grandma

Grandma W (my mom's mom) passed away July 5, and we spent part of this last weekend at her funeral in Idaho. As strange as it may seem, I actually enjoy funerals because they focus on so many good things about the person being honored - what a fitting end to life on this earth.

We remember growing up and visiting Grandma in Woodville, Idaho. We loved playing in the irrigation water in the yard and running around Grandma's house playing our favorite made-up game "zap" - I think every room had two entries so we ran loopdy-doops (and probably drove Grandma crazy!). We loved listening to the chimes on the porch in the country and eating Grandma's comfort food.

We were able to say good-bye to Grandma the day before she passed. Honestly, this was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It's easy to see the blessing you had when it's taken away from you. I'll always carry my fond memories of Grandma and smile when I see those crazy-colored blankets she made for everyone in the family.

yard work and more karl malonic

I'm starting to realize that I should probably be cherishing the time that my kids actually enjoy doing work, you know, because they still think it's fun! We had a spontaneous work outside and in the garage day - nothing major, just some weeding and cleaning up. Nolan did a fantastic job sweeping the garage.

Here's Macy taking a break in the shade on the front steps. She's loves wearing the gloves just like Mommy's gloves. (Only hers look much cuter than mine, all covered in dried up mud!)

Here are the kids later in the day headed to Mexico to visit Karl Malonic, who lives in Mexico now! They were sitting on the spare bed - a.k.a. The Airplane. Nolan and Karl Malonic both fly F16s, you know, and I think he was flying the F16 for their trip. It's not the greatest picture, but it sure was funny to see them in their travel attire!

eyes

I couldn't resist. I had to post this picture we took after church - Macy's "eyes" from Nursery. After Jeremy picked her up from class, she ran into the Relief Society room, wearing her glasses and grinning, "Mama - Eyes!" and pointing to her new accessory. Love it!

take me out to the ballgame!

Jeremy and I started a tradition several years ago on a road trip to Denver over the Fourth of July: attending the Rockies baseball game. (Remember? I am married to a baseballaholic.) Pretty much every year since then we have gone to a baseball game either July 4th or July 24th.
After all, what's more American than baseball? This year we hit the Bees game. (Nice pun! I didn't even do that on purpose!) We had a great time with PawPaw, Gammy, Uncle Spence, Aunt Moey, Leini and Whitney, and the kids loved the bopper-noise-maker-thing-a-mabobs they handed out to the crowd.

mopping

Today Nolan found a CapriSun drink pouch in the frig. He came downstairs, where I was preparing for a meeting, and asked if he could have it. He even offered to sit at the table to drink it and share it with Macy. Well, of course I said "yes" with that offering! To my dismay, when I went upstairs to check on them a few minutes later, they had poured it (more like sprayed it) into two cups and then dumped it all over the floor. I had no idea how much square footage one drink pouch could cover! Besides that, before I got to it, they had walked in it and tracked it all over the rest of the kitchen floor that wasn't already covered. I did a quick clean-up. Talk about sticky! After lunch I mopped the entire kitchen floor during their nap/quiet time. Ugh, even though it needed to be done anyway, ugh.

Mopping is certainly not my favorite cleaning chore! Okay, so there are several chores that are certainly not my favorite: cleaning the shower, the toilet, ironing (ask Jeremy, he pretty much does all his own ironing).....I could go on! But I won't.

So, here's the question of the day, what is your LEAST favorite chore?

camp

This picture is one of the funniest things of our camping trip last week. I happen to notice Macy checking out a new friend in Daddy's shiny bumper. Too bad my camera is on its last leg - I missed the shot of her kissing herself and practically licking the bumper!

sunday

We took a few pictures before Church this morning.

So we were a little late for Sacrament meeting...

better late than never, eh?

super heroes

We have two super heroes that visit our house frequently.
Here they are in action....

And off they go.....

....to the rescue!

And then a collision in the hallway.

