No Moon over Flattop!

Ed and I got up early this morning to watch the Super Blue Blood Moon lunar eclipse that started about 4:30 a.m. We were sadly disappointed that there was a thick cloud cover over Utah Valley! We saw nothing! On the flip side, there was a beautiful view of Flattop Mountain when the sun arose! We imagined the moon setting behind it!

The good news was we were ready bright and early for our morning constitutional! It's been such a mild January! (It was 45 degrees this morning.) Let's see what February has in store for us!

Planning Meeting for 90h Birthday Float

Barbara, Annette and I went with Mom to Salt Lake yesterday to meet with Mom's friend Sydnee to plan our Float for the Fairview 24th of July Parade. I forgot to take a photo till later, where we stopped for lunch at the Cheesecake factory! It was so beautiful and had the greatest white bean chicken soup that was only 6 points, according to Weight Watchers. It was so low in points (6), that I felt only a smidgen of guilt in eating some sourdough bread to go with it!

We're borrowing an 18 foot utility trailer and will tow it with our truck. This is a mock-up of our float. We'll put quilts on the benches and some crepe paper on the sides to pump it up. We're anticipating that 8-9 people in Mom's graduating class will ride it! I hope they can hold on tight! They are all entering their 10th decade this year!

Alpine North Stake Women's Conference

Our Stake had women's conference on Saturday. We had an introductory speaker, one workshop and a keynote speaker. That was 3 hours of sitting! Some of us got NB (numb bums)!

My favorite part was singing in the choir directed by the fabulous Suzanne Shippen, who directed her own original music! I'm helping her develop a website to share her music! You can visit it at suzanneshippenmusic.com/. She is so busy composing that she doesn't have time to upload her more than 70 songs. Please nag her about getting her music online! She wants you to sing her songs, but you can't do it if they are not readily accessible!

My second favorite part was eating lunch with the ladies afterwards! It was delicious, and we never have enough time to just visit!

O Brother with the Slow Jam

We had the members of the Alpine Slow Jam over Friday night to watch O Brother, Where art Thou? with us. That is the craziest movie with the absolute best music! We loved it.

It was especially fun, as the majority of them had not seen it yet! They're thinking we need to learn Man of Constant Sorrow now! We even have a member named Evertt, just like George Clooney's character in the movie!

Lunch with LJ Cooper

We've got people! We went to lunch with our financial team from LJ Cooper on Friday. It was fun going to the new location of Tucano's the Brazilian BBQ restaurant in Orem. It is still just as delicious as ever! We enjoyed the new decor and then went home and plopped on couch to help the digestion! It's good thing we don't go to Tucano's very often!

Roots of Knowledge Window with Alpine Book Club

My book club took a month off from reading and went to the Utah Valley University library on Thursday to visit the Roots of Knowledge Window. We had a great tour by a docent who had worked on the planning and creation of the window.

The window is actually 26 windows, each with three panels. It is an amazing depiction of the history of the world! It is also full of lots of surprising things embedded in it, such as a Spanish doubloon!

To take a virtual tour, click this link: https://www.uvu.edu/rootsofknowledge/tour/!

To really enjoy it, go see it in real life! I can't wait to go back and take Ed with me!

Cutting Quilt Tops

On Wednesday the Stake had a quilt cutting work day to prepare for the really big humanitarian day in March. It was fun to go over and help out and have the time to visit, as well! Marilyn and I talked about button making for the Daughters of the American Revolution, as well as the Alpine Nature Center! I ordered my new button machine and can't wait to get started!

It's Pickleball Weather!

Ed and I forewent our daily walk this morning in favor of pickleball at the Pleasant Grove Rec Center. We figured a few inches of snow was a good excuse to stay indoors.

The hardest part about indoor pickleball is assembling the net. There are a lot of poles and no instructions! Fortunately, we think we did it better this time than  last time. If we just played more often we could get the hang of it!

Oh Brother!

My brother, David, stopped by this weekend, so we got together last night for dinner with my mom and local siblings. We had a great visit and also did some planning for the big 90th birthday bash for Mom this summer.

My dad would have been 94 this week, so we celebrated his life with a fancy cake. Mom bought the craziest candle that opened up like a flower and played music! We couldn't figure out how to stop the music, so at 11 p.m. Ed had to destroy the mechanism so we could get some sleep!

We enjoyed looking at some pictures of dad during his heyday!

We miss dad and his mischievous  attitude toward life! We're grateful Mom is still here with us. We enjoy being able to spend time with her. We think she's pretty with it for a woman entering her 10th decade!

Warm before the Storm

Friday Ed and I enjoyed getting out early before the snow started to get our walk in. It has been so dry that we have been looking forward to a little snow!

My visiting teachers took me out to lunch for my birthday. The Olive Garden treated us to zeppoles, which are little scones you can dip in chocolate and raspberry sauce! How did I not know about these? I can't wait till my next birthday to try them out again!

Then it snowed! The view from my study window was beautiful. We ended up with about 5 inches.We have a long way to go to make up for the dry, warm winter!

