Best Friends in Town

Greg, Kristine and Katherine were in town last night and we went to dinner with them. It was so good to see them because we hadn't seen them since July of last year. Katherine had grown so much that we couldn't believe it. After dinner we went to BYU to see Kristine's brother Jason act with the Divine Comedy group. Very funny stuff.

Come back soon because we miss you too much.


Rod, Katherine and I at Macaroni Grill


Kristine, Katherine and Greg at Macaroni Grill.

Domestic Goddess or Crazy Lunatic

About a month ago I decided that I wanted to give a quilt to all of the girls in our Young Women who are turning 16 this year. When the quilts would be ready, I would have the rest of the YW sign the back of the quilt with their special message to the birthday girl. This would be a nice keepsake of their 16th birthday. Great idea, right? I think I should have looked at the list of the girls before making a decision. We have 7 girls turning 16 this year, and most of the birthdays are about 2 weeks apart from each other. Needless to say, I will be extremely busy for a little while. I just finished my second quilt last night because Jessica's birthday is TODAY. Next one is due on April 1.

Last night at 11pm. Still going strong.

Friday Night Date with the Tow Truck Driver

Enough said.

18 and single

Jorge's birthday is tomorrow and last night we went to Ruby River to celebrate this huge milestone in his life. He will be in Palm Springs this weekend so we had to party before he left.


Here is Jorge, the birthday boy.


Jorge eating his birthday cake.


Still eating.

Happy 18th Birthday, Jorge. Have fun in Palm Springs (in the 80 degree weather, or 30 C in metric). Come back safe.

Triple Axel, Lutz and Double Salchow

But of course none of those figure skating activities did actually happen last night. There was a lot of wall-hugging, and walking on the ice along the wall, and nervous skating involved when the young men and young women took on the ice. They had so much fun. We had fun watching them having fun.


Beautiful Chloe ready to go skate.


Alex and Crazy Chloe going skating.


Alex and his girls, Brianne, Chloe, Kate and Kaylee.

Chloe skating with Jenny hand-in-hand. Our girls are the greatest. They won't leave anybody out.

Chloe still skating and helping Jenny skate, as well.

Jorge's Baptism Day, March 7, 2009

Saturday was a wonderful and happy day for Jorge and us. Jorge got baptized.


Rod, Jorge and I at the Stake Center. Jorge said:"Look at us, we are so handsome! God, why didn't you make us rich instead of handsome."


Elder Fowles, Lenny Whiting(baptized Jorge), Jorge and Elder Blanco


Lenny and Jorge getting ready for the baptism.

Alex, Rod, Jorge and I.

People, who came to Jorge's baptism are standing outside the Stake Center.

Roger Dudley, Jorge's Sunday school teacher, giving a hug to Jorge.

Elle, Alex and Carsen after the baptism.

Cousins: Ruby, Jorge and Rossana

Jorge and Alex ready to go eat.

Elder Blanco and Jorge at lunch at Outback.

Jorge and Elder Fowles at lunch at Outback.

Fat Tuesday Treat

I made traditional Finnish Fat Tuesday (Laskiaistiistai) treats yesterday for my friends Riikka and Terhi. Ok, I was a week too late with these treats but we couldn't get together last week. This meal would have been complete if it was eaten with pea soup...well, pea soup first and then the "laskiaispullat" after as a dessert.

I took a closer look on where "laskiainen" gets its name. Thanks to Wikipedia I learned that it comes from a word carne lasciare (without meat)..lasciare being twisted into laskiainen. Hmm. I didn't know that. Weird Finnish language.

Here they are, all in their glory. I'm proud to say that I didn't have a single one of them. I was told that they were super good.

2 chefs in Monica's kitchen

Alex and I go to Valimaki's every Tuesday night to work on our baby packages for women's crisis centers. While Monica and I were working on the baby blankets, Erica and Alex were baking in the kitchen and they decided to make a yellow cake with marshmallows and white chocolate (their own recipe that they came up with in their art class---I guess it was a slow day with Mrs. Hunter). After eating it for 5 minutes they both were totally sick of it. Too sweet, they said. Rest of it went into the trash. Who knows what they are going to come up with next week. Hopefully something edible.

Jorge's new haircut

What a handsome guy! He is not that sure about his hair. I think it looks great.

Steve and Katie are Century plus 8

We celebrated Steve and Katie's birthdays on Friday night at their house. Collectively they are century and then some. I must say, they look maaaahhhhvvvelous for their age. It was a fun party even though Steve was feeling his "Rocky"(kidney stone). I suggested for him to stand on his head and make Rocky float around in his bladder, but he didn't look too amused by it and therefore didn't do it. We played the game "Charlie" and it was such a fun game. We had plenty of cheaters. The geriatric table (Bill and Herb) in the back always started early to throw the dice. Ali, by reputation cheated, I'm pretty sure of it even though she said she doesn't have to cheat anymore because she is just so much better than others.


Steve is ready to blow the candles. We were standing by with a fire extinguisher.


Katie is totally in the zone and focused on the candles. What are they wishing for? Happy Birthday to both of you! You two are incredible people and we are so blessed to have you in our lives. We love you!