. . . weather or not . . .

. . . today's conditions . . .

 . . . heavens! look at tomorrow . . . 

. . . only seven short days ago . . .

. . . and my memory 

has already faded . . .

. . . an old fashioned revival . . .

. . . when i pruned the heck 

out of this sweet alyssum, 

i crossed my fingers . . .

. . . that was a month ago . . .

. . . and although the geraniums 

have slowed way down . . .

. . . the alyssum has made 

a remarkable comeback . . .

. . . i believe in weekly 

miracle gro mondays . . .

. . . what i don't believe in 

is triple digit temperatures 

from now til november . . .

. . . boo . . .

. . . wonder woman . . .

. . . i'm referring to 

this little girl's mother . . .

. . . because just look 

at the kind of birthday party 

she threw for 

soon-to-be-ten-year-old addison . . .

. . . strawberry lemonade 

was the theme . . .

. . . including die-cut lemonade banner,

 color coordinated everything, 

homemade pink lemonade cupcakes, 

fresh fruit, 

apothecary candy jars, 

and a matching swimsuit . . .

. . . addi will turn a whole decade old 

at the end of june . . .

. . . but this year, 

she blew out her birthday candle 

a month early . . .

. . . because her family 

is relocating to california 

until the end of summer . . .

. . . where amber 

and the kids will play 

and chris 

will be working his tail off . . . 

. . . thankful for a summer job . . .

. . . when the kids found out 

they'd be gone 

for almost three months, 

three of them 

~ those with summer birthdays ~

 were quite upset . . .

. . . what about our birthday parties,

 mom????? . . .

. . . and so, nice mom that she is . . .

. . . hosted parties 

for all three birthday kids 

on memorial day . . .

. . . the day before they move . . .

. . . yeah, like i said . . .

. . . wonder woman . . .

. . . why i plant red flowers . . .

. . . because they look fabulous 

with christmas decorations 

in december . . .

. . . and ~ thanks to sophie, 

my apprentice/substitute gardener, 

who kept them alive for eight days

 while i was out of town ~ 

. . . they still look fabulous 

with flags on memorial day . . .

. . . road trippin' . . .

. . . i like to drive . . .

. . . this is lucky, 

since sitting time 

is severely limited for bill . . .

. . . i was behind the wheel . . .

. . . while he rested in the back . . .

. . . he is very good 

at not being a backseat driver . . .

. . . i, on the other hand, 

am a very annoying 

passenger seat nagger . . .

. . . so, this situation 

was a best case scenario . . .

. . . here are some scenes 

from the road . . .

{and, yes, many are iphone pix taken by me while driving. shhhh!}

. . . i swear i was 

behind this semi 

filled with what appeared to be 

river rafts of some sort 

for about a half hour 

between flagstaff and page . . .

. . . it was verrrrrrrrrrrrrry windy 

and that thing was fishtailing 

and swaying all over both lanes . . .

. . . i nearly had to stop 

for a dramamine 

just watching it . . .

. . . mmmmmmmmm . . .

. . . public restrooms . . .

. . . my favorite . . .

. . . especially when 

they're held together 

with cardboard and duct tape . . .

{at least instructions were clearly posted 

and all amenities were included}

. . . clever advertising . . .

. . . it caught MY attention . . .

. . . starting the climb from sandy 

into little cottonwood canyon . . .

. . . when you're used to 

arizona's "green", 

it's hard to believe places like this 

really exist . . .

. . . lush pines and cottonwoods, 

which were just 

starting to leaf out . . .

. . . truly lovely . . .

. . . there were 

a crazy amount of bikers . . .

. . . i mean 

the kind without motors . . .

. . . and what goes up . . .

. . . must come down . . .

. . . this group was going 

about 60 mph . . .

. . . there are signs all along telling you

 to "share the road" . . .

. . . these guys were hard core . . .

. . . in the half hour it takes to drive

 from the freeway in sandy 

to the resort at snowbird, 

the temperature 

drops twenty degrees . . . 

. . . luckily, the cliff lodge 

was comfy and cozy . . .

. . . now we're home again . . .

. . . after a day of driving 

on extremely well-patrolled 

highways and freeways 

this holiday weekend . .  .

. . . all the more justification 

for my penchant 

for only going about 

three or four miles per hour  

above the posted speed limit . . .

. . . two cars absolutely flew past me

 between kanab and page yesterday . . .

. . . and i must admit there was 

a certain sense of satisfaction 

when not thirty seconds down the road 

i watched as a highway patrolman

 waved them both over 

to the shoulder . . .

. . . then as posted on many signs 

along the side of the road, 

i slowed down and pulled to the left 

as i passed them . . . 

. . . with my cruise control set about 

three or four miles per hour

over the speed limit . . .

. . . nanny nanny boo boo . . .

. . . location location location . . .

. . . who knows if/when 

i'll ever make a quilt top 

in a setting like this again . . .

. . . jessalyn and i 

found the fabric 

for baby hayden's crib bedding 

at american quilting in orem . . .

