Sunday Dinner with the Itinoses!

One of my favorite family traditions when we are in Park City

 is having a big family dinner on Sunday afternoon with all the kids!

We often invite our friends or the kids roommates to join us for dinner, which is always so fun!

Fun because these friends and roommates have become more than just friends, they are more like family.

Yesterday, Mariana and Melina Itinose and Jared, Melina's husband joined us for dinner.

Mariana and Melina have been dear friends of ours ever since they left Brazil,

where their dad was serving as Tyler's mission president, to attend BYU.

 We have enjoyed so many wonderful Sunday dinners together. 

Other memorable times have been spent sledding at Parley's, 

Melina's trip to California for Kimber's wedding, 

the BYU/Utah game in SLC and the famous Beck to Harline catch

 (I'll never forget Melina getting so excited when we won in the last seconds

 and she started yelling, "Go home! Go home!" to all the Ute fans!

  I thought she was going to get into a fight!) 

And then celebrating Melina and Jared's wedding last year with all the Itinose family.

It was bitter/sweet last night when we realized 

that this was going to be our last Sunday dinner together

 since Mariana and Melina are graduating in April and will be leaving BYU.

We had to get one last picture together and, of course, 

we had to post it on their little brother, Paulo's Facebook page.

He responded immediately and said that he was jealous,

but reminded us that he will be coming up to Utah 

to attend school this summer and can't wait to hang out!

We can't wait either, because we love Paulo too,

 and look forward to having him join us for Sunday family dinner in Park City!

SNOW!!

It's been snowing in Park City all day long!  We are just a little bit excited!

And we are even more excited because these two are here to enjoy the fresh snow with us! 

New Snow + Tyler & Sonya = A Very Happy Dad!!

A birthday bike ride!

If you have read any of my latest blog posts,

 it would appear that all I do is ski, eat and throw bridal showers.

Just so you know that I do more than that,

 I have included these photos of the Granite Bay biking gals

on a birthday bike ride last Monday morning.

We started at Karen's Bakery in Folsom, rode around Lake Natomas,

 and ended our bike ride back at Karens, where we enjoyed a yummy lunch...

and celebrated these two cute gals birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Liz and Jenn!

What a fun group of gals that joined us that day.

Many of these ladies have known each other for almost 20 years.

GB gals included in this photo are from left to right: 

Mary White, Diane Hallisay, Karen Duffey, Sue Jack, Kim Nash, me, 

Peggy Oddo, Lisa Shotwell, Janice Cook, birthday girls, Jenn Files and Liz Skinner, 

Paige Stauss, Cindy Stickland, Suzanne Butcher and Carolyn Johnson.

"We're not getting older, we're just getting better!" 

could certainly be the theme for this fabulous group of ladies!

A Sports Shower for Carlie!

 Anyone that knows Carlie McKeon would agree that she is probably

 the BIGGEST sports fan of any girl that they have ever met.

She loves sports!  I mean... she LOVES sports!

And she is good at sports!  Such an athlete!

 She was a star basketball player on the girls basketball team at GBHS!

The only person that I know that loves sports as much as Carlie is her fiance, Porter!

They are a match made in heaven!

So when I asked Carlie if there is anything specific that she wanted for her shower,  

I joked and said, "Would you like me to make the invitations in the shape of a baseball?" 

 I kind of laughed because I was just kidding, but then Carlie was like,

 "Yeah, actually that would be really cool since we got engaged at the Giant's game."

Yeah... that's right!  Porter proposed at the Giant's game last summer!

At that point, I was taken back a bit.  I wanted to say, "Ummm, I was just kidding!"

But I could see the excitement in Carlie's face and I knew there was no turning back.

All I could envision was something that looked like a little boys birthday party.

So I called up my dear dearest and most creative friend, Debbie, 

(yes, the same friend that makes all my cute invitations, banners, 

and signs for all the showers, wedding and parties) 

and asked her how I was going to take this sports theme and make it classy, clever

and look and feel like a bridal shower and not a little boys birthday party.

Of course, she had lots of great ideas and with the help of a great committee,

it turned out to be one of the funnest showers that we have thrown in a long time!

 This is the fabulous shower invite that Debbie made... yeah, she's amazing, right?!

Every little detail is so clever. Even the envelope insert matches!  So adorable and creative!

Carlie and the shower referees/hosts, Judy Rounds, Julie Hansen, me, Stefani Barton and Allison Garvey!

Carlie's Concession Stand!  Love it!

 Sugar cookies from Cookie Connection! Yum!

  Our sweet friend, Allison was so helpful that day and she makes the cutest referee!

Don't you agree?!

 Cotton Candy! 

 These three cuties, Cally Chamberlin, McKenna Franks and Kristin Hilburn, 

grabbed some popcorn and ice cream treats from Carlie's concession stand.

 Carlie looks adorable wearing the Giants baseball cap with

a wedding veil that Julie Hansen made for her.  Love it!

