Momma Linda

Faces

2012-02-05T20:18:00.002-08:00

This is just one of those silly things you see and don't really talk about . . . at least, not past the age of 10 or so, I suppose. But Lexi and I got a kick out of this last month, and Gail and I talked about it this afternoon, so I decided to put it out there for everyone. Facebook might have been easier, but not for me. And that's just TOO much exposure of my silliness. Only my dear readers need know the depth of my craziness, er, silliness.

So here goes.

You know how the electric company has used the picture of the little outlet to look like a face and take on a persona of it's own? Here he is below, with the two eyes and the mouth. Simple stuff. We see it all the time. Most times, it's just an outlet.

Well there are other faces at my house. Many faces. Like the one below. He's lovingly referred to as our "Tiki God." It's our wood-burning stove in the living room. When blazing hot with a fire roaring within, the "eyes" and mouth glow red with the embers from inside. It is a site to behold! Definitely a face to be reckoned with.

The one below is kind of stretching it. Two eyes and the grill-work of the range hood could possibly remind one of the grillwork faces on an old auto or two.

Some are contrived and man-made, such as the magnets placed on the sides of the metal filing cabinet.

The speakers of the CD player make positively alien eyes!

But the one below is my absolute favorite. It's the one that Lexi and I got a laugh out of. I think you will, too, dear reader. It is the sight I see first thing in the morning. It makes me smile. Gail thought the face was a bit strained, but really there is a bit of a grin.

if seen from the side. :-)

I hope you enjoyed the quick tour of some of the faces of my house. Care to share any of yours?

***************************************************

Here's two of Mom's!

Bountiful Baskets, updated

2012-01-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

Above is the Bountiful Basket contents from Saturday, February 4th. Caroline and I went to Volunteer in the early morning (she had a sleepover at our house the night before). We received:
1 head of Romaine lettuce, 3 celery bunches, 4 huge tomatoes, 3 stalks of large broccoli, 3 red bell peppers, 2 very nice bunches of asparagus, a 5 lb bag of potatoes, 1 bunch of large radishes, 6 apples, one lovely pineapple, 3 Japanese pears, a box of strawberries. All for $16.50. Plus 2 hours of hard work this week, but that is optional. For volunteering, Caroline selected an extra box of strawberries and I selected an additional pineapple. I also took home some tomatoes that were not good enough to put in the baskets of others. They had bad spots on them. But the bad spots can be cut off and I'm going to make them into soup! In addition, I have an extra apple and pear than most baskets--but two less onions. They sometimes make substitutions if things don't pan out quite exactly to cover all the baskets, so a few of us volunteered the onions in our baskets to be put in the baskets that were short. I didn't know they were going to compensate me for them, so that was a nice surprise.

Have I blogged before about how much I love Bountiful Baskets? I think not.

I just adore Bountiful Baskets. They have a website at Bountifulbaskets.org. Go check it out.

When we're not eating our own produce from the garden, this has been SUCH a great thing for me. It's a food co-op, it is available in many states, and I just really enjoy it! We've been trying to eat healthier, and this helps so much. It's half fruit, half veggies, the price is right, it saves me going to the store. For a while, I felt guilty NOT going to the store and giving them (our local businesses) my money. But you know, they get plenty of our money!

I've volunteered at the co-op a couple of times and enjoyed that, too. I should volunteer more. The pickup for our area is Saturday morning, and I think it's a great way to start the day. Well, except that it's really cold in the winter! ha. I love having variety of fruits and vegetables around. I love that I don't have to go to a store and pick it out--they just give it to me and there's no choices. I like surprises. Of course, it's not really free, but the cost is so reasonable! And since it's paid for on-line previously in the week, it kind of feels like it's practically free. I haven't had a bad experience yet with the stuff I've received.

Our Sunday dinner today was mostly vegetables. Not EVERYthing was from Bountiful Baskets, but most was. We had

Parsley New Potatoes
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Green Salad with everything in it
Brussel Sprouts
(Chocolate cake for dessert--doesn't that cancel out all the good stuff??!!)

I get to grab a couple of pieces of fruit almost daily to take to work with me. I can have salad most days if I choose to take the time to make it.

LAST Sunday, we had soups in bread bowls. And green salad. I made a great creamy vegetable soup that day, and we also had pumpkin soup and some chicken noodle soup that were left-overs from earlier in the week. Yummy stuff.

Now, when we go to the store, it's just to pick up a gallon or two of milk and some eggs, a few specials, etc. It's a liberating feeling. Be ambitious and become a site coordinator in your area so you can have one, too, if you don't already. If you DO have one in your area (check the website for locations), then I urge you to take advantage of it.

Here's to healthy eating!

Oops!

2012-01-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

One slightly scorched rooster

Remember the burner covers I got for Christmas? And remember how I said, just wait til January? Well, true to form, I've burned the first burner cover during the first month of having them. Sorry, Mom. It never fails. And, frequently I'll not burn another of the set! 'Tis uncanny how it always seems to happen in January.

Feed The Birds

2012-01-14T15:56:00.001-08:00

Remember all those strands of popcorn that were on our Christmas tree? Well, Eric and I UNdecorated the tree and he took them all

outside to hang over the back fence. We really thought that the birds would LOVE it.
They don't. It's still there, virtually untouched. He hung them up over a week ago. Oh, well. It was a nice thought, I suppose.

THANK YOU, Donna!

2012-01-14T15:25:00.000-08:00

This post (and this mornings' events) owe thanks to my sister, Donna. (Like anyone else ever sees this blog besides those of us who know Donna, right? -ha! OK, so maybe one or two of you).

Donna has been on a de-cluttering theme lately. She's been doing really well. Me, not so much. But that wasn't MY goal, it was hers. However, I did share with Mom in an email about how Mike had done some pretty major cleaning up in our carport and that we'd almost be able to park 2 cars in there--it wouldn't be very functional since I wouldn't be able to squeeze my BIKE out, but they'd be IN and not parked on the driveway (with a carport full of clutter). Well, when Donna heard that, and she's seen our carport, etc., her response was NO WAY. Of course, that inspired Mike and he finished his straightening of the carport and squeezed in his truck AND the car. Not only that, but there is room to get OUT of the vehicles!! That was a total shock to me. I thought Mike would have to drive the truck in, climb out, drive in the car, then I'd have to go out the FRONT door of the house to take the picture, then he'd have to drive out of the carport before being able to get out of the car. But they fit. And we can get in an out. Handy in snowy weather, but Mike will probably keep his fluid-leaking truck out on the drive most of the time since there are usually projects going on in the carport itself. And he needs access to tools and stuff that are stashed on the shelving in there.

So, here are a couple of "Before" pictures.

And here are some "After" photos:

They are way under the eves, so snow and ice are not a worry in the early a.m. :-) The truck is kind of poking out just a tad beyond where a door should be some day, but there's also a 2 1/2 foot wide table behind the truck that doesn't belong there, too. Someday it will be folded up and put away. maybe.

Yes, it's still very cluttered. Yes, it very much needs a door to HIDE all the clutter. But at least if there WAS a door on the garage, the cars would both fit inside with some final adjustments. The nice thing? They didn't just chuck it all in the backyard to make room! Yay for the guys this morning!!

Thanks for the inspiration, Donna-Poo!

"Ooooh! That's so CUTE!"

2012-01-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

That was 2-year-old Jonathan's comment on Christmas day when he saw the colorful Christmas Cottage that was on the living room windowsill. It's part of my Christmas decorations, and of course he didn't remember it from last year (or the year before!), so he was absolutely ENTHRALLED with it this year and just stood there looking and looking and exclaiming about how CUTE it was (Gail said that everything is cute these days to him). He probably did a little touching here and there, too, but it's just plastic, and right at his eye level, so just perfect in a 2 1/2 year olds' eyes.

So what do you think? Is it cute or what? Or is Jonathan just cute for exclaiming over it so?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T20:29:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to go up to Brian Head ski resort to see their new year's celebration. They have a torchlight parade down the side of the ski slopes AND fireworks. The only time in years past, the snow fall was so heavy, I couldn't even make it up the canyon. But THIS year--clear skies!! So we headed up Parowan Canyon to Brian Head. The roads were clear and there were big crowds. It's quite the party atmosphere, but we just wanted to see the torchlight ski run and the fireworks. I think it was worth the drive for this one time.

And, below...a charming and creative Christmas gift from Gail. Word Nerds forever!! this is hanging on my kitchen wall.

Christmas Photos

2011-12-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

Here's the big group of us at the Sorensen Family get-together. YAY for family!! (Suz gets credit for staging/taking the shot, but Donna added in the missing person, who really was there, but was upstairs playing. YAY for photoshop!)Traditionally, I burn my burner covers on the electric range. Traditionally, someone gives me new ones every year or so, either for birthday or Christmas. This year, Mom sent me some. The roosters look very happy. [Just wait til January, guys--things'll be smokin' by then, I'll bet!! ha]
Christmas morning, opening presents, I was a little puzzled as to why Nick had wrapped up my bike helmet. Strange...
till I realized there was a new addition to the front of the helmet, and that was a head lamp. It's quite nice, is LED, and I can re-charge the batteries on my computer. Cool. Here I am modeling it for you. And, yes, sometimes it is dark when I ride my bike.
Below is our little morning family gathering.
Below is a lovely and very warm scarf that Eric received from a good friend of his, Michael S. The wrapping was so extra lovely and sparkley-white that we recycled it and I wrapped up the grand-niece's wedding gift in it!

Nick received some really cool things from Ella. He has a guitar shirt and below is a "stress ball" but when you squeeze it, it turns really weird-looking. This particular model is called 'bubonic plague' ewww! But it is really fun! I'm sure he'll have loads of fun with it at school/class while relieving stress.
Dec 29 we traveled to SLC and back for Amanda Roop's wedding to Kyle Eddingfield in the Salt Lake Temple. I forgot my camera, but we made a quick trip up and back in one day. We stayed for a few pictures on the grounds afterwards, and the luncheon. I've never attended a luncheon where pizza was served, but the groom's aunt and uncle have a Papa Murphy's franchise and they brought lots of pizzas to serve to family and friends. It was a small-ish group, especially considering how large Amanda's extended family is. Most of them are going to attend the Vernal reception on Friday. The groom's family was also missing a lot of people, too. So, there was plenty and I was so glad because pizza is one of my favorite foods and it was about 4 pm before we finally got to eat--after having left home with only an orange for breafast when we got on the road at 6:30am!! Did you know Papa Murphy's has S'mores dessert pizza now, too?

And when we got home about 8:30 that night (Thursday the 29th) this is what we found: the neighbor's truck had backed into Mike's lovely (and very dearly-beloved) mail box. He knocked it clear off the foundation. Only, there is not much damage done to the mailbox--mostly to the vehicle. Which is the way Mike planned it when he built it. We still have not been able to contact the kid. Mike was sure upset when he saw that last night.

Since I had to go out anyway to get milk, I picked up a movie at Red Box. Having just gone to the theater last week to see "We Bought a Zoo" [great film!], I decided to stick to the zoo theme and get "Zookeeper" with Kevin James. I knew it would be just silly junk, and it was. I smiled all the way through the ridiculous-ness and laughed out loud. Just what we needed. Only, I was VERY tired of sitting. 4 hours up to SLC, 4 hours back and a lot of sitting and waiting in between. But it was still a good day. Tonight, Nick and his friend Kaylee are coming and we'll celebrate the new year with them this weekend (Gee--I hope Mike and I aren't too boring!)

One more Non-Fiction

2011-12-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

I finally finished "Between Two Worlds : My Life and Captivity in Iran" by Roxana Saberi.
I attended her presentation at an SUU Convocation last month. It was great. I seem to have an Iranian theme to (some of) my readings of late. I read another last year, too, [Daughter of Persia by Farman-Farmaian, Sattareh] about families in Iran/Persia and the society of the multiple wives, etc., living in family compounds, etc. Over the past two to three years, I've also included a couple of Afghan books and one about African civil wars, etc. I think I'm finally growing up and beginning to branch out beyond Juvenile Fiction. Nah, Juvenile Fiction is still my favorite. I long for them. I'm waiting to borrow one from Caroline that she got for Christmas. She should be done soon. She's a speedy reader.

