And Then Suddenly it's December!

On Friday it will be December! My last post was in early June. I have now been retired for nine months. I have to say retiring in the spring time was a good idea. Spring and summer were super fun. And now it's fall and we're raking leaves and getting rained on. But I'm still loving retirement.

The end of June we did another 2 week trip, but this time we stayed at the family cabin on the lake. The first week was my regular family reunion, we had a small group and my kids did not get to come this year. But we had fun. The second week my friend and her daughter and family came to the cabin. My sister and her husband stayed also. It was fun to see the excitement of the kids seeing Yellowstone and so many things for their first time. And we made deep fried scones with honey butter and they were so delicious.  

My friends from Sacramento came for a visit in July and we went to Paradise at Mt. Rainier. It's so beautiful there. It was a cloudy day, so we couldn't see the mountain. 

In the summer I did a hike at the Summit at Crystal mountain with a group from the Senior Center, it was a lot of fun. I also took my friend up to Sunrise at Rainier and we did some more hiking.

In September my daughter Natalie and I flew to Boston to visit my niece Lillie and her family. It was a really good trip, seeing the sights, eating, playing in the ocean, seeing the big mansions from the early years of the East Coast.

I just got home on Friday night from spending some time with my son in St. George and meeting my new 7 week old grand daughter, Arabella. She was born early and is so small, but so cuddly. It was fun seeing all four girls. And the weather was beautiful.

Amoura age 3

Grandma Trudy with Arabella

Avea and Annelise

Cedar City Temple

We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with Wally's family. Christmas preparations are now underway.

Road Trip for Two! Week Two

After the first week we were back in Salt Lake City for a few days. On Monday Wally and I went downtown. First we toured The Cathedral of the Madeleine. When I was in college I attended LDS Business College which was located on South Temple. Whenever we walked downtown we always walked past this beautiful Cathedral. I had been in it before and I knew Wally would enjoy seeing it.

From there we went to City Creek for lunch and for some free passes to Red Butte Gardens. If you show your out of state drivers license at the customer service counter you get a booklet of discounts for the shopping center and you can ask for free admission tickets to some of the area attractions. That's a really good tip to know.

Then we went to Temple Square and Wally sat in the shade so I could take some photos of the beautiful flower beds. It was the perfect time of year to catch the tulips.

It was such beautiful weather and was great to be outdoors.

That evening Natalie and Scott took us to dinner at Chili Tepin. Wally ordered his own plate and the three of us split the molcajete dish which was quite amazing. Full of chicken, steak, shrimp, nopales, green sauce, onions and jalepeno's. We even had some leftover.

Seriously, as good as it looks!

We spent Sunday through Wednesday night at Natalie and Scott's house. On Tuesday morning Wally and I had breakfast at Blue Plate Diner. In the afternoon we drove to Loretta's house and then with her Mom went out to her daughter Jackie's home to visit and have a barbecue. It was fun to see everyone and meet the youngest little girl that we hadn't met before.

My notes for the trip ended with Tuesday! So now I'll be going on my memory. Wednesday afternoon Sue and Becky arrived in Salt Lake. We picked Natalie up at work and we all went to Red Butte Gardens and walked around. What a beautiful place. We parked Wally in a nice shaded area while we explored the various gardens. This is a place that would be fun to see in all seasons as the plants in bloom change.

Another beautiful sunny day in the city. After Red Butte we met picked up Scott and met Russell for dinner at Mimi's for dinner and a visit. Becky and Sue then drove to Springville.

Wally and I drove to Springville on Thursday morning. The next few days was our sister's weekend with my plus one of Wally. We cleaned, we ate, we watched movies, we went to a craft boutique, we had a super fun time together.

 Caramel covered marshmallows with chocolate and peppermint, why ask why? They were delicious.

Sunday we drove to Boise. Wally and I stopped in Heyburn, Idaho to visit my Dad's cousin, Frank and his family.

Sunday night was spent with Sue and Dennis and then we were home on Monday, May 8th.

We got home to nice mowed lawns thanks to great neighbors.
I have to say I love retirement. And I love my family and I'm happy we were able to go visit everyone.

