Sunday, October 19, 2008

Catching up!

{I have tried to format this post and align the pictures with no luck. I'm accepting and releasing.}

My blogging has been a little sporadic lately and I need to catch up on some of our family’s events. This might be lengthy – I’ll throw in a smattering of blackmail pictures of my children and husband so you aren’t too incredibly bored. Blackmail pictures always seem to make me smile

In September, the girls and I went to CATS. As a background story - when Larissa was 4 years old, and I was newly married to her father – she would always want to make ‘kiddie’ houses in her bedroom out of blankets. After a while, it donned on me that she was actually making ‘kitty’ houses. Ahhh! The lights came on for me. I soon realized that this cute little girl was CRAZY about cats and I wanted to take her to the Broadway production of CATS. I had seen it before and loved it!! So, CATS finally came to Salt Lake and I was able to take my pretty ladies.















Another exciting event in our household is this -


After 4 years – Elora finally had her braces taken off! And there was much rejoicing in the land….









Connor made his high school’s swim team! Some days he has swim practice twice a day – he is very dedicated. We went shopping for Speedo’s last week. I asked him if I could see and he said “no”. His first meet in October 23 and he won’t be able to hide from me and my camera for too long.

I am the young women’s coach in my ward and we have been playing volleyball.

Here are my superstars:







Todd, Connor, and I dropped off Elora and Larissa at their mom’s house last weekend and we headed up to Yellowstone. It was cold and it snowed!! It was a wonderful weekend. Of course, I’ve never had a bad weekend up there.

By Sunday morning – we hadn’t seen a single animal.

Just as we were about to turn around and head back to the motel – we saw this jaywalking critter.





After seeing the coyote, we were encouraged and ventured further into Yellowstone. A little bit later we happened upon a herd of Buffalo.
The motherload
I think this guy was ticked that I was invading his personal bubble.
They are huge creatures

We even saw elk - so beautiful.

This bozo was a little special. He was looking for the bathrooms and kept looking in the wrong direction.

And I've saved the best for last!

I finally met my first blogging friend.

I had dinner with Jody! We went to Mi Ranchitos in Sandy. She and her husband are a lot of fun. Go check out her blog here.

Would love to meet anyone else who lives in the area, btw!!

And.....drum roll, please....

I won Lisa's Chocolate giveaway!! Woot!!

I got a phone call from three bored kids on Friday who said, "Mom - a package was just dropped off and we think it's the CHOCOLATE!"

I made them take pictures and send them to me at work.

Yeah baby!

I actually took this picture today. A lot of the chocolate has been eaten! It surely wouldn't last long in this house!

Life is good!

THANK YOU LISA LOO!! You are such a sweet gal. Her daughter just had hip surgery last Friday. I can only imagine what she's been going through. Go visit her blog here and send her some good wishes.

Well, that's all I got! Have a great Monday tomorrow.

21 comments:

Janell said...

yay for you and the chocolate ... yum!!! Also - that's exciting to meet blogging friends ... I've haven't been able to do that yet in person .. can't wait!!

Love the Yellowstone pictures!

Hope you have a great week!

Scrappy Girl said...

Yum...chocolate. Yay for the braces being off...I remember the great feeling when I had mine removed! I had this fear that there would be huge holes under each bracket. LOL!

How fun to meet a bloggy buddy!

Scrappy Girl said...

BTW...I would love to see a buffalo out like that...and an elk...and a coyote. I hear coyotes on the farm at night all the time...actually right now my mutt Annie Louise is howling like one. LOL

DesertHen said...

Oh, I want some chocolate. How fun to get a box of chocolate in the mail.....=) I could use some today as I have been stuck in front of the laptop all day working on a powerpoint presentation for an upcoming thingie......it has sucked all of my brain cells out and I just know chocolate would help....he, he.

Your pictures are wonderful!! The buffalo was amazing!

Hooray for getting the braces off....Countrychick still has a year to go in hers.....=(

Well back to the grind stone......Have a good evening.

Jan said...

You are so great with those girls Red. How fun.

The animals are just beautiful there. I love that country so much. You friend and you getting together must have been great. Does it ever seem surreal?

The chocolate was a hoot. How fun was that stuff. That is really some good ideas too. She is a sweetie that Lisa loo.

Take Care and have a great week. Tell your daughter to eat some caramel now. :) Braces are so not fun.

Cynthia said...

Awesome weekend! I'm so jealous of the chocolate. Not so jealous of the snow in Yellowstone though.

tammy said...

I saw CATS orginally in San Francisco when I turned 16. It was fabulous. As for the chocolate. I am jealous right now!!! My sweet tooth is calling!!!!

Linda said...

I think you hit the motherload when you received all that candy!! It sure wouldn't last long in my house either!

How fun to have met a fellow blogger. I met up with my blogging friend Bren in Phoenix a while back and will get to meet up with her again next weekend. Fun, fun, fun!

Pancake said...

Love the animal pictures! How fun to meet a blogging buddy! Hey are you meeting up with Shaila while she is in Utah?

Redhoodoos said...

Is Shaila in Utah right now?

Lisa Loo said...

I am so glad it made it safely there and you have enjoyed it!! The ladies at the post office couldn't believe I was sending off 5 boxes of chocolate--I was a little worried they might hijack them.

Kinda wish I could have delivered it in person--you seem like so much fun--of course not in a creepy stalker way!!

We have a buffalo ranch about 5 miles from us--I can never get used to looking over and seeing buffalo just hanging out!

chelle said...

You have been busy. Lisa Loo is so sweet. Candy Candy Candy! That would be gone in a matter of moments around here.

The animal photos were great. Have a great week. m

tiki_lady said...

yum on the chocolate hooray as the vball coach and I love all of your pics and WOOHOO big hi five on the braces off!!

julie said...

I went to your Bryce Canyon over the fall break. I kept looking for you. Not sure I would recognize you if I saw you though.

We have a 5 year old so it limited the amount of hiking we could do but LOVED the Navajo trail we went on. This may sound funny but it had a sacred feeling down within all those hoodoos. LOVED IT!

Elisa said...

How fun for you to get a package of chocolate in the mail... AND meet bloggy friends. I haven't done that either.

I am headed up the Yellowstone with my kids next week... they have NEVER been. I was hoping that we would see more wildlife since the crowds would be down, and its cold.
{{crossing my fingers!}}

Michelle Alley said...

Oh man - look at all that chocolate! Yummy! Those photos of the buffalo in the snow are really neat, so glad you had a great time! It must have been awesome to get those braces off, yeah!

Anonymous said...

are you kidding me with all that chocolate? awesome!

Carrie said...

So, we've had huge changes in our little family's lives lately (thus, no posts for quite some time) which is taking our family on a new adventure out to tundra and I would so love a visit when you're on your way to Yellowstone sometime!

Da Bergs said...

YES, I am in Utah!!!! In fact, I was at JoAnn's in Draper just yesterday!!!! I would love to see you!!!

Loved your playing catch up!!! Yeah the braces are off! And, What a fun trip!!! Love the animal pics!!!

kitchenditcher said...

I remember the day that I got my braces off. I slid my tongue over my teeth a million times that day. I remember that my teeth actually felt a little slimy. But the feeling didn't last long and by the next day it felt normal again. Big time stuff!

Now I need to go clean my keyboard off because it now has drool all over it just looking at all that chocolate!

Dang...no pink cookie? lol

Cynthia said...

Okay- JUST so won't stalk me- it's Nancy Drew and the Castle Malloy. Or something like that.