Summertime Fun

Summertime is in full swing for the Glassford family. It's taken awhile for it to really feel like summer because of all the rain we've had... but we've managed to have some fun despite the constant rainfall.

My previous post shared the fun times Todd, Evan, and Tori had on their boating trip to Lake Mead. I missed them terribly. While they were gone, I tried to keep myself busy with work and visiting with my Mom, Dad, and sisters. One of the days I got a chance to attend a Kelly Clarkson concert with my lovely sisters Carol and Nan, along with Nan's darling daughter, Helen. It sprinkled rain throughout most of the concert but we have fun all the same.














Me enjoying the concert from way, way in the back.















Darling little Helen.















Can you see the double rainbow? It was gorgeous!


A few days after our fun concert and after Evan and Tori returned from Lake Mead, our city had it's annual city festival days. We managed to have fun at the little city carnival in between rain storms. With the rain we had a nice cool day to enjoy all the fun rides.















Tori and her friend riding with little Helen. They were so cute to ride on the little "kiddie" rides with Helen.















My sweet Evan, who took a little "time out" from his cool teenage attitude, rode the Ducky ride with Helen. Isn't this just the sweetest thing?















Evan you're awesome!

Fun in Lake Mead (without Mom)

For the last couple of years Todd and Evan have been going to Lake Mead on an annual Father-Son outing with a friend of ours and his son. They have a great time baking in the hot son while waterskiing or wakeboarding. This year plans changed at the last minute and Todd and his friend decided to bring along their daughters. This meant I was left home alone for five days, something that I haven't experienced for.... oh.... 22 years (since Spencer was born).

At first it was exciting to thing of my time alone and all that I could accomplish. But let me tell you, I didn't like it. What a strange, strange thing for me to have the house all to myself. I missed my family the entire time! I missed them, but I did have some fun thanks to my wonderful sisters! (good times!)

Todd, Evan, and Tori also had a lot of fun. Got a lot of sun and became expert wakeboarders. I guess wakeboarding is the new thing, apparently waterskiing is just not cool anymore. Interesting how things change.

Here's some great pics of their fun time at Lake Mead.













Evan and Tori having a blast on the tube. Can you see the big smiles on their faces?















Evan and Tori with the other family. Very cute kids.















What a handsome boy! And look at that amazing little girl in the background.
















Very talented little girl and so darn cute!
















Amazing young man!














Wow! Hot Husband!















The end of a long day having fun. My sweet Evan.

















Sweet little Tori.


Thanks Todd for taking some great pictures for me. It helps me feel like I was there with you. Love you.

Why I Love Utah

I had the chance to drive to Heber city last week, which took me on a beautiful drive through Provo canyon. It was absolutely gorgeous.

I took a shot of the canyon from my phone on the drive home trying to capture the beauty of a perfect day in Utah. Did I capture the beauty?

Another Year....

Another year means celebrating another birthday... in my case I feel like I should say enduring rather than celebrating. Man, it's tough getting old and I'm just getting started. At least that what my Mom says... "Why are you complaining? You're still young... you're just getting started."

(sigh) I love my Mom.

So, as a special treat to me, my lovely children insisted on putting the correct amount of candles on my cake. Honestly, I was worried about the fire hazard but everything turned out fine.












Can you see the cake through all the candles?

My family is so sweet to me. The kids were very kind all day and my dear husband even made me breakfast in bed. Life is good!












Here's my lovely little family, minus my oldest child (we miss you Spencer!). I wanted to try and get a quick pic of the family so I asked Todd to try to get us all in there. Turned out kind of cute, right?

Randon Thoughts

Some random thoughts...

It's baseball season in the Glassford house. Evan and Tori are both on teams this year, of course Tori's team is actually a softball team, and having them both on teams means some serious schlepping across town Monday through Saturday. They both have at least two practices a week and then at least one game a week. All of this means frantic hurrying home from work, quickly eating dinner, then dealing with the heartburn from eating dinner so quickly (at least I do... well... cause I'm getting old), and then running the two moody teenagers two and from their baseball/softball practice/game.

Do I sound like I hate doing all this? Well, I don't. I love doing this for my moody teenagers and being with my moody teenagers and wouldn't change my life for the world. It just means heartburn for a while.

Speaking of baseball....

Evan has healed nicely from his baseball-to-the-face-incident. He's as handsome as ever and looking forward to playing ball as much as ever. Here's a self-portrait. Isn't he just cute? (Can you see a little bit of the moody in him?)











Speaking of moody...

Here's Tori's most recent self-portrait. Isn't she just the cutest thing? Her last day of school was Friday, which means she's free for the summer with all sorts of fun things planned. She's planning sleep-overs, shopping trips, and movie marathons with her friends. All of this will be accomplished by next Friday and she'll be bored to tears.









I actually remember those days, even though I'm old as my children daily remind me. I do remember the days when I would get bored during summer. It's not something that I can even remotely comprehend now but I do remember in the "olden" days being bored. Hopefully, I can live up to the task as a Mother to keep her and Evan entertained throughout the summer. Wish me luck!

Speaking of school and summer...

I'm currently in summer school in my seemingly forever quest to complete a bachelors degree. And can I just say... summer school just sucks. It flat out sucks. It's not fun going to school when you just want to be out enjoying the beautiful weather. The classes I'm taking are fascinating and the teaching is topnotch but its.... its... just not normal to be in school during the summer. Wish me luck with this endeavor also! I plan to have my degree complete by April next year, which means... no summer school next year. whooo hoooo!

Mother's Day 2009

We had our annual Mother's Day Brunch at Thanksgiving Point this year and I'm thrilled, THRILLED that I had all my sisters there but two. We missed you Rebecca and Nan! Previous years there has just been our Mother and then her three daughters but this year there were five daughters.

Some day we'll have all seven sisters together and hopefully our sister-in-law AND my new daughter-in-law all together to enjoy this brunch and each other's company. Until then, we'll have extra food for those that are missing.

This is such a fun annual outing for us. I love my Mom and sisters. I'm very thankful for them all.

Beautiful Lillian was able to travel all the way from Connecticut to celebrate this Brunch with us.

Beautiful Alison with our amazing Mother.

My lovely sisters, Alison and Carol.

Sweet, sweet women; Lillian and Kayce

Wow! Hot, amazing women! (I'm loving Kayce's glow-in-the dark eyes) (Cat-Eyes!)

Sample of the beautiful flowers.

Sample of the beauitful women.

Best of all.... we got to hold darling Elise. Tori was in heaven!

Favorite Summer Recipe

I have a favorite summer recipe to share. I don't really know why it's a "summer" recipe it just seems to be something I typically make as things warm up. Maybe because it's a light pasta dish that's easy to make... you can decide when to make it. It's yummy and also husband and kid friendly, which is always a task to please both.



Farfalle with Tomatoes and Corn
1 box or pkg. of mini farfalle
1 28oz. can of dice tomatoes
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 can corn, drained
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (fresh stuff!)
4 leaves basil, chopped or 1 tsp. dried basil
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. While cooking pasta, saute onion in olive oil in a large skillet. Add tomatoes to skillet and simmer for about three minutes then season with salt and pepper. Add corn and simmer for additional two minutes. Drain pasta when done cooking and toss with tomato and corn sauce. Stir in cheese and basil before serving. Enjoy!

This is great with a nice crusty bread and a green salad. Yummy meal.