Missing photos for previous post

#*$!*?##* (dang it, photos! where'd you go?)

Daily photos 7,8 & 9

So here are the next 3 installments of my "daily photos" assignment:

7. I have kind of been a slacker when it has come to the art challenge portion of Heidi's online scrapbooking class but I pulled together all my creativity and actually finished this month's layout. It is called "remember forever". We were assigned to find a photo from some time ago and then journal about what we remember about how we felt at the time of the photo and how we felt about it now. My photo is of our little family on Christmas eve in 1983. This is a very precious photo since it is the last Christmas that Quinn was with us. I just love how excited all the kids are about Christmas... espeically Quinn. You can just see that no one is going to sleep that night! Back in those days, my little family was the center of my life and even today with everyone grown and with families of their own, my (growing) family is still the center of my life. It is good to remember this every now and again. Thanks for the challenge, Heidi.

8. Here is my cute hairdresser, Jean Kelly. She is the sweetest, nicest, funest, cutest hairdresser I know. And she just moved her scissors and hairdryer to a salon about 3 minutes from my office and home. Seriously, have you ever heard of having your favorite hairdresser actually move closer to you? Never... they always move farther and farther away and make it such a dilemma as to whether to keep going to them or not becuase it is such a hassle to get there but NOT FOR ME... (this time!) LaRane started getting her hair done by Jean about 2 1/3 or 3 years ago and I thought her hair always looked so great so I decided to give her stylist a try and have been so pleased ever since. I don't dare say too much more; I don't want to jinx myself! But she's a keeper!

9. Here is one of my most favorite meals ever and I have been eating it since I was a little girl -- grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup! When I was growing up, Monday was laundry day and Tuesday was ironing day for my mom. With eight kids there was always lots of clothes to wash, dry and iron. We could usually count on one of those nights having this very menu. So now when I come home from work and just can't think of anything to fix for dinner or I don't have the energy to get very ambitious, this is what I always fall back on and it never disappoints! It makes a yummy lunch also. There is one strict rule in my household though -- NO looking at the other side of the sandwich! Some people think I can't make a grilled cheese sandwich without burning one side but I say it is the pan's fault, not mine!

Daily photos 4, 5 & 6

4. I totally love this picture that is now hanging on my refrigerator. Collin drew this to illustrate his part in the Primary Sacrament Meeting program a couple weeks ago. His little Sunbeam class was asked what they do on Sundays and Collin said that he visits his grandma so this is a picture of me and Collin. He did a super job! I've never looked so skinny!

5. I store most of my holiday decorations in the depths of the basement/furnace room at our office so I have to really talk myself into digging out the storage containers and bringing them home and making the effort to decorate. But since Collin and Aspen are getting older and more into the holidays, I decided to get out the Halloween stuff. Because these shelves are right at the grandkids eye level I always try to put only the things that I won't care if the kids play with or even happen to break. I was really surprised that after having the grandkids over several times neither one of them even touched anything (maybe there was too much ORANGE!). I guess they just thought these were to look at -- we'll see if it's the same with the Christmas decorations.

6. We hadn't seen Aspen for about week so Paul and I drove to her house one night and she was already for bed but she needed a bedtime snack and she knew just what she wanted -- Dora cereal. She has a whole fist full and is telling me the names of all Dora's friends on the cereal box -- seriously, she's only 19 months old!

Red Rock country

Paul & I have taken a break from our stressful and chaotic life and have come down here to St. George. My family has had a condo here since 1983 and it is the ultimate weekend getaway! Over the years we have come down to play and relax and we have brought many toys from boats to motorcycles to bicycles but this was the first time we have ever brought ATVs. There is a new Utah State Park here called Sand Hollow and it is a combination reservoir and sand dunes. What a fabulous playland! The state park opened up a year or so after we sold our boat so we have never water skiied/wakeboarded there but it looks like a wonderful location. We can atest to the fact that the sand dunes are magnificent. They go on and on and on. At first I was afraid that we'd get lost and not be able to find our way back but after a short time I could tell that wouldn't really be a problem. Since this was a Friday afternoon on a non-holiday weekend it wasn't crowded at all and we went for miles without seeing another person! I think we only saw about 6 other riders the whole couple of hours we rode around.

A close friend of ours has taken a job down here at a brand new resort that is just coming out of the ground and it happens to be directly across the street from the entrance to the State Park. In fact, the name of the project is called "Sand Hollow Resort". So we stopped into his trailer office and he took us around the whole project in a bigger ATV golf cart. The second photo gives you an idea of what it is starting to look like. The first thing they have developed is an 18 hole golf course and it is just startlingly beautiful with the green greens against the red rocks. There is a huge outcropping of rocks in the center of the property and they have this massive waterpark designed that encircles the rocks. It will have waterfalls off the highest peaks and a lazy river going all around the perrimeter. There will be Villas and resort homes and private homes. It is a very ambitious project and seems to be generating a lot of interest and buyers. We'll be keeping a close eye on it as it developes. If you are down this way come by and check it out! Ask for Darrell.

Tonight we found a new BBQ restaurant that only opened 3 weeks ago and it is a WINNER! It is called The Rib Shop. We were going to go to a 6:45 movie so we were happy to find a restaurant without many cars parked outside. But then we were afraid that maybe it wasn't very good. We took a chance anyway and by the time we had ordered and sat down about 10 people had come in and the line was almost out the door. It is out on Sunset Blvd in case you want to check it out.

Then we went to see "Into the Wild". WOW! That was a great movie... what a story! It was a lot deeper than I thought it would be. I just thought it would be a story about this guy taking off into the Alaskan wilderness and how he survived but he was a lot more about his life and how he got to the point that he wanted to get away from society and live a more simple, natural life. I remember probably 10 years or so ago reading an article in Outside magazine about this guy and seeing the photo of him sitting outside the "magic bus". So I liked knowing more of the story.

Well I better get to bed now because we have more relaxing to do tomorrow! Hope you have a great weekend too!