Notre Dame

These and many more beautiful pictures are on the website of Notre Dame. You can even buy prints of your favorites. Enjoy!

Go Cougars!

Gary just got back from visiting the beautiful campus of Notre Dame. He said they could teach us a thing or two about hospitality and how game day should be done! Several hours prior to the game, the campus was packed with friendly, helpful, respectful and courteous students. There were lots of things to do and see, along with multiple places to eat. There were a lot of people in green jackets (the schools color) everywhere to answer questions and talk about the history of the school, the buildings on campus and the people who have made Notre Dame great. The stadium is beautiful and was packed with 80,000 cheering fans. They have mostly benches so that's why they can squeeze in so many people.

The only down side was watching the Cougars lose the game but other than that it was worth the trip and he had a great experience. I don't think he'll convert, but he'd definitely go back for another visit!

Where has the time gone???

This year has gone by so fast it's amazing to realize it's already September! We have had a busy and exciting year so far. Our 5th grand child Harrison (Mike & Jessica) was born in February, followed by our 6th grand child Jacob (Whitney & Cody) in July.

Mike graduated with his MBA degree from OSU and Eric received his associate’s degree from the Salt Lake Community College. Eric was accepted into the University of Utah for the Fall semester and became engaged to Sarah Allred in July! Happy Birthday Eric!!! They will be getting married in the Salt Lake temple this Fall.

Our youngest, Stephen completed an honorable mission in Kennewick, Washington -Spanish speaking and we were able to go with Eric to pick him up and tour his mission in August. He was only home for two weeks and is now back at BYU attending classes, watching Cougar Football, women's Soccer, and hanging out with old friends. Life is good!

It has been especially wonderful to have our daughter Whitney and her husband Cody near by as they've welcomed their sweet little boy into their family and getting to watch them evolve as wonderful and extremely competant and confident parents. I can't wait until we get to see the rest of our grandkids this fall. There 's nothing better than being parents ...except for maybe being grandparents!

My greatest joy comes from seeing the happiness, success and accomplishments of our children and grand children. Well done everyone ...well done!

Galviston Getaway

My husband had a business trip planned in Galviston last week and I had a DUP Convention to attend in Friendswood on Friday, so he invited my to tag along. Of course I was thrilled ...who would say no to a few days at the beach, fresh sea food dinners and a visit to Moody Gardens?!?  Not me.  Plus it was nice to be able to leave for my convention from Galviston since it made for a much shorter trip.

Our first night at a restaurant on the Sea Wall.  Yummmm! 

They are in the process of building an amusement park on this little jetty in the water.  When it is completed they will have a pretty wild roller coaster ride as part of it too.

 

It was a little windy on the balcony where we were sitting but the view of the ocean was spectacular!

Early the next morning my hard working husband was off to his meetings and I headed over to check out Moody Gardens which was near our hotel.  The first thing I saw was "Bodies, the Exhibition".  So far I've been able to avoid it.  Don't get me wrong ...I did take an anatomy class in college ...complete with human cadavers to enhance our learning experience, but I didn't really want to see them displayed as an "art" form.  Against my better judgement I made a quick run through and when I came to the comment book at the end I had to restrain myself from writing ..."Poor, tortured souls!"
Next up was the Aquarium, so beautiful with lots and lots of colorful fish and plant life.





They had a very cool shark encounter.  Multiple sharks swimming around amongst the other fish.  I'm not sure how they kept them from grazing on the rest of the critters in the exhibit.  It was a lot of fun to watch them interact with each other ..."Good gravy get out of my way, can't you see there are sharks in here!"

After a quick corn dog for lunch I headed over to take a ride on the "Colonel" River Paddle boat. "It's a triple deck stern wheeler. Her 750 passenger capacity makes her one of the largest paddle wheelers that has ever cruised the Houston / Galveston area."

It was a beautiful boat and I enjoyed a very pleasant hour relaxing on the water.

After visiting the Rain Forrest I drove back to the sea wall to walk around and enjoy the beach.

 

 

Awhhhh ...sigh!  I had a great time and can't wait until we go on our next little adventure!

Sarah's Wedding Reception

I admit it ...I pilfered some pictures from Miss Molly's blog!  I saw some cute pictures of my grandkids at their aunt Sarah's wedding luncheon and decided to swoop in and scoop a few up to post here.  I did a little creative editing to zoom in on (mostly) just my grand kids.  Thanks Molly ...hope you don't mind!

Sabrina and Grace with their Mom Jessica and little brother Harrison in the background.

    Sabrina is holding one of her cousins and he's not looking too happy about it!

My 3 beautiful grand daughters ...Sabrina, Grace and Jillian.  I'm not sure what happened to the Ben.  He's probably off exploring somewhere. 

It looks like a good time was had by all!

Another Burkinshaw Wedding!

Mike and Jessica drove 16 hours on Tuesday in order to be in Utah for her younger sister Sarah's wedding on Friday.  My sister Kris called me early Friday morning on her way to work to report that the temperature in Salt Lake was a chilling 32 degrees and it was snowing!  She said it looked like a blizzard and not a good day for a wedding.  Yikes, the worst nightmare for the mother of the bride!  Poor Stacy ...I would have been freaking out!!!  Luckily the wedding wasn't until later in the afternoon.  By then the snow had stopped and the temperature had warmed up. 

Kris works near the Salt Lake temple where the wedding took place so she made a quick dash over to say hi to her cute great-nieces and nephews a.k.a. my adorable grand children!  She sent me a text with the following pictures:

 "Look who I'm cuddling with!"

 
Kris said: "They were so cute and friendly. They crawled right up on my lap. They kept saying you don't look like our grandma but you sound just like her!"

Uncle Eric was in charge of all 5 of his nieces and nephews while Mike and Jessica attended the wedding.  Looks like he has his hands full ...but they couldn't be in better hands! 

Due to the colder weather and the many weddings going on, the waiting area was packed full of people.  Jillian didn't let the big crowds phase her. Eric said she was happily entertaining herself in a world of her own!  Harrison was there too but sleeping soundly in his stroller.

This is a picture Jess took of Harrison on Tuesday during their drive to Utah.  It was also his 2 month birthday!

I'm sad that I wasn't able to be there to see all of them but glad to have pictures of the special day.  Congratulations Sarah and Zach and all the Burkinshaw family!