The Most Expensive car rental

 We took it easy in the morning, slept about 8b hours because, even though we went to bed quite early, we were quite exhausted. The bed was fairly comfy. But that wind! It's very noisy in this corner unit with all the windows and wind whistling over, around, and through them. . . Truly-- the vertical blind slats in our teeny bathroom move around a bit. And two slats are missing, so it's not the most private bathroom around :-/  Good thing we are way up high and far away from others.

Tuesday was our afternoon to go to Laie. We got in touch with David and Jeannette Lund from Cedar City ( he lived in our ward) who are missionaries there in Laie. They would meet us for a late lunch/early dinner in Laie.

We decided to NOT do the Bus there, because Mike wanted to try to stop by and visit his dear friend, Donn Cupp's gravesite in Kaneohe. He got the information from Keala Cupp in Henderson, NV via phone. Their son also lives in Kailua. 

We went out to breakfast and split a Scramble at Sunny's. Made arrangements to rent a car for a day at noon. The car rental place was conveniently located in our building.

We picked up the car at noon and headed for Laie via Hawaiian Memorial Cemetery. But we were not successful. 

We hunted high and low but could make no sense of the numbering system she gave us. So sad to try for so long and not find it. 

On we went to Laie. This wind! Intermittent rain all the way, too. Big waves. North shore ones must be HUGE. We'd kind of like to see that, but didn't leave quite enough time.

The road hasn't changes much at all.

Steep green cliffs along the Pali.

Murky water off the Windward side of Kamehameha highway due to the rain and run off.

Winding road and lots of clouds.

A nice view of our familiar Chinaman's Hat Island. I believe it goes by it's Hawaiian name now, but I don't remember that.

If you look closely below, the two little black dots are surfers. We saw LOTS of them in some of the bays.

The waves were pretty wild.

We met the Lund's at Seven Brothers hamburger joint.  I think I'd qualify them as gourmet burgers. Mike and I split one. And we split a large crazy fries. Should have got a small one. And Mike got a chocolate shake. We went on to the BYU Hawaii campus and looked through the Library where their office is. The Church is totally re- building the whole of campus to remedy settling problems. Or building it up out of the swamp it is in.  They are academic support missionaries helping students on o(academic) probation. And the campus is a series of detours and construction sites. Everywhere! 

Here is a photo of a wildly blowing flag at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, HI. We go on Friday!!

Mike and I with Jeanette and David Lund at the Library outside the Academic Support Center where they have office space.

Mike's Hair gets curly in the damp humidity. Mine goes straight.

I look like a drowned rat. The humidity and wind and rain does not make for pretty hair 

Our Temple appointment was at 4:30 p.m. We needed to rent our White Clothing so went early. Good thing, as Mike had to try THREE times to get pants that fit, each time having to re-dress in his slacks, go back to the clothing counter down the hall ( which was quite busy!). Poor guy. He was so flustered and hot and sweaty by the time we got into the endowment room. The session was filled to capacity.

That Temple was expanded and remodeled in recent years. Totally different than in the late 80's and early 90's when we were there. And it is lovely. I've been in many temples, and this is the first Celestial Room I've been in that has no mirrors. At least, that I can recall. 

Castle Hospital, where Eric Liebhardt was born. 

Then we drove on to a Safeway store to get some milk, etc. $89 for a few little things for breakfast , yogurt, milk, juice ( so we will stay hydrated) and fruit and nuts. Yowch. But we expect that.

We didn't want to keep the car overnight, just planned for one day. We could have parked it overnight, but opted to just return it and not pay for a night if parking. That would have been cheaper in the long run. We pulled into the parking garage, looked all around for the proper place to park and they all appeared to be full. So we backed up to turn around out of a dead-end spot and, Crack!! We hit a concrete  support pillar!!!  It was kind of skinny, off center, we were looking and thinking about. . . Well, we just smacked right into it. Ugh. Swear words were said. 

We walked the half mile back to our room, watched a dumb movie and then slept pretty good, all things considered. But both of us awoke to thoughts of the accident. We were kind of stunned ( not injured, just stupidly stunned) about hitting the pillar and forgot to take photos. And we thought, what if a drunk plowed into it and made MORE damage. So we got up, got dressed, and walked the half mile to the drop off place ( it's a different parking garage than our building), took the photos, and walked back, checking on leis for our grandkids while we were at it. 

And look who found US when they looked out the Bus window they were on, riding to work!!

