This and that from a busy week....

I have been trying to finish Liam's baby quilt but a lot of life keeps getting in the way.  I am making progress and hope to have the top finished this week and off to the quilter.

Connected with my service with UDSF, I attended a meeting with the Dept. of Consumer Protection about non-profits.  We were suppose to meet at the State Office Building but because of some delayed remodeling, we had to meet at the State Capital instead.  We met in the Rotunda on the 2nd floor.  It is beautiful and a bit distracting during the dull moments of the meeting.

Beautiful day as well to be up on Capital Hill and look down over the city and up to the nearby mountains.

Tuesday night I was back in school for the summer term--Research Methods for Social Research (I sure you are all jealous.)  Jena also had a good Tuesday evening.  She was able to attend the Face to Face Meeting with Elder Bednar and his wife over Wifi.  They met in our Church with 2 other wards.  Then she and her friend, Meggan Sparrow, headed off to their first Institute class.  They allowed seniors to registered for their summer semester.  They are taking "Hymns of the Restoration".  They were so excited about it when I picked them up.  I met their teacher and he was great.

Wednesday also was a good day--during most of it was clear outside.  That is a good thing because Scarlett loves being outside.  Jena, she and I headed to Jensen Pond for a walk around the pond and to feed the ducks.

We chose to feed the birds from
the bridge to avoid the aggressive
ducks and geese which might
scary Scarlett.

There were lots of sea gulls around
as well.

Playing on the grass

Back at home Scarlett decides for the first time to check out the doggie door.  She spent a few minutes there but couldn't figure out how to open both doors inward and then crawl out.  Once she figures out that she needs to push them outward....I think she will be happy to be able to crawl outside anytime she "wants".

 We have had lots of rain over the past couple of weeks especially in the past four or five days.  It means green grass, flowers, and things growing in lots of places--

Our Snowball bush
We planted it because we loved
the one we had in our Texas home.
I am glad that it grows well here
and my neighbor loves the smell
and told me to never trim the bush
branches which head over the fence
into her yard.

At Grandma Hall's house this week, we saw some spouts popping up in the rain gutter.  I got a picture before Gary and Scott could get up there and clean out the gutters for her.  Scott said the soil was excellent.  She has lots of beautiful trees so I am sure it was decomposed leaves which form a base for good soil.  I told them they should have brought it home for our garden but too late.

Scott had to remove another magpie nest from the tree with three more eggs in it.  It was even higher up in the tree than before.  (I will add pictures when Gary sends them to me.)


To discourage the magpies Scott, Gary, and Grandma Hall decided to do some target shooting in her backyard.  I didn't know that Grandma Hall is good with a gun.  I guess as a kid she learned to be a pretty good shot.

Thursday will get its own blog post.  (see next post)

Friday turned out to be a busy day--it was Jessica's 32 birthday and I did manage to text her Happy Birthday, but we were going in lots of different directions.

When my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m.  (have I mentioned that I am not an early morning person? and I am counting the days down until I don't have to get Jena up for high school at this time of the morning?), I laid there for a few minutes and thought about the busy day planned for Jena.  We had a tour of Utah State and Aggie Elevated that day and the plan was that she would go to school until 10:30 and then I would pick her up and headed to Logan.  And her day was non-stop from that point forward.....without any regret, I reset my alarm for 8 and we all slept in.  Jena didn't wake up until 9:30....and she wasn't too unhappy about missing her first two classes.

We headed off to Utah State and enjoyed our meeting there.  The people are great and Jena left feeling like she definitely wants to go there for college.  It would be scary for me and a challenge for her but also a great opportunity.

Our only picture from our visit
We got coupons for Aggie ice cream but
didn't have time this trip to stop.

We zipped back to Davis county, picked up her friend Brooke, and headed down to Centerpoint theatre for her play practice.  After play practice we zipped home and dropped off Emily and Brooke at their homes while picking up Gary.  We went to visit Ben at the CRU, grabbed some fast food for dinner and then dropped Jena off at Friday Friends which was being held at Flips Gymnastics.

As we stopped at Scott's I took these pictures
of the sky above their townhouse.

Gary and I went and visited Scott, Chantel and Scarlett, headed to check out a park for a ward party and also for the Hall Extended Family Reunion which we are in charge of, and then stopped at Mom Hall's to finalize plans for a couple of activities coming up, then headed back to get Jena.

Kayla, Jena, Kaitlyn, Brooke

 Then stopped and got donut--one for each of us and headed home.  Happy and productive day but so glad to get home to a quiet house.  Whew!