George - 2 months

 

Uncle Lynn

 My favorite Uncle Lynn is in a care center.  He has ALS and is slowly deteriorating.  From the neck down nothing works, but from the neck up he is smart as a whip, a great rememberer, and continues to be funny and fun.  It was a pleasure visiting with him.  He has sold his home and is in a  new place, but he has brought much of his art and sculptures with him so it feels more like home.  It really looks amazing. 

Lynn is in all of my childhood memories.  It was always Lyle and Sheri and Lynn and Lynette.    He is in every summer holiday and every Christmas and New Years' memory for decades.  We always holidayed at Grandma Butters pool and it was always the Coles and the Poulters in attendance.   Every summer I had a cousin week at Krystin's house and Lynn was a big part of the fun.  

I love and cherish him so much.  

Moving out of his home was big for him and his ALS diagnosis is a difficult one looking ahead.  I'm just glad for the time being he's good.

Lynn has more money now with the sale of his home than he ever had in his whole life.  HE said it's crazy, when he needed money he didn't have it and now he's stuck in a care center he has ALL the money.  Ironic.  BUT he is doing something really great with this $.  HE's giving a lot of it away in small chunks.  Once a week he gets out for 2 hours and he has his helper help him give away $500 in envelopes to harried moms in Walmart.  OR he's paid off some of his caregivers debts.  HE is feeling like Santa Claus and loving it.  

He's such an inspiration.

Poppy turns 4!

Poppy had a Cinderella party!  She had her cousin Millie and a friend Tillie come.  (Cousin Lady was supposed to be there, but she was too sick.  )  Poppy is ALL things Cinderella.  She watches the Brandi- Whitney Houston Cinderella day after day. She has it memorized and will sing the song, "Impossible" at the drop of a hat with her cute little lisp.  Poppy is a doll.  She loves to dress up and get her hair done and lives in her make-believe princess world.   I showed up as the Fairy Godmother-- and bippity- boppity-booed my way through the party.  (She was probably disappointed that I didn't look like Whitney Houston...oh well.). I taught them a dance and we curtzied a lot.  Then we had glass slippers for all the girls to put on..  Addison was the Prince.  We changed a pumpkin into a carriage and Addison took all. of the girls on a carriage ride around teh church parking lot.  Bre  painted their nails, they had treats and Poppy's favorite soup and then watched the show.   It was perfect for Poppy.

 

Halloween at our House

Halloween party at our home..and it was a blast.  We had costumes from Hocus Pocus, Scooby Do, Edward Scissorhands, and Jurassic Park... we also had a cowboy, Cinderella, Star-Lord and a Mad Scientist.    I really appreciate how willing my family is to jump in and be creative and silly with me.   Addison and Bre brought their camera set up for some awesome pics.   We have a riot posing and playing around with the photos.  We had a spooky feast with chicken tortilla soup and all the fixings, mummy rolls, a charcuterie board, deviled eggs, shrimp with blood sauce,  and cupcakes. We played some games: charades, do your best death scene- which even Elsie jumped in and rolled on the floor in a dramatic fashion, say in your best spooky voice something that scares you…. (some examples:   Truman said,” commitment”, and Landon said “Retaining walls,” and Wayne said, “Meema’s games.”)   and then ALL of the Sanderson sisters ( Me, Sophia, Tayla, Elsie, Lady) and Cinderella   performed "I Put a Spell on You."  From Hocus Pocus.   Then we put on the Hocus Pocus movie to watch. 

Fringe Cowboy... Truman

   

George as a Dinosaur..and getting some of his first smiles.  He's 2 months old.

Add as Jeff Goldblum and Bre as the girl in Jurassic park with a baby Dinosaur - George.

A Mad Scientist - Andrew, Landon as Fred and Alex as Shaggy from Scooby Do and Sophia as Sara Sanderson...Hocus Pocus.

MOre HOcus Pocus.... I'm Winnifred Sanderson and Wayne is Binks..the Cat.  

Wayne is always so funny and a good sport on Halloween....  I love him for that...and so much more.

HOCUS POCUS:  Lexi as a Little Leaguer, the Sanderson Sisters, and Monson as the Black candle.

Lady is Sara, Tayla is Winifred, and Elsie is Mary Sanderson

Poppy is ALWAYS Cinderella and she even sings "Impossible" at the drop of a hat!

