March 2026

 And, the end of February, too!

We've had a few snow showers. Nice for our water supply. Not nearly enough, however. 

I just noticed some robins in my backyard, so it must be getting close to spring. My daffodils think it is. So pretty.

Even when they get snowed on!

Here are some pretty INDOOR blossoms. The geraniums I grew. 

These cut flowers are some Mike brought back from the grocery store. Sometimes there are nice things in the markdown bins that are a pretty good deal!  And they really make me happy. I enjoyed them for over a week, I think.

I had a cold last week, but sort of nipped it in the bud. Two months ago, I had flu-like symptoms with my "cold". This was Much milder. I slept Saturday, rested Sunday ( and ate zinc, zinc, and more zinc, vitamin C and a LOT of fluids!) and I felt pretty good. 

We went to the Emeriti Association soup and salad potluck Monday evening. I was fine, even had enough energy earlier in the day to take Mom shopping, make a Mac salad, but my voice was GONE on Tuesday. 

Tuesday evening was our Ward Relief Society Birthday Celebration. I went at 5 to set up and help, but it was just impossible for me to speak and was such a strain on my larynx. Ugh. 

But I felt fine! Trying to speak did exhaust me, however. We had a nice catered dinner ( Costa Vida) and NaNon Bulloch was our speaker. Nice decor and a good turn- out, too. . .42.

Wednesday, we did our 6 am Temple Office shift and I just avoided phones.  BUT  I found out on Thursday that my phone's voice recognition "talk-to-text" feature recognizes my WHISPER! Who knew?!

I made yummy homemade Mac and Cheese this week. Divine.

I finally finished oiling up the wood surface of all my kitchen cabinets and dusted and vacuumed the kitchen and living room. I even deep cleaned my range hood vent screens and a very dirty ceiling intake vent over my desk. I thought it just needed vacuuming. Nope. It's a mere 10 feet from the stove, so it needed much scrubbing with cleaner on a rag wrapped around a knife( because I was unable to unscrew it from the ceiling). * Bling*. About time I did something productive around here. 

What else? Relief Society meetings, Presidency meetings, Temple shifts ( lots of substituting). Laundry. Mom to Dr appts. Usual stuff. 

Macaroni and cheese with breadcrumb topping and yummy COSTCO hotdog.

Eye exam. Good results and reports. 

Baby shower gifts for Mom's caregivers.

Home and snow and teaching movies

 Ugh. My pictures never post in the order I'd like them to. Here we go in reverse time order:

First! We went to the movies today. Absolutely LOVED this film! Highly recommend. Some fun surprises and twists I did not expect. So fun to be in Italy again. That was almost my favorite part of the film. You decide what YOUR favorite part is!

We have one of State Bank's Calendars. This was a funny cartoon. I'm so lucky. My man takes me to really great places to eat! I think we must have a coupon for Milt's or Rusty's that needs to be used here pretty quick. Mmmm.

I saw this darling little piece of . . .art? craft?  ...decor? It was a birthday gift given to Todd Thorley by his kids. The Thorleys are ranchers, Todd has spent time in sheep wagons. And that is what this wire sculpture is--  a sheep wagon! And the little surrounding sheep are made from the local Nelson sheep's wool.  Are Thorley 's and Nelsons related? Probably, but I don't know how. My former co-worker Susan Nelson Christopher is of that sheep family.  I just thought that little piece was quite adorable to see in Jan's house. So apt and fitting.

Mom is learning her new iPhone. Proof,-- she is texting to me right now ( or was a few days ago).

We have had some lovely sunsets lately. I don't get up early enough to see sunrises.  I'm sure they are pretty, too😁.

Around Feb 17 we got some serious snow! Yay for water!!!  Yes, my daffodils thought it was Spring. Not yet, girls!  It melted quickly, but there are some hefty piles of ( dirty ) snow in parking lots still, almost a week later. New Harmony probably had 16 to 18 inches. We might have had about 6 to 8, but it blew around and that made it hard to measure.

Home again

 But it DID take a long time to get there. 

