Shopping with Lila and Susan

Every now and then I trip to Provo to meet Lila Mae and Susan to shop with them and have lunch.  They go every single Saturday but I can't bring myself to shop that much.  I do enjoy visiting with them and being with them is always a fun adventure.  I shop in stores with Susan that I ordinarily would never go into.  Susan loves deals and loves shopping.  We had lunch at a place called the Black Bear Diner.  The food was delicious.  From there we shopped at different stores and ended up at the ice cream store for a hand dipped hard ice cream!  Delicious!  Fun day and a safe trip home.

A $300.00 outing!

Neal and I ran to Sam's Club because he saw some bath towels that he wanted to buy but wanted me to see them first.  We ended up buying 8 bath towels, and 3 bath mats along with other stuff and the bill came to $200.00+.  Then he wanted to stop at Fresh Market and get some bananas and ended up spending $100.00+.  We had to laugh when we got home.  The bath towels were only $7.00 a piece so you can see that a simple purchase ended up costing a lot.  On the way out of Sam's I hoped on the basket like I always do and Neal snapped a picture of me riding the cart!

Rainbows

You all know how I LOVE rainbows!  Some day when I'm dead and gone I want my posterity to always think of me when they see a rainbow.  They just absolutely make me smile and wonder and feel awe for the beauties of nature and what our Heavenly Father created for us on this earth.  This is  a gorgeous picture of a rainbow arched over downtown Salt Lake.  Wish I could take credit for the picture.  My little phone camera could have never caught this panoramic view, but it was amazing to look at.  Thanks to the photographer to captured it and sent it in to KSL.  Wow!

CJ comes to town!

CJ came to Salt Lake over Jeff's birthday.  Lynda Ann hosted a dinner at her home on Sunday evening.  It was a delicious dinner and a fun evening visiting with CJ, Mindy and the kids.  Mindy was able to drop CJ off at the airport on her way back into Salt Lake.  We had a delicious dinner and a great time visitng, laughing and talking about the past.  Here are some fun pictures.

 The dogs wanted to help clean up the dishes!

Cute picture of Tucker's family

Tucker sent this picture to Neal and I after the girls dance recital.  Can't believe how fast they are growing up.  Look at how tall Jordyn Lyn and Lexi are compared to Jamie!  Granted, I don't think Jamie is standing completely straight up but still - can't believe it!  Beautiful granddaughters!

A sweet note from a dear friend

Linda Knight is a dear friend of mine who served as my secretary when I was first called as the Stake RS President.  She keeps track of dates and somehow knew when Jeffrey's birthday was.  This note came to me the day before week of Jeffrey's birthday.  It is friends like Linda that help us get through hard times.

Jeffrey's birthday

Today is Jeff's birthday and it was a very emotional day for me.  It actually started yesterday when I went to the temple.  It was a very spiritual and emotional time for me.  The wonderful thing is that it again strengthened my testimony of eternal families.  I love Jeff and miss him greatly.
This morning I got a text from Mindy that said, "Here's to waterproof mascara and chocolate.  Hope you are able to find strength and peace today.  Your little guy grew up to be a great man. Hugs."
This was the picture she sent with the text.

A friend of mine from work bought me a Happy Birthday balloon to take home and let go up toward Heaven to wish Jeff and happy birthday.  This is one of my very favorite pictures of me and Jeffrey.

 Neal was taking the picture but those of you who know how he takes pictures, he wants everything to line up perfectly instead of just starting to snap pictures as quickly as possible.  The wind was blowing and he was busy trying to get me and the balloon and in the mean time a gust of wind came up and took the balloon out of my hands and up it went.  I wish my son a happy birthday and told him that I loved him and missed him greatly!  Interesting how good it made me feel.

 This is the balloon given to me by my friend Heather and my boss Ron.  I took it home and released it in our backyard.  It was an emotional moment for me.  Again, happy birthday son.  Love mother.

Jamie's birthday present surprise

I know that Jamie loves bubble gum.  I've watched her chew it, then spit it out and then pop another one in her mouth and repeat the process over.  I was at work, new her birthday was fast approaching and thought how fun it would be to order her a ton of bubble gum - so I did!  Tucker took a video of her opening her birthday gift.  Here are some pictures.

Glad you loved your gift, Jamie!  We love you and a very happy birthday!

Emmi's new friends!

Emmi is working out at Dugway Army Depot in the Environmental Department full time for the summer.  She says that it has been very interesting and has loved working out there so far.  They have provided her with a truck that she can drive back and forth.  She stays out there from Monday morning to Thursday evening and then is home Fri. Sat. and Sunday.  During the three days she is home she also works at the theater.  What an ambitious woman!  She sent me this picture of some new friends in her bath tub!  YUCK!!! Lizards

Can you imagine walking into your bathroom to take a shower and you have to clean the lizards out before you can hop in.  I wonder where else they are!

Tucker gets a great gift!

Tucker met Dakari Tucker at 6 Flags in California.  He was so excited to meet him and the fact that his last name is Tucker's first name was such a fun thing.  He asked Dakari if he would be willing to sign a basketball jersey for him and Dakari agreed to do that.  Tucker got a shirt and his dad take it up to the University of Utah campus and through a chance of meetings was able to hook up with Dakari and get his shirt signed.  Neal sent the shirt to Tucker and we got this picture of Tucker in his new signed basketball jersey.

