David and Goliath

Tragedy Strikes West

This has been a really hard week for our family.  My daughter, Nichelle teaches at West High School.  She teaches P.E. and coaches the girls’ freshman basketball and softball teams.  She loves her students and really enjoys teaching.  She knows most of the athletes at West. 

We were so saddened by the death of the West High Cheerleader, Alyssa Lopez.  Nichelle had seen her at 2^nd period on Tuesday.  Then we heard that afternoon some West High students were in a tragic car accident.  Alyssa passed away and 2 other students were severely injured.  It has been very difficult for the entire school to accept this tragedy.  On Thursday the students and teachers organized a memorial for Alyssa.  I took some pictures of the tributes to Alyssa.  Also many students and teachers wore green to honor Alyssa because that was her favorite color.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to Alyssa’s family and all those who were injured or involved in the accident in any way.  Also, we express our condolences to the entire student body and staff of West.

Sad about the store closing!

  As many of you know AMM is closing.  What sad news for all of us.  I want to thank each of you who have taken any of my classes.  I have come to love my scrapping friends and my fellow teachers.  I’ve heard so many people say that AMM is their favorite store.  The reason I wanted to work there is because it was my favorite store also.  The classroom is so inviting with all the windows that let in the outside light.  I hope you will stay in contact with me through my blog.

I went and took some more winter pictures.  The gates to the bird refuge will close on Saturday and remain closed until the fall.  The eagles don’t nest in Utah.  They only winter over here and go up to Alaska and Canada as soon as the weather warms up.  We went last Friday and by Tuesday the surroundings had totally changed.  I think Friday was the peak day.  I hope you enjoy the pictures. 

The last class I will be teaching at AMM is on Wednesday, March 12^th.  There are a few spots open.  If you would like to take the class please sign up right away.  I have pulled enough product for 20 students.  I hope to see you soon.

Happy Valentine's Day 2008

I hope all of you survived the huge snowstorm here in Salt Lake. Wednesday evening the wind started howling and the snow soon followed.  We had planned to do to dinner on Valentine’s evening but our favorite restaurant, Cucina Toscana, was booked.  If you have not been to this restaurant you are in for a real treat.  Our friends, the Millo’s partnered with Valter a well-known restaurateur, to pattern an Italian restaurant as if it is straight from Italy. The food is made fresh everyday and the service is impeccable.  The food is absolutely delicious and you feel like you are really in Italy having dinner. 

So we braved the snow storm and went to dinner Wednesday evening.  A 5 minute drive from our home took about 40 minutes.  I had the chicken with artichokes, capers, and mushrooms in a special sauce.  My husband always gets the salmon Mediterranean style on a bed of spinach.  The caprese salad is also a favorite of ours.  It is tomatoes with fresh mozzarella cheese, olive oil, and basil.  Delicious!  We even splurged and shared a dessert.  I don’t know the Italian name but it is a warm chocolate soufflé served over chocolate chip gelato and then drizzled with homemade hot fudge sauce.  Heavenly!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s day.

Digital Layout: 

Happy Valentines 2008
Paper and elements from Cherie Mask’s  All Twitterpated Kit from 2Peas (free this month). Journaling paper from Rhonna Farrer vintage postcard kit.
Fonts, Myriad Pro and dear Joe four.

Finally time to update!

I have been so busy that I couldn’t even take the time to update my blog.  So much has happened.  We as a family were saddened at the passing of President Hinckley.  We now have church from 1-4pm.  It is our least favorite time because by the time you get home and cook dinner it seems like the entire day is gone.  However, it was our ward conference.  So, we were probably one of the last congregations to confirm President Hinckley as the prophet of the church.  We confirmed him at 3:30 pm and then several hours later we heard that he had passed away.  President Hinckley lives in our stake so we felt a special bond with him.  We have never met him but he is an amazing man.  I love his wisdom, kindness, sweet spirit, work ethic, and sense of humor.  We will certainly miss him.

My friend Julie and I had gone up to the bird refuge to photograph the eagles once again.  We were back in Salt Lake

about 5:30 pm on Friday.  This was the last day for the viewing of President Hinckley before his funeral on Saturday.  We could not believe the line around the conference center.  We went around the entire block.  There were 2 lines and they met at the back of the conference center and were overlapping each other.  It was a 4 hour wait in line to get inside the building.  It was so cold and the sun started to set making it even colder. There were young and old there to honor the prophet.  What a great tribute to this wonderful man.

I finished 31 projects for one deadline and then I started my Hall of Fame entry.  I am finally finished.  It seems like everything that can become an obstacle happens.  No ink, no paper, no time, the computer constantly freezing, and of course to get sick on top of everything else.  Nichelle, her husband, and the baby have all been sick.  Unfortunately, I got the same thing.  I have no voice left at all. 

Here is a photo of me and my friend Julie taking pictures of the birds.  3 swans flew overhead but by the time we walked down to the pond they took off.  Her daughter, Jamie who is due with her 2nd baby anyday took pictures from the car.  She took a picture of us taking pictures of the birds.(What a funny picture and our backsides to boot!)

Nichelle also had more basketball games.  Her team is in a tournament at Judge this week.  They are in the consolation bracket.  Her team has improved so much.  It is so fun to see them play and Nichelle interact with her team.  Have I mentioned how much she loves sports? LOL!  My Dad would be proud.  He had three girls.  He watches so many sports.  He often has earphones in his ears to listen to one game on the radio, and the TV on another station, and then he uses the remote to browse all the other games while he is reading the sports page in the newspaper.  He is a real diehard sports fanatic!  Nichelle definitely got the “sports” gene from my Dad.

Here are some more photos of the winter days in Utah.  I love the picture of the huge pile of snow and the extreme fire danger sign.

Well, I had better get my Hall of Fame entry delivered.  It was so much work but I am really happy with the pages.  It is my third year to enter with no winning results. 

Cross your fingers for me.  Hopefully the third year will be the good luck charm I need.  "

Make it a great day," to quote my friend Lisa Bearnson.

Lisa Bearnson