GRAND!

We are on an Emirates flight to Dubai!  After we pulled away from the gate, they required the pilots to pull back in again and remove someone or several people ? from the plane. We have no idea what that was about but since they just caught the Times Square bomber on an Emirates flight two days ago it makes us wonder. No one seemed alarmed but we are, therefore an hour and a half late on our thirteen hour flight which I’m delighted about.  All the more time to catch up on stuff!

I’ve just realized that there are so many grand and random things that have happened that I haven’t included in this blog in the past month that I’d better document it or lose it!

First was the fun we’ve had not only with our #19 grandchild but with our other GRAND children!  While we were in St. George on April 6th I forgot to mention that Ashton had the rare privilege to sing on the stage of the Tuachan Theatre along with his class and almost all the children in the St. George schools. I know you might think that I’m prejudice but with that white hair and those long arms do you not think that Ashton is pretty easy to spot in his class?   He was definitely the star!

 

“Where’s Ashton” is a little harder to figure out in this picture!  What a group!

 

On the way home from meeting Jacobson in NYC my flight just happen to come in 15 minutes before one of our GRANDchildren, Isaac was presented an award for his poem about the beautiful red rocks and hills surrounding their home in a state-wide poetry contest!  The awards were presented by the Utah Poetry Society and I got there in plenty of time to hear his poem read by a professional reader at…luckily….the SL Airport Hilton!

We also had a grand time at dinner with these cute neighbors on Augusta Way who are from Shanghai.

 

We also had a GRAND time at the Westgate Gala this year, which raised lots of money for the Westgate school that does so much good for teens in trouble.  Don’t ask me how Debi Gilmore got the Tabernacle Choir to come and sing at a local high school as volunteers for a great cause but she did! They had both organists, Mac Wilberg and even Lloyd Newell who presented a great message about the importance of service! Bless them!

Shawni and I had a GRAND experience at TOFW in Spokane (sadly our last event with them unless someone else drops out). That auditorium was packed with 2200 wonderful women.  There’s nothing like a room packed full of the power of women to insist that you feel inspired! The speakers, artists and organizers below were so fun to get to know.

 

 

And our GRAND friends Leone and Karen Peterson invited us to a truly wonderful evening that included a lovely dinner and a collection of eclectic music at presented by the students and alumni of the U of U at Gardner Hall.  It included everything selections from an opera in which nuns were getting their heads chopped off during the French revolution with the sound of a real guillotine to an terrific acapella group of seven to a full band playing John Phillip Sousa’s “Stars and stripes forever”! (grainy I know but the other one I took was worse!) 

 

Each time we returned from a trip, there was yet another GRAND snowstorm!

And we couldn’t believe how lucky we were two years ago when we had an Open House for Eli and Julie on their wedding day, May 2nd, with all the doors open and spring in the air. This is what it looked like on May 2nd this year:

 

How lucky are we that we got to go back to our darling GRANDchildren in NYC on our way to Dubai?  It was so fun to see how much that adorable baby had changed in just nine days and how delightful McKay and Lyla were about the world and everything in it!

Grandfather got to meet the little guy for the first time!

and we had a GRAND time playing:

 

 

Here we are on our way home from “How to Train Your Dragon”.  Jacobson took special note, McKay really got it and Lyla LOVED the first hour! 

We even had raclette cheese at Noah and Kristi’s in honor of Tal and Anita’s safe arrival in Switzerland:

The walk to Central Park was a riot!  Lyla thought that it was her stroller with her babies. The thought that McKay was in front never occurred to her!

Of course we couldn’t leave NY without a quick trip to the Cirque de Souleil last night on Roosevelt Island, not far from Noah and Kristi’s house.  Dad was like a kid in a candy store:

The weather was absolutely GRAND as was our “cute enough to eat” Jacobson who changes every day and has gotten his days and night just a bit mixed up from 3-5 a.m. Good luck with that Noah and Kristi! 

Here’s a wave to all of you:

How could we be more blessed?  Can’t think of a better word to describe our month: GRAND!