A Little Pumpkin Is On The Way!

we are looking forward to a little one joining our family. margo and andrew are expecting a baby in december and the whole lot of us couldn't be more excited!

this sweet little baby will welcome margo to motherhood, make me a grandmother and promote my mother to great grandmother status! 

to prepare for and get the celebrations started, 

gabi and maddi organized a baby shower scheduled for the 14th of october. 

the theme was:

A LITTLE PUMPKIN IS ON THE WAY

the venue

when one of us gets set on a theme, there is no stopping the creativity! 

the invitations were too adorable and set the color scheme of pumpkin white (a made up color that made perfect sense). it took a bit of communicating to figure out the venue for the baby shower as margo and andrew live in california and family and friends live around the country. it was finally decided that utah should be the state as most family lives there but provo or salt lake city? gabi's mother-in-law lindie and her husband jim have just completed a beautiful home renovation with the goal of creating a space for parties and events - it's beautiful! lindie and jim graciously offered to open their gorgeous home for this event. another plus is that my mother lives just five minutes away!

the invitations were sent out to family as well as margo's very first best friend, amarlie. while we were living in sydney, australia, dark curly-haired margo and blonde, cheerful amarlie met when they were three years old. at the time, each tagged along with their moms, me and margaret, as their older sibling, nicole in margo's case, was dropped off and picked up from kindergarten. margo and amarlie quickly gravitated towards each other, began sharing playdates continuing through high school. they have stayed in contact all through the years wherever they have lived around the world 

- and here they are together again, thirty years later. thank you for coming, amarlie.

the food

with autumn being margo's favorite season and pumpkin-spice-everything the flavor of the month, the food was easy to plan to theme. we started the menu with a meyer family favorite butternut squash soup recipe (modeled by nicole below) handed down from grandma mervyl, who has recently passed away. we all felt her presence at this celebration of her would-be eighth great grandchild. on one serving table the soup, served in our family's pet turkey tureen, was accompanied by aunt alisa's should-be-famous homemade croutons and a pear and pecan salad, another family favorite dish featured at holiday dinners and other special feasts. 

thank you nicole, for suggesting to include family touches like the turkey tureen and family recipes - it adds such depth and meaning to occasions.

lovely idea, nicole.

on a long buffet counter, a couple of gorgeous charcuterie boards filled with autumnal delights, meats and cheeses were served alongside crackers, fresh bread selections, croissants and wholewheat rolls. serve-yourself drink dispensers were set up at the end of the counter. naturally beautiful, one was filled with whole cut red apples in fresh apple juice and the other served water infused with green apples, blackberries and fresh rosemary. at the stove, warm apple cider was ladled into adorable autumn puppy thermal cups and iced bottles of single serve martinelli's apple juice were nestled in a white bowl amongst shiny, ripe red apples.

the desserts 

sweets featured miniature whipped cream-topped pumpkin pies, pumpkin biscotti, a batch of pumpkin cookies my mother brought made from a generational recipe on my side of the family. my mom made these cookies for me and my siblings, i made the recipe for my children and they now make these cookies at halloween each year. and we are not done yet - don't forget the pumpkin spice sandwich cookies, pirouettes and trader joe's seasonal and absolutely divine apple cider doughnuts. wowza!

the help

paul and jim worked behind the scenes to make sure everything was running smoothly, the food was staying warm and platters stayed full while the rest of us relaxed enjoying being together and catching up. as you can see above, paul and jim also had the world cup rugby on in the background. so everyone was happy, joking and having a wonderful afternoon, including maddi and fluffy, sweet scout above.

 the games 

gabi was in charge of the games and handed each of us a tiny plastic baby we had to hold or someone else could take it. the person with the most plastic babies at the end of an hour wins. 

maddi felt the best idea was to hang her little baby from her earring so her hands could be free. but this game got competitive and one guest saw her baby, reached for her ear and began working it free from her earring to claim it. all maddi could do was to hold still and let her take it so she wouldn't get hurt! 

tough crowd.

gabi had also put together a guessing jar filled with candy pumpkins. margo's mother-in-law, who flew in all the way from virginia to attend, won this game guessing the exact number of pumpkins - you're good, anita!

the next game was a quiz about margo & andrew. 

the questions were tough going all the way back to when they first met: 

- how soon after their first kiss did andrew say, i love you? 

