4th of July

We went to the Park City 4th of July Parade this morning. It was pretty crowded, Gary was a good sport. The parade was fun a good mix of city floats, fire trucks, bands, kids, local hoodlums, and real estate floats (just isn’t PC w/o the big name real estate folks getting a word in). Ellie was fun she started to wave towards the end and she wasn’t too alarmed at the sirens and such. Afterwards we walked to the City Park for some lunch and tunes from the Motherlode Canyon Band who’s front man is PC’s Mayor. (Dana Williams – we like that guy) Needless to say it was a good 4th of July and I’m grateful for my country and my freedom.

Ellie enjoyed the ride home… She passed out mid-sip…

By the way this is what my husband looks like minus a hat sunglasses and crazy mop…

He cleans up well.

Empty House

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Sarah and Grandma Marcoccia as they were starting their adventure driving back to NY. It is never easy saying goodbye, so I always try to focus on when we will see them again and remind myself of the good times we had over the visit. We will see them again soon in October when Jill and Larry get married.

I think Sarah was ready to leave and get back to NY and her new apartment, friends, and job. It was fun having her here all month. I know it was good for Ellie. She loved waking her up in the morning with smiles and hugs. We loved having Grandma Marcoccia here, too. She has so much energy. I wish I could steal away just a little bit of it. So glad Ellie got to show her all she is doing now like the babble, crawling, and playing. Our little house felt very empty yesterday and last night with out them. Needless to say, we are missing our guests very much and looking forward to the next visit when we can see the whole family.

Love you all…

For more picnic photos look here…

Ohhh Sarah

Heber Valley Fun

Grandma Marcoccia arrived yesterday after spending the night in the Denver airport (Ugh Wish we could have scheduled better). She is a trooper though and although we tried to get her to nap with Ellie she couldn’t settle so we took her out and experienced Heber.

First up the Heber Creeper… We did the short ride out to Deer Creek and back. It was a fun ride with excellent views of the valley and I must say right now is the perfect time to go while everything is still green and lush and the flowers are abundant. It is a classic Heber Valley experience.

For more pictures of the train ride go here.

Next… We discovered the Heber Valley Pow Wow at Soldier Hollow. Another great event with lots of singing, dancing, and drumming. I got a little picture happy but I couldn’t help it the dancing was so awesome and the kids so cute. Wish we could have stayed longer.

For more pictures go here.

More DtB Stuff

Gary here. Ok are you sick of my Donna the Buffalo posts yet? Sorry, but I can’t resist. They remind me so much of my homeland, and the people, that I am addicted to their music and vibe. And lifestyle…

A favorite college professor of mine way back when used to use the term “Gestalt” a lot… From the Wiki page on Gestalt Psychology…

Gestalt psychology (also Gestalt of the Berlin School) is a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies; or, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

That, my friends, is Donna the Buffalo. When you’re at a show there is MUCH much more there than just an audience, instruments, musicians and music.

Enjoy this tribute MySpace TV vid on Donna the Buffalo’s 20 year anniversary, and their new record “Silverlined”..

DONNA THE BUFFALO – SILVERLINED

Previous DtB posts include:

• A classic from Jeb
• Herd of ‘em?

Dinosaurs

Sarah, Ellie and I took a day trip up to Ogden’s Dinosaur Park. We met up Grandma McKenney, Aunt Laurie, Summer, and the boys. It was a lot of fun and I must say I was impressed with the park…a great place for kids. The boys were a ton of fun to watch they kept pointing and saying “SaurSaur” for dinosaur of course. We walked through one trail with lots of scary creatures and Parker had a tight grip on Aunt Laurie’s hand. Summer was fun as well, she even knew some of the names before we got to read about them and find out who they were. By the end of the day Ellie was showing off her new trick of growling. She just started that this week, and it was a perfect place to let loose with all the background dinosaur noises and such.

Summer was a good sport and posed for this photo opportunity…

To top the day off we had an excellent sunset last night. I love our view of the Wasatch back! Check it out…

Cascade Springs and Park Silly

Not too much to blab about this week. We kept a low profile. Once the weekend hit we were up for some adventure. On Saturday we took a drive to Cascade Springs and looped through Sundance and back to Heber with a short stop for some gelato yum.

On Sunday we went to the Park Silly Sunday Market. This little street market was started last year and organized by some PC locals. They had to put up a bit of a fight to keep it going but I think it is fabulous and a great way to spend a day. There are all kinds of local artisans who are selling their craft, good food, excellent music, and general silliness. Last week there was a band of local youngsters (maybe 14 or 15 years old) who were rocking out playing Blondie, Led Zeplin, and some other classics. We were impressed to say the least wish I would have caught a little clip for you all. This week we were entertained by some good old fashion country cloggers who shuffled away to another young one singing Jonny Cash.

Jodi and Sarah got a little silly themselves and decided to try on some classic PC Main Street apparel. I love these pics…

Father’s Day

It is so fun watching Gary with Ellie. He is so good with her and love fills the room. I can see his pride in what a beautiful child she is and he beams when people comment on her big eyes or he gets a chance to talk about her latest milestones. I love this chapter of our life. Although parenthood has its challenges like sleepless nights I feel very blessed to have a wonderful husband who works very hard and is so full of love and silliness. I have more pictures than word for our weekend hopefully they express what a good time we had and show what a good man we have.

A New Toy

A toy arrived in the mail today for Ellie. Something I thought might be fun for her. It has lights and music and goes along with our Elli-phant theme.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGy_W9CPS_U[/youtube]

Then we put the batteries in and showed her what it does and this is her reaction…