It snowed just enough for Brittany and John to cancel their plans to go to Salt Lake Saturday night. We were lucky to have them stay over and play music with us. We also had some great cuddle time with the girls!

Ice is Nice!

We have had such a mild winter that we have time to be amazed at every little cold thing. When we walk in the morning there are lots of these tiny little branches covered in tiny icicles. The trees have no ice, but only twigs laying on the ground. The dew point must be low to the ground!

With temperatures in the 40's everyday the water is flowing freely down Dry Creek, but several branches in the water are also covered with ice each morning.

Tomorrow it's supposed to snow, but I don't know about that!

No Kid Outing

On Monday Brittany and John both had the day off, but the daycare was open. So, we took advantage of that to go to the movies with them!

We had to see The Last Jedi to know what everyone is talking about. I liked the red guards, but other than that there was entirely too much fighting and exploding for me!

We went out for a late lunch at Oh, Mai, Vietnamese cuisine, and had time to visit afterwards. Don't tell Mabel we also had ice cream without her!

Museum of Curiosities and More

Yesterday Ed and I took Mabel and Clementine to the Museum of Curiosities. It was a really nice children's museum with lot's of hands-on activities!

Mabel enjoyed trying everything! It was fun unlatching these little doors!

She enjoyed trying out the puppet show!

Worlds of Wonder brought a live animal show. This white red fox was really  beautiful!

Mabel got to pet a giant bunny and a hedgehog!

Clementine didn't get much action, but she was eyes-wide-open the entire time!

Mabel's favorite item was the "gas pump" where you inserted a ball in a tube and it popped out somewhere else!

The other kids were nice to catch the balls and give them to Mabel to put back in!

The water room was fun, if not a little wet! They had little chairs where you could insert the babies!

We pried Mabel out of the museum and went over to Arctic circle for even more fun!

Three months ago Mabel was afraid of the big slide, but this time she went down it without any encouragement and ran over to Ed and yelled, "Grandpa, I did it!!" That was fun to see!

Clementine went down the little slide on grandpa's lap!

But, wait, the fun didn't end there! We brought them over to our house and let them play in our new playpen, complete with balls. Then, we all took a nap while we waited for Brittany and John to finish cleaning their carpets and come over to pick up the kids!

Week in Review

I've been a lazy blogger this week! It's not that we haven't done anything! We walked everyday. Fortunately, (or unfortunately), Lambert park is mostly free of snow, and the weather has been moderate. We feel sorry for the rest of the country, as we have 45 degrees everyday! Finally we got some rain, which provided some much needed snow for the mountains!

We tried out Chubby's restaurant in Pleasant Grove (not to be confused with the Cubby's chain). It possibly did have the best hamburger in Utah county!

We went to see the Greatest Showman, which we enjoyed tremendously. It was beautifully filmed and had great singing and dancing! It must be hugely popular, because the first theater we went to was sold out, so we went to a different location and got the last two seats for the 5 p.m. show!

And I babysat for Brittany one evening while she went to a cake decorating class. Ed was at the city council meeting, but Mabel and I and Skimbelshanks had a good time together!

Abby Stevens wedding Shower

My niece, Abby is getting married next month, and we had a shower for her on Saturday! (She's the one on the right on the couch!). It is exciting to see her getting married. We were lucky to have shared those Colorado years with her, where Barbara's and my family both grew up. 

In an amazing turn of events she will be Abigail Adams! I wonder if the name had a little extra attraction for her!

My sister, Barbara hosted the event and invited her family as well as Abby's Stevens family. I had only met Naomi once before! 

My sister Annette is visiting here with Arlene, who is a Stevens aunt we know well, as she married our cousin!

Eli's wife Lacy is expecting again, and Barbara will soon have TWO grandchildren! My brother's wife Sara was there, as well as my mom! It was a real celebration! Congratulations, Abby!

Back to Work (or is it play)?

The holidays are over, but not for Ed, who is retired! Everyday is Saturday to him, so he was a little bummed when I reminded him we hadn't walked in 2 weeks! Friday we finally got back in our groove. I'd like to say it felt good, but lazing around every morning had also felt good!

We met our friends, the Links, for lunch. It was fun to catch up with them and with what's going on in Maryland! We still miss our ward family back there! It is nice that everyone has friends and family in Utah and occasionally people are able to find a little time to see us!

Behind the Scenes at the Monte L. Bean Museum

We took the Hautas to the Bean Museum where Brittany works yesterday.

They were not afraid of the giant snake! The museum is hosting a Smithsonian traveling exhibit about monster snake fossils discovered in South America.

Titanoboas lived before dinosaurs, but in a fight with T-Rex, the 48 foot snake could have easily squeezed it to death!

We got to see some of the live animals the museum uses at its shows. Brittany is not afraid of tarantulas or snakes!

Their largest animal is a red tegu named Simon. It was fun getting to touch the animals, but we were happy not to hold them!

She also took us to the mammals collection, where she found some pinyon rice she had personally skinned and stuffed with cotton!

The wet collection is the perfect setting for a very scary "Night at the Museum." They had rows and rows of bottled animals, all neatly cataloged!

We're lucky Brittany works in such an interesting place and is able to share it with us!