Bright Lights

2011-12-24T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is my attempt to post a video on my blog. Unfortunately, I don't have an editing program, so you get the whole 2 minutes. It's the coordinated, spectacular, musical light display on Bainbridge Circle in Temecula, CA. December 17, 2011.

Sorensen Family Get-Together, 2011 ETC

2011-12-22T15:24:00.001-08:00

The pictures are in very random order, and I'm not going to take the time to change them around. It takes me long enough to just load the things! About a minute apiece, I figure. So, Aunt Tuny, when you wonder WHY I don't blog very often, that is why. It's too time consuming for me and my computer-challenged self. Above is Gail explaining to Lexi and Ella how to play "Boggle." We are huge boggle buffs at this house. Huge. As is the dictionary that we use while playing Boggle. Ella did a good job writing letters she knows. She's 4. This is NOT at the Sorensen family get-together, but it was on Dec 22 in Cedar City at my house.
Later that evening, we read "The Night Before Christmas" together before Tandy headed back to California with her kids the next morning. They came up here on Monday the 19th and stayed till the 23rd. The kids went with Mike, Nick and Seth and delivered our neighbor gifts in the bitter cold night air the night of the 22nd. Ella about got frostbite. But they SANG at every door, "We wish you a merry Christmas..." How fun! I appreciated the help, too.
This (below) is my Christmas tree. Eric and I strung popcorn garlands. Talk about time-consuming! Yikes. Those strands took a long time to do. But they do look cute. We have something of an old-fashioned tree this year. There are lots of wooden ornaments and such on it.
OK, now to the family get-togeher at Suzie's house. Again, totally random order. AFTER we visited and ate dinner, Tandy set up her chocolate fountain. It was a huge hit!
Mike played cards with a few of his kids. Eric, Damian, Mike and Gail.
And it is SO HARD to get a decent picture of these silly guys. I just wanted them so stand behind their Dad. So they left their sunglasses. I don't think I've included the silliest ones, but there were PLENTY of silly faces to go around.
There was outdoor play, as well. Suzie and Kirk's dog, Hailey, is VERY well-behaved, but Ella is not very fond of dogs. Especially big ones. So she was hiding out in the play house in the back yard if the dog was around. Logan, Kara and Corey's little boy who is two, just loved Hailey.
Another shot of the chocolate fountain. There were all kinds of dippers, and we all had our fill, that's for sure! This is Devin and Avery and Lexi with Mike's mom in the background.
Below. Aunt Maureen and Berenice. Berenice enjoys attending family gatherings of all kinds.
Below. This is a typical shot of Tandy. She's the one pointing the camera at us. Steven is seated on the loveseat, Damian, Tandy, Suz in light blue, Aunt Jean back in the kitchen, Eric with plaid shirt.
Back at Tandy's house earlier on that Saturday. They always have a lot of music in their home. We just missed the piano recital this year. I think Tandy has about 7 students (some of whom are her own kids) and they all performed. We forgot to watch the video of it while we were there! But the kids did do their pieces for us.
Damian's residency hours exhaust him. We were really grateful that his schedule was such that he was actually home on Friday night when we got there and all day Saturday. He did have to go to work in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but we got to see him in the later afternoon on Sunday before we headed home to Cedar.
The other outdoor activity at Suz's house was jumping on the trampoline. This shot (below) is of Braeden, Caroline and Lexi. Jill also spent time on it, along with Gina and all of Suz's kids. I think that's all the kids there are. Oh, and Jonathan was there, too.
Back at Tandy's house (we really did not travel back and forth, back and forth--random order of pictures, remember). Saturday morning while we were just sittin' around waiting for the party, the kids and I played blocks.
I forgot to take a picture of Damian and Tandy's pretty Christmas tree in their living room, but I'm sure you'll be able to see it on her Blog when she gets Christmas pictures posted. But this little one (below) with the train track around it was in the family room. It's the Kids' Tree and Jonathan had a great time playing with the train. Sorry it's blurry. Choo, Choo!
They really had a houseful on Friday and Saturday night. Lexi and Caroline slept out on an air mattress in the family room. I found them reading together on Saturday morning. Grandma L. slept in Braeden's bed, Mike and I had the "Grandma room", Eric and Braeden were on the hide-a-bed in the office. Gail and Jonathan had the girls' room and Ella was camping in her toy tent in the master bedroom with her parents. Amazing. We were not even crowded at all. Thanks for being such a great hostess, Tandy!
We had lovely meals while there, watched her work her magic making treats for her neighbors and kids delivered them on Saturday. It was a really fun time. I hope Suzie posts the group picture that was taken at the get-together. It was a nice crowd and I had a great time visiting and chatting with everyone. And eating the wonderful food, too, of course.
And now, skipping back to Cedar city. Above is the NON flash version of the living room here at my house. We arrived back home in Cedar on Sunday night right around midnight. I dropped into bed at 1 a.m. Mike drove all the way there and all the way back. I don't know how he does it.
And one final shot of playing with the grand kids on Saturday at Tandy's house.

Recent readings

2011-12-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

Funny in Farsi : a memoir of growing up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
Birth: the surprising history of how we are born by Tina Cassidy
Why people get lost : the psychology and neuroscience of spatial cognition by Paul A. Dudchenko

Sometimes I read something other than the funnies in the newspaper. I should spend more time in the scriptures and preparing lesson materials for the kids I teach in Primary. And for myself.
Most days I feel glad if I make it through the funnies and Dear Abby, if truth be told.

Besides the wonderful novel that I read last summer (The Help) and the sci-fi stuff we listened to in the car, the titles above are what have occupied some of my lunch time and bedtime reading.

The first one, Funny in Farsi was because I attended the Convocation on campus where this delightful lady spoke. A Muslim humorist. Some people think that's an oxymoron, but she was truly delightful and I'm glad we had her book so I could read it. Parts were laugh-out-loud funny.

The second one about the history of birth just happened by me one day at work and it sounded interesting to me as a woman who had given birth. The book jacket description drew me in, so I checked it out and just finished it on Friday evening. It was fascinating. I learned a good bit of history and am very glad I live now in the 21st century.

The last one on getting Lost was another that caught my eye at work. I DO get lost! I'm constantly turned around and it's frustrating! Mike shared a fairly recent experience about being lost one of the few times in his entire life. I haven't made it very far into this tome. It's rather scientific and right now I' learning about the beginnings of when psychologists used rats and mazes and . . .well, other stuff. I'm hoping this one will get better instead of deeper. I'll have to see how it goes. It's been gathering more dust than the others.

That's all--just what my brain has been up to of late. I think I'll work on addressing Christmas cards in coming days rather than spend time reading, however.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

A trip that is "over the river and through the woods" to Reno means that we drive over "America's Loneliest Highway" (being Nevada's Highway 50), and about 145 miles out of Reno is something known as "The Shoe Tree." The following pictures illustrate.
A large cottonwood grows in a gully. People stop, tie their shoe laces together, and fling them with all their might--to strand them in the shoe tree for all to enjoy. Katie has some story about how it came to be, but it's there. Well, at least it WAS--until some vandal cut it down last year! Unbelievable. But there it was, in the gully, shoes scattered about. So what you see in the photo above is really the replacement shoe tree that quickly was covered in shoes. The original tree in the winter (which is about the only time we've really seen it up close when the leaves are gone) is positively BLACK with shoes hanging all over it. I remember approaching the shoe tree once years ago and thinking that it was full of blackbirds. But it was just shoes. It was quite a landmark.

Below is a closeup of a post nearby the original shoe tree (Original Shoe Tree is laying in the ditch just beyond. Caution--it is a graphic photo. ha). This quote says, "Shoe Tree Lives On in our SOLES." Punny, huh? There are other tributes to the well-loved tree etched into the post. Quite touching.

And then it was Thanksgiving in Reno with Katie and Casey and their cute little boys. Mike and I took his Mom and Eric with us; Nick drove from Salt Lake and took his Aunt Gayela and girlfriend Kaylee with him. So it made for a nice bunch of folks and we had a nice time. We were there from Wednesday through Saturday/Sunday.

On Thanksgiving Day, we ate and watched football and played games. (Mike and Casey tried to do some repairs on our car's squeaky/grinding brakes. ) And ate some more. Whew! Turkey and all the trimmings and everyone chipped in with food and help, so it was nice.

On Friday, we were going to take a bunch of people to Virginia City, but the brakes on our car started smoking, so Mike stayed with the car, had it towed, and I ended up taking just Berenice and Gayela and Hayden and we went to Virginia City. Gayela had never been. Berenice and I had an assignment from Mike to get something at one of the shops there. We spend a couple of hours looking around. Below is a photo of me and Hayden. Apparently there really ARE Camel races in Virginia City! I never knew. But I saw the race track on a map. And they have train rides and stage coach rides--but not in the winter. Berenice did treat us to a 20 minute narrated trolley ride, so that was fun!We even found Santa there! He was in the visitor's center, so we had to stop and have a picture taken.

Below. Hayden is still very much into trains. Apparently, so is Nick! ha. Nick is choo-choo-ing the train all around Hayden. They were taking turns. I missed the photo op of Nick lying on the floor in between the tracks.

And Corbin is still very cuddly. Here he is enjoying his bottle while enjoying Eric's company. They're laying on a thick memory foam pad that came off the hide-a-bed in family room. It was really comfy to lounge around on and play on during the day, so we didn't always haul it out of the way when the bed was made up.

SMILE, Gayela. :-)

Below. Just chillin'. Katie with Corbin, Mike, Nick, Kaylee. Nick looks scruffy because he has his November MOstache.
Below. Just a casual shot of us eating breakfast together on Thursday morning. Except for Katie's family. They were all still asleep. We made ourselves very much at home. We are quite a formidable mob when you get us all together.
And, I never took a picture of our wonderful Thanksgiving feast! But it WAS grand, and it was plentiful. Unfortunately for Casey and Katie, though, all the leftovers were gone by the time we all left on Saturday afternoon (Nick's carload going to SLC) and Sunday morning (our carload to Cedar). We never fixed any other meals--just ate leftover turkey and rolls and potatoes and stuffing and gravy and salad....mmmmm.

That Corbin is such a sweet cuddle-bug!

Below. Oh, and I straightened out Katie's Tupperware cabinetS while I was there. Yes, she has TWO Tupperware cupboards and they were both all over the place. They were still sort of organized when we left. But then, Corbin doesn't know how to open the cabinets. Yet. Kaylee got Katie's sewing machine running while we were there, too. AND Mike (with help) installed a pull-up bar on the ceiling of their garage. He tried to fix the garbage disposal, but it was too far gone for any "fixing".

We were very grateful for good weather coming and going, that the car's brakes didn't burn up on the way home, grateful that the audio books entertained us and kept us awake. We are grateful to have spent good quality time with our family! Thanks again, Katie and Casey!!

The Elder in DC

2011-11-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

I found a picture of Eric on Sister Matusumori's Blog!

And another! He's in the top, center in a maroon shirt.

And one more. Bottom row, second from right.

At a Washington Nationals Game.

Cedar City Birthday Ball

2011-11-12T21:29:00.001-08:00

Sometimes it is REALLY hard to get a decent picture.

The Birthday Ball changed venues this year. Instead of being held in the SUU Ballroom (which was carpeted last summer!), it was moved to the Heritage Theater. It was nice. Tables in the lobby. A nice serving/kitchen area. The stage was cleared for dancing. Door prize drawings ( a first) were held in the Theater, too.

Somebody's got to clean all those dutch ovens. I believe Eric cleaned 36 by the end of Saturday. Thanks, Eric!Happy Servers. Sorry, guys, didn't catch your names.

