Lost in SLC

Yesterday I had a little time to check out the new City Creek Mall.  Wow, what a place.  It is really beautiful.  A really nice place to walk when you have a break from work.  It is amazing.  Here are some photos from my Blackberry.  So they are probably not the best, but it was all I had.

Lots of musical groups can be heard and seen.

The creek runs through much of the mall with pretty fountains throughout.

This pic looks a little fuzzy because I was looking out from the bridge that crosses over Main Street.  There was a glass so it made the picture unclear.

 

It reminds me a little of Europe with all the outdoor eating establishments.

In the background you can see the bridge that I stood at and took a picture looking down on Main Street.  The Mall covers 3 blocks!

The Mall is on the left.  You would never guess from outside what is behind the tall facade!

Here is the Macy's entrance

On the right is Jamie's "store" H&M.  These are widely seen in Europe, Germany and Poland especially.

So here is another outside view.  Beautiful inside and you all need to take a walk through and enjoy the open-air mall with its retractable glass roof. 

I love you too, Logan!

"Girl" Stuff and Boy "Stuff"

Well, it has been a really busy weekend. But fun! You can view the little clip of Brecklyn's fun weekend! Jamie, Brecklyn and I went to Bountiful for Brecklyn's dance competition. This was her FIRST time doing a solo, rather than a group dance only. I would say she did REALLY well. She won first place in her division and won a big trophy and a pretty tiara.

Girls just wanna have FUN!  Here they are waiting onstage for the awards!

Almost as big as she is!

And now she gets some goodies for all her work!

Now for the "Boy" stuff!

Yes, Tyson's tournament was when Brecklyn's solo was happening.  Or at least they were on the way home, more accurately.  They played in Hurricane and in Mesquite.  I think this was in Mesquite.  Proud of you Tyson!
A few more shots.  The photos from the "boys" were really sparse in number.  Isn't it typical?

And although no trophys or awards happened here, they gave it their best shot and we are always working on improving.  That is a part of life's ups and downs.  If we didn't have some "downs"  the "ups" would be no big deal.

Then on Saturday it was back to Bountiful for the continuation of the dance competition.

Here they come!

After all is said and done, we have a tired young lady.

There's always happy faces at lunchtime!

Smile for the camera, or not...

Grandpa's Boys

Got all I need right here.  My chocolate ice cream, bubble water, legos, caramel sauce and a cookie!

Computers, games, and a big brother that can do just about anything!

A muscle shirt and a tattoo.  Life is good for this 5 year old!

HEY! WHAT'S THAT SMELL????

Or the Case of the odiferous stairwell.
Well, in the last while, quite a while, actually, when Spencer goes down to watch TV in the family room in the evenings, he comes up the stairs and complains about "THE SMELL".  "What ya been cookin' up here???, Smell's bad." 

Well, I wasn't even cooking, good or bad sometimes.  We figured maybe we had a dead mouse between the walls.  We've had one before.  Spence checked under beds, couches, furniture, everywhere and there was nothing, absolutely nothing. 

Last night it snowed quite a bit.  When we woke up there was a lot of snow on the driveway.  Time to finally - for the first time, break out the snow blower.  So I went to work and Spencer prepared to get busy on the snowy walks.  He bundled up and went to get his boots.  He always leaves them on the stairs...I guess you know where this story is going...don't you?

He pulls on his boots and there is a lump in one.  He figures he left a sock in there the last time he wore the boot and dumps it out.  Yes, you are right...there is it, a dead and stinky mouse.  REAL STINKY!

Tourney Time!

This week was Tyson's very first Super League baseball tournament.  It was a tough weekend, with 2 doubleheaders, Friday and Saturday.  St. George was a bit cool, especially when you are sitting and observing.  I would imagine, that being an active participate would keep you much warmer!  But the sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue.  We arrived on Thursday and the hotel was in a busy part of town.  But we were lucky to get a room, there was a baseball tournament, Soccer tournament and a dance competition there and it was a full-house everywhere.  Jamie, Brecklyn, Ty and myself went down and stayed.  The traffic outside the hotel was very loud and then the garbage man came and emptied the big dumpsters at 5:00 am.  Boy, what a racket.  But that isn't what I wanted to write about, anyway!
I would have liked to have stayed longer, but the weather outlook wasn't so good, and as it turned out, Tyson didn't feel too well on the way home.  So it turned out for the best.

Here are my two oldest grandkids.  Notice the fancy pink mitt?  Brecklyn had to have it, and guess who gave in?  You got it, gramma!

A little warm-up game of catch at the favorite park of the grandkids in St. George.

Brecklyn enjoys the park and all there is to offer.

Here are Ty and mom getting his uniform all in order. 

All decked out.  Our favorite b-ball player.  The Lone-peak Knights are ready!

Casey at bat.

