Last night we went to Heritage Hill in Lake Forest....This spot is on our "christmas-activity-rotation" that we frequent every few years. It has historic homes, a school, church and pueblo. They decorate it for the holidays and have candle lit pathways to walk through.
One of the best things about Thanksgiving is waking up at around 5am and smelling the turkey cooking in the oven. Then falling back asleep...then waking up around 8:30 have a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, strawberries and whip cream, hashbrown/sausage breakfast casserole and hot cocoa. Then we just lay around for a few hours and do absolutely nothing but watch the Macy's "commercial" parade. Then I start cooking around 12:00. This year we went up to Mark and Julie's house and spent the afternoon with the family. It was nice and uneventful.
Knowing that children rarely have any appreciation for fine art and also knowing that our children are especially loud.... we have put off taking the kids to the Getty. It is the finest art museum on the West Coast and houses Monet, Van Gogh... and billions of dollars worth of fine art. I found out that my good friend,Kirse from high school, was on a panel for an event being held there and couldn't resist the chance to go see her....since it had been over 14 years.
The event was completely booked and there was overflow of about 50 people. I didn't have a ticket, but really wanted to see her... so I "worked" my way into getting a ticket for a press seat. While I was in the event... Dan took the kids through the museum. They seemed to actually enjoy it and little Heidi complained because she had to leave each room too quickly. I'm telling you that girl has some sort of fashion/art/fine things gene in her.
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| In life, there are some people you can re-connect with after years of being apart. You can literally pick up 20 years later as if a week had gone by. This is how our weekend with our friends Todd & Lori went. Todd came to visit from Seattle and Lori came to visit from SLC on the same weekend. We all morphed into 20 year olds again and had a great weekend. Here we are heading out for a night of fun. We went to the Irvine Spectrum for Dinner at a new BBQ place called Wood Ranch. (good) Then wandered around. Took a Ferris Wheel ride. |
Dan sporting the latest greatest evening wear fashion trend "the baggie".
Lady GaGa (who later that evening morphed into Ke$ha), a Flapper, and Vampire.
We literally threw our vampire costumes together at the last minute. I found this great dress on clearance and Dan wore his wedding tuxedo (WOW!) When it comes to halloween, Heidi is not your typical frilly 6 year old. She refuses to wear any princess dresses. She believes you should be something scary every halloween.
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| Last weekend I threw all of my responsibilities to the wind (and at Dan). And decided, last minute, to go to a College Reunion. The cost of flying and driving were virtually the same...but I really wanted to drive, so I could have some time to actually think and organize my brain. So.... I figured 12 hours up, 12 hours back, ought to do me some good. I really havn't been alone for any amount of extended time for at least 15 years.....that I can remember. I met my new little nephew Mason (Jennet & Brad's) the first night I stayed in St. George. He smelled so good and his head was so soft. |
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| I stayed with my Dad & Mom the first night and my Dad showed me his shot-gun. I took this picture for Reed...but thought it was kind of funny when I looked at it again. Let this be a warning to everyone...call first before you visit...you wouldnt want to be mistaken for an intruder in this house! |
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| The next day I did a little St. George shopping and headed to Provo for my BYU freshman college reunion...I know...who has a freshman reunion? Well.. when you have as good a time as we did freshman year and made such great friends...you just have to have one! It was good to see old friends again and catch up and see how they changed/stay the same. |
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| The next morning, I met my friend Lori...who I havnt seen since in 20 years. It was so good to catch up with her and just talk. We were at a mall and I wasn't even interested in shopping because we had too much to talk about. This was well worth the trip. It is so refreshing to be able to talk to someone so openly...not having to worry about whether they will agree or disagree and whether or not they will judge you for what you say. This was a fantastic morning. |
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| I then met Geeb for lunch with his son Nate. We took a few pictures to make Dan jealous that he wasnt there...he really wanted to go to salt lake...and loves Crown Burger and RC Car racing. |
Once in The Tetons, we started our trip with a boat ride across Jenny Lake. We hiked to Hidden Falls where we saw the most turbulent water we have ever seen. The river is so young...it hasn't cut into the rocks yet so the water is going every which way down the mountain. In Rapids I would rate it a Class 7!
Forgetting that we were going on a mile hike....all of us girls wore sandals and nice shoes, thus proving you can still look good while taking on the great outdoors.
At this campground. A grizzly bear came through at night and we saw the rangers flashing strobe lights to drive him away. We never saw the bear, but we saw some cool lights....does that count? We looked everywhere for a bear and never saw one our entire trip....which is probably a good thing.
Our surroundings. 2400 miles of happy fun friendliness! When we got home Dan and I said we need a vacation from our vacation.
A geyser in so many ways!
