A big announcement and fun times with the Cook families

Bruce planting our garden on March 28th

Thanks to my wonderful husband who works so hard to provide for our family (plus doing our taxes, trimming trees, tilling and planting the garden, fixing things around the house, and many, many other helpful tasks), I was able to go to Salt Lake on March 31st for General Conference and the week following.  While it is always a privilege to attend Conference, the best part of the trip was being with family!

On Tuesday morning, Camille, Tytan and I visited my sister-in-law, Marilyn, and met the newest member of the extended Scott family, Calvin Watkins Scott, born March 8, 2011.  Eliza, now his "big" sister, joined us after returning from pre-school.

Calvin Watkins Scott

Camille brought lunch for us:  delicious Thai chicken and peanuts on noodles and granola yogurt parfait with strawberries.  Thank you, Camille!  In fact, I liked the yogurt parfait so much that I served it to the women who came to book group at our house last night.

Tytan at the wheel leaving the Scott's house

Tytan really seems to like the cap we gave him!  No doubt he'll be wearing a lot of baseball caps and other hats and helmets throughout his life.

That evening Josh and Michelle joined us at Camille's and Bryan's house.  They are trying to decide whether to stay in their current apartment or move to a bigger place, closer to Josh's work in American Fork.  Camille and Bryan suggested some online sites for them to check out.

Camille, Michelle and Josh look at housing possibilities while Tytan tries to figure out how to get into the game.

Now you may very well ask, why would Josh and Michelle consider moving closer to Josh's work, when Michelle's elementary school is located in Springville, in the opposite direction?  Well, Michelle doesn't plan to teach next fall.  Why?  Because she's looking forward to being a full-time mom after Oct. 8th!

YES, JOSH AND MICHELLE ARE GOING TO HAVE THEIR FIRST CHILD THIS FALL!!!  We are thrilled for them.  They are going to be fabulous parents...just like the rest of our children.

Speaking of wonderful grandchildren, I got to watch Tytan for most of Thursday while Camille made a rare and much-appreciated (I'm sure) appearance at L3. 

Tytan and I had a great time together.  Here are some photos to prove it--and to show I'm only being objective when I say he is one of the cutest and smartest grandchild around.  In fact, his only competition at present seems to be concentrated in Indianapolis....

Tytan explains what he was trying to portray in his latest masterpiece.  Note how he is holding the pen with no coaching.

A budding architect--taking after Grandpa

Tytan and I went to Story Time at the Herriman Library. While most of the children played or read books with their moms when we arrived, oblivious to everyone else, Tytan sat quietly and intently watched what everyone else was doing. He really enjoyed the stories and songs.

Placing puzzle pieces

Getting hands stamped

Michelle and Josh had brought up cookies for dinner earlier in the week, and as soon as I opened the cupboard to look for a snack, Tytan spotted them and exclaimed urgently, "Tootie!  Tootie!"

Not sure who taught Tytan to dunk, but that seemed what he wanted to do, so I put some milk in a bowl for him.

The fine art of dunking

Oops!  What do I do now?

Looking forward to the next time Tytan and I get to play.  Camille reports that Tytan has been signing "Grandma" and "Grandpa."  Sounds like it's time for another visit soon!

Date for Craig

I'll post the photos and Craig can provide the commentary someday...

First course at Sakura

Chef Show

So many choices at Beyond Bread

Enough with the pictures...I can't wait much longer!

Like Father, Like Son

We enjoyed having Craig home with us last year.  Craig and Dad make quite a pair!

Togetherness on a Sunday afternoon

TBTI

13th Anniversary celebration

For the record, we also celebrated our 13th anniversary in 2010.  I made one of Dad's favorite desserts, an apple pie, and Dad brought me flowers.  (Thanks to Craig for being our photographer.)

Bruce and Mary Lee, Jan. 16, 2010

14th Anniversary Celebration

We celebrated our14 years of marriage at the temple on Saturday, Jan. 15th this year, since our anniversary fell on Sunday.  We did sealings--a great way to remember the covenants we have made.

Dad and Mary Lee near Ken's condo in Mesa

Here's our "official" anniversary portrait on Sunday. 

Bruce and Mary Lee, Jan. 16, 2011.  Yep, that's a Pashmina shawl from Jerusalem!

I think it will be fun some day to see the progression of all our anniversary pictures....or maybe not :).  Maybe Dad will continue to look like he's 26 and I will...not.  In any case, I'm sure glad I married this wonderful man!

Burning the Christmas Tree

This post documents a long-standing family tradition:  the burning of the Christmas tree, which is a lot more exciting than taking all the ornaments off and putting them away.

Craig prepares to light the tree.

5:47 p.m

Craig lights the top, but it soon goes out.

50 seconds later

Bruce tries to light both sides. 

58 seconds later

Quick!  Get out of the way!

1 second later

The tree is consumed.

1 minute, 8 seconds later

Craig checks something...to see if it's still hot?!

1 minute later.  Total time elapsed is 2 minutes 54 seconds!

A great beginning to a new year.

What good could come of this?

Recently we had a hard freeze in Tucson. The temperature dropped all the way to 3 degrees with wind chill. (Okay, those of you living north of here can stop snickering.  It was cold for us!)

Heeding the warning of the impending freeze, Dad ran out to buy a couple of small space heaters to put under the citrus trees in an attempt to keep them from freezing. It didn't work, but we were sure glad to have those heaters when our gas was shut off the next day--along with about 30,000 other homes!

Our sad citrus trees with frozen leaves.  We hope the trees make it.

So we had no gas and no hot water for about three days. Dad got to escape to the office every day and enjoy the heat there, while I managed to stay toasty warm by using the space heater in the bedroom and keeping the door closed. We heated up water on the stove for our baths, which wasn't so bad, except for the very refreshing rinse at the end with water from the tap.

Dad staying warm in Michelle's quilt a few days before the big freeze.  He loves his quilt!

Our adventure ended Saturday afternoon when the Southwest Gas man came to light our pilot lights. On Monday morning I began picking grapefruit and oranges as fast as I could, knowing they wouldn't last long on the tree. Usually, we can eat it at our leisure until about May or so.

Two hours worth of harvest

As I picked the fruit, I thought, "What good could come of this?" It occurred to me (likely it wasn't my idea) that we could call our neighbors and see if they wanted any fruit, and take bags of fruit to the Empty Nesters get together that evening. So we did. Everyone was really happy to have it.  We gave fruit to five neighbors (Merricks, Duerkson-Finnegans, Dahlkes, Raus, and Holmans) and about the same number of ward members.

See the bee?  Several of my bags were buzzing with trapped bees.  It was a warm day--about 70 degrees!

A lot of good came of the freeze!