 Here is Julie reading Carlie and Porter's answers to the questions

about each other that she put together for the game.

 The cute Frank family with Carlie and Riley!

 One of my favorite gals, Tani Bragg.  She misses you lots, Brooke and Ashley, and so do I!

We wish you two could have been here!

Congratulations, Carlie!  We love you and wish Team Ellett the very best!

Carly's Shower, Part 2

 Here are some more pictures from the bridal shower that we threw for Carly a few weeks ago.

 Carly loves to garden and her family loves to can all the wonderful things that they grow.

Over the years, our family has been the fortunate recipients
 of many jars of strawberry jam and pomegranate jelly from the Clement family.

With that in mind, we thought it would be most appropriate
 to go with the garden theme for her bridal shower.

The shower committee came up with some clever ways
 to serve fresh fruit & vegetables and lots of yummy berry desserts.

We used canning jars as vases for the flowers.  Darling!

And we decorated the table with a strip of sod that I cut up to use as the grass tablerunner.

I love when you can come up with a fun theme 
and you have a clever group of women to help you carry out all the details!

And I cannot forget, my partner-in-crime, Debbie, who made all the invitations,
 labels, banners, and  darling wildflower party favors.

It was so fun to see Carly's face when she arrived that night 
and saw all the decorations and food!

This photo says it all! 

 Debbie, had these darling little forks that looked like pitchforks

and they held up the adorable labels for the yummy goodies.

 Carly loved the butterfly straws!  
Yep!  You guessed it!  Debbie made those too! 

 And don't they look adorable in the canning jars that we used for the glasses?!

 Cinda made these yummy brownies with berries!

 Blueberry cupcakes from Icing on the Cupcake.  Yum!

Thanks, Allie, for letting me borrow your darling bird cupcake holder!

It looked perfect sitting on that grass!

 Julie made these scrumptious blueberry tarts!

I'm so glad that I have friends that are excellent cooks!

 These veggie cups that Cinda made are way too cute!  And they tasted yummy too!

I love this banner that Debbie made!

 Carly is all smiles as she opens up the adorable present from Julie Raybould!

 Look at that beautiful smile!

Allison Garvey, Courtney Bassett and Bo Browning came to celebrate with Carly!
 Sure do love these girls! 

 These are fabulous packets of wildflower seeds that we gave out for the shower favor!

Carly and her mother, Lori, with the shower committee (minus Cinda Wade),

Julie Hansen, Dana Howes, Tami Evans and me.

What a fun night!

Congratulations Carly!  We love you and wish you the best!

A Sunday drive to Sundance

We drove down to Provo last Sunday to visit with my sister, Mary Ann,

 who had just started her 1st chemo treatment on Friday.

Mary Ann looked good and continues to be very positive.

Thank you to all of you for your inquiries about her health

and for all your prayers and well wishes.  It is much appreciated!

After a good visit with her and her husband, Andrew,

we picked up Brooke and headed back up to Park City.

It was such a gorgeous day! With the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky,

 we decided to stop by Sundance ski resort and enjoy the views.

All week long, we have been talking to the Jack's and Skinner's  

about taking them to Sundance ski resort next year.

It's been such a long time since Mark and I have skied at Sundance, 

that we felt like this would be a good time to check out the resort

so that we could start planning for SkiFest 2013.

And best of all, we had some great one-on-one time with Brooke,

walking around the resort and admiring the beautiful views of Timpanogos mountain.

We walked through the rustic country deli store and Brooke found these adorable little Coke bottles.

We also loved the rustic shelves filled with so many fun items.

And I loved the candy jars!  It reminded me of all my candy jars in my kitchen!

I took this picture of the cool chandelier because I know that Ashley would love it!

I've always loved this wall of photos of Robert Redford in the hallway outside the country store.

I love the vintage ski photos!

This is what I want our walls at our place to look like eventually someday,

filled with tons of old ski photos of family and friends!

I love the red doors at the entrance of the building.

And the rustic and worn walkways just outside the store.

A quick look inside the Sundance store.

Mark and Brooke sat down outside and ate a sandwich.

 As I walked around the property and enjoyed the views of the resort,

I caught this fun photo of the two of them watching me through the brush. 

Once I got their attention, they gave me a smile!

There is nothing better than watching these two share a sandwich and a smile

on a sunny Sunday afternoon!

(I was going to add "at Sundance!" at the end of that sentence 

but you will be glad to know that I showed some restraint 

and stopped myself from getting too out of control

 and letting that sentence become a real tongue twister!)

Dad loves spending time with his Bear...

and so did I!

We walked over to the end of the ski runs at the base of the mountain.

Look at that gorgeous view of Timp!

The view from our car window of Deer Creek reservior and Mt. Timpangos in the background.  

It just doesn't get better than that... or so I thought... until Dad looked out his window and spotted...

a moose!!  Right by the side of the road was this moose, just waiting for Dad to drive by!

What a perfect way to end a wonderful Sunday drive!