Sunday, June 23, 2019

Summer Adaptive Institute

Jena was invited to attend a special institute program in Salt Lake.  A volunteer from Wonderwood a few years back is now an institute teacher and one of her assignments is this program.  She thought that Jena might like it.

I like the idea of it, but it is down in south Salt Lake City off of 33rd South which is a bit of a drive.  However after I heard the outline for the program, I knew that Jena would love it and it would be a good thing for the summer.  It is only for 5 days from 10:30-2:30 every Wednesday.  They were looking for some mentors as well so we invited our friend, Meggan Sparrow, to go with us.  Meggan can play the piano and is interested in working with people with disabilities so it was a good match.

They are attending Leadership Principles where they discuss modern day prophets and their messages as well as receiving training in organizing activities for the whole group.  Then they have lunch from 12-1 and do a planned activity.  Then from 1-2:30 Jena and Meggan are doing the Institute Choir.  Can you imagine a better way to spend four hours than that?


Jena ended up leading the music for their first devotional and Meggan played the piano in class and during part of the choir practice.  They both loved it and are excited to go again next week!

So grateful for these types of opportunities for Jena to learn and grow and meet new people.

8th Annual Walnut Grove North Block Party

It was nice to not be rushing from work to set up for our annual block party.  We had a beautiful overcast evening which was perfect for gathering in the cul-de-sac and enjoying each other's company and conversation while the kids were running around having fun together.

The neighborhood kids had requested last year that we do paper rockets this year so that was our main activity for them.

Set up:


Everyone brings a treat to share and we had some great treats to enjoy and these tables were overflowing with yummy things.
We did two at the same time.....Jared Unck and Ava Larsen with Gary
And it went high...............................
A look at part of the group......
This year, Jena even chose to stay and go to the block party rather than attend her YSA activity.  That is a big show of support from her.
The clouds started darken just before 8:00 when the party was scheduled to end.  We started rushing to get things cleaned up and were glad we did when lightening started throughout the skies.  Later a lightening strike hit one of our neighbor's tree which showed how close it was.  One of my neighbors commented to me that was one way to make sure the party ended on time--have a storm move in.

When we were delivering the invitations this year, we tried to personally deliver them to the new families in our neighborhood.  One teenager son answered the door at their house where they have lived for one week.  He got a big smile on his face when I shared the invitation with him and he said:  "Oh, this is one of THOSE neighborhoods!"  I asked if that was a good thing and he said yes.  He was glad to live in a neighborhood that had block parties.  I wonder how he feels about caroling parties in December or Little Library Activities!  :)   I am glad I live in one of THOSE neighborhoods, too!

Butter Beer

Gary Kerr introduced Gary (Hall) to Butter Beer when we were in Disney World with them last year.  So Gary was excited when he saw that they had a Butter Beer flavor at the local Snow Shack a block away.

Gary said it was not quite as outstanding as the butter beer at Disney World/Universal Studios last year, but it was good.  Kerrs are coming to try it out themselves sometime soon.

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Roses

For some reason, my roses have had huge blooms on them and as I walk around our neighborhood, I noticed that is the same for most of the bushes I see.  Not sure of the reasons--probably water and weather related but they have been extra beautiful this year.



This peace rose bush often only has one bloom at a time,
but this year it has had several throughout the blooming season.



Roses remind me of my grandparents as the main house I think of when I remember them had two or three rows of roses in the front yard.  I loved them then and planted these roses to remind me of those beautiful ones.


Grandchildren....Second Verse

Jessica and Elessia were making a big bedroom switch in their house in Magna--moving all four kids into the bigger master bedroom and moving themselves into the smaller bedroom.  As this was a big project, they all came and stayed at our house while they worked on the switch.  It was a big project which took longer than they thought (these types of projects often do.)  I don't know how they managed to do their jobs, work on the house, drive back and forth to Salt Lake, and take care of babies during the night who weren't sleeping well due to colds.

