Travel Time!

 

We have a couple of fun trips coming up. First one is our family reunion up at the Ponderosa Ranch Resort. There will be a fun reception and dinner for Eric and Matt on Sunday night the 5th. The 6th 7th and 8th all of the Liebhardts will still be there, after the Davis's have gone home on Sunday night. We plan to play Kahoots, lots of bingo, some Favorite Things exchanges, three meals a day, pickleball, swimming, a family portrait. It's going to be a busy two full days! Because that's really  all it is -- two full days and three nights. I wondered why my credit card bill was so humongously large, like more than twice as much as it ordinarily is, even with a lot of travel and other expenses on it. It dawned on me as I read through the list of charges that the cost of that vacation rental was on at this time. Or at least half of it. Half of it I paid last year. And all the rest of it is paid now. That is a big relief. All of our kids are taking care of all of the meals. And they have to get themselves there. It's going to be a fun time. 

Right on the heels of that fun time, Mike and I will be driving to San Diego with our granddaughter,  Rachel. We are going to attend the San Diego Temple open house. We will also maybe go to Belmont amusement park on Mission Beach, view the seals at La Jolla beach, see the Mormon battalion historical village in San diego. And that's about all the time we will have there! It's a long drive down and back. We will get home probably Saturday night. And then we will drive up to Harriman to take Rachel home. I suppose if we hurried we could be back to our own church by 1:30 p.m. on Sunday but I don't know if we want to do that. It does seem a little bit rude to drop off Rachel at her home and then take over her bed, however. That is,  if we did spend the night there. Haven't planned that yet. 

But what I have planned is our anniversary trip to the east coast. Today I purchased airline tickets, car rental, and the Boston hotel room. I had already purchased the Buffalo and Niagara Falls area hotel. I think things are shaping up quite nicely! I started a new credit card and the early spring about in March. I've gotten enough points that it got the airfare for us free, and a big chunk of the car rental, too. That was a big savings. And then Mike's credit card also offered him a $250 rebate for travel expenses if we reserved the hotel through his credit card website. So, We did. Now he will get $250 off of his next credit card bill. Savings all around! The 75, 000 free points at the onset of the card were very helpful. We just had to spend x amount of dollars over the first 3 months of having the card and the points were ours. We switched over some of our regular higher auto pay things to that card and it really helped a lot. 

So, a-traveling we will go! And for a bit less money than we thought we'd have to spend. We still have to buy food, entertainment, etc. but it will be fun and we are getting very excited for September and our 50th Wedding Anniversary.

June 26, 2026 Ward ( non) Campout

 We didn't camp, but we went for dinner out at the Three Peaks Recreation Area. They really have done a lot of improvements out there to the camping areas. I don't know that anyone stayed to camp, though a few did come prepared to do so. It was pretty windy. We did have to hold onto our plates! 

There were probably 30 to 50 people who were there, including kids. It was a fun and friendly group. 

Mike making cobbler, two different kinds.

There was plenty of food. Lots of sloppy joes and lots of sides and desserts. Mike made 2 cobblers and most was eaten. He was supposed to do a demo of how to do Dutch oven cobbler, but even charcoal needs flames to get going. Since there is a huge wildfire risk, we baked them in our very safe electric ovens at home, instead. 

The view from three peaks of Cedar City and the valley. Lovely. Today we don't have smoke.

But we sure had a lot in the air earlier this week!

 Visibility was awful on Tuesday. We drove to New Harmony that even for Boyd and Carol Fife's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. There were less than 100, but many were their family. And they included us. How kind. We really had an enjoyable time celebrating with everyone and enjoyed their childrens' talents. So fun. 

Then we went back out to New Harmony on Friday evening for one of their grandson's wedding reception. That was great fun, too. We left and even dropped off a very tired 16 year old Grandson at his home in Cedar afterwards. Ezra Rock had just returned from Trek AND camp, back-to-back. He said he had 20 min from when he walked in the door to shower, dress, and be ready to walk out the door. The kid was very ready to be home and not at a big party. So we obliged. 

I took the picture from the smokey freeway as we were head down to New Harmony Tuesday. I think the smoke was worse on the north end of town. Crazy bad smoke. 

I subbed in the Temple Office that morning and we could smell it all through the building. Not good.

On Saturday, the air was clear, and I forgot my phone or I would have taken a photo of the Kolob 5 fingers from their yard . It was lovely. Windy, but nice. 

