School Christmas Programs

So happy I could be out here to watch the ggrrls Christmas programs. The older ggrrls started at 1:15. I got there at 12:30 to get good seats - still chose the wrong ones! Cathie was there, Rich had to work, as did Kincade, Paige had to take Hattie to Preschool, so no Hattie, Paige came just before it started, and Scott made it, he didn't work until 3.

Then over to Preschool for Hattie's. Of course my ggrrls are the cutest and the mostest. This pic was taken at home after all the programs.

Christmas decos made out of candy around So Jo

I need to find out who is making all of these, they are very complicated and fun looking. Lots of time and money, lots of artistry.

Jack Frost was out last night

I woke up this morning to fog and frost. So pretty. I needed to run out to Smith's at 8am and had to scrape the windows and let the defrosters do some defrosting. Absolutely gorgeous. But chilly at 23*.

I didn't have a scraper (no need for one in Texas!) so I also went to Walmart and got a short scraper and a long one with brush.

Stella's turning double digits

On Dec 8 Stella turned 10...double digits! She is growing up too fast.
I meet them on Fri night for her birthday dinner, then watched Macy and Hattie for a few hours on Sat while Paige and Stella had pedicures, her first. She was quite excited.
Sat night was also the friend birthday party, then Sunday was the family birthday party.

Scott fixed mac and cheese and black and bleu salad. Stephanie also fixed a mac and cheese. It's so much fun to get together with the Upstills, such great people.

I didn't get any pics so I can't post any. Sadz. Not a good Nano.

Returns

I think I return to the stores almost as much stuff as I keep. Spent an hour running around returning to 3 stores; got back almost $200. I guess I like to buy the stuff, think about it, try it on, then make my decision. Once I decide, BAM, I want the stuff gone, no patience to see it sitting around bugging me.

Paige and the 3 ggrrls are sick; they resicked Scott from the having them here the weekend. I'm fighting off a sick. I think I have the upper hand.

Live Nativity

One of the churches here in South Jordan was hosting a live Nativity on Sat evening. We had the ggrrls staying at the townhouse on Sat thro Sunday morning, so we took them to it. The weather was beautiful, certainly not too cold. It was dark, Christmas carols were playing, people were gathering, they had hot chocolate and whipped cream. A camel, donkeys and sheep were part of the nativity, along with the live actors.

After we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. The ggrrls enjoyed it. At the end of the lights they were more interested in who got to wear Treena's warm earband, which they took turns doing.

I really enjoy all the Christmas activities.

Festival of Trees

This is a charity work for Primary Children's Hospital. People and businesses decorate trees, make Christmas displays and other crafts to sell at an auction for the hospital. All the items are brought into the Expo Center, people buy tickets, and this money also goes to the hospital.

Beautiful trees, a log cabin, etc. Quite fun to see and for a worthy cause.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

As Scott and I were driving over to our house being built, we came across these decos. I will have pillars; love this idea so I had him take pics so I can totally copy for next year.

So Jo library Christmas candy decos

Last year the So Jo library had a really cool, large deco made out of candy. I just went there yesterday, another great deco made completely from candy. I need to ask them who does these, lots of work and so unusual. I really like the Salt Lake County library system.

2016

 

2017

2017

Thanksgiving

Chris and Rick came to the townhouse and spent a week here for Thanksgiving (they spent 2 days driving my Sorento, bad man who wrecked my Santa Fe!). It was quite fun. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner; Treena's mom and 2 brothers came over for dinner at 1pm, then we to Paige's for dessert at 5pm. Quite an enjoyable day. Scott and I planned the menu; he did most of the cooking. Because I didn't have all the pans, etc I needed, I bought 3 rotisserie chickens and didn't do a turkey.

Always fun to get together with the Upstills, Paige really lucked out with a great in-law family. We all lucked out with a great son-in-law in Kincade.

Rick went to the house almost everyday. They dug the basement while he was here. This morning Scott and I went over; yep the basement walls were completely finished and they were water proofing them.

