So We Went to This Really Cool Resort

...in So California, run by this couple (above) and their cute kids (below).

Huh. It's actually my sister Tena, who is the new boss of this plant where they make cool stuff including dog toys.

Here she is in her office, interviewing a potential underling (John). He wasn't hired.

Here she is in her safety glasses and steel-toe shoes before going onto the floor. She has a little motto on her desk top that we should all remember: Women are angels, and when someone clips our wings, we simply continue to fly on a broomstick. We're flexible that way.

We flew to Orange County/ John Wayne/ Santa Ana (SNA) airport—the airport with the most names ever—because the nearby Ontario flights were full, but today it looked like the standby seats were holding steady, and we made it on to come home. Tena was a little worried about the weekend I-15 traffic in from Las Vegas if she had to drive to SNA this afternoon (although she said she could figure alternatives), but their house is a sweet 20 minutes away from Ontario.

Their home is perfect for them—four bedrooms, an open floor plan, indoor/outdoor with tiled floors, austerely furnished (by Tena)—a lovely place to live and a beautiful and restful place to visit. It’s probably a little smaller than our house if you count Grandma Gene’s place, but every inch counts. I am returning for sure, probably in March--fair warning, guys! It is a private family resort, all the advantages of vacation travel but with their own showers, kitchen, and beds. Aisake gave up his room for us and slept on the couch downstairs.

But the biggest treat of all is their backyard, which is a cross between an upscale resort, an Italian bistro, and a jungle camp site, with the palm trees, spa and pool, bar and barbeque, tables on the terrace behind wrought iron, fire pit seating, waterfall, citrus and banana orchard and taro garden. The orchard and garden are small,

but there’s an orange and a lemon growing. It would be fun to go to the beach sometime, but why travel when there’s perfection in your backyard?

Hummingbirds came to the bird-of-paradise plants at the back of the yard:

The land slopes steeply to the north, and the builders made a terrace behind a wrought iron fence (I didn't get a good photo of the winding staircase up to it). Tena has put bistro tables and chairs up there, and said they picnic in dry safety there while Aisake splashes in the pool below.

We gave up on heating the pool after awhile. John and Aisake braved the 65 degree pool water but not for long (John was in and out too quickly for me to get a photo).

The sweetest, absolutely best thing was the spa. With as much body mass as I have, I do one initial warm-up, and then spend most of the rest of the evening wandering wetly around in the breeze waiting to cool down again. John was more pop in and out of the spa-pool-spa-pool, then go indoors and have another nap on the sofa. It really made me decide that we need a hot tub ourselves. Not until we get back from London and I built up my income again, but then heck yeah. We’re all set up for one, it’s just buying it and putting it in.

John is steamed!

The pool and spa lights change colors. Here we look like we're cooking in a witch's brew:

We dried off and warmed up around the fire:

Tena and Teane came to pick us up at Orange County and we didn't get in until about 11:30 pm Friday and Pesi cooked waffles and scrambled eggs for us before we went to bed. Tena and Teane fed us Greek yummy-ness on Saturday. We missed the big BBQ they had planned because everybody was too full until too late. One more reason to return. Below, Aisake and John are silly in the kitchen:

Tena and Teane stayed home from church to take us back to the airport, but Pesi and Aisake were dressed in their Sunday finery. As you can see, Aisake is already out-growing his new suit:

Here we are at the mini-resort. I'm going back for sure! Thanks Tena, Pesi, Teane, and Aisake, for a great and relaxing weekend.

Betsy and Ellie's Baby Shower

So Betsy's having a baby, in case you didn't know. Due February 13, and named Rayen Elizabeth. Big brother Ethan is excited, although it's hard to imagine what he actually envisions the baby to be, in mama's tummy. He calls the doctor's office the "baby Ellie store."

The shower was fun--a brunch with sweet fruity whipped cream and powdered sugar crepes and savory egg, pepper, mushroom and onion crepes, hot chocolate, tea, and oj (we accidentally left the yogurt sitting in the cold garage on top of the freezer).

Ethan, Betsy, (baby Ellie), and Grandma Gene were there (above), as were Rachel, Barbara, Susie, and Samantha:

Liz and Karma Sue (not sure what Karma Sue is thinking):

Amy, Rachel (again) on Mary Ann's lap, and Grandma E:

The guys (besides Ethan) came too--Alan (and Rachel--she's gets in all the photos--good thing she's so photogenic:

Grandpa declined to come into the party room, preferring to read his Kindle in peace and quiet. Notice that he did have a crepe:

Ellie got a lot of practical girl things. Amy stayed up all night finishing her a lovely crocheted receiving blanket in rose, blue, coral, yellow, and soft green. Is there a chance at all that this baby will be anything but a princess? Although Betsy was never content with the princess role--Amy could be the princess, but she was the QUEEN.

I promised Betsy I'd take a week off work and go stay at their house when Ellie comes. I've been warning my patients that we will miss a session. Hooray for granddaughters!

Lucy/Alice Garden

I think I have a very mild form of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which I find myself countering every January by going completely over the top in an obsession with gardens--ordering magazines online, buying books, drawing sketches in my big blue garden planner. This year I was feeling sad because with A&J's work on the water garden last summer, there are no more major projects to be done. Then I remembered my little memorial garden for Lucy.