The wind has been so awful, fanning the fires throughout our state. It's tragic, truly. The Cottonwood Fire near Beaver is particularly awful.

The West is ablaze.😭

Lily

 

Donna brought me these lilies from her house. They came from Dad's house in Georgia. They kind of struggle here in our desert climate, so I'm happy when one blooms.  It's a double day Lily.

Eric-- Come From Away

 Mike and I went with Mom to St George to see Eric in the musical, "Come From Away." Great story.

Great job by Stage Door Productions! 

It runs till July 11, 2026. 

Eric's a busy guy when he does plays. He misses work, rehearsals are long and tiring. Matt's a good support and he came on Saturday the 20th to see it with me and Mike and Mom. I'm so glad we went!

The Breadwinner

 I don't think I'd ever heard of the comic who stars in this silly film, but he was funny!

And Mom and I had a giggling good time.

June 15-- Rain!

 And we forget to put out our rain gauge!

It came during Church yesterday afternoon. There was thunder and lightning and it POURED. But only for 15 to 30 minutes of showers coming and going. 

WE have been praying for rain for a long time. We got about a half an inch, but it was enough to make the gutters run, soak our lawn and garden,  cool things down, 

AAAANNNDDD, . . 

Make some things grow! 

Baby lettuce seeds ( with Diatomaceous earth sprinkled around them)

Corn is doing okay. 

First little blossom of our peas.

And lovely roses climbing over the wall. Thank you, Levi 🙂!

Baby Amaryllis

  These are the little seedlings from seeds Donna gave me that were originally from Dad's propagated flowers. 

They have gone from "Baby" sized bulbs in a six-pack planter to "Toddler-sized" bulbs in 4 inch pots. 

I'm excited to see if they will eventually be big enough to make flowers. Someday!!

Imposter Linda

 

Got a haircut that was NOT "The Usual."

The cut was fine. She curled it. Not gonna stick. 

How Mom does her pills

 

She makes a little Man, and if there is a part missing, then she knows all the drugs are not there. 

Now, isn't THAT scientific?😉

Here's some OTC drugs from my purse. Do you think I could swap out MY drug man for hers?

6/2/2026 Sheep Detectives film

 

Was it silly? Yes it was. Did we enjoy it? Yes we did. Mom literally danced out of the theater. It was cute. But she cannot steer a walker and dance at the same time. She found that out when she ran into the wall with her wheels.

POST Memorial Day, 2026

 Lunch at Garage Grill with Phil and Anne Dixon from Tennessee. They were visit family in Bluffdale so we came up to say "hi", catch up. Visit. Reminesce. Good times. Fun place. Their napkins are garage rags! The onion rings are on a metal oil funnel. 

And we decorated some graves.

First at Camp Williams.

Pretty flags.

Then to Roberts for a brief visit.

American Fork was next. Mike's grandparents.

Then to Provo. We picked up Braeden and showed him a portion of the Liebhardt Memorial Day traditions of the past. Including huddling under park pavilions in the rain. But it only drizzled today.

Provo cemetery sights. Mike's parents'grave.,

And others.

I thought I had a photo of David Liebhardts headstone,  but I can't find it. 

Then to get some food with B. And then we headed home! 

Quick trip. No traffic that was too bad. And we even stopped at Nick and Kaylee's for a few minutes, too! 

Home before 9 pm, so that was WAY cool!

Garden in. CHECK!

 This morning I hoed 4 long rows and planted onion sets and green beans. Then I took a break. Had lunch. We to the pharmacy looking like I had been working hard in the sun. 

After lunch and some ibuprofen, the clouds rolled in! So perfect for yard work. 

I planted my tomato, pepper and onion plants that survived growing from a wee little seeds in my house. And I planted some carrot seeds, too. Then I planted some cucumber seeds, some spinach for the second time. The others died or were eaten. I planted lettuce seeds, a hill for watermelon and three pumpkin hills plus one butternut winter squash. 

We might have a harvest this year, but we'll probably miss it since we will be gone several days in September .  And will we have water with which to irrigate? Who knows?!

I haven't irrigated quite yet. But I'm excited! It's done! Planted! In the ground! Sprinkled with the watering can! Finally!!!

Then I went out front and planted summer squash seeds in the whisky barrel planters ( shhhh- don't tell the squash bugs!!!) AND then I  finished up by cleaning up the holly hock and spring time bulb flower bed by the noth wall in our front yard. Mike's working on the lawn and it's looking good!

