Happy Birthday to Me

Another Prime birthday (geek joke).  I had two parties, one at home today, with taco salad--a pedestrian name for something exquisite, especially John's fresh salsa and Amy's homemade lime cilantro salad dressing.  And triple chocolate cake, which always makes me look this way:

Amy and I went to a party yesterday in SLC, which included a visit to Colette's school art fair.  Johnathan and Colette showed off their mad playground skillz, as a prologue to the festivities.

We saw Colette's class' projects, played games, ate treats, and watched performances at Ensign Elementary.  We had pasta, pizza, and chocolate brownies at home when the fair became just too exciting to bear.  Rob gave me a set of four vampire movies, and Nicolle gave me a succulent planting which she had put together.  When I brought it home, John found a tiny plastic snake to add to the collection.

Today Betsy, Ellie,

and Ethan came to lunch, along with Amy, Jamison, and Dex.

We sat out in the sun and the rain with the kitties.

I might need to rename Claudio "Cheshire" (he sort of looks like it, except for the lack of a smile), because

my Alice statue finally arrived.  As you can see, I need to decide on siting, what sort of base to use, how to do the garden around her, etc.

Lots more fun presents, including music from John, a Mary Poppins bag of fun stuff from Grandma Gene, and a date in with Amy.  Betsy's going to help me find a base or plinth for the Alice statue.

But best present and last of all, we caught Ellie's first real smile on camera!  She was talking to Amy:

and had a lot to say:

although some of it wasn't that interesting:

Still, what a cutie.  Three weeks old.

Betsy promised she was going to post pix on her blog, so check it out.

So We Went to Hawaii Again...

...Rob got Chris a buddy pass and off we went in three separate groups. John and Chris flew to LA on Thursday and on to Honolulu Friday, where they rented a car and visited the North Shore. They climbed Temple Hill, ate at the Seasider, walked out to Goat Island, visited John's old office. Our old house from 18 years ago is torn down! John took photos of everything, and I'll try to get copies up on the blog.

Nicolle, the kids and I tried for the direct flight to Honolulu Friday morning but ended up traveling via LA, and were about 4 hours later getting there than we'd planned. Rob got off work early and came 2 hours after us. We rode the bus to Waikiki from the airport and went straight to bed. Above is the view from our hotel lanai. The next morning, John, Chris, and Rob climbed Diamond Head while Nicolle, the kids, and I went to the beach. Nicolle was working on a paper for her class so I had the babies and didn't take photos.

Colette was very impressed with her mom's beautiful beach dress and wore it Saturday while we rested back at the hotel.

We totally skipped lunch but had an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

Chris practices his suave look:

John, Chris and I took the kids to the beach so Rob and Nicolle could go off on their own. It was brightly lit and beautiful. The water was warm. Sort of warm--by the end they were freezing of course.



Sand fight! This can only end badly.

John found a green inner tube abandoned on the beach. And an orange one. And two beach mats. And then we had to carry them back to the hotel along with the sandy, shivering children.

Mermaid Colette:

The next morning while Nicolle worked on her paper at the hotel, the rest of us went back to the beach.

Chris worked on his tan.

Everybody else used sunscreen.

Little clam Colette:



After showers and lunch we checked out and rode the bus around the island to Sea Life Park.


The coral tank was the most interesting and beautiful part of the park. We watched the rays and other fish.

We watched them feed the turtles.

We saw the dolphins and sea lions.




We saw a few birds as well.


Colette found a hibiscus blossom.

We rode the bus to the Ala Moana Mall for dinner, and some of us shopped while the rest waited.

The flight was not bad coming back--there were enough empty seats to stretch out and get some sleep. Even so, Chris and I were pretty useless the next day. However, John went straight back to school and Rob to work, dedicated souls that they are. I tried that last time and was grateful this time for a day to recover.

Below, feeding the rays at Sea Life Park:

The Rest of November

Mom and I decided to take a little overnight trip to Annabella to visit Cindy and fam. Michael came home from SUU (with a friend, above, in red--a cousin to our Lifferth neighbors in Springville), so we were there for his birthday party.

John and I went to our writing group at Charlotte's house. She is working on her contribution for the book about Gene. I hope she writes her own book as well. I have video of her telling a story from their adventures on a mission in Samoa--two married 19 year olds--Gene using a machete, hitting a wasps' nest, and slicing open his thumb--very funny (after the fact, of course).

John and I went to the BYU/USU basketball game. I kept missing the plays because I was too busy looking at the fans. It was sort of fun to hear them berate the refs: "Oh come on! Come ON! Ya think so? Oh really?" and so forth. John says when Uncle Bob is with him the comments from the stands are considerably more salty.

I went to The Farm with Rob and the babes. They love Tena's airplane even in the snow.

We visited the tack room with Grandpa:

and walked around the farm yard:

We went up the lane to see if the pond was frozen enough to slide on.

It was a lot of fun to watch the fish beneath ice clear as glass:


Grandpa tests the ice. Crack! Nope, not safe yet.

We walked with Grandpa up the hill to help feed the cows:


Later, John and I went with Rob, Colette, Johnathan, Betsy, and Ethan to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

Ethan liked this dinosaur which was just his size:

Here he tries on his dinosaur face (and shows his beautiful teeth).

Johnathan and Ethan check out the dinosaur foot.

Johnathan plays in the sand and water place, which is a big hit with the kids:

Massive shark:

The Utahraptor is pretty creepy:

I can't believe I took no photos of Thanksgiving. We (John, Chris, and I) ate here with Mom, Dad, Grandma Gene, Rob, Colette, and Johnathan (Nicolle flew to Ft. Worth for her mom's birthday and to help her sisters drive back with a car). John did a great job with the turkey, gravy, and stuffing; Chris did the potatoes; Mom brought salad, relish try veggies, and pumpkin pies; I did rolls, cherry pies, apple pie, lemon meringue pie, and chocolate cream pie, and whatever else. Colette set the table. When I talked to Dave he said he was disappointed that we only had seven pies for nine people, not 1:1 as we've sometimes had in the past. Oh well.