Flashback Friday: Grandma Fran

Well last weekend we all piled in the car and headed for the sunshine state to attend my Grandmother's memorial service. My Uncle Jim did the service and it was very nice. It was nice to get spend some time with family, it is too bad that it seems this type of thing is what always brings us together. Maybe that is why the funeral is a celebration of a person's life. It pulls everyone back together even if only for a day. It also reminds me to be thankful that my parents are still with me and they are getting to know our children.

So here is a flashback photo of a strong, beautiful woman that I loved.

P.S. I know we were related because I have her gambling gene...and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Visit from Grandma Sal

We were fortunate to have Ben's Grandma visit us from April 15-26. It was supposed to be until the 25th, but we got an extra day due to some flight scheduling issues. Grandma Sal is soooo funny and an absolute joy to have around. She is always willing to help, in fact I finally gave in and let her dust. Then she made us a super yummy strawberry rhubarb pie.

We stayed busy while she was here, but I still feel like she didn't get to see everything here in town. She said she wanted to see her friend Mike and say she has been to Charleston. So I guess that means it was a good trip.

Grandma Sal also talked my Mom into coming out for a few days while she was here. So one morning I put them in the VW and programmed the GPS and they headed out to go antiquing. Well apparently I put the GPS in a hard to see spot and when Mom tried to move it she navigated them straight back home. The did eventually make it to the antique shops and bought a few treasures. After that we went to Sticky Fingers to meet up with my friend Kristen and her family that were visiting from up North. It was great to catch up and the kids are soooo cute!

On Grandma's last night here we headed to the beach to show her where we got married on Folly Beach. Then we went to Bowen's Island to sample the best fried shrimp in town. The next day she got to enjoy the fine cuisine of the Waffle House then headed for home.

Please come back soon Grandma!

P.S. Mike if you are reading this please show it to Grandma Sal.

Grandma Sal coloring with Nora

At the Angel Oak Tree

On the carriage tour

At Gilligan's with her friend Mike

Pedro

Ben and Nora

Having tea

Nora and Grandma at Fort Moultrie

The Carney's and Morgan

Grandma Katie

At Folly Beach

Land Cruiser

So I think everyone knows that we bought the VW on ebay and have been extremely pleased with it. So we tried again on an old FJ 40 Land Cruiser. Well...this time we didn't get so lucky. While it has all the coolness that an old Land Cruiser should it unfortunately also came with all the rust, body work, engine work and whatever other kind of work old cars need. In fact it has recently spent some quality time with a mechanic and after paying them several hundred of Ben's hard earned dollars we had to tow it home. Luckily Ben is very handy and was able to install a fuel pump and now it is back to the status in which it originally arrived in our driveway. It makes it one time around Candleberry Circle before crapping out.

So there is still some work to be done before we try to unload it on some other poor sap that wants to fix up an old car. I'm sure when this happens Ben and Nora will both be sad to see it go. They have spent many hours of father-daughter bonding time with that truck. Nora helped Daddy change the fuel pump and even pumped up the tires with it (wink, wink). Then they gave it a new paint job. Spray painting with a 3 year old is more adventure than I need!

Overheard: Watching Deal or No Deal

Party 1: She seems like she would be a nice person.

Party 2: She's probably a nasty b****.

Party 1: Sure are a lot of those around.

Trip to Utah

So first you should know that I have the most wonderful husband in the world! He let me go on a vacation all by myself and I enjoyed every second of it! Well all the seconds I wasn't missing Ben and the girls. As you all know leaving Utah was a very difficult move for me. So it was an especially nice treat to go back and see all my wonderful friends.

The trip started off last Wednesday night. First I flew to Las Vegas and spent the night at Excalibur and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice and clean the room was. This might be partially due to my last hotel experience. Luckily I was only there for the night so I wasn't tempted to gamble away the $60 I won playing roulette. It is always fun to hit your favorite number, especially with two chips on it!

The next morning I woke up and headed back to the airport to catch a shuttle to St. George. I got there a few minutes early so I played some slots and won another $12! I had an interesting conversation about the LDS religion and politics on the two hour drive. Upon arrival my sweet friend Beth picked me up and we headed for the airport to get Andrea. We were both commenting on how very easy it is to travel without children. But her ride back to the airport seemed like quite an adventure...I wish I had a photo of Judith, Andrea, Robin and all their stuff squeezed into Robin's sweet little ride!