. . . fabric ~ 

vintage modern 

by bonnie and camille . . .

. . . pattern name ~ 

charlie brown chevron . . .

. . . construction site ~

snowbird, utah . . .

. . . here's your sign . . .

. . . while i was "stuck" all day

 at snowbird, 

bill went to spend some time

 with his younger brother . . .

. . . they planned to meet halfway,

 then ride together . . . 

. . . so, after filling the car with gas

 {again} 

he parked 

in the huge empty lot

of an abandoned big box store . . . 

. . . when they returned 

three hours later, 

the car was gone . . . 

. . . g . . . 

. . . o . . .

. . . n . . .

. . . e . . .

. . . only then did john 

notice a tiny sign ~ 

not on the row where bill parked

 ~ saying no parking 

was allowed there . . .

. . . our car had been towed 

to a fenced lot 

four blocks away . . . 

. . . by a fabulous towing company

 who only accepts cash 

{and lots of it!} 

as payment . . .

. . . bless their hearts . . . 

. . . gno . . .

. . . jessalyn and i 

had a couple of hours to kill

 while bill and drew 

went on a "good walk 

spoiled by a little white ball" . . . 

. . . mani/pedis it was . . . 

. . . good thing i have 

a utah friend

 who could recommend 

a nail salon . . .

. . . thanks, lesli! . . .

. . . royal nails in pleasant grove

 didn't disappoint . . .

. . . i'm a big fan of the razor 

and hot wax . . . 

. . . we even tried 

the shellac manicure . . .

. . . ask me in a couple of weeks 

if it's all it's cracked up to be . . . 

. . . jess went with

 girly/fluorescent/glow-in-the-dark

 pink . . .

{because she's young and cute}

. . . i, on the other hand, 

went with the predictable/bland/

goes-with-everything 

french manicure . . . 

{because i am old and boring}

. . . HSTs . . .

. . . since we had so much fun

last week . . .

. . . our quilt group decided

 to meet again this week . . .

. . . i'm there . . . 

. . . but in spirit only . . .

. . . don't worry, though . . .

. . . i'm totally sewing . . .

. . . just with 

a different background . . .

. . . cutting squares 

for baby hayden's quilt . . . 

. . . and making lots of 

half square triangles . . . 

. . . HSTs as they are known 

in the quilting world . . .

. . . for today, however, 

i will refer to them as 

half SNOW triangles . . .

. . . yes, that's white stuff 

falling right outside my balcony 

as i stitch away . . . 

. . . utah is so confusing . . .

. . . on the menu today . . .

. . . lots of white pom poms . . .

. . . diet coke . . .

. . . and howie . . .

. . . patties . . .

. . . remember this 

"smiling pile of poo"

 emoticon? . . .

. . . i find it very funny 

when amanda includes it 

in her texts . . .

. . . what i don't find funny 

is there were three of them 

{of the cat variety 

~ AND I DO NOT HAVE A CAT!!! ~ 

 which i chose not to photograph 

~ you're welcome ~}

this morning 

in my freshly mown front yard . . . 

. . . and i managed to step 

in two of them . . .

. . . smiling pile of poo? . . .

. . . i could almost them

laughing at me . . .

. . . #timetobuynewwalkingshoes . . .

. . . sunday funday . . .

. . . true fact . . . 

. . . some churches 

are prettier than others . . .

. . . this one was particularly lovely . . .

. . . with the wasatch mountains 

in the background . . .

. . . and because 

these two were inside . . .

. . . bill was even more impressed 

with this backdrop . . .

. . . i hope you found beauty 

on this sabbath day . . .

. . . dinner and a show . . .

. . . tate got to choose the location 

for his birthday dinner . . .

. . . organ stop pizza . . .

. . . home of 

the mighty wurlitzer pipe organ . . .

. . . my kids think 

i ought to moonlight there . . .

. . . you know ~ 

on the nights 

when i'm not playing 

at church or at the temple . . .

. . . i'm thinking a sparkly jacket,

 bubble machine, 

train whistle, 

and some dancing feline puppets 

would spice up our meetings . . .

. . . i wonder if they could fit that 

into the ward budget? . . .

. . . the twins . . .

. . . every . . .

. . . single . . .

. . . year . . .

. . . they have their birthdays 

on the eighteenth of may . . .

{click those links and watch these two age backwards}

. . . tate william hansen 

and william orin romney . . .

{i requested their photo be taken somewhere other than bed this year}

. . . then the other two amigos 

had to join in . . .

{that's elliott andrew on the left and tagg christan on the right}

. . . the kids gave bill 

a great big basket 

full of portable treats . . .

. . . something to eat . . .

. . . something to drink . . .

. . . something to listen to . . .

. . . something to read . . .

. . . many hands make light work 

when it comes to opening gifts . . .

. . . although tagg 

seemed more interested 

in whatever was on tv . . .

. . . tate got beachwear from us . . .

. . . but i bet he was 

waaaay more impressed 

when he opened 

this batman costume 
from his mama and daddy . . .

. . . proving his continued love 

for super heros . . .