Summer Flowers

The Utah State University-Kaysville Campus seats next to large acreage owned by the school and run as a botanical garden.  Across the street is Kaysville Pond which is also used for teaching and research by the university. 

 

I thought these plants looked fun during their transition------



And of course we have our wall of sunflowers off our deck again this year.  We get a lot of yellow finches and there are some in these pictures but they don't stand out at all on the sunflowers.

out my kitchen window

Looking forward to wild flowers as we head to the mountains in Colorado and New Mexico this week.

Hope you have a great day and that there are flowers you can love wherever you are at.

Saturday is a Special day.....

If you went to Primary, you know it is a special day because it is the day you get ready for Sunday.  And that does make it special.  I spent the morning cleaning the house and doing laundry so our house would be ready for Sunday.

However the reason that this Saturday was special was because:

Scarlett turned one today.

 

Definitely the princess of the day

Chantel made this cute skirt and hat for her.

 Surveying her Kingdom

She ate her cake with a fork.

She preferred not to get her hands dirty.

Then she fed her mom and dad with a fork as well.

 



Scott and Chantel got her this darling kitchen set--retro style.  It reminded me of the pink kitchen we had in Richland--my mom loved everything about our house but the pink kitchen (it was a more medium pink that this one, but pink walls and counter tops.  It was a brand-new house.  I am not sure if someone had built it and then not bought it but surely no builder did pink as a spec house.)  It took them about 5 hours to built it together.

Scarlett with Elessia and Jessica and Liam in the back.

Here is her new little tot bike.  She hadn't figure out how to make it go but she loved people pushing her from behind.

After the party, we had an extra treat as Jessica, Elessia and Liam came and hung out at our house until late.  We played games and talked and held Liam.  It was amazing to hold Liam and think that Scarlett was tiny like this just 1 year ago.  And also in the reverse, in less than a year he will be having his 1st birthday (which Jessica has already chosen to be a monster birthday.).  It is so crazy how fast they grow and change at this age.

Uncle Ben and Liam

 

This Saturday was a special day!

 



a "Full" week

We started off the week with an evening at the Hale Theatre to see "The Little Mermaid".  It was enjoyable although not one of my overall favorites that we have seen there.  However the actor who played Sebastian was amazing.  I thought that character might be very difficult to do on a live stage but he was perfect.  His voice, body movements, and attitudes were great every time he was on stage.


On Tuesday in additional to our usual activities of school (me), Institute (Jena), and dinner and bowling with Allan (Gary), we headed down to the Church History Museum in Salt Lake.  Jena had an interview there as part of her Church Service Mission application. She turns 19 in the fall and she wants to serve her mission then.  She is applying for about 16 hours a week for 18 months.  This is one possible place she could serve so they wanted to meet her and decide if it would be a good fit or not.  It is under construction which is why they had this cute sign in front.  It will hope on Sept. 30th.

 

 We got there a bit early so we walked around the grounds a bit before we went in.  Here is Gary and Jena at the old Pioneer home right by the museum.

I do not think I would have wanted to live with my five kids in just a small house.

Her interview went fine.  She is meeting with our Bishop today to start her formal application and then we meet with a couple who is in charge of the young Church Service missionaries in our area.  Using the information from the Church Museum interview, they will help develop her serving location which could be the museum or somewhere else.  Then it is submitted to Salt Lake for a approval.  Then she will get her formal call in the mail.  She also has to meet with our Stake President in the middle of that.  We are getting pictures taken for her application (because I didn't think of that when we did our family pictures) in a couple of weeks at a nearby park.  I am hoping that everything is set by the time of her birthday in late September.  She is excited.

Don't know how to turn this picture
once it is here.

Jena left on Wednesday for her last Girls Camp as a youth.  She and Meggan were the youth leaders in the "ShipRock" tent.  The overall camp theme was "Embark" so they were a cruise line and everyone had a name with "Ship" on it.  I am not sure how Meggan and Jena came up with ShipRock.  I explained to them that there was a city called Shiprock in New Mexico.  I actually have a picture of the large rock that came the town its name.  They didn't want that on their sign.

