Princess for a day

Grandma Liz took the girls and I to the Princess Festival. It is an annual 3-part event used as a fundraiser for In our own Quiet Way, a group who provides humanitarian aid to people in Kenya. The boys opted to go fishing. Shocking, I know.

First thing we did when we arrived was a little treasure hunt. We found a Kenyan princess, met Winifred (from "Princess and the Pea), a sorcerer and a pearl princess. Lucy also got to help quilt a blanket for the kids in Kenya.

Both girls got measured for crowns and shoes.

Since the shoe fit, both princess Lucy and princess Elise received story books as the treasure hunt prize. It told the story of how the Princess festival idea came about and showed some pictures of the people we were helping. The last three pages were autograph pages. This was one of Lucy's very favorite parts of the day. She ran around from princess to princess and got some famous signatures.

Elise liked it too, but not for the same reason.

Next we went on an adventure to save the princess from the "mean season fairies". Lucy was a bit timid at the first, but warmed up to the idea. Here are all the little princesses with Tiana and Jack (from the Beanstalk) calling to Cinderella and prince Charming for help:

Elise got some attention from some helper princesses.

But during most of the adventure, she looked like this:

One of our favorite people to meet was the Queen of Hearts (aka Aunt Natalie)

Elise loved having a tea party in Wonderland. They also liked playing on the playground in Neverland and chasing Tinkerbell and Peter pan. The girls made crowns and wands and had a wonderful time being spoiled by grandma.

At the end of the day, the girls took off their dresses and played in the fountain by Ariel. They were thrilled! It was a wonderful day and if we are ever in UT at this time, we'll definitely come back! Thanks, grandma!

We've lived away from UT for 8 years now. Although I miss attending big family gatherings & parties for holidays and such, I think I miss the "just hanging out" time most.
Photos courtesy of uncle Jake.

Photo-free... almost

We've had a bit of a whirlwind week. With sad faces, we left San Antonio. Our last meal was a quick stop at Rudy's for take-out. I am pretty sure this was our first meal in San Antonio, so it seemed appropriate. Plus I got to eat the peach cobbler for dessert that night as well as breakfast the next morning. Double bonus. We drove to Houston the first night, arriving around 10ish. Everyone crashed, but the children were up very early the next morning. George wondered, "How come everyone in the family wakes up happy but the mom?" I have no idea, but exhaustion had to contribute on this one. We drove to New Orleans on Thursday without much to report, which is good news. We shipped our van to HI from there and flew to SLC the next morning to visit the fam.

We arrived in SLC at 10:15a.m. George's grandma Tripp (picture taken in February here) passed away on Tuesday and we made it just in time for the funeral at noon on Friday. I thought the whole thing was very nice and a great tribute to a sweet lady who loved to serve others. I remember her binding a quilt the Tripp ladies made us for our wedding. It was quite an act of love, especially for someone with bad arthritis. George and I have mentioned several times that when he lived with the Tripp grandparents during the summer we were engaged, she made him sack lunches to take with him everyday. I thought that was a pretty high standard that admittedly, I haven't lived up to (at all). Tom told us later that grandma Tripp didn't want a funeral because she thought the stories about her would be "ones people would be bored with and wouldn't want to hear anyway." She was never a lady to call attention to herself. Just for the record, the stories definitely weren't boring. Again, I thought it was quite a blessing to "happen" to be in UT at the time of her funeral to be with family. The timing was a reminder that God is aware of all of us, even has a hand in the details of our lives.

After the graveside service and family dinner, we drove up to Sundance to party with the rest of my family. It's always a weekend I look forward to: tennis and golf tournaments, relaxation, enough food to feed double the people in attendance (and we all double in size by the time we are finished), hike to Stewart falls, ski lift rides up the mountain (which was greener than I remember in a long time), late game nights, etc. FUN times! Why am I typing all of these boring words instead of posting pictures? Well, I left my camera in SA at Wendy's house. Total moron. Actually, I left my open purse low enough for Austin to unload it before we said goodbye. Still a moron. {Side note: Check out some of these fun things we did with Wendy's fam before we left. Great fun! We miss them so much!}

Wendy called while we were on the road with the sad news of leaving the camera behind and George said (with a big smile), "Oh, that's too bad. A photo-free weekend." So, with no photographs to make this post interesting, I am stealing a few of my sister-in-law's. If I get some of the funeral, I'll add those in later. And the camera is on its way... :)

