LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Colt and Maggie were able to come to visit over the Labor Day weekend. I have been so lucky this Fresh Peach Pie season. For those uninformed few, Croshaw's Fresh Peach Pie is the best thing ever. It truly is angels on your tongue. You can only get them a few weeks a year and they are in very limited supply. You have to call Croshaw's at 9:00 AM and pray that you get through and beg to have them reserve you a pie. This year I have been able to get one every single time I called. Labor Day was especially wonderful because we got TWO pies. That was sweet because Maggie snuck extra portions while I was napping.

Not that all we did was eat, but: We made peanut butter & jelly Monte Cristos. We were introduced to this wonderful treat at Disneyland last year. We could hardly wait to eat them again this year. When we arrived we learned that they are no longer on the menu. We were so sad, but resourceful and decided we could make our own. We did that and did it perfectly. Colt also tried deep frying everything that wasn't nailed down in the kitchen too: Twinkies, Oreos, Snickers.

The highlight of the trip may have been Colt's haircut. He had the honor of having the first haircut done at his cousin Sariann's new salon, Sinful Pleasures.

AUGUST BIRTHDAYS

There are a lot of birthdays in August around our house. Since Maggie and Colt were still in town last Sunday we decided to go ahead and celebrate hers (August 22), Mike's (August 15) and mine (August 26). It was a pretty low key celebration. We just grilled up a wonderful dinner and then had cake and presents.

Aaaahh. . .the cake. I ordered the cake. I wrote down what I wanted written on it. CRAP! When I went to get it, my name was spelled wrong. I tried as hard as I could to be a good sport about it. Didn't work. I decided that Mike did not need or deserve a "E" so I stole his.

Margaritaville

Since we needed to take Jonny to Las Vegas for his flight back to Pittsburgh anyway. . . we went to Margaritaville. I had a bit of a relapse and whatever brain cramp hit my head in the Cayman's earlier this year, took control again (This time aided by a couple of Margaritas from the walk up bar) and I went a little crazy in the Smuggler's Hold. Maggie picked up on this quickly and added quite a few new treasures to my pile. It's a good thing Colt didn't get the spirit. He didn't get anything, but Jonny is now the proud owner of a Margaritaville shirt!

After shopping my little heart out, we head upstairs to eat. We order some beverages and appetizers. The guy waiting on us identifies himself as the manager and tells us not to order entrees. He assures us Volcano Nachos, Coconut Shrimp and Conch Fritters will fill us up and not to get anything else. Fooled him. We finished it and our entrees all off!

The "Magic"

We made a pilgrimage to the "Happiest Place on Earth" this month. It was truly one of the best trips ever! We took Maggie's 19 year-old brother, Jonny, with us for his very first trip to Disneyland. It was so much fun to see things again for the first time through his eyes. I even missed my power nap in the Enchanted Tiki Room because he was loving it so.

We drove directly to Knotts Berry Farm when we hit Southern California and ate the best chicken dinner ever. Then we went into Knotts and rode all the crazy coasters there. It was ever so much fun in part because Brad (My adopted nephew/son) and his wife Mandi joined us. After a full day there we headed back to the Disneyland Hotel for a little rest before our Magic Morning in the Magic Kingdom. Bless Jonny's little 19 year-old heart, he didn't even complain about our insistence that we be in line at 6:30 to enter the Main Gates.

The new Toy Story Mania ride in DCA is everything it was hyped up to be. We rode it four times by using the single rider entrance. I never even came close to matching everyone else's score, but I was the most accurate all four tries. Another highlight at DCA was dinner at the Vinyard Room. It was wonderful but we were saddened to learn that it is closing at the end of August.

Jonny caught the spirit of being first in line by the end of the trip though. He and Maggie wiped out a few small children in order to be the first in line for Indy.

After promoting peanut butter and jelly Monte Cristos for a whole year, we were dismayed to learn they are off the menu at the Bleu Bayou. Never fear though. I bought Uncrustables and am going to figure out to make them myself!

It's Officially Ours !!!

