New Addiction

I am so enjoying my Saturday Sampler class at American Quilting in Orem!  This month's assignment has been piecing a star within a circle and then appliqueing the circle onto a square block we made last month.  I've never done anything like this before, and it was so much fun to make!  I'm really happy with how my blocks turned out!

We just returned from spending a few relaxing days in Bremerton with Dad.
The weather couldn't have been better -- sunny and 70's!

We stopped at the Seattle Temple on our way to the ferry, and we enjoyed the ride to Bremerton.

Some pics from our walk downtown with Dad and another walk on a trail in the Illahee Preserve just off of Ridell Road.

And, we stopped for lunch at Dan and Louis with Michael and went to Voodoo Donuts afterward!

It was great to see Michael again, and the donuts weren't bad either!

We enjoyed our trip very much, but it's also really good to be home again.

Walk This Way!!

Vroom!  Vroom!  

Virginia and me before our walk!

Who is Who???

Wearing our custom shirts in honor of our walk-a-holic Dad! 

(And us, too!)

Don's Diminishing Daughters

Tuppence a Bag. . .

We enjoy watching flocks of these beautiful little blue birds at our bird feeder!  Usually when we get close enough to take a picture, they fly away.  But, Ken got this one through the window, and it's pretty good.  I'll never think "eats like a bird" again.  These guys go through a quart of food every other day!

Friday the 13th is GOOD Luck!

Virginia and I are going to walk a 5K next Saturday.  I was hoping to be at my WW goal by then.  But when I weighed in this morning, I'd already made it!  Woohoo!  I'm so excited!  Yikes!  My Before picture is pretty motivating!  The Now picture includes the 21# of "fat" I've lost!

 

Sisters, sisters. . .

Had dinner last night at Joe Vera's with my sisters and our husbands.  Yummy!  Then we went to the Swift's house and enjoyed visiting and having amazing smoothies and cookies.

Ken and I spent the day working in the yard.  My cute granddaughter Jennie helped me (as part of her value project.)  Here are a couple of spots in our yard.

And our reward is . . . a barbecue with our kids and grandkids tonight.  Pictures later!

Before

After

A really wild windstorm -- which I've named Hurricano Alberto -- roared through Spanish Fork this afternoon.  It blew branches off trees and scattered shingles from our roof all over our yard and into the street.  I'd post a picture, except that Dad cleaned it all up before I thought of grabbing my camera!!  I don't know if it's an upside or a downside, but we'll be getting a new roof!

We're going to Megan's class program tonight.  It's called "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?"  Cute!

Vanilla Beans

Yesterday, Ken and Julie and their family came over for dinner.  We had such a great time!  And Julie and Rachel did the boatload of dirty dishes!   One highlight -- for the first 10 months of his life, Neil has been very fond of his parents, and has had no reason to have anything to do with me!  (Unless crying counts)  Yesterday was the long-awaited first!  We played together for about an hour with the refrigerator magnets!  Score Happiness!

My vanilla is ready to use!  I opened the vodka vanilla this morning, and it smells heavenly!  I'm making some cookies to take to Grandma and some other ladies at Parkway.  Maybe if all the alcohol doesn't bake out, it will help them all be extra happy today!  (The dough is delicious!)

(Husband) Ken gave a fabulous talk in Church yesterday, and (son) Ken sang an excellent solo with the ward choir in his ward!

Buddy Power

Randy's best friend Devin came over this afternoon to play games.  Who knew Candyland Bingo, Uno, and Checkers could be so much fun?  They pretty much laughed non-stop for 2 hours! Then, they played Calvin Chess!  Too cute!

The smiley yellow cup is Randy's M & M stash!

Spring Break

What a great way to begin a day!  A group Skype call with Ken, Jessie, and Spencer from Goblin Valley and Stephanie and Harper from Sao Paulo!  Wouldn't the pioneers have loved Skype!

We spent Thursday and part of Friday with Scott and Stephanie and their kids at her family's "cabin" in Scofield.  They call it a cabin, but it's bigger than our house!  We had such a fun and relaxing time sleeping in, watching "How to Train Your Dragon," eating delicious food, and playing games!  Nothing beats Family Time!

And, last night, Ken and I met my three former roommates and their husbands at Los Hermanos for dinner.  It was such fun!  I got to see Sunny last summer, but I hadn't seen Cindy or Nancy for 26 years!  They all looked  just as wonderful as they did when we were 20!  We plan to get together again in October!  Can't wait!

Cindy and Renn Crump

Sunny and Mike Price

Nancy and Bruce Dastrup

True Blue Weekend

This was a real BYU Weekend!  On Thursday night, Ken, Randy, and I went to a Jazz Voices concert.  We totally loved it!  (The guy who directs the group also works for the Children's Choir.  He studied Jazz in college, and then became a Seminary teacher instead!  So he loves being able to use his jazz training.)
On Friday night, Virginia and I attended the Ballroom Dance Concert.  Wow!  The costumes and sets were so beautiful, and of course, the dancing was amazing!  I thoroughly enjoyed the evening visiting with Virginia (It went much too quickly) and watching the performance!
And, today, Ken went the the Easter Conference to hear Charles' presentation.  He said it was exceptional!

I'm loving all the strawberries and blueberries I got in my Bountiful Basket today.  Mmm!  It also included this critter.  I have no idea what it is. . .

Weight, Weight!

I'm so excited!  This week I lost 2.4#! (Didn't eat any flex points)  Here's a picture of me with the 18 pounds of "fat" I've lost since I started building this tower in January!  Three more pounds to goal!  I'm going to walk the 5K on May 22nd.

Weekend Musings

My sister Virginia created a blog, and I loved her post, so I go with my first attempt. . .

We awoke Sunday morning to 4 inches of snow.  Going from 70 degrees to 27 degrees overnight is what Spring is all about!  The trees do look beautiful, and I'm sure it will melt quickly!

Here's the view out our front window.

Scott, Stephanie, Kyle, Jennie, and Megan came over for dinner last night.  It was so nice to be with them.  We had chicken pasta, garlic bread, and a yummy lemon pie (The recipe came from a booklet I'd gotten at Friday's Weight Watcher class.  Bonus!)  We had  a great time visiting together.  I'm so grateful to have a family I enjoy so much!