Panguitch Balloon Festival 2011

We made it to the Main Street event where they light up all the balloons. It was just as much fun as last year. Panguitch is an anomaly. You expect it to be all old-town Mormon-ville, but really it's full of tattooed guys in wife beaters drinking "water" out of 64-oz jugs and pushing strollers. They had a band playing heavy metal music and about 12 balloons lit up along the street. We had a blast.
We planned on spending the night but as we were walking around, it was getting colder and colder and the thought of spending another night in the tipi was more than we could stand.... So at 10:30 p.m. we packed up our stuff at the campsite, threw it all in the back of the truck and drove home to toasty hot St. George to sleep in our air-conditioned beds :)

Dance Recital #2

Mia had her second dance recital in May. She got to wear the same costume (amazing it still fit the gigantor child, but it did!) I was just grateful I didn't have to buy another expensive dress! The recital was LONG!!! A starving Troy and Janae and patient, tired kids were there too (thanks, guys) and the show went on and on and on and on and on ... Finally Mia got to dance and was cute as can be :)

Our Garden!!! :)

 Dad wanted to see photos of the finished yard. When he was here, the wall wasn't quite finished and we basically had a whole lot or dirt in the backyard ("go play in the mud, kids!"). But since then we have put in edging and a lawn and more trees, even mulch around all the plants to make it oh fer pretty. We're having fun putting it all together, although since it's hit 100 degrees, we pretty much have to be done by 9 a.m. :)

Ellie is 10!!! Oh, where does the time go?

Jo and Taylee. Jo was AWESOME!! She came over and painted nails. She was definitely the cool Mom at this party :)

Check out the giant choco cake. Like mother like daughter... We munched on this cake for days :)

Ellie opening presents on her actual Birthday. She waited until she got done with school to come home and open presents. Note the Eiffel Tower shirt. Ellie has a tiny obsession with Paris right now. 

We had a great time at Ellie's 10th birthday party. She had friends over and they played "Just Dance" on the Wii, ate chocolate cake and watched a movie that we projected on the side of the house outside. The weather was perfect and to top off a great night, Washington City was having their fireworks for Cotton Days, and we could see them perfectly from the house :)

Grand Canyon detour

 We decided to take Dad to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon-only 2 hours away, right? So we hopped in the car with water bottles and movies and headed off. We got to Fredonia and stopped at a gas station to pee and buy junk food (ever notice how your need to pee and eat crap increases while traveling, or is it just me?). Rod got chatting to the cashier (I know, shocking right? Rod is just so shy :) who informed us that the North Rim shuts down until the snow melts. So what did we do? We just kept on driving to the South Rim. A million hours later we got there!
Dad was blown away driving through vast areas of land with NOTHING on it, and then all of a sudden there would be a house (shack) in the middle of nowhere. I was just blown away that anyone can reside so far away from Costco and Target...
The Grand Canyon was AWESOME, of course. We got to walk around in 75 degree weather and have a snowball fight with the snow that was still laying around. So fun :) Rod managed to get a huge pile of snow down my back. Not cool when you wear all the layers we Mormons wear. I will, of course, have my revenge :)
That night we stayed in a hotel (but Mom, what are we going to wear
to bed? We didn't even bring pajamas!!) Ellie was horrified that

she had to sleep in shirt and underwear. She was also horrified at having to eat at a deli (but what's a deli? Isn't there a Subway here?) in the middle of the res...Yes, 'tis a hard life Oliver...

 Dad and his girls

The fam :)

The bad thing about going to the Grand Canyon is that you have to drive all the freakin' way home. It took FOREVER!! Lucky for me I have a sweetheart who was willing to drive while I sat in the back and watched movies with the girls :) It was a swell time :)

Nascar Baby!!!

 Dad came to visit for 2 weeks. He went home today. Lameoh.... :( But we had a lot of fun with him and got to go to Nascar!!!! Yeah baby! It was a blast!! There were a bazillion people there and more than a few Wallmartians. We went supplied with headphones (as modeled by Mia above) which I didn't think we would need. That was until the cars started whipping around at 180 mph. Freakin' crazy. And totally LOUD!!! The best parts (of course) were when drivers wiped out :) We even got to see a car catch fire. I mean, I wouldn't want anyone to get REALLY hurt. Just lil' bit...

