Our Trip Up North

We had a most enjoyable Easter season. My foot seems happier than it has been in ten months; for that I am very grateful! We had a lovely Easter celebration with the Noorda Family. Sherry prepared a delicious gourmet meal and had beautiful decorations with fresh flowers. We do enjoy watching those boys grow up and develop into such fine young men. We are so proud of each of them. John and I and our friends Debbie and Mike Spackman spent a weekend in Brigham City. The plan was to enjoy a session at the temple on Friday night and then eat at Maddox on the way home Saturday. I missed out on the temple experience, due to a bout of tachycardia, but I didn't miss out on our yummy chicken dinner! We made a short trip to the Logan area and bought some Gossner's cheese and then shopped at the Pepperidge Farm Outlet and bought a few cookies. A most delightful weekend with some special friends. Belana flew out for a week to check out some college campuses, so we got to see her for a couple of days and nights. We have lost several people in our circle to death lately: Judy Leavitt, Leroy Evenson, Linda Brake, Barbara Soulier, John Foster. It appears that the next great adventure for those of us over sixty is the walk through death's door. I just hope it doesn't come too quickly!!

Our Trip Down South

John and I decided to leave northern Utah and head south. We drove to St. George on Friday and then spent Saturday with our good friends the Evans. We went to a session in the temple, had our "birthday dinner" at Red Lobster (all four of us have March birthdays!) and enjoyed a tour of their new home (we even were honored to see their daughter's home). They and their daughter, Aleisha, have lovely homes. They were all so gracious in giving us tours. We do miss them, but are so happy they are able to enjoy their retirement years in such a nice spot. The weather was warm....about 70 degrees....and we drove home in a storm! It is still snowing... I can't believe it! It was about 33 degrees as we entered Sandy. Our birthdays were celebrated by our family in a wonderful way; five hours times ten bodies of hard labor in our yard! I am so impressed with what was accomplished! Two areas of sod were lifted by Jeff and Mike, Jason worked the rototiller in the garden, Sher trimmed the roses and pulled lots of weeds, Nick, Jason, and Erin were troupers at hauling chunks of concrete to the dumpster, Katie helped with flowerbeds and supervised Jenna, Rachel and Matty and then helped Sher wash FIVE cars! Jenna, Erin and Rachel helped me wash the handrails and flooring of the deck, wash the summer furniture and bring it up to the deck. Whew! I may have forgotten some of the chores, but let me tell you, this family enjoys working together. We sure do love them all!! Pizza and grapes and root beer helped fuel us all for another couple of hours' work! Jeff and Mike even gave a hand to Nate as he was cutting down his tree. He had helped break up some of our concrete, so it was a nice turnaround to share labor! We will have to wait for it to warm up before planting any flowers. Thankfully, all of my bulbs out front are blooming, so that cheers everyone up! Spring is "officially" here, but Mother Nature has ideas of her own. The weatherman says we will have rain and snow for most of this upcoming week! Oh, well, we need the water, right? Well, we were fortunate to have two days of the promise of warmth to come. St. George is a great place this time of year, but there is no way this northwest girl could live there during their hot summer days!

Happy Holidays!

Well, after John and I shared a five-week cold....that's right....five weeks, we were able to enjoy quite a few celebrations for the holidays. We were fortunate enough to get tickets to the Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert, (sadly, Mike and Katie were our taxi and couldn't find parking...that will change next year!), we attended a lovely Christmas dinner sponsored by the Kultura Club (lots of barbershop singing), attended an outstanding concert by the "Piano Guys" (gift from Mike and Katie), had a lovely turkey dinner at Sherry and Jeff's on a Sunday close to Christmas (where we were given lovely gifts to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City), had breakfast at the younger McKea's on Christmas Eve, watched the same group open gifts early on Christmas Day, attended "The Hobbit" with the Noorda's on Christmas afternoon, followed by a nice ham dinner, attended a "Mannheim Steamroller" concert after the big day in Symphony Hall, played a piano-organ duet, "What Child id This" with Erin in her ward (she played the organ, using her own stops and the pedal), and finally welcomed in the New Year by having the McKea clan over for New Year's Eve! Now, I ask you, was that enough fun to capture in one month? We had a wonderful holiday season! Heartfelt thanks for sharing it with such a great family! We have certainly been blessed with such devoted, cheerful, and talented people to call our own!