Utah Wreck

I have been so busy in Sept and Oct, spending a lot of time in Utah with the house and have not been bringing my computer, making it difficult to blog.

Stella won the spelling bee for her 4th grade class so she got to move on to the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade final spelling bee. It was last Fri at 1pm. I was going, of course, and left the townhouse around 11:30 or 12. I was traveling west on South Jordan Parkway, the light to go over and turn onto Mt View was red so I stopped. The light turned green and I entered the intersection. Wham, whap, a car hit me and knocked me thro the intersection. I managed to pull to the side of the road and sat there, crying and in shock.

Finally, I looked over and I saw the car that hit me, pulled or traveled over on into the grasses, and the driver getting out. He was outside the car talking on his phone. I noticed a couple of teenagers, a boy and a girl, across the road on the phone also. I asked if they were calling the police, they said yes. I was crying and in shock. Soon the teenagers walked over to me and asked if I was ok. Yes. Still crying. They each gave me several hugs.

Another man stopped and was very helpful, also called emergency and soon Firemen and EMTs showed up, ascertained I was moving and didn't need an ambulance. Then a policeman. Meanwhile the concerned citizen was so concern. Very comforting. I'm still crying, in shock. The medical people took my vital signs and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. No. I wish I had gotten his name so I could call and thank him. I did tell him thanks several times. He left after all the professionals arrived.

I had hit my head and it hurt. My jaw hurt (just what I needed, to injure my jaw!!)

Finally I let Paige know I wasn't going to make it. Called Rick or texted him. Confusing time.

The policeman gave me a ride back to the townhouse about 1pm. I was so shaken up I didn't want to stay there and drove Scott's Escape to his work. I was anxious and jumpy at every car on the road. He insisted I take his car because it's automatic. Drove to Paige's. I realized m.y back and neck were hurting. I didn't stay long, went home. Scott and Treena were so concerned.

That night my back hurt more. I was flying to Austin, needed to get home for my 2 doc appointments. My arms started hurting, my hands started tingling, and this has only gotten worse. My neck and back hurt. I see my internist today. Both Dr. Shrader and Peppard advised me that this could very well and probably did hurt my jaw, both advised me to seek medical care. Dr. Peppard said I could have nerve damage on my spinal cord. Yay. Just what I need.

I do feel very grateful that I wasn't killed or badly injured. If he had hit my driver's door and pushed me thro to the passenger side, I might not have walked away. I might be in the hospital or the mortuary right now.

Walking at Cypress Canyon Park

Dee Jones and I went walking there this morning, just a tiny little park but lots of trees and one main path that is a loop. We walked out and into the subdivision, she is nice, quite fun. She walked home and I needed to walk another mile so I continued. I made the big loop around the subdivision again and then into the trees and saw a grandmother swinging a child in one of the swings for babies with holes for their legs. I stopped and used the exc equipment, then walked on around to her - it was a dog she was swinging. She said the dog loves it. I would have asked to take a pic but that sounded creepy so I didn't. So cute.

Last night Rick and I drove the bug out to look for Dee's house plus the park and some other walking places. The sun was going down, it was coolish with the top down and quite nice. I'm always amazed at the amount of attention that car gets. Two groups of boys told us the car was cool. Some older men stared. It is a fun little car.

Two nights ago we drove the scooter around. Another group of young teen boys asked us how much it cost, and one of them liked how many girls he would be able to get if it was his. One group was playing football in the street and Rick said I'll go long and you throw it. That got them all excited.

Just fun.

Run on gas caused by panic

San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas are experiencing a run on gas caused by social media and panic. Many, many stations are out but thro Rick's good maneuvering, we just filled up his truck. I have a little over 1/2 tank.

It does change our weekend plans - we were going to drive to Dripping Springs and out to the Hill Country Olive to have lunch and view the trees. That's where I buy my olive oil, a booth at the Farmer's Market.

