People Who Make a Difference

Carolyn Zaugg was Noelle's kindergarten teacher many years ago at Lowell Elementary. She indeed was wonderful as this article points out! She established a great learning environment for so many children and was an inspiration to their parents as well, with her ability to meet the needs of her students in her positive and enthusiastic way. I'm glad I had the opportunity to know her.  Enjoy your journeys Mrs. Zaugg!

Kindergarten teacher who touched many lives retires

MCO Concert Highlights

MCO Concert Blurb on KSL
Tribune Article - Another Grand Size Mormon Choir
Deseret News - Mormon Choir's Shows Sell Out
Standard Examiner - Mormon Choir Sells out Abravanal Hall

A Day at The Races

We have a 'Things We Want To Do While Living In California List' and we are able to check going to a racetrack off now.  Santa Anita Racetrack has been around for decades and is noted for its history and architecture.  We were intrigued to experience the art deco building for ourselves and invited our good friends Al & Leah Newman.  We didn't realize what a good choice that was, Al was familiar with the track, having visited often with his father and Leah's sister lives nearby and she knew how to get there.

When we arrived, we drank in the ambiance and then tried to figure out what we were supposed to do.  We explored the grounds and Al explained the racing forms so that we could select horses to watch in each of the ten races that day. 

It's really interesting to watch the horses as they come into the jockey area and get prepared to parade around the grounds and then enter the arena.  The stalls are numbered sequentially but skip the unlucky number thirteen, proceeding from 11, 12, 12a, 14...

Between races sometimes we would return to the parade area to check out the next group of horses and make choices about Win-Place-Show for the next race. 

Al insisted on upgrading to box seats which was a great way to get the full racetrack experience.  Within each box there was a TV so that you could watch other races and sporting events between races.

Local Flavor - the bugler not only added an air of excitement, he also took requests and visited people in their seats to celebrate special occasions.  I'm sure this had a price, but he was very nice when I took his picture;)  Another specialty at the track is this corned beef sandwich with enough meat to feed our family for a week!  Wish we had known how big they were before we each ordered our own, we could have easily shared and been satisfied.

My artistic eye was drawn to the many interesting details from the art deco era.  Don't you love the elephant head faucet in the wash room and the wooden benches bathed in light?

On the day we attended there was a special presentation at the park with the owner of Secretariat, Penny Chenery and the owners of Zenyatta in attendance.  You can see them on the jumbotron that sits in the center of the field.  We wandered around the park and found a childrens playground, picnic areas and plenty of seating for a minimal price-of-admission investment.  Obviously the majority of money is made through gambling and it is common to see the losing tickets littered throughout the park.  Al said that when he was little he would gather them at the end of the day and study them to see if perchance there was a winner among the inadvertently discarded.  There never was...

Our day at the races was very enjoyable!  Thanks Al & Leah!

Christmas in Utah 2010 - Part 1

Our holiday journey began with a visit to Jill & Ralph in Mesquite Nevada, where the Virgin River was overflowing it's banks and threatening homes in the Beaver Dam Trailer Park where Jill's home was damaged six years before.  The normally dry Virgin River Gorge was cascading with waterfalls and the river was high and muddy.

One of our first activities was cookie making for Cookie Night Festivities with our cousins the Jensens.  Rachel & Noelle made gingerbread cookies instead of sugar cookies, which was nice for a change.

Thanksgiving in St George & Zion National Park

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend with the 'even' children (#2 & 4) and family.  Although we had planned on spending a couple of days on a bucket list adventure to Zzyzx Road or Catalina Island, instead we ended up staying home and getting Keileigh's new car repaired.  We then journeyed to Mesquite and enjoyed an evening with Ralph and the still recuperating Jill.  On Wednesday we continued on to St George and stayed at the Las Palmas Resort with Rachel, Sage, Maebe and Keileigh.

Rachel making pies into the wee hours while Keileigh talks to Sam

Maebe had been looking forward to swimming with Gma ever since she heard about our condo plans.  So on Thursday morning after getting all the food prepped Christy & Maebe went to the indoor pool and played in the water.  It was interesting to look out of the enclosed area at the icicles melting in the sun.  Rachel & Keileigh made a quick trip to Walgreen's to take advantage of some great sale and Eric and Sage hit the tennis courts.  It was so cold that the balls lost their spring and bounced poorly, which made the game even more interesting.

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day feast and were glad that Jill was feeling up to coming.  Our holiday menu is definitely an homage to the years of Johnson traditions along with a few new treats thrown in for fun such as the pumpkin cobbler Rachel made.

The Queen with the Heir Apparent

On Friday we went to Snow Canyon and hiked Jenny's Canyon, a quick walk in a slot canyon.  We spotted climbers high on the rock ledge which got Keileigh scrambling over the sandstone as well.

 

 

Next we found the sand dunes which reminded us of a similar trek years ago when Keileigh was little.  The older kids told her the dunes were brown sugar and so of course she sampled the goodness.  When she spit it out, saying it was just dirt, the older ones convinced her to try again saying she must have been in a bad spot.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!  She learned a lesson that day about the nature of siblings.  Maebe loved digging in the 'brown sugar' sand dunes and hopefully won't pull the same stunt on any future sibs;)

After our adventure in Snow Canyon we went to see the sold out movie Tangled.  It took us two attempts, but we were able to get in the second time.  Maebe loved it!

On Saturday Sage & Keileigh got up early to hike Angel's Landing at sunrise.  The cold and snow made it a grand adventure but the perilous weather necessitated the closure of the final segment.  They had a great time sliding on the steep and icy Walter's Wiggles section.  The rest of us joined them at 10:00 and enjoyed a picturesque day hiking the snow dusted terrain of Zion National Park .  We enjoyed the Riverside Walk with icy waterfalls and slippery pathways and then hiked the Canyon Overlook Trail on the far side of the tunnel which was a new and breathtaking adventure for us. 

 

We also took a side trip to Grafton, a ghost town on the Virgin River between Springdale and Rockville.

Thanks Sage for enduring our trip down memory lane.

 Assorted Cute Maebe Pics:

Maebe loves hotdogs just like Papa Eric but starts in the middle!