Laila and Marcus in Edward Scissorhand motif.

Alfie as Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy with a working Cassette tape that played 80's songs.

Laila's Engaged

 Our Laila is engaged to Markus Allred.  We are thrilled for her.  

They were on vacay in Orlando, and Markus surprised her.  Good thing her nails were done.  They had been talking marriage so it was hard for Markus to surprise her, but he did.  ( Markus talked to Wayne and I about this last May).  He asked some stranger to take their picture, then he went over to check it and make sure it was good and whispered to them, to keep rolling, because he was going to ask her to marry him...so that's how we got pics and video.  

Laila and Markus are planning a September 2022 wedding.

Markus was a SBO with Laila at Bountiful High.  They were pretty inseparable their Junior year.  Senior year, they had a fight.  Markus wanted to be exclusive and basically, Laila still wanted to make out with all the boys...so they were off.  Then as soon as they graduated in 2020, they were thick as thieves again. 

 Markus joined the Marines to get outta town and away from family issues.  He has just finished his first year and has 3 more that he's committed to.  He's stationed in Oceanside, CA at Camp Pendleton.  Being a marine is hard and a lot of times makes no sense.  Markus is smart.  He already had scholarships to the top schools in Utah but joined the Marines anyway, and now they will pay for his school.  He wants to be an engineer...and is being trained as a water purification expert, so maybe at this point,  he will go into that. We love having Markus around. He comes from a dysfunctional, divorced family so there are many issues around that.  -- but they will figure it all out in their own time. 

New England 2021

 Our New England trip with Tim and Linda Wangsgaard was wonderful.  We flew into Boston, did a major road trip up to Maine and back.  We slept in 5 different hotels in 7 days.  So many leaves.  So much good food.

Day 0: We flew into Boston and got into our hotel around 11 pm.

Day 1:  Boston highlights 

Following the Freedom Trail bricks. 

USS Constitution.  

Lobster roll at Pauli’s. 

Cemetery headstones. 

Paul Revere’s chapel. 

Mike’s pastry— Holy Canolli!

Met a Monk “go Utes”

Saw the Garden and Fenway Park 

Got a "Wicked Smaaht" shirt. 

Day 2. Driving up New Hampshire. 

Portsmouth New Hampshire for clam chowder, and lobster.  

Ate at Old Ferry Landing.  

Leaves. Churches. Cemeteries. Antique shops. 

Hiked Georgiana Falls. Found multicolor mushrooms. 

Day 3. Stowe Vermont.  

6 hour drive. 

4 Covered bridges: Red Bridge, Gold Brooke, Mt. Orne, Sunday River.  

Pond walk and drone movie

French dip and steak sandwiches in Lancaster, New Hampshire

Dunkin Donuts- pumpkin 

Day 4

Bar Harbor.  

Graffiti Donut for breakfast. 

Walk the bar at low tide -collected rocks and seashells. Hiked Bar island. 

Made dance tik tok at the park. And Wayne played the piano at the park. 

Hiked Acadia National park: Sand Beach. Ran in the water.  

Thunder Hole. 

Ate lobster Mac and cheese. - Route 66 restaurant. 

.99 cent ice cream scoops. 

Caught falling leaves for good luck. 

Sunset at Hadley’s point. 

Games in Acadia Pines hotel. 

Day 5.  Drive coastal highway down Maine

Ice cream while we wandered Belfast, Maine mainstreet. 

Dance to “let’s get it started “

Frolicked in leaves. 

Boothbay for lunch- lobster roll and clam chowder at Shannon’s Unshelled and Finally landed in Portland Maine for hotel on the beach. 

Churches

Amazing leaves 

And harbors all the way down the coast. 

Beach walk and sunset. 

Food at Duffy’s with stuffed Haddock and Steak salads. 

Thursday. Day 6 

Sunrise on the beach. 

Holy Donuts.

Walk in the woods to catch falling leaves. 

Salem and cemeteries and witches. 

Dance at Salem town hall in honor of Hocus Pocus. 

Food at lobster Shanty. 

Back to Boston for Bova bakery and PB bars. 

Hotel by the beach and airport.  

Walked the beach front at sunset. 

Ate paninis and fig and arugula pizza on the street from Pomanos  

Day 7. Flying home