Goodbye to more important stuff

Its time to say "Goodbye." Not my favorite thing to do. In fact, when we left Omaha, I decided I wasn't going to make any close friends because I didn't want to do the "goodbye" thing again. I was so sad when we went our separate ways. But {thankfully} that didn't happen. And as I was talking to my mom about it today, she said, "Well, it would be much sadder if you weren't sad. If you were really thrilled to leave and didn't care about anyone, I think that would be much worse." And of course, she is right. I will miss both friends and acquaintances dearly. I keep telling myself that with technology and such, the world can still stay pretty small. But I will miss the daily associations of great people here.

Last week we went to Pei Wei and this is the fortune George got:

I guess so. But right now I just want to cry... boo hoo!

*On a happier note, check out this cute post on Lucy and Elina's sleepover party*

Working

Things have been slightly nuts around here. No matter how much planning, there are always "last minute" things to do. I admit, I seem to find lots of unnecessary things to do as well. But its coming together. We've had lots of kind friends offer to help out w/ tending, food, and other things. We've also used our child labor the best we know how. Somehow these kinds of "chores" are more fun for them than the normal ones.

Goodbye things

I'm really not a big fan of "goodbyes". I am a sentimental person and I get too sad about it all. Our packers come tomorrow morning and reality is just barely starting to creep in that we're actually leaving. Amidst the craziness we've been trying to visit a few SA favorites for the last time (at least in a while :). Of course, I'll miss the wonderful people in San Antonio the very most, but there are also some "things" I'll miss.

Dinner at Boudro's. This place is only a "special occasion" eating out place for us but I love it when we go there. Even as I write this, I am salivating when I think of their make-it-tableside guacamole. Mmmmm... delicious! Notice I am wearing my big "non-waist" dress so I could stuff myself sick. And I did. In addition to the guac, I had blackened prime rib (never had it here and it was absolutely fabulous) with garlic mashed potatoes and added key lime pie for dessert. No sharing. Ok... maybe a "taste for a taste" but that is it!



Taking visitors to the Alamo

Favorite place on the Riverwalk.

Yucca blooms over the back fence.

San Antonio temple (and all the Bluebonnets, of course)

And obviously, there are lots of other things that I don't have pictures of that I'll miss. I'm always sad to leave my house/yard when I have worked hard to get to the way I like it. Its also remembering all sorts of good memories and how our family has grown as we've lived in this house...

I know there are lots of good "things" to come, but I'll sure miss good 'ol San Antonio!

Ear update

*I really should be packing, cleaning, and about a hundred other things. Hmmm... not in the mood*

Elise's ear is healing nicely. Thankfully, she did not get cauliflower. That looked so nasty. Maybe google images just shows the gross pictures first, but it scared me enough to be extra precautious. Elise did okay about keeping her "bunny hat" on. She was great the first day, but by the second day, it had lost the appeal. George pulled the stiches out Saturday and already its looking pretty good. With this kid, I'm amazed its taken two years for a first visit to the ER. But I certainly hope its more than two before I have to go back.

Ear trouble

Poor Elise!

Today we spent some time in the E.R. Elise slipped on the tile and banged her ear really hard. I was in the living room, but I'm still not sure whether she banged it on the stool or just the hard tile floor. When I saw the cut went all the way through her ear, I knew a visit to the E.R. was in store. I had enough sense to change myself, but the rest of the kids went in PJ's. George was a big help! He stayed with Elise the whole time. Austin threw up this morning. Naturally, he wasn't on his best "waiting room" behavior. Lucy liked watching cartoons. Elise calmed down with some fruit snacks but started crying again when anyone touched her sore ear.

The doctors were worried she'd get cauliflower ear, so they wanted to sedate her to stitch it up. Since she ate breakfast, they had to wait a bit to do it. George said she was a real champ and didn't cry when they stuck the IV in.

When I came back to the hospital, this is how I found her: happy and wanting crackers. She touched her head thing and said "bunny rabbit hat." The "hat" has to stay on for 48 hours. I think that will be the tricky part. George will check it tomorrow to make sure it isn't cauliflowery (if so, they'll have to cut it again and drain the blood). Hopefully it will be fine. Rough day for poor Elise!