Just Can't Get Enough...

Of the Downtown Provo Marriott -- in particular Valarie and Karen in the Concierge Lounge.

These sweet ladies took the best care of me while I worked for a client in Provo and basically lived in their hotel on and off from Feb. 12 - July 15, 2007. Did I mention that I was pregnant and pretty sick the whole time? Val and Karen were my angels and I will forever love them. I don't know if I could have made it without them. Cathy also took great care of me, but she was off the day we visited.

Since these wonderful ladies put so much work into taking care of me while I was pregnant I wanted them to get to spend some time enjoying the "finished product" (Jasper). Valarie's last name is Jasperson -- so she let's everyone know that we named Jasper after her. :>

They got out the toys. They played. They laughed. They smothered him with kisses. They fed him bananas, goldfish and raisins. They were in Heaven.

We had fun reminiscing.

We remembered the many Apostles and other LDS Church Leaders who we met and visited with while I stayed there. Many of them came to Provo for BYU Graduation and Women's Conference. The room next to my room (#928) is the Presidential Suite where all of the VIP's stayed. It was always fun to see who my neighbors were.

While I was pregnant with Jasper, about the only thing that did not make me puke in the morning was a fruit smoothie. As crazy as it may seem, I kept my Vita-Mix blender in my hotel room and made a smoothie every morning at 6AM. We laughed as we remembered the morning that I dizzily traipsed into the Concierge Lounge at 6AM for some OJ and fruit to add to the blender full of ice I was carrying. The lounge was a flutter with ladies in town for Women's Conference. One gal yelled out -- Does that girl have a Vita-Mix in the hotel???? To which Val replied -- Yes. That's Angela...she lives here.

In case you think that Val & Karen were slacking off at work, Jasper & I went to visit at a time when the concierge lounge was closed. These are two hard working ladies, and I do not want taint their reputation.

I am also including a photo of Teny. He used to work for guest services. He would set my wake-up calls and reset my wake-up call when I stayed up too late working and decided to sleep in a little. He took great care of me. One night I was REALLY sick throwing up. Since I had this problem my entire pregnancy, I couldn't tell if I was actually sick , or if it was pregnancy related. I remember calling down to the front desk at 9:30 PM one night to see if he could give me a Priesthood blessing. He said that Marriott policy did not allow for that, but he called a couple of his friends that came over at 10PM. That blessing got me through the night. I am so happy for Teny, as he has been promoted to Manager. I am glad that someone besides me recognizes hoe great he is.

The next morning the hotel shuttle driver, Edward, took me via Marriott Shuttle to the Emergency Room at Utah Valley Hospital. I spent the day there receiving 4 bags of fluid in an IV because it turns out that I was suffering from a bad case of food poisoning. And when I was feeling much better, Edward drove back to pick me up.

And let's not forget Corey. He now works in Engineering, but for most of my stay he was in Housekeeping. Every night for turndown service you get 2 chocolates on your pillow. Marriott has several varieties, and you are supposed to get 2 different kinds.

But Corey knew that I really only like the chocolate toffee ones. When I would get back to my hotel at night, after a LONG day at work, I always knew if Corey had turned my bed down because he would leave me 2 chocolate toffee treats. It's the little things that matter.

As I said, the Marriott staff took EXCELLENT care of me. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Rocky Start....Happy Ending

We were going to spend a few days at the beginning of our trip with Mike’s Aunt Shauna in Lehi before heading to SLC. We LOVE Aunt Shauna and couldn't wait to see her.

Sunday night we were all packed and ready to go. We called Shauna to confirm our plans, and she said that they were sick, and that her grandkids that she babysits have strep throat. Not good.

So, it was my friend Collette to the rescue. We were excited to see as they recently relocated to Utah from Henderson. As Collette said:

Tonight at 7:30pm, my friend, Angela arrived with her adorable little boy, Jasper. We visited while she fed her son. We visited while we got the boys ready for bed. We visited while she unpacked and got situated. She closed the door to rock Jasper to sleep. Jared was holding Grayson to start calming him down for bed. And that's precisely when Grayson decided to projectile vomit. All over Jared.

