April Showers

 We WISH! 

 However, today is the 13th, and there actually some raindrops falling in Cedar.

Mike and I have done garden prep, and I've cleaned out some flowerbeds and Mike tilled some steer manure into our backyard garden spot.  Our front lawn has been fertilized and watered well with ditch water. My kitchen seedlings are doing well ( too many tomatoes!!!)

Mike and I just spent a quick weekend up north.

 We left Cedar City on Saturday afternoon after a 10 am to 2 pm Temple Office Shift, drove north  and spent Saturday night in Herriman with Nick's family.  Enjoyed dinner and games before bedtime.

Sunday morning we attended Church with them. Right after church, Nick and Mike and I drove to Vernal. We saw and visited Joe Maestas. Then we dropped by Muke's sister Sally's house, but she was just on her way out to have dinner with grandkids. And she is moving to Farmington, New Mexico later this month!!!  

Mike bought us Chinese food for dinner ( at a totally devoid of patrons at 5 pm  Chinese buffet. Made us kind of nervous. . .but we were fine, thankfully!) Then we had a nice visit with Lynna and Gary Kendall. Both Mike and I tested out their very fancy massage chair. Mike liked it. Me, not so much. I could see how Gary would enjoy it, however. It's pretty intense and he has some severe back problems.

We went there ( to Vernal) to attend an Addiction Recovery Program (ARP) Fireside that Scott and Theresa were speaking at. It was a regional one, there were a few hundred people in attendance and we were able to visit with all their kids, many of their siblings. They shared their stories and it was moving , quite touching and one could really feel the Spirit. As the title suggests: 

Healing is taking place in their lives, and sharing has been part of their healing process. I'm glad we went. They were, too.  After their presentation, we had time for some very brief family visits, then Nick drove us back to Herriman and we arrived just after midnight.

He drove through snow across the Strawberry Reservoir flats! 

Granted, it's just a snow flurry, and nothing was sticking. It still had the "Warp Speed" star wars effect in the headlights. And then there was rain the rest of the way to his home.

I didn't think to take photos of the many folks we saw. Silly me. It felt like a funeral, but without a body. Ha. Only because that is usually the only occasion that we meet with family in such large amounts at our ages.  Except that we ARE returning to Vernal in two weeks for Joe's 90th birthday celebration on May 2nd. His girls are putting on a big party at the park for him. We miss Mike's  sister Jannae. But Joe misses her more. 

Here are some selfies with me in my jammies, catching all the kids before they ran off to school. We ( Mike and I) also enjoyed a little gymnastics performance by Emily before we headed home about 10 am. 

To rain! In Cedar!  Yay!!!!

Nick at work in his home office.

Kaylee at work in HER home office. One of many. Rachel made French Toast for breakfast and it was really good.

Logan is hard to catch on camera! 

Jane wit her Kanoodle toy. 

Rachel pausing just long enough to catch a quick pix

Half of Emily's face. I'm not very good at taking selfies. Still. After all these years.

And Roz the dog, too! He's a Maltese, totally mauled by all the kids who love him a bit too much. Nick is Roz's person. (Note Logan peeking over the sofa back 😉)

Eating my way across campus

 For Founders Day! It's "Lunch on the Main" and we ate almost everything they had to offer. Note the big, full tummy.

Besides that, my allergies have been the WORST. 

I rode my bike to campus, however, so that's an improvement of sorts

 Still kind of hurts my hip joint, however.

Friday morning after working in the Temple office, I wanted to take pictures of pretty flowers, but we had OUR picture taken instead.

Some seeds are sprouting in trays on my kitchen floor. Tomatoes and some zennias. Maybe later will be herbs, peppers and onions

 

Beware the Ides of March

 When I was a librarian, on of my favorite days of the year was March 1. Our books checked out for two weeks, so I could say that title phrase. Maybe one person got it through the years. 

The Ides of March is also Corbin's birthday. Yay! He's 15 this year and going snowboarding with a friend -- for a week! How fun.

We just spent the weekend up north with family and friends. It was great fun! We came home Monday afternoon 3/16/2026. We unloaded and unpacked . . .and I needed a nap!

Since it stays light longer now, after I forced myself awake from that late afternoon nap ( always SOOOO hard!) I went out back and pruned my apple tree! I'm so glad Mike bought that electric chain saw on a pole. Those big branches are SO much easier and quicker. Whew!  The photo doesn't do it justice because on the right side, our front tree is towering over the house and blends in. . . On the left side, the neighbor's tall cherry tree is towering over it in the picture. But the apple tree truly is pruned fairly evenly. I even took some limbs out of the peach tree. It's a "Fair" job, I would say. 

Before we left on our little weekend jaunt, I cleared out the front flowerbed and got rid of some hollyhocks and FOUND all five hyacinths that were buried under and between them. Hyacinths are short-lived, but oh-so-lovely and I love them.

Levi's apricot tree is in full bloom. I'm guessing it will freeze again before too long and those fruits will be lost. There are a couple of limbs that hang over in our yard that we enjoy.

Pile o'limbs 

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

Found and removed a nest from tree. It was just in the wrong spot! Sorry, Birdies.

We watches some very pretty swirley clouds on the way home

Sunday Visits

 Nick's ward meets at 9 am. It was a nice sacrament meeting, but we are never any help to Kaylee with their kids. The kids don't want to sit with us, they always just climb all over Kaylee and bug her. Sunday School class was nice, but I kind of wish I would have joined Kaylee in her 15 year old class where they were going to act out Joseph's OT story. 😁

We had the whole afternoon to go on our planned visits after a quick lunch at Nick's  house. A sandwich with chips and we were on our way to Bountiful.

First step: Kevin and Sherry Figueroa. FORGOT TO TAKE A PHOTO!! A delightful visit with these special friends. Then we went to Brigham City and saw Rick and Lana Nelson.

Rick and Lana. It's only been about 33 years since we last saw them, but Lana and I are friends on Facebook and I've kind of followed their daughter on Social Media for years. 

 Great visit with them, too. The Tamashiro's from North Logan were supposed to meet us there, but must have forgotten. Then we stopped by Rick English for just a few minutes.

Mike and Elder English. A long time since seeing him, too 

Next stop: Centerville and Kathy Gardner. Mike taught and loved their kids in Seminary. In Hawaii. About 40 + years ago. Crazy..

We drove past  the Brigham City Temple. Picture below. We also saw the Layton Temple and several others. 

Back in Herriman at 9 pm! Friends in the Gospel. Nothing better. Except family, of course.

Zzzzzz

Saturday, March 14, 2026 Herriman

 

Mike and Nick went to the Sportsman Expo.

Kaylee took Rachel to the Oquirr Mountain Temple to do proxy baptisms. I stayed with the others. 

We played games, the kids played with their friends, too. 

In the evening there was a Ward "Pi" Day party with "Minute to Win It" fun little games. 

Jane is pretty good at wall handstands. She's taking gymnastics. Logan likes playing soccer ⚽. All of them love being out doors, and building cardboard forts in the basement. Rachel plays the piano. 

Roz, the Maltese dog. He is Nick's dog. Or, rather, Nick is Roz's person! Roz prefers Nick to anyone. But he's pretty friendly and likable. For a dog.