Whirl-wind of a time

Mostly as a journal for myself, I wanted to record a few special events that happend so fast, one right after another. First, this little one turned 6. Here's a picture of her with her Tangled birthday cake at her "Princess Tea Party." It was splendid. She reminded me that she wouldn't "really" be 6 after her party, but would have to wait until her "real" birthday - a few day's later.

Cate went missing towards the end of the party, this is how I found her. Sweet dreams little one This year, I am making (or will attempt) little animals for each of our grandkiddies - this is the giraffe I made for Annie

She said she "loves" it!

A few days later, Brandon, Jamie and the kiddies made a visit for their spring break. We fit a quick family birthday dinner (for Marisa) in -

Can't get enough of our beautiful, happy little Nixon! I managed to fit a little sleep-over in with the older ones. We painted and air brushed t-shirts

Played "High School Barbie & Ken"

I mean, just take a second good look at this stunning beach Ken. Now how could Barbie ever consider leaving such a hunk?

We ate nacho's in bed as we watched a really beautiful, educational undersea movie

See what I mean?

We frosted and decorated Easter cookies -

And then, the next day Curt & I flew out to Vegas for little R & R

And to go see Donny & Marie with Ann & Reid. It was fabulous actually. When it was over Curt turned to me and said "far exceeded my expectations!" They really did a super job -

I had to say "NO" to the Marie doll -

Next night we caught the Cirque de Soleil's Beatles "LOVE" performance. Exceptional!

We also enjoyed a lot of this

So we could come home to this!

It has been a really busy last couple of weeks, but it has been a blast too.

Been a little busy -

Like the rest of you, we have been a little busy too. We started a home restoration project (master bed/bathroom) that has taken a bit more time that originally planned. But, like all good things, the master bathroom is finished - and I have the pictures to prove it! One "tall" problem we have are the towel hooks. Originally we had a tub/shower enclosure with a towel rack on the door. As you can see, we totally removed the tub and put a shower in it's place. In doing so, we didn't have any where to hang our towels. "No problem" the glass people told us, we could just order "robe hooks" and have them installed as towel hooks. We agreed and problem solved.....until they were installing the door and Curt asked "what are those?" There was a miscommunication between the rep and the fabricators so the "towel hooks" were installed as "robe hooks" and I can't reach them. Curt called me but I told him to go ahead and let them install the glass, I'll have to get a stool or something to get/hang a towel. Other than that "tall" detail - I love our new bathroom -
Our new vanity - we took out the old "double" sink and went with a larger vanity - single sink unit
I used to have a "make-up vanity" in this place, with a drop down ceiling. Since I don't put make-up on anymore (j/k), Curt took it out and made this wonderful closet (LOVE my new doors) and enlarged the toliet area -
We took out the mirror that took up the whole wall and had this medicine cabinet made, I did have to have my 5X light mirror (for putting on my make-up) installed!

I love, LoVe, LOVE our new marble with the glass inlayes and matching floor!

This is what Curt wanted out of the whole deal - his NEW shower system - it's massive, and now I'll never be able to get him out of the shower. It will massage his body from top to bottom. He deserves it after all the hard work he's put in to our rennovation.

So --- other than the accessories, our bathroom is finished. We're almost finished with our bedroom, then it's on to the next project.

P.S. There are no "before" pictures -- we weren't that brave, and we didn't want to remember "before!"

Butterflies, Tarantulas, Gnomes & BYU

We headed off to Denver for a quick weekend visit to see the Jr's - this time we brought along a little surprise! Annie got some brand new shoes and as a result was unable to walk very much - she ended up hitching a ride with Papa and all her luggage! It produced quite a few comments from the passerby's - lucky girl Ah, together at last -

Berlynn is helping little Nixon learn to crawl, he's growing SOOOO fast
All packed up (and in) Papa's rental car - off to visit the Butterfly Pavilion

Rosie, the tarantula, lives at the Butterfly Pavilion and Berlynn (so brave) was there to let him crawl on her arm

Look at the big grin (so proud) - how many 6 year olds can say they've held a tarantula? She even got a sticker -

Mom had to follow the example of Berlynn, she was also brave and let Rosie crawl on her too!

Here, we are looking at "glow in the dark" scorpions - they were wild!

They even had starfish (more in our comfort zone) to touch

On to see the butterflies -

We have been to several butterfly exhibits before but NONE as neat as this one - there were so many butterflies, and they were all beautiful

I gave the girls my camera and I can tell you - I have a million pictures of butterflies -

And cute kids!

While we were having all this fun, BYU was also having fun with San Diego State - can you say 80-67? National TV?

We visted the arcade for a little while, while waiting for the movie - Brandon, Ezra and Berlynn are enjoying a virtual roller coaster ride

Yeah - skeetball!

Happy Nixon

Gnomeo & Juliette - a true love story!

Did you hear me? 80-67

We made a cake and cookies (yes, those are cookies) with the Easy Bake Oven

Kisses for Grandma!

The last night of a very fun filled Denver weekend!

Thank you B&J for a great time!

30+ Years of Service

This year marks 30 years (actually 31) that Curt has been working for Varian. Hired just after Brandon was born it was his first "real" job (after leaving the military). Little did we know that employment in the "Chem Department" so many years ago would lead to 30+ years of working for Varian. Of course, back then it was Eimac, a division of Varian Associates. Through the years as he aquired his education he worked up and up through the company holding various management and technical positions until he has become the "GURU" of the Furnace Department. He doesn't like me to tell people he is a "Furnace Engineer" because most people think of furnaces like, the furnace in your home. The furnaces that Curt oversees are HUGE, with names like "Titan, Goliath, Zeus" you get the picture. They are industrial furnaces that are used in the fine art of "brazing" (the joining of two dissimilar metals) - which is Curt's specialty. Varian has turned out to be a pretty great place for Curt to have called home, and I'm proud of him. They have a "Service Award Banquet" for every 5 years of service and this year Curt was 1 of 8 being honored for 30 years.

Here is a poster of the 8 being recognized - Curt is the bottom left.
I tried to get a closeup picture - this is how Curt looked on his first day of employment 30+ years ago - and his current picture.
The congratulatory handshakes from Management
Whooo, he's on the BIG screen!
Well, guess who else was at this special dinner - Ben, Amy & Jonah.



Ben was being honored for 5 years of service at Varian! Congratulations Ben - hang in there, another 25 years and it will be you up there being honored on the BIG screen!



Thank you for working so hard - and long - Curt, I love you!

So Long, Fairwell and Audios Deron...

Wow - that didn't take long!

I do want to say "thanks"- I really did appreciate the good times, but...

Have fun in New Jersey (you can look across the river at the Knicks)!

Happy Valentines Day!

**This is me, Berlynn & Ezra**