Lots of cake, ice cream, and signs that needed cleaning for storage till next year.
Happy Birthday, Cedar City! Mike put on another great party. I'm usually at All Girls' Weekend when this is going on. I don't miss the work that this event entails! But Mike truly does shine. I didn't manage to get any pictures of the full theater during the Ballroom Dancer's floor show, or the CROWDS of people enjoying Dutch Oven Cobbler and Ice Cream, long lines of people waiting to get in and make their food pantry donations (a first). We collected 6 boxes of food and hundreds of dollars for our local Care and Share.

Machines that bug me

2011-11-12T21:05:00.001-08:00

This is where I put my apple peeler when it malfunctioned. Right into the trash can with a few angry "Grrrs" to go with it. I did forgive it later and pulled it out, made some adjustments and had Eric try it one more time. Still no workie. And it used to work so WELL!! I loved it. I am finally down to my last two boxes of apples that are NICE apples, so I don't have to deal with bruises or worm holes, etc. It should have worked so well. But it didn't.

We had a nice little snow storm the other day. It stayed cold for quite a while. We actually STILL have snow in the shady spots in our back yard, and it's been several days. I thought the hammock looked kind of cool, so I sent poor, cold-blooded Eric out to take a picture for me. Hmm. I guess that's one MORE thing I forgot to do while the fall days were still nice--put the hammock away for the winter.
Our poor, lonely pumpkins on the front porch. Maybe they would like to come inside and live next to the Christmas tree, like their parent pumpkin did last year! Honestly, I really did miss some nice fall days. I think we were gone for some of the weekends. I might have been busy doing apples, or was fighting off a cold.
Below. The end of the "less-than-perfect" ones. Mom said I should have just tossed them and moved on, but they really were in not very bad shape, overall. Monday and Tuesday of this week I did more sauce. Thursday I made more. See? You can see the bottom of the box!! YAY.

Frankenstein and Halloween

2011-10-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hello. Meet Frank.

This little Frankenstein paper Halloween decoration is very old. My mom sent it to us when we lived in Hawaii and the kids were young ("Nigh unto twenty years ago...") . Really! Every year, I'd carefully fold him back up, accordian style, paper clip the arms and and body and legs in place so he wouldn't come unfurled until next year. And then we'd hang him up again. Thrifty? Cheap? I dunno. I just liked it. I don't have a ton of fall or Halloween decos (which is just fine with me), so something that's not a pumpkin or fall leaves is kind of nice.
Happy Halloween, Frank! Again.

Eric, posing with (or AS) Frank.
I think they must be close to the same age...

This is the extent of my Halloween costume on Monday. I put "crackle" top coat on my nails. It lasted all of two days, until I spent Wednesday evening bottling applesauce until midnight. Wasn't much left of them by then. But it was kind of fun while it lasted.

Happy 10th Birthday

2011-10-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

I think Jonathan is scowling because he didn't get to blow out CAROLINE's candles. So Eric held him back.
Blow! Pretty cupcake tree made by Gail. Of course.
She's very busy. Speeding, here, speeding there. I can't even catch her on film, she's so fast. Oh, wait. That's the CAMERA settings I can never get right. But we had a nice Sunday dinner with Gail and family to celebrate Caroline's 10th birthday. Ten? Really? Gail is astounded that her child is in "double digits."
Mike and Jonathan wore color-coordinating shirts.
Opening presents.

Leafy fun

2011-10-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

This little guy is FAST. Either that, or I don't know how to use my camera. (It's the latter.)
Thanks for raking up my leaves!!
This is blurry, but isn't he cute?
It was getting cold and dark when they came by on Thursday afternoon to play in the leaves. But that didn't stop us. It was twilight. There was plenty of light to see to play--just not for me to take good pictures.
So, they tried another day! Friday (yesterday) afternoon, Gail and the kids came by and they raked and raked and raked. Well, Gail did! The kids just played in them...which was the point, after all.
One pile from just one section of lawn. One of the two trees is totally bare, and the other is 3/4 done shedding.

While Gail was raking, she found a toy (an old, real one, actually) that belongs to Jonathan. Wasn't he thrilled to find this again. The boy loves his buttons and electronics. This one doesn't work, but he didn't seem to care. He just chats away on the phone anyway.

One cleared lawn, and one BIG pile o' leaves.

Oh, in other news, Eric painted an "accent wall" in his bedroom. It is green, lighter green, and gold. The heater duct is gold, as is the baseboard along this one wall.
He used the feather duster technique. It's unique and quite nice. I have fabric (from my stash) picked out to complement the colors for a bedspread/quilt top for that room. Know any simple quilt patterns I could use easily to piece it together?

Oh, lets see! One more picture of leaves, this time with ME in it. Yay for Fall and leaf piles to play in!!

First of Fall, or Fall Firsts

2011-10-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

The calendar might say the Autumn "officially" beings on a certain date. I beg to differ.

I have a firm belief that Fall does not OFFICIALLY start until I have ridden my bike through crunchy leaves on the street. That was yesterday. Fall is now officially here in my book!

Happy Autumn!

October doing's

2011-10-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

I'm always surprised at what order things show up as I load pictures onto this blog site. So I'll just narrate, and you can figure it out. :-)
Octobers are always wonderful, but especially when they begin with General Conference. Here's Tandy and Gail and Eric (above) on Sunday morning enjoying conference onTV.

Jonathan was illustrating things he heard on Conference, I believe. He's very intent.

Oh, yes. I know I already blogged about Eric's homecoming, but it was sweet. This picture is a little blurry. I had my camera on the wrong setting for much of the airport scenes, but I like this one.

OK, so you know we had a garden. Mike found a volunteer watermelon plant, it produced one good melon! Surprise. This is Mike's very first successfully grown to maturity back yard grown watermelon. And it tasted great! So, as Mikey said, "Check out my melons!" [ Oh, dear!]

oops. forgot to edit this one. Sorry.

Conference weekend was extra fun because it was ALSO Mike's birthday. Let's just say he's getting on up there in years. Yikes!! I got him the film, "17 Miracles." We watched it last night. It was really great. We'd wanted to see it in the theaters this summer, but missed it, so I was glad Deseret Book had it. And Cedar's Deseret Book store moved! They have a lovely new place further south, down closer to WalMart. I was so surprised to find them there. Mike's sister, Gayela, is sitting next to him in the photo below. She also came down to see Eric, among other things.

The next week turned very VERY cold. What's the ol' saying, "The frost is on the pumpkin"? Well, it certainly was! And the ice was on the water in the wheelbarrow that filled up from all the rain the previous nights, as well.
Now, contrast that icy chunk of dirty water to the lovely pool scene below.
Caroline, Eric, and Mike (sleeping on the loveseat waay in the back, just above where Caroline's head is). We went to St. George on Oct. 9 for a baby blessing. This is Tina and Stacey's home, and it's so lovely in the back yard! It was 70 degrees that afternoon in Dixie and oh-so-pleasant! It was Sunday, so we didn't swim, but just having the luncheon out there was nice. This was right before we came home and we let Caroline dangle her feet in the water for a bit.

We do live in a beautiful place. Red hills, blue skies. Gorgeous.

And then, there are the apples. Lots and lots of beautiful Jonathan Apples, fresh-picked off the tree. I think Eric picked all these, plus Pam picked 2 boxes the day previous. That's a lot of apples. I'm making applesauce, drying some, practicing my pie-making skills, baking cobblers, and giving a bunch more away. They are SOOOOooo yummy!!!

We tried saving some tomato plants from the frost, but after a couple of days of hard frosts, they are kind of not very healthy -looking. We tried.

He's BAAAaaack!!

2011-10-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

Eric arrived home late on Wednesday night, September 28th, from the Washington DC North Mission. He was honorably released by our Stake President on Thursday morning, then Friday, he and Mike left for Salt Lake so Eric could attend a mission reunion with his first mission president. Mike and Nick met up to view the BYU football game on a TV in a sports grill restaurant and they ALL came home to Cedar that night late. Tandy and their kids were here from California, too! Gail and her family were here, too! Mike's sister, Gayela, came from Salt Lake on Saturday, so it was a very busy and active Conference Weekend at my house!

Welcome home, Eric!!! It's good to have you back.

He's getting registered for classes at SUU for the coming Spring Semester in January 2012, he's getting bicycle transportation arranged, he's trying to get things organized in his room. I think we moved his stuff around twice while he was gone, so it's kind of all over the place. He's adjusting well, I think. It's nice to hear the piano being played again. He is much improved. And he's still Eric. He is still singing all the time and is his happy self. And he's looking for work. If you have any suggestions, send them his way.

Before and After

2011-09-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

So, it's finally tomato season at our house. This has been a LONG time coming!! But they are finally big and red and delicious. This is the "before":

And this is the "after":

Years ago I swore I'd never make salsa again. It's so much work and the stuff in the store tastes pretty darn good. But, when you're sitting there staring at all those lovely tomatoes, it's really hard NOT to, especially when you have a bunch of large onions and some fresh peppers from the garden as well. So we made some salsa. It's quite zesty! A little thin for my tastes, but still quite good.

Some of the tomatoes were baked into a pie. A Pizza Pie, that is. Have you ever made the sauce by just cooking plain ol' tomatoes and then mushing them, and then putting them on the crust, etc., etc.? Well, I'd looked at the recipe in my old cookbook for YEARS, but this time decided to just try it. Talk about yummy! Of course, there's seasoning, cheese, meat, veggies, etc. It was so good, there's no "before" picture. Just the "after." We ate the whole thing!!
And, if you must know, the ugliest pizza pans really do make the best pizzas! That's why I keep that ugly old thing. The picture makes it look pretty huge. It's not. Just average. I guess we chowed down the equivalent of a medium pizza. Oink.

Oink, Oink

What A Party!

2011-09-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Homecoming at SUU. It was a big deal this year because there has been a quiet money-raising campaign going on for a few years, but during homecoming was when they were making it all public and announcing stuff, amounts, etc. So they threw a party and invited the town. And they invited all the alumni. And they invited potential donors. In other words, pretty much everyone. Oh, yeah. Students, too.

First off, on Friday afternoon, they dedicated the new Science Building. It has a fancier name and you can check the University web site www.suu.edu to see what it really is called. Molecular and something science. Nursing? I dunno. But it's a beautiful facility. Mike and I walked through it one day on my lunch hour. The nursing department has really cool labs like hospital rooms now. And the chemistry labs are state of the art. The rooftop greenhouse is all computer controlled and very fancy-schmancy. The whole thing is very nice.

I went to the dedication on Friday afternoon. It had the obligatory speeches by the big-wig folks, BUT my favorite speaker was my library student worker (and former MIA-Maid class member that I taught for 2 years), Kezia Brown. She did an excellent job. Then, of all things, after the dedicatory prayer, was a fun and modern dance choreographed by the SUU Dance dept folks that simulated molecules and such. It was absolutely, um. . .adorable? entertaining? enthralling? Impressive? All of the above. Who knew science students could dance? They had coordinating T-shirts on and I didn't study the program thoroughly enough to understand what all the colors were, but it was very scientific AND artistic all at the same time. Science and Art DO go together. The percussion ensemble accompanied them, and they are always cool.

BUT the ribbon cutting ceremony was pretty entertaining, too. They brought out a paper ribbon about 1 foot x 5 feet. The letters for the Center for Health and Molecular Science (CHMC) were in the middle, but raised and created with some inter-active chemical substance. And glitter. And it was all in red and black, school colors. Dean Eves held up, not over-sized sissors, but an over-sized SYRINGE (like horse - sized), then he squirted something from it onto the letters on the "ribbon" and they burst into flames and dissolved the ribbon's center, essentially 'cutting' the ribbon--chemically. Cool. It was most entertaining and very impressive.

The dedicatory prayer was blessed with a little light sprinkling of rain before it was over. And then mobs of people went inside to check out the new facilities. I tagged along with Brent and Loralyn Felix. Brent had installed much (if not all) of the technology in the building and showed us some AMAZING features. Nursing stations with cameras and microphones so the students' work can be recorded and then evaluated in a classroom setting. A manequin that can simulate childbirth, among other things! It's just a really great asset to the department, the college and the university. Fun stuff. Free food, too, though I wasn't willing to stand in line for it. Oh, the drinks were served in chemistry lab glass flasks with a commemorative sticker on in. They added dry ice to make it smoke and look extra cool (or weird, or eerie or just plain "scientific") as folks wandered about, sipping it through their straws. ha. They also had free little baby plants that you could take home and plant as a commemorative emblem of the day.