Mike's grand-niece, Alexis Linarte! She's Lesa's Daughter. We'd forgotten that she even lived here! She just happened to look up , saw us, called, hopped off the buss and ran to catch up and say hi for a minute before going on to work

 Small World! 

Yes, it's STILL windy!!

 

Our task after getting back to our room was to fill out the accident report, contact our insurance company, eat breakfast, chill.

Made it! Feb 9, 2026

 Early wake up, uneventful drive to Las Vegas Airport.

Almost on-time flight.

Large plane--8 seats across, Airbus 330, we were in the Center section. It was pretty cramped, but at least Mike got an Isle seat. We read and snoozed. The movie selections were pretty small, so reading and snoozing was fine for us. 

Stuff headwinds put us there 30 min late, but we've got nothing to do for quite a while. 

It's windy and "cool" by Hawaii standards. It felt good to me because I'm wearing warm travel clothes for cool airplanes and cool airports. 

The HNL airport has changed and grown a LOT. We found the transit station for the Sky Line train system being built. Bought our one week Holo card pass, hopped a bus to Waikiki -- WITH our luggage! Everything is ready said you couldn't take luggage on board City buses, but you can. Got off one stop too early in Waikiki. Oops. Wandered around in the rain sprinkles, finally got some help and directions from a local. But the maps on my phone were okay. I just mixed up the canals we crossed over on the bus, and the greenery by a park. We were close. But we walked a lot.

We found our place just in time. It started to rain and blow MUCH harder after we arrived in the protected, but open air lobby. I walked, because Mike was more tired and sore than me, to find food. I opted to NOT buy Subway Sandwiches, but bought an appetizer at the Waikiki Brewery --coconut shrimp and fries, to go.  We enjoyed that, plus a pretty darn good egg roll from 7 Eleven around the corner.

We obtained our two room keys from the lock boxes in the lobby, it's past our check in time, and WE CANT GET THE KEYS TO WORK!!

We have been awake since 2:45 am Mountain time with only a few cat naps, walked 3 miles between Airport shenanigans and bus rout snafu( we will get better at theBus), and we are TIRED.

Awaiting a callback from mgmt co.

But Mike encouraged me to go rattle some chains. The lock battery had a red light, so the battery was dead. After about 40 minutes of waiting, maintenance finally came, let us in, and replaced the battery. We are in for the night, I think!

I forgot to pack an umbrella. Double oops. But this wind would have blown it inside out in no time. I think we are good with watching the rain from our little studio with everything we might need in it. Well, except food. Ha! 

Rainy view of the mountains. The Ala Wai canal is right across the street from us. Counts as "Water View" suite. Haha. It ( the room) is cozy and clean. Welp. I take that back. Mike's socks say something else about the clean-LOOKING flooring!

Entry door is in the hall on the left of "Kitchen".

The first thing I did was open the drapes! We are on the 18th floor, but siren sounds still come in loud and clear from the streets.

Rainy view toward the ocean.

A Jack Wyland whale wall very close by.

I wish I could bring the rain and water home with me. I wonder if I'll be able to sleep through the sounds of the whistling wind through the windows if this howling wind keeps up? These windows actually look like they open! They are quite noisy in the blustery wind.

One fun thing we did NOT get to do in Nevada was mail out two Valentine cards to Colorado Grandkids who are trying to collect a Valentine from all 50 states. We started looking and asked seriously about mail drop boxes AFTER we went through security. They recently moved the drop boxes to BEFORE the security checkpoint, so we missed our chance. However, the kind Lady at the airport change booth for the slot machines said ,"Yes" when I tossed her the two stamped, addressed Valentine's and said, would YOU mail them for me, Please? She said the post office was on her way home. I stopped at Ethel M's chocolates and bought her some candy as a thank you and took it back to her change booth. 

So, if Katie's kids DONT get any Valentine cards from Las Vegas, NV, it's because the change lady forgot.

2/8/2026 and Abe Again

 Abraham Lincoln or at least his statue head, has been living at my house during his birthday season for quite a few years now. I always check him out from the SUU Sherratt Library and lovingly place them on my kitchen table with some Valentine flowers, if I am so lucky as to get some. And I usually am ♥️🌹. 

So here he is, the traditional Abe with flowers. My grandkids were wondering where his birthday hat was, but it's not quite his birthday yet.

We'll celebrate his birthday another day, party hat included.

Feb 7 2024--Found it!