She got home on Saturday filled with memories and details of her fun week.  She also came home with a beautiful French braid in her hair.  She rarely allows the girls to mess with her hair but this year she allowed Saige Francis to do it and it was darling.

While she was gone, it seemed like we were going hundred miles an hour trying to get stuff done while she was gone.  Gary did steal me away from my homework to go see a movie---something that we haven't done for over a year, at least, maybe longer for just the two of us.  We saw "InsideOut" which was cute and had some funny lines in it.

I watched Scarlett on Wednesday---

Scarlett and Jasper petting each other

Jessica sent me this darling picture of Liam as they were getting ready to go see the "Minions".  His Minion hat was made by Aunt Linda (Giberson).  How cute is that.

So I had Jessica update my screen saver for my phone with pictures of all three of our grandchildren.  I love all of these pictures.  The kids complained about the one I chose for Niki because of the sunglasses but I think it so cute, but I know what he looks like.

 For those of you who don't, here is Niki now with his messy face.

I got to FaceTime with them briefly this week.  Niki is an expert crawler and likes to walk pushing boxes around.  They finally got their own furniture and other household stuff so it feels more like they are really living there now.

Only three more weeks of this semester--I finished my 2nd of 3 tests while Jena was gone and tried to complete as much homework as possible before our trip next week to the Giberson Family Reunion.  Preparations are ongoing for the reunion which is going to be held in New Mexico.  We tried to select somewhere that is equal distance from all of us (factoring out Kristen and her husband on the East Coast and Tosha and Austen in Japan.) so we are going to a camp ground in northeast New Mexico near Angel Fire.  Hopefully it is as nice as it looks on the internet.  The people have been great to answer questions, etc. so I think it will be good.

and that leads us to Saturday.........

Happy 60th Birthday to Me!

Jessica posted this on Facebook to wish me Happy Birthday--

Who wouldn't love that face!

He doesn't care if I am turning 60 or not!

 

Tosha was the first person to wish me Happy Birthday as she messaged me when it was my birthday in Okinawa which happened first.  Since our birthdays are back to back, we have always tried to be the first person to say Happy birthday to each other.  As Tosha says, it was one of our "things".  I did have to report to her that the insurance man had beat her with his happy birthday postcard which had arrived on June 30th.

 

My actual birthday was quite low key and there were no black balloons hanging in our yard.  Scott brought me hot lemon-blueberry bread and cinnamon bread from Great Harvest--yummy--when he dropped off Scarlett for the day.  Scott helped Gary put together some "accidental birthday presents"--a rattan coffee table for our deck and a small water feature.  We had ordered them with HP points which we had to use prior to his last day of work.  I had forgotten about them so Gary had hid them to surprise me on my birthday.

I love it.
Surprisingly it makes a very nice water sound
in the sunlight.  I love listening to it as I work
in the kitchen.  We haven't decided on a location
yet so it is still on the deck.
The figures are a boy and girl under the umbrella reading a book.

Scarlett and I played all day inside and outside and we even got an extra hour or so because Chantel had to work late.  Jena was gone, Ben was gone part of the day, so Gary and I hung out at home and ate salad for dinner.  About 10 pm, we headed to Artic Circle for sundaes from the drive-up window since both of us were barefoot.

 

As mentioned in a prior post, we didn't all celebrate together until July 8th.  Jessica and Elessia gave me a copy of this picture which is hanging on the fridge.

 

Reading our special book to our third grandchild, Liam
He was a few hours old at this time.