Mallory's Fun Run Event

Lynda Ann and Mallory planned a Fun Run to help Mallory earn some money for her trip to California the first of July.  They asked Neal and I if we would come out and help them.  Annie wanted Neal to cook pancakes for the runners when the finished the race.  We drove out there at 6:30 and helped get every set up.  As it turned out there were very few people who showed up.  We found out that there were two major runs that morning and that the stake had all the youth at a hike in preparation for Pioneer Trek.

Even with the few who came we had a good time.  It was an incredible amount of work for Lynda Ann to organize, advertise, shop and pull this thing off.  I was really proud of her and how much she did.  She is one organized machine!!

Mallory was still able to raise $400.00 which basically accomplished their goal and she has now raised all she needed and that included her eating expenses.  So even though it was a lot of work, it put her over the top.

Some fun pictures from the Fun Run.  This first picture is the lanyards that everyone got at the end of the race for participating.  You can see by the pictures that the theme was Peanuts Characters.  No surprise there.  Mallory loves Peanuts!

 Emmi and Pa after the event had ended.  Love Neal's apron made by the Gertsons.

 Andrew helping Pa and getting some expertese on how to set up and run a camp stove.  I think Andrew got his eyelashes and bangs singed just a bit.  Someone wasn't teaching very well!

This is a huge Peanuts banner that Emmi talk the theater management out of by bribing them with a plate of home made cookies!  

All the food and ingredients for the breakfast was furnished by the local grocery store.  They couldn't give money, but could give product.  Annie had fruit, muffins, syrup, butter and two bags of pancake mix donated.  

 Waiting for the race to start.  There were prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.

This picture was taken as the girls were leaving to put balloons at all the major areas to tell the runners the designated path for the 4 miles.

 Cute picture of our darling Mallory!

 This was the sign in table and where the runners picked up their numbers.

 Just a silly picture of my shadow and Annies as we were talking with each other.

 It was a fun morning and Neal and I enjoyed being asked to be a part of it.  Neal made a very generous donation to the cause to help Mallory on her way.  We are proud of you Mallory and wish you the best of luck at your National event in July.

Losing a child isn't easy.

Mindy sent me this picture and it kind of says it all.

Very profound!  Thank you for sharing this, Mindy

Daniel Boone

I got this cute picture of Andrew as Daniel Boone for some school activity where they read about a character in history and then one day they come dressed as that character and bring items to represent the characters life.  You represent Daniel Boone very well.

Spring in Utah!

This is what I love about living in Utah.  The Spring weather is probably the most unpredictable of all the seasons.  One minute we have sunshine and upper sixties temperatures and within minutes the clouds can roll in, darken the sky, temperatures drop to the 40's and 50's and the Heavens open and the hail and snow come.  I was at work the other day and all of a sudden the sun disappeared, the black clouds took over the skies and they drop their load.  Our building has metal roofing and you could hear the hail hitting the roof.  The storm was only here for about 30 minutes and then slowly moved it's way over the mountains.  I ran outside and took this picture of the hail.  They were about the size of large peas.  I heard some of our employees comment that their cars got dented a little bit.

I should have put something beside the hail so that you could compare the size.  They were pretty big, trust me.  I was just glad I wasn't caught outside in it.  It would have hurt hitting you!

Sunday and Mother's Day

TLyoday was the usual Sunday meetings and then home to get ready for Maren, Greg and their family and Lynda Ann, Jeff and their family to come to dinner.  We had a delicious dinner of  steaks, baked potatoes, veggies, salads and ice cream for dessert.  After dinner we played What Were You Thinking and had some great laughs.  Greg even joined in the game.  Maren had to work that evening so her family had to leave at 6:00.  Annie's family stayed and played Shang Hi and then they headed home.  It was a fun day and I loved every moment of it.

Maren gave me some lip gloss and some crazy bath balls.  I will take some pictures the first time I used them.  I can hardly wait.

I also got this sweet note and a chocolate bar from Mallory.

A nice ending to a perfect day!

What does your Saturday look like?

Mine and Neal's was a busy one.  After shopping with Lila and Susan and then doing my own shopping I came home to get things ready for dinner on Sunday.  I had bananas that had to be cooked into banana bread so I spent the evening making 6 loaves of banana bread.  While I was getting tables ready and making bread, Neal was out side getting all his pots transported from the garage to the patio and then planting flowers in the pots.

Mother's Day Celebration

The celebration began with my meeting Lila Mae and Susan at the California Pizza Kitchen at Fashion Place Mall.  We had a delicious lunch, did some shopping and then said our "goodbyes".  We had a terrific rain and hail storm while we were shopping.  After they left I stopped at Smith's and bought the groceries for Sunday's dinner.  Susan gave me a new set of dish towels, some hot pads and a $50.00 gift certificate to Talbots!  She also gave me this sweet message:

When I got home from shopping I found a package on the front porch.  Inside the package was the best gift ever.  A new cell phone cover!  Here it is.

I absolutely love it and will carry it around with me with pride!  What a great gift.  Thank Tucker, Jamie and the girls!