January and February 2018

The grandkid photos were finally completed and hung in January and we received our only real snow storm of the year. The heated driveway worked a curse on the weather this year. We postponed our departure for the southwest until Phillip returned home from Hawaii and we spent an afternoon in Salt Lake City before picking him up.

We found all well in Arizona and had a productive week with Grandmother helping her make decisions about carpet and tile which will be installed soon. We had a mostly delightful day out with a drive up into the mountains to Miami and Globe. We had been there years ago and still had memories of a Mexican lunch with Grandad at La Paloma in Miami. That restaurant is closed now, but the one next door is a winner. We traveled home by way of the Roosevelt Dam and the unpaved road down to Tortilla Flats must have shaken a kidney stone loose, because by the time we got back, I was in horrible pain. We spent the evening in the emergency room at Banner Baywood Hospital, and by the time we were to fly to Texas, nothing had improved. So we canceled our Texas trip, packed up, and Kris drove us home.

 This year's photos

 The heater works

 This is the only significant snow this winter

 A fun matinee at the Hale Center Theater

 An afternoon tour of my old SLC neighborhood

 Connor took Gradmother to see Hamilton

 

 And we went to Peoria to see the Youngs on the 

opening night of the Winter Olympics

 Iron Canyon on Highway 60 to Miami

 Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, 1917, in Miami

 The red building left of center was La Paloma -- we ate at

Guayo's  El Rey

 The chili verde was excellent and the frijoles were perfect

 Remnants of Miami's mining past

 Miami

 Roosevelt Dam was rebuilt since I last saw it -- it was originally

the largest stone dam in the country

 The Salt River below the dam forms Apache Lake

 An evening in the hospital with a kidney stone

 Headed back into Utah

A really delicious Valentine's supper in Kanab

I have been to a urologist and am controlling the pain waiting for the stone to pass. It was a bummer to cancel our Texas trip, but the ticket is still good for a year, so we will visit later.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Greek Dinner and New Years 2018

The week between Christmas and New Years was filled with Harry Potter, museum visits, food, games, and movies. The Greek Dinner was moved up a couple of days so the Hastings could be there. New Years Eve, Katy put together Name That Tune, and Meagan organized A Minute to Win It. Everyone managed to stay up until midnight and the new year. On New Years day the Hastings headed back to Santa Fe and a couple of days later the Youngs drove south to Arizona. Meagan and the kids flew back to Hawaii, and Phillip moved back in with us. Thanks to Maren for some of these photos.

 The whole gang at Rimmel's having a German nosh

 Cousin time

 Harry Potter at the South Town Mall

 The Colver women at Olivander's

 Waiting for their turn in Olivanders

 Lunch at the mall: everyone can have exactly

what they want

 Evelyn turning the crank to fill Lake Bonneville

at the Utah Museum of Natural History

 The girlies with Uncle Tony's stuff on display

 Grammy and Anders at the BYU MOA Escher exhibit

 The beloved Greek Dinner

 Holdie, Scout, Harry, Finn, Clara, Beck, and Sasha

 Anders, Max, Lizzie, Tucker, Lucy, Erick, and Madi

 So good!

 Meg, Emily, Jayson, Rob, Anna, Ollie, Camille, and Anika

 Gavin, Krisy, Dickie, Daniel, Katy, and Evy

 Millie, Colton, Tiffany, Steve, Opa, Annie, Meagan, and Phillip

 Tout ensemble

 Finn and Evy in the lights at the dance party

 Clara and Anders go toe to toe in Name That Tune

 The boys after the hilarious Minute-to-Win-It banana race

 Good-bye Hastings

 Katy and Holdie running with the cousins

 Trip to IKEA for lunch and LED light bulbs

 Some kind of fun

 The Youngs, Arizona-bound

Emily, Scout, and Mabel keep the tradition alive

It's pretty calm around here, with nothing exciting on the horizon, so this is all for now.

OXO

D.

Family Photo Shoot

With everyone here, we decided we needed to take a family photo. We gathered at Kiwanis Park and Millie helped us with the camera.

 Checking exposure: scouting a good spot

Ouch! Too bright

 A shady spot

 The whole crew, December 2017

 With the grandkids

 I know, right?

 With the kids and spouses

They were very fun tonight

 Seriously!

 Silly Millie

 Meags appears to be feeling better

 Booties, er...beauties

 This is the story of Pippy's life

Yup

Now that was a bit of fun. There is more, but that's all for now.

OXO

D.