We have plenty of gas now but I just don't want to waste it.

Island of Fire ants

A photographer took a pic of displaced fire ants because of the hurricane and flooding. It said these colonies could be 250,000. Yay. Hope they don't head my way.

Decision for Utah home

We left Thurs afternoon to return to Utah, go out with a realtor, look over areas and decide on where we want to live in Utah.
Got in 10:30 pm to Scott's. Up driving around on Fri morning, then met with the realtor to see homes in Herriman and South Jordan. I still really love the house on Cabello but am no longer wanting to live so far out. And I probably don't really want to have chickens.

So now of the 4 choices in Utah, Rick and I met with the builder in Daybreak, drafted out the house, made our selections on building (not selections on carpet, etc.). We need to return in a few weeks after their drafting department completes the draft with cost and we sign and give them a down payment, then go to the design center and select colors, cabinets, flooring, just really all the stuff I don't like to do.

Obviously our choice was Daybreak.
As we mulled over, discussed, thought about, meditated on where we wanted to live and the amenities we wanted to have, the choice just seemed plain - Daybreak. Lots of walking with parks, lake trails, green spaces galore, workout and track for winter, 3 pools, kayaking on the lake, close to shopping, TRAXX and SLC and airport. This is the lifestyle we wanted.

We also had a great time. Rick and I get along wonderfully, which is of course nice.

On Fri afternoon we drove down to Paige's to see the ggrrls when they came home from school and took them to the gas station. I told Rick we need to cut down on the sugary junk we get them, especially when we live there. That evening we went out to dinner with Scott and Treena. Rick loves her dog Maya and was once again wondering if he wanted a dog.

Late Sat afternoon we drove to the park by Squirt's to have a picnic with Emily and fam, Squirt, some of Emily's friends from long ago when they lived in Orem. It was quite fun.

Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast around Galveston and Houston, causing billions of dollars of damage. Misery for the people there as they clean up and try to restore their lives. We worried about the Austin airport getting shut down and not being able to get home on Sunday, but all went well. We had a chair in the pool, lots of leaves, small branches down. Our rain gauge tops out at 5 inches, it was overflowing so don't know how much we actually got. Chris said it started raining on Fri evening and hadn't stopped.

Temperature has dropped, still a little windy, but is only sprinkling off and on now as of Mon morning.

We had a productive and fun weekend.

Zipline Lake Travis

Rick, Jason, Justin, and I went zip lining, the same one Paige and Kincade did. There was some steep hiking and I did get tired. I was quite nervous the first 2 zips, and then enjoyed it after that. The other 3 loved it from the beginning. In the office was a pic of a 90 yr old woman zipping. Good for her.

Took 3 hours from beginning to end. I would go again, just not tomorrow.

 

Bats at Congress St bridge

This is supposed to be the largest colony of this particular type of bat in North America, about 750,000 of them, which grows to 1.5 million after they have babies. They fly out looking for chow (insects) 1/2 hour before sunset from about March until Oct, then head to south for the winter. I have been wanting to see them since we moved here; Jason and Justin went with Rick and me last night.

We decided to ride the commuter train down to Austin, which would have worked out fine except the train kept getting delayed along the route for some reason. Added about 30-45 min total time (down and back) to the ride. We also walked along some of the streets, Jason found a most delilsh BBQ joint to eat at (not hard to do in Texas).

The bats were quite cool looking, so glad we did it. They come out in swarms of 4 different groupings, takes about 30-45 min from beginning to end. As they were flying out, the ammonia smell was so strong.

I love HEB

But now I'm sad.
I love best the HEB closest to me. I liked their café/deli; I always bought this most delish broccoli salad and street corn there. When Scott and Paige here HEB had a sign saying they were going to remodel. Old café/deli closed and I anticipated how cool and modern the new one would look. One day last week I went into the store; imagine my surprise when instead of remodeling, they closed it down.

