A few more adventures with

Real Live Lydia.

 Shopping at Costco (essential)

 Going to Pirate's Island and listening to Natalie Sing with Karaoke.

Natalie spending the night and day with us.

 Lydia Performing the Rejuvenation Ritual 

that we made up

(basically throwing flower petals on yourself or others)

Try it, it works.

 Gary wasn't quite so sure.  

He was more concerned about who was

going to clean up all the flower petals.

A little more pampering.

Can you guess which hands and feet are Lydia's?

Lydia staking claims to my "Friend," when I die.  

Not that she's hurrying it along or anything.

 In fact tonight as we were sitting outside, she randomly said, 

"You guys are never going to die."

Very sweet.

This T-shirt

of  Lydia's says it all.

Lydia has to be the most patient sister in the world.  She sits through ball games all summer for her three oldest brothers.  When Marshall is old enough, that will make four brothers she is following.  That's why we felt she needed a little girl pampering.

She is a delight!

Remember the

Adventures of Flat Eliza?

Well, this week we will follow the adventures of "Real Lydia."

She arrived by air tonight, all by herself.

 Where she was greeted excitedly by Us.

She arrived at Bunny Hollow Bed and Breakfast at about 10:30 pm,

Where she tried out the amenities in her room

(like the vibrating chair pad).

  That is until Grandpa took it over,

and we had to kick him out so she could go to bed.

Some of the things I've been doing

over the weekend . . .

Refinishing the chair dad made.

 Celebrating Charlene and Greg's 125th (combined birthdays)

 

 

 Experimenting with S'more's cupcakes

Exhibiting a little OCD with making  Key Fobs

Going to a wedding reception; cleaning the deep for when we get the new furnace on Monday; going to Shawn's missionary farewell (great talk Shawn!); feeling inspired from the Relief Society lesson on using inspiration to help us in all we do; making Strawberry cupcakes (new favorite strawberry frosting I'll share), having dinner with Natalie; enjoying a visit with Gary and Cammie, and . . .  I can't remember what else.  

I've moved on.

I went to lunch with the "lunch bunch" on Thursday and I was telling them about the new fireworks restrictions.  They are all neighbors and friends and usually come to the annual fireworks show.   After I was done spouting off, one of them said, "That's the maddest I've ever seen your face."  (Maybe I was overacting a little?)  My biggest frustration was knowing that Lydia was so excited to be here for the our "Stadium of Fire." 

But, I've let it go, and don't have a mad face anymore. We do have a possible interim plan.  That is to move everything over to the grade school.  It's only a block away and in the non-restricted zone.   If that can't work, then at the very least we'll have a cupcake party and sparklers. We do have tickets to the real "Stadium of Fire" on Saturday, so at least Lydia can look forward to that. 

(Now that I've come to terms with this earth shattering problem, I think I can move on to less important matters)

Wouldn't you know it..

This is the first year that Utah has legalized (most of) the fireworks that we've had at our Ashton Stadium of Fire.  We were very excited.   That is until tonight, when Big Red (aka John Roylance) sent Gary a picture of the "No Fireworks" sign that was just posted on our block. 

WHAT?????!!!

I've already started the cupcakes.  

Lydia is coming in and very excited for the big show.  

And now they've changed the boundaries of where fireworks are legal??!!

We are really bummed.  

(Excuse the language, but this is a big deal.)  

We'll explore other possibilities, but it just won't be the same.  

What to do?  I'm taking this very personally, if you can't tell.

After Gary

had been teaching at Provo High for 7 years, he took a sabbatical leave and went back to school to get his Master's Degree.   He took classes full time the first year, and just part time for the next five years following that. He became part of a study group with other men who ended up being great friends with each other. 

Because Gary was at least 7 years older than them, he was the only one who was married, had children, and had a home.  So, they spent many hours late into the night discussing their projects.  They will readily agree, however, that what they spent most of their time doing was calculating what they would have to score on the final exam to still get an 'A' for the class.

After graduation, the others went straight to work at Word Perfect and were very successful climbing the corporate ladder.  Gary went back and taught school for 8 more years before he finally took the jump to work with them at Word Perfect and then Novell.    When lay-offs came at different times, those who had been there from the beginning ended up coming out pretty well financially.  Gary had only been there 10 years, so we felt blessed when a position in Education opened up at Timpview on the very day he was laid off.

They've gotten together through the years to play golf or go to lunch.  On Sunday they got together again, this time because one of them, Paul, has been called to be a mission president and it was his farewell.
Seeing them together again was fun and nostalgic.  They still have the same camaraderie and interests.  I remember Paul coming to the house to see Gary one day just shortly after we adopted Natalie.  I can still see his face when I went to the door holding her.    He looked somewhat confused, and I could tell he didn't know quite what to say because he hadn't thought I was expecting a baby.  It has been fun to see them get married and raise their children.

 After the farewell we stopped by to see Gary and Lynn.  

Gary is home and doing great, and the house is looking wonderful.  

Then we came home and let Gary ring the bell and order us around.  

He got nice notes written by the Bishops, an e-book from the Idiarts,

and a gift card (to take me out) from Natalie.

 Natalie made us a "mean" egg breakfast burrito,

with eggs, potatoes, cheese, and seasoning.

I gave Gary a disc (frisbee) golf set, that he is a little hesitant about.  He's not sure we'll really use them.   But, Jean said that Jared has become an addict to disc golf, and that she thinks we would enjoy it.    Maybe if he knew he could whip Jared at it, he will become more motivated.