An invite

 Once upon a Time about 11 years ago I was invited to give a talk for Alexa Leilani Liebhardt's baptism. They were living in Southern California at the time, and Avery Sumida was being baptized too. Now, Avery is preparing to serve  in the Florida, Jacksonville, Spanish-Speaking Mission.  In 2 weeks I will get to attend the temple with her as she receives her Endowment in the Provo City Center temple. Alexa Leilani Liebhardt  is a student at Texas A&m University. Both young women, growing up so beautifully. It makes my heart happy.

Just tonight, I received a phone call invitation from another granddaughter, Rachel Liebhardt. She invited me to give a talk at her baptism which is coming up on September 3rd.

I feel honored to be asked to participate in such an ordinance as this. And, I just wonder where the next 10 years will bring our little Rachel.

Mom had a visitor!

 

Aunt Tuny drove herself to Cedar City on Thursday. She and Mom have been just chillin' together, eating out, getting (just a little) lost looking for pet sitters, visiting, walking, tending to Tuny's Teddy who came this trip. Aunt Tuny says she's boarding him next time and I invited her to stay in our newly- refinished Sorensen Family Guest Room. 

All I have left to do is hang the pictures/ art on the walls. Yay! I only packed it all up one year ago. A year. Welcome back, Guest Room in the Basement.

And now....

Complete with art hung on the walls, ceramics all shined up and on display!!

All Sorensen's get to stay free of charge.

( ALL our guests stay free of charge). :-)
 

Ants!

 

Changing

 Lots and lots of changing of clothes today. And the day is not over.

I, alone, can account for the bulk of our laundry this week ( tho I did do some repeats).

1) Raspberry picking clothes. Long pants, long sleeves. Plus mud added in because it's water day, too!

2) Go and visit Momma clothes. I wanted to listen in on her Dr visit by the PA who comes to Brookdale. Nice slacks and a T-shirt, but I walked home so now they are sweaty.

3) Dresser-sanding clothes. It's HOT in the garage and elsewhere, so I opted for capris and short-sleeved t- shirt.

4) Ushering at Shakespeare Festival matinee this afternoon. Black slacks, white blouse, maroon vest.

5) Back home and into some BAKING clothes. I made muffins for breakfast tomorrow morning. We have houseguests-- the Tanners from Maryland. They hosted us back there in May.

6) Paint the dresser clothes. I actually have paint clothes, so I put those on. I might have been able to do it in the sanding clothes, but didn't want to risk it, as I'm a very sloppy painter.

7) Back inside to my baking clothes to cool off, relax and await my NEXT change , which will be jeans and a nice shirt and sandals to attend the Cedar City Arts Council Summer Social. Art, music refreshments, nice people to chat with. Hopefully some light nourishing snacks for dinner while there. It's a date for me and Mike. And I don't want to cook dinner.

Our guests will be returning from their family outing at Quail Reservoir, but I've got no dinner planned for them. I guess they can scavenge if they want.

The paint chip might SAY "Rainy Afternoon," but it's seafoam green. I like it. Can't decide if I want the dresser handles to be darker or whiter....

This is the downstairs Sorensen Family Guest Room dresser. It's old, but I like it enough to keep it. And paint it. I NEVER paint wood! But this is just old Pine and plywood, so it got painted. I'll add layer two tomorrow, paint the drawer pulls ( or not) and it'll be done. Huzzah!

Cedar Breaks on Tuesday the 12th of July

 These photos don't ever load in order. . .

Four photos above: We stopped at the Zion National Park overlook on highway 14 up Cedar canyon. It was an incredibly clear day. No smoke from fires, no haze, and there was no wind up there, either. It was a lovely clear day, and we were just for a ride going to Cedar Breaks because the power was scheduled to be out in canaryville ( haha.  That is what talk to text will spell for Kannaraville Utah.) for most of the morning. We ate out at IHOP before heading up the mountain.

