The Smartest City in the US....

The Daily Beast has compiled a list of the Dumbest and Smartest cities in the US.

Boston is number 1 on the Smart List.
(Scotty read it to me from this months Reader's Digest today!)
I'll let you guess what the dumbest is...
we don't live there anymore, though we love that city too! ;)


Boston has many other nicknames as well, my faves being "America's Walking Town" (because I love walking!) and "Beantown" (because I love me some beans.)

Boston is a lovely, lovely city. Here are a few sneak peeks from our family road trip/Scotty's conference trip, that we took in the middle of August.

When the girls and I took the subway system for the first time, as the train smoothly and quietly rolled up, they said,
"Ah! We're movin' to Boston next!" :)
I was quite impressed by the silence myself...
...more to come!

Tuacahn Little Mermaid

Had the funnest day trip to St. George, towards the end of our summer out West!
Lara drove from Phoenix, Richard and Janice from Springville, and I brought up my girls, Ali and Josie from Vegas.
We took a swim at the hotel, went to eat together and then enjoyed immensely, The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn. And this is coming from a New Yorker who has seen the Broadway version as well...they were very comparable...with some parts of Tuacahn being even better than the Broadway version in my opinion. :)

The water effects were amazing, as always, but really worked well for this play.
So glad we got to go and spend a little more time together.

Ella or Ellie :), Chloe, Ali, Ashley, Halle, Paisley and Josie

I really hope that when they are 90 years old, rocking in chairs together, they can still recall some of the funny conversations that they had during their life! And if not, they'll probably be yellin' at their great grandkids, tellin' them to use appropriate language!!! They make me laugh.

The Parmenter Harmonica Band!
Thanks you, thank you for such a fun couple of days! We love you all so much.

Last hug for awhile.

We love you Joe-Joe. You make us so proud. See you in 2 years!

On our way to the 51's game!

Well, it's not like it used to be folks. No longer the Stars, there wasn't any parking at Grandma Great's house and jumping over a fence in order to not have to pay for parking, or rolling down the huge grass hills...the man that walked up and down the stands, playing the trumpet for change isn't even at Cashman Field anymore!

But I think this picture makes up for all of that!
Some traditions, must be passed on.

So have I ever blogged about my grandparents and their parties?!

Of course I have! And this party was no different, except maybe even more over the top than the last. They are so fun. Their tortoise just layed 8 eggs in their yard which was very cool to take a look at and their yard is looking more gorgeous than ever!

Here are a few pictures from a couple different occasions this summer...

Making lemonade. Yes, he let her add more sugar. ;)

Grandpa showing Ella pictures from their most recent trip to Maine, this summer.

When grandpa asked the girls what kind of party they wanted a few days before, they said popcorn. And that is exactly what it was! Watermelon and Confetti Popcorn from the
Popcorn Girl!!

These little girls, so blessed to have such fun, interactive, loving great-grandparents!
Thank YOU!

Saturday- The Parmenter Reunion.

Every cousin that fished, caught one!!

Some people participated in a family quiz, some children fell into the pond, and even more were found canoeing in the pond...alone! Hint! Hint! The two on the right side of the collage below...they weren't the only ones! ;)

The children dressed up to help perform a song about genealogy! Ella was a hero in the red, Paisley was...royalty I think?

These two! Love them! So good to their cousins.

Friday- Reunited

On Friday in Utah, we all went to a huge red barn, (after Scotty and I got some treats at our new favorite Art City Coffee Shop. Their iced ginger pear tea is so good and they have karaoke night! We're goin' next time Scotty!!) where the reunion would be the next day, and set up. The kids familiarized themselves with the pond, boats and cows, to get ready to fish and canoe and such! Next, we hit up the Pizza Pie Cafe, went and saw 17 miracles (while the cousins saw Cars 2) and had a firework celebration at Jana and Chris' place!

And of course, after the movies (and after I got Hot Dog on a Stick) most of the cousins needed a try at this thing! Ella kills me. These contraptions are made for my child! She was hilarious. None-stop giggling, comments about how "free" she felt, several flips in a row. She just gets into this daze and goes for it.

And just because this picture makes me laugh...just imagine like, 6 little girls, being silly together. For 3 days.

At the very beginning...

...back at the end of June, all four of us in our family got on a plane to Salt Lake City! Our summer began with a family-filled, jam packed weekend with the Parmenter family. All 15 cousins were together for the first time in at least 2 years. Maybe 3. And let me tell you, they made the most of their time, because they knew it would be awhile before they were all together again.

It started with a Parmenter Reunion....

...ended with a 40th Wedding Anniversary celebration...

...and a whole lot of cousin time in between. Perfect. Just perfect!