It's been a while since I have posted, so did you give up on me? I have a lot to catch you up on....so let the fun begin!
Of course I am not big on being wordy so we will try to tell you of our adventures with lots of pictures.
We went to Utah for over a week where we stayed with Vicki for a few days.
(Andrew, Michelle, Kyle, Vicki, Moose and Kona)
This allowed us to be close to BYU. One of Gordon's graduate professors retired this year and he had invited his graduate students back.
Gordon got to attend one of his last lectures, lunch and then dinner with a group of them. I got to attend dinner and it was fun. We ate at an Indian food place on Main Street in Provo. I got to sit next to a graduate student from Brazil who was quite a kick. Nice guy.
Then we went to Tooele for a couple of days and stayed with Kelly and Justin and Lylia.
That was fun too. Lylia has grown so much since my last visit :o) I bought all of the little girls matching dresses.
I got pictures of them...unfortunately, not in the same state! Jennifer took a couple really cute ones of Maddy and Lylia. I will have to get one from her. And then we got one of Amber and Robyn when we visited Syracuse.
After Tooele, we went to visit my parents in Colorado for a couple of days. It was a really nice visit. He was a good sport and played 'dress up for us with some Nigerian shirts we found while looking for something else!
My dad is doing pretty good. He tires easily and the pain was getting to him, but other than that, he was in good spirits. We got to go with them and meet his doctor and see the place where he gets his chemo treatments. It's a very nice, sunny place with very nice people. I was able to hand deliver the quilt I made for their 53rd wedding anniversary.
I named it 'Come dance with me", because they always loved to go dancing and I remember my dad saying to my mom at home when there was good music playing...'come dance with me'. Very appropriate and sentimental.
On our way back to Utah, we decided to stop at Moab and see the Arches there. We are always talking about doing it, but never had....so....we just did it! We had a fun time there. The day was beautiful. Perfect for a little hiking to a few of the arches.
We enjoyed our little side trip.
Back to Tooele just in time to repack and to leave the next day for home. Only we had a bonus because Jennifer and Maddy came back with us! Maddy and Gordon played at the SLC airport for a little bit before we boarded the plane.
Maddy did pretty darn good for her first flight. It was nice with the 4 of us being on one row. We could take turns entertaining Maddy and passing her back and forth. Of course, Mom was still her favorite seat :o)
Back home, Jennifer informed me that we were doing a "make-over of my bedroom".
I tried to reassure her that it wasn't necessary, but she was persistant and now it looks like a new room! Of course, we were all exhausted afterwards, but it is sooooo nice to walk into now. I actually have a room that I am not embarassed to show. We painted walls and funiture. I still need to make valances, but I will! Jennifer left me with a 'to do' list. (I will post an 'after' picture soon!)
We did manage to make time for some other fun and games. We did some shopping and eating out. We even manage to squeeze in a day trip to Philadelphia which was great fun.
It was a beautiful fall day.
We had a good time.
We just wore poor Maddy out....she got her naps in when she could. We call this the Maddy hand dance!
Of course, we had a difficult time getting out of Philadelphia! Oh - I take that back....we got out just fine but going the wrong direction across a bridge where we had no idea where we were headed!
I told Jennifer to get the map and to tell me where we were headed..."I don't know how to read a map!"....."You are going to have to learn reallllll quick!!" It was quite the humorous conversation (now it is...then it was a little tense lol!) "Where are we going?"...."I don't know!!"...."What do you mean you don't know...what does the map say??"....."I don't know!!"
Now, we can laugh. Needless to say, we made it home safe and sound. Of course, we had to pay for 2 more tolls and we were without money! Now THAT was interesting...pulling up to the toll booth and trying to explain that we were out of money. I guess we weren't the first, not will we be the last :o) They will bill us! All's well that ends well!
Then we drove up to Syracuse to spend a few days with Bryan, Melissa and the girls. It was fun to spend the time together. One of the days we went to Palmyra for one of Jennifer's roommates wedding. Meridith. What a beautiful bride she was. Aren't the red shoes too cute!
Jennifer's other roommate, Ann, was there too.
So it was fun to watch them all together. Jennifer was Meridith's photographer.
She did such a nice job. The fall leaves made for such a beautiful back drop. We did the Sacred Grove while Jennifer did the wedding temple pictures.
Melissa and Bryan took pity on little Maddy and took her home with them for the rest of the day for a good nap and then fun playtime with her cousins
while Jennifer and I finished up the day at the reception doing the pictures. We were going to go to a pumpkin patch on Saturday, but we awoke to a day full of rain! So we mostly stayed indoors and played and napped.
Sunday, we went to church (Bryan, Amber, Robyn, Melissa)
(2 cousins ready for church! Robyn and Maddy)
(brother and sister and cousins off to church! Bryan, Robyn, Jennifer, Maddy)
and then I left to drive home and Bryan drove Jennifer and Maddy to Rochester to meet up with Ann and to fly home. I guess poor little Maddy had a rough 1st flight home. Luckily, Ann was there to try to help out, and to give Jennifer support. Yea for Ann!
It was a long 3 weeks, but it was LOADS of fun. Before we left for Utah, I finished 2 quilts. One for Gordon and me (I call it Raspberry Truffle...it's NOT pink...but rather raspberry colored....that's what I told Gordon because he didn't care what color it was as long as it wasn't pink!! That's my story and I'm sticking with it! lol)
The one for my parents 'Come dance with me'.
Okay - I hope it didn't bore you too much and I hope not to take so long to update in the future!
We had a blast all week long. We played video games (alright - the guys played video games!), played board games, quilted a quilt (Melissa's first quilt! I'm so proud of her),
played ping pong and some pool, played on the swing set and glider swing,
read some books, 
watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,
stuffing, potatoes,
homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, chocolate cheesecake, birthday ice cream cake, (Melissa's birthday is next week),
and did I mention that we ate too? :o)
And of course we made time for some cuddles!
The house is VERY quiet without all the fun going on. Levi called and told me that Sydney said on the way home "Let's say all of the fun things we did in Maryland!" That is so Sydney....I'm glad that she had a fun time to remember!
She was all about 'fun'. She prayed for fun too!
Little Robyn was in heaven having a big cousin to play with and follow around. 
I think she will be a little lonely this week without her play buddy.
I think it went quite well. I handed out all of my business cards and sold some of our yummy honey and a few other trinkets that I made.
I even had a couple of ladies wanting to buy my red quilt on display!
.JPG)
