Celebrating 3 BIG EVENTS: Pride and Prejudice = 200 yrs, Scott P. = 60 yrs, Charlotte M. = 1 Day!

 

 

Yep, its another week with a new family member!! Our third so far this year!! Yeah ... but before we get to the main events ... lets tell you about how our week began.  Dad worked extra hard, knowing he would be gone the next week.  He worked all week on the reset in the Provo Macey's.  My Monday started with my We CAN (We Care And Nurture) group making sack lunches for the homeless, which are distributed by the Food and Care Coalition. I did some junking and errands around Provo before driving to Salt Lake to meet with other members of the Jane Austen Society at Elizabeth's English Bakery to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the printing of Pride and Prejudice! (Jan 28, 1813)  I almost didn't go, as I was running around buying gifts for Dad's birthday the next day, but decided I would regret it if I didn't go.  Loved chatting with fellow Austen enthusiasts on such a historic day!

On Tuesday, Dad's birthday, Emily and Becca worked out a plan to surprise him and take him to lunch.  I horned my way into the surprise event, and we met up at Macey's to pick him up.  When we were leaving to go to lunch, Becca's car gave her some grief, so its good that our white knight happened to be along to save the day on such a white and blizzardy day!!

 

Here we are at the Los Hermanos, what else would Dad choose?  We ran into some members of the Park ward, and visited for a minute.  They are evidently all very excited to be getting the Talley's in the ward.  Dad and I are looking forward to being able to visit back there once in a while too.  

 Then, because of the surprise lunch date and the car issues, Dad was crunched for time before heading to the temple for his evening shift there, so I offered to pick up Grandpa Carlo from Nell's.

 

I got there in time to help Nell with some mother/daughter red coat pics.  J. Scott was busy shoveling out the driveway, but stopped to let me take this picture!!

When I got home I had a wrap-fest, wrapping up all of Dad's gifts ... the normal fare, socks, cologne, LDS romances novels, oatmeal raisin cookies and books on CD.  I also got him an unsual gift, a model of a 1968 Camero, like the one he was driving when we met.  (OK, its really a Firebird, but really, same difference, right?) One of the kids had said how hard Dad is to buy for, and I said, "Are you kidding?  We all know what he wants" ... and yes, boring as it may be, that is what he got.

Then when Dad got home from the temple, Emily gave him something unique, she had  written him an LDS romance novelette, which was surprisingly good, especially coming from someone with major contempt for romance novels in general.  I honestly think she could expand it and sell it.

Then it was time for him to work his way up the stairs, opening a gift at every step!!

 

Here is a picture I snapped on Wednesday of Beckie in the library looking out the window.   I thought it was very sweet, so thought I would share it.

The after Dad and I got off work, Wednesday, it was time to celebrate 'day two' of his birthday.  We met up with Spencer and Brittney for dinner at Cafe Rio in Provo and had a lovely chat ... we are loving getting to know this amazing young woman, and its not hard to see why Spencer fell so hard and so fast.  I got a call during dinner from Davin asking where we were, (and if Dad still loves Apple Beer) so we weren't too surprised when we got home and he came by with Bri and the kids bearing

gifts ... in honor of Dad's 60th birthday they gave him 60 pieces of copper, 60 can of black cherry Shastas and 60 cans of Apple Beer.  Whoa!!  They had intended to meet us at the Restaurant in Provo, but had to go to 4 different stores to round up enough Apple Beer, which, of course, really slowed them down.  It was a treat to get to visit, of course. 

Thursday was work as normal for both Dad and I ... I shot this cute pic of Beckie while she entertained us that evening. 

 We got a call, early, on Friday, telling us that Britt would be heading to the hospital, and she wanted to know if we could come up a day early.  I worked frantically getting enough stuff done for a whole week of blogging, then uploaded the pictures to post dated blog posts that I could fill in with text the night before they were to post while we were in Idaho.

The shadow box above, honoring the years my Dad was at the U, has been on the back burner in my mind for several years.  It was one of two craft projects I completed in a hurry. It felt great to finally do it, and I love how it turned out.  Someday I will be able to really display it like this, but for now, since the TV is always on these days, I set it up and took the pics before reopening the TV cab and disbursing the display around the family room.

We drove out of the driveway at 4:00, stopping at Ashley's to pick up Britt's changing table that she had loaned to Ashley, and the Rocker that Ashley was loaning to her.  Here is our Captain Zach with his Mom!! It was great to have a short visit, and we don't get to see nearly enough of them!!

Next we stopped at Becca and Brady's to pick up the baby shower in a box that Becca had engineered for Brittany.  She had two huge (3ft by 3 ft each)boxes that were gift wrapped.  The top box was full of balloons, and the bottom box was full of gifts from Britt's Utah relatives!  I also snapped a few pics of my newest grand child, an honor that was about to run out.  Poor sweet little Reagan, only got to be the baby of the family for less than 3 weeks.  Next we headed north, by way of Maui Chill of course ... yummy.

We got to the Hospital in Meridian by midnight and welcomed Charlotte Aoki Mitko, just after one in the morning.  She was 8 lbs, 4 oz and was a smidge over 20 inches long.  She is a very strong baby, with amazing head and neck control, she also has cute chunky legs, something you rarely see in a new born.  Oh, and did I mention she is a beauty?

Kai has been lobbying for a baby sibling for years, and is very, very pleased with the new addition to his family.

Alex, as the former baby of the family, is not quite as enamoured with the tiny stranger.  It was fun for Dad and I to shepherd the boys back and forth to the hospital, then we got to take them to Church with us on Sunday, as Britt has some issues with her epidural having caused a "Spinal Headache", which meant she had to stay an extra day to undergo a procedure on Monday to 'right the wrong'.  There will be lots more this coming Sunday to tell about our week in Boise. So I will just end this belated blog post by wishing Dad and Charlotte a Happy Birthday!! (Dad = 60, Charlotte = 0)