Sunday, June 12, 2011

St. George is Georgous

We went to St. George for a few days (and Las Vegas for half a day), and it was a blast to get away.

But first -- thanks, Joey, for the anniversary post. (He's such a doll face.) I dug out two faves from the wedding album:




The Portland temple is huge! And poor Moroni didn't quite make the cut.



So we left for St. George this past Thursday. Joe made us hearty breakfast to start the day. He is an expert at the hearty breakfast. Eggs, bacon, hash browns, english muffins. Plus the centerpiece below. The prospect of 7 work-free days stretching out ahead of him propelled him to fugues of fruit-carving exuberance.


Aunt Boo Boo let us stay at her pretty new house in St. George. We swam a lot and went on various outings. On Friday we went to Snow Canyon. It's very close by and absolutely stunning. Lots of kid-/aging-parent-friendly trails.



Not very comfy reclining on pointy rocks, but Em indulged us (because it makes a great picture...).


This little slot canyon (called Jenny's Canyon) was so cool!


And on the walk out we saw the following tortoise.


On Friday afternoon, we drove to Las Vegas to meet up with Emma's big brother Louie. Went to dinner, then he drove us to the new bridge at Hoover Dam. We walked halfway across -- Really spectacular, but made me queasy.




Louie showed us a few bright lights. On Fremont Street Emma looked around, agog, and said, "Is this a block party?"


Then we headed back to St. George, realizing that our night owl days are far, far behind us.

On Saturday, we went to the Dinosaur Discovery museum and then got Chicago dogs downtown. When we were eating at the hot dog place, a woman came up to us and told us she'd been a flight attendant on our flight from LA to Salt Lake when we brought Emma home from China in 2006. She remembered talking to us on that flight. Isn't that something?

Drove back to Draper on Sunday morning in time to get to sacrament meeting at 1:00, where Joe was sustained as the new ward executive secretary. He'll do a wonderful job. And he's got 3 more days off to recover from vacation. Hopefully that's enough to inspire him to further fruit sculpting.

Oh, and I must mention that Emma graduated (with distinction) from kindergarten last Tuesday. Not with a ceremony or nothin', but she brought home her diploma, report card, about 5 pounds worth of papers and art projects from the last year, plus a Distinguished Dragon medal she earned for knowing all kinds of kindergarteny stuff. I was sitting out in the front yard as she and her pal Jace strolled home from the bus on their last sunny kindergarten day and I must say I felt a pang. Bless her little heart.

So that's what's going on as of just now.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

I'm a Lucky Duck!


It was fifteen years ago today Denny and I were married. It has been a great 15 years that have flown by. We have covered a lot of ground, and had many wonderful experiences. She is my sweetie, and I am fortunate to have found her (kudos to Angie), and she's cool to boot!



Emma adores her mama. We look forward to many more years together. Things is good. I love you estimada esposa. Quack. Ok then.