Thanks to Gammy for the great capes!

play-doh

Today Nolan told me that Karl Malonic (if you don't know Karl Malonic, look here) ate two whole containers of play-doh! Eeeew. Not so good. And his grandpa got eaten by a shark. Also not so good. By the way, Karl Malonic lives in Cincinnati now.

cross-country

Last weekend Nolan and I went with Jeremy to work. We flew to Chicago for a day, Cincinnati for a day and then back home on the third day. We had a great time, and actually made it to all of our destinations, which is a great accomplishment flying standby! (Too bad Jer doesn't always have this much fun on his work outings!)

Downtown Chicago

My favorite place in Chicago - Millennium Park,

a 24.5 acre downtown oasis.

Several giant steel sculptures live in Millennium Park. This one is my absolute favorite!

Nice skyline, eh?

Here's another great attraction in Millennium: a people magnet water feature that is bound on both ends by glass block towers. This picture doesn't show the water spewing out of this boy's mouth like a fountain!

Then water pours over the top.

Between the two towers kids run like crazy! (...even when a bride and her bridesmaids were posing for pictures in their fancy dresses in the water plaza, meanwwhile I overheard the groom nearby, "This is not a good idea!")

This place was amazing! It's a must-see if you're visiting Chicago! (Sorry, I probably get overly excited, no doubt due to the landscape architect in me.)

Self-portrait looking out toward Lake Michigan (downtown behind).

Jer left early the next morning for his work day, and we met up in the afternoon at the Cincinnati airport (which is actually in Kentucky??? Don't ask me!)

Here's Nolan waiting for the 9:30 a.m. flight, which unfortunately we didn't make! (remember, standby? sigh.) Thank heavens for the interactive children's museum-like play area in O'Hare! 5-1/2 hours in the airport with a four-year-old were actually bearable! (I forgot to mention that I left his backpack full of activities in the car in SLC....duh!)

Even with our four-hour delay, we made it just in time for dinner and swimming with my sister and her fam who made a 2-1/2 hour trek from Muncie, Indiana so we could meet up at our hotel.

We made it home because we caught the 6:10 a.m. flight Sunday. Keep in mind, we were two hours ahead of local time, which meant we woke Nolan up at 2:30 in the morning! He actually did quite well! Thanks, Nan, for watching Macy. She had a blast, too! This morning when Nolan woke up he asked me where Daddy was. When he found out he was at work, he burst out, "He forgot to take us!"

happy little plants

(This post is named in honor of Bob Ross, the painter that used to be on t.v. Do you remember him, or am I dating myself?)

I'm trying to expand my "greenie" thumb, meaning, I haven't had much experience caring for plants, just planning where they should go. We've slowly but surely started working on our yard. This is one of the first areas....the strawberry patch. We pulled out more sod to create a planting bed just for the berries and planted one of my favorite ornamental grasses Karl Foerster to help block some of the reflected heat from the house and keep them from burning. (They're on the south side of the house.)


We've also had a trouble spot in our garden that manages to grow weeds all summer long. It's only about 18 inches wide, and, up until yesterday, it was barren. I decided to try tome new groundcover this summer to see if it will help the problem.

It's called tricolor sedum, and, as you can see, it's obviously named for the green, pink and white. In case you're interested, there are several different kinds of sedum - some are more of a groundcover type, some will fit it better with your perennials. Some change colors throughout the season. All are drought tolerant and love the heat!

We'll keep you posted on our garden progress...so far, so good! (Well, that is except for the marigolds in the garden, which are still not doing well. On the positive side, we've only completely lost one of the sixteen! The others are dismally hanging in there!)

ears!

Macy made this lovely head-dress in Nursery at church Sunday -- "I'm thankful for my ears!". She left her "ears" on during class, walked all the way home, and made it to the kitchen before she took them off to eat. This is really an amazing feat for someone who doesn't like to leave her barrettes in for more than 15 minutes tops!

Oh, and this is Nolan pulling a face in the garage after we took Macy's picture......"Take one of me, too, Mom!"