"Defy Gravity"-- Jena's Friend to Friend Production

This year, they divided the older classes into two different casts.  The program has just grown so much that there isn't enough room for everyone to be on stage together. Jena is in Cast B and they performed yesterday morning and then they will do it one more time tomorrow night.

Jessica and Elessia and their kids came yesterday morning.  It was fun to share it with them.

The "Sign"

The stage--set up for the CenterPoint's production of
Tuck Everlasting

Jena's audience

Liam and Zander

Ezri and I

Elessia and Carter

Jessica and Alex

Opening numbers

"Popular"

The closing numbers where I could only see
the top of Jena's hat on the other side of the stage

Shelley Davies--the force and brainpower behind this program

Jena's FAN club.

We are so blessed by the people--coaches, etc,--who make this program work and all of these actors and actresses who light up the stage with their joy to perform.  May we and you find your place to "perform" with joy using your skills and talents!

The TV/Family Room

This past Tuesday our family room rug arrived and then the next day--THE COUCH!  YAY! It isn't the "perfect" color of blue or even maybe my most preferred fabric, but it was the perfect blend of what I felt we needed at the price I felt was reasonable to spend.  It has reclining elements which we wanted and it fits our space just like I imagined.  Now I just need to hang some pictures to finish this room.  So happy how it turned out.

And our Arkansas chicken finally got his spot on our kitchen table.

Moving back in is a process and unfortunately, unlike moves into other places where you don't have family, friends, assignments, and volunteer engagements to distract you, we have to fit moving and settling in in between the rest of our life which is getting busy. It is all good and there is no one keeping track of how long it is taking me to get all moved back in. 

A Memorial Day Goodbye

On Memorial Day, we had the privilege and honor of attending the funeral for Sister Joyce Forman.  She was one of "our missionaries" as she shared in the ARC which was part of our zone when we served in the Headquarters Mission. She is a remarkable woman and I feel so blessed to have known her and to be loved by her.

I have spoken about her in the blog from time to time.  She had her 90th birthday during the time we were her zone leaders and we organized a special birthday celebration in her honor at that time.  She was actually interviewed by Deseret News and they had a write up about her at that time (which included a picture of the zone that I provided.)  She served in the Church History Library for about 15 years as a service missionary despite having cancer much of that time.  When we became her zone leaders was during Covid.  She was actually living in Reno, NV area with a son because of needing special treatment and care for the cancer which had been diagnosed in December of 2019.

Except on days when she was receiving treatments or a the rare vacation for family events, she was at the library every morning, often the first one there and usually every day.  Her son was very reluctant when she determined she was ready to return to her apartment on 2nd Street and back to the library, but she was determined.  She was alive and she wanted to serve God for the rest of her life however long.

This was a quote she said often--She planned to die with her boots on, and she did.

One particular skill I was in awe about Sister Forman is that she had memorized so many poems in her lifetime and she could recall and share them with almost no effort.  I shared in the blog how she had been asked to give the closing prayer in a zone devotional where we had shared our trip to Jerusalem.  She stood and asked if she could share a poem before she prayed.  Of course we said yes and it was perfect.  I actually printed the poem in the blog.  The poem said the same message that we tried to share--you don't have to go to the Holy Land to receive a witness that Jesus is our Savior.

She was loving and she always made you feel better after you interacted with her.  We were so glad that she was there the day that we visited the library in February.  That was the last time we saw her but we were able to exchange hugs and thank yous.

Hopefully you meet many "Sister Formans" in your lives--who radiate love and energy and testimony of Jesus in the things that they do.

Til we meet again, Sister Forman.....you did it!

 

Purple Polka Dot Petunias

Gary got me one bunch of these fun petunias and I decided I needed three more to plant in our front garden.  For the first time this year, I spent some time working in the yard and made a start on my part of taming our runaway landscape.  Gary has already crossing off yard stuff on his list with getting the sprinklers up and running, taking down an old fence, and of course, the weekly mowing stuff.

This is one of the red cardinal items we gave
to Gary's mom and then inherited back.
I love seeing it as we drive in and out of
our driveway.

 

My Hearing Aid Journey and Dr. Peart

Last Monday, I had my last appointment to check how things were going with my hearing aids.  Now, I just need to have my hearing checked every 3 years (unless I feel there is a problem prior to that.) and probably have to replace the hearing aids at that point as well.  And I accidently wore them while I took a bath after working in the yard--not a problem until I decided to sink my head into the water.  Fortunately, I immediately felt the hearing aids and grabbed them off.  And they were fine! Dr. Peart, my audiologist, had said that everyone does that one time or another.  It is a sign that you have gotten used to wearing them. So, that is good, I guess.  But I don't want to have to replace these expensive aids because I forgot and got them too wet.  Hopefully a lesson learned!

I wanted to talk a bit about Dr. Peart.

