Day With Nieces!

We were so lucky to get to spend the day with our nieces this week while they were in town- it was such a fun day!  It all started out with a Puppet Tea Party for lunch (can I just say I love that I've become the Puppet Aunt?!) followed by a trip up to the Utah History and Art Museum in Salt Lake to see my quilt (that was at their request- they're so sweet).  Doug even got the afternoon off so he got to come with us for that.

Some of you who are related to me might be surprised to know that the original handcart on display at the museum is the actual handcart used by the family of my Grandpa Stacey's maternal grandfather.  (he was a baby when he crossed the plains, it was pulled by his parents and grandparents I believe)  Did you know that?!  I didn't find out until a year or so ago and I can't believe this isn't a bigger, more readily shared bit of family information.   

The evening ended with a puppet making marathon.  The girls cut everything out while I sewed.  It was so fun to see their creations.

As ever, we're so sad to see them go! 

#5

We had such a fun time celebrating our anniversary this year.  We spent the weekend up in Salt Lake, we got to check out the farmer's market at Thanksgiving Point where we bought some hand carved wooden spoons from some cute old men.  We got to go to President Monson's Birthday Celebration at the conference center and spent an afternoon at Les Madeleines eating kouing amans- my new all time favorite food.  (they're a pastry that is so popular that each household is only allowed to buy 6 a day)

The most photogenic part of the weekend was our trip to the Thanksgiving Point Art Institute where we got to make glass flowers.  So cool!  I've watched glass making before, but never thought I could get in and do a little myself. You go in there and one of the resident glass blowers (ps- I'm officially jealous of that job) helps you pick out colors and does all the scary super hot furnace work, leaving the fun, flower shaping part to you.  It was so fun and made for a pretty awesome bouquet of flowers!

 

Aida

I am always so amazed at how much talent there is here when it comes to singing, dancing and acting.  Even the elementary school plays are actually pretty good (when you consider the age of the actors).  We are surrounded by amazing high school, college and community theaters and going to a play has always been on our 'we should really do that' list.  I don't know why we hardly ever get to them!

When I found out that one of my best friends from college was in a community theater's (? whatever the Sandy Amphitheater is considered- semi professional? Community?  I obviously need to learn more about this whole theater thing!) play- Aida- I was so excited to have a reason to go!  It's an outdoor theater with lawn seating, so I got us tickets, packed a picnic dinner and we headed up for the show.  It was really great... when the rain finally stopped about half way through....  :(  It's rained so little this year that I had only planned for sitting through record breaking heat- I didn't even think of rain.  Oh well!  We finally had a reason to break out those emergency blankets and jackets we keep in the car.

It was so fun to actually know someone on stage and get to hear about everything going on back stage.  And luckily the show was good enough to keep us watching even through the rain.  We're definitely going to have to check out a few more shows around here- maybe next time I'll try an indoor theater.

Cardboard Duct Tape Boat Regatta

Every year we go down to my grandma's house for Salem Days.  We're usually there for the fireworks- because you'll seriously never get as good a seat for fireworks as you get in my Grandma's front yard.  (I admit, there's just a part of me that loves watching everyone staking out seating hours in advance while I laze around in the living room knowing that I can walk outside a  minute before the fireworks start and still have the best seat in the house!)

This year, in addition to the fireworks, we checked the Cardboard Duct Tape Boat Regatta.  Because, I mean, how could we have lived in Utah for so long without experiencing this?  The whole experience makes me smile- I seriously want to compete one year.  You get 2 hours to make your boat, you only get cardboard and duct tape for construction and you can't test it to see if it floats until race time.  The kid entries were cute, but when they got to the adult entries I was seriously amazed.  I'm so mad I didn't take a picture, but I found this video online that shows the adult entries- they're just up for a second at the end.  When you see a human sized hamster wheel floating on the water you'll know you got to the right place. :)

I think I might have found the next random competition for our Stacey reunions.