Mimi Day at the Zoo

The Baby Elephant is growing.

Marching in the water.

I think this was their favorite spot.

"money shot" of polar bear

Beautiful blue eyed baby.

Giraffe baby. Can you tell I love babies?

Ice Cream is so yummy after a hot day at the zoo. Even better that they came with French fries.

Couldn't go without Papa even tho he was talking real estate some of the time.

Lego displays were all over the zoo.

All of us as we were leaving. Such a fun day!

K and his Dada

K told Clay before he left that he wanted a picture of him so he could remember him. So I took a few pictures and printed and laminated this for him. When I gave it to him he just hugged it. Ahhhh.

Mimi Day

Papa and I took the little boys to our

new park and set them free. They had a blast on the wide open space.

Kinzi telling Papa about Aunt Chels fixing her hair.
 

Boo and K making

porcupines out of play dough and beads and toothpicks.

Killian was so excited his Daddy came for a visit, and so, so, sad when he left.

 

K's New Ride

1st day of 2nd grade, Feeding the ducks,and a very pretty little girl.

K said "I hope the ducks enjoy their lunch!"

Old Mimi and Silly Killian

Killian told me I was old. I asked him if I was old how could I take him for walks or play video games?. He thought about it for a minute then said  "Well you look old".

He was also having a bad day and Nana came over and took him to her house for a couple hours. when he got in the car he told her "sometimes it's good to leave home".

Then at lunch he was telling us silly things and instead of saying I'm cracking myself up he said "I'm joking myself up."  We re loving having him here.

Can you guess who is Kinzi's favorite? She loves her Papa.

Little Bandit who's been sneaking in the garage at night at eating the cat food.

Stansbury Days

We started out in the Stansbury Parade where Killian loved throwing candy, went to the frog
jumping contest and pet show with all three grand babies and ended the day watching fireworks.

Friday night dinner with entertainment.

We invited Robin & Brian over as they're moving back to Sun Valley. Also Alex & Marianne,
Wendell & Carole, Tara, Killian, Kinzi and Tammy. It's always nice when your dinner guests bring guitars. A lovely night
with the boat promenade passing by.

Good Bye Montana. We will miss our trips to this beautiful spot. We will not miss the wind, the 9-10 hr drives,the airfare prices or the cold winters.

And after a 12 hour journey we are back home with our new temporary roommates.

Papa, Tara, Boo and Killian went to say Good bye to Ellie at her new home.

Miss Kinzi's 1st Birthday Party.

Today Papa, Mimi, Aunt Chelsea and Boo drove 610 miles to see this little beauty on her birthday.
Well OK we had other reasons but this is the main one.

Mimi Day and Chelsea's 32nd Birthday

Chelsea's birthday just happened to fall on Mimi Day this year. So we went to NPS, Su Casa for lunch, Old Navy at the Gateway mall and ran through the fountains. And ended with dinner at La Fountain after Tom had closed on Dewayne's Condo. Correction; we ended it with frog hunting on the Stansbury Golf Course.  A fun day was had by all.
And Boo's word of the day "Lickitive" .  " Punkin is being very lickitive today."

More Doggie Drama-Ugggggggg

Mimi Day 073113 Dentist, Boo, Traveling and a Fortune. We sold our condo today but we sure didn't make a fortune. Just enough to pay for Cancun.

My morning started with a Dentist appointment, to Chelsea's house to get Boo and his bin full of cars, and to our house to play all afternoon.

 I asked Boo what he would like to do and he chose Del Taco so we went there for dinner then a little frog hunting. He's always asking me to watch him play videos so I let him sit on my lap and play video games for awhile and I told him with school starting soon and the Double K's coming this may not happen again for awhile.

I've been telling him Killian and Kinzi are coming. Clay called today and said something about when Aunt Tara comes and he said "Aunt Tara is coming too?"

Guess he thought just the kids were moving in.

I found my fortune from last week and I Booked our annual Cancun trip today. Boo came in while I was on the computer and read Book Here and said "where are we going?" Didn't have the heart to tell him we were going to Cancun without him.

