Cruising to Alaska--Bear Country

Well, It's Saturday July 26th. I am on board the Amsterdam or A-dam as they call it. I will definitely get Ad a mug here.... We are traveling at a pretty good rate. The food is awesome, I have already had Salmon twice. Yesterday when we arrived we were greeted by Mark, Ruth, Peter, and Tim. They took us to a great place called McCormicks and Schmicks for lunch. I ate steamed clams, fish chowder and a beet salad. We also walked around Pikes Market for a while. It was a lot of fun. We arrived on the boat. Had a lifeboat drill which was Mandatory. Joan and Amy missed it and we have had a lot of fun with that. They had to make it up this morning.

I have had some great walks around the ship and it is windy and cool. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I can upload a couple of pictures.

Family Stuff

We have had some fun things happen with the families this summer. BethAnn Broadhead and Chandler Turley were married on June 13th, it was a nice wedding. Their sealing was at the Salt Lake Temple and the reception was at Heritage Gardens. Meg took a lot of photos for them and some great ones of the family. It was a nice day!

We also had a ton of fun on the 4th of July. We spent a few days up at Midway, Utah. Ou

r place is in a community called Valais. Our address is 33 West Village Circle. It is lots of fun up there.

Anyway, we watched the fireworks which were shot off Memorial Hill. They were

great. We ate at Snake Creek Grill on Saturday night. Oh course eating the yummy Oreo, Ganache, Banana Cream pie. Yum!!!!

The Ellingson Family Reunion was this month. The activities were golf, swimming, farmer's market, quilting, BBQ, and then a great Talent show on Sunday!! Mom made Banana Cream pie which was delicious, especially the next day when she made me my own personal one with real crust! Thanks Mom!!!

Summer Quilting

 This summer I finally made the wall quilt I wanted for the house. Oops, it's too little, oh well, I will have to make another one. It is a great pattern from one of my favorite companies called Maple Island Quilts. I found these patterns at the City Quilter in New York. I visit that shop every time we go to New York. It is so much fun. This particular pattern is called "Piqued". I have made a couple of other quilts by this company. Very nice!!! 

Another fun quilting experience for me was going to the Shop Hop with my Quilt Group friends. We we

nt out to Pine Needles at Gardner Village, and then to Quilts Etc. and Piper's. It was so much fun. We ended up at the Dodo for lunch, so pretty much a perfect day for me.

 My friend group got together and tied two quilts for the humanitarian center. They are darling and I hope will provide comfort and warmth for someone who needs it. We had a fun time tying the quilts and then one of my favorite things is turning the edges.  The finished quilts are adorable and it was a fun activity to do with my friends. 

For You Britt

   Hi there! Wow it's been a while. I really didn't realize how long it's been. Anyway, Britt keeps asking when I will update. It's funny because I always feel like not a lot is happening, but a lot is.

   First of all, Mark and I took a little "get-a-way" trip to San Diego in June. It was tons of fun. We visited the Reeses new place and then spent a couple of hours at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Of course this was the home of the 2008 U.S. Open. One of the most amazing tournaments ever!!!!! We ended up with clothing for everyone in the family, and we also thought about the twins a lot since the last time we were there the boys golfed that course. Anyway, San Diego is a lot of fun! Mark and I had a blast, we saw a Padres game and went to our favorite restaurants. Sammy's and Roy's, just to name a couple. We had fun morning walks and shared breakfast at the Edgewater Grill on the harbor. It was a great couple of days.