Oh, but that wasn't the end of the party! I went home and got Mike and at 7:30 there was a concert on the Quad on upper campus. There was a band, plus Kurt Bestor and the SUU orchestra and some of our favorite local talent for the hosts. The lawn area and buildings were decorated to the nines, the food was all free and served elegantly and abundantly. Those lines were long, too. Hundreds of people came of all ages. Hundreds of students came. The music was fun. It did rain a little. There was a big screen set up so we could see what was going on on the stages. There was a stage on each end of the Quad. It was just really big, really fun, really noisy,really crowded. Everyone got red glow sticks. EVERYone. As the music was ending, then the University president spoke for a bit, make his big announcement about their fund-raising campaign, and then they turned off the lights and 200 students in red t-shirts trooped in, surrounding us, each with a single lit candle

and THEN

there were fireworks. A very impressive display of fireworks.

Wow! WHAT a party!!

[And then I must revert to Dr. Seuss-type comments]
'A dog party! A big Dog Party! Big dogs, little dogs, black dogs and white dogs. All going to a big dog party!'
P.D. Eastman, Go, Dog, Go

And interesting field trip

2011-09-17T21:14:00.001-07:00

Go Toward the Light!

This is the ladder that leads to the roof

of the library where Tammy works. Up she goes!

We recently have been having a new roof installed on our library building. I asked the general contractor if I could see what they were doing up there, and he invited us to come up for a tour. It was nice to see what all the thumping and bumping, messes and noise was all about. And it was nice to see the roof of our building. And the VIEW.

Looking West

Looking South

Looking down at our parking lot. There was a crane.

Some of the old roofing is exposed. This is looking kind of north-east. It went from being a black roof (and a leaky one), to a very white roof with more insulation and hopefully tighter seams.

Unfortunately, it rained pretty hard one night on this old part (above) and if it was covered with a tarp, it must have blown off. We had a lot of water in the building the night after these pictures were taken!!

Looking East

The Gang's all here:
Tammy, Susan, Sheri, Ellen, Jill, Randy, Rod, me (I've really got to work on posing).

Workers

The end.

Non-Scrapping

2011-09-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

The roses were a "mental health" treat for me. And because it was our anniversary month. And because they were a good deal at the grocery store. So good, I just couldn't pass them up. Not once, but TWICE. I thoroughly enjoyed the first batch at home on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Then I took them to work and enjoyed them Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I went shopping on Thursday morning and they were half price, so I picked up another bouquet and took them with us to Park City and enjoyed them there on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Brought them home on Sunday (they were some very well-traveled flowers!) and enjoyed them for a few more days. Mental health. Flowers make me happy.
I traveled to Park City, UT, to be the NON-scrap book-er among all the scrappers. We went the weekend of September 9 and 10th. Gail and I got there on the night of the 8th and joined with the others in this nice condo that Janet arranged for us in Park City, UT. It was very nice. Gail and I shared a room with rustic log bunk beds, and there were two other bedrooms besides.

Thursday night we just relaxed and settled in. Friday, all the scrapbookers went to SLC for the Expo thing-ey. I stayed on my own at the condo and just relaxed.
I went for a long walk around the "Bear Hollow Village" condo area. I got us officially registered into the unit and visited with the front desk help about Tex's malasadas in Honoka'a, Hawaii. Small world, huh? I watched "The Waltons" on TV while waxing my legs. I soaked in a jetted tub. I snacked on nourishing food. I had lunch. I drove around Park City and picked up maps and brochures. Got a little lost for a minute [remember, I have directional disfunction]. I DID make it back to the Condo. I watched a movie on Donna's Ipad ("Beastly." Cute). I sort of sorted some photos, but not really. I just moved them from a bag into a couple of storage boxes. But they are in order by year!

When everyone came home, Robert and Sarah came, too.

Saturday after breakfast, Robert, Donna, Sarah and I headed into town to see sights, but mostly to ride rides. Sarah and I did all three--the Zip Line, Coaster, and Slide.
Sarah at the top of the Zip Line. In Line at the Line.

I think the anticipation was way bigger than the actual ride.
It WAS fun, and I did like it. I was too worried about texting Donna that we were on our way.
The fellow before us is just leaving. I was concerned about getting a good picture. As you can see below, I had reason to be concerned. I wanted to try to snap a shot of Sarah, but I couldn't turn around enough to see where she was, so I blindly snapped away. Got mostly pictures of my fat fingers.

Going Down, down, down. It's very fast. I should have been worried about getting a bug down my throat since I forgot to shut my mouth for the duration of the ride!! Lucky for me, there was no extra protein in my diet THAT time. My mouth did get pretty dry.
Down, down, down some more. The brown-roofed building (below) is where you get onto the Coaster ride.
And here we are (below), loaded onto the coaster ride and heading up the mountain. THIS was my favorite. Again, mouth open, and I screamed [with glee] all the way down.

I'm going up, the tracks are going down--in LOOPS! I missed a good shot of Sarah as she went whooshing by me on the way down.

But here's some strangers, whooshing past me (below). The ride up is slow. The ride up to the top of the Zip line is even SLOWER. Lots of pretty views, though. And the weather was PERFECT on this day. Mild, no wind. Robert and Donna and Sarah got a little sunburned, standing in lines, etc.
Riding the lift up to the Alpine Slide beginning.

Out of order. This is the GOING UP part of the Coaster. That's Robert in front of me. [Like you can see anything besides a dark spot!] And Donna is before him. Sarah was first.
Walking our Alpine Slide sleds over to the tracks. They came up the lift with us, hooked onto the side of the chair lift.

Donna stopped to take a picture of the wild flowers. I didn't see it on her blog. I'm guessing it didn't turn out well because it was a close up. I'm sure there's a setting for that!
Some of us had a good time on the Slide, but mine and Sarah's ride was kind of a bummer because we were stuck behind some very slow people and had to STOP!! The first half was nice and thrilling and fast. But not the second half. It was a fun little outing, though. I'm glad we did it.

I had a great time visiting with everyone and Gail and I headed home on Sunday morning. We got home just in time to get to church.

September Thoughts

2011-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended a Mother-Daughter Relief Society meeting with Gail and Caroline. It was done on the theme from Johnny Lingo and being an Eight Cow Woman. You need to be familiar with the story of Johnny Lingo, so if you are not, please view the classic film at your local LDS Temple visitor's center. We attended several little presentations that dealt with varying aspects of life--pampering ourselves, recognizing our spiritual worth, music, goals, money, and some fun stuff. It was Misty's presentation on our worth as women that got me thinking. She asked the question: "What brings you joy? What to you just LOVE?" We were not allowed to answer anything that included newborn babies, ourselves, or our family. Those might have been the pat answers that any and all of us would have and could have answered. There were little girls who answered and they gave answers that were nature-related, like "flowers" "The ocean." Stuff like that. It was nice. Misty's ending though for us was that WE are the crowning creation of God. And I know that. I have a great deal of self-worth and appreciate the crowning creations of our Heavenly Father. But can I just tell you what makes me smile? They are very simple things. I almost hesitate to share them lest you think I am too simple-minded.

Crickets. Not the actual insect (ugh!), but the sweet sounds that they make at night. I just smile every night as I fling open our bedroom window that faces our back yard and the room is filled with the sounds of those chirping crickets. They make me smile. I just love them! I miss them when they go away for the winter. They are seasonal, but when they are here (outside, where they belong and NOT in my house!!), they make me happy. They make my day complete as my head hits the pillow and I can smile as I drift off to sleep. I appreciate the fact that they are almost so loud as to drown out the freeway noises that are sometimes just a little to close and loud for me. Summertime in the hammock under the apple tree in my backyard at dusk with crickets chirping (and before the mosquitos find me) is a blissful time for me.

Moss. Not the slimy stuff on the edge of the creek, but the deep green, smooth-as-velvet kind that clings to rocks and trees in the wet. I just have a thing for moss. It IS nature's velvet! It's as though the fabric manufacturers tried to replicate nature when they invented velvet. Moss is just so luxuriant. It's smooth and carpet-like, it's rich with moisture. It makes me want to be a small creature and just curl up on top of it to snuggle down into it. It looks really cool when it's flowering/propigating, too. I love green. We don't see much moss in this desert state that I live in, so when I do have the chance to be out hiking in an area that does have moss, it makes me pause. I have to stop and look and feel and enjoy. It's very difficult to just walk by and NOT do that! I remember being little and using it for carpet in Troll houses in outdoor play. I remember being older and studying it in biology class. I still just like it. Moss. Deep green, luxuriant moss. Nick can vouch for me. I hiked with him once when there was moss along the trail. I couldn't help but stop, could I? It's pretty. It makes me happy. It reminds me of water, which is SO vital to us as humans, and it gives me hope.

And on a side note, I think Spanish moss hanging from trees in the deep South is pretty cool, too! It's just a different kind of moss. :-)

All these things, and many more that I see, remind me that we live in a beautiful world that was created for OUR enjoyment. That's what I try to do--enjoy it. I like to share the joy. I enjoying seeing the colors of the clouds change at sunrise and sunset, or just as they are there and UNchanging. I yearn to paint the clouds (which is practically impossible!) and capture their beauty with watercolors. I find great satisfaction in watching little finches as they feed among the sunflowers. There are so many different kinds! I marvel at grand waterfalls, and the vistas we can see every day by just looking out our windows or walking down the street. My list can go on and on and on.

The grand and the small--I love them all.

(The blog entry would be complete with lovely nature photos. I have none from this computer, so imagine your own!)

***********************

My OTHER September thoughts concern our missionary who will be home at the end of the month! YAY!

August Bounty

2011-08-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

The backyard

Can you see the tomato plant below? It's just starting to have some tomatoes on it with a little pinkish tint to them. When they start ripening, we are going to have a LOT of tomatoes! There are about 18 plants. Salsa, juice, bottled whole and stewed. And lots and lots of fresh, sliced, stuffed, etc. for the rest of the summer.

I bottled another batch of green beans this afternoon. This makes 23 pints of green beans out of our little backyard garden. That doesn't even count the ones I've given away, or the ones we've eaten. I do believe they are finally starting to slow down. [whew!!]

At least, we THOUGHT they were slowing!! Here's some more... they just keep coming!!

This was a new one for us this year--cabbage. We don't often grow this, but they are looking nice. Cole slaw, anyone?

Here's a wee little (volunteer) watermelon. It MAY grow big enough to actually ripen. Maybe. Our growing season really isn't long enough here unless you take special measures, and we didn't. It came up kind of late, too, for a volunteer. But it IS kind of cute. It's about the size of a softball.

And the apple tree is doing well.

These pumpkins are some that we planted on purpose, not knowing just exactly WHAT kind of squash was volunteering all over the garden. As it turns out, they are ALL pumpkins. Pumpkin pie, anyone?

I have the makings for some pickles, too. Kosher dills. Sounds good to me!

This (above) is what I saw one morning when I looked out my bedroom window. Our neighbor's cats. Cat 1 and Cat 2. I really don't think they have names! Collectively, they are "The Grays". One is the brother, one is the sister of a litter and they are Russian Grays. Nice kitties. We enjoy them as neighbors. We have all the benefits of enjoying a cat to pet and for grandkids to play with (and the kitties DO come over to play!), but we don't have to take care of them. It's a good deal all around in my opinion
Pumpkins! They are getting bigger and more orange. I think Mike said he counted about 20. Yikes. That's a LOT of pumpkin pie. ha. There are three in this picture.

Healthy Habits Pay Off

2011-08-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

Noteworthy headline, eh? BORING!!! But, as I found out in the past week or so, it's really true. All those things they tell you about exercising, and eating fruits and veggies, and drinking water, etc. really ARE true! This is how I know.

A year ago in June I had my annual check up. Nothing out of the ordinary. Things were Okay. Could be better, but no alarming things were mentioned that I needed to take care of.