But meanwhile, I got some grandmother time with their four little ones.  I even managed naps for three out of the four by myself...on one of the days!

My proof:  I got the two girls to sleep and then set Liam near them to make sure no one rolled off the couch and then went and rocked Zander for a few minutes before putting him down for his nap.
Zander and Liam both loved our two different marble tracks.....you can barely see Zander's cute nose between the tracks.

Jena took this picture of me with the girls.
Liam thought he was so clever as he put pieces of the marble track on each of his toes on his right foot...unfortunately I am not as clever taking pictures and none of the ones of his foot with "long toes" turned out.
My selfie with Alex....
Liam and Zander loved playing in our sandbox and on the swings.
 Liam is taking a break from play.........
The girls loved it as well-----you can have a picture with Alex looking and Carter not OR
 one with Carter looking and Alex not....
but, apparently it is not possible to have both of them looking at the same time at me.

It was fun to have them here until early Saturday morning when I woke up about 1 am with a fever which lasted a couple of days with a sore throat and cough that just keep hanging on.  :(  After that, I was no help watching the kids so Jessica and Elessia would just switch places--Jessica would go to work then come back and Elessia would head for the house to keep working on the switch.  After a very long night on last Sunday night, they headed back home last Monday.  Tuesday night was the first night all four slept in the bedroom and all did well.  Hopefully that continues.

Now I am excited for the third verse of grandchildren which happens in a few weeks when Tosha arrives with her three kids to spend several weeks of the summer with us.

Happy 4th Birthday, LIAM!!!

June 4th was an exciting day because it is the day we get to celebrate LIAM coming to our family.  Liam is a happy kid who loves his grandma and grandpa (and grandpa's white truck.)  He likes to facetime with me, even though it seems like I miss those calls more than I get them.  He loves trains and playing outside.  For his birthday this year, he wanted pizza and to go bowling!  So we (Jena, Ben and I) met up at Boondocks for a super birthday celebration.

Boondocks give you a cool crown if it is your birthday.
Video games...




Liam loves Batman...just like his great-grandmother--is that type of stuff inheritable?
 Babies did not have as much fun as the rest of us.
 Bowling...where I actually got 3 strikes in a row in the 10th frame and ended up with 149 point.  Go me!
Off to the races outside.....



And the water bumper cars....

This is what happens when you are too short to be a passenger on the boats.  Zander was so sad he couldn't go on the boats.
So they headed back inside and played games for a few more minutes for Zander.

Then it was home to grandmother's house for cake and presents--


I thought Jessica did a great job creating
the Batman cake he wanted.
Happy Birthday, Liam.  So happy you shared your day with us....and you got to spend the night as well.  Double bonus....

"Bird" Walk on the Boardwalk

Emily and Jena in the parking lot
with the mountains to the east in the back
Tuesday morning  (June 4), Jena and I picked up Emily Ehlen and headed off to a 1.5 walk around the bird refuge in west Layton.  We have done this a few times and it was another great little hike.

Our selfie attempt
 And off they go.....I think the boardwalk is about 1 mile, but as I wanted to get closer to 2 miles in, I walked back and forth behind them to get some extra steps in. 
We did hear several different types of birds and saw a few of them as well.  We made friends with a large bee/wasp who stayed with us for several minutes before finally wandering off.  I guess Jena and Emily are just too sweet.
You can tell summer is coming as the marsh parts are still green but the grasslands are turning brown already.
View from the structure halfway around the boardwalk
Jena and Emily said that they didn't want to climb up so I went to the top a couple of times and then they decided to head up as well.  Jena is not fond of heights so I was proud of her.
Emily brought us a muffin to share so they had a little picnic on the mid-level of the structure.






It was a fun way to get some exercise and be in nature.  We plan to do it frequently this summer to keep us all in good "walking" shape--me for our trip in the fall and Jena for BYU.