Cleaning off the camera...

So much for my resolution to be better about posting! Here are some snippets from the last couple of months...

Pablo Sandoval (aka Kung Fu Panda) was rehabbing his broken hand at the Giant's Triple A team (Fresno), so when they came to town to play the Bees, we had to get our buns down there to see him play.Caitlin & Brian loitered by Fresno's bench during pre-game hoping to get one of our Giants shirts signed. Panda came over a few feet from Catie, but then he started heading the opposite way. Suddenly he stopped and went back and....Yep - she got the shirt signed!Panda had a terrific game including a home run and some spectacular glove play at 3rd. He went back up to the Giants the next week and proceeded to have a 22 game hitting streak (shirt karma!).

We spent a lovely weekend up at Snowbird...
I think Caitlin did the bungee trampoline 20 times (thank heavens for the all-day-pass).
Austin was on a first name basis with the workers at the zip line and the alpine slide.

I guess the trick is to get the kids up to 11,800 feet and they'll pretend to like each other. Thin air - wahoo!!

Or course, the Sysco banquet turned out pretty well... Brian had to do a bit of public speaking (his own darn fault). It's nice to see all his hard work rewarded!

Note to self... don't tell Caitlin that "one day, I'll take you and your friends to Lagoon" because she will NEVER let you forget you uttered the words until you're inside the park. Another note to self... always try to go to Lagoon on weekdays because you can ride every ride over and over and over again...all day long!

Ahhh - Zeke...

So Tracy called us on the 24th of July and asked if Catie and I would want to go see Katy Perry - ummm, HECK YEAH! We had a delightful girls night out with Tracy, Tami, Ellie (above) and Mia (below) and Uncle Rod (who was a very good sport).

It was a great show - and the concert was awesome as well (the crowd was a hoot).

Yeah - I know. I don't have an iPhone where I can easily take photos of myself. It would have been handy when Catie & I headed for Deer Valley later in the week to hear the symphony featuring...

Idina Menzel! Yes... I know the photo is blurry, but it was the best I could do before the photo gestapo came to tell me "Maam... NO PICTURES" while of course ignoring all the people around me with their iPhones that were recording the entire concert. Gotta get me an iPhone!!!

She sang 3 songs from Wicked ("I'm Not That Girl," "For Good (acapella - heavenly)," and of course, "Defying Gravity") as well as a song from Rent. It was soooo good!

Catching Up...

Yeah - I know I've been a slacker. So here's my attempt at "catching up." We had a delightful time in Las Vegas for Keith's birthday. After snow, cold, and more snow at home, it was lovely to be where we didn't have to wear coats.Party time! It was great to see everybody at the birthday dinner! The entertainment was great. Mattie, Jaedon and Devyn got the gene that escaped me - the one where you can perform in front of people.

This was a fun game until everyone (meaning everyone under the age of 14) memorized the answers!

Waiting in vain for the Bellagio fountains.

The buddies...

Who needs warm water to swim? Not this motley crew.

We had a great visit with Uncle Trace and Aunt Teri (with a Nothing Bundt Cake thrown in for good measure).

After having the tickets sitting in our kitchen for a year and a half, U2 finally came to town. It was soooo worth the wait!

Good stuff!!

Then we were off to St. George for little Zeke's blessing. More fun with the cousins!

Devyn's sporting a new 'do courtesy of Aunt Annie.

This picture shows the "Zeke Effect." Huge smiles all around when he is near!

More "Zeke Effect."

Caitlin & I made a side trip to Spanish Fork on our way back from St. George.

School is finally out, so Caitlin will be swimming and Austin will be golfing (no more baseball...heavy sigh). Oddly enough, my schedule isn't changing - being old really bites! I guess I'll just count down the days to the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter movie.

Fun in the Sun

For reasons unknown, both Austin & Caitlin had the day off from school last Friday so we decided to head south. We were all excited to see little Zeke in person and have some fun time with the cousins. I'm suprised Zeke didn't somehow end up in the car for the ride home - Catie was smitten.

Who could resist this smile?

Austin's first golf round of the year was with Jaedon and Troy at Sand Hollow - he was just a little excited.We finally mastered "ready position."Cutie-pie Zane told us all kinds of stories about hippos, rhinos and giraffes.Mattie & Caitlin had a successful day selling sweets.Austin chased lizards as usual, but he only imprisoned one.Then it was back to reality and 6 inches of snow. We had fun during our little glimpse of spring.