HEB just wont be the same, plus I don't know another HEB café/deli that does broccoli salad. Now, we can never eat it again and it was good. Scott did find the street corn at new HEB.

Jason and Justin

Every year that we have lived in Texas Jason has come out around my birthday. He has also come out other times of the year, in the spring, or always for Thanksgiving. The first summer he came out early in March or something when Paige did. The next summer, I believe, I kept bugging him to get a ticket and come out during the summer but he always had an excuse. Unknowing to me, he had already planned a trip for my birthday, it was a surprise between he and Rick.

He also brought a Donatos pizza - something he never does, pack a frozen pizza in his luggage. It was so delish. This might be his last trip to Texas, if he goes to Thanksgiving with Justin. But maybe he'll plan a trip for early next spring.

Paige has mentioned she will miss Texas; I know the ggrrls will.
I think we will all miss Texas. It's been fun here.

Utah house hunting

Rick and I have been discussing (and discussing and talking and thinking and meditating) a lot about where we want to live in Utah. We have thrown around a bunch of ideas, including a small cabin/house at Bear lake, a townhouse in St George to be a second home/vacay house. We have ruled both those out.

Now we have 4 plans:
1. Daybreak, most probably build because we aren't finding any of what we want for sale.
2. Herriman, a subdivision without a lot of rules, restrictions, have chickens (a house next door to one I'm looking at has horses).
3. Herriman, South Jordan, Riverton, Bluffdale, regular subdivision with amenities like HOA pool, clubhouse, work out room, walking trails, with an HOA.
4. Something on Lake Utah.

They each have their pros and cons. I looked at a bunch of different stuff - 3 days of looking and looking, meeting with realtors and builders. My head was spinning, but we are narrowing it down. For the first time, we actually have time. Plus with the kids we always chose the school district first and then chose house. The house being the 2nd consideration.

Rick is 100% at Daybreak, I'm 90-95% at Daybreak; this is interesting because we have changed with me before being all about Daybreak and Rick not sure. We both love the whole concept of the planned community and all the parks, pools, etc. it offers. At first Rick wanted a bigger lot, maybe as big as 1/2 acre, then changed his mind when he realized as he ages he won't feel like taking care of it.

We are both going back to Utah in 2 weeks to look with a realtor at the above mentioned areas and to finalize plans for building if that is the way we decide. We have the lot we want locked in until then.

I love walking around the lake. I've taken pics of the boardwalk, but below is another one.

I left Scott's and stayed with Paige on Fri evening until I left on Mon morning. I watched the ggrrls on Fri while Paige and Kincade went out with friends.

Sat morning I took the ggrrls over to 2 model homes in the new part of Silver Lake that the ggrrls super wanted to see. They love walking thro models as much as I do. Stella and I left to drive to Herriman and look at the house again, then on to Daybreak and look at the lots again. She suggested eating lunch at IKEA and wandering around there. She also loves looking at bedroom sets for kids, so we went to RC Wiley next door.

We were gone 4 1/2 hours. Busy but fun and productive day.

Sun I went to church with them; at 5pm all the Upstills came over for Hattie's 4th birthday party for the family. Paige fixed baked mac and cheese, with toppings to add later of frozen cooked peas, bacon, and fresh tomatoes. Scott was working so I took a bowl down to him and we chatted. A quite fun day.

I got up at 6am to get ready and get to Scott's by 8 and he took me to the airport.

 

 

 

Long walk with Stella

One of the last mornings Paige and fam were here, Stella and I decided to go on super long walk. We went on the trail between the houses. She took some fun pics of a bunny that she posted on the photo stream. This was a fun walk.

Kayaking

For different reasons Rick and I haven't gotten to take out the kayaks much this summer. We were at the lake 3 weeks ago kayaking with Paige and family, and then also boating. So we were super surprised to get to the lake and see how much it had gone down. Since we have had water at the boat ramp we use, I'm never seen the lake this low. We need a wet fall.

