Until We Meet Again--Part 1

Can I say something? Can I tell you I do not like change. Well, I don't. I know our lives are changing all the time. I mean, how many times have we moved in the past several years? But that doesn't mean I have to like it. I don't. I want all my kids to stay the ages they are now. I want my niece to still be the little girl who played in the bathtub with her cousin Garrett. (Aren't you glad I didn't post any of those pictures, Morgan?)

I want us all to stay here, in our little corner of the world, happy, content and comfortable. What? You think that's boring?! Well, what's so wrong with things staying boring, simple, predictable? Okay, maybe doing nothing is not such a good thing. But change is hard. It is so hard.

Morgan is leaving us today. She is getting on a plane and flying across the country and across the world. Eventually, she will arrive at her new home with a host family in Belgium. I can't believe she is old enough to be a senior, much less old enough to go live in another country for a year! I mean, I can believe it, and what an awesome experience for her. But it still makes me a little sad. We are going to miss her so much around here. She made me an aunt for the first time 17 years ago. I have loved having her and her family living here in Blanding with us, seeing her often on Sunday's at Grandma Gail's or other family events. I have loved being able to claim her as my niece when others say, "I did not know she was related to you." I have loved knowing that she was watching out for Garrett, and maybe he was watching out for her a little, this past year at the high school.

But, at least we don't have to say, "Goodbye." As my brother-in-law, James Hughes said in his testimony on Sunday, at least in the Mormon Church, we don't have to say, "goodbye;" we can say, "Till we meet again." So, Morgan, until we meet again, here are the pictures from the party we had for you on Saturday at your Grandma Kathy's. Love you. Be good.

It doesn't seem fair that we make the guest of honor do the work, but she wanted crepes, and they take time to prepare, so here she is in the kitchen

Look at all that yummy food: Belgian Waffles, crepes, whipped cream, berries, Belgian Chocolate

We still can't believe she is leaving, but won't it be an awesome experience for her

And now for several unflattering pictures of people eating

looking good

Sorry, Cole

Rachel is a model, posing in the tree. We won't mention the potted plant she knocked down, while she was peeking through the bars of the deck.

My parents, Morgan's grandparents

Morgan's other grandparents, Kathy and Winston Hurst

The "grown-up" area

Morgan's parents, Kim and my brother Worthy Glover

The kids' area

The Friends area

"You do not want to watch that movie!"

"Ooh, pick me, pick me!"

Tyler thinks she is one of the big kids

It was such a fun time spending the evening at the Hursts, celebrating Morgan. When it was eventually time to go, we said our farewells and then proceeded to take forever to get out of there. Her parents are doing amazingly well, but I have to admit I am freaking out a little. This is such a wonderful opportunity for her. But I selfishly want her to be here, just up the street, just down at Patio, just at play practice with Garrett, just at the pool with her sister and brother.

Morgan, we will miss you. We love you, and we hope you have a marvelous adventure! Please, please, please keep us updated on your experiences on your blog, in email, whatever. Take care of you.

Visiting Verdure

On the weekend of the 24th holiday, we spent a few days visiting Verdure, a.k.a. Papa Joe's, a.k.a. the home of Britt's parents, Joe and Carol Barton. There is always fun to be had at Verdure, as you saw from the trampoline pics. Our trampoline, by the way, is dead. The stitching around part of it had been gradually unraveling for the last year, and in succession, the springs would pop off. 2/3rds of it was still hanging on for dear life, but the recent rainstorms were more than it could take, and it finally gave up altogether. It was funny to watch our kids trying to play on the tramp, even when it was barely intact. It was looking pretty white trash in our back yard, which everyone can see from the highway, so it is probably all for the best.

A moment of silence, please.

This is the cage of Garrett's chinchilla

Happy birthday, Garrett!

Um yeah, his birthday was in April. One of his gifts was a gift certificate to purchase a pet at the Pet Hideout in Monticello. For several weeks after his birthday, we promised we would get up there, but we never made it. Finally, we visited the store, but Britt and I were not ready to commit to getting a ferret, his first choice. We made all the kids promise to clean the house and their rooms, and keep them clean for an extended period of time.

Well, there we were in Monticello, and Garrett was reminding me we still owed him. He had cleaned his room, cleaned the whole basement and kept it clean. He had also been really helpful about getting the girls to do their chores while I was gone to work. He was done being patient, waiting for us to get back to the pet store and buy him a pet.

Well, we called the pet store several times that Saturday (the 23rd) and no one ever answered. But since we had promised him, and we were already that close, we drove into town to see if anyone was there at the pet store. We just caught the owner closing up for the day.

No ferrets in the store. But an adorable beige chinchilla all by his lonesome and on sale. So we went ahead and purchased all the necessary items, a cage, food, chinchilla bath, etc. Garrett finally had his pet. I promise we will post a better picture when we have one. The chinchilla is an escape artist and he is still getting used to us.

The following pictures show Kaiden's chinchilla. His is grey. He got his from the Pet Hideout also, and he has had it a while. He is taking his chinchilla to Alaska.

