Sarah - The College Graduate!

Sarah graduated from Weber State Univeristy in
May 2009 with an Art Degree and an emphasis in Visual Technologies. Her graduation ceremony was the most fun I've ever had at such an event! Because it included graduates from the Performing Arts Department, we were priveledged to hear an incredible piano solo, vocal solo and poetry. It also had a band of singing pirates from Peter Pan as well as a gorgeous golden crocodile that slithered around the stage as the graduates entered the auditorium. Sarah was easy to spot in her very unique fuzzy boots that were chosen specifically for this momentous occassion. Congratulations Sarah! We are so very proud of your tremendous accomplishment and love you dearly.

Sarah and her Josh

The Proud Parents with The Graduate

Lacey's High School Graduation

Our wonderful daughter Lacey graduated from Snow Canyon High School on May 22, 2009

Lacey is so beautiful, talented and vivacious. She is truly a joy to be around. Everyone who knows her just loves her - her family most of all!

Kaden and Lacey
2009 High School Graduates!

Lacey's biggest fans!

We're so proud of you, Lacey! Congratulations!

Lacey: Cheerleader Extraordinaire!

We were delighted to attend the Cheerleader Banquet with Lacey this - her Senior year, where she was presented with an award for Outstanding Senior.

This award is very prestigeous because her peers were the ones that voted for her. Way to go Lacey!

Here is a pic of the "cheer" friends who will miss each other so dearly. See the sad faces?

And it is quite obvious that they love and adore each other and had so much fun together!

Amazing Nikki

I was so pleased that Nikki invited me to join her at a luncheon celebrating and honoring top mathmatics students of Dixie State College. Nikki's certificate of achievement reads: "In recognition of exemplary performance beyond college level mathematics." And this from her Calculus class. Wowzers! Way to go Nikki!!! We're so proud of you.

OUR TRIP TO PARIS

Everything’s AMAZING and we are soooo happy!

Ed and Lacey and I just had to go to Paris for a few days in March. As Lacey and I were conversing on the long flight over the Atlantic we agreed that everything IS amazing, and we were soooo happy! We were, after all, sitting in a chair IN THE SKY! We partook of the miracle of human flight and reveled in the wonder of traveling some 6,000 miles in under a dozen hours. So fabulous! And the best part of it all, of course, was that it was FREE! Who couldn’t love that!?!

Here is a picture of our hotel. It’s the red one - so easy to find! We had a great room 15 stories up and overlooking the Seine. From the window we could see the Statue of Liberty. Amazingly enough, we also found a miniature Statue of Liberty on a deck of the hotel!

LA TOUR EIFFEL

It was such a long day in airports and on planes, but at the end of it we were looking at the Eiffel Tower!!! Amazing! In fact, our hotel was just a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower, so we saw it every day. One evening we rode to the top of the tower and gazed out at the city lights twinkling far below in the night. A remarkable feature of the Eiffel Tower that we were so excited to witness is that when night falls and it's completely dark, the Eiffel Tower sparkles as if it were covered with diamonds!!! It happens every hour, on the hour, for just a few minutes. Millions of tiny bulbs covering the entire tower flash on and off in 6 second intervals making it shimmer and shine. A spectacular sight!

THE METRO

We rode the metro (subway) all over Paris. What a great way to get around! Ed planned our stops and transfers and it was smooth sailing all the way. He has the most incredible sense of direction. This is a gift that I do not possess, myself, so I am extremely grateful and blessed to have Ed as my companion.

L'ARC DE TRIUMPH

Our first evening in Paris, we toured the Arc de Triumph where we stood on the top and gazed out over all of Paris. There were some French Legionnaires who were also touring the arc and even though they didn’t speak English, they were very happy to have their picture taken with our beautiful daughter.

LES CHAMPS ELYSEE

Then we walked down the Champs Elysee and wandered into the Peugeot dealership where Lacey found her dream car – The Vroomster.

CREPES!

Between the Eiffel Tower and our hotel we found the greatest crepe-maker! Lacey’s favorite crepe consisted of Nutella and bananas. Ed and I preferred the ham and cheese. We also enjoyed several varieties of French pastries during our 3.5 day visit, and all agreed that French milk tastes strange.

VERSAILLES

We spent several hours touring the palace of Versailles. The marble, painted ceilings and statures were remarkably gorgeous, but everything was so extravagant! It’s no wonder the starving peasants revolted and cut off the heads of their king and queen! “Let them eat cake” indeed!

THE GARDENS OF VERSAILLES

We enjoyed wandering through the extensive gardens of Versailles behind the palace. Lacey found a pool that she particularly liked, as you can tell.

