Fête Champêtre

Sunday, 28 September, we met at Bridal Veil Falls for a belated birthday party/family dinner in honor of young Meg who turned 4 on 20 September.

Timpanogos showing some seasonal color

Waiting anxiously for rice, stew, and chicken katsu

Happy eaters: Max, Ollie, Lizzie, Anders, Tucker, and Lucy

Clara was happy to be there

Ollie with horns

Ollie took this very nice photo of the south side of the canyon

Meg blew out all 4 candles without a hitch

Tucker wading at the falls with Ollie and Phil

Some of the Hastings at the falls

Clara, Anders, Meg, and Ollie slick up the rice

It was a beautiful afternoon, the food was terrific, and we had a great time. Thanks Phillip and Meagan.

More later.

OXO

D.

"It's the Best School in the Land"

Friday, 19 September, Wasatch School held its annual Fall Festival to raise funds for needs not covered by the district. This year Emily was in charge and did a great job; they raised $16,000, the most ever. Way to go Em!

Because Emily was rather involved, she asked if we would hang out with Lizzie until Jayson arrived from SLC. So we spent the afternoon with Lizzie and others, enjoying all that the Fall Festival had to offer (including some yummy cupcakes).

This was taken about 6:30 when things were raging

Emily taking charge

Lizzy having her face painted

Maxwell broke away from his buddies for a photo

Phillip, Meg, and Ollie were there too

Max waiting for the water to fall at the ball toss

There ya go

Meg and Phil at the bean-bag catapult

Kris with the London ladies: Amy and Jennifer

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Happy Birthday Anna

Wow that year went fast! I hope you are having a wonderful day. I'm glad I have a kindred spirit who awakens at 1:30 to compose incredibly effective political ad campaigns.

I love you.

OXO

D.

Anna's Birthday and More

Friday night we met with our dinner-group friends at the Millers new condo. It is very nice and feels like their previous homes, so we were all very comfortable. They sold the other half of their unit to Sherm and Karen Sowby who retired from Fresno State and have settled in Provo. Our kids will remember them well, but for those who don't know them, we were associated many years ago in the BYU 79th Ward bishopric. Sherm is from Richfield and remembers my Grandma Hansen putting her pennies in the Primary Children's Hospital fund each year on her birthday.

Sunday the family gathered (joined by Rob and Mia Wai) for dinner at our house. It provided an opportunity for an early celebration of Anna's Birthday. Rob made a delicious cake and Anna blew out all the candles. I hope she gets her wish.

Ann, Sherm, Sharon

Kris with Karen Sowby

Allen, the Boyntons, and Sherm (sorry about the eyes, Allen)

Dinner was great

Sunday Evening, I was feeding Meg who then in turn fed Lizzy --
the plates were clean as you can see

Lucy, Madi, and Tucker

Anna et al. with the delicious cake

I hope she gets her wish

Thats all for now.

OXO

D.

Fall Fell

Over the weekend fall fell in several ways. The kids have returned to school, BYU is back in session, and Katy has moved to Alta Apartments for the year. The weather turned cool and the first signs of orange are showing on the mountain. So it all feels quite official: fall has arrived.

Mike and Linda Gibbs brought daughter Chelsea to BYU and they have been staying with us. Debby Gibbs came to town to help Alison get settled in at Utah State and they spent the weekend here as well. On Sunday the family came for dinner and we were joined by the various Gibbs families plus Rob and Mia Wai who have arrived on the mainland for school at BYU.

On Sunday after dinner all the kids went to the park and were caught in a furious downpour. They, quite naturally, thought it was the best thing ever!

Labor Day became Lethargy Day. We finished moving Katy's stuff and did some furniture arranging and picture hanging. Earlier I made a potato salad in anticipation of lunch at the cabin. By late morning, however, it was cold and pouring rain. So I sent the salad to Brickerhaven with Amy and we stayed home. Anna and Emily and their kids came and we spent the afternoon doing absolutely nothing -- complete lethargy. Millie came by and the sun came out (coincidence). At that point things became somewhat more productive as weed pulling was added to sitting in the sun, visiting and vegging.

P712 with Mike and Linda

Bombay House with the TX and NY Gibbs

"If we sit here and look cute, someone will surely take a picture."

Katy, Mia, and Rob

Anna and the Gibbs

The group enjoying blog photos of someone's baby

The rain drove them home from the park . . . thrilled

Lucy cracked us up

Pulling weeds on Lethargy Day

So all in all it has been a pretty fun weekend. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Just Like Louis XV's France

In my history of design class we discuss life in mid-eighteenth-century France and I tell my students that the mad round of pleasure that commenced in the Regence continued during the reign of Louis XV. Well, we have had a mad round of pleasure at our house this weekend -- the fun just never stopped!

On Friday, 15 August, I left early for Salt Lake City to Pick up Anna and the kids. We dropped Anna at the airport for a flight (or two) to Washington D.C. She joined Rob for their own mad round of pleasure in the nation's capital and the kids and I headed south to Provo. The boy's morning was spent swimming at Auntie Em's pool while the girls did crafts. That afternoon I walked with Lucy, Tucker, and Anders to the Bean Museum for a look at some very dead stuffed animals. We were just in time for the reptile show, which was pretty fun. That evening Janet provided Chinese take-away for dinner, which was followed by a walk to the park for some playground fun. Keeping with the Chinese theme, we killed off the evening with the Olympics and Grammy's warm peanut butter cookies and milk.

Saturday morning I made pancakes for breakfast (those kids LOVE pancakes). Lucy went grocery shopping with me and the boys watched Muppets From Space. After lunch we returned to the pool for some Olympic-inspired swimming at Em's. We made crunchy tacos for supper and then the three older kids went to the Demolition Derby in Spanish Fork with Auntie Katy.

Sunday was church followed by Sunday dinner. Todd and Courtney joined us and then, after one more Muppet classic (while Clara napped -- baba night night), we made the trade off, and those fun kids headed back to Taylorsville.

Anna, off to D.C.

Anders, Clara, and Lucy checking in

Tucker and Anders being Michael Phelps

Paying homage to their mom's freshman year
on the way to the museum (their dad's dorm is gone)

Choosing a favorite animal on the museum door

Up close and personal with the python at the reptile show

Chinese take away

Rock climbing at the park

Okay, obviously posed

A spectacularly beautiful evening

Pop Pop making "sockdolagers"

Lucy managed the shopping list and unloaded the cart at Costco

More pool time at Em's

Demolition Derby in Spanish Fork

Lots of good Muppet movies and Olympics watching

It was a great weekend. Thanks for coming and come again soon.

OXO

Grammy and Pop Pop