Layover

I was checking everyone's blogs while I am waiting 3 hours for a plane and realized everyone is updating theirs as well as I am. :( So hard to find the time and energy, especially when you are writing on a couple other blogs.

I printed off my past postings in a little book though and figure it is as good (almost ) as writing a journal so figure I need to keep plugging away. Right now, I am in the Medford airport waiting to fly out to Mesa. I worked today till 1:00, left the house at 2:00 and drove 3 1/2 hours here to (supposedly) fly out at 8:45. The plane is delayed 3 hours. Poor Julie, my sister, gets to pick me up at 2:00 in the morning. We have a wedding to attend in the Mesa temple at 10:00 tomorrow. I ought to look lovely, so rested. Oh well. On Saturday Julie and I and our dad head to Palm Springs for a week of sun, relaxation, swimming, and more sun. I am really looking forward to doing almost nothing!

This summer was almost Trinity-less. Can you believe it? I spent a week on a houseboat up there with family and a night last week on friend's houseboat and that was it. I had used up my vacation days with trip to Europe/Italy, 2 weeks in Hawaii, a week in Cancun area and the houseboat week. I think it was worth it but next year I plan to be back at the lake. When I was up there this weekend, I realized how much I missed it. This summer was also filled with seeing all of our grandchildren except Isobel and Oliver who I saw in the spring. I never see any of our twelve gorgeous grandchildren enough. My heart hurts to see them more. I can't wait until Lee retires and we can move closer to some of them so I can get my fix easier.

Okay, I did it. Back to the blogging world. Come on, you can do it too!!

P.S. No this is not the Medford airport. Think small, but bigger than Mack Town. The pic is the Paris airport!

Spring Fling

kids look cute, I look fat!!

Pompeii

Positano

View from our hotel room

Capri

Isle of Capri

Capri

Capri

Sorrento

Sorrento

Sorrento

Well I've been up for 21 straight hours now. I flew from London today and have 5 hours to wait in SFO. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep more than 15 minutes on my London flight.

I had a great time with Linds and family in London. I flew there Mar 30, got there Mar 31 and struggled with jet lag the first couple of days. Nothing like walking around in a fog! We just played it low key the first couple of days. Love that Isobel and Oliver. Talk about cute kids! Isobel always tells me like it is and won't go overboard for grandma but I caught her grabbing my hand and leaning into me quite a few times. I also got several pictures that she made with I love you's on them. I think bringing a present a day for her to open helped. Oliver is so cute to watch romp around and just brightens your day!

On the 3rd day Alan graciously watched the kids for 4 days and Lindsey and I headed to Sorrento, Italy and the Amalfi Coast. Gorgeous, gorgeous area of the world. We landed in Naples and pulled our suitcases from street to street in search of Pizzeria de Matteo known for great pizza. It was worth the jaunt-delicioso!! Naples, on the other hand, is just a dirty, big city.

After our pizza we caught the train to Sorrento. The night before we left we had read in Rick Steeve's book that the trains have a lot of pick pocketers and were kind of nervous. We worried for nothing-it was all fine. We got to Naples and what a gorgeous city it is!! So clean, right on the coast and we loved it! We had gotten our hotel from Trip Advisor reviews and weren't that thrilled with it. $150+ a night for very clean, amazing views but not very nice. Think Motel 6. The reviews also talked about Gianni and his family and they loved him. We were anxious to meet this Italian who would make us feel like family. What we got was a very frazzled owner who constantly looked harried and never even introduced himself. Mind you, this hotel is in top 10 of all hotels in Sorrento. We did get met at the station by the cutest Italian shuttle bus driver ever! Lindsey and I loved "Guido" (our name for him)! He was always smiling, always going out of his way for everyone!! We went to dinner in Sorrento the first night at a Rick Steeve's recommended place and hit the bed early.

The next morning we headed to the island of Capri which was very beautiful-reminded me of what Greece must look like. It is kind of a tourist trap so we didn't stay all day. When we returned to Sorrento we went to the #1 recommended restaurant for dinner: Taverna Allegra. We had an amazing mill and were glad we followed the reviews. Would have gone there again but it was closed the next night. Had gelato after dinner. Ymmm! In fact, I think I had gelato after every lunch and dinner!!

Monday we went to Positano about 30 minutes away on the public bus. Fortunately, we sat on the opposite sides of the bus of the steep cliffs. It was an interesting ride with some of it not wide enough for 2 vehicles. Positano is probably the most gorgeous town I've ever seen! The houses are terraced and it's right on the sea and it is just beautiful. We did a tour with an Australian girl named Christine who married an Italian from Positano after meeting him when she was traveling Europe. Great tour, fun girl and great lunch at place she recommended. Returned to Sorrento, shopped, had dinner and went to bed.

