Goodbye, Crystal

Mabel gave Crystal a sweet goodbye kiss this afternoon. She's on her way back to Colorado!

We had a goodbye lunch at El Mexsal, a restaurant in Provo that sells both Mexican and Salvadoran food. You have to go early to get a parking space! Crystal learned to love pupusas on her mission in El Salvador, and we have been eating them ever since!

Goodbye, Crystal! We'll miss you!

Visit to Salem

Crystal and I went down to Salem to visit my mom yesterday. We had fun and did a little genealogy together. Rumor has it we are direct descendants of King James V of Scotland. As, they say in Scotland, "Jings!" (Goodness!)

Then we popped on over to Siro's Place (https://www.facebook.com/SirosPlace/), a new Argentinian Restaurant in Salem. Mom said she'd come back, but didn't know if she could talk her friends into eating outside the box!

Then we popped on over to Brittany's house for a few hours. We would have been there sooner, but spent an hour parked on I-15 in Spanish Fork for some unknown reason. The freeway delay would have been more painful if I hadn't had a Heads Up app on my phone to entertain us!

Mabel liked sporting this bow off one of Clementine's baby presents!

Two Kitchens

After 2 1/2 weeks, the kitchen is still an empty shell. A lot went in to making it this way. We're hoping to get the floors stained today. They had to be refinished as our cabinets have a new footprint. The new wall color is gray, but they left the space behind the cabinets unpainted. The hole in the pantry wall is for the refrigerator to push back into so it doesn't jut out into the kitchen.

We are happy we have such a great kitchen in the basement to use during the renovation. We're starting to like it down here! We might even miss it when we move everything back upstairs!

Family Afternoon

We had some more baby holding time yesterday, as Brittany, Crystal and the girls spent the afternoon at our house. Coda is annoyed that she now has TWO babies to distract our attention from her!

Between Mabel and Coda both being cautiously aware of the presence of Clementine (and trying to protect their space), it was a fun afternoon!

Brittany and Crystal played through a few songs in our new book of arrangements by the Piano Guys. With a little (or a lot) of practice, they could join the act!

Afterwards they sorted through the old family video tapes. Brittany is starting a project to record them all to digital files! There are a lot of tapes and I'm glad she's willing to do it!

Crystal designed a new magnetic hat for Mabel. It was destroyed before I got a picture!

They also had fun on the mini trampoline. Only one more day before Crystal leaves! We need to wear her out while she's here!

President's Day at Hoagle Zoo

We decided to take advantage of President's day, and the lack of rain and go to the zoo yesterday! We've been grilling Mabel so hard on all the animals that we were excited to see if she recognized them in real life! Crystal is feeding Mabel to the lion, here!

She (Mabel, not Crystal) learned how to say seal. This was a close encounter with a sea lion.

John spent a good portion of the visit carrying two kids--Clementine slept in a pack on his chest.

We made a real family pride--with three grandparents and an aunt there with Brittany and John and family!

Afterwards we stopped at Blue Nile to eat Ethiopian food with injera bread. You have to scoop it up with your fingers.

Clementine was very interested in what was going on at lunch! It didn't keep Marti from sampling the African cuisine!

In the evening we came home and enjoyed a homemade apple pie--Crystal's specialty! Yum!

Happy Birthday, Ellis

The Nuttalls invited us over to celebrate Ellis' birthday Sunday evening. We always love going over there, as Marti is such a good cook! Brittany made a beautiful birthday cake, and lit it with lots of candles!

Everyone got to take turns holding a baby, although Mabel is getting harder and harder to tie down these days!

John had to wait in line to get his chance to hold little Clementine!

Mabel was sporting her new polar bear outfit and saying cheese for the camera! She's been the lucky recipient of a bunch of hand-me-down clothes from her Texas cousins! 

Sunday Morning Music

Crystal brought her mountain dulcimer with her, so Sunday morning I had her play her entire repertoire for me.She has three songs memorized. She doesn't know the names of any of them!

I also know three songs on the Dobro, so I played them for her. They were Home, Sweet Home, Down by the Riverside and Evalina!

Afterwards we went through some of the choir music. Crystal played our new Easter song for me--When Jesus Prayed. She also played it for the choir, and I'm happy to say they liked it as much as I did!

Crystal Comes to see Clementine

Crystal flew in yesterday to spend some time with baby Clementine, who was adorably sleepy when we dropped by. Roo also had to have some Crystal time!

Crystal came bearing gifts and couldn't resist buying a few cute outfits for Mabel, as well. Mabel was very appreciative!

She also taught Mabel a new word--whale! Mabel picked it right up and loved the new whale Crystal crocheted.

She had actually crocheted TWO whales, and asked Mabel which one she wanted. She wanted both of them! It will be years before Clementine catches on that she may be entitled to one of them!

Work, Errands and Fun

Mabel stopped in to see where Daddy works this afternoon. She was fascinated with the toys on people's desks!

Clementine also dropped in for a cuddle from one of John's office mates!

Afterwards Brittany and the girls went with us to look at granite and backsplash tile samples!

After all that work we decided to stop by at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake. They had a weather station with a nice view on the roof!

They also had some terrific animal exhibits inside.

Mabel missed her nap, but was good as gold! We took a little rest on a rock to talk about what we'd seen. She especially loved walking up and down the ramps!

Mabel's favorite part was playing in the water. Our favorite part was watching her have fun!

Return to the Scene of the Fall

Ed and Coda walked with me this morning to check out the place where I broke my wrist. It was the first time I have walked in 121 days! Between the wrist operation, the cancer and three bad colds, it is the first time I have felt like walking!

Our house is in the white area in the middle of Alpine's Lambert Park. I fell on a very easy trail called Poppy. The east side of the development is public BLM land.

I didn't realize I had saved my walk on that fateful day (October 19th). I forgot to stop the app (Map My Walk) till we were on the way to the hospital, but I was happy it showed where I fell. I actually fell about 15 feet before I turned around. I got up thinking I'd finish the walk, but turned around when I realized I had a serious injury. You can see where I went off the path to get up to the road under construction. Some nice construction workers drove me home!

We circled around and came home on the BLM land.

Apparently, no one takes this sign literally, as there is a significant amount of target shooting just beyond the sign. It appears outdoors people don't consider wasted shotgun shells as litter!

From the top of the path you have a good view of the subdivision that is coming in. The road is paved and we imagine we'll start having some new neighbors soon!

Fortunately, we'll still have plenty of hiking left, and will still be able to enjoy the views of the lake and mountains as we walk. Ed pointed out I would be much better off if I looked down at the path instead. I can't afford to break another wrist!

Great Grandma and Grand Sisters

Great grandmother Melzer dropped by to see Clementine yesterday. They were both looking good!

My sisters, Barbara and Annette also dropped by and took turns holding the baby.

We also had our husbands with us, (two Kents and an Ed). If Ed Melzer were still with us it would have been two of each!

Afterwards we went over to Mimi's to celebrate Barbara's big birthday coming up next week. It ends with a '0!'

We had so much fun that we can't wait till our sisters craft day in two weeks. We're planning on having a sleepover at my house and hope to have to more sisters and a sister-in-law join us!

New Study

We finished painting my study last month, but waited to take a picture till we got my new desk and easy chair. I love my new desk, with all it's spaciousness! The easy chair is for Ed to sit in when he comes and hangs out with me!

The printer is a little alcove by the closet, and that left plenty of room for my organ on the back wall. I even have a mountain view out my window. I love it!