3rd Annual British Party

It's that time of year again

We had an excellent time. For those who are new to this event we get all my sibs together that can come and celebrate Great Britain. My parents were the hit of the party dressing up as

King and Queen

We eat a potluck of different dishes some British, some not so British. This year we had Tilapia, breadsticks, safron bread, veggie tray, potato wedges, peas and chocolate milk. For dessert we had the traditional Sticky Toffee Pudding. I forget how good that stuff is. (M and I made some and shared it with our neighbors, one of them called it 'Heaven in a cup' I think she was spot on)

We mostly visit, play games and just laugh and eat until we can't do either anymore. New this year, I bought some fancy china from the makers of Wedgewood and my sister made a fun picture book party favor with pictures from the U.K.

We had a great time, and next spring it will happen again.

MacMaster Leahy Concert

M took me to see one of my favorite music artists awhile ago (I haven't blogged lately; shame on me). This is Natalie MacMaster and Donell Leahy (married). They are fantastic fiddle players, and I just can't get enough of their music. Their albums are my favorite, but to see them live is awesome. When you watch their show it's like you're hanging out at your friends house and they're just there playing and showing off.

I was lucky enough to get a picture and autographs.

Do you ever think about what you're going to say to someone you really admire? I have; but it still sounded way lame. I just thanked them for sharing their talents and their music really helped keep me motivated when I was sick. M told me that I didn't sound like a blundering idiot, so I guess it was okay. It was a great show and if you get the chance you should go.

R.I.P

The day has finally come. The hair dryer that my Mom bought for me in 1993 has finally died. It was a sad moment last night when I plugged it in and nothing happened. I even tried plugging it in to other outlets, but to no avail. It was finally time to get a new one. But it's okay, it had a long a good life.

(I thought about posting a picture of it, but it's a little gross. You can imagine all the layers of haircare products caked on, Bleck!)

Jetty and the Trains Part 2

Our next stop brought us to the Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake.

This was created by an artist named Robert Smithson. I don't know anything else about it other than it's a lot bigger than you think. If you click on the picture above you can see a tiny me with my arms outstretched. I like inter-active art. It must have taken the artist a long while to haul all those rocks out there.

Here M and I go around the jetty to the center.

This was a really cool interesting place that kids and adults would love. It did take about 3 hours to drive to it, and is free. The lake does rise with spring/summer runoff, and bugs will probably be bad the warmer it gets. It makes you realize the Great Salt Lake is great, it is one big body of water.

Jetty and the Trains Part 1

Feel free to sing the title of this post to the Elton John song 'Benny and the Jets'

We had a little vacation to celebrate our anniversary this week and saw some pretty cool stuff. One of our stops was the Golden Spike National Monument. Since it wasn't peak visting hours the engines were not running, but we still were able to see them in the engine house a little bit away from the museum. It was a really cool place. With todays technology whizzing back and forth as speedy as can be, it's good to remember that these machines changed the way people did anything in the West or the U.S. This was a great stop and well worth the $5.00.

Practice what you preach

I know I just posted about seeing our parks, well we took it to heart and went and saw what we have around.

First, we went to lunch at Lunch Lady Land at the Freeport Center. I thought I looked a little like a correctional facility from the outside but it turned out to be really nice and tasty.

Then we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum. Huge gigantic planes with excellent displays. This rock is actually a piece of the "White cliffs of Dover" click on the photo if you want to see it bigger and read the sign.

The blue contraption is how they trained pilots in WWI. Imagine putting your front load washing machine down so the door opened towards the sky. Then climb inside. After that have someone put a cardboard box that is about the size of a small microwave over your head.Now pretend to fly a plane.

After you get done with the blue box, you can take this for a ride (click on picture to read sign). If you don't throw up or eat your on hair from being in the blue box, then I guess you are on your way to becoming a pilot.

We took way more pictures but they don't do justice to the size and capacity of these flying machines. They are remarkable. My favorite was the Blackbird, and M really liked all the giant aircraft outside. And one of the coolest things is the cost to go $0.00 a.k.a free. We had a great time and learned a ton.

Nine

We celebrated 9 years of marriage this past Monday

There aren't enough or adequate words to express the amount of gratitude I have that we are married. He always makes me laugh, knows when I'm fibbing about how tired I feel, and would try to get me the moon if I asked for it. I'm so glad we found each other, married life is the best.