All Grandkids All the Time

On Monday I went out and did some shopping for Dad's birthday because it was evident that the item I ordered online was not going to make it in time.  At Dessert Book I bought a set of the Church History Department's Saints, done in lovingly tooled leather. Dad loves the books and we have listened to them all.

This is the clerk who helped me, his name is Davin and he lives in Payson.  How fun is that?

Dad has pretty much finished up the library.

So when I got home he was ready to hang the Pioneer art we had collected.  Here he is kneeling on the computer desk.

This picture is a copy of one that hung out at Mosida.

This painting of a pioneer mother and baby was one we bought at an art show at Peteetneet.  We have other paintings by the same artist.

The finished look of this corner.

On Tuesday I headed out to finish up the shopping for the Finnish Reunion we had planned to welcome Punnu Hartiala, you likely don't remember but she is the Finnish gal Spencer met on his mission in BC.  Because she was a Finn, Spencer hooked her up to correspond with Dad via Facebook.  We met her sister in Finland and stayed at her house.  Such lovely people with an amazing heritage. Punnu came to visit at the end of that mission and I met her at a Women's conference.

I picked up a cake for Dad, as it was the eve of his and Pete Vawdrey's birthday. Pete is one of the missionaries that we got to know best on our first mission. He is training to be an architect and was super interested in the house.

Here we are setting out the food.

And setting the table.

Here's he charcuterie board, and the Finncrisp for the appetizer  course. Do you remember my board Brittany?

2 senior sisters, Sister Shurts and Sister Mitchell made Pulla, I loved how the bread looked on this wonderful cutting board that Elder Newman from our Mosida mission made for us. (He also made the mantel in the Carriage House.)

The table populated.

Another view from the other end.

 Here is Punnu between two of her favorite missionaries and their girls.

As luck would have it, our local Sister Missionaries dropped by, but had already eaten dinner.  

Dad took the Uncle Doug role and held Spencer Wooley's baby through most of dinner.

I loved Elder Sellers sweatshirt, it says "Dear person behind me, the world is a better place with you in it" 

Here is Dad with the dessert.

The Wooleys, Dad and Elder Sellers.

Another view.

The Shurts and the Mitchells

and again with us.

Us with Punnu

At work the next day, Linda came in to pick up her lay-a-way.  It's an old turn table horn, but it looks great as a fairy hat.

Barb sent the perfect birthday wishes to Bob the Builder.

After work Dad and I went for Sushi to celebrate his birthday, he is 72.

After work on Thursday I went to Book club at my friend Suzanne's house.  She is the one with the pink socks. 

Then we got into the grandkid part of the week.  On Friday we drove to Bountiful to see Eva in her final meet.  She was surprised to see us. 

We were so grateful that we got to go.

I loved the modest swimsuit. 

Loved her Dad's parent T-shirt.

The swimming pool and rec center had been vastly upgraded since I swam there when I was a kid.

Eva is about in the middle of this group with a long jacket on, visiting with other team members.

Here are her folks and her other grandpa. 

And here she is with her bestie, Avery.

We had to head out before her last event, darn it, as we needed to go to see Kai.

Our next stop was in Cottonwood, where Kai was to give a presentation of his hike along the Appalachian trail.  Here is Dad with Mike and his Dad.

Charlie came too, how fun is that?

Kai begins his presentation.

Bemoaning the half gallon of ice cream to commemorate the halfway point on the trail.

This picture is when his Mom and Bachan picked him up at the end.

Here's the whole gang, unfortunately Brittany had work commitments that would allow her to come. 

That night we got together with the Crumps to talk about old times and upcoming missions for them.

Later I looked online to find a Swedish Bench that I can copy to put in the family room, to go along with our Scandi style.  I like this one and I think it's simple enough I can do it.

But I'd like to put a small copy of classic balustrades along the back and sides.  Wish me well.

Ironically on Saturday, with our first break in the freezing weather for a while, we drove up to Pleasant Grove to the Ruth, to support Darby is her Best Aunt Ever Adventure where we got to see Frozen Junior.

It was the beginning of a day filled with Royalty, in fact it was the crowning day of the whole week.

Here is Darby, the founder of the fun, with Mac and Madi.  The light was awful, as you see, so the picture of the wallpaper next to us was weirdly light striped, but I can tell you, it's the exact wallpaper that we have in the Conservatory.

after the play, Reagan's friend tried to escape the mandatory family pictures ... 

So much fun, we loved getting to hang out with these adorable grands. 

Then we put on crowns and had impossible burgers for lunch ....

Before I had a crowning moment at the Grove ....

Next, we moved onto our next Royal family, the King and Queen in Rumpelstiltskin.  You can see Penny as a town's woman to the right of the queen.

Here she is singing with a wizard and friend.

What a great cast ... the play was done by a group called the Missoula Theater Company. This group brings the costumes, scenery and script for lots of fun at elementary schools, that is completed in a week's time.  It's all quite entertaining. 

Here's Penny with his siblings.

Her Dad clearly got carried away, or was it Penny?

Here is the Penny fan club after the play.

Yep, we were all in a good mood.

Becca looks like a princess here, but she is actually a Mob Boss's wife, as she heads to a Murder Mystery Party.  She drove all the way to Payson to borrow the silver fur stole. I'm glad I had it, because she looks perfect.

And last of all, is the Princess Timpanogos in the background of this picture of ice on Utah Lake.  I think it's just beautiful, don't you? I had no idea what ice out there even looks like.

We laughed when we went to pick up some fruit at Shopko, we had no idea that Mike's Mom had gone into business .... just being silly of course.  Bachan is Grandma in Japanese. 

And today we finish up our week of grandkids and royalty with the Mitko Princess, Charley celebrating her Groundhog day Birthday!!  Happy birthday Princess Peach.

We're just sorry that Nenna missed all the grandkids celebration, but she had fun in Denver meeting Sasquatch.