Travel Time!

 

We have a couple of fun trips coming up. First one is our family reunion up at the Ponderosa Ranch Resort. There will be a fun reception and dinner for Eric and Matt on Sunday night the 5th. The 6th 7th and 8th all of the Liebhardts will still be there, after the Davis's have gone home on Sunday night. We plan to play Kahoots, lots of bingo, some Favorite Things exchanges, three meals a day, pickleball, swimming, a family portrait. It's going to be a busy two full days! Because that's really  all it is -- two full days and three nights. I wondered why my credit card bill was so humongously large, like more than twice as much as it ordinarily is, even with a lot of travel and other expenses on it. It dawned on me as I read through the list of charges that the cost of that vacation rental was on at this time. Or at least half of it. Half of it I paid last year. And all the rest of it is paid now. That is a big relief. All of our kids are taking care of all of the meals. And they have to get themselves there. It's going to be a fun time. 

Right on the heels of that fun time, Mike and I will be driving to San Diego with our granddaughter,  Rachel. We are going to attend the San Diego Temple open house. We will also maybe go to Belmont amusement park on Mission Beach, view the seals at La Jolla beach, see the Mormon battalion historical village in San diego. And that's about all the time we will have there! It's a long drive down and back. We will get home probably Saturday night. And then we will drive up to Harriman to take Rachel home. I suppose if we hurried we could be back to our own church by 1:30 p.m. on Sunday but I don't know if we want to do that. It does seem a little bit rude to drop off Rachel at her home and then take over her bed, however. That is,  if we did spend the night there. Haven't planned that yet. 

But what I have planned is our anniversary trip to the east coast. Today I purchased airline tickets, car rental, and the Boston hotel room. I had already purchased the Buffalo and Niagara Falls area hotel. I think things are shaping up quite nicely! I started a new credit card and the early spring about in March. I've gotten enough points that it got the airfare for us free, and a big chunk of the car rental, too. That was a big savings. And then Mike's credit card also offered him a $250 rebate for travel expenses if we reserved the hotel through his credit card website. So, We did. Now he will get $250 off of his next credit card bill. Savings all around! The 75, 000 free points at the onset of the card were very helpful. We just had to spend x amount of dollars over the first 3 months of having the card and the points were ours. We switched over some of our regular higher auto pay things to that card and it really helped a lot. 

So, a-traveling we will go! And for a bit less money than we thought we'd have to spend. We still have to buy food, entertainment, etc. but it will be fun and we are getting very excited for September and our 50th Wedding Anniversary.

June 26, 2026 Ward ( non) Campout

 We didn't camp, but we went for dinner out at the Three Peaks Recreation Area. They really have done a lot of improvements out there to the camping areas. I don't know that anyone stayed to camp, though a few did come prepared to do so. It was pretty windy. We did have to hold onto our plates! 

There were probably 30 to 50 people who were there, including kids. It was a fun and friendly group. 

Mike making cobbler, two different kinds.

There was plenty of food. Lots of sloppy joes and lots of sides and desserts. Mike made 2 cobblers and most was eaten. He was supposed to do a demo of how to do Dutch oven cobbler, but even charcoal needs flames to get going. Since there is a huge wildfire risk, we baked them in our very safe electric ovens at home, instead. 

The view from three peaks of Cedar City and the valley. Lovely. Today we don't have smoke.

But we sure had a lot in the air earlier this week!

 Visibility was awful on Tuesday. We drove to New Harmony that even for Boyd and Carol Fife's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. There were less than 100, but many were their family. And they included us. How kind. We really had an enjoyable time celebrating with everyone and enjoyed their childrens' talents. So fun. 

Then we went back out to New Harmony on Friday evening for one of their grandson's wedding reception. That was great fun, too. We left and even dropped off a very tired 16 year old Grandson at his home in Cedar afterwards. Ezra Rock had just returned from Trek AND camp, back-to-back. He said he had 20 min from when he walked in the door to shower, dress, and be ready to walk out the door. The kid was very ready to be home and not at a big party. So we obliged. 

I took the picture from the smokey freeway as we were head down to New Harmony Tuesday. I think the smoke was worse on the north end of town. Crazy bad smoke. 

I subbed in the Temple Office that morning and we could smell it all through the building. Not good.

On Saturday, the air was clear, and I forgot my phone or I would have taken a photo of the Kolob 5 fingers from their yard . It was lovely. Windy, but nice. 

The wind has been so awful, fanning the fires throughout our state. It's tragic, truly. The Cottonwood Fire near Beaver is particularly awful.

The West is ablaze.😭

Lily

 

Donna brought me these lilies from her house. They came from Dad's house in Georgia. They kind of struggle here in our desert climate, so I'm happy when one blooms.  It's a double day Lily.

Eric-- Come From Away

 Mike and I went with Mom to St George to see Eric in the musical, "Come From Away." Great story.

Great job by Stage Door Productions! 

It runs till July 11, 2026. 

Eric's a busy guy when he does plays. He misses work, rehearsals are long and tiring. Matt's a good support and he came on Saturday the 20th to see it with me and Mike and Mom. I'm so glad we went!

The Breadwinner

 I don't think I'd ever heard of the comic who stars in this silly film, but he was funny!

And Mom and I had a giggling good time.