The first game ends.  Not a happy ending for the Knights.  But it was their very first game ever as a team.  Things aren't always a happy ending.

Night game in the desert, the cold desert!  People were smart and brought outdoor propane heaters.  My next request...I want one.  It was cooooold !  This was a better game but they still lost. 

Trying his best.  What he needed was dad or grandpa for some personal coaching, but we girls were not the coaches he wanted.  But ...we were still proud of our athlete.

Mom passing out after-game goodies. 
And because it was Ty's birthday weekend, he got to choose the place for his after-game dinner.

And the winner is:  Texas Roadhouse.  And because it's his birthday and you know Texas Roadhouse birthday .... fun:

Ride 'em cowboy!  Ty was a little embarrassed, after all, he is 11 now!  Can't be seen doing dumb stuff anymore!

And our little cowkids head home.  The cowpokes were a bit tired...

And although baseball wasn't such a big hit...because they didn't win any games, although Tyson made a great catch in left field.  He had a huge grin and it was just what he needed to feel happy about the outcomes.  It was their first tournament, the other teams were much bigger and more experienced, and so now we know what to expect.  But although life isn't perfect, there is always room for growth, and with hard work and a little faith, all things can work out for our good.  Good luck in March to our little man!

Tyson

The Color Guard getting ready to post colors and say the pledge.
This was Tyson's last Blue and Gold banquet for Cub Scouts.  He is now of age to become a "Boy Scout".  This was a big night for him.

Here he is with a cute smile waiting for the program to start!

Tyson just received a literal "TON" of awards which he is holding.  They are pins of all kinds which go on the right shoulder and he already has a Ton ...that shirt must be very heavy to wear! Ha Ha!  Our neighbor Dave is handing out the awards and our other neighbor, Steve, is close by, right behind Tyson.  The bags hanging behind them are their cars for the Pinewood Derby.  Tyson is no longer a cub scout but during his 3 years, they never had an opportunity to do Pinewood.  That was not good, so he will be doing it next month, anyway.  His mom made sure of that.  Good for you, Jay!

Here we are examining the goods!  A happy Ty observes.

Now it's time for the big award.  Tyson and a fellow cub scout are receiving the highest award in cub scouting.  It's the Arrow of Light.  Parents are invited to join him as the proceedings commence.  Grayson wasn't too happy at the moment and I guess the Indian was a bit scary to him.

Here they get their golden arrow and their patch for their uniforms.

Posing for the camera!  We are proud of you Ty and all the things you have accomplished as a Cub Scout.  All the way to Eagle!

Babysitting the Grands! Or a REAL ADVENTURE IN BABYSITTING!

This week was Valentine's Day.  It was an unusual one because of "not"doing something "romantic",but rather, we did something more "familial".  I don't know how else to put it...Anyways, Jake and Jamie had a fun evening planned and one without kids, the "romantic" kind I guess you can say.  They were going to dinner and a concert in Salt Lake City.  They didn't feel quite comfortable leaving Tyson in charge for that long, etc.  so gramma and grampa were requested to help.  We did manage a dinner for 2 just prior to our babysitter duties.  And it was nice.  The restaurants we wanted to go to had people standing out front, waiting, something we did not really have time or patience to do.  So we went to our old stand-by, Porter's in Lehi.  It was fun and then we became the "babysitters".

The picture is of Grayson, who was attached to grandpa this evening and wanted to be held by him.  It is always interesting.  Anyways, the boys and Brecklyn, too, got new Lego sets from us for Valentine's Day and so Grandpa and Tyson were working on projects.  Logan's project was already finished earlier in the day and so he brought out his big bucket of misc. Lego pieces to join the big guys at the table.  However, the big guys didn't want to get their project pieces mixed with the misc. pieces, so told Logan to go into the livingroom and build with Brian.  Logan  smiled and said, "OK, because Brian is the Lego scientist!"  We all had to laugh because basically he was right on target.  It was cute.  Logan is always cute, and says the funniest things and always at the right times.  He is a lot of fun.  I hope he always has that cute personality.  It is the best.

A little Lego action!

It was a fun night and they were all fun and enjoyable to be around.

Grandpa Bryan has a BDAY! The Big 6-0

Yes, grandpa Bryan had a bday...  Here are some pics of the dinner and fun party.

Happy balloon boy!

The gangs all here!

Happy Birthday to YOU! 60 candles!  Remember the song 16 candles?  Well there's just a few more going on here....

This tiny Hofheins can not possibly be Jamie's child?  There is no resemblance whatsoever...are you adopted?  No, just look at grandpa Bryan's baby pictures and you know where this one came from!

Bryan is excited to try out his new golf balls!  They are most unique and slightly used...

See that cake on the right with the raspberries?  It is a crepe-pudding cake.  It was amazing.  Gotta find a recipe.  Arden?  How do you make this???  Gotta have it!