My Sat morning started with a great idea to drive Punkin to our new park for a walk. Half way there he jumps out of the truck window. Not sure how he fit. As I'm trying to decide if I interrupt Tom's golf tournament to tell him his dog is dead Punkin then gets up, shakes and jumps back in the truck and looks at me like "what just happened?". We get to the park & as I'm putting on his leash he take...s off after two foo foo doggies & their owners holler. He comes back and We get to the furthest point of the park and it starts pouring rain. We run back and he jumps in the truck with muddy feet. Half way back home my windshield wiper just flies off the truck into the street. I turn around and run into the road to grab it. I could barely see to drive home as the metal is scratching the window and I can't figure out how to turn off the wipers in Tom's truck. Cancelled my shopping trip in to SLC. Crawled back in bed with a book and my ipad. This is where I'll be until Tom gets home if anyone is looking for me.

 

Sun Morning. Tom leaves for golfing at 7:15. Punkin puts his paws on the bed like "come on mom, time for our walk".  I tell him after yesterday I'm walking on my treadmill this morning and going back to sleep for now. When I got up an hour later he had left a nice little surprise next to my treadmill. Who's idea was it to get this doggie anyway?

Muddy Punkin at Chelsea's House.

Text from Tara: Z climbed in by herself, must feel like goin somewhere today!

Mimi/Pioneer Day at Antelope Island

Today is Utah's State Holiday~Pioneer Day. We didn't have any set plans today until Michelle called and said Shawn was sick at work and they were taking him to the ER in Bountiful. She was upset so Tom picked her up and took her. After a couple hours and Shawn was feeling better Gavin and I went and rescued Papa from the hospital. We decided since we were so close to Antelope Island we would go check it out. We saw 4 buffalos, and we had a buffalo burger. We saw zero Antelopes but we did see baby swallows in a nest. Boo collected brine shrimp in a bottle to take home and we waded in the Great Salt Lake and really enjoyed our day.
As for Shawn he had an MRI, and a  Catscan that came back good and more Cardio tests tomorrow.

Week in Review

Grandma Joan got a new neighbor on Thursday. Alex and Marianne's daughter Tracy died this week at the age of 28. Her grave is just a couple rows behind Joan. My heart just hurts for them.

Our week end was like a staycation. Sat morning we went to the farmers market in downtown SLC, The Urban Arts Festival (which had some very disturbing art) and to Costco to spend a couple hundred dollars.

In the afternoon we went to Carolyn's retirement party. She had an old board sitting in an old window that I spotted. It was previously attached to some ammunition boxes that had been on their property since the 1950's. She said she had searched for the Shackelfords and never had any luck. I told her we had a good friend named Ron Shackelford and may I take a picture and send it to him. Within a couple minutes Ronnie was calling me back saying this was his Dad! It was a box his Dad sent to his Mom during WW2. His dad was stationed in the Phillipines. Ronnie was thrilled that Carolyn told me to take it home for him. Such a small world.

 And we ended the evening going to a Bee's BB game and fireworks with Chels & Shane.

TEXT FROM TARA: Umbrella in sippy cup, thinking of the beach.

K's Gait Testing at Denver Children's Hospital

Gait Analysis for Cerebral Palsy

Gait analysis for cerebral palsy evaluates the movements of the lower body while walking.
Gait analysis uses:

• Cameras and videos to record a person walking.
• Computers to analyze how well the person walks.
• Special flooring (force plates) to show where the person's feet touch the ground while walking.
• Special machines to record muscle activity (electromyography) in the person's legs when he or she walks.

Why It Is Done

For a person with cerebral palsy, gait analysis can be used to:

• Find ways to help the person walk better.
• Predict what type of muscle, tendon, or joint surgery (orthopedic surgery) would be most helpful.
• Evaluate the success of orthopedic surgery that has already been done.
• Suggest changes in a person's exercise program.

Results

Gait analysis can show the exact movement of the lower body as a person walks.
Gait analysis is not painful, and usual activities can resume as soon as the test is completed.