Road Trip for Two! Week One

Do you know what the best thing is about going on vacation when you are retired? That dreaded feeling of vacation ending and having to go back to work is gone! Completely gone, it's awesome.

This may end up in two separate posts. Wally and I went on a two week road trip. We ate a lot of good stuff, saw a lot of family and friends and literally spent 15 days together pretty much non stop. And we survived!

I had this idea many months ago and was able to convince Wally how "fun" it would be. We coordinated dates with everyone and put the plan in place.

We drove from home to Boise on Monday, April 24th. We loaded the car with some items going to Wayne's house and Wally's really cool Skilsaw bag that he thought made a great overnight bag. Seriously, do you see the size of that thing?

Monday night was spent at Sue and Dennis' home in Boise. The next morning on our way to Salt Lake City we went to Logan, Utah to visit my great nephew Nathan. He just returned from a mission in Poland recently. It was surprising to realize how two years had gone by since we last saw him. He was working so we picked him up at work and went out to lunch. It was a short visit but so fun to spend some time with him.

After taking him back to work, we went to see the Logan temple and were treated to beautiful tulips and the sun peeking out from a rainy day.

 Wally had been joking earlier about cupcakes so I dazzled him with my smart phone skills and found a cupcake shop before heading out of Logan.

We then drove to Natalie and Scott's home in Millcreek where we would spend the next two nights. We visited with one of my old college room mates who I stay in touch with. Wally and I went out to dinner while Natalie and Scott went to a concert.

Wednesday night we went to Sicilia Mia's for dinner. I love Italian food and I love cheese. Drool over this video. That was my dinner, and also Natalie's lunch the next day.

On Thursday morning we visited my friend Loretta and her mother at their home, then went to IHOP and visited over breakfast. It was so good to see them. We then visited my sister Nancy in Springville, then we headed to Hurricane, Utah where my son lives with his wife and three daughters. We rented a condo in Sports Village in St. George.

Wally hadn't seen Wayne's family since last summer in June, so it was a lot of fun.

The condo was a pretty nice place. We had a full kitchen and lots of space. It was nice having a living room. Only problem was the bed was too tall for Wally! So we slept in one of the other beds.

On Friday afternoon Wally and I picked up the two older grand daughters and went up to Zion National Park. I finally got to go there! And it was beautiful. It's such a short drive from Wayne's house. The weather was perfect. There were lots of tourists there. Annelise took a lot of pictures with my camera and Avea took some photos with my cell phone. It was really fun. We rode the bus up to another stop and walked around just a little bit. You can see a lot from the bus ride.

After the park we went into the small town of Springdale to Zion Pizza & Noodle for some super yummy pizza. I probably should have warned you that this is as much about the food we ate as it is about everything else we did.

On our trip we went out a lot for a big breakfast mid morning, then we'd have a snack and then a great dinner. That seemed to be our pattern for awhile.

One of my favorite breakfasts of the whole trip was crepes at Bear Paw Café in St. George. We had eaten there before a couple of years ago. It's a busy place but worth the wait.

Those were so delicious filled with cream, strawberries and bananas.
On Saturday, Wayne and Andrea brought the girls over to the condo. We played games in the club house for a little bit. Air hockey with Avea was a blast, as was watching Annelise play pool. They had to leave for a little bit, so Wally napped on the couch in the condo and I relaxed by the pool.

Now, that's something I could really get used to. After so much rain in Kent, having two weeks of pure sunshine was incredible!

Later that day Wayne and family came back over and the girls and I went swimming. They all loved the water and we had a blast. Then we went out for Italian food nearby and then a quick stop at Wayne's to pick up some things that we were taking home.

Sunday morning we left St. George and headed north. We stopped at Cove Fort, Utah and toured the grounds with an older sister missionary. I had never stopped there before and it was pretty fun to see.

On our way back to Salt Lake we stopped and visited with Emily and Nancy for a little while. Back in Salt Lake Sunday night we went to Ruth's Diner with Natalie and Scott for dinner.

That pretty much sums up the first week of our trip.