The Secret's Out!

Today after our stake conference, Steve and I stopped by the "old" house to pick up some mail. In visiting with the new owner, Kathy, I asked her if they had ever discovered the source of a slight odor they had in the basement. When they had called us about it, we couldn't think of anything in particular that would cause it except possibly the pea traps in the storage room had dried out. Anyway, they decided to have a carpet cleaner come in with a black light to see if there were any animal stains in the basement carpet. Voila! You guessed it. Our sweet little perfect Bose had left behind many remnants of his sneeky disobedience. We were really shocked since we thought Bose was perfect. Steve's nose didn't even detect it. I guess he was too used to it.

Yesterday I looked everywhere for my large cooking pot so I could make an extra large batch of Sloppy Joe's. It wasn't anywhere in the kitchen and I couldn't remember taking it any place. Then I remembered. As soon as I opened the door to my "Outside Fridge", there it was--sitting on the back deck, covered in snow. It was about half full of the Christmas wassail. Steve is NOT drinking any of THAT wassail even though I checked it out and it's still good. You know how I like to check things out before I throw them away. It did have ice crystals but no significant fermentation. It could have been an excuse to have some innocent fun. Oh well he missed his chance.

A Funny Thing Happened---

A funny thing happened on the way home from Texas. Steve was checking in a car seat that we loaned to Tif on her last trip out. The Southwest sky cap asked if we were traveling with a baby. I said no it was used for our grand daughter on a previous trip. He laughed and said to Steve, "Well I thought you still had something going!" And I said, "He might still have it, but I don't," which brought another laugh from all of us. Just a few minutes later after we had passed through security, a cart driver asked us if we needed assistance to get to our gate. Steve went from a "stud" to an "old fart" in a matter of minutes--or was it me? Here we are at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Steve loves seeing the animals and all the kids with their FFA or 4-H projects. We enjoyed the variety of foods from Tiffany's turkey leg to sausage on a stick, deep fried onion blossoms and BBQ sandwiches.

We didn't sample the fried candy bars but we did share a yummy apple dumpling ala mode and a "fabulous funnel cake."

There were so many things to see and not enough time to see them, but we enjoyed the sunset, the food, the exciting atmosphere, the first class rodeo which begins with an awesome patriotic display and "PRAYER" which we loved. After the rodeo we were treated to about 1 1/2 hrs. of Reba McIntyre's hit songs. What a fun night!

One last mug shot of us girls together before we headed for the airport.

Here's are the swinging, sexy 60's ladies. We started celebrating our birthdays together when we turned 40. It just seems like yesterday. I'm actually the odd man out because Mynon, Maretta and Marlene share the same birthday, same year. I'm the same year just 5 days earlier. I guess they needed me to "break the water." It's so fantastic to have true friends--the kind you may not see often, but when you do, it's just like always-comfortable and you can be yourself.

Food in Texas!

There's your Mexican-Texican food, barbeque ribs, Abigail's favorite-chocolate covered strawberries, and then there's German. New Braunfels, 35 minutes north of San Antonio, is a German settlement. It hosts a terrific Children's Museum, which was delightful for "Tex" and her fan club, and a delectable German bakery,Naegelin's, and restaurant, Oma's Haus. We had to sample the food from each. Tonight we'll sample the variety at the San Antonio Stock Show (Rodeo) so I'll report on that later.

Abigail says "pretty darn good," and "delicious".New Braunfels Children's Museum, here we come!Relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. Papa and Tex taking it easy.

Enjoying the animals, the weather and each other at the Zoo.

More Fun In Texas!

After an interesting morning at the San Jose Mission, called the Queen of the Missions, the largest one of six originally built in the area in the 1700's, we stopped at the Stinson Airport Cafe for lunch. The Stinson airfield built as a flight school in 1916 is the 2nd oldest continually used airport in the country. We all enjoyed the morning's historical adventures and the lunch.

Here's My Texas Birthday Party!

You can tell we're all having a lot of fun with Abigail. I even went shopping at my least favorite store with my favorite Texan!

I Need To Clean The Fridge,

But then who doesn't? But since we were leaving town for a few days, I felt the urgent need to dispose of a few things I thought might get stinky in our absence. This included a carton of whipping cream. The answer, of course, was to make Libbie's recipe of Chex Mix and take some with us on our trip. Well it turns out I was a little short on Chex so I made a revision and added a couple of cups of Kix. It tastes just as yummy as ever and the little balls add interest to all of those squares. I don't think that my photo will be picked up by any food editors, however.

SOMEBODY LOVES ME...

See the gorgeous roses given to me by Steve Kerr! He said, "What do you get someone who has everything? Flowers!" They are so beautiful. And I agree with him. I have everything I need and more. I had a wonderful birthday!

My day started out with a "Forecast Breakfast" with the Salt Lake Board of Realtors at Little America. I got to visit with Congressmen Rob Bishop, our guest speaker, afterward. Later Dad and Ann hosted me for lunch after his Dr. checkup in Salt Lake. The Dr. said he is doing very well for his age. We had a very nice lunch at Red Lobster. My sister Cathy stopped by briefly and gave me a gift of some of my favorite things--gummy bears and popcorn to go with a DVD. Steve Kerr joined us and gave me the breathtaking roses. It was delightful. I spent most of the time bragging about our kids.

Throughout the day I had phone calls and birthday greetings with songs and cards from all my kids and grandkids and some of their spouses. I loved every one of them and the songs and cards were awesome.

After I showed a few houses to a client in need, Steve & I took in a small town Minnesota movie called "New In Town". It had some pretty funny moments and was soooo Minnesota! It brought back some memories from our 6 1/2 years spent there.

All in all, I had a lot of fun and thought it was a terrific day! I'm going to continue celebrating until Feb. 12, 2009! This is a year to remember!

YOU SHOULD BE IMPRESSED...

We've been saying every year that we are going to get the legal matters of putting together an estate plan taken care of. Well, we finally found a good attorney that we like and after a few hours of consultation and lots of work on their part, here it is. Are you impressed with all of the documents Steve is holding? When Taylor & Jen "skyped" us Friday night while Hilary and Adam were here, Steve gave them the run down. With all that paperwork, Taylor was certain that we had included every spoon. Ah! not so. This is just the authority for someone else to decide where every spoon goes. Speak up if you want a spoon!

Jenna, Korinne and Britton talking with Jen & Tay on the computer. Steve holding the Estate Plan binders.

WEEKEND FUN!

Hilary, Adam and the kids came down Friday night to help me celebrate, etc. So we had a lot of "I love you the most" phrases, hugs, and a lot of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, strawberries and bananas. Yum!
Saturday Steve and Adam took the kids to the zoo. It was a beautiful sunny day in the 40's--a perfect zoo day. Hilary helped me get caught up a bit in the office. I was wondering who had more fun and then I remembered that Kim brought Hilary her favorite Cafe Rio salad and she got a paycheck. Maybe she had more fun.

Here are a couple of the zoo pictures that Steve took. He loves the zoo so maybe he had more fun!

No, I think that with the kids and grandkids giving me such cute cards and lots of hugs, I HAD THE MOST FUN!