The Golden Birthday Boys

Apparently when your age and your date of birth coincide, it's called a "golden birthday".  Well that's what happened to my sons this past week.

They turned 25 on the 25th.

Wow!!  Time flies.  And I'm feeling old. 

Not wanting to be out-done by all the young blogging moms out there who love to update us on their child's progress at each birthday (or each month, in some cases), I have decided to compose a list of my own.    ;)

Sons 1A and 1B

  1)  They love to sing and they're pretty good at it.  Individually they sing well, but when they sing together it really makes me smile.  It's like they can read each other's minds when it comes to who will take the harmony at a certain point, and who will carry on with the melody.

  2)  They are very academic and love to continue learning new things.  Having said that, I think they are both pretty happy to be done university.

  3)  They enjoy having friends over, especially when it involves some kind of themed activity.

  4)  They have a great respect for people who are dependable.  Showing up on time, working diligently, and following through with an assignment are things that they rate very highly.

  5)  They attend church each Sunday, and take pleasure in their church responsibilities.  Except when it involves working with someone who is not dependable.  (See #4)

  6)  They enjoy cooking.  Whether it's a potluck family gathering or a church social, they can always be counted on to bring some new creation.  And most of the time it's pretty good.

  7)  They enjoy the performing arts and do well at.  It doesn't matter whether it's acting, directing, writing, pulling curtains, or moving scenery.  They love it all.

  8)  They are hard workers.  Whether it's at home, at work or at church, they know how to buckle down and get the job done.

  9)  They are cheapskates fiscally responsible.  Although this is a family trait, they would probably be declared the winners, hands down.

10)  They enjoy long walks on the beach.  (Not really, but with the exception of #9, I realized this was starting to sound like an add for eharmony.com)

There.  Now I feel like all the other blogging moms.

Oh, I guess I should add pictures.

That's right.  If you count the candles you soon realize that I don't 

even have a current picture of them.  I'm a good mom like that.

Their first Halloween back after their missions.

A very flattering picture of them dressed up 

for one of our Holiday Murder Mysteries.

Another flattering pose.

I love these boys.  

Dixie

Road Trip -- Part Two

With Daughter #3 and her new husband heading off to BYU to attend university, they decided they could use our help moving their belongings to Utah.  The Mr. and I thought it would make a fun little vacation, seeing as how we had nothing else planned for the summer.

A call ahead to speak with a customs agent at the U.S. border indicated to us that we would need to cross the border at the same time as the newlyweds, since we were bringing their stuff in our vehicle.  I expected that would mean that it might take more time than usual to clear customs, but the only question they asked us was whether or not we were bringing any weapons into the United States.  I hadn't specifically asked Daughter #3 about that, but I was pretty confident that they weren't packing anything dangerous.

Our first stop after the border pretty much set the tone for the rest of our trip:  eating!  The all-you-can-eat buffet in Great Falls, Montana pretty much just got us limbered up for the next week!

Along with eating, we did manage to do a few other things:

1)  Visited with my sister and her family.

(I was experimenting with my new camera, telling her to just keep talking because I wasn't really taking her picture -- I was just practicing.  It turns out I never got any real pictures of her after my experimenting.)

Tyler and Amber and their cute family

(Apologies to the rest of the family.  You got away before I remembered I had a camera with me!)

2)  Helped unload the newlyweds belongings, taking a grand total of 25 minutes.  (Oh, if only all the moves I've been involved with were so easy!!)

Arriving at the "Married Student Housing" complex.  (Pretty exciting to start a new chapter in life!)

Outside their new home.

3)  Took a trip to Salt Lake City.

4.  Visited Thanksgiving point.

 Pretty cool name!

The gardens were beautiful!

5)  Toured the Pioneer Village in Provo.

Look where The Mr. is pointing.  The original BMW??

This man insisted that we shouldn't smile for the picture to keep it authentic to the era.  I apparently didn't take him seriously.

6)  Stopped in at the BYU Creamery (cause we hadn't been eating enough already).

In keeping with the theme of my previous post, check out the fifth flavor.

7)  Travelled to Park City.

Stopped along the way at Bridal Veil Falls.

Rode the ski lift to the top of a mountain....

....so we could do a little hiking.

Just about chickened out, but I rode the Alpine Coaster AND the Alpine Slide for Karen and Amber -- and screamed all the way down!  

(Obviously these pictures aren't of me.  I had to steal them from the internet.)

8)  Visited with friends.

 Meeting the parents of one of the missionary girls staying in our home.  It turned out that they are just as cool as she is!

Our dear friends who just moved back home to Utah after a three-year stint as Mission President of the Canada Edmonton Mission.

9)  Attended a wedding on the way home.

Logan and Amy outside the Calgary Temple.

10)  Returned Home.  Be it ever so humble, there's no place like it!

Dixie 

Road Trip

Eighteen hours to the south of my home lies an area of the world that never ceases to amaze me.   Here you will find an extremely unique subculture - a subculture with which I'm not sure how I feel.   Part of me wants to smile, because it's part of my personal life.   But the other part of me wants to cringe because it's so blatant!  

But, for better of for worse, that's where The Mr. and I spent a little time for our summer vacation.   In honor of this trip, I have decided to rename my post:

You Know You're in Utah When...

The billboards look like this:

The scenery looks like this:

The capital city has lots of people like these:

There are some of these on every corner:

And some of these in every restaurant:

The stores have names like this:

And even Walmart sells things like this:

An interesting place, no?

Dixie

1. slack·er

   ˈslakər/

   noun

   informal

1.

a person who avoids work or effort.

synonyms:

idler, shirker, malingerer, sluggard, laggard;

Okay, I'll admit it -- I've been a slacker when it comes to the blogging department!  And truthfully, I'm pretty disappointed with myself.  

But I'm pretty sure I can find a good excuse somewhere.  Please choose from the following list:

1. Blame it on Daughter #3.  I like the idea of blogging in chronological order so that things will be historically accurate.  This, of course, means that I should have already written a post about Daughter #3's wedding, as it happened almost two months ago!!  But since she just barely gave me access to their wedding pictures, I couldn't have possibly blogged any sooner, right?  
2. Much too busy.  I've had so much going on this summer, that I haven't had time to blog.  You know, things like doing crossword puzzles, window shopping, snacking, taking naps, reading.  It's exhausting, really.
3. No camera.  My nephew once said that he doesn't like to read blogs that aren't accompanied by pictures, so I figured I shouldn't write anything until I got a new camera.

Well, now that I have a few wedding pictures, have a new camera, and my busy summer has come to an end, I guess I need to stop procrastinating and become a better blogger.

Starting tomorrow.

Dixie