SACRE COUER CATHEDRAL

Later that evening we visited a cathedral in Montmartre known as le Sacre Couer (The Sacred Heart) where we were privileged to hear a choir of nuns singing. Their voices reverberated off the domed ceilings and filled the building with beautiful music as we walked reverently through the building admiring the architecture, statues and lovely stained-glass windows.

CAROUSEL

Walking down from the chapel we came across a carousel. Interestingly enough, we found carousels all over Paris – just randomly interspersed with the high-rises, shops, and hotels. Rather strange.

We spent an amazing day at the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa (of course!) as well as thousands of other works of art. This palace is HUGE! After 7 hours of gazing at paintings, sculpture, Egyptian exhibits, etc. our brains had been inundated with about as much artwork as we could take in one day.

RIVER BOAT TRIP ON THE SEINE

My sister, Michelle, and her husband, Daniel, rode the chunnel over from London and met us at 5 pm outside the Louvre. We joined them for dinner and then took a riverboat ride on the Seine that night. We had the exhilarating experience of a big, brown, furry rat running alongside us as we ascended the dark, damp, moss-covered stone steps from the river to the streets of Paris. And yes, we screamed – well, the women did, at least.

NOTRE DAME

Our last day in Paris began with a trip to Notre Dame. If we were to choose our very favorite activity of the week, this would be mine. What a magnificent structure! Every detail, inside and out, a work of art from the stained glass windows to the statues and carved panels depicting the life of Christ, to the architecture of the building itself. Everything meticulously crafted to perfection. Such artistry. 170 years to build? I believe it! I must say; however, that everything inside Notre Dame was so dusty! I wanted to grab a dust rag and some pledge and spend a week or two in there just cleaning all the statues, carvings, tables, hearths, and other bits of furniture. Perhaps the dust helps preserve things, I'm not sure. Or maybe there's so many nooks, crannies and artifacts that people just got tired of all the dusting required and gave it up for lent.

NAPOLEON'S TOMB

Our final tour was of Napoleon’s Tomb located at a place Known as Les Invalides – a hospital for wounded soldiers. What a remarkable tribute to Napoleon. Marble and beautiful stone everywhere! Gorgeous beyond description. It was a whirlwind trip, but we certainly made the most of it. The weather was windy and chilly, and occasionally rainy, but that’s to be expected of Paris in March, I’m sure. Next time, I think we shall go in the summer so we can see the beauty of the gardens.

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY TO SARAH

A quarter of a century!!! What a momentous occasion. I just think it’s so awesome that Sarah turns a quarter of a century right after her mom turns half a century. How cool is that?!



I flew up on Friday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of my eldest daughter’s birth, and we had a glorious weekend together. Sarah picked me up at the airport and we headed right into SLC to view an art show where one of her fellow WSU classmates was exhibiting his photography. Remarkable artistry. Unique compositions – every one. Then we met Josh at the Desert Star Theater where we were delightfully entertained by the silly show: “Home School Musical” as we gobbled enormous bowls of Farr’s ice cream.



Sarah and Josh have been taking snowboarding lessons at WSU this semester and were eager to display their prowess at the sport. They are AWESOME snowboarders!!! Ed was unable to join us Friday evening, due to a previous announcing commitment, but he flew up to spend a glorious day on the slopes with us.

Sarah and Josh showing off their adorable funky ski hats.

The Birthday Girl all ready for a day on the slopes of Powder Mountain.

This is Josh disguised as a Snow Walrus!

It had been years since either Ed or I had been skiing, but it only took a couple of runs to be right back in the groove. The fluffy clouds had dumped several feet of snow on Northern Utah just a few days before our arrival, and the slopes were perfect! The day was sunny and warmish, there was a light skiff of powder on the hard-packed surface, and I realized how very much I have missed skiing these last 15 years since moving to St. George.

Thank you, Sarah, for inviting us to your fabulous birthday weekend. Happy Birthday, my wonderful daughter!

Happiness is skiing with your best friend!

JURASSIC PARK

I was visiting Sarah a few weeks ago for her birthday. One evening, while she was busy with a project (she’s the editor for a WSU annual arts publication and the deadline was fast approaching), I decided to take a walk along an enticing trail just a block from her home. It was late afternoon, the air was crisp and wintery and snow blanketed the Ogden world with it’s stark, sparkling beauty. The trail wound through a park, then along the Ogden river right up to the mouth of Ogden canyon. The banks of the river were dotted with trees stretching their bare limbs towards the baby-blue sky. It was such a beautiful day for a stroll and I was soaking in the splendor of being healthy, happy, and loving the wonderful earth that Heavenly Father has created for us, when suddenly I saw TEETH coming at me from the side of the trail. AHHH! Dino-breath! And right in the neck of Ogden Canyon. Who would have expected that?! Thankfully, the predator didn’t appear to have seen me, so I quietly journeyed on. A few meters later, though, there was another dinosaur – and yet another one! Apparently I had stumbled upon some prehistoric stomping ground. And since I had reached the end of the path, and the sun was quickly setting, and I was now miles from Sarah’s home, I turned myself about and rushed hurriedly back the way that I had come. As I approached the turnoff to Sarah’s place, I saw that the trail stretched for potentially miles in the opposite direction that I had journeyed that day. Hmmm. I wonder what I might find in that direction? I shall simply have to pay my daughter another visit and find out. But next time – I’m NOT going alone!!!

