Jeff's 30th Birthday 10/09/12

Jeff has enjoyed his orange kayak so we thought his cake should be in the shape of a kayak.

Over the weekend and on Monday before the 9th of October, Jeff and Ashley had fun in  Nappa Valley and San Fransisco. Ashley surprised Jeff and arranged for him to have Tuesday off so they could come to Monterey to celebrate Jeff's 30th birthday. Angela hosted the party and it was great to be together for this special event.

This is the gift that Bella picked out for Uncle Jeff.

Bella and Jeff making funny faces.

Rex's Baptism

Rex celebrated his birthday & baptism on the same day.  He was pretty excited about it.  He kept saying, "Ii feel so happy." It was a great day for all of us.

So proud of you Rex!  Happy Birthday/ Baptism!

Trip to Utah - September 2012

On September 15th I flew to Utah to get the Orem home ready to rent. Jo came too to help me accomplish this task. She was such a great help as she painted rooms, scrubbed floors and stained the deck. Steve also helped stain the deck, mow the lawn and haul things away. I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of him working. I included some photos of our activities and some pictures of how great the yard looks with the pavers and decorative rocks on each side of the house and the path that goes around to the backyard plus the new fence. Kraig Allen did a great job with these projects. Our last fruit tree finally had to be cut down.  It has produced lots of delicious apples throughout its 30+ years. We turned the house over to a property manager so now will wait to see what happens.

Other Activities While in Utah-September 2012

Here are other activities that I did besides working on the home: I enjoyed some delicious food prepared by Jen.  I have included a picture of one of these meals. It was great to be at Jen's birthday celebration. It was fun to see Jen's reaction to her presents. Her family blindfolded her and led her into the backyard and had her sit on her bike before taking the blindfold off so she could see her first present, a basket for her bike that she had been wanting.  You can see her expression of extreme  surprise when she opened her second present in the basket - an ipad! A few of their neighbors came over for cake and ice cream. The Frantzes had me over to their home for a delicious barbecue.  It was great to see their new home and meet their new addition to the family-Molly, a Black Lab. I appreciated Catherine coming over to our Orem home to help clean it. I went with Steve, Campbelle, Brinnan and Beau to see the beautiful colored leaves up Provo canyon in the Hope Campground area. The colors were extra brilliant this year. On the way home we stopped and saw the Chalk Block display of painting drawn in the parking lot at the Riverwood Shopping area. They were amazing. Steve put up the large tent that is used when they go to Fort Bridger so the neighbors could sit inside and watch a movie.  It was fun to finally get to see it set up. I enjoyed going with Jo, Mick, Court and Chase to the dedication of the Brigham City Temple held in the Marriott Center. All church meetings were cancelled that Sunday so everyone could attend a session of the dedication. Court had us over to her apartment to enjoy a great dinner. It was fun to meet Chase. He has a lot of great qualities.  I really appreciated Court and Mick sharing their cars with me so I had transportation while I was in Utah. Lanny and Shirley invited us over for dinner and we had a lot of wonderful food and enjoyed the evening visiting,  It was fun to see Lanny's and Shirley's studios where they create so many beautiful art masterpieces.  I'm sorry I didn't take any photos of these events. Lynnie gave Steve, Campbelle and me a personal tour of the Springville Art Museum. It was especially exciting to see the Russian paintings that Lynnie had hung in one of the rooms and had written the history about each painting.