Utah! What a trip!

I have always loved going on vacation! So when I got the opportunity to go to Utah I did not hesitate. I left Florida on the 14th of April and flew to Utah.

 The flight was fantastic! The clouds were so beautiful.

I loved it when the mountains finally came into view, it has been a long time and to see the snow on them was an added bonus.

The first morning I was there I walked to my parents home. It looked like a dolls  house to me, I was amazed at how small it appeared to be. As a child I always felt it was a huge house. Funny how our perspective changes as we grow older.

When I got there my parents were still in bed. Lazy bones and so I spent a little time taking photos of the flowers in the yard.

  I love springtime in the Rockies! It has been years and years since I've see the glory of springtime. Yes we have spring in Florida but its not that big of a change all of the sudden like it is out West.

The first weekend I was in town I and my sisters Linda, Gail, Nolana and my mom; all went to a condo to have a girls weekend getaway. We worked on all kinds of projects and enjoyed good food and company. One day while Linda and Gail were out walking they came upon a den of fox's there were eight babies.

I got a movie of them playing but as of right now I don't know how to post it so when I figure it out I will post it at a latter date. Sorry.

This is a view just down from our condo I love it when the water is so calm that the mountains reflect in it.

I took this photo of an aspen tree, I have always been fascinated by the fact that it looks like eyes. So its true someone is watching you in the woods. LOL.

After our trip to the condo I was able to spend time with different family members. I went to Gail's home and took photos of the blossoms on the trees in her front yard, as I was taking them the song Popcorn popping on the Apricot Tree kept running through my mind. 

It was so beautiful, I wont bore you with all the pics I took.

 the next day or so I was spending time with Linda and she was working in her yard pulling dead flowers and catching snails before they could devourer her flowers.

Yes even this little beauty was thrust into an old milk bottle to never ever eat again! I took this picture of the dripping water, I love how cameras can stop things in mid motion.

On one of my day trips I went my the mom and dad driving up to see Bridal Vail falls. It looks so small in the photos until you look closely and see that there are people standing to the left bottom of the pic, and once you see them you can truly appreciate how tall the falls truly are.

there was a park just over from the falls call Nunn's park and I asked what it was, my parents said that there had once been a nunnery there. That interested me and so we went over to see, there was a beautiful place to go camping, but we could not see any trace of a building. As we were leaving I noticed  plaque so we went over and read it. I took a photos of it.

 
If you can't read this is says that this is the site of the very first hydro electric power plan in all of America. It was built by a man by the name of...wait for it yup you guessed it Nunn. LOL so there was never any nuns living there, it was just people mistaking the name of the place and making up a story. and that story became fact.

 This is all that is left of the power plant. I think it is so cool to be in a place where something like this was built.

Here is a pic of Mt. Timpanogos. Wow I never thought that was how to spell it, but I looked it up and that is right. who ever came up with that was silly I think it should spell it Timpanogus. Oh well such is life.

Once we got up to Midway we stopped by the home where my Grandfather Durtschi was born the little white building was part of the original house his parents lived in. My dad's cousin showed me around and he showed me the foot print of where the original home stood. I stood there for a moment and tried to visualize what it must have looked like all of those years ago.

After that we went to the Homestead. My mom worked there as a teen. There is a huge hot pot outside of the hotel there, it produces hot spring water for the pools. When I was little we would climb up there all of the time and throw rocks down the hole at the top. It was all fenced off so no one could fall in but it was exciting to try and get the rocks through the chicken wire and hear it hit the water way below.

They have now cut into the side of the hill so that you can swim in it. I would have loved to jump right in. But I was only able to take pitures. but next time I'm there I'm going swimming!

This is the entrance.

This is the pool. It is much bigger then I thought it would be, the air was so warm I had to take off my glasses because if fogged up the lenses.

This is looking up towards the hole in the top where we would toss down anything we could get our hands on. I wonder how much junk they had to remove from here before they could use it. LOL Darn kids!!

Towards the end of my stay I went to Thanks Giving point with my sisters for the Tulip festival. It was so beautiful!!

Here are my sisters trying for that perfect shot!

 LOL. We were all on the ground at one point or another, but I feel that we got some fantastic photos.

