A Star in the Making

Preston had his recital last night and played Ordinary People. He did a great job! He's so talented and has improved so much in such a short time. He's been taking lessons for 2 years and I love listening to him practice.

Art Show

Salt Lake County sponsors an art show in conjunction with the National Arts Foundation each year for employees and their families. This is the fourth year for the program. Preston entered 2 art pieces this year. One of his pieces, "Robot in Technicolor" was done by carving out on image on a block of wood and applying paint, then "stamping" it on the paper. He would then carve out a little bit more, apply a different color of paint and so on. It is a cool technique. Well, Preston won 3rd Place in the Teen division for this piece. Oh, what a proud mama moment! Great Job, Preston!

Homecoming King

This is a little "after the fact", but Matt was nominated for homecoming royalty at Taylorsville High School. Fun huh? Well, he had to decorate a cake as part of the contest. He had a distinct idea of what he wanted and did all the work with some coaching from mom and Jen. My friend, Connie made all the fondant and butter cream icing for us. Believe me, it would not have turned out the same way if I had done the Fondant. I have such respect for bakers everywhere! They make it look sooooo easy on Food Network Challenge!

Anyway, Matt made an awesome banana split cake and he played drums for his talent and did a great job. He won Homecoming King and we were so excited! Who'd thunk!!








The Finished Product!

The World According to Sydney

So I had the pleasure of having my granddaughter, Sydney for the afternoon. What a hoot she is! We had so much fun today and I thought I would share some of her wisdom with you.

We went to Costco, one of her favorite places. We were looking at dresses.
"Grandma, I already have a dress that color."
"Grandma, I don't need pajamas, I already have some."
" Are we done yet, can I get a smoothie?"

We get in the car and Matt and Preston have an ice cream bar.
Sydney: "Preston, you can't have too much sugar because it's not good for your tummy."
Preston: "Ok Sydney, this is the first I've had today"
Sydney: "That's all you can have for a WEEK!"

Preston was eating his ice cream in the car...

Sydney: "Preston, you shouldn't eat in the car."
Preston: "I'll be really careful." (With his mouth full)
Sydney: "Preston, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full. We have to have good manners even in the car."

What fun! We then went home and made Christmas crafts and played with playdoh, took Charlie for a walk and watched the Wiggles. I am going to have to write down more of what she says because she just cracks me up. Oh how I love that little girl.

Where's Fall?

So Fall is one of my favorite seasons and we didn't even really get it! Every morning I have had to scrap my windshield and I hate it. First of all I can't reach the center because my car is too big and it is so cold. Oh well, I have felt for a while that the seasons seem to be shifting a bit, so I might as well get used to it.

We just tore out our master bathroom, so my house (well part of it) is a construction mess again. We had a leak in the shower for a while, so when it started leaking into the basement and into Jen's room we decided we would fix it. We have to replace the sub-floor also, so why not tear the whole thing out!!!! So bye bye pink tub. Bye bye pink sink and counter tops. Hello new! It will take us a while to fix it all up, but oh well. We needed a project right? :)

Jen closes on her townhouse on Friday and we are so excited for her. It is off 7800 South on the west side of airport 2. It is a great place, but unfortunately, she has no furniture. She has been re-upholstering a chair, but that's all she has. So if any of you have extra stuff, call Jen, she might be able to take it off your hands.
She is also looking for roommates, so if you know any single young ladies, call her.

I am working on a few projects, so when I get some of them made I will post some pictures. Also the pictures of the awesome cake Matt made for Homecoming King. He won and had a great time. It was so fun and he did a great job on his cake and his talent, playing drums of course. Preston has 2 art pieces in the county art show is you want to check it out. It is in the north building in the Salt Lake County buildings, 2001 S. State St., October 5 thru November 6, they usually have some great artwork. This competition was open to SL County employees and their families. Spencer won second place a few years ago for a photograph he took. It's pretty cool, so check it out.

Random Stuff

Hello all! So I haven't posted in a while and I sit and read Allyson's blog and realize that my life is soooo boring compared to hers with small children! Never a dull moment at her house. I love it. So Allyson, thanks for your wit and wisdom and your adorable kids.

Next, I was sitting with Jennifer, Jake, Marissa and my visiting teachers, I know that's a lot of people. Anyway, Jennifer came up stairs and shared with us some crazy names people name their babies. What are they thinking? That poor child has to grow up being called that their whole life. So hear goes, maybe you will laugh as hard as we did.

Twins: River and Whimsy; Javan; Ksenia; Tayzon; and Justus.
Now Marissa grew up with Candy and Cotton Bowles, and I babysat Court and Misty Fountain.

But the best one was a baby at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Mark was working there as a nurse and the mother saw a word on her medical chart and thought it was a pretty name so she called her baby "gonorrhea". But it was pronounced "ga nor ia" Awful huh! We laughed and laughed. True story! We hope she goes by "Nora"!

So be nice to your kids and don't name them weird names.

I have finally put my maiden name on facebook and wow everyone has been looking for me. Who'd thunk? It has been fun to find out what people are up to now and how our lives have turned out. If I can scrounge up some pictures, I'll post them. Until then, let's just say I was a whole lot thinner back then. Oh well. What are ya gonna do? Life is good and I am happy with my life now.

Favorite Video...this week!

So Jennifer told me about this video a few weeks ago and I have been listening to it every morning while I do the morning deposit at work. It's "Love Story meets Viva la Vida" by Jon Schmidt. After the video I switch to his web site and listen to his playlist. I love it! So Preston, get busy learning some more Jon Schmidt songs! I brought some sheet music home for him to look at and it will be a while until he learns it...it is 11 pages long, and uses his whole body to play it. Oh well, I'll wait.

*Note* You'll have to pause my music to watch the video.*