Flame On!

There’s one aspect of my personality that frightens me. It’s a closely guarded secret, but I have a terrible, instant temper. I think of myself as a volcano – all that blisteringly hot, smoldering lava lying just beneath the surface. The pressure builds gradually, slowly, almost imperceptibly until suddenly – KABOOM! - it erupts and spews rock chunks, scalding steam, and molten lava all over anything and everything near it. Like the volcano, it takes a lot to provoke me to spew. Usually years and years of frustrating events that slowly build the pressure inside me until one final event triggers the eruption and KABOOM! I’m throwing off piercingly dark looks and spewing angry words at a poor unsuspecting subject. This was me and Eddie yesterday at the airport kiosk. Me, the erupting volcano and he, the unsuspecting subject.

He asked me about it today. I confessed that it was “the eye.” He gives me “the eye” when I say something incredibly stupid, which I do from time to time – more frequently, in fact, than I care to admit. So, I was stupid yet again yesterday and I knew, I just knew that when I looked at him he’d be giving me “the eye” of incredulity. I glanced his way and THERE IT WAS! AAAAAAGH! I just couldn’t take it, and I blew and spewed - covering him with my vile anger. And, of course, after the angry episode comes the dreaded silence. I mean, what can you say to a seething volcano? And I, for my part, need time to cool down before I can speak rationally. So we walked side by side in icy silence through airport security and on to our gate in terminal “E” – then, he quietly asked if I wanted a Strawberry Frappacino. That helped cool me down a LOT. But it wasn’t one hour later (I had barely finished the Frappacino) that I said a stupid thing yet AGAIN! That time, however, I simply refused to look at him. Sigh.

So, we were talking about it tonight (it really was quite an astonishing episode – the first in our three years together) and I told him that if he just wouldn’t give me “the eye,” I wouldn’t be so tempted to spew. But he couldn’t promise not to give me “the eye” when I said stupid things, so I told him I couldn’t promise not to “Flame On” when he does. And that’s where we stand today. Gosh, I love this man. What a glorious time we have together, experiencing all the wonderful emotions bestowed upon mankind. And I love the “Flame On” thing. That was Ed’s term for it. It suits.

A Visit with Mom and Duane

Mom and Duane have a timeshare condo in Mesquite, and we love getting together with them when they're in the neighborhood. In September 2008 they came down for a week, and Ed and I treated them to a couple of nights at the theater. We saw Les Miserables and Big River at Tuacahn and had the most fabulous time!

On Sunday we held a feast at the Rogers abode in their honor. Nikki and Paul joined us as well as Austin and Jason. We ate lasagna and breadsticks and salad and played “chicken foot” dominoes. It was so much fun being together. My Mom is looking so fragile lately. Neither she nor Duane can get around very easily. Ed was patience personified during their visit. He is so kind, thoughtful and chivalrous. I’m glad I married such a good man. How blessed I’ve been to have my mother with me so long in this life, and to have such a marvelous man as my husband.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Out with the old! Ring in the New!

What a fabulous New Years Eve party at the Rogers' abode. There was munchin' and hot tubbin' and puzzlin' and gamin' to be had.

Stacie and Kody had given us a marvelous little (emphasis on the "little") puzzle for Christmas. The pieces were no bigger than the size of a dime and there were 1,000 of the itty bitty things! We gathered around the kitchen table and spent the first couple of hours putting it together. What a splendid gift.

Here's a few pictures of it. Note, if you will, the size of the piece displayed on Cheryl’s hand, and the size of the finished puzzle in comparison to a regular playing card. This truly must be the world’s smallest puzzle!

And speaking of playing cards –Stacie, Lyndy, LeAnn and Cheryl had a few rowdy, rambunctious, roof-raising rounds of Nertz. We barely finished in time to grab our honey-bunches and smooch in the New Year. Fireworks burst over St. George and could be viewed from the kitchen window if you held your head just so . . . All in all, a glorious evening spent with a few of those we love best in the whole world. A perfect way to greet the New Year. May our kind and loving Heavenly Father shower peace, love, health and prosperity on one and all throughout 2009 is our fervent prayer.