Not feeling so bad....

Every time I walk outside, I try to pull a few weeds from the flower beds at the front of the house.  Sometimes I feel bad that my flower beds aren't as pristine and beautiful as some of our neighbors'.  But then I go to the kitchen to cook dinner or do dishes, look out the window......

.....and then I don't feel so bad!  

Those aren't bushes you see that are almost 6 feet tall, obscuring the hot tub.  Those would be weeds.  The grass along the back fence was recently attacked with a weed-eater as it was initially too tall for the lawn mower to handle, and the trees that are growing along the fence really shouldn't be there.  They are volunteers that never got pulled out when they were a few inches high.  

The fence runs right along a LOT of utility lines.  Can you imagine what those roots are doing?!

The front yard was killed off a couple of years ago - and now it's just weeds.   It's really quite an eyesore in our neighborhood.  

So - back to those weeds in my flower beds - I don't feel too bad about them!

Summer Reading

A friend let me borrow a book when she was done reading it.  She told me not to give up - she didn't really get hooked until about page 75.  Well --- I was hooked somewhere between pages 2 & 3!  This is the first book in a trilogy - "A Discovery of Witches" in the 'All Souls Trilogy'.  I highly recommend this book.  It is about witches, vampires and daemons.  But not like 'Twilight' or other juvenile books.  These are more grown-up books with a lot of historical references included. 

 

I'm just starting book two - "The Shadow of Night"  and Book three comes out in July!






I'm looking forward to some good summer reading.  I did find out last night that you can 'preorder' "The Book of Life" for your Kindle or other e-reader.  On its release date - it will be downloaded to your device.

Oh - and while I was browsing to get the pictures of the book covers - I saw that Warner Brothers has bought the rights to make a movie of 'Discovery of Witches'. 

Pollen. It's not just for early spring!

I was out working in the garden this morning and decided to go check out Mr. Pine.  It is covered with these:

Each of these yellow shoots is where the new branch growth is.  And that yellow stuff -- it's pollen.  I wish I could have snapped a good picture of what happens if you brush up against or shake a branch.  It's a yellow cloud of -- pollen.  I haven't been too bothered by allergies yet this year - just the last couple of days.  Maybe it's Mr. Pine.

Grandkids

Who would drive almost 3,000 miles round trip on vacation to sleep on sofas, mattresses on a floor, and lumpy beds?  Or spend your vacation days watching 'Frozen', playing with play dough, going to the park and hiking in the mountains when you are used to a much lower elevation?  Who would carry their suitcase hither and yon, living out of it and not having any place to really set it down and stay for a while?

A grandparent!  That's who!  

There is nothing better than hearing: "Outside grandma!", or having a little one 'get you' in his own special way, or staring into the eyes of a newborn as he lays on a bili light table in the middle of the night.  These are bonding moments for us and our grandchildren that we wouldn't trade for a 4 star hotel on a beach somewhere.  Well, maybe if that hotel had a suite that was designed for kids we would consider taking them along!  Living away from our family has been a hard thing for us.  We are grateful for phone calls, emails, Skype and face time, but none of those things takes the place of a child sitting on your lap, or asking for one more story, or just being content to lay in your arms.

Our first stop was Colorado where we visited
Casey, Millie and Parker.  Isn't he adorable?  He has the most kissable cheeks!

We had fun playing games and going to the park.





We loved spending several days there.  We went to Red Rock one day and did an easy hike.  I was grateful because, not being used to the altitude, Don and I just couldn't get any air.  Then we headed to downtown Denver and enjoyed lunch at Maggiano's Italian Restaurant.  Yummy!
 

 Parker wasn't sure what to think about the bear!                          

                                                     
And then we were off to Utah.


Emma had a birthday coming up while we were there!
The big #2.  She helped make the cake - but seriously - we
all know that licking the spoon and the beaters is the best part!

She discovered Sofia the First and loves this cartoon.
I attempted to make a Sofia cake.  It's not fabulous -
couldn't find a doll top that really looked like her and I've
never worked with fondant before either - but I guess it's
ok for a first attempt.

And then came Easter time.  It was the day before little
brother was scheduled to be born. 

We had previously colored eggs and gone on the Easter
Walk that Logan, Utah started this year.  The children go downtown with their parents, and stores that have a specific sign on their door or window have treats inside for the kids.

And then the much anticipated birth of Garrett on April 21st!  We are so happy he made it here safe.  He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 21.5 inches long.  He and mom both did great!

We stayed at the house with Emma and she went to the hospital often to visit baby brother.

He is precious. 

And then we had to say goodbye.  It was hard when we left Colorado - and it was hard when we left Utah.  I will be grateful when we are all just a little closer to one another.  I will continue to sleep on sofas and live out of suitcases until that happens, though, because that's what grandparents do, and we wouldn't trade a single minute of it!

Stake Relief Society Conference

We had our Stake Relief Society Conference this past weekend.  The theme was: Look Ahead and Believe, taken from Elder Dube's talk from October 2013 General Conference.  We had an opening with some brief remarks, then had four workshops that the women rotated through.
They were:
Look Ahead and Believe that the Temple is a Place of Worship.  We were so blessed to have this one presented by the Kansas City Temple matron.  
Look Ahead and Believe that you can be happy in tumultuous times.
Look Ahead and Believe that you are of worth.
Look Ahead and Believe that our homes can be a refuge from the world.

The workshops were followed by a simple luncheon. One of the ladies who helped decorate owns a shop, Searcy Creek Designs, and she provided the beautiful temple pictures that you'll see.  Everyone commented that having them there made it feel like we were sitting in our homes looking out at the temple.

It was a fabulous day.  Here are some pictures of what we did.




Here is a closeup of the post-it note holder that we made for each sister.  Bought the coasters on Amazon and covered with scrapbook paper.  Put a magnet on the back and tied on the pretty ribbons. 

It really did make it look like you were looking out your living room window!  Loved it!

 

The sister who taught the class on our homes being a refuge told us that she'd never had a copy of The Family - a Proclamation to the World hanging in their home because the print she had was too small to really be able to read it well.  She recently got the pdf from the LDS Church's website and had it printed off in a large format from Costco.  She had it sitting on the floor of their home and didn't know where to hang it.  She knew there was a nail in the bathroom, so she hung it in there so it wouldn't get stepped on.  She related how many times she has read it and how much she has learned.  Even their teenage daughter asked that it be kept hanging in the bathroom because she had learned so much by reading it so many times!