 

So it seems like I should write something profound on my 60th birthday--for some reason it seems like a milestone of sorts, even though I zipped past 30--40 and 50 without feeling a need for great reflection.  I have thought about my life over the past few weeks in different ways.  I reviewed where I was at each decade mark of my life--10-Richland: 20-Amarillo; 30-West Jordan and so forth.  I have thought about my mom who died 3 1/2 months after her 60th birthday. She had celebrated her 60th birthday in New Mexico with my dad riding on a scenic train ride and seeing the Albuquerque Balloon Festival (two things on her bucket list.) I tried to figure out if there were some life lessons I wanted to record for my posterity.  A friend shared that she had done an evaluation of her life and recommitted herself to key things when she turned 60 a few months ago so I thought about if there were some grand life changes I should do. None of that matched my mood nor thoughts as I thought about being 60.  So this is what I ended up with---

 

I am not sure if I ever thought about being sixty when I was kid, but if I had--

 

• I am sure I would have thought 60 was VERY old.  I don't feel old at all.  I read that 60 is the new "40" --perhaps so.  However I still have moments when I think "who decided I was old enough to be in charge."  I don't know if you ever feel old in your heart.
• I don't think I would have expected that my youngest child would have just graduate from high school.  Yes, 41 was old to be adopting a baby--but our lives were forever changed in a great way because of that decision to add Jena to our family.
• I was sure that I would have five kids and lots of grandchildren.  And I do have 5 children. How grateful I am for the three little people who have came into our lives in the past year.  Scarlett, Niki, and Liam--being a grandma is the best!  Whether three or thirty--it doesn't matter at all.
• I would have never guessed that I would be in school again...after all as a child, life is looking forward to summer and being OUT of school.  I did like school.  How awesome is it that I can continue to learn and to go to school.
• I certainly planned to be married when I grew up.  I just didn't realize how great it would be to have someone to share your life with--one hundred percent.  And while he traveled a lot when we were first married, what a great blessing to have him work from home these past 20 years.
• I would have expected that I had grown up, gone to BYU (I was a Cougar from the beginning), gotten married and settle down somewhere (Not Utah!), and raised a family.  Those things did happen--but the way they happened and where they happened and how they happened have had such a great impact on my life and on who I am today.  I treasure each location we have lived and the friends and memories which came with it.  I loved going to BYU which was made even more impactful because of our family move from Richland to Amarillo, TX when I was 16.  And becoming a mom--none of that really happened when and how I expected---but much of what is strength and courage in me came from the battles of infertility and miscarriages, the blessing of Jessica's birth, and the arrival of Scott, Ben, Tosha, and Jena--each with their own story (on their end and mine).  Some of my most strong spiritual experiences came during those times. And despite plans to the contrary, we have lived much of our married lives in Utah and I love it here.  It is a beautiful part of the world to be.
• I would never have planned to have seen the parts of the world I have seen or to have the experiences which I have had.  I may have dreamed of scuba diving after watching a Jacques Cousteau documentary of the ocean, but I never thought I would actually do it in my own life.  My life has been so awesome and if for the rest of my life I never leave the western United States, I will still count myself as one of the luckiest people in the world.

That's sums it up.  What I feel as I turn 60 is a huge amount of gratitude for my life, my parents and siblings, Gary, our kids and grandkids!  I am grateful for this beautiful earth and all of the people and things on it which make our lives so rich and full.  Most of all, I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, who provided this earth life for us to learn and to grow and to experience.  I am grateful for the Gospel that gives meaning to life and direction during the hard times of trials.

 

So Happy Birthday to me.  Thanks for the memories and I look forward to the future of more memories.....

 

(If I can survive the next 2 1/2 months of Gary referring to my advanced age--as he doesn't turn 60 until September.)

Sizzling Summer of July

After having lots of rain and cooler weather, it went HOT on us for several days (okay, not Texas or Arizona hot, but several days of 100s).  Because of the drought we are to water only 2 times a week which means that most of us have dry spots in our yards.  (We usually do but now our neighbors do as well!).  It cuts down on the mowing as well since the grass isn't growing as quickly.  Sunflowers are growing well and I love their yellow faces and the birds and bees that visit them.

