Paxton Picture Show

Here's some pictures of Paxton taken by the hospital photographer.  Will be visible for the next two weeks. 
Go to http://chicago.bellababyphotography.com/
Click on "view my photos"
Use the code: gobr0428paxton

Pre- Wedding Scurry

As Lori's wedding date kept creeping ahead, Annette and I couldn't wait so we jumped in the car and made a dash to Utah to help get things going.  We left in a storm from Kalamazoo and the roads were terrible for about 30 minutes and then we drove out into dry pavement!   The dry roads lasted all the way to Denver where we stopped for the night and to visit Taki and Connie.  Of course Annette and I never stopped talking the whole way to Denver as we never run out of things to talk about.  Ruby was a very content traveler so the trip went smoothly.  While  in Denver we went to a little art fair and Taki and Connie got some Rubytime. Taki was also able to check out a problem with Annette's teeth and we were able to see him be a 'real dentist'. 
We were also able to have a little 'mini baby shower' for Connie on her day off and Taki cooked us his famous salmon with the pistachio/ basil topping. 

When we got to SLC, we helped Lori get the annoucements addressed and sent out.  Next we went to Provo to see Tad and watched him play soccer. 

After the soccer game we went to Brick Oven Pizza for some delicious pizza and rootbeer.  Everyone enjoyed watching Ruby blow on her pizza before eating it. 

We got the bridesmaid skirts designed and pinned the wedding dress for hemming.  Tad arrived in his nursing attire looking very official.

While Annette wasn't looking, Lori indulged Ruby in some delicious chocolate icecream.

As Annette and I got word about a possible storm that might hit SLC we both grew uneasy and felt we should make an early departure.  Once you put Annette in packing mode, she is a 'one woman wonder'.  She handed Ruby to Casey and Lori and had us packed and ready to go in about 30 minutes. 

We got as far as Evanston and got off to get gas before heading into Wyoming. It was snowing but the roads weren't really bad yet so we still hoped to outrun the storm. While we were at the Flying J, they closed 80 East. We were puzzled why we were prompted to leave but I felt like we should just get a room and wait it out.

When we woke in the morning, we found that Utah had gotten slammed by several storms and that the way we had traveled over dry roads was now a nightmare. We were able to get onto 80 East in the morning and within 30 minutes were on totally dry roads. That's enough adventure for me! Mission accomplished.

Back by popular demand!!!

Well mostly he's just back because his mission is over, but the point is - HE'S BACK! We had a small crew at the airport to welcome him home. Naturally he decided to be courteous and let EVERYONE get off the plane first while we all anxiously scanned every face that came down the ramp. Mom kept saying under her breath, "These people better get out of the way or they're going to get run over when I see Tosh!" Luckily the way was clear for his grand entrance!

Ruby enjoys her first doughnut while we wait.

So basically the worst movie ever....I thought it would be awesome if I had the iphone taking a video while I snapped some shots with our real camera. If I was that coordinated it would have been awesome...but what actually happened is that I took a pretty boring video with my finger over the mic AND forgot to snap pics with the other camera....wow.

Now that is a happy mom!
back for 5 seconds and already crakin us up!
Fascinated by the badge.
Classic Ruby- left thumb in mouth, right hand tugging ear
Dad has been busy cooking all of the favorites. We had pocki (so fricking delicious) and the full on New Year's feast - I'm talkin' shrimp tempura, footballs, chicken teryaki, and maki sushi. It's been intensely delicious since his return!

We also had a chance to go to the temple on thursday. Everyone went since dad is on spring break. It was a little chilly so we didn't spend much time outside, but while mom, dad, and tosh were doing a session we did some walking around the quaint temple grounds. Not sure why we just got pictures of ourselves....kinda lame.


Preston's squinting because of the sun - Ruby just looks like that when she smiles!

