Friday, May 21, 2010

Still in Salt Lake City

I’m going to try again to update my blog without losing everything.  The last time I tried it got too hot and shut off.  I write my blog with Live Writer and unlike Blogger it doesn’t automatically save every few minutes.  I know I should do it manually but I didn’t.  My bad.  Also, my laptop does sit on top of a cooling fan.  Apparently it’s not doing it’s job either.

We’ve been hanging out here enjoying the grandkids.  When we first got here we saw them a lot but lately we haven’t seen much of them.  More on that later.

Ashton’s soccer game

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Reilly’s “movie star” look

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I had a fantastic Mother’s Day.  Ashton & Reilly had a sleepover so of course I had to make them waffles for breakfast.  As I was finishing up Michele & Todd showed up to pick them up and Todd insisted on making omelets for Rod and I.  They were really yummy.  Later that day we went to Todd’s parents house for dinner that he prepared mostly all on his own.  He didn’t just prepare a regular dinner.  We’re talking marinated flank steak, barbequed shrimp, grilled orange roughy and even asparagus with hollandaise sauce.  Oh yeah, and there was also the bread.  He made Challah bread.  We honestly could have just eaten the bread all night and nothing else.  Todd says he’s the only Dad at daycare that can braid his daughter’s hair.  He learned it from braiding bread.  LOL

The bread (4 loaves!!)

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The shrimp and grilled pineapple

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The asparagus

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This next part is very personal and I don’t usually write about that kind of stuff but I have to explain why we recently went to Las Vegas for a few days.

When I was very young my parents were divorced and I never saw my Mother again.  She left us.  My Dad was awarded custody and raised us with the help of a housekeeper/nanny.  We had a few of them over the course of my childhood until one day he fell in love and married one of them.  Her name is Beverly and she is the one that we all called Mom.  They were married when I was 10 years old and couldn’t have been a better mom.

Recently my niece was doing some genealogy online and came across a forum.  Somebody was looking for my sister, my brothers and I.  She said on the forum post that she was our sister.  Apparently our “mother” (not Beverly) had a child before she met my Dad and gave her up for adoption.  After her adoptive parents died she decided to look for her biological parents.  She found our “mother” and she told her about us.  She was the one who posted on the forum.  My sister decided to write to the email address that was included on the forum.  Sure enough, we found out we have another sister!!!

Now the plan was to meet.  Since Rod and I are going to Alaska for the summer and my new sister, Tina, lives in Philadelphia the winter was definitely out.  My sister, Joyce and I started talking about meeting up in Las Vegas for the weekend.  At first we thought somewhere in between but who wants to meet up in Nebraska??  The plan was set in motion, we contacted our brothers and everybody decided to go to Vegas for a four day weekend.  Rod and I rented a car and drove since it was only a 6 hour drive and flying is such a hassle these days.  We had a blast and you could sure tell Tina was our sister.  She was raised as an only child and then finds out she has a LOT of brothers and sisters.  She also has 7 kids so now I’ve got six more nieces and one nephew.  We plan on going to Philadelphia next summer to meet all of them.

The weekend was absolutely amazing and meeting my new sister and brother-in-law was something incredible!!

From the left, Me, Donny, Joyce, Tina and George

The Kids

Since Tina and her husband, Jim weren’t familiar with Mexican food and we all grew up on it we decided to introduce them to it for breakfast.  They weren’t impressed with the food but Tina LOVED the margaritas.  LOL

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I had machaca con huevos which was unbelievably YUMMY!!

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Rod had the biggest burrito I’ve ever seen in my life!!

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Jim and Tina had steak, hash browns, eggs and pancakes.  LOL!!

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We got home on Monday and were looking forward to seeing the grandkids again but Ashton was sick.  Michele brought Reilly over for a little while.  She said Ashton was fine but didn’t want to chance it getting us sick too.  We made plans on Tuesday to go see him at Taekwondo practice.  He really loves it but he was being a goofball that night with us being there.  Mommy was NOT happy.

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Wednesday the kids were supposed to come over but those plans changed.  Michele recently got a promotion and they are moving to Ft Collins, Colorado.  She had been over there for training and to find a house.  She thought she had one but it fell through so she and Todd had to make another trip over.  They had to take the kids to Todd’s parents house so they could get them to school and daycare.  Sooooo, that’s the reason we haven’t seen them much in the last few weeks.  With us being gone and then them being gone.  I think a sleepover will be mandatory this weekend.  Oh yeah, and Michele and Todd did find a house and got back to SLC today.  Ashton has a soccer game tomorrow so we’ll see them all then.

HA!!  My computer got too hot and shut down while this was publishing but I had saved the whole thing!!  YAY!!!

13 comments:

Donna McNicol said...

Try using a can of compressed air to blow out the fan area. Sometimes that's all it needs!

Roadrunner Chronicles said...

Wow - you have a lot packed into that post! Glad things worked out and you got to meet up with your sister.

Charlie and Peggy said...

Deb,

Wow, what a blast to discover you got a new sister! Glad it all worked out for you all to meet. Never eaten Mexican food? They have been deprived for sure.

A couple of newer paintings 2019 said...

Wow! You sure have had some excitement in your life! Thanks for sharing.

Tumbleweed Dee said...

Thanks for the update! What a blast, and you can tell you're all related. It's fabulous having family and yours has grown a lot in just a short time. Thanks for sharing.

LakeConroePenny,TX said...

Thanks for sharing. What a wonderful surprise to have family that you didn't even know about.

You can set Live Writer to save every three minutes.
I have to do that, as I never know when the power is going to go out here in the country.
Happy Trails, Penny, TX

Leno said...

How great that it all worked out in Vegas, meeting your sister.
Enjoy your time with the g'kids, hopefully this weekend.
Arlene

Happytrails said...

Wow! What a story!! So glad you got to meet your sister and all of you "kids" got together. Great picture of you all. Glad everything worked out so well. :)

What a fabulous dinner Todd fixed for you all. It looks yummy as I know it was. You lucky girl!!!!

Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com

Randy and Terry said...

So happy for you, Deb!! More family is always fun and another sister - YAY!

Unknown said...

Great story...so glad you decided to share it! I am so glad the trip worked out! It's a positive that she's your sister if she liked the Mexican food!!

Looks like you are having a great time with those little folks. I am glad to hear that the kids found a house? Hope they are excited about the move.

Are your plans still on for crossing the border on or about June 1?

Hugs to you both!
Hu

Wil said...

Sounds like a great trip. Next time you are in Baton Rouge, LA, eat at Izzo's Illegal Burrito. They make them even bigger!

Erin said...

For LiveWriter Auto Save:

Tools | Options | Editing ... type in how frequently you want WLW to save.

Bernice said...

That is a trip about your sister!! I'm so happy that it turned out good for everyone; sometimes they don't for whatever reason. Our family is growing, too. Check Facebook later; I'll have pics of our new "daughter!"

Love, Bernice