If I can just keep the hungry bugs out of my peas! Grrrr. These are just a month old and yesterday most of them were looking good. Today? Half eaten. 

May 24 / May 4th

 May the fourth be with you.

Mike and I have completed the entire Star Wars triple Trilogy, plus 2.

Now we have completed Season one of The Mandalorian.

Are we time-wasters? Yes. Yes, we are. 

Driving home 5/20/2026

 Mike woke up quite early on Wednesday morning. Since he was awake and since the weather had cooled and there was snow in the mountains, he decided it might be a good idea for us to just hit the road and possibly miss traffic slow-downs and weather. So we did! I didn't even brush my teeth. Ick. We just threw on clothes, packed the truck and off we went.

 Once we were on the road, I asked Mike about his early morning decision, and one of the things he was concerned about was if there were delays because of weather or traffic, then we might not make it back in time for our play. Well, the play that we have tickets for is tomorrow, Thursday the 21st. Not Wednesday the 20th. He had his days a little bit mixed up. But I am the holder and manager of the calendar, so that's allowed. 

The clouds were moving east, out of the Denver area and blue skies were showing through at long last. 

It was an uneventful drive up and over the mountains. Those are the kind that we like, UN eventful. We met Robert and Mom at Denny's in Salina utah. We managed to wedge mom and her walker and her suitcase and her drinks into the truck. Somehow. Poor Robert. He'd pictured just the bed of our truck being piled high with stuff. But it was not. The bed of Mike's truck has a cover over it, so it looked pretty sleek and empty, but it was not. The bed was stuffed full. And the back seat was loosely stuffed full. So we just had to compact everything. And she fit! Honestly, I had forgotten that she had a walker we had to get into the truck, too! I was picturing just her and her small suitcase, and maybe a little bag. Didn't even think about a walker. When Mike and I drove out TO Illinois and Missouri, we left our two carry-on size suitcases in the bed of the truck. But there was not room for our suitcases in the bed of the truck anymore. Tight squeeze. But we did it! And we got home and dropped Mom off at Our House Assisted Living around 3:00 p.m. 

We're pretty weary from our long drive, Mike and I . But do you know what? His truck is so comfortable. Neither one of us have TB. ( Tired Butt). Considering we've been over 3,250 miles over the last 10 days, I'd say that was pretty darn good. AVG mileage-- 20.5 MPG.

And now for some lovely pictures of the drive home. Blue skies, open vistas. Sunshine.

I was seeing white lane lines skipping across my eyelids every time I closed my eyes for a day or two after getting home.

Missing birthstones

 As we were un-packing our truck on Wednesday afternoon after our long road trip, I noticed a shiny thing on the driveway-- it was part of one of my necklaces I'd just taken into the house. 

Mike had started leaf-blowing that area of the driveway to have a cleaner walkway for his sock-clad feet just before I found that little filigree tree, and I had to holler and tell him to "STOP! My necklace broke and I think the birthstone pieces are on the ground!" The very ground her was air-sweeping onto the grass! 

Ack!!!!

I ran into the house to check on the part that was inside. Sure enough, the chain and EMPTY locket was still on my hangar with my church clothes, hanging on OUTside of the garment bag. I should have zipped it up in my makeup kit, but I thought it would be okay hanging where I put it. 

I went back out to the driveway and we checked all around the truck tires before he moved it forward so we could look for 13 missing gemstones ( colored cubic zirconium or rhinestones) , one for each grandchild. We searched and looked and hunted and swept and sifted through leaf and dirt debris. . . For about 15 to 20 minutes. We found eleven of the 13! 

Amazing. Pam happened to have one emerald green stone at her house that she brought by. Now all I'm missing is one red garnet stone for our January grandbaby, Braeden. 

Whew! That was close. 

Les Miserables at Tuacahn

 Thursday night ( 5/21/2026) we went with Kim and Terri Hunter to Ivins to see "Les Miserables". Such a gorgeous venue! Beautiful story, beautifully presented. 

It was a VERY long evening. We didn't get back to their car until midnight! Of course, it was almost dark and close to 9 pm before it started. And then the wait to get OUT of the parking lot. AND the drive back to Cedar City. It might explain my headache today. 

Ah, but that music! And the company was great. We sure love our friends the Hunter's a lot! They were so kind to share with us to opportunity to buy $15 tickets to that preview performance. $15 for Tuacahn tickets? Unbelievably great bargain!!! And to drive is there and back. So fun