Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Cinnamon Rolls!



My first solo flight at making cinnamon rolls.
Not bad, for the first time.  I intend to get lots and lots of practice.
Cinnamon rolls were one of the cooking items I had a desire to perfect
while serving.  What's not to like about a warm gooey cinnamon roll?
At least I thought that's what the missionaires would say.
So, my personal evaluation, the roll up was a little loose,

they were not even close to uniform, but I did remember the raisins.

They raised beautifully,
and baked up pretty nice.
All in all, I'd give them a C+, B-
There's always room for improvement, that's why I'm going to
keep working on my method.  They might not look pretty, but they
tasted awesome.  Thanks Bart, for the perfect recipe.
I made a few too many, but it worked out, I took some to our
neighbors to the south and a plate or two to some other friends.
They were a hit!

Friday, May 25, 2012

The Party's Over!


Well I knew it wouldn't last forever, but I was hoping.
It's time to go back, leave my home and children again and get
back to work, the mission needs me, at least I hope so.
I spent Thursday with Heather, taking things back and running
errands.  Friday morning I packed my things, picked up the house,
said goodbye to Mom and Jo and Patti.  I cried, I really wanted
to stay.  There are so many projects I'd like to get started on.
But, I know those projects will wait for me and be here when I 
get home next year.
Courtney and I stopped to get lunch, dropped Bart's Jeep off at Mom's,
forgot to fill it with gas, ran to a gas station, ended up at two different
stations before it would take my card, no clue why, got back to Mom's,
said goodbye to her again, Heather picked me and Courtney up and
we headed to the airport.  That's when we hit this. (pictured above)
We hit bumper to bumper traffic around Riverdale and it did not look
good.  We turned on the radio and found out that there was a serious
accident in Roy and the way it was looking, I was going to miss my flight.
I called the airport and they said I had to be checked in 90 minutes 
before the flight or no go.  It was going to be close.  
We chose to get off the freeway, which took forever, and take the old
highway, that's when we came across the accident.  A family was on their
way out of town with a trailer and it had rolled.  They were actually putting
the rolled truck on the tow truck and pulled away from the accident,
ambulances and police cars right in front of us.
Long story short, we made it to the airport 5 minutes late, the girls dropped 
my off at the curb, I ran in, the lady sent me through, I ran back to the
car, grabbed my bags, hugged the girls and I was off.
I guess it was all for the best, I couldn't have taken a long tearful
goodbye, I might not have gotten on the plane.  Tender mercies.
Tender mercies, all the way along.  Thank you to everyone, for
all you did and for the love and support of Courtney's graduation
and for my little visit back home.  Love to you all.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Girls Night Out


Courtney surprised me with a girls night.  She's been planning it 
for weeks and worked with her Dad to earn some extra money.
She had it all thought out and told me to save a little time for her.
I was thrilled, I figured she'd be busy with graduation and friends,
I didn't want to take away from that, but she thought this up all
by herself.  And it meant the world to me.
She'd made appointments for us at Expo Nails for pedicures.
I've never had a pedicure, believe it or not, and I enjoyed being
pampered.  I even put polish on my toenails, another first.
It was wonderful to be together with my girls.

Courtney!


Courtney let me take a picture of her with her cake.
I'm very grateful that I was able to come home and share
this special time with her.  I love her sooo much.
Ok, who is it that thinks up this stuff . . . 
Look at Courtney's t-shirt.  The spelling of Weber is 
made up of the three classes, look closely,
the W is a 12 on an angle, the B is 13 and the R is a 1 and a 
backward 4.  So clever, I just loved it.
Ahhhh, look at our house in the background.
I agree Dorothy, there's no place like home.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Weber High School Graduation


The time has finally arrived.  Weber High School graduation.
Courtney is checking herself out on the jumbo-tron.  The entire proceedings
were filmed and shown on the jumbo-tron in the Dee Events Center.
The wonderful thing about that, Chris was able to pick up the 
live feed from Weber State and watch the entire event.  Everything
we saw, he saw.
The choir began the program with a song, sing Courtney,
sing.  Sing your heart out, one last time.
I took these pictures with my camera from a distance,
so the quality leaves a bit to be desired.  But I was so thrilled
to have been there, in person.
Another song, it was so wonderful to hear the choir sing,
and of course they sing all of those sad "goodbye" songs.
The way they do the procession is fascinating.  They march the entire
(huge) class in, to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance".  When
they are all in, they are lined up like so.  Rows of red, girls
and rows of black, boys, it looked amazing.
Courtney and Heather took these pictures outside
before the graduation started and before the class
came in through the tunnel.
Here is Courtney and Melissa,
Courtney and Heidi,
and this is Courtney, Courtney, Heidi and Kellie.
Rudi and Courtney, together one last time as
classmates.  They look so grown up.
See, Courtney's on the jumbo-tron, smile Courtney smile.
"isn't she lovely"
The choir, along with Courtney, are heading to the choir seats,
back behind the stage.
Oh no, that's not where she's supposed to sit, we are sitting on the
opposite side.
By the time she was settled and everyone was in their
place, she was on the very end, closest to us.
See!
Let the proceedings begin.
Weber Warriors!
"How does it feel to be a Warrior?"
Courtney's turn, she was one of the last to graduate because they have
the choir come down from their seats last.
Because of the filming that they did, each graduate was shown on the
jumbo-tron when they received their diploma.  When it was Courtney's
turn she accepted her diploma and faced the camera and said,
"Hi, Dad"!  (He saw it on the live feed)
And when it's all said and done,
the girls are all on one side, and the boys are all on the other.
Again, so amazingly cool.
Here are all the girls with their little fake diplomas.
Courtney's on the back row, in the middle.
Heather and Brad came to support,
and Grandma Murray, she hasn't missed a graduation of any
of her grandchildren, bless her heart.
Tyler and Heather, thanks for coming and standing beside 
your little sis!
Give your mom a hug!
Courtney and Grandma Murray
Three generations, and all babies,  we were
all born the babies of our families.  Mom's the
baby, I'm her baby and Courtney's my baby.
Brad, Courtney and Heather
Brad and Heather, Courtney, Heather and Tyler.
(Heather's going to a Zumba clinic, that's why she's dressed up)
Add Mom and we are all a happy family.
Tyler, baby sis and Heather
"W" stands for Weber
Oh my goodness, all our stuff!
My graduation gift to Courtney, didn't have time to wrap it,
I hope she doesn't mind.
I think she likes it, it's a graduation bear,
complete with cap and gown,
and embroidered with her name, graduation date
and Weber High School.  I thought it was cute.
I also had her senior pictures enlarged, printed and
put in red photo albums.
Congratulations baby girl, we love you sooo much
and are very, very proud of all you've accomplished.

Wouldn't You Like To Be One, Too!


Our baby girl graduated today, just take a look!
"isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful"
While I picked up Grandma and drove her to the Dee Events Center 
to save seats for the kids, Heather met Courtney outside with
her cap and gown on and took some pictures.
These pictures are priceless, only once in a lifetime do
you get to see your daughter dressed like this.
I am so glad we sent her home to graduate with her
friends and classmates, the Class of 2012!
She's pretty excited, as are we.
I took a picture for my senior pictures, just like this.
I wish I could find it and put it up against Courtney's.
Class of 2012!
Their theme,
wouldn't you like to be ONE, TWO
get it 20(12) one, two.
Very clever, who comes up with these.
"W" for Weber!
She looks pretty in red.
Congratulations on your very special day,
high school graduation day.
Mom and Dad love you, very, very much.