40 and Fabulous

Heather turned 40 today!  Well, actually she turns 40 tomorrow, but she won't be in town then.  She flies back to Georgia early tomorrow morning.  For some reason her family wanted to spend her birthday with her.  I met Heather a looooooooong time ago.  I'm sure I knew her in junior high, but most of my memories of her are from high school, and Utah State, and Georgia.  Amazing how often our paths crossed. Heather has the most amazing voice.  She comes to Utah a lot to work on her different albums.  She told me they are thinking of selling their lake house and buying a condo here.  That is a great idea!  Especially since I doubt we will be hanging out at their lake house with them any time soon.  Although, we did have a lot of fun there.  Anyway, I just adore Heather and was so excited to see her.  Her sister threw a little get-together for her.  Loved it.

Heather

 Heather & Stephanie

One of Heather's friends made the most incredible witch hat.  Peacock feathers and all.  I loved it!  So beautiful!  I wish I had that kind of talent.

Picture of an Ugly Chicken

I got another e-mail from one of Stockton's teachers.  This time it was from his Creative Writing teacher.  She wrote, "Well, that Stockton has done it again!  He wrote the most clever poem I think I have ever read, so I put it on my blog.  If you want to see it, go to *******.  Also, ask him to tell you about the skit he performed in class today - it was so hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing!  I'll tell you, that is one talented guy."

I have to admit, I enjoyed this e-mail much better then the one I received from his English teacher.  That was very kind of her to write and tell me she is enjoying Stockton.  This is the poem she was talking about.  The kids were asked to write a poem about a picture hanging in their home.

Picture of an Ugly Chicken

A chicken

A chicken with stubby wings

A chicken with a misplaced beak and stubby wings

A chicken with odd eyes, a misplaced beak and stubby wings

A chicken with huge feet, odd eyes, a misplaced beak and stubby wings

A chicken with almost no feathers, huge feet, odd eyes, a misplaced beak and stubby wings

I remember drawing that:

I scrawled my name hastily sat the top.

I think my parents put my preschool drawings on the wall so my family could laugh at them.

--Stockton

Science Class

My friend ran the Boston Marathon yesterday.  As a result, she was not in town to teach the science class she usually teaches.  She asked me to substitute.  I didn't think it would be a big deal because there is another mom that teaches with her.  Anyway, yesterday the other mom called and left a voice mail asking if I had looked at the materials.  She hadn't. She hates science.  That is usually my line!  This is when I started to get really nervous.  The lesson was about motors.  We needed to teach for one hour.  I begged, pleaded and bribed Mike to come teach the class for me.  He agreed and did a fantastic job.  He surprised Jorja and she loved it.  I think the other mom and I could have faked our way through thirty minutes worth, but the last thirty minutes would have been a train wreck.  Plus, Mike actually taught them stuff.  Thank you Mike!!!

Mike

 Jorja & Mike

Preston had a baseball game today.  It was so windy that they cancelled the game shortly after we arrived.  Preston and I decided to go to Leatherby's instead.  One just opened this month near our house. Preston was adorable as always.

Preston

This is what our house looks like today.  I was worried that once the walls were put up on the laundry room the kitchen would not look as awesome.  Nope.  I still love it.  Well, technically the walls aren't up yet, but I can get a pretty good idea.

We are putting a wall in our downstairs bathroom to separate the bathtub from what has become a storage area.  This will probably be a good thing because we need all the storage space we can get!

 And back to upstairs...coming along quite nicely.

The Barn

Peggy's barn is not really a barn.  Once there were horses there...a lot of them...but not now.  Now it is another guest house, I think, and a place for some really cool cars.  Although the pictures I took of the cars are kind of blurry, but you can get the idea.

The barn

 Parking meter ~ don't worry, it's just a decoration.

 Remote control car track

 Terry's summer car

 I think it's from the 20's, but I'm not sure

 Peggy said they drove this car a lot when the twins were little.

 Just stairs, but they're pretty

 Fun statues scattered around the yard

I had to get a close up of this one because

the little boy is trying to catch a frog!

Home for Easter

Okay, I know the title says, "Home for Easter", but most of these pictures are from our trip.  Easter here was low key.  Jorja and Preston got Chinese books.  That's about it.  No one seemed to mind.  Anyway, yesterday morning Mike and I went exploring at Peggy's yard.  I think we ended up off their property.  It was beautiful!

Stephanie & Mike

 Stephanie

 Mike

 Haha!  This picture makes me laugh.

 Peggy's house

You can see a small platform diving board.  Underneath is a hot tub. We didn't swim this trip, but I have great memories playing here with my brothers years ago!

If you look closely you can see a small window in the guest house.  We could see my dad's shadow getting ready for the day.  I tried to take a picture of him, he was so mad!  Well, he wasn't mad but he did call me a Peeping Tom.  

Carved into the window below says, "The estate of non ordinary reality".  Sums up this place quite nicely.

 Garage doors

Peggy says they have a garbage room.  Every so often they take a trip to the dump.  The dump is close by, so it's not a big deal.  The carving on this door makes me laugh.

Terry reminds me a lot of Mike.  Always has a project to work on.  He has been building this place for years.  There are some places that he hasn't finished.  Mike thought that was really cool.  There is a small cement mixer out back.  He wondered if Terry would go out and put a few bricks on every day.  I don't think so, but it is kind of fun to see.

Mike

This is the back of Peggy's house.  Preston loved playing in the tower. Such a small little room, but magical.

We found Jorja and Preston out early looking for lizards.  They never did capture any, but had fun trying.

Jorja and Preston

 Preston, Jorja, Mike

This is the view from the kitchen balcony.  If you squint and look really close you can see the golfer statue through the trees.  It is perfectly placed.  Easy to see in person, but a little tougher on my phone.

 Jorja

 Preston

 Jorja saying good-bye to Cheyenne

 Preston, Jorja, Cheyenne

 Jorja & Dakota

 Mike & Terry

Jorja thought this street sign was so funny.  Potato Road.  We are now in Winnemucca, Nevada.

 Bye-bye spring break.  You were great to us!

We got home early this morning.  We were excited to see what had happened to our house while we were gone.  Looks like the plumbers were here. 

 Our old pantry is gone

 My new sink and dishwashers will be here

 The banister is a little dangerous right now.  Yikes!

Megan called and asked if Preston could meet Olivia at the fence.  She handed him a cute cookie that said, "Preston, we enjoyed your testimony".  I can't remember if I wrote about that before.  Anyway, Preston went up front to bear his testimony a little while ago.  He left our bench so fast, I was shocked.  I was so scared about what he would do when he was up there, but I didn't want to go drag him back down. He was absolutely adorable and did such a great job.  I can't remember exactly what he said, but it was something like - I know Jesus died for my sins and we can be with him again.  Wow.  Love him!

Preston