Taki and Connie Move to Castle Rock

Note that there aren't any pictures of 'the move'... because it was non stop typical moving day craziness mixed with the worst storm of the year. We woke up to a fairly nice day and began finishing the packing and cleaning we had been doing the day before. Connie had a lot done and the apartment was quite clean so we thought we were in good shape. Ward members began to arrive to help with the move and we scurried to keep up. Taki drove the truck like he had been doing it his whole life. If you remember, they sold all of their 'goods' when they left Baltimore and moved to Denver with just the stuff they could fit in their 2 cars. So, Taki thought he was more than prepared with a 16 foot truck that 'would hold everything in a 2 bedroom apartment'. Wrong. The truck soon filled and there were still bikes and things that needed to go in the cars. So, we all drove to Castle Rock to find that we forgot the 'dolly' for the heavy items. Connie and I rushed back to Lone Tree to get it and got back just in time to see that all of the moving had already been done by the Castle Rock ward. The next fiasco occurred when we couldn't find the curtain rod hardware to put the old rod back up. That was found carefully packed in the new rod box later... But night was falling and so was the snow.. quite heavily as Taki rushed to get new hardware and put up the rod. It was about 11pm when 3 cars struck out in a terrible snowstorm. I was trying to follow but couldn't see any cars through the snow...but suddenly I saw 2 bikes on the back of a car and thought "who in their right mind would have bikes on their car on a day like this??.. oh, the bikes! it's Taki". So, I got as close as I could and we struck out.. not knowing where Connie was. I quickly realized I couldn't see anything and had to get off to clear a better spot. Instead of pulling over, Taki wisely suggested that we pull off at the exit and he braved the elements to clear my car better. Back on the road it was white knuckle driving and Taki's tires were bald so he was slipping and sliding. When we arrived at the new home, we were happy to see that Connie had made it.. although a car had spun out in front of her and almost caused her to crash. So, that is the end of the move story.. quite miserable but I noted that in spite of all of the adversity there was not a cross word spoken or any tension between them. I was quite impressed. So, the new house is beautiful except for the colors of the walls on the main floor.. which were a bold mustard yellow, aspen green, and a bright red. We had to remedy this and set to painting.

You see the results of our painting were beautiful. It took longer than we thought but looks great. Taki was faster and better than I was but I was retired... so I did much of the work... and learned a few things about 'brandishing' or making a line to change colors between rooms with rounded corners.
We Both leaned into the paint a few times. I noted that my 'paint highlights' lasted almost as long as the ones I paid to get at the hair salon.
There was still plenty to do but Taki and Connie insisted on taking me out to dinner with one of Taki's famous coupons. We went to The Old West BBQ... a little tackiness in the atmosphere.. but the food was great. Note Taki with Buffalo Bill.

Goodbye Mabel

Saying goodbye to Mabel wasn't easy. So many memories.. good and bad.. Working at the Y, Toshi's crash, Tim's impressive renovation, Toshi's hope that she would wait for him on his mission and desire to drive her to Idaho and everyone's doubts that she'd make it (made us both want to try) an inconquerable spirit... no repairs in years... but getting old and a bit fragile.

Goodbye!

From coast to coast!

After our vacation to Boston we headed to LA for some seriously needed R&R. Preston spent his days inside at the famous Hotel Del Coronado learning about boring medical stuff. Lame. I spent my days soaking up the rays, chillin by the pool, and strollin down the streets of Coronado island. We spent our nights eating DELICIOUS food! First night we got some burgers. MEGA delish. I tried my first turkey burger and it freaking rocked! wow. crazy good. It was packed with fresh basil and topped with grilled onions. wow. Second night we got a full meal at 3 different restaurants. For starters we got some $.99 tacos, our entree was at Yummy Sushi, and for dessert we made the terrible mistake of settling for yogurt escape. A pathetic version of yogurtland, but after sampling EVERY flavor we felt obligated to buy something. Our last night we hit up lil' piggy's BBQ. Super delicious bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with deliciousness. Shut up. For dessert we had a surprisingly yummy cheesecake cupcake and a snickers carmel apple. Duh. We also got some AMAZING gelato our last afternoon there and lamented over not going there EVERYDAY! We've decided that our first order of business when we get to texas will be starting our own gelateria! Which will never make a profit because I will eat it all! To help offset our dinner splurges we ate PB&J's for all our other meals :)
Ok enough about the food....we also did some fun sightseeing! Ruby had her first beach visit. Although we had GREAT weather at the hotel, once we got closer to the beach the wind made things a little chilly, but that didn't stop Ruby from gettin' her beach on! She absolutely LOVED playing in the sand and only ate one handful! I'm not sure if she liked the freezing cold water but she definitely had fun knocking down all of daddy's sand castles! We also had a chance to drive out to the San Diego temple. SO gorgeous. I always wanted to get married there but it wouldn't have been even remotely convenient. It was fun to finally see it in person. spectacular. We took about a hundred million pics like this trying to get a good one of us AND the temple...this is the best we could do....This was the moment we realized that the case I bought Preston for his iphone causes the pics to look terrible like this...NOOOOOOOO Such a fun trip full of friends, family, food, relaxing, and SUNSHINE! Ruby gives it a big thumbs up!

Jordan is Living the Northview Experience!!

Jordan with bleached hair .. nice and crispy from the pool chemicals... after playing a fabulous band concert including solos.

Jordan sporting the new swim team warm up coats... and looking like an actor from Star Wars..
Way to play!!!! Jordan rocks his solo! He's 15 and living the Northview Dream...