A year ago, right AFTER my physical, the Staff Association at work started their T-FIT program. That stands for T-Bird Fitness Initiative. We were hoping to get more FIT and help with the insurance and just general well-being. We had monthly challenges, we had teams and competition and prizes and it was FUN! That's not to say it wasn't hard, but the committee worked really hard to make it do-able and to make it fun. I liked it. I liked the team competition aspect and specific challenges (drinking water, number of steps per day, counting your veggie servings daily, etc.)

I'd kind of gotten a little lax with Water Aerobics. I like it, but going to the pool is such a hassle with all the stuff you gotta do to get in and out. So I tried Yoga. Liked that... but I'm not really very consistent with that, either (seeing a theme here?).

Well, anyway, some of those things are more of a habit now. I did not win the grand prize or participate 100%, but I gave T-FIT a go. And now I am convinced that it was WORTH IT.

Do I feel any better? Did I lose weight? Nope, on both counts. I still feel the same. I still weigh the same. But look at these numbers:

Cholesterol 2010, 191
Cholesterol 2011, 171

LDL 2010, 131
LDL 2011, 119 (!)

HDL 2010, 27
HDL 2011, 34

Triglyceride 2010, 163
Triglyceride 2011, 90 (!)

Yeah, a table would be much easier to read, but I don't know how to blog that. Sorry.
I was also told I don't have diabetes, do have good liver and kidney function, good blood pressure, etc. It was a good trip to the Dr. that day. (The mammogram was also good.)

So, go out there and drink lots of water, walk more, try some yoga, and eat more fruits and veggies. See if YOUR counts don't improve!! Thanks, T-FIT.

I gotta go eat some more fruit now. :-)

Check

2011-08-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

One of the things I've had on my "Summertime List of things to Do" was to re-line the kitchen cabinets. Not ALL of them! Heaven's no, I'm not THAT ambitious!! However, there was one that was in particularly bad shape that really needed some attention.

I accidentally went to work early today. (That happens way more often than it should. I shudder to think what I'll be like when I'm 60. Yikes.) I showed up at 8 am --WITH brownies for my student workers who have persevered all summer long, working hard and long. They were "Healthy" -er brownies, made with zucchini and applesauce. ;-) Yeah, like brownies can be healthy. BUT, I wasn't supposed to be there until 11 a.m. because I'm closing tonight at 7 pm. Susan was nice enough to say, "Well you can come back at 12 if you want. Just as long as I get out of here by 1." So I went home. I re-lined the kitchen cabinet with all my baking and seasoning stuff in it. I consolidated a lot of containers. It looks lovely.

And I even had time to finish Sunday's Crossword puzzle AND read today's paper before I headed out to work. Oh, AND I folded and put away all our laundry from last week, too.

I like bonus mornings like that! It makes me feel like I actually accomplished something for a change. Yes, I know, MOST people do these sorts of things on a regular basis (accomplish stuff), but I feel like it's a rarity with me. So just bear with me while I gloat ;-)

First Harvest

2011-08-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

I always get excited at the first little harvest from our backyard garden. This was tonight. We have actually eaten a LOT of lettuce in the past month, and I have given away bags of it, too.
But this is what I picked this evening:

Beets
Radishes
Peas
Beans

We ate our one zuchinni on Sunday, so this one is really from another garden. But we did have one. It was good. It may be our only one. The pumpkins are kind of taking over.

We have about 4 or 5 ORANGE pumpkins that are not too shabby in size. I'm not quite sure what to do with orange pumpkins so early in the season. I only like them for fall decorating. Oh, I guess we could eat them, but where's the fun in that?! Pumpkins are FUN food. ;-)

I have lots more beans and peas coming, and tomatoes and onions and cucumbers. The carrots and beets are sparse, and the radishes and lettuce are on their way out. The apple tree is looking great.

Ah, summer time. Sometimes it's really nice. . . especially when someone else does the weeding. Thanks, Mike!!

Not-so-puffy-clouds

2011-07-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to name this entry "Weather Phenomenon." I think it sounds really cool to say that. Try it: Weather Phenomenon. Cool, huh?

I was riding my bike home for lunch one day last week when I looked up and saw these clouds. I thought they looked really different. I was pedaling along, wishing I could share it with someone, but no one was around. Then it dawned on me that I had my camera in my trusty backpack, so I parked my bike under a shady tree, walked back down the street a bit to get a better view and snapped a few photos to see if I could capture the rainbow-effect in these different clouds. One of my co-workers from campus happened to drive by just then and said, "Pretty scene?"

So, I said to him and his wife, "Well, it's just those strange clouds. I don't think I've ever seen a weather phenomenon like that before. Have you?"

They dutifully looked, and said, "Oh, yeah. That's cool." and drove away.

SCORE! I not only got to SHARE the cloud/rainbow with someone, but I got to say "Weather Phenomenon," too!!

And then Mike happened to be home when I got there and it was still kind of in the sky, so I made him come out to look, too.

I know it's not that great. It probably is a variation of a sun dog or something equally odd. It doesn't really show up well with my camera, but you can kind of see it if you stretch your imagination. The first picture is a wide angle view. The second is zoomed in a little. The colors really were quite vibrant for a hot mid-summer day with partial clouds and no rain. There were pinks and purples and some blues. NOT your typical cloud siting.

WEATHER PHENOMENON.

Good Read

2011-07-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

I read a delightful, yet though-provoking novel. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It was a really captivating look at the hired help in Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights time period. It's written in southern dialect, has wonderful character development and a great plot. I recommend it. I took it home with me on Thursday, but didn't open it until Friday evening around 9 p.m. Reading in the hammock in my back yard is one of my most favorite things. I was wishing it would stay light longer. I moved inside away from mosquitos and where there was light. I could not put it down. I FORCED myself to go to bed at 1:45 because I knew I wanted to get up early to make lunch for Mike and his mom for their day trip to Midway. I thought I'd go back to bed after they left at 6:30 a.m. But, no. I started reading again, read for 3 hours or so, and just had to finish up the last 50 or so pages at work this morning. Find a copy. I think you'll like it, too.

Happy Pioneer Day

2011-07-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Mike and the Scouts placed flags in front of all the homes in our ward this morning. This is what it looks like when I look out my front door (though I'm usually looking through a dirty screen door and lace curtains - ha).

Happy 24th!

ALASKA!!

2011-07-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check Donna's blog as she gets more pictures posted. They can be clicked on and made larger so you can actually SEE something! :-) Thanks, Donna! ~LL

Martin Autrey

"Livin' the dream! Alaskaaaaah!" as David said repeatedly as we spent the week of July 3-9 together at the Big Sky Charter and Fishcamp on the Kenai River in Sterling, Alaska. My parents, their four children and spouses and three granddaughters.

This was to celebrate with Dad for his 80th birthday coming up this year. Eighty! And yet, even at 79 years old, we fished with him on the river and on the ocean for days on end, and had a lot of fun. Yep, Dad's a go-er! But we already knew that. Dad's birthday is in December, but it's hard to fish for salmon and halibut in Alaska in December. July seemed the better option. Thanks, Donna, for making such great arrangements for us all!!

Here are some photos and narration. Enjoy!

Clockwise from top left: Mike and David. The inside and outside of the "Hacienda of Happy Jose" where we stayed. Playing Horse shoes.

What a great area! Kenai Penninsula and the Kenai river are just gorgeous. The river is of glacier water and is so blue and . . . indescribably beautiful! And my pictures don't do it justice. We stayed in two cabins. The Hawaiian Hut was the other one. Our cabin had the food and a better equipped kitchen and a big picnic table on the porch, so we ate meals all together most days. It was so green everywhere, too. Above is the scene from our camp overlooking the river, me standing near the river (no mosquito bites!), Mike helping in the office or Lodge. They were cleaning clams--over 300--when we got there and checked in, so he just dug right in and helped. Robert in the kitchen. Small, but more than adequate supplies for us to have yummy meals. The last picture on the bottom right is the river again, with a boat motoring down. There was very little traffic in our area of the river. Few boats, few kayaks, few seaplanes coming and going.

Below: Grandma Autrey with the three girls who were lucky enough to come with their folks. The view of just sittin' around the campfire--right off our front porch! Minnow-dipping in the shallows of the river. Back-side of Grandma and the girls. The girls modeling the chic river fashion--waders! Lower left: Dad and Rob.

Below, clockwise from top left: Girls with minnows. Sittin' 'round the campfire. Rob's family with Mom and Dad on the porch. Silhouette of Donna Fishing from shore. Rob giving his daughter instructions on casting. She got REALLY good at it and caught on right away. Lower left: Mike wading in the river to retrieve a snag. That I cast. Nice of him, huh? He got wet over the waders and came in with wet everything. That is one FAST river and very cold. You'd likely die if you fell in, and Mike was right at the edge of the shallow area. Just beyond him is a very deep channel.

I was VERY impressed with the wildflowers all over. Daisies were my favorites, although there were many varieties. The iris is just one that was near the fishing boat launch. Day one of fishing garnered a nice catch that we ate that night. King Salmon. We had a fellow on our boat with me and Mike and Donna who caught a 42 lb King Salmon. Mike's was considerably smaller (in spite of what the photo may make you think). And yes, Donna in the red coat is [pretending to] kiss her fish. The guide really DID kiss the fish. And so did Donna's daughter later that evening! Ick. We all had wonderful fishing guides who took great care of us. They are very knowledgeable and competent and tolerated our weird sense of humor. Like my "HEEEEERE, FISHY, FISHY, FISHY, FISHY, FISHY!!!!!!!" call along the river. Truly. Must have worked. I caught my limit.
Below, clockwise from left. Bait. It's salmon eggs that have been treated. Bald eagles near river edge as we were passing in the boat. One adult, two youngsters, a couple of seagulls (there were millions of those birds!!) and a magpie. This was the grassy area. We learned all the river area names: Eagle Rock, The Crossing, Mud Flats, The Island, The Bridge, Beaver Landing, etc. Fun stuff.
On Wednesday the 6th, all but David (who took a sight-seeing flight instead) went on the Kenai Fjords Glacier Tour. Lovely Tour boat that held 150. Mom and Dad, top left. "Marathon Mt" in background with a bald eagle perched on a harbor post in foreground. Ice bergs of varying degrees of soil content. They do move a lot of earth. Bottom right, skipping rocks on Fox Island after our dinner break. Lower left, Touching a piece of iceberg that was netted and brought aboard.

Below, top left going clockwise: The pinnacles. Approaching the Glacier. Me and Mike on deck enjoying the sunshine and the views. A view on our drive to Seward to catch the boat. Bottom center is PEOPLE approaching the glacier on the black sandy beach area. They were close to it--close enough to touch it. They are very tiny because that glacier is very VERY big!! The captain told us the numbers, but I don't remember. It's big. It's noisy, active and we watched as it creaked and cracked and popped noisily and dropped chunks into the sea. Amazing and spectacular.

One of the days, Rob his family and others went to town and visited a gold-panning operation. Who should they see there but Karl Malone! [Utah Jazz fans may remember him;o)...] So Rob had his picture taken with the big guy. Rob's not much shorter, you will note. Center top picture below is the biggest King Salmon caught by our fishing group--by DAD! 46 pounds. My 40 pounder is pictured right below. Quite a feat for inexperienced me, considering our boat was stuck on a gravel bar in the middle of the river while I was trying to reel the monster in! We put on quite a show for everyone nearby, from what I hear. But I wouldn't know. My eyes never left the rod or the line. I guess it paid off, as I didn't lose it in all the hubbub of rocking, pushing, jumping, shouting, splashing, shoving, etc. trying to get the 20 foot boat un-stuck from the gravel bar and back on the river. The boat propellers needed a little filing after THAT fiasco!
Another catch of the day was a pair of sunglasses. They are pictured on the nose of the big fish. And the pink stuff in the tray are salmon eggs, harvested from one of the female salmon caught. They treat them and use them for bait. That's only one HALF of the eggs she had!

