October in the Garden

 

I keep thinking I'm sooOOOoo done with gardening this year. But then I go out and find a lovely bag 'o stuff like this and then I think, "Oh, that's so nice."  Guess I'll do something with it. 

My first gazpacho attempt. Pretty. Tasty.  Well- garnished. 😉

October and Conference Weekend and some cute grandkids

 After we left Damian in St. George and after we dropped off Pam at her house in Kanarraville, Mike and I picked up my Mom from Our House Assisted Living and we headed up to Provo where she was going to spend the rest of the weekend with Robert and Janet's family.  Mom had a great time because Robert and Janet had ALL their kids over for dinner and visiting that night!  It was so nice for her to be able to visit with everyone.

Mike and I stopped and had dinner with Nick and Kaylee's family in Herriman, then we headed off to see "The Lion King."  We'd never been to the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City before, but it's a lovely venue.

And then Sunday we watched conference, relaxed, ate, played with kids at Nick's house. It was just a nice, fun weekend.

I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't even think to turn Conference on the radio as we were driving to Salt Lake on Saturday. Or even to St. George on Saturday morning!  Oh well. But Sunday Conference was nice, and Nick and Kaylee always feed us well and make nice dinners for their family and us.

A meme I saw on the internet the other day: "Nobody every tells you that the hardest thing about being an adult is having to figure out what to fix for dinner----EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE." haha. And it feels like that, I'm sure, when Kaylee has to fix multiple meals and snacks for little people and then us, too!  But she does a great job.

On Monday before we left, Nick took me and Mike out for Lunch at Wingers. It was Mike's 70th birthday!

 We picked up my Mom at Robert's, had a brief visit with him, then drove home via the Nephi Loop scenic drive. The leaves were pretty, but it's just too long of a detour when you still have 3 hours to go before you're home!

So, here are some little Liebhardts, having fun with parents and grandparents at home, in the yard and at a nearby park.

Nick can still stand on his head with relative ease. I almost wanted to see if I could try it, but decided it would not be wise.

Emily attempts summersaults by the couch.

                                                          Jane likes doing summersaults. And she is very good at it!

Grandpa and Emily

Rachel

Giggles with Daddy's tickles on her tummy.

 

 

 

 

Emily was showing me all her things in the garage--stroller, scooter, car, etc.

These kids are allowed to sit on the counter to see the homemade ice cream spin! We had that on Sunday night and it was really good.

 

Since we were here last time, Logan has learned how to traverse the monkey bars, and he did it before he turned 6 at the end of September!

 

Jane can climb about anything, I think.

 

 

We took a five-minute walk/bike ride Monday morning (Jane and Logan were on bikes; Emily in stroller; Kaylee and I on foot; Rachel in school)  to a nearby park.

This was a fun spinning toy! Kaylee and I both got dizzy... Very... When we took a turn on it.

We were attempting a cute stacked shot of the three of them on this piece of playground equipment. We didn't succeed very well. But the kids all had fun playing on the equipment on this playground. They have lots of places nearby to play, plus their own back yard and the yards of friends'.  Nick and Kaylee even have a nice bounce house they got at the beginning of the pandemic and it's served them well these past years.

My one artsy shot of the weekend. I do love shadows. And blowing on dandilions, as long as they are not in my own yard. ;-)

Happy Fall, y'all!!

 

October, Damian, and the St. George Marathon

 Well, he did it!  Damian (age 45) ran and completed his very first (and the last, he says) Marathon. He did the St. George Marathon. We dropped him off at the starting line in Central, Utah. Then we went home and Mike had a nap! ha. I made breakfast, then we ate, got ready and headed to Kanarraville to pick up Pam Christensen around 9 a.m.  On to St. George to the finish line at Vernon Worthen Park where we only had to wait for about a half an hour to see him sprint across the finish line. He did it in less than 4 hours, which is phenomenal!  Amazing. He didn't have any major issues other than one hamstring cramp on Diagonal street right in St. George that he was able to work through, and so right near the end of the race. And he did end up with blisters on his feet and--boy--way he sore and tired. But it's to be expected, right?  

We're very proud of him!

He's not in the picture of the finish line. I just wanted a picture of it. I only took a video of him running past me and across the line. Videos won't show up on my blog, I think.

 

 

Warm-up gear going on because it was like 40 degrees and windy cold at the start of the race!

Damian got in to Cedar City late on Wednesday night, September 28. He flew into Las Vegas and rented a car to come up here to Cedar City. Thursday we went out to lunch with my Mom and Mike at Golden Corral. Friday, Mike and Damian drove to St. George so Damian could pick up his packet at the Convention center.  (I was doing an extra Temple Shift for a friend.)

AFTER the race on Saturday October 1, he showered, visited and rested at Eric and Matt's house, then (I think) he visited with some of his high school buddies--Dave Durfee who manages Buffalo Wild Wings in St. George; and Kris Khontopp and Ben Mortensen who both now live in Las Vegas. I never asked Damian if he actually did get to meet up with the old buddies . . .because we headed off to Salt Lake City within minutes after seeing him finish the race. He looked okay and sounded okay, so off we went! haha.

Happy Anniversary. And Birthdays. ROAR!

 Way back in March of 2022, I purchased tickets to see a Broadway production of "The Lion King" in Salt Lake City. I've never seen a stage production of it before and Mike agreed, so I got the tickets.  Yea!

This past weekend was the time, so we went. It was conference weekend and were were busy with family, too, but we made it happen.

So, SO GLAD we did. It was amazing and fun and so well done.

I can check that one off my list!

July 2022 Yoga Retreat

 Back in July, I signed up to attend a yoga retreat. I meant to blog about it at the time, but I had some issues with downloading photos that were taken by the professional photographer that was there. She's also a sister of our yoga instructor. Sara Greene from Raindrop Visions photography gets the credit for the following photos.

The retreat was in the morning, the last Saturday in July. I'd thought about going to one earlier in the summer, but was busy or gone. When she notified a group of us (who regularly do Yoga with Jessica in the evening from the comfort of our own homes via Zoom!) that there had been a cancellation and she now had an opening, I jumped on it!  I'm so glad I did. It was relaxing, fun, and filling in many ways.

I've been (sort of ) practicing yoga off and on for years. I love it.  I should do it a lot more!  But I'm not a disciplined person, so I don't. Jessica Henshaw lives on property out in New Harmony. The views alone are worth the trip to her house.  But to stay for a couple of hours, relax, stretch, have a writing/meditation time, and then eat? What's not to like, right?  The company was very nice and she's such a great instructor . . .so calm and serene. 

Enjoy the photos. I'm the one in the bright turquoise shirt. :-D