Back in February, after going through my insurance's on-line hearing screening, I was given a list of places I could go who took my insurance.  I knew that I wanted an audiologist office and not just a hearing aid specialist.  I have a friend whose husband is an audiologist and she is a speech therapist and she had posted about hearing and what to expect and require if you are having problems with your hearing.  I was impressed by her information and was determined to follow her suggestions if the need ever arose.  They live in Montana so using her husband was out of the question.  But I looked for a place which would provide the services she had suggested.

I literally prayed as I reviewed my options as I wanted to go to the "right" person.  Interestingly, most of the doctors I have been dealing with lately have been assigned or chosen for me by my family practice doctor or the referral process and they have all been great.  However, since I was choosing, I wanted to pick the right one.  It was just a feeling I had--even though I didn't think my hearing was a very complicated situation--just the regular getting older thing.

I felt right about this practice which is in South Ogden, further than I wanted to go, but it felt good and all of the audiologists were women which I liked as well.  I was assigned to Dr. Stephanie Peart--and it turned out that she was the "right one"---again not because I had a complicated case, it is not.  However, we connected in fun ways for both of us and made the whole experience sweet.  It is a minor thing in the totality of our lives, but it was good and I felt that it was guided to happen.

Dr. Peart also lives in Syracuse in the Bluff Stake.  She is probably in her mid-forties.  She also serves as the Gospel Doctrine teacher in her ward on the same Sunday which I also usually teach Gospel Doctrine so we had fun conversations about that.

She is a temple worker at the Ogden Temple on Friday afternoons and will also serve in the Syracuse Temple starting in June.  She has been asked to be the Live Endowment coordinator for her shift just as Gary has been called to do that for his shift on Saturday.

The most fun connection is that her son, who took Chinese immersion in school from kindergarten on, is currently serving as a mission in the same Taiwan mission where my friends, Bruce and Michelle Cummings, are the mission leaders. I was able to reach out to Michelle about the connection and she sent a cute reply that I was able to share with Dr. Peart.  There is always something special about these connections and inter-connections.  She said when she spoke to her son later that he mentioned that both President and Sister Cummings had commented to him that their friend knew his mom.  Michelle said that he is an excellent missionary so that was fun to share as well.

In the grand scheme of things, it probably makes no difference to how the world turns or global warming, but for her and I, it was a sweet collection of connections and truly isn't that some of the richest blessings of this mortal life.

Status On Moving In!

 It is a big project and has to fit in between other parts of life, but we are making progress--slowly and somewhat steadily. 

The first great sign is that our flag is now flying daily!  Just in time for Memorial Day weekend.  The sight and the sound of the flag is just part of this house and part of what we want our grandkids to remember about our house.  Glad to have it back!

Still boxes and stuff in the dining room which acts as a holding area currently, but I thought I would try some curtains as well as the blind.  I have the fabric to make them longer which needs to happen, but I am still trying to decide if it adds what I want to this room.  I might have to wait until we get everything moved out and the new dining room chairs to decide.  What do you think?

Finally, the junks are back on our wall.  This was the first major purchase we made in Hong Kong--this piece of art from Stanley Market for Fathers Day 1987.  It has hung over our bed since then, even in Salt Lake (but not Arkansas, it didn't fit into the car well.) So glad to have it back.

Now I need to get some king size pillows for our bed to look "done."

My entry rug came this week.  As soon as I started looking at rugs, Facebook filled my feed with rug vendors--since that is what happens in our world today.  As soon as I saw this one, I knew that I wanted it somewhere.  It was similar to a smaller one that we had in Arkansas.  I left it for the new senior missionaries, but was hoping I could get another one from Wal-Mart here, but no luck so far.  I love this one as well.  Not what you expect when you walk into a house, but it is fun and quirky.  Gary doesn't like to walk across it barefooted, but I even love that part of it.

The colors are so bright and cheerful and because it includes every color in my house, it is a perfect way to enter....for me anyway.

And the library room--still not completely done, but one of my favorite rooms ever--thanks to Gary Kerr and to my Gary for their work on this bookcase.  The cushion for the bench is on its way and we will get some pictures hung this week as well.

The grandchildren corner.....

Our TV room is currently the DI pile and the extra boxes pile (not shown in this picture.) These Roman shades work great for what I wanted them to do---block out the light on the TV when closed.  The fabric is perfect---if you look at it close up.  It is made with a blend of blues, yellows, and greens, but unfortunately, as you can see in the photo, it looks more like a dull green from a distance.  Not quite the look I wanted, but it will be okay.  It doesn't have to be perfect and it was what I choose from the samples.

Our floor rug and our couch are scheduled to be delivered this week.  I am so excited.  Outside of the basement (which we will talk about in a minute), the TV room is the last big piece to put together.

Our pantry----I LOVE it!!! I want to put wallpaper on the few walls in there but that will be a later project maybe in the fall.

Now to the basement--we have lived down here since January completely.  So part of move-in was moving things UP from the basement---stairs, stairs and more stairs.  It was nice when that was mostly done.

