A Quick Visit From Grammy

Life is good when Grammy comes to town! We always love it when grandparents come to see us, and Grammy (Rob's mom) was able to make a quick trip to Park City last weekend. Her main priority while she was here - spend time with the little man! We were able to spend some quality time at the Park, on a picnic, on a walk up and down Main Street, at a concert at Big Canyon Ranch, and with lots of play time at home! We love you Grammy!

Here are a few highlights from Grammy's visit!

FORE!!!

The annual Young Life Golf Tournament was held a little over a week ago. In the past I have been unable to help out or play in the tournament because of work, but this year I got to do both. I actually got to play in the tournament, and I got to play with my friends on the one and only women's team in the entire tournament. OK, "play" might not be the best way to describe what my team did on the course that day, but we did laugh a lot, some of us cussed a lot - Shelley, and we had a great time. Not only that, but we got last place! Usually last place means no prize and no bragging rights, but because of some generous donors this year, all teams received a prize - including our last place team. We all got new golf bags - not your typical prize for last place! Woo Hoo. The great thing is, all of us needed new golf bags. That 's not something you buy when you only play a few times a year, but now that we have new bags, we want to get out there and put them to good use.
We are looking forward to next year, and we are ok with the fact that we might receive last place once again. Who knows, maybe we'll be awarded new clubs!

On a sidenote - I ended the tournament with the same ball I started with. For those of you who don't play golf, this means nothing. For those of you who do, that's right, one ball for all 18 holes, and there is a lot of water, backyards, and crazy out of bounds areas on the course. I don't mean to brag - ok, I do.

I lost that ball two days later when Rob and I played nine holes on the same course. Bummer.

The only women's team. We look better than we play.

The last place winners and their new golf bags!

Rob sporting the pants I begged him not to wear.

A Fall Surprise!

Fall is here in Park City, and with it comes so much! Red and orange hues on the mountains, speckled Aspen leaves in our yard, cool mornings and warm Chai Tea, sweaters that have been packed away (for a short time - really, most of them remained within reach), fall scented candles, college football, beautiful afternoons and evenings, bike rides across golden leaf paved trails, home football games, Young Life clubs, and Halloween candy aisles at the grocery store. (I already bought Milky Ways and stuck them in the freezer. I love frozen Milky Ways!) With the good also comes a lonely hummingbird feeder on our back porch, the occassional downright cold morning where ice covers the grass and roof, empty trees, school (but I'm not teaching this year so who cares!!!), early sunsets, the end of summer, a farewell to flip-flops and shorts, and spiders making their way into our house for a warm place to sleep. We are used to and can handle the typical, smaller spiders that are easy to get rid of and are not very intimidating. However, as Sawyer and I were leaving the house a few days ago, this is what was resting on the door frame of our front door!






The pictures do no justice to the size of this HUGE spider. The good news is he was outside the house and not in! Rob and I did a little research and think it is called a Wolf Spider. The name sounds bad, but the spider is pretty harmless. They bite but they are not deadly. (For a while, we thought it was a Hobo Spider whose bite can take up to TWO years to heal.)

I caught our friend in a tupperware container and Rob took him to one of our Young Life kids who took him to his Biology teacher. He reported that he will probably kill and disect the spider at one point this year.

Spiders aren't the only creatures haunting me. Yesterday morning, I almost stepped on a snake while I was jogging on the trail near our house - I jumped over him in mid-stride. When I got home from my jog, Rob and Sawyer were in the garage and we discovered a dead bird under my car. My car stays parked in our garage and the garage door stays down. That means some critter carried it under there. Great.

OK grandparents. Who cares about a stupid spider. Here are a few photos of the boy.

Guitars, Cadillacs and Dwight Yoakum

Rob emceed a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser a few weeks ago (in between our assignment and leaving for Family Camp) and took part in the silent auction. He made a modest bid on some VIP Dwight Yoakum tickets and won! (Actually, his friend bid more than him, but Rob convinced him to scratch off his name!) So, Rob and I went to the Dwight Yoakum concert at Deer Valley on Saturday night. We had a reserved parking spot and reserved seats. Dressed in tight bluejeans, a jean jacket with rhinestone roses, and his signature cowboy hat, Dwight stomped those pointed cowboy boots, swung those pencil legs, and shook his skinny hips while singing all of his old tunes we love - and some I had never heard that he used to play in bars in his younger days. It truly was a great concert, and Dwight and his band are great performers. It was the perfect evening including great weather, awesome music, my sweet husband who packed a picnic basket with snacks and wine, a great parking spot and great seats, and best of all, we got to take in all the bad dancing taking place around us. The dancing got worse as the evening progressed and more and more people were courageous enough (or drunk enough) to stand up and dance. It was painful to watch a few of the ladies - I was embarrassed for them. But, you know what, they had fun. We did too!