Week 20, 21, 22 - Utah Vacation

You've no doubt noticed me missing the past few weeks...there's a really good reason;

Mom, John and I recently spent a wonderful 10 days in Utah with John III and his Jill and the 5 grands.  It was magical and manic, to say the least.  With 5 kids, all going in different directions at the same time, I'm not totally sure how our Jill does it all; but she does.  There were dance lessons and piano lessons and rehearsals for a piano recital and rehearsals for a dance recital and a 4th grade opera and a 1st grade friendship program.  Add to that taking her inlaws around to the various places we wanted to see - and eat - and it's a wonder she isn't a raving lunatic.  And she is not a lunatic, by any stretch of the imagination...she is sweet, and kind, and funny, and loving, and the best daughter-in-law we could have.  We love you, Jill!  

I took tons of pictures but here are the highlights...

 Evidently, I am not a princess - this is evidenced by the fact that I slept all night long on a Lego minifigure without knowing it...

 Beautiful snowy mountains to the east of our kids' home.

 Mothers' Day brought sun and warmth...and bathing beauties galore.

 A visit to the state capitol building and a tour by our son, a State Legislator.

 Snow - in May!  I need say no more!

 4th Grade Opera, written and produced entirely by the students...I was impressed! That's W in the white poncho.

 1st grade Friendship program.  Our H is in the middle of the top row.

 C in one of her costumes for the recital..She's growing to be such an amazing performer. 

 Bear Bear in her costume for the recital.  I loved her performance!  She's following in her big sisters' footsteps!

  A girl (or rather, Girls) needs plenty of space for nail polishes...this is their bathroom.  

 Bear Bear and Nana Bette playing...I love watching them together.

 H turned 7 while we were there...so much fun!

It's never a trip to Utah without a stop at Jamba Juice...we don't have them here and nothing seems to compare.  This is my Mango Jamba....my favorite.

I seem to take pictures of the grands a not of Jill or John or anything that the adults did...we went to a wonderful theater performance of To Kill a Mockingbird.  The Hale Theater in Salt Lake City is perfection!  I've never seen anything there that I hated.  

Mothers' Day found flowers on all the ladies' dressers (even the littles got flowers from John III!) and a wonderful feast of  BBQ;s Tri-Tip, salad, cornbread, and roasted veggies.  We went along with Jill down south to pick up hanging flower baskets for her porches.  They are magnificent.  John helped young John put up hanging lights on the patio and then they spent an entire afternoon sawing and sanding boards to make a patio sectional.  I love that they get to spend so much time working on projects together.  

Once we got home, it was laundry and rest up for the coming week.  Our life is so quiet compared to the family in Utah that it took almost the entire week for us to get back to normal (our normal, that is).

Thank you for stopping by. 

Week 19 - Amazing Medicine

Short and sweet?  Here it is: Medicine today is amazing.  You can have a heart that is only working at 20% efficiency, take a team of doctors who are good at their jobs, a hospital that has the facilities to perform procedures like stopping the heart and starting it all over again, and a little thing like a Life Vest that contains a defibrillator in case that heart were to stop suddenly.  Then add in about 2 months' time.  Add them all together and at the end of that 2 months what do you have?  Don't guess, I'll tell you.  You have a heart that is working at a miraculous 48%.  Some might say that's not enough...but the heart muscle in question only works at 50% when it's at optimum.  And that, folks, is why we are celebrating here at Pieceful Harbor!  Mr. Wonderful is no longer required to wear an electronic life vest, nor is he carrying around a 3 pound 'brick' attached to his waist.  I no longer sleep lightly, waking to make sure I can hear him breathing on the other side of the bed.  His heart has repaired itself to a level that have his team of doctors heaving a sigh of relief, I'm sure. 

Anything else I might tell you this week palls, really, doesn't it?  So I will leave you with this beautiful picture of a Red Peony that we planted last spring in the hopes that it would bloom this year....Huzzah!

 Thanks for stopping by.