Driving home 5/20/2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Missing birthstones

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

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

Ack!!!!

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

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

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

Whew! That was close. 

Les Miserables at Tuacahn

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

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

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

 

5/19/26 Hayden HS Graduation

 

How many people does it take to get him ready?

We got to meet Hayden:s girlfriend, Brianna from Pueblo, CO. She graduates later this week. Hayden will attend hers, too. 

This is the map Hayden was given with instructions as to where HE would be sitting and where his guests should be. They held it outdoors even though it was 39 degrees F!!!!!!

Katie supplied us with outwear and blankets. We did not die. 

Graduates marching in.

Hayden, marching out. He's wearing a gold stole, but something is on the field in the background, making him look like he is wearing a cassock hat

 He's not. Cap with mortar board. Gown with hoodie under. Those poor freezing kids,! 

Yes, Mike and I are dressed in many layers. Hats. Coats, I'm wearing 2 pair of pants! 

That was one of the best programs ever, though! We were SO impressed by those kids. 

You can see what the seating layout is like from the photo I posted above. So with the stage in the center of the football field and students around them at angles, and podiums on both sides facing both sides of the field, where would the speakers be? Well, they were nearly all student speakers there were three sets of two speakers. Their talks or speeches were given at the same time, like they were intermingled and wrote them together or something. Each graduate had a microphone and paced around and faced different areas of students and audience while they gave their portion of the speech. And then when the other speaker was talking, they stood still so we could see a little more clearly just who was talking. But they were so articulate! The girls were walking around on this stage in high heeled shoes with ease. Nobody had any notes. They talked back and forth in a conversational way, almost like they were MC the entire production. Which they did. They also had a faculty speaker that was chosen to address them, and the principal addressed the audience briefly. But those kids were amazing. The talks were great. So well prepared. And memorized! Every one of them. It was really amazing.

The first young man who got up and introduced himself told us what organizations and clubs he had been involved in, and then he announced that he was serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and then would attend school at Brigham Young University in provo, utah. He was the only one who mentioned that. The other student leaders and speakers also said where they were going to attend school and what they were going to be when they grew up. There were very specific things like a pediatric psychologist. Kinesiology and sports medicine. And very specific life tracks. That was a bunch of good kids. There was about 370ish graduates. The way that they handled the floor, though, was very impressive. 

Then of course, after all of the speechifying came the reading out the names and marching across to get your diploma. They alternated sides, and Hayden's family was instructed wisely to sit where we did so we could see him get his diploma. That was a lot of names to wait through, but it could have been worse. We were done in one hour and 45 minutes, which was pretty darn good. There was just one good strong gust of wind at the end, and it snagged a big umbrella and a few mortarboard caps, but for the most part it wasn't horribly windy. It drizzled off and on, but not enough to soak our clothing or require an umbrella. Of course we were wearing lots of clothing, so it would have taken quite a downpour to soak through all of the blankets and coats and hats that we were covered in. 😆

We all Gathered in the parking lot to wait for Hayden, took photos. Drove to Olive Garden. Ate a lot of food.

 

The glowing of phones in their faces while awaiting good. 

Drove home to Katie's. Mike and I crashed out and took a 30 minute nap before leaving to go meet Gayela and Troy for dinner at their house in Aurora. Gayela's still not able to climb up into a truck after hip replacement surgery 3 weeks ago, so we brought take out dinner to them rather than taking them out. Plus it was so cold. Mike and I were still kind of chilled, in spite of a warming nap under blankies and driving across town with the heat on. We had a good visit there for a couple of hours. And Mike and I just had a soda and WATCHED them eat. Ha. We were still quite stuffed from our late-ish lunch at Olive Garden.

This was a ladder leaning up against the wall in a back room at the food place. What do you suppose those rounded platforms are for on the top of that tool. . . Hmmm. I know what it looks like to me!

Back at Katie's that evening, She helped twins with a much-procrastinated school project of "Bottle Buddies." I learned about them on our way TO Missouri. That's why we watched the  Night at the Museum films-- both the kids' chosen historical characters are in those films. They were due the next morning after graduation for the Twins classes.  . . It was a rather busy day after HS graduation, then lunch, then the twins had a baseball game. Then arts and crafts. It was a bit of a late bedtime! But they got done, and Katie did a marvelous job helping the kids. She sewed an aviator cap out of vinyl fabric. Amazing. 

See if you can tell who their characters are🙂

Hailey, above, with_____________.

Quintin with________________.

 Are we done yet?

Yep, we were all four of us quite tuckered out!

Sunday in Adam Ondi Ahman

 We have LOVED this time in Missouri.

Boyd and Carol Fife are wonderful, accommodating hosts. We have a comfy apartment they've provided, they've fed us generously, driven miles and miles over country roads, shared sacred sites and histories. And we've seen fun things, too! 

Sunday before church we took a drive and walk through the beautiful Tower Hill area of Adam Ondi Ahman. It's lovely. It's Sacred. It's really old. The improvements are appreciated. There has been much hard work done in recent decades to make it a place to feel the Spirit. 

Some photos from Tower Hill area.

T-Bird Alumni, together in red😀

They found a copperhead snake in this flower bed. Yikes. The lovely flower bed are a lot a work since they compete with bunnies and deer --and snakes, apparently!

"Preacher Rock". The pecan orchard below it was planted recently. The acoustics from that spot are said to be phenomenal. However, that new pecan or hard might affect that aspect. 

A pecan grove in the distance. 

It's very park-like everywhere.

We attended the Gallatin Ward with them  on Sunday more. Their Ward is large and four wards meet in their building. There are lots of youth; two well-prepared young men gave talks in Sacrament Meeting, and the Sunday School teacher was phenomenal. Mike met a brother and sister Crookston -- who are relatives, of course!

We went home to our place to change clothes after church, and Mike had a cat nap. I sorted and edited photos on my phone. Boyd and Carol fixed what she SAID would be a quick light lunch. But it was really a feast. So we ate! 

And then we went on more drives and walks to historical sights. They drove us to Breckenridge.

They have a millstone from Hauns Mill in their city park.

Then we drove to the Hauns Mill site. Or the area that it probably was. There's nothing left of the mill, the settlement, or anything.

Now, THAT'S a burl!

It's so fun to hang out with people who also love and appreciate big beautiful trees. And there are lots of them! We love it. Boyd's measuring, not hugging. He sees the lumber potential in big monsters like this.

Next stop, Far West

Then back to the Fife's for a quick " little bite". Pancakes, plus. 

We made arrangements for loading up the truck in the morning with bins and lumber we will bring home for them.

And time to say goodbye.