Many years ago I saw a non-Disney Alice statue in a Better Homes and Gardens ad. I tried last summer to look it up online and found nothing--I decided to just get a little pedestal without a statue at Sun River Gardens and have that be it. But I tried again this month and found the statue! Since it is the dead of winter, I will have a lot of time to plan the garden before putting it in.

It will be hidden in the shady spot behind the rose arbor and the peach tree, and viewable from the swing:

Here is the view out at the yard from the swing:

Here is the space, overhung by Dr. Wochnik's plum, apple, and cherry trees, with the lilac on the left and a snowball bush on the right. Last fall we planted about 200 red and yellow tulip and daffodil bulbs there (but I think we planted them too shallow--I hope they come up):

Claudio inspects the site:


Actually, he just wants me to pet him:

Then on the fence behind the statue and flowers we will put in a mirror gate similar to one of the following. I saw mirror tiles at WalMart for $5/pkg of 6 when I was there the other night with Amy buying yarn. I could attach the mirrors directly to the fence in a lattice or tudor pattern and frame them with thin strips of wood, or I could buy an old door at a second-hand/recycle store like Restore and put the tiles on it then bury it a foot or so into the ground so that it was child-sized, or create something like these amazing mirror illusion-gates (below). I will make a little bark-chip path up to the looking-glass gate, and put a pot beside it.

It makes me look forward even more to spring.

A Winter Walk

Amy and I have been walking on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with Dex whenever the weather is good enough to go outside. (Once she walked with me at the church when it was snowing, but was overwhelmed by the sociality--it was the Relief Society walking group. It must indeed be weird to have ladies you don't know at all ask you about your life--'Mom, what have you been telling them about me?' Nothing, really, I'm actually quite careful.)

The other day we walked to the cemetery above our house. From somewhere came a low soft whistling--finally we realized it was the man ahead of us--maybe the caretaker--who was calling the bunnies and feeding them rabbit food. This was all extremely interesting to Dex. Isn't he being very good? (in the photo above)


Another bunny below:

It's some view, and as pretty at night as in the daytime. Sunsets are awesome.

Here is our Edgemont neighborhood. You can't actually see our house--it's hidden behind the Lovelesses, the Nielsons, and then the Slagowskis, but I think you could see the west half of the garage if you zoomed in.
We live in a gorgeous valley. 'Course it's hard in the wintertime because the mountains trap the bad air from cars and industry during an inversion and we can't go outside to exercise, unless we drive to Sundance or Heber. We haven't had too many bad days so far this season--not nearly as many as Cache Valley to the north.

PS: Dex was naughty on the way home. The road down is through a little uninhabited, open, but protected valley, so she let him off leash to run. We were fine until we passed another darling little bunny warming in the sun under a leafless bush--and he was off like a shot. Since then he's been on leash.

Grandparenthood

We had Colette over for the weekend, as Nicolle and Johnathan were in Costa Rica helping her folks renovate her abuelita's kitchen in San Jose, and Rob was working during the day. I remember being the only grandchild visiting my grandparents in Orderville and at the house north of Glendale in Long Valley, and how much fun it was to eat with them and "help" do chores. Colette was very good, and helpful, and we tried to indulge her in every single little thing. She really likes to play the games on "PBS Kids" online. I have a very nice new cot for car camping, and she slept by herself for two nights in the living room by the fire. When Rob and Nicolle and Johnathan came down last night, they slept on our new fold-out sofa in the front room. It is great having so much space for people to sleep, and I like when our sweeties come to stay with us.

Also, Johnathan is completely toilet-trained. This is a major cause for celebration. He came out of the bathroom this morning with his underwear around his ankles. "Did you go to the toilet?" I asked. "I peed and peed and peed and peed and peed," he said.

Today was very warm for the middle of January. I sat out on the deck in the sun, and the trickle of melting snow was as loud all around me as the trickle from the waterfall below. It will be cold again soon. I am engrossed in reading my garden magazines and looking up garden sites online--I have another idea for my Lucy garden. We shall see.

We tried to go with the kids to a dollar movie, but they were all sold out, so we bought a movie and watched it while we ate nachos. Then there was the sunset and they went home.

An Invitation

I'll be posting stuff to our UK blog more frequently now, as we leave in ONLY FIVE MORE MONTHS. I'm excited, and apprehensive, since I didn't actually have a job when we left for half a year the previous two times. Will I still have a practice when I come back? Well, no, but maybe I can rebuild it. Poverty is a small price to pay for the chance to live in such a beautiful house and exciting city for six months.

People are already starting to schedule visits! Make sure you get your reservation in early. Hint: London is less crowded in the fall than in the summer, and we will probably be in a bigger apartment fall semester--more room for visitors. But any time will be great!

The photo of Ethan is a bonus.

The Parties Are Over

...but we sure had fun. We gave up the traditional marathon present-opening with 25 people in the tiny Christmas room, and had the families open their presents whenever they arrived Christmas day. It was much more relaxed and more room to maneuver.

Ethan liked his truck from Grandpa:

Colette shows off a new book:

The next party was at J.Lynn & Tana's for Grandma E's birthday:

We ate in the well-heated garage. The California Moungas were there, and most of the Gales. Jody took two and a half hours driving through horizontal snow to get from Provo to the Farm, and Damien hadn't made it back from Utah County due to an accident on the freeway. John and I made it home by driving behind a semi at 35 mph after the fog had blown away. I was thankful not to be driving from Houston to Utah and back this year, as we did for several Christmases in the past. Much better to drive 40 miles than 1400 (or however many it is).