We brought our kitten to visit for the day; I don't know why. We lost track of it for several hours. The girls said it was inside, but there was no sign of it anywhere. Finally, we found it behind the dryer. After that, we made it stay inside its cat carrier.

Yes, the wall in Grandma's dining room is a chalk board, with an entertainment area, TV, gaming system, VCR also. It is a fun little place for the kids

Saturday the day I took all the trampoline pictures, we intended to roast marshmallows either before or after we watched the fireworks in Monticello, but it didn't happen. So, we figured we would do it Monday evening, but the rain put a damper on those plans when it drowned our fire. Some of us decided to roast marshmallows on the burners and make s'mores that way.

Rachel is just goofing off with that silly face

Yummy!

Good stuff

"Is somebody going to help me here, or are you just going to keep taking pictures?"

We love visiting Verdure. Most of the Barton/Hall kids have lived here (some of us with our little families) at some point in the past. Britt and I stayed in the little apartment above the garage when Garrett and Cole were little, while we were "building" our first house (the manufactured home Brooke and Travis Pehrson live in now). I know several others have stayed there for various reasons over the years. I am sure James and Becky will utilize the space when they visit Blanding/Monticello in the future.

Just so you are not confused, some of these pictures are from Saturday, July 23th and some were taken Monday, the 25th. We all had a great time together there visiting with family and just being lazy. Verdure is a great place to visit.

Pioneer Day Celebration in Monticello

On Saturday, July 23rd, we drove up to Monticello to watch the parade and spend time with family members who were visiting. As we watched the initial progress of the parade, I started to question myself for telling friends in Blanding that the parade was worth visiting. I am sorry; I know it is unkind to say. But I have been to awesome parades there in the past, and this was not one of them. At first, it seemed to be lacking in actual parade entries. Especially when the firetrucks started coming through and I thought, "Wow, there sure wasn't much to that parade," because the firetrucks are usually the finale in Blanding.

It was neat to see Uncle Jesse marching in the parade with the flag bearers. It was also fun to see the Sappers who recently returned home (although we weren't prepared for them, and they drove through too fast for us to give them a proper welcome, I thought. Was that just me? Maybe I am just slow).

My kids were happy to get to spend time with cousins. It was fun to watch Hunter gathering candy and passing it along to his cousins. I don't think anyone is as fast at snatching candy as that kid.

We also spent some time at the food booths in the park. It was plenty hot, but we were able to find a shady spot to sit and visit and eat (no pictures of that, sorry). After that, we headed down to the house at Verdure. Some of us watched TV there, some played the Wii a little, and some of us played card games, while others went riding at the track and shooting guns. It was a busy day of relaxing for most of us. It was nice to spend time with family and just have fun watching everybody else have fun. We didn't see Joe most of the day. And those of us who didn't make it to the softball tournament missed seeing JC and Lori as well. Holidays like this are great for family fun.

(I totally couldn't think how to end that, and Britt is seriously getting tired of waiting for me to come to bed. Sorry)

This is going to be a boring post (for some of you)

Okay, if you don't like golf, this post might bore you. Heck, if you like golf, this post will probably bore you, because I don't know a lot about golf, but I took lots of pictures. And was it really necessary for me to post a third of the pictures that I took here for you to view? Um, maybe not. But doesn't my husband look hot?

This is Todd Shipley, my future brother-in-law

he is engaged to Britt's lovely sister, Jennilyn (and they make a cute couple; you'll see if you scroll down)

this golfing is serious business

see Jennilyn watching from the shade of the cart

yes, my husband wasn't the only one there that was hot ;)

getting ready to putt

see Britt on the left?

both got close

Todd gave Britt some tips on his swing

And this is Todd clearing out the brush so he can hit his ball

The last time Britt and I went golfing, it was with his aunt and uncle, Joyce and Richard Coleman. We were playing the back nine; I can't remember which hole. But we received a phone call, while we were taking refuge from the rain. The date was August 8, 2008. The look on Britt's face when he got the news! And I just couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. Even when I see memorials like this, I still can't quite accept that these good men really are gone. Needless to say, we were done playing golf after that phone call. This was the first time Britt played this course after that, almost 3 years later.

I kept score, except I didn't count all of Britt's lost balls (SOOO many) or the times Britt hit the ball multiple times. It just wasn't his day. Just watch this putt. . .





Oh, so close!

Now, watch's Todd's putt on the same hole:

He nailed it! (that's Britt's ball below the hole there)

Another swing

Good game, guys!

So, when it was all said and done, Todd had a pretty decent score. Britt was 7 or 8 points back, I think; and that, like I said, didn't include all the lost balls or retries. Still, he had a lot of fun, I think. It was just nice to spend some time with Jennilyn and Todd and to get to know her fiancee a little better. He was very gracious about winning. All in all, it was just a nice time out there at the Hideout golf course.

I told you they make a cute couple

almost as cute as this one ;)

Now, that wasn't too boring, was it?