BASKETBALL WITH THE RIUDELS-FEBRUARY 2011

SYDNEY AND COLLIN HAVE BEEN ON BASKETBALL TEAMS FOR DRAPER COMMUNITY SPORTS. JAY THE COACH FOR BOTH TEAMS. THEY HAVE BEEN ENJOYING THEMSELVES AND I AM SURE THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW AWESOME THEIR DAD WAS FOR WILLING TO TAKE ON SUCH A BIG PROJECT WITH THE CRAZY SCHEDULE HE HAS. A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO WE MISSED A GREAT GAME WITH COLLIN. HE MADE 14 POINTS OUT OF 17, WAY TO GO! SYDNEY IS NOT AFRAID TO BE WITH ALL THOSE BOYS ON HER TEAM I AM SO PROUD OF BOTH OF THEM.

BEFORE THE GAME SYD WAS MAKING LOTS OF BASKETS WHILE PRACTICING

THE COACH/JAY

SYDNEY IS A GREAT DRIBBLER THE OTHER TEAM IS ON HER TRAIL
SHE IS AN AWESOME BASKET BALL PLAYERJAY WAS GIVING A COUPLE OF HIS KIDS SOME SUGGESTIONSLET THE GAME BEGIN COLLIN WAITING FOR HIS TEAM MATE TO PASS THE BALLTHROWING THE BALL BACK INTO THE COURTGREAT THROW COLLINANOTHER GREAT THROW THE OTHER TEAM IS TRYING TO KEEP COLLIN FROM SCORING

SHANNON'S SHOWER-FEBRUARY 5th

FAMILY SHOWER FOR SHANNON

NATALIE HELPED ORGANIZE THE SHOWER, SHE ALSO MADE YUMMY CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES AND PUNCH. SOUPIE AND CARLEE BROUGHT HUGE CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES AND BERTHA HELPED WITH A VARIETY VEGETABLES. SHANNON FROSTED THE MINI BROWNIES FOR ME SHE ALSO SURPRISED US BY MAKING SOME BEAUTIFUL MINI CHEESE CAKES.

BERTHA'S FAMILY GAVE SHANNON SOME WONDERFUL THINGS SUCH AS THIS TV MONITOR AS WELL AS CLOTHES A DIAPER PAIL AND GIFT CERTIFICATE.

I GAVE SHANNON THIS LITTLE OUTFIT, IT'S A CATTERPILLAR THAT SAYS SQUIRMY ON IT, I LOVE IT! NATALIE GAVE HER THE BIGGEST BOX OF DIAPERS I HAVE EVER SEEN!

BERTHA EVEN FOUND A NAVY BLUE & WHITE NAUTICAL CRIB SHEET!

SOUPIE, NATALIE AND I GAVE HER A LOT OF DIAPERS AND BABY CLOTHES. ROBIN GAVE SHANNON A CD THAT SHE AND HER FRIENDS AT THE "Y" CREATED WITH SPECIAL SONGS JUST FOR THE BABY. COOL IDEA ROBIN! EVEN BEFORE WE THOUGHT OF A SHOWER, SHANNON'S SISTER-IN-LAW, NICOLE GAVE HER A WONDERFUL DESIGNER STROLLER. I'M SURE SHANNON WILL LOVE TAKING THE BABY FOR WALKS IN THIS STOLLER AS IT MAKES FOR A SMOOTH RIDE FOR THE BABY AND AN EASIER STROLL FOR MOM.

SHANONNON WILL HAVE FUN PUTTING HER BABY IN THIS OUTFIT WHEN THEY GO TO THE BOYS BASEBALL GAMES......BATTER UP!

THE WEEKEND OF THE SHOWER, ROBIN WAS HERE FOR THE SHOWER AND HER DAD CAME INTO TOWN FOR GUARD SO THEY SPENT SUPPER BOWL SUNDAY WITH US.
JOHN WAS HAPPY THAT SOMEONE OTHER THAN MYSELF (WHO COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE SUPPER BOWL) WOULD SIT WITH HIM AND ENJOY THE GAME.

THANKS PAUL AND ROBIN!

CALIFORNIA TRIP JANUARY 27th - 31st

THURSDAY, JANUARY 27th

THE SANTA BARBARA ZOO

This is one of the highlights to my trip. I loved watching Creed get excited about all the animals.

Creed also loved the play ground at the zoo. I think he slid down this hill about a hundred times!

The gorilla was sitting right up against the window. Creed had a great view of this big guy.

Grandpa John gave Creed some food to feed the fish and ducks. Creed really loved throwing the food out and watching them all fight over it.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 28th

SANTA MONICA PIER

We enjoyed walking around the pier and checking out all the verdure's and performers. The day was warm and sunny. The pier was full of visitors and excitement.

Grandma never got as warm as we would have liked her to be, but she was a good sport and dressed accordingly and let us drag her around to all the places we thought she and Creed would enjoy. All in all we think she had a good time, but the trip was just a little too long for her. I think it took her a week to re-coop afterwards.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 29th

We stayed home and rested

SUNDAY, JANUARY 30th

Sunday morning the Strong's arrived back home from their cruise. Grandma Ellen was packed and ready to go, so we left late morning and arrived in St George early evening. Jean and Vince let us stay with them. Monday morning we headed for Ephraim to drop off Grandma. That afternoon we were home and ready for bed. It was a fun, but long trip for all of us. We loved our one on one time with our little boy Creed.

Thanks Mike and Niki for the beautiful blown glass ship and yes it is in my curio, I would not put it anywhere else.

CALIFORNIA TRIP.......JANUARY 23rd - 26th

SUNDAY, the 23rd and MONDAY, the 24th

We got adjusted to the California home and life. We took it easy and enjoyed the warmer weather.

Creed was such a delight to take care of. His favorite thing was to play out in the back yard. He also liked to tip over Buster's water several times a day, so I was constantly replenishing the water bowl. Buster loved having Creed all to himself, and they were pretty good together. I loved watching them interact.TUESDAY, JANUARY 25th

SOLVANG

On our way to Solvang (a Danish Community) our little Creed fell asleep. I had to get this picture of him, because his dad, Michael always slept with his arms over his head. He looks just like his dad in this picture.

This Windmill and Pastry shop were some of the beautiful buildings in this quaint village. The villaage reminded me a lot of our Park City, including Park City prices in some of their shops. It was still fun and worth the trip to visit. Especially knowing that Grandma loved it so much.
Grandma's favorite thing out of our whole California trip was her buying a Snow White and the seven dwarfs porcelain set. When she came here many years ago with Grandpa, she bought the coo coo clock that is still hanging over the stove in her kitchen in Ephraim. My favorite thing about Solvang was all the chocolate shops, I loved their Rocky Road Fudge, Yum! The one thing I didn't like about Solvang was the restaurant we went to where I did not want to eat the French Dip sandwhich because the roast beef had a green glow about it. I'm sure Grandma thought I was a spoiled child, but really, would you eat something that looked like it came from mars? Sorry I waisted your money John.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26th

OXNARD/NEAR PORT HUENEME

(we walked the beach, looking for rocks & sea shells)

Creed loved throwing rocks out into the ocean, he could have done that all day long and he didn't want to leave when it was time to go.

Watch that rock fly!

Creed got so involved in his efforts to get those rocks far out into the ocean that I had to grab him a couple of times to keep the waves from sweeping him away.

It was a warmer day and more enjoyable to be out in the sun than a few days ago.

Grandpa John and I enjoyed dancing with Creed. He loved that we would dance around in the kitchen with the music loud and us twirling him around. We had so much fun with him.