In loving memory...

Vern you will be very missed, but I know you are excited to be back with Mary! Love you!

And for the family.... see you Saturday! Elliott-- I want lots of loves!!

Costco.... god's gift.... hahaha!!

Oh Elliott cracks me up! I get why he said me and troy... hahaa...... but Costco?? Don't get me wrong, I agree... Costco does rock! They have yummy dried mangoes, and awesome trail mix, and dried cherries.... and cheap coke! :) And I just discovered on my last trip that they have some delicious raviolis with artichokes and marscipone (sp?) cheese, and yummy basil pesto too! And my Costco also carries Shade stuff which is awesome... well, maybe Elli has a point! Costco may just be my favorite place too! Well, after the shoe department at Nordstrom's, of course! Haha!

Seriously though... My favorite thing god made is my family! (extended and honorary members included, of course!) And I am pretty thankful for a few of my friends too. :) I love you all!

And I am seriously missing my little nephews (who aren't staying little for nearly long enough!) and my gorgeous niece! And Janice I am expecting to meet Ava very soon! I need a visit to Cali soon obviously.... Shelly, lets see if we can sync up our schedules and meet in the OC! (Meri and Janice.... we'd love it if you would come too!) Elliott needs some HUGE hugs and kisses from me! :)

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Ok... the snow is only on the very tips of the mountains but I always love the first snow... that chill in the air that makes it possible to wear cute, sassy boots and adorable sweaters! Yeah!! :)

Now if I could just get the snow to stay way up there and the temps to stay about 40 degrees... haha!

Its about that time...

It's closing in on the snowy season here in Salt Lake! We ventured up the canyon (Big Cottonwood) on Saturday for a quick hike, and to take advantage of the all too quickly dwindling summer weather. The leaves have started changing and the canyon was a very pretty mixture of green, red, yellow and orange. We hiked up to Solitude Lake and it was just beautiful (I will post pictures as soon as I get a minute to email them from my phone - OK... PHOTOS ARE IN... SCROLL DOWN TO SEE). I think we will have to find another reason to go up next weekend and see more brightly colored leaves! They will go fast from here out!
I will miss the summer, but I do really love the fall. :) Kinda looking forward to that first day when it's cool enough for a sweater and boots!

Friday night was the opening night of the Symphony Season. It was an absolutely beautiful concert and the after-party was a blast too! The guest artist was Andre Watts and he played Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5 (I think it was 5) and then the symphony played Holst's The Planets. The after-party was at the Grand America Hotel in the Grand Ballroom and it was a very interesting but fun evening. There was a live band for the first hour, and then a DJ. There was a dance floor and a photographer, and lots of food! They had a yummy chocolate fondue fountain and fresh fruit... yum!! There was a laser show and a fashion show by Black Chandelier. We had a wonderful time!

Saturday night was a fun BBQ and Birthday Party for Troy's nephew, TJ. He turned 11 last week, and got lots of fun presents, including his first cell phone. We had to make Troy promise not to send him any text messages. Haha!

BTW - Brian Clarke just told me that all my pictures just show up as white boxes... is anyone else having this problem??
(He and his wife Amy just had a new little girl, by the way. That makes 2 adorable little ones for them.)

What a wonderful, fun weekend! Now.... .back to work...

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Solitude Lake... its right off one of the ski runs, and I never even knew there was a lake there. Haha! Not a lot of water left in it at this time of year but it was still a fun hike and very pretty.


Silver Lake... where our hike started.
Jen at Silver Lake.... yeah, I look ridiculous, but oh well! Haha!

Troy at Silver Lake... he really hates it when i take his picture, by the way...

And most importantly...... SPAMALOT! :)

Shelly.... it was great! I was very sad that you weren't with me though! I hope the production goes to SF soon so that you can go see it!

Troy and I both thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed very hard! The black knight was great and they did a whole song about being "not dead yet!" There were a bunch of new things that weren't in the movie, which made it that much funnier! Lancelot had a hilarious number where he was dressed as Carmen Miranda. Haha!

And for Craig and Brad... here are a few photos.... :)

And a few more.....

I got very few pictures and I left without a copy of Brad's CD. :( Please send photos!!!



More Schoocher.....




Madde and Meri on the boat....





The clan at the beach.....







Trevor at the beach....

Trip to Cali....

At some point I will try to add in some narration but in the meantime.... a few photos! Craig and Brad.... I know, this is just what you have been asking for. :)


The Pirate Ship...... (well.. one of the two fabulous pirate ship toys.)

The Dragon Cakes.... Mom and I were a little intimidated by the very impressive pirate ship cake, but I think we managed to hold our own. :)


Trevor..... worn out from all that playing withe cousins.

Luke Reading with Auntie Jen.... I took the photo, so you can't see me, but I was there! :)


The fabulous new scoocher (I think it was spelled something like that... hahaa)


The fun new boat..... Thanks Dad!