Taking a little break...

I don't think I'll have time to write up any more posts in the next day or so, and then we head to Virginia for my step-sister Charlotte's wedding party (she got married in Nov.). I don't even care that it's a quick-turnaround visit - I'm just so excited to see everyone! I know it will fly by - we land around 3:30 on Friday, drive an hour to my mom's, leave Freddy there with his Posey cousins, head to a 'rehearsal' dinner at the Tides Inn, and have the wedding party itself Sat. night. And we will have to leave for the airport around 11 a.m. on Sunday. But mom just e-mailed me to say that she has "Radishes, beets, cukes, blueberries and blackberries-and shitake mushrooms-all ready for Freddy to pick if he wants!!!", so of course it'll be a great time. Oh, and not to mention the 21 dogs she and Grandpa Scott now own.... :) Just kidding, I think it's only 7. Or 8.

"I'm Dri-bing!"

I'm going to catch up this week on a few photos that I meant to upload sooner...here are a few from our visit from Chris Velan, international singing superstar. He has a VW vanagon (sp?), and Freddy LOVED sitting in it and pretending to drive. He is still repeating over and over "where cris-en? dribe chris-en van." I don't know why he just can't say "Chris", but it's probably the same reason he pluralizes some things that are singular (e.g., "strollers" when he only means one).


I wish I could send you some beautiful sunny pictures from last weekend, but alas, it rained pretty much the entire weekend. We had an awesome Friday night at two 40th birthday parties, and a nice casual bbq with our friends Julie & Greg on Saturday night. Freddy had his last music class, and I took a great container gardening class Saturday morning. Hope you all had equally good weekends!! VA folks, we can't wait to see you this weekend, even if it's a super-short visit. :(

Neko Case Concert

Last weekend, we went to the opening concert at Red Butte Gardens, which is a community garden that has an awesome outdoor amphitheater. Concert tickets are usuallly pretty reasonable, and it's a very casual, hang out with friends kind of event. We usually round up most of our friends who have tickets, bring way too much food, wine, and beer, and do a lot of chatting the entire time. Above: Stephanie, me, Larkyn, Julie, and Amy. Below: Billy, Greg, Billy, Ted, and Ben. The weather was perfect (threatened rain but didn't), and we saw tons of other people we knew. And Freddy didn't cry when we left, hooray!

Mine, all Mine

Freddy has the chariot to himself for now - luckily he likes it so much that he got in it before we even hooked it up to Bill's bike...for a ride up to a friend's house last weekend. Helmet? Check. Monster truck? Check. Buckles? Check.

More Boat

Here are a few photos from our boom-less motoring expedition a week or so ago - we are planning to go out on Sunday morning for our first sail with actual sails...should be nice if it doesn't rain! I think this is a great picture of Bill. Can you believe the entrance to the marina? It's that little curving opening in the rip rap/rock wall. Don't worry, I did not drink that entire glass of champagne. ;) The other water photo is us returning to the marina.

Springtime in Salt Lake

I guess it's almost summertime, but either way, we've gotten some good rain lately and everyone's gardens are going crazy (and, of course, so are the weeds). I'll take some photos of our garden this weekend...the huge lavender spread in the back yard is about to bloom, and the roses are incredible - HUGE and beautiful. If only I could keep the aphids off the new buds.

I'm planting one pot of these poppy mallows in our back yard where a spurge plant bit the dust. They do so well here, especially in a low-water environment, and I think they're so pretty in spring. Freddy likes watching the bumble bees (from a distance). Oh, and this is post-haircut!

I wish my hair grew this fast!

I guess I need to adjust my expectations for myself as to how often I'm going to post on this blog! Argh - anyway, time to catch up on some photos. Here's a photo or two of Freddy pre-haircut (last night). For those family members who will see him in 2 weeks in VA, he's now freshly shorn...photos of that to come soon! It does look like he either has Bill's or Aunt Mary's hair - it's curly short or long, and I can't tell you how many people said "oh, don't cut it - those curls are so cute!" Yes, cute and shaggy and almost rattail-like in the back. Sorry!

House Construction

Per our homeowner's insurance requirement (and the fact that shingles were actually falling off the front of the house), we are replacing our roof - already a 2-week project that will probably take 3. These guys have been working HARD - we had 4 layers of old shingles, including wooden ones on the bottom, on the older main part of the house. Yesterday, they brought in a huge crane truck to lift pallets of shingles onto the roof for installation. I rushed Freddy home from daycare so he could see it (he was stunned into silence). Watching them maneuver the huge crane arm through a GIANT (at least 30-40 feet) box elder tree and onto the roof without breaking any major brances was pretty incredible. There were about 10 packages of shingles balanced on the peak of our roof when they broke for the day. Wonder if they're still there now?

City of Rocks, Idaho

We ended up driving up to Idaho on Saturday after all, ready for Freddy's first camping adventure - and an adventure for us with 20 adults and 17 kids expected at our group campsite. City of Rocks is a rock climbing mecca, so although we didn't expect to climb much, we thought we might get in a few routes.

Well, bring on the rain.

We borrowed a big tent from some friends who must have forgotten to waterproof the seams, and the rain fly didn't go all the way to the ground, so our tent was not exactly dry. Luckily, Billy had packed several tarps, so we covered up and stayed mostly toasty all night. Freddy wasn't interested in napping in the tent (and falling asleep in the backpack on a hike wasn't an option, because it was raining), but he did fall asleep that night after lots of books, and slept more or less through the night. He LOVED the tent. Our friends Dan (Cantrell) and Annie drove down from Big Sky MT, and it was great to catch up with them and hear about their wedding plans (July 11!). Billy was the best dad/husband, packing up all our wet stuff and driving the entire way home while Freddy and I slept.