Tonight at 9:30pm, my friend, Angela packed up her things and went to stay with another friend.

So, we were off to my sweet friend Heather Smith's house. Lucky for us, she too lives in Saratoga Springs. We were supposed to visit with her on Tuesday....little did she know we'd be staying with her for a couple days. Heather and I know each other from the good old days when we both worked as counselors at the Academy for Girls summer program. I have not seen her for a long, long time. We have kept in touch though, and she has designed our Christmas cards and Jasper's birth announcement. We had a great visit and I learned much from Heather about being a great mom and wife. Thanks Heather!

Above is a photo of Jasper with her little Max. What cuties!

Headed to Utah!

Jasper & I are headed to Utah for 19 days.

We are excited to visit with family and friends and get out of the heat of Vegas. My brother Travis and his family are coming to SLC for 2 weeks, so we are going up to visit while they are in town.

My brother Casey and his wife Tanya are moving to Casper, WY in 3 weeks so that Tanya can start her MPA program. Since Tanya went to high school in Wyoming, she is eligible for in state tuition. She will be leaving her job at the University of Utah Hospital Burn Trauma unit after being there for 9 years. Big changes, but good changes ahead.

I am so proud of Tanya for getting her Master's degree. I look forward to the day when I can start a graduate program. I always say that I am going to go to Law School when Mike semi-retires and teaches Law School.

Mike is not sure if he can live without us -- but he's going to give it a try! We sure wish Mike could be with us, but he can't miss work for 19 days. Sorry Mike. We'll miss you like crazy!!!

Bait & Switch

As I have mentioned before, Mike makes us waffles on the weekends and holidays. And we love it! Well, Jasper REALLY loves Mike's waffles, and when we have them for breakfast, he doesn't want anything else to it.

This morning we resorted to a good old bait and switch technique to get some peaches & baby oatmeal down him.

We start out with the waffle on the spoon. It camouflages the peaches & oatmeal so well.

At the very last second we pull the waffle off, and voila, in go the peaches! Jasper usually loves peaches, but they pale in comparison to Mike's gourmet waffles.

Mike did a great job of capturing the bait and switch process in action!

My Guys

I had to snap a couple photos of my guys before Jasper and I leave for Utah on the 4th. I know that Jasper will really miss Mike ---
I will too!

We Love Our Cousins

Mike's cousin Taylor and his sweet wife Loralee came by for dinner before they headed back to Duke for Taylor to start his 2nd year of Law School. Taylor clerked at a firm in Vegas this summer.

We had a great visit and it was fun for the boys to meet each other. Cameron is a real cutie. He tried out Jasper's high chair, as he is 5 months now.

Thanks for coming by to visit! Hope to see you next summer if you are in town.

Jasper goes to EFY

My friend Erica came down from BYU to check in on the EFY session at UNLV.

We were so excited because she stayed at our house for a couple of nights, and we were so happy to see her! She is expecting a little girl in a few months and I talked her ear off about baby product recommendations.
















Jasper and I attended EFY on games night and then Friday morning for the Session Director Devotional and a few classes.

Jasper loved the group cheers on Thursday night and everyone loved Jasper! He had his EFY onesie on and was pretty much photographed for 2 hours non-stop. Everyone who saw him exclaimed -- Oh look, it's an EFY baby!

Even though Mike claims that Jasper is an advanced baby, the classes were a little too advanced even for his brain and he resorted to some time with his favorite mini monster truck to keep himself occupied. I am sure that in 13 years he will really be ready for EFY.

Thanks for a fun visit Erica! We love you!!!

I Love To See the Temple

If we need to stop on our way to and from Beaver, we stop at the St. George Temple. I love to show Jasper the displays in the Visitors Center and share my testimony of Jesus Christ with him as we walk around the Temple grounds.