Communing with Nature

Austin's been having all kinds of fun this year with his season pass to Brighton, so we thought it was high time that we joined him. We probably picked the wrong day (President's Day...considering they closed the canyon because both resorts - Brighton and Solitude - were at capacity), but it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. So if any of you are wondering why I rarely post anymore, click on the picture below - I have difficulty getting pictures of my children (at least ones I'm willing to post). Threats were involved in getting the picture of them together - and this one was the 5th try. I've considered learning how to snowboard, but I guess I'll live vicariously through Austin. Here's a brief moment in his day...

PS - the snow was AMAZING!

Public Apology

So you may or may not have noticed that I have a tendency toward sarcasm here in the friendly confines of my little blog (really?!?). The target of my "snark" is often poor defenseless Brian (specifically whether or not he actually reads this thing - he's an easy target sometimes... he DID wear flip flops to a rodeo you know). Welllll, my attempts at humor came back to bite, not me, but Brian in the, well...butt.

Back in the summer of 2009 (ahh, memories), I INNOCENTLY made a smart alecky comment regarding the picture seen below where I mayyyy have JOKINGLY implied that Brian MAY have inquired about the appearance of his rear end in his pinstripe baseball pants. In my defense, I believe I was quite clear that I was JOKING (you can be the judge - here is the original post http://nuttall-news.blogspot.com/2009/07/day-finally-came.html).

How could this have possibly gone awry? Well, according to well-placed witnesses, today in Sysco's General Sales Meeting, Brian was honored for having a record sales week (great news, right?). Well, apparently, a story was told during the bestowing of this honor about Brian wearing pinstripe pants wondering about the appearance of his...(slang for butt that isn't appropriate for a "family blog"). Brian endured the jeers of his co-workers and even shook his butt (which looked very nice today honey) in front of the entire sales force of his company.

Much speculation ensued about the genesis of this anectode (I'm using ALL the big words I know in my attempt to make myself feel less responsible) with the suspicion actually falling on one of his work compadres. When he mentioned the situation to me after the meeting, I recalled this post and feared that it was indeed the source. Sooooo...

Brian, I am sorry for subjecting you to public ridicule due to my feeble attempts at humor. I'm not going to stop, of course, but I do promise to keep your rear end out of it from now on.

Hadpy Birthday Austin!

(Heavy sigh!) Austin turned 15 despite my best efforts to stop time. We had a nice leisurely day for his birthday - we went up the canyon for breakfast at Ruth's Diner.

PS - yes, this is Austin. He's been de-Biebered.
We also went bowling. Every time I a took a picture of Austin, he rolled a gutter ball (if he ever wants to be on the PBA tour, he needs to get over that), so here is Caitlin instead (and her new haircut). Austin had to endure many hugs from his sister, but he managed to survive. He seems to be growing up at warp speed. He's driving (while closely supervised - aka "slow down! slow down! slow down!"), he started his first job as a bus boy (this picture is of his first day) so he can earn money for a car, and he's grown a couple of inches in the last few months (we have the notches on Grandma's wall to prove it). Whether he likes it or not, he'll always be this little boy to me.

Sick of the Halloween Picture

Quick post to get the Halloween picture out of there (Caitlin as a brunette still freaks me out). We made our visit to Santa as usual. Caitlin asked Santa for a laptop, he thought for a moment and asked her, "do you know where I live?" She said the North Pole. Her told her that the North Pole wasn't near Japan and asked her what else she wanted. Stunned silence followed, but she decided on a Kyle Korver Chicago Bulls jersey. At least she didn't ask for the hamster. We haven't posted because we went to New York city to see the Rockettes.
Oh - that's right, it was actually West Valley City where we went to see the Rockettes (WVC & NYC are often mistaken for one another.)Caitlin thought the Rockettes were "freakin' awesome."

Caitlin and her friend Mia anxiously anticipating more dancing in West Valley City - the SYTYCD Tour.

I thought SYTYCD was "freakin' awesome." Caitlin finished up her cheering (in winter gear) - the team she cheered for won the state championship.

We remembered the flowers!

More to come later.