The Greek Food Festival

Dave and I were talking and we think we started going to the Greek Food Festival in Ogden in 1986.  With the exception of our years in San Diego we haven't missed very many of the years since then.

 

I think my very favorite dish is the Tiropitakia (cheese pie).  I always save a bit of it on my plate to eat last so I will have that taste in my mouth for awhile afterwards. 

 We like to watch the traditional Greek dancing programs.

Greece is on our bucket list of places to visit one day.  Opa!

Jack's Birthday Date

This Jack-Jack of ours is the definition of fun.  He turns six years old tomorrow.  Dave and I took him on his birthday date earlier in the week.

 

He wanted to go to Wal-mart to pick out his present  He chose a dart gun and since it was so cheap we told him he could choose something else, too.  He ended up with a Spiderman and motorcycle combo. 

He wanted to eat dinner at Farr's Fresh.  Since they only serve ice-cream we all ate dinner at home first and had the ice cream after picking out his present. 

This guy melts his grandma's heart with those big brown eyes. 

His parents gave him a bike "with a kickstand" (the kickstand was very important to him).  Holly made him the most delicious pancakes for his breakfast in bed the morning of his birthday.

 

 A few days later he had a party with his friends.  What a happy birthday boy!

Nana's 93rd

My Nana fell and broke her hip about a month ago.  She is now staying at a care center, getting physical therapy every day.  We had a birthday party for her the other night - her 93rd to be exact.

Logan and James were able to get a rare smile out of her.

Most of her posterity were able to come. 

Happy Birthday, Nana.  We love you! 

"Roo had a birthday, shout hooray."

Wow, my youngest child is now 22 years old.  What an amazing man he has turned out to be, too!

 

Dave and I drove up to Logan to take him and Megs to lunch.  He chose sushi. (I was glad because it's my favorite, too)

 

 The kids found our costume boxes.  Introducing: Harry Potter, Professor McGonagal, Spidee and an army guy.

I couldn't resist getting a picture of the early morning sky after my run the other morning.  This photo really doesn't do it justice.  The eastern horizon was glowing. 

A blue ribbon evening at the State Fair.

 

 Suggestion if you want to go to the Utah State Fair:  Go on Monday night, which is Family Night.  The entrance fee is two-for-the-price-of-one for adults and kids are free. 

Dave, Alex and I met my mom, dad, Carrie, Scott, Leah and Maria at the fair that night.

 

This ginormous thing is a pig, believe it or not.  Looks more like a hippo to me.  The little piglets were adorable, though.

At the exit of the cattle exhibit they handed out recipes for beef.  Sad. 

Gotta love goats!  They were milking some of them. 

I'm glad we had Maria and Leah to rep kids.  A fair is always more fun when children come along with you.

And the blue ribbon goes to:  the all-you-can-eat ice cream tent.  I felt kind of sorry for the octogenarians they had scooping the thousands of scoops.  One poor lady was shaking as she dug into that hard-as-a-rock cherry chocolate chip ice cream she dished out to me. 

We always check out the butter cow as we exit the fairgrounds.  I have always wondered what they do with all that butter after the fair is over.  Maybe the hippo-pig eats it?

Peach Days 2013

It is always a treat to go to Brigham City Peach Days.

 

 

Dave is a funnel cake junkie.

 Idle Isle has the most amazing chocolates ever!

We ate a scrumptious dutch oven dinner and I bought a Peruvian purse with a llama on it.  It was a successful evening. Yay for Brigham City!  Yay for Peach Days!

A Saturday ride with friends.

Dave and I went on a 24 mile bike ride with Scott and Steph Bauer.  We rode the Ogden City Parkway trail.  It was pouring rain at times, but we had a great time.

 

 On the way back we stopped at Kneaders for breakfast.  I refused to take off my helmut.  My hair would have looked pretty disgusting, between the sweat and rain effect. So yeah, I looked a bit strange eating with it on.  But whatever.

Family Time

Since moving back to our old house, we have been able to have lots of wonderful family time again.

 

 

 Two weeks ago we celebrated the birthdays of these two beauties.  I was even able to use our ice cream maker, which has been in storage for the past seven months.  We all missed eating homemade raspberry ice cream.  It is a family favorite, for sure!

 

Family time wiped this little guy right out.

It was a near-perfect evening.  The only improvement would have been to have Steph, Jared and Shad with us.  Someday . . .

Back to real life . . .

The second half of August was a very emotional one for me.  As things fell through on the sale of our former home in Pleasant View, we ended up moving out of our apartment in Salt Lake City and back to PV.  The great part of all of this is that we are back near our family.  But I am having a little grieving moment about having to leave the city.

 

A few of the things I will miss:

 

 The view from our balcony.

 

 

 Walking down the hall to throw out our rubbish. 

 

Being within walking distance of the temple, family history center, and great shopping. I loved my 5 minute walk to the grocery store. We walked to all kinds of fun events downtown as well.

 Walking to the most wonderful little eateries.

My morning runs along South temple and 1st Avenue.

 

Never having to weed "my gardens", haha.(Also never having to mow the lawn or shovel snow) 

 

 

The 5 minute walk to "church" at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

 

We will still be serving in the homeless branch.  It will just be an hour commute instead.

I know there is a reason for everything and although I'm sad, I'm also happy about being able to spend so much more time with the fam.  So, it's all good, just an adjustment again.  Urban life was fun while it lasted.  Back to suburbia now.