Jena took my camera and took this picture as we were heading home down Gordon Road.  I asked her why as I didn't think the clouds or sky were remarkable but she said that she just wanted a picture of the sky, so here you go--street scene approaching the light at 3200 West on Gordon Road in Layton!

Of course, I can't be too critical.  I took the picture below while coming off the freeway at the Park exit in Farmington, UT.  A few days before this, Gary told me that he had been stopped by a train (we love that!) and got to see a couple of unusual smaller "truck-trains" who were doing work on the tracks.  One of them was a small "truck" carrying a blue Honey Bucket (port-a-potty).  He thought that was so great but he didn't have his phone to take a picture.  As Jena and I drove down the freeway, I passed one but couldn't get a picture but then I saw this one ahead so took several pictures blindly hoping I would get one.  It isn't great but it is proof that Honey Buckets do travel the rails.

On July 8th we managed to carve out some time to celebrate my birthday when everyone could be there (except for Tosha, Austen and Niki, of course).  We had pizza and played around outside in the late afternoon before Jena and I had to leave to other commitments in the early evening.  Not many pictures--

Loving the sand

and the swings with Auntie Jena!

While we were partying, Tosha and Austen were "sheltering in place" for their first typhoon.  They were near the edges so the winds only got up to 70-80 mph according to the weather maps.  They had to stay in for 2 1/2 days on the base.  She said that it was much better and less scary than Oklahoma tornados but they haven't been in the direct middle of one yet. They are doing well but I realized that they haven't sent me pictures of Niki for over two weeks so I will have to bug them about that.

Jena ushered two more times this week--Monday night in her usual spot and then on Saturday during the matinee.  Then she was on the balcony which actually made her a bit nervous.  She likes it.

Beautiful usher and beautiful views of the mountains

Happy usher!

Another big event for Liam as he made a trip to the zoo.  They were only there for a few minutes (Jessica and Elessia have annual passes).  They wanted to get him a hat to match with his sleeper.

It was worth the trip! How cute is that.

And off she went.....

Jena headed to Camp K down in Emigration Canyon above the Salt Lake City Hogle Zoo.  She loved it as usual.  She came back with a big smile and a suntan from all of the fun activities.  They loved her at camp too.  She sang a song from Frozen for their talent show.  Fun times.

Jena and Kaitlyn

Her councilor Gramps

Yes, it was a fun week.  I think she would be totally fine to stay another week if we would let her.

While she was gone, we set up our little "grandchildren" swimming pool since our bigger swimming pool died last year.  Scarlett approved.

Ben came out and had some fun with us too while we played on the swing.  Scarlett loves to be outside.  And while she likes swimming, it seems like her favorite is the sand--a lot like Scott when he was a kid.

I spent the week while Jena was gone trying to do lots of school and UDSF stuff.  I feel bad when I am on the computer all day during the summer trying to take care of things so I made a big push to get things done.

I also had to go to Orem to pick up something for UDSF so I combined it with a visit to my friend, Eileen Bradford who was in town for the summer.  Friends are so awesome.  We met Eileen when we moved to Hong Kong in 1987--that is a long time.  No pictures though.  I need to be better about getting pictures of friends to include on the blog.

Another special treat for this week:  My first time to babysit Liam while Jessica and Elessia went to a movie and dinner.  It was so fun (actually he slept almost the entire time so I just held him and then did get to give him a bottle at the very end.)  It was on Friday night so Jena got to help out. I look forward to many more times to be with that cute boy.

Ben has been working out in his garden and ours.  It is just a big help to have him water and look after things.  Although I think I would love gardening, it is often way low on the priority list.  Ben picked me this jar of raspberries. Yummy!!!

Half-eaten!

For those of you who keep track on these things---I also turned 60 during the week while Jena was gone.  Somehow I think it deserves its own post......