One thing that we saw that was a huge surprise was a Mother Owl on her nest. You can just make out the backside of her baby in front of her as it is spreading its featherless wings. Poor thing it pretty naked at this point in its life.

 One night I went out to dinner with my parents and I encountered some strange things. It was a place called Crazy Buffet. and by was it crazy. This is a photos of one of the strange things I ate.

If you can't tell that strange shaped thing on the top left is a baby octopus. Yes you read that right octopus, I almost did not try it but I thought to myself why not? Life is full of opportunities and we must take advantage of them when they come or we may miss out of something wonderful or exciting. I had always been told that it is chewy so imagine my surprise when it was not. In fact it was good! I'm glad that I did not let my fear of the strange and unknown prevent me from this experience.

I was able to spend a little time with Will's family. I was blessed in the fact that I was able to attend the Baptism of my Nephew Tate and also Blessing of his little brother Gideon! It was so nice to see the Triplett's we do not get to very much.

During the Bar-B-Q I had the opportunity to sit in my new car!!! How do you like it?

Now that is one hot Mama in one hot ride don't you think? This car belongs to Murry, Will's younger brother. Will claims that it's his but we all know the truth as to who it belongs...ME!

Well that is the short version of what I did during my trip to Utah. I had so much fun and I'm looking forward to going back again but the next time I will take the rest of the family with me. It's just not fair that I get to have all of the fun and they stay home and do...what ever men do when the mom is not home.

Here is the sun setting over Memphis TN. that is where I had a layover. It was the perfect ending to a perfect vacation.

My four little girls

As most of you know, Autumn, Hannah, Abby and Heidi all went to their pre-adoptive placement one week ago today. It was a tremendously heart wrenching decision to not adopt them. They have been with us for four years. I held each of them in my arms and rocked them to sleep at night when they were afraid or just needed a little extra loven.

I have learned their little quarks and passions. Dealt with their anger and sorrows, held their heads while they were sick. I've baked their favorite cookies and prepared their favorite meals. I have rolled my eyes over their obnoxious habitues and ignored the hate filled words they flung at me out of frustration. We have celebrated their achievements and cried over their failures.

All in all they were our children and to let them go just like that has been hard. My mind wonders how they are doing if they are sad if they are being loved and appreciated. I know they will not get the upbringing I would have given them but that is ok, they will experience opportunities I could have never given them. My life has been blessed by their being with us and I hope that their lives have also been blessed by us knowing them.

I want a friendship with their new family, as it stands now that will not happen. The mother will not reply to my e-mails, phone calls, or text's. It hurts so much.

I got some heart wrenching text's from Autumn the other day, she was so unhappy and wanted to come home. I tried the best I could to reassure her that everything was going to be ok. It's so hard to do that with only texting, that is all that she is allowed to do she is not allowed to call me. I could hear her frustration and sadness in what she was typing, my heart hurt so bad for her I wanted to rush right out and save her. She is over 2 hours away so that was not a possibility. I asked if she would like me to talk to the mom and she said yes, so I called and the mom would not pick up the phone. I left a voice message stating that Autumn was having a hard time and did not feel comfortable talking to her yet and wanted me to talk to her and between us two mom's we could make this transition easier. She told Autumn it was bedtime and that she would call me back in the morning. She never did...

I'm hurt. I don't understand why anyone would not want to help their child through a rough time in their lives. I have been told that perhaps she is intimidated by me. I can't see why she would be. I want the girls to be with her I want this to work out I want them all to be happy. If I did not want this all I would have had to do was say. We are keeping the girls and she would never ever had gotten them. I feel that she does not want my advice or interference in what she is doing with her now family. I will have to respect that and just try and enjoy the little contact I'm allowed. The only problem is Autumn can only text me and the mom reads all of her text's. Abby, Hannah do not have phones to text me. Heidi is too small to text me even if she did have a phone. so it like I have contact with only 1/4th of my girls. And that contact is not open because of the monitoring.

I cry for the loss but deep in my heart I know they were not meant to be our forever children, I just wish that I had a relationship with the mom and the girls. free of any fear of what ever it is that Anne is afraid of.

Sorry about the sad post.