Hiking on Great Hills Trail

When Paige was here I was looking for short, 2-3 mile hikes for us to do with the ggrrls. This one is off of Great Hills Trails by the Arboretum.  It had lots of ups and downs, stream crossings, lots of trees and was just a fun 2.3 mile hike.

Rick and I decided to do the same hike. The deer were in the playscape area and later wandered onto the road; people nor cars upset them so they must be used to humans.

Missed the entire month of July

I was busy, out to Utah for a couple of weeks then back to Austin with Paige.

Scott and I flew back here with Paige and ggrrls. Kincade came a week later, then Scott went back to Utah. He stayed for 2 weeks. Kincade also stayed for 2 weeks and they overlapped for a week.

Paige was here for 3 weeks. We had a lot of fun. I think the ggrrls were getting tired of being here, out of there routine and beds and friends at the end. I'm glad they stayed for so long, it will be the last time. This time next year we will have already moved to Utah and been there for a few months.

I'm really not looking forward to moving us to Utah. It will be our first major move since Idaho that we have done on our own without the company picking up the tab. It will be a chance for us to declutter and make sure we are taking only that stuff that we really want.

Rick and I are both super looking forward to him retiring and us living in Utah with 2 of our kids. Jason will never leave Indy and Chris and Aly will be in Seattle. So lots of fun traveling to see them.

Pizza Grandpa's bug arrives to its new home

It was delivered at 9:30 on Sat night. Rick was happy to get it home to Texas. We had an orange super beetle we bought together even before we got married that I drove; I loved it. This is a 1977, ours would have been a few years older; it seems so small now. I don't remember it being that small. Also noisy. It doesn't have AC, ours didn't either.

New hiking paths

Over a year ago Rick and I, quite by accident, discovered a new hiking area. It was quite fun, lots of Texas trees, cedars, live oaks, and another tree with an unusual seed ball. I need to do research and discover its name, but I do see it all over and kind of looks like a live oak. Anyways...

When we first discovered the trail it had just rained a bunch the night before and the trail was muddy and slippery, had steep places with uneven rocks so we didn't go far. It was before Rick got his hip fixed and he didn't want to fall.

This morning at 7am we got up, drove there (not far, just off 620). It was overcast, temp had dropped from the high 90s to 70s this morning, but still warm and quite humid. It begins in a nice park, concrete sidewalks, then to an asphalt trail, and then to a path, rocky and dirt. I had read some reviews on it back then and one review said it eventually led to a meadow and perhaps you might see some wild pigs.

We began walking, got to the meadow about 1 1/2 miles (by the steps on my Fitbit), which was actually quite small, to a fenced gate that said it was the Balcones Refuge area, fragile plants and such, no one allowed in. Saw no wild pigs (really wanted to see one, drag it home and throw it on the Traeger).  OK. We turned around and headed back. We came to a turn in the path and I turned. Rick said that wasn't the way, and he led on straight following a trail. Soon the path got smaller and smaller, rockier, weedier. We had to jump across a small stream. I told him I didn't remember it being this narrow. Finally we were ducking under tree branches, tripping over rocks and other forest debris. I said I don't think this is the right path. He went ahead, now there was no trail (we had been joking about getting lost and the zombies getting us).

Eventually we turned around and went back to the path that forked and took the other fork. About 15 feet from the up path was our path, turning right. It was a little tricky to find going the other way, I understand even more how hikers in larger wilderness areas can get onto wrong paths so easily. We got on the path leading us back to the park and all was well. The entire hike, including wrong turn, was 3 miles. We were both dripping with sweat from the humidity. Good thing it was early, overcast, and not hot.

The path is really quite pretty, with the trees almost forming a cave-like covering that went for most of the trail. Definitely want to return, perhaps with Paige and/or Jason. I will be so sad when we can no longer do our walking (hopefully will be 20 years from now).

These are the seed balls from the tree I want the name of

The below pics show the trail and the beginning of the wrong path, then the right one.