Sunday, March 21, 2010

80s Flashback - Happy Birthday Shannon!

For Shannon's birthday Doug threw her a huge 80s birthday bash!  Shannon, Delayne, and I have been practicing for the lip sync show.  It was so fun!!  We dressed up like Bananarama and did a dance to Venus.  It was the best, I have to say!  Doug looked so good.  He even wore a wig.  Shannon's friends were all great sports and dressed up.  Oh how funny we used to dress!!  Doug cooked for everyone, so it was delicious.  Delayne made these little cupcakes with strawberries on top.  It was soo good.  Thanks for turning 40 Shannon and giving us a great reason to party!!




A Visit to Nana's


Last week we went to visit my Nana.  I wish that we lived closer so that we could visit her all of the time.  Uncle Dick had LOTS of fun activities planned for Maddie starting with a riding lesson.
Maddie rode Western style in San Pedro.  Her horse was 30 years old, but she had lost of fun with her.  I really liked her teacher.  It was 80 degrees, I think. They had lost of other animals too, so we had great fun looking around at all of the creatures.  The next day we went to the Japanese Garden at UCLA.  This is a special place to go.  You need to get reservations and they only allow two cars worth of people inside at a time.  We were lucky and were the only ones in during our time.  Maddie thought the garden was just magical and had a whole fairy tale figured out while we were there.  We made wishes and took lots of pictures.  It was easy to forget that we were in the city.














That afternoon we went to the neighborhood park.  Maddie's favorite thing to do there is to ride up in the rocket.  It was very hot, so we didn't last long.  





We also went to the Queen Mary.  It's an old cruise ship.  It was the place to be for its time.  Maddie really liked to see the children's playroom on board.  They had it all set up as it would have been in its hay day.  It's also a hotel and restaurant now.  We didn't look around at all that, but enjoyed the ocean views and the bit of history.






We ate dinner at a nearby pizza place and finished off our day with a trip to the chocolate factory.

For St. Patrick's Day, Maddie made sure that we were all wearing green.  She threatened to pinch anyone who didn't comply!  We hung out with Nana while the men golfed.  We made some cupcakes with green frosting.  I think it had been a while since Uncle Marty had had homemade cupcakes.  They were a big hit!


























For our final night in Torrance, Uncle Dick took me and Maddie to see Backwards in High Heels.  It was just fantastic.  It's about the life of Ginger Rogers.  The Gershwin music was great and the singers fantastic.  I had no idea she had married so many times!  Maddie tapped all of the way home!!

We had a lovely vacation.  We sure missed our boys, though, and were glad to get home.

Aimee's New Place


My sister got a new place. It's very nice and comfy for them. It even has a little yard! I went to check it out and let the kids play for a bit. I really like how she decorated it. Wyatt seemed very happy to have some visitors. He and John still don't really play together, but when they get a little older I think they will have a blast!

Gateway Science Museum

I took the kids to see the new Gateway Museum at Chico State. We brought our buddy Eliza along too. I thought the museum was pretty neat and the kids had a great time. They were entertained for about an hour. It was a nice way to spend a rainy afternoon. They had lots of hands on activities and gigantic insect displays.

Lemon Meringue

Maddie and I have been experimenting with meringue. This is our first lemon meringue pie. It wasn't good. We tried meringue cookies. Those weren't good either. We're going to keep trying with the pie, though. Lemon meringue is one of my favorites. When it's done right...

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Gerald Joseph Pollinger, Sr. "Jerry"

Uncle Jerry died. He was 71 years old. He was working out in the yard and had a massive heart attack. We all gathered at the Williams Cemetery on Monday to remember him. My brother drove up from SF and met us there. Jerry was buried in his favorite red coat and green trucker hat. He also had his jean laundry bag with him. He was always very nice to me. He'd share anything he had with anyone. He was a talker!! He knew how to drive to anywhere from anywhere. He had a great beard. I'll miss seeing him around. May God bless you and keep you Jerry.

Courtney & Hunter Allen






















Courtney Smith married Hunter Allen on February 27, 2010 in Lindon, Utah. It was a beautiful wedding and we were so happy to have a reason to run out to Utah for the weekend. The kids loved waking up to snow and worked together to make awesome snowmen. We got to visit with friends and family Thursday evening and then I went with Teresa and Kylee to Courtney's shower. Friday we went up to Sandy to visit our good buddies. Spencer, Mac, Ryan, and a whole bunch of Whiteheads and Hills attacked Matt with Nerf guns. They had a great time planning it all out and then implementing their plans. Matt handled it well. While all of this was going on Laura and I took off and went to Quilt, Etc., and my favorite Deseret Book. We had so much fun visiting with our old friends!! Then Saturday was the big day. We took the kids to hang out with their cousins at Aunt Krysti's and went over to the wedding. It was so beautiful. Courtney's colors were his light purple and a deep, dark purple. It seemed classic and royal. The wedding was small and Bishop Tall officiated. Everything was just lovely! Then we ate a nice lunch together after the ceremony. Then I ran off to take care of my kids and get them ready for the reception. I also got to sneak a peek at Krysti's long arm quilting machine - which is awesome!! I gathered up the kids and got back to the reception. The kids had a great time. Maddie danced with her daddy, Ryan was as sweet as sweet could be (even Eliza thought so!), and we all enjoyed the crepes! Ryan's favorite part was riding to Tyler's home in Tyler's truck. He almost couldn't stand it he was so happy about that. We all ate pizza together and just hung out. I wish we could have had more time, but what we did have was wonderful.

Happy Birthday Uncle Doug!



We all got together last week for Uncle Doug's birthday party. We all ate some yummy tri-tip and enjoyed pie for dessert (Doug's favorite!).