About 2 weeks ago, we had some rain, and Gary came downstairs and discovered water draining through the window from a full window well.  One of the gutters above had gotten clogged by leaves and caused a waterfall into the window well.  Fortunately, we didn't have to live in the basement anymore, but it has been a project to dry out the carpet and get it ready for new pad and new baseboard (mostly it has been Gary's project).

I am glad that Gary thought to check on things to prevent even further damage.  Oh, the joys of owning your own home!

This also means that unpacking boxes downstairs have been delayed (which is fine because I haven't really had time to do that yet.)

Gary's take on the whole thing is that we are living upstairs fine without any of the things in these boxes so we should take them straight to the DI as is.  Silly boy!  This includes our toys which I have saved for the grandkids including our dress-ups, books, art work, and a box or two from Arkansas with some of our blog books which I got while we were there--and other "important
 stuff.  It has places to go and things to do...and some of it MIGHT end up at the DI, but not until I check each box first.

So much stuff.....but some of it will be so fun for the grandkids to play with AGAIN!

And in the middle of all of that, we also have started working on outside projects as well.  Gary gave me four purple polka dot petunias so I had to get them planted and once you start that type of project, it expands as we try to regain control over our wild yard and gardens.

And that is our update on the house remodel and getting close to the last time you have to see photos of inside our house.  There will be a few more though as some of the decorating things will be put into place over the next month or so.  For example, I finally ordered formal photos from our extended family photo shoot last November.  So excited to put them on the walls of our house!!!

Whew!!!

Kindergarten Graduation for Carter and Alex

Their school had a very simple plan for kindergarten "graduation"---when did that become a thing???  Meet at the park, play, have a picnic, and handout graduation certificates.  We couldn't stay for the whole thing, but we spent some time hanging out at the park before lunch. 

Carter

Alex

A beautiful day to be at the park. 

Ava should also be graduating from kindergarten but they aren't out of school until June 11....more pictures then.

The Add-On Project

Everyone talks about during a remodel that there is often the "add on" project that you decide to add in the middle of everything else going on.  Although we knew this could happen, we were hoping just to replace a few that had cracked around the edging of the tile pan under our washer and dryer.  However, when the tile guy came and looked at it, he said that they didn't make that type of tile any more--shaped and molded to edge a tile pan that high.  They don't build them the same way anymore. I had looked in the past for replacement tiles, so I wasn't surprised to learn that.  So we ended up ripping the whole thing out and this was our replacement.  I love penny tiles and found this one that is approved for floors.  We grouted it in greys to match the floor tiles (and to hide the dirt that will find its way in there over the year between spring cleanings.) I love how it turned out.

When the tile guy came, he realized that there wasn't quite enough to do the edging the way he wanted to do it and asked me if I could run to get some bigger white tile for the baseboard part. As I was getting ready to do that, I realized that the floor in our bathroom might work perfectly and we had extra pieces--7 to be exact and it took 6.  It looks perfect--like we designed it that way.

 And now the laundry room is dry and back to working--

Now we truly have some tiny things left and our remodeling project will be officially DONE!!  It hasn't been too bad, but it is great to live upstairs and open my windows and blinds each morning and close them at night like a "normal" person. So nice....

Dancing with Ezri

Ezri got to come and hang out at our house for a couple of hours while Elessia and Alex went to an appointment.  Gary had recently hooked up the TV in the upstairs TV room and while we don't have a couch yet (hopefully this Wednesday), it made for a great place to dance to Dino Stomp and other kids songs on Pandora.  I think this was the first time Ezri has been at our house with us alone and she seemed a bit quieter than her normal self at firs, but we read books, dance, and played Candyland.  She did great in following the rules.

Simple things that bring such pleasure to life.
 

Alex's Art Show

Jessica and Elessia got notified that one of Alex's piece of art from school had been nominated for the district art show and there would be an art display and experience at the Union Station on May 15th. They didn't know much about it other than Alex was not happy that the kids got to take all of their art home, but they wouldn't let her take her picture home.

It was a beautiful evening in Ogden and turned out to be a fun night of art (although how they judge the art work is something that we couldn't figure out.)  They had a art scavenger hunt where the kids had to find different things in the paintings--like patterns or the use of warm colors.  That was fun.  They also could make book marks, water color painting, and model something out of clay. Jena and the kids loved it for the most part.

Ezri loved this cowgirl so we got a picture there.

Working on foil art with water colors....

Zander with his choice of favorite picture (for the scavenger hunt).  He thought it was amazing that a 2nd grader could draw such a good fox.

And this is what happens when you take just one photo-
the dread eye blink!

Working on their book marks

Carter

Alex

Liam

Ezri was done with art so she hung out
with grandpa.

A cool door outside of Union Station
Zander is not happy because he lost his bookmark. Darn.

Ezri

And the star of the show was Alex's picture of a rainbow....She won first place in the kindergarten group and got a $30 cash prize for it.  And she could finally bring her picture home!

And because it was Jessica's birthday and the Art Show, we headed to Artic Circle for Ice Cream (ice cream- two days in a row for us).  Not quite the same as Farr's ice cream, but yummy just the same.