 

Our second stop was the sunset point overlook in Cedar Breaks National Monument where we got out and took some pictures. I was surprised at how many wildflowers are out! With it being as dry as it has been, I didn't expect much of anything. True, The Meadows are a little sparse in the grass department, but there are some pretty vibrant wildflower displays here and there.

Taking pictures! Always. But what a picture perfect day it

Bluebells. They were extra teeny. A bee has to really struggle to get inside one of those!

Tandy was identifying names of the flowers on het phone.

The elevation didn't agree with Pam. We were over 10,000 ft and she was a bit dizzy if she tried to stand up and walk around, so she sat in Tandy's car.

Hugging was the theme for the day. Apparently, for maintains mental health, one must have 8 eight-second hugs per day! So we got some of those in. Ha.

I didn't save the picture of Ella grimacing. 

That's our town down there!

The plan was to hike the Alpine loop trail. We did make it to that spot, however, Ella was having knee problems, I was having hip problems plus had already walked that morning and was done with exercising. Pam couldn't tolerate the high altitude. Mike doesn't hike. Period.  So that left Braden and Tandy! So they hiked to the trail and the rest of us went home. That's why we brought two cars to begin with. We knew we wouldn't be hiking, Mike and I,  but we didn't intend to take others with us! That was a bonus. However, we aren't very good hosts or hostesses. Once we were back at our house, I konked out and took a nap. Mike said he was reading, but I kind of heard him snoring.

Later in the afternoon, Tandy came by with the kids and the bread dough that they had made, and baked four loaves of crusty bread in my ovens. Yum yum! No fundraising here, we're just mooching the goodness and enjoying it.

 We also sort of enjoyed a movie together that evening. Caroline joined us, too after she was off of work. We went to the theater and watched "Thor:Love and Thunder". Really dumb movie. Don't waste your time or money.  But we enjoyed spending time with family together.

Friday Night Date--Ebenizers in Bryce

 We drove in to Bryce Canyon National Park, we took a photo. We drove out of Bryce Canyon National Park. We went to Bryce Canyon City. We went to Ebenezer's Barn and Grill. We ate some really good food for being "Bulk" food. Over a hundred of us. We were entertained. We had fun. "North and South" with Monte Powell and Anna Wilson. Country music, fun narrative. Great talent!  And I knew none of the songs. I just never listen to music. Never ever country music. Weird, huh? I guess my mind is busy enough that it doesn't need the entertainment. (Except at Christmas time.)

Red Canyon is so pretty.

 

We saw no deer, no elk, no cattle on the road. The only wildlife we saw at all, other than birds, was one tiny Chipmunk in the Park. Oh, I guess there were a couple of deer on the roadside, but only that. Nice.  Deer while driving over the mountains at night are not a good thing. Bryce Canyon is 78 miles from our house.

July in the garden

 We still have not done any landscaping in our back yard. The front is okay. We have been watering the front yard with irrigation/ditch water, as well as the back yard fruits and veggies. I have fertilized, too. And sprayed the apples. We may have a good year, IF Coal Creek doesn't run out of water.

 And that's Gail's car parked on the street. She and Jonny are here until Thursday. They were all here for the Fourth, and Seth went home on the 5th.

Below, tomatoes.

Below, blurry apples. They are about the size of a golf ball.

Below. A Peach. There's more. Ha.

I've picked a bowl of peas, the green beans are blooming, lettuce is still okay. Spinach is gone.  Radishes are gone. I may have won the battle of the squash bugs. Maybe. I hope. I planted another zucchini hill and will attempt to be diligent and keep the bugs at bay. I planted seeds, and two leaves are up. We shall see!

Below

 These are the day lilies Donna gave me. They are doubles!! So pretty.

Mmmmm. Raspberries.

Below, Mike, moving the hose. We don't sprinkle, but the water pressure is adequate to get a really good stream that can soak an area really well in about 10 minutes. Labor-intensive, but free and saves culinary water. Our lawn has never been greener.