Gardiner Village and Women's Conference

Saturday was our annual Sister's Get-together for Women's Conference. My mother established this tradition over 25 years ago where she takes us to lunch, we do a little shopping and then we watch Women's Conference together. Every year around July we start talking about going and can hardly wait for the day to come.

Our latest gathering place has been Gardiner Village. We go to Archibald's for lunch, meeting up with my mom's cousin, Eileen and her daughter, Bonnie. Archibald's pasta salad speaks to my taste buds and their sandwiches are delicious.

After lunch we spend a whirlwind couple of hours shopping our brains out. One of our favorite spots is Pine Needles, a specialty quilt shop. We converge on the shop and drool over fabric, pick out patterns and buy what we are most interested in. I also love the Village Whites shop and always drop in there to see what they have. This year they had spider web doilies for Halloween. I bought one to put on my kitchen table.

It was Kit's birthday earlier this month and mom finally finished this little coat for her. It is all knitted except for a velvet collar, and is comletely lined (which is good because it is made out of WOOL). It fits her perfectly. Her smile was from ear to ear as she was trying it on.

My mom and all my sisters, plus 2 nieces, Kristi (on crutches) and Kit (with her birthday apron on) ready to go.

Eating lunch at Archibald's. We love their food but love being together more.

Mary giving Kit a bite of her birthday dessert, chocolate cake with hot fudge drizzled on top. Decadent is the best word to describe this food.

Kit is wearing a dress my sister Rose made for her birthday. Rose also made her little purse. It is a blue chicken.

We always finish up at Sweet Afton's. It is the most delightful candy shop. They have the BEST salt-water taffy and I always buy too much when I go. Everyone buys the thing that appeals most to them: Carolyn, Heather and my mom buy fudge, Heather buys the M & M's, Rose buys black licorice all-sorts and I buy the taffy. The scenery at Gardiner Village this year was spectacular, all decorated for Halloween and the weather was even better than that.

We all went to my Stake Center to watch the Women's Conference. Our stake had a light dinner beforehand. It was delicious and nice to be there.

All too soon the day was over and we are all in happy anticipation waiting for next Women's Conference. Thanks mom for a wonderful day and tradition.

Coming Home to Homecoming

I just have enjoyed this past weekend so much with Court going to the Homecoming dance. Friday night for the "day" activity, their group went shopping at Albertson's and bought some ingredients for dinner. They came to our house and cooked up some turkey burgers, made a salad and had sun chips. It was so much fun to see the kids enjoying themselves that it was difficult not to hover and become a nuisance.


All the kids went to the Davis Homecoming game. After a while, Court and Sarah left early and went for some ice cream then came back to our home to play some Wii!!


The rest of the group came back a little later Friday night and they watched the movie "I Robot".

Saturday evening Court got dressed up in his outfit for the dance. He had taken Alyssa shopping with him a few days ago and together they picked out a pink tie to match Sarah's dress and a black shirt to match. Court looked really sharp.

Being the mother of a son going to a high school dance you don't get in on seeing the two of them together to shoot pictures. I try to remember to send my camera with Court so that the girl's parents can take some shots for me, but Alyssa had borrowed it and left it at school. :( I borrowed my friends camera but didn't dare send it with Court to pick up Sarah.
Fortunately for me, Court forgot his dance ticket and had to come home to pick it up. I got to see the two of them together. Sarah's dress was so lovely. It had sequins in a stipple pattern all over the waist and a pink and white ribbon to accent the bodice. It was tea length and the skirt had tulle underneath to make it stand out just a bit.


Don't you just love Court's boutonniere? He said it was his most favorite ever!

Their group left the dance a little early and came to our house. They had a little dance in the family room and danced to some slow songs. Apparently there were no slow songs played at the dance.

Court had a great time and is so glad he went.

A taste of summer

There are few things more delicious than fresh peaches off the tree in late summer. The flavor reminds me of everything good about summer. I bought 2 bushels of peaches this week; one for me and one for my mother.

I have been bottling quarts for me, pints for my mother (who has been sick all week) and I even did a batch of peach pie filling for both of us.

I personally only like fresh peaches; bottled peaches are not my favorite but I do them for my children and husband. I have discovered, however, that a wonderful way to eat bottled peaches is when they are baked into a cobbler.

Cobbler recipe:

2 quarts of peaches, drain juice out of one bottle
1 yellow or white cake mix
6 Tbsp butter

Pour the peaches into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle the cake mix over the top of the peaches. Cut butter into slices and put slices all over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Heaven!

Homecoming Dance Request

September 19th is Davis High Homecoming Dance. Court really wanted to go. He decided to ask a girl named Sarah to the dance. After much deliberation, this is what he did to ask her out.


He took each letter of his name and cut it into squares and put all the different squares at the bottom of the box underneath the bag of cereal.

Sarah answered him the next day. She gave him a plate of cookies that were decorated with green clovers made out of frosting along with a note that said, "Court, I would be CHARMED to go to the dance with you."

She also told him that it took her a long time to unscramble the letters to find out who was asking her to the dance.

It's so fun to watch your kids grow up and do all the fun things that are available to them.

The Dragonfly

The other day as I was watering my flowers outside a dragonfly landed on my thumb. He just sat there and moved his head and looked around, perfectly content. It reminded of Meg Ryan in the movie, "You've Got Mail" where she talks about a butterfly:

"Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway and today - I saw one! It got on at 42nd and off at 59th, where, I assume, it was going to Bloomingdale's to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake - as almost all hats are."

I had to shake my hand a bit to get him to fly away but it was fun to see him up close and personal.