We went to their local neighborhood playground.
Hot dogs for our sit- down dinner together, and I think we may make some cookies tonight. We will practice the turkey cookies in Corbin's seasonal cookbook.
Mike and I enjoyed some conference sessions, too.
Off we go, to Tend Katie and Casey's kiddos for a week while they celebrate their 20th anniversary -- in London. As in England. Plus a day in Paris.
I decided we should fly. I said it would be faster. I said it was potentially cheaper. I said, I said.
It might have been faster ... had our flight not been delayed 2 hours. But we got here.
A couple of weeks ago, when we were up north at Nick and Kaylee's house, I got a call from Sheri at the library. She and the director wanted me to help with some extra training to help fill in the training gaps that were left when a new person took over at circulation. I had trained my replacement. But she left after about a year, and didn't pass on a lot of the knowledge that I think I gave to her. I didn't know if my brain would still remember Library stuff after two plus years of retirement, but that night I dreamed of nothing but Library stuff. So I called Sherri and Matt and told them, yes, I am happy to return as a consultant/ trainer. I met with them after we returned from Herriman, and started last week. I've only been there a few hours, but Kelly and I have been over tons of stuff together. He found a missing necessary document, took lots of notes, made plans, etc. I feel like I'm overfilling his brain! But I hope it will help, as there have been some difficult situations for the department and library to overcome. I'm glad I could help out. I hope I did help out! Only time will tell. I did tell Sherri that I could try, but I was not a miracle worker. It was a good challenge for my brain, to organize and teach and lead and help someone learn to lead and supervise. Not to mention a huge ego boost to even be asked. A lot of it just comes with a lot of long years of experience, you know? And I did have that advantage of many years of experience. I also had good mentors. I hope he might consider me one of his. Or, maybe he just considers me a big pest by now! I think my last day was this morning. It would have been the fourth time we met for about 2 hours each time. Plus some other emails and conversations with others. It was kind of hard. I hope they will see improvements. If not, oh well! I tried.
Plus a couple of Birthdays.
After we celebrated Logan and Rachel's birthdays in Herriman, Mike had to recuperate quite a bit from his hard work out there. I was hanging out with my mom, taking her back and forth for hospital visits, blood draws, more doctor visits. She's been struggling with low sodium. It has made her feel very very sick and nauseous and weak and just all out icky. She's been trying really hard to get well enough to go on her trip to Florida. And she left today! She is there in Florida today on the 23rd. Tired and worn out, but there. I hope all goes well with Robert, Janet, Butch and Donna while they are there with her at Fort Walton beach.
Here is a picture of me and Mom in front of some fall decorations at Our House Assisted living.
SUU has been having their homecoming celebration activities all week. I have actually been on campus for 3 days this week, working in the library at the invitation of Matt Nickerson. He was hoping I could help fill in the training gaps for the circulation supervisor now. I've been there a little over 6 hours, and done some other emails and inquiries. I will be going back next week to do a bit more training and hope for the best. I told them I could make no guarantees, but would try. Apparently they have had quite a mess there, and I'm sorry. But I am not a miracle worker. It was nice for my ego, however. :-)
Mike's knee has been hurting him quite badly. Even though he had a shot a week ago as we left Salt Lake from being at Nick and Kaylee's, it still is very sore. He's been trying to clean out the garage in preparation for Apple season, but it's just been irritating it further. So, I went to the homecoming Forever Red celebration last night without him.
Fireworks, music, more entertainment and a LOT of people!
Kenzie Baker is Gayela's granddaughter. She belongs to Rebecca. She has been engaged for close to a year to a young man named Kristian. They were married today, September 23rd, 2023. The ceremony and reception took place in a quaint little venue called the Red Barn in a place called Central Valley, Utah. We have never heard of that place! It's near Annabella, south of Richfield, Utah. Very tiny, very quaint, rustic and elegant at the same time. Mike and I drove up there Saturday morning with Gayela. It will be her last day with us for a while. She is heading up north to spend some time with her other children. The wedding was a good place to do a handoff. Gayla has been with us for about 3 weeks. It was fun to see her other children. We visited with Archi and Ellen, Angela and her younger son, and Rebecca's family.
The ceremony started close to 45 minutes late. MacKenzie's uncle Alan Baker was the officiator who married them. Unfortunately, Mackenzie suffers from anxiety and depression, and the anxiety really took hold on this day. So besides the wedding starting late, we never really figured out just when the reception did start. There was a gap between the belated wedding and the ceremony where the family and the wedding party took their photos inside and outside, some tables were set up inside, but the rest of us were just left to kind of wonder what to do. So we sat around and chatted. Eventually we were told we could eat, but only because I had to ask Rebecca. I saw some people in line and figured it must have been time. Kind of disorganized. We figured we would attend a 1:00 p.m. wedding, wait for the reception to begin at 3:00, grab a bite to eat and say our goodbyes. It didn't work quite like that. We did head home close to 5:00 p.m. however. And eventually we did manage to meet the groom and offer our congratulations. I was able to speak briefly with Mackenzie and congratulate her.
I had brought a card for the couple and placed it in a container on the gift table when we arrived for the wedding. When the reception was starting, I guess (nothing was ever really clear, people were just running around doing stuff), I did notice that the card container contained a zero cards. I was hoping nobody had stolen them. Rebecca did tell me that Chris has a cousin who likes to steal money, so she had been gathering the cards as they came and placing them in her purse. That was a relief to know that they were being cared for.
Then there were some other drama going on on the phones with either the bride and groom or somebody else consisting of having money stolen online from a frozen account or some strange thing. It caused people to go running to an fro. One person was was heard outside -- but only by me, I think-- yelling about"MY money...!!!" And the bride had a broken fingernail and hurt her brother's feelings, the ex Grandpa was there and just as rude as he's always been, way too much drama. Way way too much drama. But, Mike and I were glad we went to support Gayela and her family.
The food was nice and filling ( pulled pork sandwiches, salads and chips), our goodie bag was plentiful ( nuts and M&Ms) and our drive home was pleasant. Tho Mike did let me drive from Beaver. And I was just as sleepy as HE was!! We made it. Whew! And I needed a nap.
First off, I'm a huge fail when it comes to hair styles. Poor Emily.
