Part Three - UTAH!

Utah Valley was definitely our favorite vacation destination, because that is where we got to stay and visit with our four daughters, our son-in-law, and three sweet grandchildren.   We were able to do lots of fun things together in the all too short time we were there.

We went into Salt Lake City one day to try the waffles and pomme frites at Bruges Waffles and Frites.

It was soooo good!    

Next door to that was  Tony Caputo's, a gourmet food market.  We were thrilled to see our hometown of Woodbridge, Virginia represented by our friend Ben Rasmussen's fine chocolate that he makes in the basement of his home, just three blocks from ours.   Just below Ben's Potomac chocolate was the Amano chocolate display.   That chocolate is made in the town where Laura lives - Orem, Utah.   

Beth, Owen, Emma, and Aiden (famous explorer)

We love those three smiles so much!

 It was fun to see how much they had grown since we saw them in December.   Owen especially had learned so much.   He was talking a lot, repeating everything you say, and insisted on doing almost everything himself!

"My do it!"

Aiden has really grown up a lot as well.   He's six now, and has just finished his first year of public school.   We watched him participate in a summer Lego Robotics class.   He has such a great imagination.    I had fun one afternoon playing police and bad guys with him.   He has a "real" police uniform, so of course I had to be a bad guy.   We were able to go with him to pick out his birthday present - a new and bigger bicycle that he's hoping to learn to ride soon without training wheels.

Aiden and Grandpa hanging outside a bakery near Tony Caputo's and Bruges.  

 Beth lives in Las Vegas, but we were so happy she could be in Utah with us while we were there.
She's such a fun aunt to Aiden, Emma, and Owen, such a great sister, and daughter as well.

We spent Father's Day evening with Kart's parents and family.  We had a delicious dinner reminiscent of Laura and Kart's wedding reception with chicken salad croissants and Skip's meatballs.  

Kara outside the Barnett home.   They have such a beautiful garden.   I love the hollyhocks!    

Beth looking great outside the Barnett's garden.

Emma and Owen enjoying some ice cream.

Emma loves the "Belle" dress she got from her Barnett grandparents for Christmas.   She  also loved the frilly aqua dress we brought her, and wanted to wear it everyday.   We had to talk her into wearing play dresses, and to save the frilly one for Sunday.  

Laura is such a fun Mom.   She lets the kids "help" at the car wash vacuuming station.  

One of the reasons we wanted to come to Provo/Orem in June was to see Natalie graduate from the Aveda Institute.   She's been working very hard for the past year and a half learning how to do hair and other cosmetic skills.   We got our hair cut by her soon after we arrived.   She did a great job!

Natalie's graduation was a nice event.   She found a really pretty new dress and shoes for a graduation gift.     All the graduates got to say a little something about the highlights of their time at AVEDA.   Natalie's highlight was fashion week in NYC of course.   I'm glad we were able to support her in doing that, and finishing school there.   After the graduation we all went out to dinner at P.F. Chang's and had a fun time eating family style.  We're so proud of Natalie!

One of the fun things we did together was have a picnic in Provo canyon.   It was a beautiful setting for an awesome evening together.  

Kart and Owen

Emma and her Grandpa Baird

Emma and Owen

Kara and Mom

Beth and Laura

Laura and Mom roasting marshmellows

Owen loved this!

Three cuties!

Vacation Part Two - Blaine County, Idaho

Every year in June, my Dad goes to Idaho for a meeting of the MACLAIC corporation, organized by him and his brother and sisters to manage the land they own near Carey Idaho.   It's also serves as a family reunion for those that can be there.  I've always wanted to go, and this year I was able to make it happen.   Dad had space in a time share where Skip and I could stay in Ketchum.   One of the weekend activities was a pot luck picnic at the pavilion they had constructed in Biscuit canyon (part of their property).   I got to see some cousins and aunts I hadn't seen in a long time.   

Skip looking relaxed and happy.   

My brother John's wife Lisa, and their daughter Michelle Condie Mecham. 

One of my favorite places on the planet!   The land here is part of my family because my Grandfather homesteaded here.   His family (Dad, a brother, and five sisters) lived in a cabin near here that's still (barely) standing part of the year in order to have ownership of the land.   The actual home they live in is in Carey at a hot spring where they used to have a "bath" house.  They farmed there and raised livestock.   When I was little, my Dad lived there and raised sheep.   They sold that property, but kept the range land.   Now they lease it to ranchers, and have developed it into a beautiful spot for family camping, picnicking, hiking, shooting, ATV riding, and other activities.

My brother John and I at our mother and sister's grave sites in Carey cemetery.  They both died as a result of a car accident in 1960.  

In Ketchum, where we were staying, there were some beautiful bike trails.   I went running a couple of the mornings we were there.   It was so beautiful!    Both times this black dog followed me and kept me company.

While there, we enjoyed shopping and exploring Ketchum and Sun Valley.   There are several ski slopes in the area, cute shops, and nice restaurants, and gorgeous homes.   One day we went in to town, it was a little rainy and cold.   It turned to hail, then snow, but by the end of the day when we were heading to dinner in Sun Valley, the sun came out!   We stopped in a starbucks/visitor's center for hot chocolate.

