A Day of Surprises!

 

Hillary and Patrick flew in late Friday night to spend all day Saturday, July 25th with us.  For my 2nd day in a row, we went to breakfast at my favorite place Penny Ann's Cafe.  We headed up to Snowbird after that, rode the tram to the top, went through the tunnel and hiked the 4 miles to the base.

We grabbed lunch on the way home and then Hillary and I went to get manicures.  Needless to say, I didn't know this was solely to get me out of the house for an hour so to enable the guys to get my 50th birthday surprise party ready!  When Hillary and I got home, John had parked a couple of his construction trucks in front of the garage so I had to walk in the front door.  And there you have it!

It was fun to see so many new friends and old--especially Frankie Barney who was at my 16th surprise birthday party when my parents took us to Disneyland!

 

Heather Passey made two beautiful cakes--my favorite flavors of peanut butter and chocolate was the on the cake I blew out the candles.  Other party guests brought additional treats, chips and salsas to go with the meal from catered from Costa Vida.

After everyone left and we'd cleaned up, Hillary presented me with an amazing birthday book full of letters and memories from family and friends which I'm sure too her hundreds of hours to compile.  It's beautiful!

Cooper got a bit attached to Patrick this visit...

What a fabulous way to begin my 50th year!  Hats off to this incredible daughter of mine who did the majority of the work and pulled it off!!

 

Celebrating the 24th of July

I can't remember when we HAVEN'T set up chairs to watch the Bountiful Handcart Days Parade on Main Street.  We have different people join us each year but it's a fun tradition and my cute sons still seem to enjoy it!

 

I started training last January for a half marathon I did in April.  I ran well but felt I could do better.  I continued raining for another half, all downhill, I'm running in September but thought I'd do a progress check by sneaking one more half in before my September race.  I registered for the Deseret News Classic a week before the race, hopped on the bus at Rice Eccles Stadium at 4:15 am to get dropped off 6 miles up Emigration Canyon, started the race at 6:00 am and ran across the finish line at 7:36 am.  

Cut 8 minutes off my April time.  Guess the training is working...

 

My good friends met me after the race to do a pre-celebratory birthday breakfast at Penny Ann's Cafe--my favorite breakfast place.  They let me come even though I was sweaty and smelly!

That's when you really know they're TRUE friends :)

 

America the Beautiful!

My adventure to visit all 50 states is still alive and well... 

Grayson, Garrett, John and I flew to Boston on Tuesday, July 7 for five full days in New England with activities and tours while knocking four more states off my list.  9 to go!!

DAY 1:  BOSTON - Hop On/Hop Off Trolley tour, Boston Harbor cruise, Freedom Trail tour, Prudential Tower Observation Skywalk, Red Sox game at Fenway Park vs. Marlins

 DAY 2: BOSTON AREA/DRIVING - Lexington ride through Lexington and Concord, Boston LDS Temple, Salem

We ate lunch at famous Red's Sandwich Shop in Salem and heard their pancakes were incredible so we ordered just one to taste.  It was GOOD and it was BIG!

 

Drove through Maine and New Hampshire to get to our final destination of the day--Vermont--which is now one of my favorite states...  We even saw a black bear crossing the highway in New Hampshire but couldn't get the camera out fast enough!

 

We ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Manchester Village, Vermont called Seasons.

 

We loved our beautiful hotel, Vermont's Equinox Resort and Spa in Manchester.

 

DAY 3: VERMONT/NEW YORK - Hiked to the top of Blue Summit (steep 6 miles r/t), swimming, hot tub at resort

Ate a delicious lunch at Zoey's Deli... INSTEAD of Big Moose Deli!

 

Final destination of the day:  Syracuse, NY.  Checked out the Destiny USA Mall which was half the size of Mall of America and went to the Minions movie.

 

DAY 4:  PALMYRA - Peter Whitmer Farm, Palmyra Temple, Smith Farm, Sacred Grove, Grandin Publishing, Hill Cumorah, Hill Cumorah Pageant

DAY 5: NIAGARA FALLS - Maid of the Mist boat ride, Cave of the Winds, trolley ride through Niagara State Park, IMAX movie about the Falls, Rainbow Bridge to Canada

One of my favorite trips so far!!  The boys had a great time together, we shared lots of laughs, learned new things and created memories to last a lifetime!