Summer Social 2012

We had our annual summer social again for work up at the pavilion in Bountiful. It was also a farewell for Elder Larry W. Gibbons and Elder Claudio D. Zivic. As I've said before, I'm a sympathetic cryer. So, once Elder Zivic started during his farewell remarks, I didn't stand a chance! He hugged me afterward and told me he loved me and then his wife hugged and kissed me. They are so humble and sweet. Elder Gibbons was so fun to watch as he played the Temple Department version of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. He got a diploma upon graduating and everything. Fun night!



More and More Apartments

I've gone to look at apartments two nights this week. Still no success finding the perfect place, but that's not for lack of trying! Hopefully I'll hear back by tomorrow on another one that I'm interested in. It's in south Bountiful, but is only 30 seconds from the Mueller Park trailhead. I'd love living right at the mouth of the canyon and then have a place to go hiking and to play when I want. It would be the trade off for having to live even farther north from family than I am right now.

Also, I've had three contacts so far on my car that is up for sale. The faster it sells, the sooner I can get into my sweet new ride! I'll post pictures when that actually happens.

Last night, Jen, Amy, and Amanda Felix came up so we could go see the movie Brave, and then go to Hatch's afterward of course. I tried the new lemon sorbet which was actually pretty good. It was a difficult call though between that and the german chocolate ice cream they had that I could see oozing caramel! But, I was good. Dang it!

Also, I updated my work photo on PeopleFinder. We are only allowed to do the head and shoulders looking at the camera, so, this is what everyone at work will see now:



Mamas and Papas

When I asked mom what dad had wanted for Father's Day, she gave an emphatic answer that he wanted a get-away to my condo in Salt Lake. Last night they came up for that stay. Apparently it was very needed by the time they got to me as mom cared for Dana's kids all last week while Deborah had her baby, Lisa was in town w/her kids for the week, and mom threw Lori's baby shower at her house. Friday night mom was limping around the house while trying to do the shower prep. It was pretty bad. So Sunday when they arrived, I had dinner all ready for them. I grilled steak and chicken, steamed vegetables (mushrooms, zucchini, squash, and onions), baked steak fries, and had peach sorbet with a granola topping afterward for dessert. They stuffed themselves and then stretched out on the couch afterward and fell right to sleep...within an hour of arriving! They were pretty tired. Glad I was able to give them a much needed break!

Dad is especially going to miss me living in this apartment. He got up early this morning so that he could take pictures of me getting ready for the day - opening the fridge and standing in the kitchen, and then had me take a picture of him sitting at the table eating breakfast. He said he also got pictures of the 'last night temple views' they'd have. He's so cute!

Babies on the Mind

We had Lori's baby shower today. She was an active participant for this and did a lot of the set-up/clean-up, invitation, game preparation and dessert preparation. Hopefully she got just what she wanted then!  ;-)  I set up chairs for 43 people and they were all full. Cody's side of the family came, Lori's friends, and family members. I got to talk to quite a few people. Hopefully everyone else did too. Lori hollowed out strawberries and filled them with cream cheese then dipped them in graham crackers. Delish!

I stopped by Dana's and got to hold little Lily too. Everything about her is tiny. Especially her fingernails!

Some of the dessert selection

Talking to baby.

Disclaimer - this belly may or may not belong to who
you think it does. Lean towards may not. Confused?
Good, as she wanted it.

Baby Lily Renee



Strawberry Days

Today was a busy day! I went to Ryan Taylor and Kathryn Reynolds' farewell luncheon over at the Salt Lake Temple. So sad to see them leaving!

I drove straight from work to the office to meet up with everyone for the Strawberry Days events. Lisa is in town so she walked in the Children's Parade with the Zabels and Dana's kids. There was pizza afterward at the office, then we went to the Carnival so all the kids could use their free ticket on a ride. Chris and I rode the Ferris Wheel and he loved it! He is so much fun to be around. He put his arms up in the air the whole time and kept waving and calling out to the people on the ground, "hello little people down there!" Our ride took longer than everyone else's, so we walked down to the Rodeo grounds after by ourselves.

Mom took Dana's kids down to the hospital while we were at the Rodeo so they could meet their new baby sister, Lily Renee Pack, who was born at 6:09 p.m. She was 19" long and weighed 7 lbs 15 oz.

When calling Lisa to find out where everyone was sitting at the Rodeo, we were directed to the south side. Not to be confused with the northeast side where everyone was sitting. Chris was so tired from walking by that time that he kept trying to sit down on the ground in the dirt to rest. We did get to see all the steer and horses on the back side of the stands...as well as the cowboys putting on their chaps...

At the Carnival

On the Ferris Wheel

Jodie didn't want me in the picture. I made my way in still. :-)

Enjoying the rodeo

Fatherly Familial Feelings

Aaron Felix got married yesterday so I headed down to Pleasant Grove in time for the reception. Grandma Backlund was at the hospital for 5 hours in the afternoon being checked out to see if she was having seizures (she wasn't), but mom got back in time to go to the reception with me and dad.

I went to the Spanish ward with the parentals and enjoyed the messages. I think the ward is starting to just accept me as a member of their ward instead of a visitor since I am there so often! We had a dinner afterward w/Dana's family, and then the Zabels showed up to wish dad a happy day. Love seeing those boys! Jenny gave dad a puzzle that she said their family has worked on for two years now but they haven't been able to solve it. I was determined to try, and once I could get Jodie to stop changing my pieces because she said the flowers weren't matching, I was able to solve the puzzle in 20 minutes. Not bad!

Tiffany's crazy hair after just
waking up to join our party.

This Is the Place...Again

Aunt Ann is trying to get two plaques on two items that were donated to This Is the Place Heritage Park from the Eldon Pack family. I guess she and my dad needed to know the exact depth of the items on display at the Park in the John Pack home. Since I'm the closest one, I headed to the Park on my lunch break and got a cart ride from the worker up to the Pack home so I could make some measurements. The things I do for people!