It was fun hanging out with John and Lisa and two of their kids.   They live in California, so we don't see them often enough.

John and his son, Kyle playing checkers in a beautiful home furnishing store.   (A lot of "cowboy" style furnishings and decor.)

The whole group had dinner at the Sun Valley resort.   The restaurant was right next to the skating rink.   I can remember seeing skating competitions here on TV.   Along the walls of the resort they have pictures of several famous athletes and celebrities that have stayed there.

Some of my relatives at dinner.

Dad, Mom, John, Kyle, and Michelle:

We ate at a table with my aunt Lillie, and (pictured below) my aunt Ivie Babbel and two of her daughters, Poiette Babbel Lang

 and Sylvia Babbel.

On Sunday evening we took a drive a little farther north into the mountains for some beautiful scenery.

I was so thankful I could take this trip and spend some time in Idaho with my Dad and other family members who love this part of the country as I do.

Cross Country Vacation - Part One

Part one of our cross country vacation was our adventures driving across this beautiful land.   Our first rest stop was in Maryland, where we had a beautiful view of our rolling valleys in the eastern United States.

Skip looks pretty cool in his sunglasses!

Our first night we spent in Columbus, Ohio.   After finding a hotel, we found a Chinese take out place open, and while waiting for our food "enjoyed" the thrift store decor and a coconut water.

 One of our other stops was Omaha, Nebraska.   We wanted to see the church site there known as Winter Quarters.   It's the area where the pioneers stopped and settled for the winter after leaving Nauvoo and trekking across Iowa for several months.   I knew there was a cemetery and a temple there, but didn't know they had such a nice museum/visitor's center.   It was definitely worth a stop.   They were about to close, but one of the senior missionaries gave us a quick tour of the museum and let us use the facilitates.   We had to find our hotel on the other side of town, but we promised to come back in the morning, which we did, and took some time to watch a movie, see some more of the exhibits, and enjoy the peace of the cemetery.

Our last stop before arriving in Idaho was Cheyenne, Wyoming.   Our method of finding hotels was to go to online sites, find something reasonable, and book it if the reviews weren't too bad.   The Hitching Post Inn sounded reasonable, but after booking it, I think Skip looked it up online to find out it had been burned down!   We thought we'd been scammed, but after further investigation found that a major part of it had burned down and they had reopened some of the buildings, with a couple of rooms serving as the office.  After driving past a few other seedy looking hotels,  we found our hotel with a neon OPEN sign, and the makeshift LOBBY banner.

It turned out to be a very large, comfortable room, with the bed at least 15 feet from the window, which was good, because there was a raging thunderstorm throughout much of the night that flooded the room near the window!   

  

31 derful Years!

Where else do you celebrate your 31st anniversary, but Baskin Robbins 31 flavors!   Besides having some ice cream, we had a day together in Alexandria.   I had been wanting to go inside the George Washington Memorial Masonic Temple.   It was quite interesting.   We learned a lot about the Masonic traditions as well as George Washington himself, and had a splendid view from the top of the memorial.

30 Day Challenge!

I was inspired by this yesterday.
I discussed it with Dara while we were visiting to celebrate her birthday, and we decided to start a 30 day challenge together.   We're starting rather small, but hopefully it will lead us into a habit that we've all been encouraged to start:

FLOSSING OUR TEETH!

We consulted a few lists, and have plans to complete other 30 day challenges.   Some we may do on our own, or we may try doing more together.   It's good to have a challenge buddy so you can encourage each other and be accountable to reporting to them.   Kara and I did a no sweets challenge last year, and had some success with that.   Here are a few ideas for 30 day challenges that I found/thought of:

take a picture a day
learn a new word a day
read 50 pages a day
draw something every day
clean or organize a space a day - drawer, shelf, closet, cupboard
memorize a measure of music a day
exercise every day
memorize a scripture a day
read the Book of Mormon (Dara did this in March)
act of service every day
try a new recipe every day

What are some of your ideas?    I'd be happy to try some with you!

A Blessing for Lillian

On Sunday morning, February 5, Skip, Kara, and I, after picking up Grandma and Grandpa Condie along the way, drove down to Charlottesville, to attend sacrament meeting with Ryan and Dara, to witness and participate in the priesthood blessing given to little Lillian.   In preparation, I made the dress Dara had picked out for her to wear. 

We were so happy to see her after about a month.  She has filled out a lot and has some sweet round cheeks, and a smile that fills up her whole face.   We passed her around during the meeting.  Kara was holding her in this picture.  It looks like she's playing peek-a-boo! 

After church, we went to Ryan and Dara's apartment (UVA married student housing), took some pictures, and had a delicious meal to celebrate sweet baby Lillian and her special day.

Lillian and Grandma Baird

Kara, Grandma Condie, and Grandma Baird with Lillian

With Grandma and Grandpa Baird

Grandma Shreffler with the sweet Lillian

Dara, her daughter, and her Mom

The whole gang!   Ian, Denise, and Kara in the front.  
Back row:   Grandma and Grandpa Condie, Carla, Lillian, Dara, Aaron, Ryan, Emily, (Jennifer behind me!), and Skip

Grandpa and grandson have the same hat!