On the last day we stopped at Pompeii on our way to the airport. What an amazing tour that was! The weather the entire time was great. Only problem we had was on the train to Pompeii I gave a gypsy beggar a euro. We only had about 25 pounds cash but I wasn't concerned because I planned to use a credit card at the site. They only take cash. We thought we'd be fine though because we thought we'd have enough if we saved 5 euros for the train back to Naples. We tipped the baggage girl all but those 5 euros and went to get our tickets. The cost was $5.60 euros! Great! No ATM at the station, nearest one in town 2 miles away. We ended up taking a taxi in that cost 15 euros. If we had only not been generous to the gypsy and baggage girl we would have been fine. Our good deeds cost us an extra $22!! Oh well. It was a great trip!!

Back at Lindsey's for 4 more days. We went to several parks, the London Zoo and saw Legally Blonde the musical (It was so, so good-go if you get a chance!) I loved getting the chance to spend that much time with Lindsey-I miss not seeing her as much as I would if she lived in the USA but it's a great excuse for traveling and I do enjoy that!

Colorado Visit

I just returned from my latest jaunt to Colorado. Kelly, Kasey and I had been thinking that my visits there always feel so fractured because I have to split them up between Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. We decided to try something different this time. The plan was for me to spend most of my time with one family (Kelly's this time) and see the other family for an afternoon and then switch it next time. I was really concerned it would be horrible to not see the other family much but it actually turned out great. Of course, the afternoon with Kasey's family was actually an afternoon, night and morning-that helped a lot!! It was really nice to get to spend some quality time with Kelly and family though

Highlights:

1. Seeing Kelly and Jody's new home site. Awesome location, views and great house plan! I am really excited for them.

2. Being treated like a rock star-Kelly's kids all fight over who gets to sleep with me and make me feel so loved!

3. Ammon telling me: "You're my 2nd best friend-girl in the whole world". So cute!

4. Just hanging with Kellbell.

5. Getting to see Ammon and Cohen play basketball-they are both so good and it was so fun to cheer them on.

6. Taking Ammon and Cohen to the Justin Beiber movie. Cohen and I loved it. Ammon not so much but he was totally acting like Justin, singing and playing his guitar after the movie.

7. Watching Ammon and Cohen play basketball.

8. Going to Kasey's and watching the cousins have fun together!

9. Seeing Ethan play basketball over and over again at the jumpy house. My camera died after pics of him so that is why there are not other pictures of the Henry gang.

11. Being with my girls. Well two of them.

12. Seeing 8 of my 12 grandchildren. They are all beautiful, smart and talented.

I can't wait till we retire to Colorado some day!!

Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Cancun

Just got back from an amazing trip!! We had so much fun and loved, loved, loved the beaches and blue, blue colors of the Caribbean.

I headed there on Friday by myself because Lee had church obligations for two more days. I met our good friends Toni and Howard at the Cancun airport and then we went to our resort the Gran Mayan Riviera. It was a great resort! Unbelievable landscaping-green, lush and complete with flamingos, tons of great pools and great food. We were total slugs in the cooking department and got a little food for breakfasts but pretty much ate out the rest of the time. While there we hung out at the fabulous pools, the guys played golf twice and we got massages and we played cards each night. By the way, Toni and I ended up the big champs overall in Hand and Foot (great card game)! We were cold one night and put our resort robes on over our clothes one night and won. The next night, Lee and Howard stole the robes and won. It went back and forth till the final defeat by Honorable Pam and Honorable Toni!! Fun times.

One day we went into Playa del Carmen and took the ferry to Cozumel where we rented the Silver Bullet (our beat up VW beetle) and toured the island and ate some delicious food.

Another day we went on an LDS tour to Chichen Itza (Mayan ruins), swam in a cenote and went and ate at a Mexican buffet. It was a really hot day but so interesting and fun.

After seven days we headed to Cancun for another two nights, 3 days and it was amazingly beautiful!! I couldn't believe how gorgeous the white sand and blue ocean was. We got upgraded to a Master Suite and the view from our room was completely breathtaking! I hope I got a good picture of it because it was amazing. I could look at that view forever. The city was very Americanized, like Vegas, but the hotel we stayed at Fiesta Americana Coral Reef and the beach made it unforgettable. It was an amazingly fun, beautiful trip. I would totally return. The only problem today is that I keep almost saying hola to everyone I see!

Holiday Recap

I was feeling perfectly horrible about not posting about my wonderful holiday time till I went to steal Christmas photos from Kasey, Kelly and Alex and found they had not posted yet either. I actually bought a new, easy camera this year, took pictures and then accidentally deleted them before they made it to the computer. I am a horrible photographer on all accounts. The only ones I had are the ones that were in my internal memory. Not much.

However, the holidays were fabulous. Family, food, and fun-who could ask for more.
Lee and I started by driving to Sacramento on Dec. 21st after work. We stopped at In and Out for burgers (ymmm!) on our way down. Staying at a hotel in Sacramento meant we didn't have to get up at dark thirty to drive down. A nice way to start.

We headed to Kelly's first and spent some time there doing last minute preparations for Christmas and visiting the Air Force Academy. Alex and Mitch came there too and we spent two nights there. Kasey, Matt and family arrived for Christmas Eve and we had a scrumptious feast of Prime Rib, double stuffed potatoes, green beans, yummy salad and bread and delicious dessert. The grandkids did a beautiful job of presenting the Nativity thanks to their fabulous director, Mr. Jody! We had a fun white elephant gift exchange and the grandkids exchanged presents.

