Canasta with Grandpa

After the funeral Mom, Dad, and I walked around BYU for a little while and of course made a trip for a hot fudge sundae at the Creamery on 9th. Then we met Grandpa and Jean at one of my favorite Utah places to eat -Cafe Rio. Yummy! The most fun part of the day, however, was playing cards with Dad, Grandpa, and Jean. We played boys against girls and lost terribly! Grandpa enforced the long time tradition that Grandma Westover started and I had to hold his elbow while chanting "You are the Champion" 3 times. So fun. Playing cards has always been a favorite thing to to with Grandma and Grandpa Westover and I am glad I had a little time to do it this trip...although next time I want to win!:)

Grandma's funeral was very well done (apart from my moms wacky brother), and I was glad that I was able to be attend. Mom and Lorraine both gave good talks as well as grandma's best friend, and a beautiful musical number by my cousin Amber. Some photos from the day....

Luncheon

My family at the cemetery

Pall bearers

Grandma and Grandpa's 50th anniversary photo

Grandpa's garden

Grandpa and Grandma's House

Trip to Utah

Avery and I

Adam, Nicole, and Avery

Melanie and Madison

Jean, Melanie, Grandpa, Me

In the lobby of Little America

My trip Utah at the end of Utah was bittersweet. Grandma Steed passed away pretty suddenly without suffering too much just a little over a year after Grandpa died. I am so glad that my kids and I got to see her twice in the last year, most recently in March. She was always a sweet grandma and will be missed. I am happy for her reunion with Grandpa and I know they are happy to be together again.

The funeral was on Monday, but I flew down on Saturday afternoon. Grandpa Westover had a Bar-B-Que with all of my dads siblings, my cousin Whitney and her husband, and all of my siblings. It was really fun to sit and chat with Whitney and my Aunt's who I don't get to see very often. Its also great to spend time with my sisters and brother and their kids. I so wish we lived closer! I just love spending time with Grandpa and Jean too. They were nice enough to let Melanie and I stay with them in their awesome basement.

Sunday morning I got up and went for a run, and then Melanie and I went to Emily's to check out the rest of their home improvements including their new grass. Their house is looking really cute! It was also a surprise to see and visit with my Uncle Stan and Aunt Lorraine. They are definitely the favorite Aunt and Uncle from my mom's side and the one's we knew the best growing up.

Then Melanie and I met Jean and Grandpa at Little America for lunch. Yummy! I have fond memories of Grandpa and Grandma Westover treating us to Sunday meals at Little America both growing up when we would visit for family vacation, and in college. Even Ryan came with us a few times before Grandma Westover passed away. We had a wonderful meal and even better company.

We changed and headed to the Funeral home in Orem for the viewing. I am not a fan at all of viewings. I guess I just don't understand the purpose, but if it helps people with the grieving process and closure I suppose its a good thing. I had a nice time visiting with family, and volunteered to be the one to take the kids outside and entertained as much as possible. After the viewing Melanie, Adam, Nicole, and the kids, all went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. We were really hoping for Iceburg, but we were in Utah county and everything else was closed. Oh well!

Melanie and I stopped at McDonald's for a late dinner(because nothing else was open) and went and hung out at Emily's . We chatted with Mom, Dad, Em, and Tom until late. We called Ryan to see how everything was going. Since he had let Sadie nap until 6:30 Pm she was still awake. We put her on speaker and had a good laugh listening to her gab.

More Fun in Portland

We have needed new flooring in our house for a while now. We had really cheap builder grade carpet all throughout the house including in eating area and where our sliding door comes in from the backyard. After 5 years, with two kids and a big black lab, plus living in a very rainy climate, you can imagine what our floors looked like. Anyway, to make a long story short, we decided to go with 18 inch porcelain tile for the high traffic areas, and replace all of the carpet and pad with much bettter quality of both. Since our house was torn apart pretty badly, the kids, dog, and I packed up and went to Portland so that we were out of the way. We a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa and even got to see Uncle Chad. It always feels like a mini vacation when we go there. Here are a few of the fun things we did..
Sadie posing on a goat statue at the zoo.


At the park...


On the train at the zoo

Feeding a goose and her goslings.

Snuggled up on the deck LATE watching for airplanes.

Walk on Northwest 23rd

Sadie enjoying something chocolate from Elephants Deli

Portland Zoo

Sadie's Cake and Presents

We all know that Sadie LOVES to eat. She actually wasn't feeling very well when we did the cake and presents, but it did not stop her from enjoying her ding dong cake! Here are some cute videos of her blowing out her candles and savoring her very own cake. What a cutie! I really can not believe that she is 2 already. She has been my opiniated, active, goofy, fun, full of personality, loud, little girl from day one. I remember when she was only a few days old demanding that we hold her a certain way and only sleep while being held and bounced on an excersise ball...and she let us have it if we stopped or moved. She still never fails to let us know exactly how she is feeling. A few of my favorite "Sadieism's" that I figure I should probably write down before I forget are "doing the shake", asking for a "hot baba" ( hot bottle) first thing in the morning, calling her binky her "mmmm", needing her two Pottery Barn pink blankets when she sleeps, and calling her brother "Coggar." She INSISTS that Ryan kiss her on both cheeks and the lips before he leaves for work and then demands that he kiss me and then Connor, but instead of calling it a kiss she calls it a "muah- muah." She has smile with those huge white teeth that literally lights up the room. We are certainly never bored with her around. I love my little "Crazy" Sadie and am so glad to have her in our family!

Triple Birthday Party

When we were in Portland, celebrating Easter, we also celebrated Uncle Sean's Birthday (April 16th), Sadie's Birthday (April 17th) and Ryan's Birthday (April 18th). Grandma Johnson got them all ding dong cakes from Elephant's Deli. Elephant's is one of our very favorite places to eat while in Portland and the cakes did not dissapoint. I think the two birthday boys and one birthday girl all really enjoyed them!

Helvetia Half Marathon Finishers!!!!

Ryan and I ran our first half-marathon in Portland Saturday. I have been training for a while. Ryan, however, hadn't run for over 2 weeks and just decided to sign up the day before and just go for it. I am glad he did it with me and we stayed by each other for most ofthe race...until I smoked him at the end.:) (Really he was only 3 minutes behind me!) We both met our goals of under 2 hours. I finished in 1 hour 55 minutes (a 8 min. 48 sec pace) and Ryan finished in 1 hour 58 minutes (a 9 min. 2 sec pace). It was a beautiful and hilly course and overall we both felt great. We were both stoked to get cool shirts (see Ryan modeling his), cool medals, and best of all a yummy Jamba smoothies, and hamburgers from a local place. Thanks to Ryan's parents for watching our kids and bringing them to support us!