Happy Birthday to Me!

I am really not one to have my family and friends make a fuss over me when it is my birthday, in fact I would just as soon have it go by without fanfare.....but.....I have to admit I had one fun birthday due to family and friends today.  First of all flowers from my husband.  When we were in Vienna, we almost always had fresh flowers because they were always available at the flower stands and they were cheap.  In Utah we don't have flower stands and they are expensive...but my man blew the bucks today and the flowers were beautiful and appreciated!  Tom was able to come home early and take me out to lunch at Bailey's and then to the Islamic Art exhibit at the MOA on the BYU campus....good times!

My surprises began very early this morning.  Tom and I headed out the front door at 6:00 am to take our daily walk.  It was still dark and when Tom opened our front door there were burglars out on our door step.  We both kinda jumped back and then realized these weren't men creeping around our front door but this balloon bouquet!  (It really did look like a bunch of heads when we opened the door!)
My good friend Charlene had decorated my door with the two Happy Birthday banners, hearts all around the door, the balloons and a gift.  What a way to begin the day.  My old 62 year old heart beat pretty fast for a minute or two but recovered with laughter when we did realize it was only balloons!

Then there were cards.  Our son Logan walked in the house and saw the cards on the table and without even getting close said, "I see Uncle Max sent you a card".  Yup....the Stooge gave him away.  Jack and Sharalyne also remembered me and it was a fun trip to the mailbox.  Oh wait....another flower!  Mike, a friend of Logan's is staying with us while he is doing an internship here in Orem...He even remembered me with a yellow rose!  I forgot to put Ty's gift..the first season of Downton Abbey on DVD.  That boy knows his mother!

Then there was the "pazookies".  Josh, Kristy and Logan gave me two small (6") cast iron skillets, chocolate chip cookie dough and vanilla ice cream.  You bake a large cookie in the skillet and while it is still hot you put your scoop of vanilla ice cream on it.  Couldn't wait to take a picture....so you get the empty pan.   So good!

I haven't even mentioned the calls from family....England and San Diego didn't forget me.  

Tomorrow it will back to the routine but what a great #62 I had....I hope the rest of the year is as good.

Giving thanks

Thanksgiving equals food...and we did it up royal.  Take note that with all the good food...Connor only wanted chocolate milk!

When the family gets together there is always lots of laughter and making fun of one another.  Josh seemed to think wearing an Indian necklace made the feast more authentic.

Logan and Josh helped Shaun and Nicholle by string up the Christmas lights.  Being reared in Wyoming, it just doesn't seem like an activity that should be done in shorts and t-shirts!

The food was good and the visiting was wonderful but the highlight of Thanksgiving for Tom and I was going to the San Diego temple with our children.  Apparently Shaun and Nicholle enjoyed it too!

Tom and I, loving being with our family.

Josh and Kristy looking dapper.

Tom and Logan (take note of how Logan is standing...always with his hands in his pockets...just like my dad)

Jenny, our daughter-in-law, came all the way from England to share this experience with us.  Matt was good enough to stay in England with the kids.  We are so glad she came...it made it all extra special.

Josh and Kristy....sealed for time and all eternity!

The family:  Logan, Jenny, Josh, Kristy, Tom, Linda, Nicholle and Shaun.

Good times had by all!

Christmas in San Diego/Poway, California

Why would we want to spend Christmas in cold Utah when we can lounge in the sun in California?!  Throw in a couple of kids and four grandkids and it is a done deal.  As part of the fun we all went to Seaport Village to shop and just "goof around", as my mother would say!

Madison, Connor and Sam found a "cow-ch" to rest upon!

My California grandson out in the back back yard....sunglasses and football!

Whats a trip to San Diego without eating at Old Town Mexican Cafe!!

Making gingerbread houses will have to become a tradition.  Below is Amanda hard at work.

Sam and her finished product.

After Christmas we made a jaunt up to Julian.  Can you tell the kids all got some kind of electronic for Christmas?

And then there is Shaun....he just puts up with us all and even smiles through it!

Good times had by all!!

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Despite the fact that we live in the center of Orem, and I really do mean the center, we have an amazing location....check these photos out.  We had a snow storm on Saturday night and when we woke up Sunday I couldn't resist taking these pictures.  You would think we lived out in the country somewhere.  If I had a million dollars I would love to buy the pasture just beyond our fence and turn it into a park for my grandkids to play in.  (And then we really wouldn't ever have neighbors out there!)

Lagoon

We had a great time at Lagoon a couple of weeks ago with Nicholle and kids, Logan, and Josh & Kristy. I sprung for a photo and I think it turned out pretty well.

Memorial Day in Logan, UT

Although it is just the Friday before Memorial Day, we decided to go up and decorate graves to avoid the crowds on Monday. We saw my dad's gravestone for the first time since they didn't get it put up until late in the summer. Mom was very pleased with it. We also put flowers on the graves of several other Holman and Bell ancestors. Logan cemetary is very beautiful and peaceful. As a teen I HATED going up to Logan on Memorial Day. Wasted a perfectly good first day of summer vacation. But I've matured or gotten older and really enjoy it now. I think that because I hated it I didn't force any of you kids to go up, did I? Or is that just a made-up "good parent" memory!? Then after going to the cemetary, we headed up to Maddox. This is a traditional place to go after the cemetary. It must have been traditional for other people because the place was packed! Was it on a Memorial Day you went there with us, Matt, and barfed up your chicken-fried steak on grandpa Holman's flowers when we got back to Kaysville?

Spring in Utah, come on!

It is April 30th, and we have a couple of inches of snow on the ground. But I remember one April 30th--my sister Jane's birthday--when we also had snow and they had to change her party plans. So this isn't all that unusual. But I can hardly wait until we actually have nice weather.