We went Halibut fishing from the ocean off of Homer on Friday the 8th. THAT was exciting! The launch was interesting and original--via tractor! We all caught halibut. Dad's was the biggest. The fish must have known it was his birthday or something. Some of us brought up a ray-like animal called a skate from the bottom. They are tiring, but no good to keep, so it is a lot of wasted effort. Our captain was great. His crew member tried hard, but had a bit of a potty mouth AND he let Donna's big one get away right as she reeled it up to the boat. The weather was great and we were out for hours, but it didn't seem like it. They motored us out to sea for about 1 hour. We fished on glassy-smooth seas. We motored back in and it was late and cold. The captain let his crew drive (sail? motor?) back to the harbor and the captain stayed out on the freezing deck and fileted the fish all out for us on the ride back. We didn't get back to camp until 10 pm or so and were so tired! And COLD!! Some of us had worn tennis shoes that were soaked on the wet deck.

HALIBUT!!

Then we had to get up early the next morning for our last day on the river. We took two girls this time, as Donna had her limit and someone else sat out. I don't have pictures of that posted yet. They may come later. The gals (except 1) took a float trip to see wildlife. It was a fun raft experience. I have seen enough bald eagles now to last me the rest of my life. They are beautiful and elegant and I love them. But I will not need to attend any more "Eagle Watch" days sponsored by the fish and game people.

Mike and I and Rob's family left for the airport on Sunday morning. We'd planned to spend the night in Provo with them when we returned from Anchorage, but since it was only 9 pm, we just drove on home. Our 50 lb box of salmon and halibut was still frozen solid when we got it to our freezer at 12:15 a.m. on Monday. Good thing I had Monday off from work!

This picture below was one I took on my way to bed the last night there. It was midnight. No special settings...it was just that light at 11:57 pm. Cool.

What a fun trip! Thanks, family, for a great time!!

{Things I didn't include: the food, the wildlife we DID see, the lack of mosquitos, the fishing techniques we learned about, the limits and regulations of the industry there, Homer, Soldotna, the attire on our rafting trip, rapids, water clarity, the tilting accommodations, the host, the young hired help, the guides, the outhouse, the temperatures and weather, my new knowledge about winter time ice floods, aluminum docks and what they do, tractor "docking" of our boat, massive tides....and more. Sorry the pictures are small. If you REALLY need to see them, I can help. I have them all organized by days on YorkPhoto.com and am more than willing to share.}

Miracles

2011-06-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti

We went to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, Friday, June 24. Mike and I drove with his Mom up there. She has been wanting to go and see it for a long time, as it had been many years since the last time any of us had been up there. It was the last weekend for it. I brought my camera, but I never took it out to take any pictures while we were there. Gail's family met us up there. They had an extra with them--Lexi from California! Tandy and kids had come the night before from California. Seth's parents joined us, and we all picnicked near the Temple Grounds and had a nice dinner. The kids ran around and ran around till Jonathan finally conked out partway through the production. It does start late (9:30), so even I was nodding part way through. ha. It's really a lovely production and I'm glad we went. Sitting in the chairs, closer, would have been nicer, as we were quite a ways back. But it was still nice. The mosquitos are quite big and ferocious, too! (I came away unscathed, thanks to Gail's OFF.)

Getting out through all the traffic is kind of time-consuming, but we opted NOT to drive all the way back to Cedar at 11:30 pm or midnight when we needed to be back in Joseph, UT the next day. So I got a hotel room in advance and we spent the night in Richfield, UT. Gail, Seth and family DID drive all the way home and they got in at 2:45 a.m. Too late for me. Maybe in another life time.

Old Church Vacation Rental, Joseph, UT

Mike and I and his Mom went to Joseph and saw Mike's sister's family. They were all gathered to celebrate their 50th anniversay with ALL five of their kids and ALL the grandkids and ALL the great-grandkids! What a fun party for them. So Mike and I dropped his Mom off there and we headed on home to Cedar City, as we had lots to do. We did, however, take the longer way home and drove down highway 89 and over hwy 14 to see how much of the snow pack was left. It's not. There's little bits and pieces up in the trees up on top at midway, but that's it.

Navajo Lake

Duck Creek Pond.

The streams and ponds WERE quite full. I managed some shots out the car window, like the one above.

More of our family had arrived from out of town, too. Not only had Tandy and kids come from California, but Katie and her family were here from Reno! Casey blessed their new baby, Corbin on Sunday. They had quite a few friends and family there, as Casey's little brother had a baby blessed that day, too!

Tandy holding sleeping Corbin

Ella is speedy with the camera. REALLY speedy--I can't even capture her!!

We had ALL seven of our grandkids here in the afternoon/evening for dinner and fun play in the house and yards. Mike grilled us some hot dogs, we had root-beer floats for dessert and we just played hard on the hammock, the little jumpoline, the Little Tykes car, dirt clods in the garden...fun times.

Count 'em-- all seven in one spot! A miracle that doesn't happen quite often enough.

(and a miracle that I actually remembered to edit a photo and crop out most of the peripheral junk)

Mike and Kate with a pile-o-kids. Note the fledgling garden in the background. It's coming along. Another of life's little miracles. Gardening may come easy to some, but not all of us have a green thumb.

Careful Hayden!! Don't jump out of the moving vehicle!!

I've tested my new modem and internet service at home. I switched on Friday and have a Qwest Bundle now (but no cable tv-ick! I am SOOOO not a fan of TV). It's supposed to be faster on the upload, and it is. But not extremely so. I still had time to dust the living room while they were uploading. Welll, part of the living room... I also got a new little personal notebook-sized laptop out of the Qwestdeal (which was the clencher for me--that and what I HOPE will be the same cost for faster photo uploads.) I've never had a new electronic toy all to myself before, so I tried it out on Sunday.

I have newly discovered the Church's MUSIC link on the menu on their website. What FUN stuff!! But it wasn't loud enough for my little classroom of noisy kids. I like to sing with the primary kids in my class, but it can get ugly because I don't have the right pitch or have suddenly LOST the tune!!!--it's happened before and is very sad. And embarrassing. You should check out the website if you haven't already. Cool stuff.
http://lds.org/churchmusic/

It plays it for you, highlights the notes, can change the keys, you can print it, download it. Gotta love technology.

Stake Youth Conference Handcart Trek

2011-06-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Mike and I were asked to be a "Ma" and "Pa" for our Stake Handcart Trek. We were gone from June 9 thru the 11th, 2011. A more detailed description of the things we did can be requested. These are just some photos I took and minimal (for me) narration. Enjoy!
The group. 170 bodies, 19 handcarts. We were in the ponderosa forests north of the Grand Canyon, AZ.

The first break for lunch. The meals were yummy, organized and such a herculean undertaking by the leaders! Amazing. I stress over feeding my extended family of 15-17 bodies if they all show up at once.

On the trail. Above is my "family." Two of the six children were in my ward, and we added an "Uncle Morgan," an adult from another ward that I didn't know to assist us since Mike was along as support and not walking with us.
Kassie and Venice enjoying the lunch break. Venice is in my ward.

DJ and Weston and Me. Yes, I do look tired, don't I?

My family at our first night's camp. We slept out under the stars. We cooked with another family, sharing a camp chef propane stove. We were COLD by morning and you could see your breath! We ended this day with a group fireside with stories shared, then a family meeting as well. We were very tired. It was about 8 miles of hiking that day.

This was an A.M. break on Day 2 of our Trek. Our flag was light blue. We have all the carts lined up to make way for any passing cars, etc. We did have some support crew to haul the camp chef stoves and the bounteous food that they fed us. We also had a very proactive medical team that watched over us.
The temperatures in the day time were in the 70's. We had light breezes to cool our sweaty bodies. And the trees provided welcome shade along the road.
Day 2, our first activity of the day was the "Endurance Pull." This was for the youth to push our fully-loaded handcart up a very steep hill with no assistance from the parents. It was a little difficult to see them struggle. (But I was busy documenting, so didn't watch as closely as I should have.) Mike helped with this station and gave the talk to each family as they began, and we were spaced out about 5 minutes apart. My family climbed the hill last of all. And they did it!!
This is what Mike did as he waited for the road to clear. We did not sleep well at night, needless to say. Pine cones do not make good beds.
Up and up and up the hill. We had some serious athletes in our family. The two girls in the back on the left ran cross-country and one of the boys plays football.
This is where I wish I had photo editing skills. Imagine the one above, cropped to just their hands. Cool. This was the steep endurance pull. Uncle Morgan is walking beside.
See? It's very steep. And it was very hard.
Our stake patriarch met with the youth and spoke during an afternoon break.
Friday afternoon, we camped at this meadow and had 4 stations set up with 8 activities. This activity was quilting. Some of my kids are tying a quilt.
These kids are plugging their ears because they are waiting for their turn to shoot a black powder rifle.
Savannah is in my ward. She's prepared to shoot, but the gun is being loaded. I didn't think to get a picture of her actually shooting it. Oh well.
For some reason, the pictures are out of order. Close up of Craig Jones, patriarch. He and his son, Jeff (who lives in my ward) delivered our Pony Express letters to the youth earlier in the day. That was kind of fun.
Friday activity: Archery. Brandt is in my ward and in my trek family. He shot a Bulls-eye!
Saturday morning, someone said it was 37 degrees F. Brrr. That first burst of sunlight did feel oh-so- good! I packed a jacket and in the pocket I added gloves and a headband. It helped. The hot cocoa helped, too. Mmmmm, chocolate. :-) This (above) was taken Saturday morning.
Friday night, a brief, blustery storm blew through. Some thought we needed tarps set up to protect us from rain. But it didn't even settle the dust. Some kids slept in the shelter once it was up, however.
And, yes, we were dirty. Dusty, dirty, filthy. Venice is writing her name in DIRT on her leg. No, she's writing it in CLEAN while cleaning away the dirt. That's a lot of dirt.
This was the butter-making station. Patrick Dowse and his wife Coleen are in my ward, and he was just so TICKLED to be making butter. I missed the shot of him grinning ear-to-ear. But many of the kids were just as elated and excited and just plain amazed at what they were doing! It was so dang cute to watch. :-)
The meadow in the background is where we all lined up the last morning (Saturday) for a group shot. I hope to see that picture some day.
Our Saturday destination was a place near the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We stopped at Crazy Jug Lookout. The flowers above were there. And the view below. Pretty spectacular.
This (below) was on the way Saturday. Lots of trees, lots of hills to climb, too. We were hiking uphill most of the day.

My family was so pleased to be at the very front of the handcart company! Eric Brown, from my ward and our trip leader, was the first in line. He led the way to Crazy Jug lookout and to the next destination where we had our Stake Youth Conference Testimony meeting. I bawled my eyes out for just about the whole thing. Just look at that View!! We sat there, on the side of the hill, and this is what we were looking at the whole time. Magnificent. Again, if you need more detail, I have it typed up and on my desk top.

Spring Creek

2011-06-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

Spring Creek Canyon is a beautiful little spot just south of Kanarraville. I'd never been before, so when there was a guided hike offered this Saturday, I showed up. Caroline came with me. We started at 9:00 meeting at the Cedar City park, then carpooled down there. The hike was sponsored by the SUMA folks--Southern Utah Museum of Art--which does not exist quite yet. It was to show how artists ply their trade and use nature, etc. Our artist was Arlene Braithwait. She's a favorite of mine and does wonderful work in pastels. She spoke for a bit at the trailhead, and then we started our hike. It looks like nothing particularly special as you start, but following the little gurgling creek is very pleasant.

We crossed over the creek multiple times. Below is Caroline being helped along by our photographer. If our photos show up in "TheSpectrum.com" please let us know. :-)

There were pretty wildflowers. These are Indian Paintbrush. Because we have had a wet spring, there was lots of grasses, bright green leaves on the brush oaks, healthy pinyons and cedars. And lots and LOTS of biting flies and mosquitoes!! We had to constantly move and flat our arms about to keep from being eaten alive. And we put our jackets back on, despite the heat later in the day.

