Many Miles Away

Lori and I drove down in a caravan with mom and dad to St. George to spend Friday and Saturday night at Aunt Ann's condo. We went to dinner at Outback with Ann that night and then on Saturday, we saw a movie with LeRoy and Sherrie who drove up from Mesquite to join us.

Sunday we drove to San Diego. We got there close to sunset, but managed to make it to the military cemetery in time to see Grandpa Johnson's grave and great-Grandpa and Grandma Chryst's graves. I'd never seen them before as I was on a mission and then at school in England the last two times the family all went to California.

After, we stopped for a Mexican dinner at Old Town and had a Mariachi band come over and serenade us. A man came around the tables selling flowers and dad bought a rose for mom. We ate outdoors on the patio. It was a little brisk so we 'adjusted' our table to be under the heater a little more directly. :-)

The night wasn't over yet though. Next, we stopped at the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center and took a tour. The sister missionary helping us turned out to be from mom and dad's home English ward. I took a picture and texted it to her parents letting them know we ran in to her there. For a short time in town, we sure packed in a lot!



How cute is our Mormon Battalion man!

Uncle Bob's funeral was on Monday. It's a good thing I had my eyes done! I'm a sympathy crier, plus add that to the thought that one day I'd have to be in that position for my dad and I went through at least 12 tissues! It was almost embarrassing...but my eyes still looked decent afterward! The salt water dried them up though so that when we got on the road and started driving home, they were killing me! It started to rain just as the funeral ended (loved having the navy do a special part!) and it dumped buckets on us as we drove out of California. We got in to St. George about 12:30 a.m. and then Lori and I started on the road again at 7 a.m. I made it back to work for a half-day in time to cover my shift at the front desk. Tired, but there!

Uncle Bob

Uncle Bob passed away yesterday. He's been so sick lately with his colon cancer that it was almost a blessing, but very sad. We're trying to work the plans out so that we can go to San Diego for the funeral.

Last night I straightened my hair for work today. A drawback to me having straight hair? It makes it so long, that everytime I turn my head, my hair gets caught in my armpit. Rather humorous and inconvenient all at the same time!

Unsteady

I had another bad day at work today. Not work wise, but health-wise. I had to hold on to the wall while I was walking because I thought I was going to fall down. Poor Linda Clawson, the receptionist, saw me and was on the phone while she tried to jump up to help me, juggle the call, and run around her desk. Thankfully I was headed to the elevator to go home right then with another co-worker giving me a ride. They're so nice to help out!

Micah's Early Celebration

Grandpa DeRoest passed away this past Sunday and his viewing was last night with the funeral today. I didn't make it to either, but heard that Marcel got a big surprise when he showed up at the funeral to find his name on the program!

I drove to Heber after work tonight to sleep over for Micah's birthday. Jenny had asked that I move it from it's originally scheduled time tomorrow night due to them being busy. Then, Jenny asked if it would be okay to have some of the cousins on the Zabel side over Friday night for cake too, then Lori and Cody asked if they could sleep over, and then Alan and Nancy Zabel came for cake also. It ended up being noisy and crowded! But these boys are just so dang sweet!

Can you guess who's going to Disneyland?

Jer showing just how low he can go.

Lots of background noise, but still so cute!

I love when each boy realizes he's on camera.

They've got the MoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOves like Jagger!

Chris wanted me to sleep in his room for the night.

He even sang me a song to help me sleep. These boys!

IPSL Susanna

Susanna Ebiasah from my IPSL Master's School group Facebooked me recently to say she had a friend who would be in town this week for work. She loved my London tours and wondered if I would be willing to give a tour of Salt Lake. I met up with Kafui and his co-worker this evening and gave them a tour of Temple Square. I gave a disclaimer at the beginning and told them that by definition of it being Temple Square, it was going to be a religious tour and they should let me know if it was getting to be too much. They never did and had lots and lots of questions for me. We wrapped up the evening by taking a tour of the Conference Center. The missionary helping us did such a great job of explaining the Book of Mormon through the murals that we were seeing. It was almost a thrilling experience for me reaffirming my beliefs. If the other two got as much as I did out of the evening, it was a definite success!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I went in for my follow-up doctor's appointment. Looks like I'm going to live to be undiagnosed another day. Good news not to have cancer. Tough to still not know what I have. Mom and dad took me out to celebrate the verdict and to celebrate Valentine's Day. Nice to know I have Valentines in all this! They drove up from Pleasant Grove just for the occasion and we went out to eat at Ruby River. Dad of course unknowingly made us laugh. Mom had been snacking on the peanuts they have set out at the table. She said, "These are so fresh!" Dad's response? "Not mine. I have old nuts." Took mom and I awhile to stop laughing, especially because I said "Fish balls!" in remembrance of another funny dad-ism.

