Family Night

Last Tuesday we went roller skating for FHE (a day late and many dollars short.) Sydney couldn't WAIT to get her skates on.


She only made it around the rink once though.

Ally got in trouble for carrying her off the floor.


Maddie decided after two times at the rink, she doesn't really like skating. Amy is pretty darn good. Well, she didn't fall anyway.


Julie says skating is the kind of thing that no matter how hard she tries, she'll never get any better...Ally's going to stay home and babysit next time...

Tyler and Aubrey loved it and Jeff, Brian, and Susan can skate circles around the rest of us. But it kind of made us rethink our brilliant idea of building a family run skating rink in Mt. Pleasant as a way to keep the family working up there.

I think you have to actually be able to skate to run a skating rink. Or at least like it a little...

Disclaimer: This hideous picture of Ally (originally posted - see above and Ally's "comment") makes her look way larger than life and not nearly as pretty as she really is. It is only included to show the cuteness of Sydney and her ignominious exit from the skate floor. Also Amy's half-cuteness in the background. ("Tell her she also cut ME out of the picture!"--Amy) Hey, if I have to occasionally post likenesses of my large self, others may be grossly misrepresented on my site also...

A Sad, Sad Day (?)

Ever see the movie "A Simple Twist of Fate" with Steve Martin?

Remember the "mouse funeral" scene, with the marching and chanting/moaning?

This is what I saw when I looked up from the table in the dining room yesterday.


And yes, there was chanting/moaning/great sadness, for whatever character had passed away in their imagination game.

They marched through, turned around, marched out.

We never got a full explanation...

How Does This Happen???

Remember my post about how I love to read?

Currently I am "reading" 8 books.

This is the young adult book I am listening to in the car. (Not reading, thus the quotation marks above.) I LOVED the first of these books, and the second one is just as entertaining. Not that I'm a Disney fan or anything...

I just finished my third reading of the ten "Mitford" books. I'm reading this first "Father Tim" for the second time. This is my current "upstairs" book.


Downstairs, I am reading this. (On my list of "50 Things to Do Before I Die" too.)


And this. In family scripture reading and on my own.

And this. Straight through the Old Testament in family scripture reading. Whoa. Some parts we have to SKIP!


I read some of this every week for Sunday School class.


I've started this one for Book Club.


And I'm carrying this one back and forth to appointments and sneaking it in wherever I can. I've read it before, but it has two sequels and a movie out already and I can't remember any details.

And this doesn't even count the books stacked on the shelf that I haven't gotten to yet...John Lescroartes' Betrayal, Earlene Fowler's Love Mercy, Richard Paul Evans' Grace (I know, a Christmas book. But I didn't get to it!), and My Antonia and O Pioneer by Willa Cather (umm...among others.)

I have also started sewing two quilts, have scrapbook and card messes out on my desk, am sorting food storage items, doing Relief Society visits, working on the new "virtue" value experiences with Madison (which involves more reading) and taking care of other boring responsibilities like laundry and vacuuming and cleaning and such. And my husband wants me to WORK with him at the office.

All I really want to do is read (or sew) (or scrapbook.) How does this happen???

Abby's Wedding

Abigail Marie married Anthony Michael Aaron February 20, 2009.


I did not get any pictures outside the Salt Lake Temple (drat.)


I did get pictures at the luncheon.


Marc and Ashley enjoyed the dessert table.


So did Sydney.


We didn't get the word the luncheon was casual, so here are Amy and Maddie all dressed up.


And a little silly...



Abby and Amy...


Ellie...(she used to refuse to let me take her picture. Now she poses!)


Grandma S. with the hooligans. (Tyler, Asher, Aubrey, Sydney.)


Matthew and Sydney.


Amy and Mandy...


Almost the whole bridal clan...


Sarah and little Maddie...(Not Lilly, as I originally posted. They grow up so fast...)


Adam and Mindy....


Cousin Mark and his wife, Rosie...


Mark and their granddaughter, Katya...

Stephanie and Jenny...


I love this photo of Rebecca and Jessica. Aren't they beautiful?

Abby throws the bouquet.


Tyler with his sparklers to wish Abby and Anthony well as they left.

Sarah, Ben, and Grandma Marilyn S.

Presidents Day Bike Ride

(Waiting up for my dear husband and son who are in a manhole in the middle of a busy street in Las Vegas doing some night work. Always a worry till they are safely home. Thank goodness they don't have to work in the dark very often.)

Didn't get this post done in a timely manner, but better late than never.

President's Day was cloudy and threatened morning rain, but we decided to go for a quick bike ride anyway...


We drove to the trailhead by Lake Mead and started through the railroad tunnels that were used by trains carrying supplies to build and later maintain Hoover Dam.


Jeff took a little detour and found a ranger working on a new part of the trail. The girls followed him up. It was steep!


Two or three years ago when we hiked this trail, it only went to the end of the last tunnel. Now it goes all the way past the tunnels to the power lines from the dam...


and all the way to the top of a pedestrian path that leads down to...


...the parking garage by the dam. Can you believe this old, unfit woman rode her bike all the way down AND most of the way back up that far?! I couldn't! (I only walked up it two short steep parts!)

It sprinkled a little on the way back up and POURED down rain that afternoon, so we were glad we went before lunch!


Aren't these old tunnels cool? Look at that shoring on top. (Is that shoring?) (Jeff, Amy, and Maddie.)

A fun morning!

"Cute Girls on the Block"

Or it could be " 'Not-So-Desperate' Sixth & Seventh-Graders", 0r maybe "Little Girls in the Small Town," or "Boulder City 89005," or "Nice Girls," or "Confessions of Teen-Age Sweet Girls," or even "13 Candles" or "Never Been Kissed." Whatever lame movie/TV show/girl band twist I convolutedly try to come up with...these girls look to me like the nice version of a beautiful advertising poster. Don't you agree??


Maddie's friend, Savannah, had a photo shoot for her 13th birthday party and as you can see, our photographer friend, Jessica did a great job capturing their personalities!


I think they are all just gorgeous. And it's not just because I know how beautiful they are inside too, either!

Maddie

Julie


Becca


Kennedy

Annabelle


Happy birthday, Savannah!