Dodges: April 2013

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Geese

The goose that nested on our mulch pile

had 4 babies.

Kelsey's only request for her birthday activity was to go to City Creek Mall. We did talk her into getting some earrings at Claire's and something to eat at the food court, but mostly she just wanted her picture taken all over the mall. I took 35 pictures and she posted 28 of them on Facebook. These are a couple of my favorites:

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Maryn's Birthday

For her birthday activity, Maryn wanted to go to the City Creek Shopping Center

-- particularly the Disney store --

then to Kneaders.

Brianne's Artwork

Brianne's artwork is gaining district-wide recognition.

Phyllis' Funeral

Phyllis young died on April 6th, 2013, so we went to Sullivan. We renewed old acquaintances, including:

Jim Johnson and

Gloria Beal (with Linda and Alice).

Alice and Linda were able to be with Mike.

Jeff and Scott were there with their families. This is Scott's wife with their youngest.

This is perhaps the last picture of Phyllis that was ever taken. She's holding Jeff's youngest.

This is the Missouri River in Washington, Missouri.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Katie's Gymnastics

Katie is doing gymnastics instead of softball this year.

Mary's Birthday

On April 1st, we had a birthday activity with Mary.

She wanted to see a movie,

then go to The Cheesecake Factory.

Nikkail's Birthday

On March 26th, we had a birthday activity with Nikkail.

She wanted to get a new portrait with us at Target,

then go to Chuck-A-Rama.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Pre-Easter Gathering

All of the grandkids had Spring Break before Easter, so we had a lot of family around Wednesday night, Thursday, and Friday (March 27-29). Joseph went up to Ogden to hang out with Jackson for a couple of days, the rest of Suzi's kids were here or at Kristi's during that time, and Teri & Michael's kids were in the mix as well. On Friday, Emily organized an Easter egg hunt.

The girls hunted for eggs the boys hid,

the boys hunted for eggs the girls hid,

and each group watched the other from the bay window.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Refurbished Steps

In November of 2012, I hurried to get steps down our hill before the snow fell.

I put down pavers for steps, but I didn't have time to put anything under them -- except dirt.

And, with the heavy snow melting, they washed out underneath.

So, I dug back 8 inches and put 8x8x16 cinder blocks under the front edge.

They should be sturdy now once we get sod put in.

Geese

Every year, the same goose lays her eggs on the same day -- March 19th -- just across our property line at our neighbor's house.

This year, another goose laid her eggs in our mulch pile next to the horses' pen.

She is between 2nd and 3rd bars down on the right-hand side of this horse-fence panel.

And here's a closer view.

Mary and Nikkail

We got home from Arizona just in time to chaperone Mary and Nikkail's birthday party. Since their birthdays are 10 days apart (and they are great friends), they planned a joint birthday party with two of their other friends on March 22nd. The new "trendy" thing is to have a sleepover at Little America Hotel, so Kristi and Emily booked a room for them and also a room next door for us to chaperone.

The theme was "Psych" (their favorite TV show) and Kristi made a cake with a chocolate bottom layer with 14 candles for Mary and a second layer of white cake with 13 candles for Nikkail.

Arizona

On March 18th-22nd we drove to Arizona. We spent most of time with my parents, but we went to dinner with Stan & Kathi, visited with Marsha & Lloyd, then went to my Mom's birthday party.

Lisa made cupcakes and Susan made tamale pie.

We stayed in a nice motel. Alice loves palm trees!

Vivian Park

On March 16th, Kristi, Mark, Maryn, Draeden, Liam, Emily, Joseph, and Katie rode bikes from the mouth of Provo Canyon to Vivian Park. Alice, Mary, Nikkail, and I drove.