When I was a counselor for Academy for Girls we would take our girls to the Salt Lake Temple every week and share a lesson about Temples with them on the Temple grounds. I knew that I wanted to repeat these spiritual experiences with my own children.

Jasper is doing "the Horse stance"on the Temple grounds. I found this amusing, as Mike loves to show us his Kung Fu moves, especially the Horse.

When Jasper reached the top of the stairs he tried to open the Temple doors. I thought it was cute because if you know Jasper you know that he LOVES doors. I hope he will always want to enter the Temple doors.

I made poster size prints of Jasper in front of the Temple and in front of the Christus. When we are in his room I show him the pictures and remind him of our special times there.

Beaver Wildlife

If you are headed back into town from Grandpa Dick's house at dusk you are sure to see deer on the road coming down from the mountains to feed in the fields. Here are two that we watched jump over the fences and play in the sunlight.

I also had to include a photo of a goat that we see every time we leave town. I am sure this goat has a story. If anyone from Beaver is reading this blog and wants to tell me how this family acquired a goat for a pet, I'd love to know. This goat is always on the same spot every time we drive by. Silly goat.

Granpda Dick

My grandpa's name is Richard, but he goes by Dick. I am not sure why. Maybe because it is an alliteration with his last name.

This our 2nd visit to see him this summer. Since he lives on a mountain, the winter is a big no go for going to his house. I can remember one Christmas day walking up the road to his house with my family and all of our presents in tow in big trash bags. Boy, we were ambitious.

My grandpa has an amazing green thumb. He can grow anything. In addition to peaches, apples, tomatoes and cherries, he is currently growing green table grapes. On a mountain in Southern Utah. I had to take the photos to prove it.

My grandpa is a volunteer extraordinaire. He has coached more baseball, softball, t-ball and football teams than anyone I know. And he has the awards, trophies and plaques to prove it. His living room is a bit of a hall of fame. Included are his awards as former Beaver School Board President and member, and community service awards.

Each trip I do a living history on video and record my grandpa answering questions about his life and family. So since I was documenting, I figured his awards deserved their own photo shoot. Please note that this is only a small portion. I am serious.

Thanks for your example granpda Dick.

Sleep Sweet Jasper, Sleep

Yesterday, after a busy day and no nap, Jasper finally crashed out as soon as we drove up the mountain to my grandpa's house. All alone on the great big lawn. He seemed so peaceful.

I could not resist capturing a worn out little foot and tiny curled fingers.

Sleep in Heavenly peace.

Small Town Memories

After breakfast with my grandpa, Jasper and I headed over to the park to visit and grab a snow cone. We had a great chat with my PTA softball coach, Elizabeth Yardley. She is from Scotland, and our team was affectionately named the "Sassie Lassies". I played on her team for 3 years, and then played on the "Funshine Gang" during 6th grade. The Funshine Gang won the sportsmanship award, but the Sassie Lassies, well we were Sassy, and played hard and won often.

Jasper finally fell asleep in his stroller, so we just walked back to Bonnie's mom's house, which is across the street from my old house. We had a nostalgic walk.

Past the library. Bonnie's grandma Wanda Roberts was the librarian, so we probably spent more time than most kids at the library. We also had dance, ballet, tap and even clogging in the basement of the library building. I am proud to say that for a few years we were instructed by the one and only Fred Adams.

Next we strolled past the Beaver 1st & 2nd Ward Building where I spent a lot of time growing up. I still remember walking home from school to the church to attend Primary on Wednesday afternoons.

Then we passed "Aunt" Kathleen Smith Farnsworth's home, which has since been renovated my her family members. And we saw the tire swing that we spend many hours in. We used to help Kathleen when it was her turn for water and we would rake her leaves in the fall, and then jump into the huge piles. Kathleen was an amazing woman, and was Mother of the Year in Utah in 1968.

Then onto the Browns' home. Note the pile of wood in the backyard. When I was younger the Brown's sold wood out of their backyard, and their were piles and piles and piles of it.

I also took a photo of our little home that used to be a golden yellow color. So many memories. Too many to post today.