 

This sign has been "missing" for a while. As in, I could NOT remember where I put it when it was stashed away to make room for Christmas Decor. Old age. I looked and looked and looked. Mike looked. My brother Robert looked. Gail came today and asked where my "Families are Forever sign was." My answer: "I DON'T KNOW!!!!" So we went hunting and I finally found it. In the storage room, upright, on the floor, turned around so it looked just like the wooden end-wall it was leaning against. Whew. My mantle was looking a bit bare.

Thanks, Gail, for going 'hunting ' with me!

Vehicle warning symbols

 Someone posted these on Facebook and EVERY time I read them, I laugh out loud. I saved the image and am now sharing it with you. 

Particularly amusing to me was that I was instructed to "Restring my Harp". Repeatedly! I don't even OWN a harp. 

We did finally figure out the tire thing, however. It actually took a trip to the garage and a re-set to do it, not just adding air to said tire. Or Harp. Whatever. 

May you also get a good chuckle out of this, but NOT wake yourself up giggling as you ponder these when drifting off to sleep. ( It's happened to me.)

😂

New hair length

 But it is the same ole style. I guess I'll keep it. Ha. It is amazing how many hair stylists comment on my hairs' thickness. If only they'd seen it 25 years ago! It seems way thinner now than it was then, especially if you judge by the diameter of a pony tail. 

Post-Christmas Amaryllis

 

 Caroline gave us a flower for Christmas this year. It's blooming!

So pretty.

It is surely the shortest stem I've ever seen on one of these.

Donna brought me some seeds from her plants, which were Dad's that he propagated in his Georgia greenhouse. I should really get those planted. There are enough seeds to share, so if you want some, let me know. Red and candy cane red and white variegated. 

Picture from 1/26/2026:

It's hard to find the best angle to capture all the blooms!

Jan 20, 2026 Avatar Fire and Ash

 Mike and I went to the theater on Tuesday to see "Avatar: Fire and Ash". It was long. Two potty breaks long(haha) . But we did have a drink and popcorn. 

I really liked it. Lots of long battle scenes and I couldn't tell who was who, so that's when I made my break.  

I liked the spiritual messages, that we are connected to each other forever, that spirits live on, people don't die and disappear but can help us, that we need to take care of our planet. There were plenty more messages as well.

Mike and I sat ALL the way through the credits. I'm weird like that.  For as much computer stuff that this film is , and there's A LOT, the longest list of names in the credits was for the music! That was a surprise to me. I suppose the many different Types of Computer Generated Images were divided up in separate areas, so together they would have out numbered the music

 Just an observation.

MLK Holiday 2026 with Nick's kids

 Nick and family came down to Southern Utah for the Martin Luther King Jr. School holiday of Monday and Tuesday, Jan 19 and 20, 2026. 

The got her just after 5 on Sunday. We ate tacos for Sunday Dinner.

Monday morning we all headed to St. George. Mike was helping ( read: supervising) Eric trim yard trees that their HOA and insurance inspector said had to be further away from the roof line. So they trimmed a fairly large oak if many limbs. Plus two trips to Home depot, of course! 

 We ( Nick's family and me)  hiked. Leeds Canyon Kiln. It was just short enough for me. We grabbed some burgers and fries to take to Eric's & Matt's  house and ate lunch with them

 Then Nick and family went to go hike some more and see some petroglyphs. I stayed at Eric's, borrowed his car and ran to Hobby Lobby. That place is HUGE! But I didn't find any flannel fabric for baby blankets, drat. I hate shopping.  I spent time visiting with their dogs, catching up in emails and watching them trim the tree.

In the evening, we came home and made home made individual pizzas. They were okay. 

Tuesday morning, Nick, Kaylee, Rachel and I went to the Cedar City Temple so Rachel could have her first experience doing proxy baptisms! In MY temple! It was very nice. We had some donuts after with everyone (Mike stayed home with the younger ones while we were at the temple), then they packed up and went back home, stopping to see my Mom on the way out of town. 

It was a short trip, but were so glad they came.

Here's some photos of our outdoor and doggy adventures.

Emily inside the Leeds Kiln

The path TO the kiln was short and well-marked

I like moss. A lot. This was a very wet area . . . For a desert.

Logan ran ahead of us on the trail and said, "Come look! I found an igloo made of stones!"

There was quite a lot of Manzanita on the trail. And juniper, pinion, cactus, etc etc.

San and Emily. 

This is just visiting after lunch

 I think Eric was showing a video to them on his phone.

