 3 feet of me all morning. I spend the day painting (2 coats of coarse). Meet with the countertop guy again because we decide to change the countertops not only in the main bath but both upstairs baths. Our renovations are getting bigger (and more expensive). My mom calls about 4:00 and says they'll be in town TONIGHT! Yikes! So not ready but I quickly get their room ready and head off to get my hair done. Thanks Kristi, I love it! Come home to find my mom and dad have just pulled up. Visit for the next couple of hours. Fall into bed.

Friday 9/4--Stucco guys come early. Coutertop guys next. Plumbers late and there is a problem. Have to shut down the main water valve until he gets here. Parents are just hanging around in all the noise, mess, and chaos. By 1:00 everyone is out of my house (except the stucco guys outside) and we're off with my parents to Midway for Swiss Days! Have a GREAT time buying stuff for my new bath. See Pres. Uchtdorf and his wife for the 2nd year in a row! Can't help but stare:) The year before that it was Pres. Holland in a ball cap and sunglasses selling pie and ice cream. No joke! Had dinner at Cracker Barrell. Love their house salad! Head home. Visit a while longer and than drop into bed.

Saturday 9/5-- Countertop guy comes early and finishes backsplash. I visit with my mom for 1 1/2 hours while Rick makes breakfast. Dad and mom pack up to leave and the dogs have mysteriously dissapeared. We look for a full 1/2 hour. Nothing! Rick finally gets in the car and finds them clear at the end of Sun Valley Dr. I think they were headed for Tooele! Gary doesn't want to spend the day with us and throws a major hissy fit. We load up the bikes and make him come anyway! Both him and Rick are mad so we have a VERY quiet ride to Salt Lake and Spanish Fork to pick up the girls. Pick up some KFC and head to the Jordan Valley Parkway. Not quite sure where to put in on the bike path so we pull into a parking lot. Have a picnic on a thin strip of grass and cross the weeds to get to the path. Nothing like fresh air and excercise to make you feel better. We're all a lot happier by now so we decide to stop for some frozen yogurt at the Red Mango. One word-YUCK. I had a sample and said, " Uh, we're going to Cold Stone". Brought BOTH girls home for an overnighter. A little worried about that but Alyssia was very pleasant. Into bed finally!

Sunday 9/6--Ward Council than off to church. Fast Suday! Dangit I totally forgot. We'll have to fast next week. So enjoyed testimony meeting. It always strengthens me. Come home. Fix dinner. Eat than off to take Leesh back to Penny's. Rick and I stop at 3 places in SL to see where we want to have our family pics taken. Old Garden Church is beautiful but we decide on the Int'l Peace Gardens. Who knew this place was even here. It's pretty cool but in a bad part of town. Came home and played 2 rounds of Settlers of Cataan with Gare. I totally dominated:)

Monday 9/7--Clean house with kids' help than Rick and I head off shopping. I have a gift certificate to Dress Barn (my fav store) and buy an outfit for tomorrows pics. I have totally received a LOT of flack because I took mother's perogative and outvoted the kids on the colors we would have for our family pics. We had decided to where black. I was thinking like in a sunflower field or something but I don't know BLACK! So I changed it to reds, browns, and creams. Oh man, my kids did NOT like that decision but that's the joy of being THE MOM. Whatever you say goes:) Anyhow Rick and I finished buying stuff for the boys and then came home to fix dinner and can 2 boxes of pears. Rick made us a mean peach cobbler and we were happy!

Tuesday 9/8--Kait and Ken both took the day off school 'cause it's our picture day. We just hang around all morning enjoying being together and getting ready. I don't know...family picture days have always been stressful for me. I guess I just want everything to go perfect. We're supposed to meet at the Peace Gardens at 3:30. I drive up and Courtney our photographer is there waiting. Rick's on the phone putting out a fire at work. No sign of Sky, Ken, & Gare who were driving together. They are still 15 minutes away. Why we have to come to SL in 3 different vehicles I just don't understand. Skylar pulls up and the first thing I notice is that yes, he's wearing the shirt I bought him but underneath has this blaring white Tee with some huge BLUE logo. Skylar, I said browns and reds not blue! Oh well, What do you do? We had a fun time taking pics. Courney's great and than we got to eat at Olive Garden afterwards!

Wedensday 9/9--Cleaned house and then spent THE WHOLE REST of the day trying to get Skylar's open house invites ready. Why do I have to make things so difficult. Just get some invitations already.

Thursday 9/10--Spent the whole day canning peaches. 31 quarts! I love having my shelves full. It's a LOT of work but so worth it in the middle of the winter to have yummy peaches. Tile guys came today and set the tile. They will be finished tomorrow. YEA! Went to the temple with the Stake Presidency. Very nice! They are preparing for Stake Conference this weekend. Had dinner at Tepanyaki afterwards. Lots of fun.

Well that's it! 11 days in a nutshell. It's a crazy, busy life. But a GREAT one!