Sunday morning we attended Sacrament meeting with the Manoa Ward ( I think. It was either Manoa or McCully). It was at 8:30, so we kind of had to scurry. The bus had another couple on it dressed in church attire and we walked in with them. The tabernacle on Bishop and Beretania streets has been there a long time, is big, white, open, kind of almost cross-shaped. But not as open as it used to be. NOW the huge chapel with side 'wings' is air conditioned. Years ago, it was cooled only by ceiling fans. Quite a difference. Good talks. Nice folks. Many visitors. We only stayed the first hour then had to get back, change clothes, eat and pack and check out. I had an hour😆

We finished off most of Nick's Leftovers, except the yogurt cups we took to Jessica yesterday.

Do you know about Ward and Stake History collections and specialists? I read about it a while ago in the Liahona, I think. It's quite amazing how they can collect stories. Even yours! One of the speakers covered that quite nicely.

I still feel like I'm riding on a bumpy bus or car sometimes.  Or an airplane. So much traveling.

We had to check out at 11 on Sunday morning, and we did. And then we headed with baggage to the bus stop. Then to the NEW Skyline train. It's very nice. It but got us to airport way too early, so we went a few stops beyond just for fun. And then turned around and came back to the airport.  It was rainy all morning. Not heavy, and not in Waikiki when we initially caught the bus. But the rest of the time it was , and we were protected by buses, trains and parking garages and airport. 

None of the old airport is visible. It's probably all gone by now. So much is very new and lovely in Terminal 1 where we were with Hawaiian Air.

Mike and I took our time, he napped, we hydrated, I did a blog post, made phone calls, etc. We had a nice late lunch at Panda Express. The bathrooms in Terminal 1 are new, very bright and roomy, clean, very quiet with only soft Hawaiian guitar or Ukulele music playing. So pleasant. I tried several of them while hydrating pre- flight😊

Our seats were changed from center section to window and isle which was better than being in the center section. That was nice. We boarded on time, but then had a long( almost an hour!) mechanical delay. It had to do with toilets not flushing due to the exterior access door not closing properly under the plane, so we waited for that to be repaired. 

The whole area was socked in with rain and clouds.

My audio on the tv screen at my seat didn't work, so I moved to the empty seat behind Mike and watched "Downton Abby, The Grand Finale". Mike did not snooze at all! I did, here and there.

We got to LAS Las Vegas about 12:30 am Monday, to our car by 1 and home by 5 Utah time. I fell into bed and slept about 6 hours. Mike hasn't had much sleep. He couldn't get to sleep when we came home this morning. I even put my phone on "do not disturb"!

Now I need a vacation to recover from the vacation. But I'm doing laundry instead. Mike's back into work mode , hunting for the proper grout to finish a repair job for Boyd. 

That's our next adventure -- to Missouri to visit Boyd and Carol Fife, and Hayden's high school graduation on the way back home.

Me and Mike on Honolulu 's  Skyline elevated train system. And the rains and clouds upon our departure.

Also on Monday, we had a pleasant dinner out with my Mom and Tandy and Braeden and Pam . Tandy came from San Antonio for Jen Perkin's wedding reception in Logan. She picked up Braeden on the way down here, so it was fun to see them. Today they might have gone skiing, but it was far too windy. But it started to sprinkle when we left Brody's Mexican Restaurant after dinner! Wait! Rain?!?! Really?

Happy Valentine's Day!

 We saw our kids off to Maui.

We napped.

We rode the bus for a LONG time.

We had lunch with Jessica. We ate at a food truck! I had coconut crusted mahi mahi that was so yummy! I shared my fries.

We rode the bus again. May have dozed a bit.

We saw chicks at the North Shore bus stop. So cute with their Momma Hen

We ate in our room. (Nick's Family's leftovers.) Fruit,yogurt, a chicken bake. Lots of juice.

We are going to watch a movie and veg. 

This window in our room is 18 floors up. High. And it easily opens up this much. No screen. 

Safety hazard perhaps?

She had at least 9 little ones to keep track of. Most were white, but a few were brown. 

Fri Feb 13th at the PCC

 No text, just photos of family having fun, learning stuff and eating and dancing.

A collage of tattoos

The little girls went to the stage to dance in front of every one at the luau dinner! So cute.