I don't know why I have such a hard time posing. I'll have to work on that. I just had Caroline take a photo of me really quickly so I'd have proof of having been there.
Spring Creek is a slot canyon. I didn't go a good job of positioning the camera so you could see how narrow it was, but it is. Trust me. Red rocks, clear creek, good company and perfect weather. You couldn't ask for more. Our guide, Anne Smith, was there one week ago and there were no flies or mosquitoes. She also said that every time she goes, it 's different. I can see why. The flora and fauna would change, as would the water levels, etc.
This is called the "Volkswagon Stuff." Each time Anne passes this hole in the rock, she tries to stuff as many people in it as she can. I think we only got nine or so in, but most of us were hefty adults. ha. This picture was taken after a couple had left. You can see the reflection of my glasses back in there.

Here's Caroline alone in the hole.
We only walked in about 2 miles, to this slope/side area. We stayed, Caroline painted a watercolor of the scenery. I wish I would have taken a picture of what she painted. Arlene's comments were very complementary! She captured the size and actual shape of the rocks and her values were very good, too. That from a professional!! Woo hoo! A budding artist in Caroline!!

One of the rests along the way. Two friends from our ward were on the hike, too. Janet Seegmiller and her daugher, Joy.
We were home by 2 pm. It was a very nice hike. I'm glad we went. And, no, that's NOT toilet paper in the box next to Caroline. It's a roll of paper towels in a box of water-color painting supplies that I hauled all the way along on our hike. They said they needed help carrying Arlenes' things, so I grabbed the box and headed up the trail. Only, silly me, they needed people to haul the stuff BACK to the car. Duh. Oh well. It's a well-traveled box now. ha.

These are columbine from my front flower bed! See what a little fertilizer and a lot of water can do? Who knew!!??? I think maybe I'll be more generous with watering in the future. Nah. We live in a desert... and I water sparingly.
Memorial Day weekend we were in Provo, American Fork, Orem, and Springville. This home belongs to one of Mike's cousins. Don't you just LOVE the wisteria climbing over the patio area in their back yard. It was stupendous!! I don't know that I've ever seen one so big and SOOOO fully in bloom. I just had to take a picture.
In their front was the irrigation ditch that passed by their home. They have a lot of fruit trees, a garden, etc. But this water moves on down the road. What do you suppose that little thing is on the left? It's like a little side canal or something, but goes no where really. Any ideas?

One Sunny Saturday afternoon...

2011-05-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

Mike and Seth were AMAZED by what they saw in my front yard....
CAROLINE mowing the lawn! They'd been saying for some time that she was old enough to learn, so they taught her! She didn't come with the appropriate foot wear this trip, but she will for future mowings. She did the front and the back, had minimal coaching and Mike only did the first go-round to give her a good starting point.

Way to go, girl! Our lawns have never looked nicer!

Two!

2011-05-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

Look who turned 2 this past week! He's anticipating the cake and candles.

Singing "Happy Birthday to you!"

And he blows them all out! One breath, and we did it again, just for fun.
He was just really tickled about the whole thing. Both times. "Again!" he said, again and again.

Then he opened some presents...
But poor Grandpa was just soooooo sleepy, he had to lie down on the floor to take a little cat nap.
So, of course, the kids joined him. ZZZZzzzzz. They only posed long enough for a picture, though.
Giving backrubs.
Happy Birthday, Jonathan!! We love you bunches!

Playing Hookey

2011-05-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

I added a few more photos. The one above and the two below, making a total of three, could be put side-by-side for a panoramic shot of the area. I suppose my camera or some other programs can DO that, but I can't. Above is "Left."

Middle. Use your imagination.

Right.

I wasn't really skipping SCHOOL today, but life in general. I was supposed to be doing other stuff. Like pulling weeds or cleaning my kitchen or vacuuming or SOMETHING. Couldn't plant the garden because all the rain and snow made it too muddy to walk in. Since I had to work for the half day the Library was open today, I was feeling more than a little justified in taking the ONLY beautiful day we've had for over a week and doing something fairly spontaneous and fun. So I grabbed Gail and the grandkids and we headed to Gunlock Reservoir. The overflow was really spectacular. The pictures don't do it justice. I took more, but they are on a different camera that is not with me at the moment. So stay tuned. I'll be adding a few more later.
This is the overflow area just west of the dam. Jonathan was generally quite happy on this little hike we took. Lots of red sand and rocks. Overcast skies, but very warm.
Caroline at the top near the overflow. This is just before the water goes tumbling over the rocks down to the Santa Clara River.
I'm the water bottle holder, apparently. That's just a part of the many cascades of water.

The cactus were in bloom.

It was really quite crowded. You kind of had to wait for people to move out of the way to take a picture with minimal interference. Caroline is below me, by the water, in pink shorts. She wanted to get in so badly! But we were just on an exploratory expedition.
We had to hike down, and it was kind of steep for a little 2 year old to manage. So Gail carried him DOWN the hill, but on the way UP, he walked. With some assistance. Caroline was the first one to the car. We even had to ford a tiny stream over logs on our walk over to the waterfalls!

Then I came home and finished playing hookey from my chores by finishing this table runner I started last night. It's kind of fun.
I just LOVE this farm fabric! That's what is on the back.
The point of doing these table runners was to get me to keep my table cleaned off and pretty. It doesn't work.

Huh?

2011-05-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

8 a.m.

Happy Birthday, Gail! Snow on May 18. In Cedar City. Nothing really new there. We've had it snow this late before--yea, verily, even later than this. Now I am GLAD the tomatoes are not planted in our garden spot. :-)

And, yes, it is DEFINITELY soup tonight for dinner. I have beans and ham hock in the crockpot. Gee, I thought we were getting so close to grilling weather, sandals, flip flops. I'm wearing my winter coat today and DRIVING to work this afternoon! Happy Spring, indeed!

10 a.m.

Noon

May Days

2011-05-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

No, no...my blog is not a lemon. At least, I don't think it is. It's not particularly pretty, but it's a great outlet for me. I love posting pictures for my mom to see!
So, here's some May happenings. The lemons come later. But aren't they pretty? They are so big, too!
One of our big events was Seth's graduation from SUU. He graduated on May 6/7 with a BS in Criminal Justice. We are all very proud of his accomplishments. It's been a long time coming! But, he worked hard and got it done. Way to go, Seth!

Next came a trip to California. Below are some of Lexi's family. Lexi turned 8 the end of April and was baptized May 7 in Temecula, along with Cousin Suz's daughter, Avery. Below is Lexi's Aunt Colleen (really, she's Tandy's aunt), and Tandy's mom, Pam.
These are kind of out of order. Below is MY Aunt Tuny and Uncle Gary. They are presenting me with my family's antique chairs. I'm really excited to add these to my home. Thanks, Aunt Tuny! These belonged to my great-grandparents, or my mom's maternal grandparents. Very nice.
And because Avery was being baptized, that's why Aunt Tuny and Uncle Gary were there. Below is Suz. The link to her blog is on my page, and you can see some other pictures of our celebratory day. Smile, Suz!
Here is Damian's family:
The baptism went well. I gave a talk on baptism, Aunt Colleen gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, Avery's grandma led the music. Tandy played. Damian baptized Lexi. Kirk baptized Avery. Mike and Nick were the witnesses. There was also one other little boy from Avery's ward, but it was a family affair, mostly. :-)

After the baptism, we all went to Tandy's house. She had about 35 people there and we all enjoyed a very nice luncheon. Everyone chipped in. It was yummy. I didn't take any pictures of THAT food, but it was so pretty! She (Tandy) is well on her way to being all equipped for any sort of party you want to have. She's got lovely tiered dishes, a punch dispenser, plus all the other nice serving things she already had. It's always such a treat to eat there.

Okay, so after the baptisms, and after most of the guests left, the rest of us headed to the pool! Except Nick. He stayed to study at the quiet and empty house. (Later he said it was worth it, as he did exceptionally well on his test upon returning to school.) Tandy actually captured me in MID AIR below, as I jumped into the pool, cannon-ball style. Unusual for me, to say the least. I'm told it was a big splash ;-)
The grandkids love to climb all over their grandpa. We did have fun. I wish I would have taken a picture of Mike's mom. She came down there with us, but didn't get it. But it was not particularly HOT. More like cool. 70's and breezy. So Berenice just sat in a chair, covered in a blanket. Lucky for us, the pool is heated comfortably and we just never got out!

We played games while we were there. And Tandy fixed a beautiful Sunday morning breakfast for all the moms and grandmas. Nick helped her, too.
Then, Sunday night--another great feast for our Mother's Day treat! And these beauties were the highlight. Gorgeous chocolate-dipped strawberries. Yummy, yummy, YUM!
And then we headed home. I forgot to take a picture of our stop on the way, which was to have breakfast with my dear friend, Ruth Hair. She's serving a mission in Southern California. So, after we dropped Nick off at the airport, we headed to Ruth's apartment and she fed us breakfast. Nick had an 8 am flight, so we left Damian's house almost as early as he left! (he leaves about 4 am or earlier for his work. ugh) I think we got up by 4:00 and out by 4:30, at the airport in Long Beach by 6:30 or so. We had to miss the rush hour traffic... and did. Any way, it was great to visit with Ruth for a bit. It was a long drive home. But well worth the drive. We're so glad we got to be there for Lexi's baptism and to see her and Avery make such an important decision in their lives.

Next, after I worked for one whole day on the 11th, I drove to Layton, UT for the annual Utah Library Association conference. We stayed in a new hotel, "Home2 Suites" by Hilton. It was fun.

Funny toilet, huh? It's kind of a European style in the rooms. Stark-ish. But modern. We liked it. And we liked the conference. I had lunch with my Layton friend, fondly known to my family as "Waffle Lady." Karen, who have have known since High School. And she knows Ruth, too! So I had breakfast with Ruth on Monday and lunch with Karen on Wednesday. A Texarkana Ward reunion of sorts, but all spread out. ha.

Three days at a conference, 5 lbs heavier. Now it's back to work. Kind of. I'm still trying to whittle away at my annual leave so I don't lose it come June 30.

I think I'm ready to stay home for a while. And I will. Until June 9. Then we go trekking, Mike and I. But first, I think we'll plant our backyard garden. so many things to do! and so little time.
Oh, about the lemons. Suz and Kirk have a nice big PRODUCTIVE lemon tree in their back yard. They told Mike he could have some. He and Nick went over and picked FOUR large grocery bags of them!!! Mike absolutely loves fresh lemonade. He traded one bag with a friend for some tomato plants for our garden, but he's going through the rest of them fairly quickly. I have just 1 and one half bag left on my kitchen floor. Lemonade for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and snacks between. I've had one sip. yEeek. Not my favorite.

Random April Photos for your viewing pleasure...

2011-04-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

With a little narration along the way. Above. Look on Hayden's plate. It's the Muffin Man!

The finished product of our egg-dying the Friday before Easter. I don't know who sorted them by color in the carton. Not I!
I picked these from our back yard one morning before it snowed later in the day. I'm glad I did. They grow way back in the corner, so I would never see them unless in the yard. And when it is snowing, I just don't go play in the yard. Much.
We had a nice visit from Andrew, Christine and their family. They live in Wyoming and have three cute kids. Andrew is Mike's nephew.

So we enjoyed dinner together before they went on their way to St. George for Spring Break with Andrew's sister and family.
One nice WARM day (they really vary a lot!), Mike and Jonathan wen out to do some yard work.

Caroline lent a hand, as well, and they dumped the leaves on our garden plot. It's all plowed now, and ready to plant. Now, if it would just stop freezing and snowing!

These are the cute little jonquils by the back wall. Don't they look happy?
Grape hyacinth. They are natives to the yard. Lest you think we only have good stuff, see below.
I guess Dandylions are good--for salads! ha
And then, we had the visit from Katie and the boys. Here are some other shots. Blue berry pancakes for breakfast. It was still April, but there were no paper towels in them this time ;-)
Hayden is taking the snake for a walk through the kitchen. He really does have a ribbon tied around the rubber snake's neck. It's a VERY popular toy, I'm telling you!
Katie and Seth celebrating their birthdays sometime AROUND April 15. The 62 on the cake represents their combined years. Katie is 29, Seth 33. And the cake was German Chocolate! mmmmm. Dinner was good, too.
Except for this very odd character of a carrot stick I found in the bag. We think it looks like a vulture head. How about you?
Dying eggs.
This is what Katie and Corbin were doing while we were dying eggs in the kitchen. Motherhood is tough. ZZZzzzzz (I made the blankie they're snuggled under -- it's soft flannel and very cuddly)

Gail and the kids. Everybody wants to hold Corbin!

