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.

Salem, Provo, Herriman

 Friday March 13.

Mike and I got up on Friday, dressed, ate, packed and drove up to Salem. We had a delightful 2 hour visit with Lynn Richardson. It's so fun to catch up, and Catch Up we did! And forgot to take a photo. She still looks just the same at 71. Two of her kids live with her.

We headed to Lindon, Utah next. Temple Open House! So pretty. So BIG. I know it's not one of the larger temples, but it sure has a lot of stairs. We took them all. Down, down, up, up, up. Up some more. Down. Down.

Then we headed to Provo to look around town to see where Mike lived in his grandparents' basement apartment. It took a bit of circling around the blocks, looking like stalkers

We found it!

Then we ate dinner with Braeden.

And dessert at the BYU Creamery.

We got to Herriman kind of late, but some of the kids were still up, so we got to visit with them for a while. And Nick and Kaylee longer.

Rachel has a brand new bedroom in their newly-finished basement. It is lovely, has a private bathroom and is spacious. 

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.