-what animal did mom say was in the backyard as a way to encourage margo to go outside and look because andrew was secretly waiting by the stream to propose? (he had just driven 8 hours from utah)

a bear - i did get this answer right.

i think margo's cousin jenny won that game, she is very clever.

the gifts

then it was time for margo to open the generous and thoughtful gifts everyone brought. 

there were tears,

there was raucous laughter, there were ooooos and awwwws, 

and so much love and well wishing. it was lovely.

while everyone was seated together, maddi handed out little cards for each of us to share advice, suggestions, well wishes and loving thoughts for margo and andrew as they begin this 

exciting and beautiful chapter in their lives.

maddi collected the notes in a book with photos and memories 

gifting it with love to the soon-to-be parents.

lovely idea, maddi.

thank you

it was finally time for this fantastic afternoon to come to an end with hugs, kisses and promises to 

keep everyone up to date with the baby's progress and arrival.

while planning, gabi wanted to provide each guest with a thank-you-for-coming 

take home gift experience. 

so, each guest left with a honey spoon, taza pumpkin spice chai tea bag 

and thank you note from margo.

lovely idea, gabi.

sweet, sweet memories shared.

thank you for everyone's efforts, commitment, ideas and thoughtfulness in making margo's baby shower a 

memorable and happy occasion. 

margo and andrew, you are loved and supported - we are all in too! 

we all wish you all the best and know you will both be amazing parents as you share your individual gifts, big hearts, and loving, nurturing ways.

your practice raising helga, nigel, arnold and gylly has proven it.

you've got this!

on our drive back to colorado, alisa, paul and i couldn't get enough of the autumnal beauty.

i couldn't help but stop to capture these golden scenes at echo reservoir, utah.

autumn carries more gold 

in its pocket than 

all the other seasons.

-Jim Bishop

 

BYU Women's Rugby Senior Day

BYU vs. UofA Women's Rugby

last month, in between mammoth utah snow storms, paul and i were able to grab a quick trip for a regular visit to see our many family members - both sides of the family. however, this trip, our main motivation was to attend byu women's rugby senior day game. our baby, our gabrielle, is not only a starting wing rugby player but also a university senior graduating in april! it's been a little difficult to get my head around this fact. (since my youngest is graduating university, it must mean i am getting on in years) this game against university of arizona was their final home game and the graduating seniors were spotlighted and thanked and given all the loving feels from the whole team. oscar (poor oscar always has to be on his guard) and paul & i were there but even margo flew in from san francisco to support her little sister. throughout the game friends, aunts, uncles, cousins and their children showed up as well to fill the gabi cheering section. it was a wonderful reunion for all!

gabi made the game very exciting too, scoring five tries. you go girl!

our motivated, self-disciplined and very active youngest daughter has always been passionate about sport. kindergarten through middle school it was soccer, as goalie, then it was/and still is dance and ballet. (touch football, pole vaulting and track fit in there for a minute). at the start of university, she trained in yoga, became a certified fitness instructor and then discovered cross-fit, including competitions, which eventually and comfortably blended in with her latest passion of three years...rugby.

paul, a byu rugby star in his day, was thrilled to be watching his daughter play on his fields, wear his byu colors, run on his legs :), catch his ball and fall in love with the game that is also so very close to his heart.

proud, very proud.

ice fishing on echo reservoir, utah

 

It's That Grape Harvesting Time of Year

it's that grape harvest time of year over here. sebastian, maddi and i took on the chore this season and i am so glad they were up for it. paul is away and it is too much for one person. 

sebastian and maddi have recently returned from their time in cornwall, england. sebastian is working on his master's degree in heritage management from the university of exeter. while he attended the degree course semesters, they lived in the port town of falmouth on the south coast of cornwall. (poldark country :) we are loving having them back and here with us as sebastian finishes up his papers for the degree.

back to grapes...we know it's time to harvest when we wake up to ravaged grape vines and sticky grape juice on the deck. the raccoons help themselves when the grapes are sweet, juicy and perfect. their timing is spot on every...single...year. so, the next sunny, saturday afternoon, the three of us picked and collected enough grapes from our two now mature grape vines. one of the vines produces white, thin-skinned, sweet, seedless grapes and the other white, thicker-skinned, sour-ish grapes with seeds. when we combine the two together for juice - it's delicious!

we decided the not as fun picking stage was over when we had finally filled our big, white cooler to overflowing. (still grapes on the vines to satisfy our ring-tailed night visitors for awhile) it is actually quite pleasant to pick the grapes hanging from the arbor as the now thick vines provide shade and a sweet, syrupy scent for the job. but, when it's over, the real fun begins. we take off our shoes, fill a storage container with warm soapy water, clean our feet and ankles and step straight into the waiting grape cache to mash. last year was the first year we made grape juice and the barefoot grape mashing was something i've wanted to do since i was a little girl watching the tv show i love lucy and the funny episode of lucille ball stomping grapes. i smiled when i checked it off my bucket list.

after the fun of grape mashing, we strained, strained and strained the juice some more. the leftover skins, seeds and stems were put in the compost and the beautiful sweet juices flowed filling five, one gallon jugs - two more gallons than last year! we will freeze the juice to enjoy through the coming seasons. after hosing down the sweet, sticky deck so the wasps would go away, we picked a few more grapes so maddi could make fruit leather. she also dried a tray full of grapes in the sun to make beautiful, fresh sultanas. i would say 2022 was a very successful, fun and delicious grape harvest.