Just today, April 30. Jonathan and I were out in the back yard. It was BITTER COLD, but sunny. He's helping us rotate the composter here. There is a peach tree in the far back corner of the yard--covered in a tarp because we're attempting to save some fruit. Why bother? They will be all frozen. It's so cold here. Cherries, Pears, Apples, Apricots, Peaches. All in bloom now or were earlier, and most will not survive the freezes this year. Again.
Lest you think all my flowers are pretty . . .oh, wait, I already said that. Well, THIS (below) is the flower bed that all those cute little jonquils were smiling up from earlier in the month. Now the weeds have taken over and it's gettin' ugly out there!!!

Apple blossom buds. Soon to be frozen apple blossom buds. Note the little red and yellow car in the background on the lawn? Jonathan and I were "offroading" in the back yard! ha. Just a diversion from the carport and driveway where his dad was working on some brakes.

Happy Spring. Or winter, or whatever it is.

P.S. I braved the cold this morning and did a 5 K "Fun Run" [an oxymoron if ever there was one] and wore THREE layers of clothing on my legs. I finished in about the same time as every other time I've done it. This is probably the 4th or 5th time I've done that run and they changed the venue this year! We ran up the Canyon trail and back to the ball parks instead of around the campus. Brrrr. They didn't start until 10 a.m., but still. 40 degrees plus a windchill. Doesn't that make it in the 30's at least? I will treasure my sweatshirt, medal and t-shirt forever. ha! The sweatshirt (too small for me ) went to Caroline. The t-shirt (too big for me) went to Mike. The Medal will live in my dresser drawer with the others.

Easter and Spring Time

2011-04-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

A sleepy little Corbin baby. He is SUCH a sleepy-head!!
Seth and "the boys", well a couple of them anyway.

Katie decided to come to Cedar City with her boys. Well, she left the Big Boy (her husband, Casey) at home in Reno because he had to be on call and she knew she wouldn’t be seeing much of him anyway. So she brought Hayden and Corbin. It’s a long drive to Cedar City from Reno on any day. But alone with two babies under three, it’s really a stretch of LONG highway. I think she made the 9 hour drive in 12 hours. Lots of stops, lots of stretching, a food break or two, diaper changes, feedings, etc. Luckily, Corbin still sleeps a lot so he wasn’t as much of a bother. Hayden, on the other hand.. . . well, lets just say he’s not looking forward to the drive home (only he doesn’t know it yet! Ha).

And I had a nice time visiting with my girls. Unfortunately, an ‘almost 2’ and ‘almost 3’ year old really do have clashing personalities in this instance! There were a couple of times that Hayden and Jonathan actually played together, but most of the time they did NOT. It kept us on our toes.

(My apologies for not remembering to edit the photos before saving and inserting them here. If you know whether or not photos can be edited, please let me know.)

Katie had a little list of things to do while she was here for the week. She got here late on the night of the 16^th, so the next day was church. There is a funny story with the photo below. Mike woke up to take this photo right after sacrament meeting was over. ALL THE boys on the bench were sleeping ! We were tending Gail and Seth’s kids that weekend while Seth worked and Gail was out of town working, so there was Hayden, Jonathan, Corbin and MIKE all snoozing along through sacrament meeting at one point. (Mike just had his “eyes closed,” he insisted.)

But when I looked down the row and realized that none of the girls were snoozing, but ALL the boys were, I just couldn’t help but smile. I pointed it out to Katie and then we both got the quiet giggles and shook the bench with silent laughter. I think Caroline got it, too. It t’was quite funny. It might help to know that it was about 90 degrees in the chapel that day. Whew. Sweltering for sure, so holding sleeping babies and tots wasn’t too terribly comfy—but what choice did we have?!

Next on her list was to make some Easter baskets like the cloth ones that I’d made our kids. She had some cute fabric, so I worked on that with her some evenings and on Friday/Saturday. They turned out cute, if I do say so myself. Katie showed the new little basket to Hayden and said it was his new Easter basket to put his eggs in. Hayden told his mommy he “want eggs.” And she was busy with something and said, “Uh huh, for your Easter eggs.” He’s only 2. He doesn’t remember last Easter. But he knows eggs! So he got the eggs out of the fridge and BROKE an RAW EGG into his brand new basket!! Too funny. Katie could hardly stop snickering long enough to document it with photos. But she did. I was at work that day.

Thursday the 21^st we had a loverly dinner party with Katie’s in-laws and some good friends, the Castro’s. Below is Katie with her in-laws (Michelle, Kaysha and Howie)

Two of the three grandmas (below). And, yes, my eyes are closed...Oh well.

Why is this snake such a popular toy with all the grand kids?

Mike made dinner on that night. He was off work from Wednesday through Friday and I only had Friday off. So, he fed the Missionaries on Wednesday (and made the dinner!), he made the grilled chicken AND Dutch Oven potatoes for Thursday’s dinner. Then Friday, Mike and his Mom headed to SLC for some errands, visits, etc. The Thursday evening dinner and socializing after was so fun. Hayden was kind of taking things in and said, “There’s THREE grandmas!” And he was right—Great Grandma Liebhardt, Grandma Linda and ‘YaYa’ Rossman. Smart boy!

Katie and I took some time on Friday afternoon and I showed her the new Aquatic Center here in town, and we walked to the “Lake at the Hills” to show her that, too.

We waxed each other’s legs, too. (no photos to document THAT! ) That was on her “List” while here. That was a major job, I’m telling you! Katie had grown quite a formidable forest upon her legs—enough to raise eyebrows if anyone actually looked upon them!! So, we waxed away one evening. Hayden was spending the night with his other grandma and grandpa, so it was kind of quiet that Friday evening. People have different hair-growth patterns. She has none on her knees; I do. I have sparse growth on calves, hers is thick. Her feet are bare, mine are not. As Katie was taking in my furry foot tops, she said, “Mom, you’re like a Hobbit!” and then we melted away into giggles and in the process she almost got her hair stuck to the wax . . .which would have made her head a little bald. Then we laughed all the harder. And my feet are nowhere NEAR the harry-ness Bilbo or Frodo or whoever the Hobbits are!! FYI. Caroline spent the night with us girls that night. We did not subject her to any painful waxing. But she did help with the basket-sewing endeavors by ironing the strips.

OK, what else did we do? We died eggs on one day with Gail and her kids. Those pictures are on Gail’s camera to be added here later. [My camera is lost in my messy room somewhere (I guess) and these that I’m posting are from Katies’ camera.]

Saturday, Nick came from SLC and he and Katie, Hayden and Caroline all drove to Zion while I tended Corbin and made preps for our early family Easter Dinner of sorts.

Those kids all came back tired, Mike and his mom returned from SLC in the afternoon, and Gail’s family joined us, too. We had three of my five kids AND more than half our grandkids here for our Saturday night dinner! YAY!! [Yes, Tandy, we DID miss you guys!] It was fun. We had a very fast little Easter egg hunt in the wet front yard just after dinner. It had just rained. Nick filmed it on Katie’s flip camera and I think it took 1 minute and 15 seconds to find 15 eggs. Ha. We kept it small and simple on purpose. Caroline was the only one who knew that plastic eggs were usually filled with candy and/or money. But we didn’t want the 2 and 3 year olds to HAVE candy, so we just hid them empty, and since they didn't know any better, they were just fine with it. Caroline was a little disappointed, I suppose. It was Nick’s first experience as “Bunny” he said [he was the designated hider and did a nice job]. I think they had a fun, all-be-it brief time.

I’m posting this on Sunday. I made fresh Blueberry muffins for breakfast this morning and made some in the shape of gingerbread men. I have a silicon mold-thing that makes them. The muffin men popped right out, prompting me to sing “Oh do you know the muffin man?” as I plopped them on their plates. hee hee. Church, Sunday dinner, relaxing, then Katie and the boys head home to Casey tomorrow. It’s been a fun week! Thanks for coming, Katie and kids!

Zion National Park

2011-04-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

The Grandmas at Zion with Little Liebhardt's.

Pam and Tandy invited me to come with them on April 5 on a visit to Zion National Park. Pam hadn't been for ages, Tandy for a short age, and I'd just been in January or so with Nick. It's always lovely.
The leaves still hadn't come out, but the water was flowing. The above photo is at Weeping Rock. The water fall was flowing quite hard.

Below is Ella. We're playing under the foot bridge to the trail for Weeping Rock. Braeden caught a lizard while we were playing and resting here. It was such a gorgeous day!

Ella and Grandma Linda

Below is a waterfall on the way to the mouth of the Narrows. We rode the tram into the park and got off first at the Weeping Rock trail. Then we got off at the trail head to the mouth of the Narrows and went on the River Walk trail. We saw squirrels. Tandy will have MANY more pictures posted on her blog really soon, I'm sure. :-) So, stayed tuned!

Gorgeous, huge, cascading waterfall

I left in such a hurry from my house to get down to Kanarraville that I forgot my phone, AND my camera. I remembered water.
These little kids are such troopers. They really enjoyed their time there, and so did I. It was really nice of my co-worker to man the desk so I could take off an just go.
Above is Braeden (yellow shirt) and Ella and Lexi. We are at the end of the River Walk trail and the head of the Narrows. OR the END of the Narrows hike, depending on where you start. I am lucky enough to have hiked the Zion Narrows twice in my life. It's a grueling hike. I was much younger then. This day, the water was really rushing by. Lots of snow melt and the water was icy.

Ella being Lugged by Linda

Feet turned "insta-red" as Tandy put it, when kids put their feet in. Much different than the California waters they must be used to. And they got very tired of stepping on nothing but rocks, so when we moved to a different spot, I just picked up Ella to TAKE her there--you know, to save the pain on her poor little feet. But, alas, my hands were full, so this was the best I could do to transport her from point A to point B. It worked.
There was a little area that was away from the main body of water that looped around a big boulder and island, so the kids helped build a dam with rocks.
We stayed a long time. Feet were frozen, Braeden smashed his finger. It bled, so we traveled back down the trail to Grandma Pam. She hadn't made it all the way to the end due to her sore and stiff ankle.

Below is the big boulder that I had my picture taken next to some thirty something years ago when I first hiked the Narrows with Jimmy Akpan from Nigeria and David Cooper. The rock used to have a sign on it saying Zion's Narrows or something. I'll have to find the picture and insert it in the blog here some day. [Yeah, right. Like I could find a 30-year old picture. I don't even know where to look. And even if I could find it, who's to say I'd know how to scan and save it???....ugh...to be techno-challenged.]
After we left the park, we drove the car through the tunnels. No pictures of that. And after the tunnels came Springdale, UT and the ROCK SHOPS. Lexi loves rocks, so we stopped to browse and ended up letting the kids "pan" for treasures of rocks and stuff at this little place. It was a fun little adventure for them.

Ta Da! I found it, scanned it, saved it AND linked it!! Go Linda!!! :-D August 4, 1974
I hung onto that walking stick for YEARS! Fond memories.

Hmmm, looks like I posted the picture with the shop's owner as he was demonstrating what to do. Braeden's head is right behind him in the photo. Ella was sleeping in the car and Pam was with her. And, of course, Tandy was taking the photos! I managed to snap a couple of Tandy here and there while we were in Zion, so there might be a few of Tandy on her blog when she posts them. I hope so! It is kind of unusual to have ourselves in our blogs, huh?

It was a fun day at Zion. We at at a Pizza and Noodle restaurant in Springdale and I wasn't home from my adventure until 8 pm! What a fun day we had. Thanks, Tandy and Pam, for inviting me!!