The highlight of my night were our gifts from Cohen and Ammon. They had worked for Kelly every morning to earn money to spend at the school store and were soooo excited to give us their gifts. Ammon wanted to give them to us when we got there on the 22nd. He got Lee a trophy that said: Grandpa of the Year. So cute. He handed me a box and told me to unwrap it and then give it back to him. I did and then he opened the ring box to present it to me. It was so adorable!! It is that fancy "diamond" ring. He was so excited-it was too precious.

Cohen had a gift too for me. Of course he had played with it up until he gave it to me. It is the Reindeer pen. So funny, so Cohen! People probably laugh when they see me writing with it still or wearing my ring!!

We then drove to Kasey's and Matt's beautiful, spacious home. To say that our Christmas the next day was generous would be an understatement. Many thanks to all for the wonderful gifts. It was especially fun to be with the Henry's and see them open their gifts! We had a fabulous turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings. Matt is the ultimate host and there were movies to watch and airplanes to fly. We had a fabulous time.

Sunday we went to church, ate leftovers and took naps.

The next day we went after- Christmas shopping (the girls) and then out to another great Mexican restaurant. The boys had gone shooting guns and race car driving (Matt knows how to entertain his male guests!)

I had to leave the next to go to Arizona for my niece Kelsey's wedding but we changed Lee's ticket so he could stay a couple of extra days with the Henry clan.

I then spent 6 days in Arizona helping my sister Julie with wedding preparations. It is always fun to spend time with her and the Woods' hotel is the best! Kelsey married a wonderful young man and she looked so beautiful! I enjoyed seeing and spending time with my dad and Anne, my brother's and their families too. I ate at some of my favorite places like Costa Vida, Joe's BBQ and Rosa's. Lots of Mexican food was eaten by me in both Colorado and Arizona!

I had a blast in both states with all of my family-just wish I could have stayed longer with both. Not enough hugs and kisses from the grandkids, not enough daughter time and not enough sister/family time.

Why?

1. Why do we dread posting when it's been a while? I just can't do the catch up thing that so many do so brilliantly so I will pass on it and start anew.

2. Why do I feel a need/obsession at Christmas time to make every single treat I can think of? And then eat them. No wonder the 5 lb. weight gain. I took treats into work one day and the next day and someone said that it was like the 12 days of Christmas so I thought, why not? It is actually the 10 days cuz I started late. Am I crazy???? Certifiably so.
Here was the line up.
1. Christmas crack
2. Peppermint bark (cheated and bought Ghiradelli's-divine)
3. Poppycock chex mix
4. Pretzels with hugs and m and m's
5. Lindsey's and my favorite chocolate chip/butterscotch/peanut butter bars mixed with chow mein noodles, peanuts and mini marshmallows
6. Kisses, hugs and truffles (another easy day-went to Lee's work party night before)
7. Orange/craisin scones
8. Pistachio/craisin cookies
1 pkg Betty Crocker cookie mix
1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. melted butter
2 eggs
1 pkg instant pistachio pudding
mix together
Add 1 c. chopped pistachio nuts
1 c. craisins
Cook 350 for 8-10 minutes
made these tonight-really good!!
9. Danish Puff Pastry
10. Homemad caramels-ymmm!

3. Why do I always have a Christmas meltdown? Mine ocurred this year on Friday night. I had worked all week and we decided to have people over to watch the BYU game (yea Mitch for becoming BYU's all time point scorer during that game!!) I made clam chowder, pecan tarts, some craisin/almond cookies (more on that later), and spinach dip and then cleaned my house. After the tarts were done I opened my microwave to see the melted butter for the tarts in there. When I made the cookies, they just didn't seem right. Not sure what I did to them. Went to make lemon bars but was out of eggs. I went to bed about 11:00 in near tears from exhaustion and frustration. Got up the next morning to make lemon bars and used the 2/3 cup measurement instead of 1/2 c. and had to remake the crust. I may have done that to the cookies earlier.
We ended up having a great time-I made veggies and dip Sat. morning, lemon bars, cooked chicken wings, warmed up sour dough bread and we had fun eating and watching the game!

Well, I did it! Posted again so am back on the wagon! Hope all you women out there who do so much to make Christmas magical are surviving the season and finding magical moments for yourselves!

Books

I love to read. The book I have seen more people read than any other book lately is The Girl Wth the Dragon Tatto. So I read it. Possibly the most disturbing book I've ever read. If you like graffic tales of sexual abuse, read on. I tried to bypass those sections but the one section I did read ruined the otherwise good book. The main girl in it is the product of abuse and I didn't like anything about her. She is in all the other books in this series. I won't be reading them. Have you ever finished a book and then wondered why you did? Thousands of readers can be wrong.

On the other hand, Cutting for Stone, is the story of love, betrayal, forgiveness and is fabulous! I loved it and hated to see it end. I highly recommend it!! Another recent good read was the Other Side of the Bridge.