Well, it's finally ours! Some of you are aware of the "big search" for a Kolob cabin. It has taken what seems like forever but we closed on the perfect property on Friday. The big hang up, and you know how I love my garages, was a garage and I finally found it.

Sparky was not crazy about the drive up but I gave him some "puppy calm" and he did okay. In fact, he thinks that Kolob birds are far superior to chase than Washington City birds.

The best thing of all is that it came with furnishings and appliances. Niece Sariann put up a bunch of straw flowers and I don't know if I can take that or not. It's a little too cutsy for me, so they may come down when she isn't looking!

I've got to round up some additional bedroom furniture but if you are good with an air mattress give me a call and come on up! Only MY bedroom has a bed right now.

It's a big adventure but I'm pretty excited. I wish we had taken photos of Mike trying to wash the windows with my litte 10' ladder. Now that was a show!

So if you want to escape the summer heat, come on up to my Margaritaville annex on Kolob Mountain. Parrotheads only need apply for admittance!

ST SOMEWHERE

In the immortal words of the poet (Jimmy Buffett), "I gotta fly to St Somewhere." It's pretty warm here in Utah's Dixie so that is not a problem at all!

The Dixie Ladies of Elks were having their annual International Night. It's one of my favorite events of the year. Virginia and I always do a booth and we like to be creative in our locals as well as use a minimum amount of labor in preparing our food. This year we got aced out of doing the food and theme we wanted by Elda! So we punted. We decided to do fruit kabobs and a yogart dip. The suggestion was made that we do "Hawaii." How boring is that?? So I decided we would do St Somewhere!

Niece Sariann made us a great sign and we decorated with all my Margaritaville party stuff. We bought the fruit already cut up and we were on our way.

The fruit was a HUGE hit. We got just the right amount and my niece and her daughter Becca are enjoying the containers of yogart we had left!

July 4th 2008

I love holidays! I love to decorate for them and have people over to celebrate. It is one of my most favorite things. July 4th was great this year. Colt and Maggie arrived Thursday night and got here in time to play with Sparky a bit.


On Friday, Colt and Maggie took Sparky for a long run and after a delightful breakfast on the patio, we went to Kohl's to get Colt something star spangled to wear. We found that and several more things for both Colt and Maggie. I even got a couple of shirts and some jewelry. We had time for a nap before our guests arrived. At least Maggie and I did. Colt mostly tried to defrag my computer.



We had a lot of friends over to swim and have BBQ. It was an All-American menu-hot dogs and hamburgers. Everyone really enjoyed the pool. Even Sparky.

We had a lot of kids and their parents and grandparents enjoying the pool and even had one baby have her first swimming pool experience. Ciera did great and loved it!

A highlight for Colt and Maggie is that their friend Brian took them over to the fireworks in St George and they had VIP seating. They were so close to the fireworks that one of the people in their party was singed by an ember! That is pretty close.
I stayed home with Sparky but he did great and was only afraid of the explosions for a minute.
Saturday we did more shopping. . .even though I told Maggie that I wasn't going to buy her another new wardrobe, I think I did. We went to TJ Maxx and Target and got her some great stuff for work. While at Target, Colt told us a big fat lie! Never believe Colt if he tells you he tried something on; make him show you.
We also got an external drive for my computer so Colt could defrag it.
Sunday was fairly lazy. In a moment of madness I had promised Colt RayBans if he stayed in the pool for an additional 15 minutes. What the %$#* was I thinking? We went to the Sunglass Hut or whatever it is called and went absolutely nuts. I love RayBan Wayfarer's and bought myself four pairs-tortouise shell, white, pink, and a camo thing. Colt got two pairs and we discovered that we got a free pair for every $100 spent. So Maggie got four free pairs and Colt got two. We all left with four new pairs of sunglasses. We will be looking good in Disneyland.
Since we were right there, we popped into Eddie Bauer---Yet another big mistake. Except we all got some really good stuff for our Disneyland trip that was on a super sale.
So I love holidays. I discovered that I don't even have to have extended family around to enjoy them. So thanks to all our friends who make this Independence Day so special!