Saturday

Saturday was one of those crazy days that I hate, when several important events all converge on the same day, and even though you desperately want to, you can’t be everywhere at once, so you do the best you can and wish there were two of you. One of my best friends was married in American Fork, my niece Jenny was baptized in Cache Valley, and Mary Kate had her Christmas piano recital in Bountiful all on the same day. As you can see, it was impossible to make it to everything. I missed the wedding, but I wanted to say congratulations to my good friend Shawna and her wonderful new husband Steve. I so wish I could have been there with you both on your big day. You two are great together!

We got up bright and early and drove to Cache Valley to attend Jenny’s baptism. Is was a lovely event and I was glad we could be with family on Jenny’s special day. Jenny was a champ. She had to go under the water twice due to floating hair, but Eric held her under a little extra long the second time to ensure complete coverage. Jenny came up all happy and smiling. She really is a sweet little girl and we love her. So proud of you Jenny!

After the baptism we went for a family lunch up to the Checkett’s manor. Stan Checkett’s lives in Cache Valley and is the mastermind behind the famous rocket type rides such as the Big Shot at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, the Mali Boomer in Disneyland, and the Rocket at Lagoon. He has a lovely 50’s style diner/recreation building next to his home and generously let’s friends and family use it for gatherings of various types. The boys were blown away by the place and haven’t stopped talking about it since. I can’t really blame them because it is somewhat of a kids paradise complete with an arcade, bowling alley, home theater room, and a giant playroom filled with every toy a kid could imagine. It was extra lovely on Saturday too, all decorated for Christmas.

Mike was especially fond of the Hoop Fever arcade game. You can see his score of 78 right there just above his watch. I’m sure if he was dressed in his basketball shorts instead of a tie he would have scored even higher.

How about a little indoor shuffle board or bowling? 

Obviously Mike hasn’t noticed that there are no bowling pins.

I can’t believe my little brother Eric has an eight year old! His family is growing too. We just found out last week that they’re having a new baby boy in April. That evens out the grandkids on my side of the family. Four boys, four girls.

The Checkett’s place was fun but I mostly just enjoyed hanging out with my family. That’s always my favorite thing. Love these guys.

 

We had to drag the boys away from this place kicking and screaming (literally) because Mary Kate had her recital at 3:00 that afternoon. We left in plenty of time, but we had a bit of a scare as we came out of Sardine Canyon. As we stopped at the intersection at the mouth of the canyon, smoke started billowing out from under the hood of our van. I’m not going to lie, I started to panic a little thinking about how hard Mary Kate had worked on her recital piece and having the sinking feeling that we weren’t going to make it due to car trouble. Mary Kate panicked a little herself, but after some further inspection under the hood Mike concluded that it wasn’t a big deal and made the executive decision to keep driving. The kids all prayed hard in the back seat and we white knuckled it to the recital. It was a good thing too because Mary Kate played awesome! She is the personification of grace under pressure. I’m so proud of her!

We LOVE MK’s piano teacher Beverly. She’s been teaching piano for over 35 years and she loves her students. She just beams with pride during each of her students performances. Love that lady!

For those family who might want to hear, I’m posting a video of Mary Kate playing her recital piece. It’s not her official performance, but you’ll get the idea…

That was our Saturday in a nutshell. Crazy and packed, but a nice day for all. From now on I hope all our important events can be spread out a little!