So the excuse for the trip (besides seeing everyone) was to play in the Green Valley Tennis Marathon. Historically my tournament performance has left a little to be desired so I decided to enter in doubles and singles so that I would at least get to play a few matches. I played hard and made it to Saturday in both draws. Robin was a fantastic doubles partner and we had fun playing. But we should have won...dang miss hit...bad call...sun...wind...sore arm... The big winner in the group was Mario! Rocio and Scott made it to the finals and had a tough match.

I have to say when Ben, the girls and I went on this trip last year it was one of our favorite vacations ever and I still feel the same! It was different this year, but it was fun sharing a super fancy condo with 8 girls. It is always so much fun when everyone gets together for big dinners.

Andrea was pleased to finally, after 10 years, get to sleep in the master suite

Jamie, me, Judith, Cynthia, & Robin


One of the highlights of the trip was playing Euchre! This is one of my favorite card games...even when Pete makes me lose 0-10. Ugh. We even played at 7:00 one morning before we headed over to the courts for our 8:00 matches.

After St. George my dear friend Miranda drove me back to SLC, via a quick tour of Cedar City, in her Explorer that happened to be short on air conditioning. This worked out great for me because I wasn't driving, but poor Miranda was in the sun the whole way back and sweating like crazy. Which made her easy to convince to pull into Dairy Queen. Once we got back to town we tried to go to one of my favorite restaurants...can you believe they were closed the only day I would be able to eat there???? Luckily there is a Noodles right next door.

Then we raced over to my former neighbors for game night. Game night used to always be at our house, but Scott and Ryan hosted and they did it right! We had all the gummy bears, M&Ms, runts, and chips we could eat! We played The Great Dalmuti and until that night I had never been King! I think they rigged the cards because on the first hand I made it all the way to the top! When game night ended Zach, Miranda, and I played Monopoly. I haven't played in years, it was awesome!
The next morning I got to spend some time catching up with my friend Elizabeth and her daughter Kelsey. Kelsey has the cutest little crinkly nose!


Then I met up with my friend Lorie for some Cafe Rio. Mmmmmmmm. Good thing they weren't closed!

Here are a few of my favorite quotes of the trip...feel free to add comments of all those I missed or just misquoted.

"Riley, how cute are you? Do you have a brother?" ~Robin

"Yeah Scotty! Boo Petey." ~Robin

"Why didn't you just say it was by the liqueur store?" ~Anonymous

"The worst part about it is that they think you're

Mormon and just wont play on Sunday." ~Anonymous

"So I had to make dinner for these VIPs..." ~Heidi

"What time is your match?" ~Everyone

"Way to hit it down the line...Way to..." ~Anyone who doesn't want to get blamed for coaching

"So which white hat are you going to wear?" ~Robin

"Nice ass Pink!" ~Heidi

"I have a brother?" ~Sierra

"I don't care who wins as long as it's not Abby" ~Zach

"I think that hat actually makes you dumber,
obviously it makes you look dumber too." ~Scott M.

I want to say a special thank you to Beth for my ride, Jamie for the condo organization and Coca-Cola, Judith for making me go, Angie for all the fun "awards" and the massage, Robin for being a great partner, Miranda for driving in the crazy heat with no air to see me, Scott and Ryan for hosting game night, Elizabeth for making time for me, Lorie for my ride to the airport, and last but not least, the volunteers at the Phoenix airport that helped me make my crazy tight connection so I could get home to see my sweet girls.

I hope to see everyone again next year...I miss you already! For those of you that I missed on this trip I hope to see you soon!

Overheard: A phone call

Him: Hi Grandma.

Her: I'm coming for a visit.

Him: I know. We already packed away all our valuables.

Last Weekend

Friday night we dropped in unexpectedly on our former neighbors George and Carol. Sorry again for not calling ;o) It was a very fun visit and good to catch up. The girls loved it at their house. They had a closet full of toys, a cockatoo, and ice cream! It doesn't get much better than that!

Then on Sunday morning we headed to the Flowertown Festival in Summerville. There were lots of booths to check out, rides, and yummy food. I think Morgan liked the slide more than Nora.