Son of Eli

We were invited to lunch at my nephew, Eli's house today. We were pretty excited to see their new addition.

A pizza oven! Made by Eli himself! We were so impressed with his handiwork. It is not quite done, but an impressive project.

I was just kidding.  The real addition is Eli and Lacy's son, Calvin, who was a real sweetie. He is 1 month old and has a full head of hair! (Maybe more than his dad.), Calvin is exactly 5 months younger than Mabel. We hope they can grow up to be friends, as well as second cousins!

Mabel's big day

Mabel had a well baby checkup today and the doctor said it was time to put a little meat on her bones!

So, we were there to watch her try to eat her first solid (or, rather pureed) food-mushed pears. She seemed to like it a lot! Who wouldn't? We all enjoyed watching her, as did the cat. Perhaps Skimmy was hoping for some table scraps!

Valentine's Party at Annette's House

My sister, Annette, hosted Valentine's day dinner at her house tonight. She had a lot of her grandchildren there, including little Cooper, the miracle baby (left) that was only a couple of pounds when he was born. He's now 3 and enjoying very good health!

My niece, Lyndsie and her husband Solomon also brought their girls.

My brother John and sister-in-law Sara came down from Salt Lake City with their family. Tyler, Cooper's dad came alone with the 4 kids to give his wife a Valentines treat--an afternoon without kids!

Mabel's other grandparents, Marti and Ellis, also joined us for dinner. Annette made Enchiladas and Cafe Rio fixin's, which hit the spot!

Our niece, Abby, came down from Salt Lake with Benjamin, who was a great sport about answering all the family questions. We enjoyed getting to know him. He had even served a mission in Baltimore (before our time there). He said he loved Maryland, so we liked him!

More Houses and Baby Tricks

We looked at more houses today, and since. Since we bumped up our price range we had even more fun. This was my favorite of the day.

I have to admit this racquetball court was icing on the cake of an already beautiful house.

We went back to Brittany and John's house where we debated the merits of each house.

We enjoyed seeing more of Mabel's tricks. This was her balancing act. She is a terrific stander, even in the hands of her father. Notice her mother's anxiety ridden face!

House Hunting

We looked at 11 houses today, and found only one that could work for us. We need a place for the grand piano, an organ, pool table, ping pong table and foosball table. Many homes had room for one or two of these items.

We also wanted a nice master suite with a large bathroom. This one had a great walk-through shower with a view of the lake.

This one had a piano bar. A bar literally shaped like a piano!

We enjoyed having Annette and Grandma come along with us, as well as Brittany. Everyone picked up on slightly different items.

We liked this house and spent quite a bit of time thinking how we could adapt it for our furniture. Sadly, we came up empty handed.

John met us in the evening and joined us for pupusas, a Salvadoran treat. They really hit the spot.

Mabel was with us all day, and was good as gold. If she had an opinion, she didn't voice it!

Tomorrow we'll visit a few more homes, as well as talk with a builder. Sadly for us, Utah is in a real building boom, so finding a builder that isn't booked out into next year will be difficult.

Meanwhile, the search continues...

Last Leg

We had breakfast with Crystal at Village Inn this morning before starting out on our last leg of our road trip. We have to get the recipe for their pancakes!

We got to Brittany's house by 5 and were able to enjoy seeing Mabel working out in her jumper. I had fun with her and even got a few steps in!

We brought a bag of red velvet Oreo for them. Mabel was too young to eat one, so we ate hers.

We ended up at Grandma's house where we had a bowl of soup and settled into watching pictures of homes we're going to visit on our home tours tomorrow. We're hoping we fall in love with something!

Day in Denver

We started out our fun day in Denver at Top Golf. It was a driving range that was like a bowling alley. We got scores and took turns whacking golf balls.

They even have heaters, tables and waitresses. But, since it was 65 degrees out we hardly needed the heat!

Ed didn't think he would like it, but since he beat us handily, he loved it!
Crystal loved it, but is frowning about her score!

We had delicious Navajo tacos at Tocabe's for lunch.

We entertained ourselves by looking at model homes in the afternoon. None of them had free cookies, so I was disappointed.

Crystal and Ed loved the games. This shuffle board was fun.

Ping pong was a real challenge for them with this striped table!

While we were out gallivanting, Paul was home working in the kitchen. He had hot, yummy schnitzel waiting for us when we got home.

After dinner Verlene gave us a tour of her art studio. She has been very prolific over the last 5 years. These were some of our favorite pictures of hers. She is hoping to inspire Ed to get back into painting now that he is retired!