 Ellie with her Dadcu :)

Photo of the bazillion people. People are SERIOUSLY into this stuff. Tried to take some photos of the cars but they were too speedy gonzales for me.

Tonsil Day

You can't really see the tonsils but they're HUGE!!!

 Ellie finally got her tonsils out, after months of throat infections and feeling overall lousy. She was kind of excited about going to the hospital. Rod barely talked for the first hour-a sure sign that he was a little worried. She went to pre-op and met her nice nurse, Kim who gave her a gown and "party hat". They told us to have her remove "all" her clothes, so we did. Yes, even her underwear. Ellie said "I feel weird". I've never been without underwear before." She was so freaked out that they let her put them back on :). The doctor ($700) and the anesthesiologist ($800) came in and then wheeled her off. Cue Mom and Dad freakin' out. 

40 minutes later the doc ($700 for 20 minutes of surgery-think I am doing the wrong job at the hospital) came out and told us she was a trooper and that her tonsils were huge. He photographed them with his cell phone (per Ellie's request-"no, they cannot put them in a jar for you to take home") and emailed them to us. I didn't put them on the blog because they're nasty looking :) He didn't photograph the adenoids-what the heck are adenoids anyway? But all went well with the surgery. Cue sighs of relief from Mom and Dad.

Before

Before

After :(

After :( She's actually trying to smile

 
And this is poor Ellie after surgery. She came out with puffy, red lips and totally out of it. She was less than impressed :(
She is now 2 days post-surgery and has taken up residence on the couch (with my favorite-ever body pillow) where she is eating popsicles, chocolate pudding, chicken noodle soup and ICEES from Maverik. Grandma and Grandpa Sherman are here to play nurse for the rest of the week so that I can go back to work and figure out how to make $700 for 20 minutes of work. (Hey, I just went to the bathroom, that's $250. Hey, I just goofed off and checked my e-mail, that's $400 :) Yeah, I wish...

Merry Christmas!!!

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!!! We had so much fun!! Ellie woke up at about 4:30 but Karren put a movie on for her and she thankfully let the rest of us sleep. Mia hopped out of bed as soon as Ellie woke her (we made her wait until 7 a.m :) Luckily Santa did stop at our house, despite the lack of chimney (a big concern of Mia's). Ellie got an American Girl doll and was THRILLED. Mia got a big girl doll with long hair. They were well and truly spoiled, as were we all. Rod gave me money for my NOOK. YAY! Karren gave the present that caused the most tears when she gave me Mamgu's engagement ring. A very sweet moment for us all...We ate WAY too much food. Karren brought yummy chocolate and I think I have eaten my body weight in junk in the past week. Bleurgh...Now it's a new year and here are my resolutions which are the same ones I have had for the past 25 years:

1. Quit biting nails

2. Eat better

3. Work out more

I'm thinking there is a problem to having had the same goals for the past quarter decade. Oh well...:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thursday and Friday with Karren

 

We had a great Christmas! We picked Karren up from Las 

Vegas on Thursday which just made the holiday for us :)

On Thursday night we went to see the live Nativity at Tuacahn.  Karren thinks we are trying to convert her but we just thought it would be fun to do :) We especially liked the part where the camel walked backwards and wouldn't cooperate... On Christmas Eve we did some shopping and then ate lasagna and played games. The girls decorated cookies for Santa and set out food for the Reindeer. And they went to bed early. Amazing how much they are motivated by Santa coming :)

Mia's Dance Recital

 

 

Mia had so much fun at her Dance Recital. She has been going to Southern Utah Stars for the apst few months and LOVES it. She only goes once a week, and gets mad for the other six days that she doesn't get to go. They performed a recital at Snow Canyon High. Mia went to the hair school to get prettyfied. They got a TEENY bit carried away with the curling iron and poofiness but she thought she was the bee's knees. She also LOVED her outfit. The dance was so fun to watch-if I was high tech enough to put the video on here I would...maybe will figure it out. Janae and the girls and Grandpa Duane and Grandma Sharen came too; it was fun to hang out with everyone :)