If you get this by e-mail and don't see the slideshow, below, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=mvgeier13&target=ALBUM&id=5340343058923059345&authkey=Gv1sRgCLOZp-mC3NzBPQ&feat=email and click "slideshow".

THOMAS

Freddy experienced a little piece of heaven on Friday, when Billy took him to see Thomas the Train at the Heber Railroad (a little rail outside of Park City). See below.....

Crane Day

So sorry for the long delay in new postings! Last week was totally nuts, and we were away most of this weekend on a camping trip in Idaho. Photos to come from that next...our friend Chris Velan is on a cross-country music tour and arrived last night. He plays in Park City on Friday night.

The currently-named (and not for long, hopefully) Galley I is in the water! I'm glad I wasn't there for "crane day", 'cause it would have scared the daylights out of me. We took an 'motor' last Thursday, and it was a beautiful night. Notice I didn't say "we took a sail". Kind of hard without a boom or any sails...but by this time tomorrow, it should be more or less rigged.

Bicycle, Bicycle...

Our friends handed down their little trike for Freddy...although he's mostly too small for it, and it's missing its handle, he has been having a good old time "riding his bike." Thanks to Doug and Christine for the sweet Yankees jersey! The flame shoes make him go really fast.

Wow, am I a Slacker!

Here it is 5 days since my last post, and I'm heading out of town for the next 2! Sorry, everyone - I hope to be back on track next week. I'm leaving in 45 min. for a weekend of canyoneering with some ladies from here and the Denver area. Should be fun! I'm not taking a camera, but hopefully someone is and I'll be able to post photos when I return. In the meanwhile, I'll leave you with some photos of one of MY favorite childhood memories - licking the beaters! Freddy wasn't that into it after the initial lick, but don't worry, I'll teach him.

Happy Mother's Day!

This one's for all you moms, grandmas, and special women...Freddy can't wait to give you a smooch, too. We love you and miss you all.

Hooray, It's the Weekend?

This is one happy kid! We so rarely capture him smiling...usually his photo expression says 'duh'. But really, see - he is happy!! :)

Dress Up

For a kid who wouldn't wear a hat unless it was super-glued to his head last summer, Freddy sure is loving trying on his new summer hats. With all the hand-me-downs that we have, how did we have NO hats that fit him? Oh, maybe because his head is HUGE.

Here she is!

Still no name...and although she loves hiding under the bed on the 3rd floor (which is already low profile so hard to get to), she is currently hanging out on the floor in the office with Bill and me. Purring. Hasn't eaten much yet, but she did use the litter box...oh, the little things that are so gratifying. Freddy has fun trying to squeeze into the cat carrier.

And by the way, I was mistaken in yesterday's post...we are actually 9 weeks along (in our 10th week).

Two Big Pieces of News

Well, most of you know by now, but we have two things to announce:
1) we got a cat yesterday! She is currently unnamed - well, she came with the name "safari", but since she only had it for 6 weeks or so and it's kind of dumb, we'll be changing it. She's about 4, and black with tortiseshell markings. Fairly small. So far she seems to be adjusting pretty well - a little skittish getting used to the noises of the house, but she's already making Freddy crack up laughing when she rubs up against his legs. He likes walking up to her and saying "HI" really loud. So far he's been really gentle, but her tail is very tempting and we're going to have to work on that. Photos to come tomorrow!
2) I probably should have put this news first, but since you have mostly all heard it, it's not as newsworthy, maybe. ;)

We're pregnant! About 10 weeks along, due December 7 (right in between my dad and Bill's dad's birthdays on the 3rd and 10th). December seems like a REALLY long way away, but that's probably a good thing. I'm already debating whether to pull out the maternity clothes instead of the regular summer clothes since I already seem to be pooching out! We're thrilled that Freddy will have a little brother or sister, and to be expanding the Geier/Gowski families.

So Long, Nice Weather

It's been raining steadily since we woke up, which is great for the garden but not great for Phoebe, the 5-month-old puppy we're watching today and tomorrow. She could use some serious outdoor play today. I might just have to get wet. These pictures are from LAST weekend when it wasn't exactly sunny, but it wasn't raining either. You'll recognize Ruby, our neighbor's dog. We got really spoiled watching her. Phoebe is a sweet dog, but she's definitely a puppy!

There are several big outdoor events scheduled today, including the big community garden's annual plant sale and the big animal rescue organization's annual pet adoption. Too bad! I don't know what they're doing - it's definitely too wet for them all to be outside. These organizations count on the revenue from these events, so I hope they're able to postpone or something.

Freddy and Bill are at music class right now, and then they're going to the pool. Hooray for me - I get to clean the kitchen and go to the gym! We are going to see a production of Miss Saigon with some friends tonight at one of the community theaters - we had thought we would walk from home to dinner and then walk to the play, but I don't think that plan is viable anymore. :( Hope you're all having a good, non-rainy day!

xoxo

Buckles, Buckles

Freddy's new favorite thing, anywhere...ok, not more favorite than Thomas, but close. I mean, it's great! There are buckles everywhere! On strollers, high chairs, wagons, jackets, carseats...endless fun!