Valentine/Monthly Birthdays

All the family met together for the monthly birthday party as well as the Valentine's party. The third dinner party mom threw over the weekend! One of the birthdays we celebrated was Micah's. I did a little treasure hunt for him to get to his present where he had to do what the pictures say.

 

Giving Jon a fist bump and Jodie a big smooch!

Two days after my touch-ups.

A butterfly kiss on the cheek.

Looking up to big brother.

Best buds.

The regular picture that took several shots to get.

Love that cheese!

Big Day

Jodie and I met up for an early movie, The Vow. I'd had to promise to my esthetician not to cry as the salt in tears dry out and damage healing. I managed not to. Lots of long blinks though.

After, I hurried back to mom's to help set up and prepare for a baby shower mom was throwing for a new member in the Spanish ward. It seemed to take a lot of work to prepare and keep it going! They all seemed to like it though. A full meal was prepared, and then immediately afterward, mom and dad took all the leftovers to a baptism.

Whitney Houston died today. The memorials for her are crazy, especially as nobody cared about her when she was alive and now all of a sudden they are devastated she's gone? Good singer, crazy life.

Cute girls at the baby shower

Glutton for Punishment

Laser appointment and eyeliner touch-up. I'm a glutton for punishment! Especially as the eyes were more painful this second time through. I had to shake it off after every pass, then when I iced my eyes afterward, they kept bleeding on the paper towel. Ouch!

Sweet Things

I worked a little overtime tonight going to a renovation open house at the Radisson Hotel where we have all the temple presidents stay during seminar time. We toured rooms, sampled food and drink, and entered for all the hotel giveaways. I did not win. That was okay though as they were only giving away the hotel stay and not the airfare to get there.

I got an email from Lisa with this picture of Matthew and his red pancakes saying I love you. Made my day!

Then, Chris, who loves to watch old John Wayne cowboy movies, serenaded me with a song while we were talking on the phone. I convinced him to do it again when I could video him during his live performance. What a crack-up!

Out of Sync

In returning to my desk from lunch today, my heart had some big skipping beats, and now it's been out of rhythm ever since. The sensations were flutters, skips, and then like it was pounding hard and more rapid than normal. I got a few questions from coworkers because apparently they could tell something was off from the way I looked. After sitting at my desk for an hour, I took my blood pressure and pulse - 104/66 bpm 94. So, a lower blood pressure but elevated heart rate. What's up with that? Glass half full approach? At least there isn't any dizziness or nausea accompanying these symptoms.

All is Right in the World

Brittany was baptized this morning. Sarah did a good job arranging everything. The closing remarks by the member of the bishopric there seemed like it was directed toward Jon rather than Brittany and was really touching. After dad confirmed Britt, he leaned down and whispered to her and she went over and gave Jon a hug. It seemed to me he was a little teary eyed. Maybe that's just wishful thinking...

Jeremy is playing basketball this year and had a game down in Orem today. I drove mom down and Lori and Cody met there too for us all to watch and cheer Jer on. He was pretty cute in his little uniform. Definitely growing up on us!

Things were resolved with the home situation. I ended up staying at moms for the rest of the evening and watched some shows with mom and dad. It was particularly funny that in the show we were watching, the character said, 'ohhhhh this is soooo going on my blog!' As mom always tells me not to blog about what's going on, we got a good laugh about it.

Cheering w/Brett at the game.

How do I get naturally red lips like Chris? I want to bite them!

Jer making a shot.

Love this boy!

Sign I showed my sisters at the luncheon after Britt's baptism.

Sick Again

I wasn't feeling well again on Friday and so was lounging around the home lying on the couch when Amy and Amanda called. They were in Salt Lake and wanted to stop by to do something for the evening. They said they didn't mind I wasn't feeling well and would lounge with me and hopefully help me feel better. So, we watched a movie and played a little Boggle, and by the end? I did feel better! There'll be no living with them now!

Miche!

My Miche bags finally arrived and it was like Christmas! Of course, I can't find the one that I want the very most, but I got the others that I really like. So fun!