Lots of kids and lots of hairy dogs. Just two, but they sure shed a lot!

Info placard for the Leeds Canyon Kiln. Very interesting.

At the Leeds Charcoal kiln.

Or, an igloo made of stones :-)

We had fun playing lots of games while the kids were here, too.

We also walked the dogs to a dog park nearby while we were there after lunch. Those are some VERY strong dogs! They do live going to the dog park!

That's Rachel up in the tree. Of course. I loved climbing trees at her age, too. We had some good ones in Texas!

There was a fun playground for kids at the nearby "Firehouse Park", too.

San

Kya

Fainting at Funeral

 Mom wanted to attend a funeral of a woman who lived in the Westview Ward with them many long years ago, Evelyn Curry. 

We went on Saturday morning at around 9:30 am. for a 10 am funeral. We were settled in on the chapel pew, kind of close to the front in a side pew. But by about 10:20 or so, Mom was saying she didn't think she could make it to the end of what looked to be a very long service, as she thought she might be fainting. She did not feel well. She slumped over, she was non- responsive off and on. . . She was pale, breathing,  but glassy- eyed or eyes closed. I tried holding her on my shoulder, offered to lay her down on the bench, but the non- responsive- ness was what really scared me. Was she having a stroke? Heart attack? Dying? Diabetic coma? I had no clue. She was just going in and out, but mostly out. I whispered to the people in the pew behind me that "I think we're having a medical emergency,"

Some nice folks behind me offered to call 911, the man helped me walk her out, his Mom grabbed my belongings I'd left behind on the pew while I was assisting Mom to stumble out to the foyer. She said she was feeling nauseous, so I thought it best to get her out before any vomiting took place! We had to climb over people in the pew next to us, while supporting her . . . All this while a funeral service was going on! I'm hoping because most of this commotion took place during a large group musical number that it wasn't too distracting. We tried to be quiet. 

When in the foyer, these nice people, Chloe and Daniel, called and stayed on the line with 911, called Mike Repeatedly on my phone, offered to help in any way. They were so kind. EMT's arrived very soon, but not the ambulance for a few more minutes. She threw up, agreed to go by ambulance to hospital. When she was transferred to the ambulance, there were several more minutes of waiting for the attendants to run tests, get her some fluids. . . While I waited outside and call Our House and Talked to Mike. I felt like we needed to get a copy of her DNR to the hospital to assure that they would not send her to the OR and do emergency Open Heart Surgery or some other drastic things. It DID seem to be a heart issue as her blood sugar was a bit high. 

I followed the ambulance in my car to the hospital. I had to wait outside in the foyer until she was settled in a ER room. She looked SO much better when I got back there! Had color back, was awake, alert, attentive. Whew! 

BUT she had low Oxygen and very low heart rate/pulse. They ran all the obligatory blood and urine tests. The wanted to keep her overnight, but we thought she would rest better at her place. We opted for no oxygen, so she was home in bed by 4:30 p.m. 

All weekend she rested and stayed in, had meals brought in and things seemed to e stabilized by Monday after . . . She had energy enough to take a shower. AND go to the dining room for dinner! 

Resting while waiting in OR

 Those heated flannel blankies are the best! 

Finally-- some FOOD in the ER room. Toasted Turkey and bacon sandwich and a shake.

Back at Our House, in her comfy jammies and ready to rest and relax. And breathe deeply to get her oxygen counts up. She was still a bit weak and dizzy when I left her there Saturday afternoon, but she is getting much better at pushing her button to get help.

And she did! 

Sunday morning she was a bit better, but tired easily after breakfast. They brought the sacrament in to her and even woke her up to do so!.

Monday evening, Nick found her in the dining room having dinner and she said she felt fine.

We THINK that what happened is that she mixed up some heart and other meds. I found a double dose of Carvedilol in a couple of daily doses when I checked her meds. She also had a mix up with a.m./ p.m.  She napped Friday afternoon and slept HARD. When she awoke at 6, she thought it was 6 a.m. Saturday, and took her morning meds, insulin shot, ate breakfast, and then wondered why it wasn't getting light. Then she realized it was NIGHT. She wasn't sleepy, so she stayed up and read, etc. Went to sleep at midnight, woke again at 6 a.m. ate, took meds. . .she doesn't know if they were a.m. or p.m. pills. But whatever she did, it really affected her heart rate. 

I'll be loading up her pill case weekly, or at least checking them for her. 

And SHE will be asking her Alexa device exactly what time it is more often!