And Justus For All

In honor of Independence Day, our grandson, Justus recites the Pledge of Allegiance. This was recorded by his mom when he was three years old and I think you'll agree - he is adorable.

Carter Is In Da House

One of the great joys of being a Nana is babysitting detail. I have the wonderful responsibility of watching Carter most every Thursday. So, I thought it might be interesting to examine a Day In The Life of Nana and Carter.

Carter arrives at my house at about 7:45 AM. And it goes something like this: get a hug; give a hug; watch Peep and the Big Wide Word; jump on bed; apply band-aid; enjoy chocolate milk and crackers with peanut butter; play on slide; Nana takes pictures of Carter; Carter takes pictures of Nana; jump on trampoline; apply band-aid; drink rootbeer; clean house; jump on bed; run errands; eat lunch, Nana takes pictures of Carter; Cater takes pictures of Nana; play on Slip & Slide; apply band-aid; naps (for the both of us); give a hug; get a hug.

Our conversations throughout the day consists of: categorizing everyone we know into boys and girls; whether or not Jayson and Annie like rootbeer; Carter wants an airport; Carter loves Mama; why friends are called friends and not brothers; and when Papa can take him ice fishing.

Life is beautiful!

Road Trip

We learned over a few weeks ago, that Michael needed to meet with a client in Moab. He made arrangements and on thursday - we were on our way. We packed a picnic lunch of salad, grilled salmon, smoked cheddar cheese, chips, pretzels and undercooked Hello Dolly bars (having problems with the undercooking or overcooking lately - been baking for more than 40 years - go figure).

After a stop in Spanish Fork canyon for our picnic and a few hours of a book on CD called Evidence by Clair M. Poulsen, we made it to the Mountain Biking capital of the world and Michael made his meeting with time to spare. Had dinner that night at Sunset Grill and played tennis until the mosquitos drove us inside.

Friday morning we drove to Monitcello to attend a temple session and then it was 18 holes at the Hideout Golf Course. As you can imagine the person golfing with me would need loads of patience and a sense of humor. Fortunately, I'm married to a man who has both. On the 18th hole, Michael decided that we needed to enjoy more levity so he created a competitive wager to see who could get closest to the hole - just a measly 120 foot putt. Michael went first and can you believe it - that little stinker sunk that putt like it was did something he did every day...with his eyes closed...standing on one leg...with a stick!


Played more tennis on Saturday and then drove to Manti where we attended another session in that beautiful, amazing temple. Before we left that city, we had to head over to a nearby church to enjoy a famous, Manti turkey dinner. After that we drove home listening to a book on tape called Evidence. We still haven't finished the book - does anyone know who kidnapped Cody Lind?

Love That Winning Smile

Stand back, grandma's gonna brag. This afternoon, I watched sweet McKenzie compete in the Utah State Compulsory Gymnastics Meet at Salt Lake Community College. She's only eight, adorable and won big - 4 medals in each of the 4 events plus she placed 2nd All-Around. Watch this one...she's going places - kip, post, back handspring and all.

It finally happened. After a year, cute Kim Linh at Jade Nails talked me into colored tips for my fingernails. The discussion went something like this - Kim: "You pretty lady need no boring nails." Me: "That's really nice Kim, but I'm sort of a Plain Jane girl." Kim: "No. No, plain. Add little color to you. Little color. You like. I promise." Me: "Okay, but only if you have something really light and understated."


Soon Kim was applying pink to the tips of my nails and, of course, she neglects to tell me that the light, understated color also includes Barbie glitter. So I'm watching this train wreck and I'm pretty much speechless at this point.


Kim is so excited about my nails. She parades me around the salon to show everyone there - I see the look of sympathy on some of their faces. The rest can't even look me in the eye.


So for the next six weeks, every time I look at my hands I'll think of a Vegas Showgirl or someone, somewhere in Texas with a t-shirts that’s too tight and hair that’s too big.


Now the truth is out - I'm a big softy when it comes to the hard sell. Strays always find my door and I buy encyclopedias, knives, Girl Scout cookies, gift-wrap and all-purpose cleaners. So, stop looking at me with those puppy-eyes y'all.

Blondie Bias

I never thought I was a bigot. But when I stop and think about it, I've always looked the other way when it comes to Blondies. I mean why would anyone choose a Blondie over a Brownie? But then I had a change of heart. The last time we were in Puyallup, Mom Bowman made these amazing-looking Blondies with fudge frosting. What could I do? There was nary a Brownie in site. So I decided to face my deep, dark chocolate predisposition and have a bite. And now? I'm in love. I've even dreamt about them. So, here's to Mom and Blondies!

Jeanette's Blondies

Melt over low heat 1/4 C. margarine. Remove

from heat and add 1 C. (packed) brown sugar. Stir 

until blended. Cool.  Mix in 1 egg and set aside. Sift

together 3/4 C. flour, 1 tsp. baking powder and 

1/2 tsp. salt. Add to the cooled margarine/sugar 

mixture. Mix in 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 C. chopped

nuts.

Spread in a well-greased 8x8 square pan. Bake at

350 degrees for 25 minutes or until when lightly

touched only a slight imprint remains. Don't 

overbake! Can cut into squares while still warm.

Or cool and then frost with favorite fudge 

frosting.  

 

Paradise Found

Michael and I just returned home yesterday from the Mayan Riviera; after a one-week stay at a beautiful resort called El Dorado Royale. Before we left, I thought we would do a whole lotta nothing - and we did spend a fair amount of time on nothing ; ). But we managed to play tennis twice in merciless heat and humidity; we played in the ocean; we slept by the ocean; we learned to salsa dance (kinda); and we ate at some fabulous on-site restaurants; we enjoyed massages on the beach and even rode in a limo back to the airport when it was all over.

The two most memorable days were our excursions; the first to Chichen Itza, an area about 150 miles inland. We shopped in the open air market, talked to the Mayan people and walked through their amazing ruins and temples. There was such a sacred feeling in many of the ruins and I knew that Heavenly Father loves and is mindful of these sweet Mayan people. They are little, petite people - and so I, at only 5' 2" tall, felt like a giant among them. They look exactly as I would imagine the ancient Lamanites appeared. As part of our trip that day, we where able to dive into a cenote at Ixtel. A cenote is a sinkhole in the limestone that is filled with fresh water that comes from underground rivers. The second day-trip was to Xel-ha, a very large lagoon where you can snorkel and swim, dive and tube down the river that runs into the ocean. It was another all-inclusive, so we ate great food, enjoyed the sun and played in the water all day.

All of this was wonderful, amazing and restful but in stark contrast to the poverty all around us. While I know that our U.S. dollars help their economy, I struggled any time I wasted food or spent money for any extras. And even though our resort was all-inclusive - meaning that all our food, drinks, basic activities and tips were included - Michael and I couldn't help but tip these people as generously as we could. I loved the land and the people...the humidity - not so much. 

So now, I've decided to learn to speak Spanish. I'll work on learning French later Michael. Yup, for now it will be Spanish. Wish me luck amigas!