Easter Sunday

 Easter Sunday came in as a gorgeous Spring day.  The night before Tucker, Neal, Peyton and I colored Easter eggs for the annual egg contest.

Neal and I went to our meetings, which were only one hour.  I don't remember ever doing that for Easter.  Always for Christmas but not for Easter.  When we got home Tucker was busy making cookies for our dessert.  We had the tables all set so it was just a matter of getting the potatoes in the oven along with the ham and cooking the carrots and letting the dinner rolls rise.  Maren brought her famous pasta salad (that everyone loves) and Lynda Ann brought strawberry pies and funeral potatoes.  Dinner was delicious and everyone was nice and full.  Jeff, Lynda, Mallory, Andrew, Hayley and Alex represented the Gertsons.  Maren, Greg, Jaden, Brock and Boston represented the Cutlers.  Tucker and Peyton represented the Maxfields and then Neal and I.  We had expect Maddie and Greyson and his girlfriend to come but they never showed up.  They were missed.  After dinner we did the egg contest.  Lots of fun pictures:

Everyone showing off their eggs.

And Jaden's egg was the winner for 2025!  

Of course I had to pop in!

The Easter egg contest is always looked forward to.  Kind of like Christmas.  The anticipation is huge and then it is over with so quickly.  But always, always a fun time.  After the contest we had dessert.  Pies, cookies, cream puffs and ice cream.  Neal also bought everyone a chocolate egg to take home.

We played games until about 11:00 allowing me to do three loads of dishes in the dishwasher and then off to bed for a good nights sleep.

A couple more random pictures from that day.  

Getting my Andrew hug!

As we were coming back in the house from saying goodbye to the Gertsons I notice our tree out front with the light shining through.  It is in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous!

So grateful to be with our children and grandchildren.  Thank you all for making another Easter celebration so beautiful, fun and full of love.

Fun Day With Peyton

 Friday was the day set aside for Peyton and I to go shopping and have lunch.  We headed down to the Outlets at Traverse Mountain.  On the way we stopped at Star Bucks for Peyton's drink and B&B for my hot chocolate.  It was a cold morning and a perfect one for a hot drink.  We had such a good time going in and out of the stores and trying on one outfit after another.  Peyton was able to find some great "Utah" looking clothes (that is what she calls them).  About 2:30 we decided to grab lunch.  There was a ZAO right by the outlets so we went in there for lunch.  Delicious Asian food.  

You can see by the packages that we were successful shoppers!

Peyton and I had such a great time and I loved being with her and getting to know her even more.  She was so loving and so fun to be with.  Thanks Peyton for a very, very fun and rewarding day with you.  Love you!

I had to take this picture.  When I saw this cart I had to laugh and it so made me think of my mother.  When I was growing up and in junior high and high school, mother had two groups of women that she met with once a month.  My sister, Annette, and I name the two groups.  One was called the Sinners and the other we named the Saints.  The Sinners was a group of ladies in the ward who got together and played card games.  The Saints were a group of ladies who got together and stitched, crocheted and/or quilted along with a lot of gossiping.  I also know that some of the ladies did drink coffee.  I'll let you decide for yourself if we misnamed them.  Maybe it is worse to get together and gossip than it is to play cards.  All I know is that mother looked forward to both of those evenings and liked the neighborhood ladies she met with.  When I came across this cart at the outlets I had to stop and snap a picture.  Lots of memories were generated.

The day before this outing, Tucker, Mallory, Peyton, Neal and I went to Noodles and Company and had lunch together.  I think I may have already posted this but twice is okay.

Last night and today Tucker is taking graduation pictures of Peyton in different outfits and then this afternoon will be taken pictures of Brock for his graduation.  Then next Thursday Tucker will be taking pictures at BYU of Mallory's graduation.  Good thing he is a photographer.  I'll post pictures as I get them.

Fun Visitor for Easter Weekend

 We are so very excited to have Peyton with us for the Easter weekend.  Tucker is living with us for a couple months until he finds an apartment to rent and gets settled permanently here in Salt Lake.  We are thrilled to have him back with us and very excited to have Peyton come for a visit.  Lots of fun things planned for this weekend.

Beautiful granddaughter!!  We sure love you.

A Temple Outing

 This last Saturday, Mallory, Lynda Ann and I went to the Timpanogos Temple.  It was a perfect day except for the sad news that we had received from Susan that morning.  Her son, David, had passed away from Stage 4 Colon Cancer.  David was 42 years old.  Our hearts ached for Susan but somehow I found peace as I attended the temple.  Peace knowing that Heavenly Father knew of the pain and sadness that we were all feeling for Susan but also knowing that we had a testimony of the Plan of Salvation.  

As Mallory, Lynda Ann and I sat in that beautiful celestial room, I realized that the temple is a place where we can come to understand what the Lord would have us ask, and it is a place where we can ask, in silence, in joy and in earnestness.  The power of Christ is there for all of us to drink deeply and receive powerfully.  How deeply grateful I am for a mother who joined the church and instilled in me the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thanks you two for a wonderful and memorable day!  Love you both so much.

Remodeling continues . . .

 Our house desperately needed to be painted.  We hired Kent Swan to come and help us pick out a color.  Something that Neal and I couldn't possibly do on our own.  Just too many colors and we didn't know which direction to go in.  Kent came and asked us if he could just sit in the kitchen for a little bit and get a feeling of the home.  About 45 minutes later he called us down and said he had narrowed it down to three colors.  Neal and I immediately settled on Canvas Brown.  We then hired a painter and had the whole house painted.  Everything taken off the walls, furniture moved to the middle of the rooms and garage.  Neal and I were off to St. George for a week while the painting took place.  After everything was done, Kent came back over and we sat with him deciding on furniture style, colors, rugs, placement of piano and new furniture, pictures, etc.   Monday we got a call from Kent that our furniture had come in.  So here is the update of our redecorating.  The piano was the first piece of furniture to be moved.

Kent had us move the china cabinet to the South wall and to swing the kitchen table along the front of the china cabinet.  You will also notice that the plants on top of the cupboards has been limited to four.  I'm loving "less".  Also no plants on top of the China cabinet.

We had to order a new sliding curtain for our back door.  

Our next project was to pick out a tree to go on either side of the piano.  We ended up at Modern Display and found the exact tree that we wanted.  We needed two of them but Modern Display only had one so we had to order the second one.

Then we hung up the picture and the clock.

Next came the new carpet.  Gorgeous!

Brand new couch.  Kent Swan putting it in place.

The new chairs and possible picture to go on the North wall.

Looking down from the balcony.

We still have lots more to do.  So far all this remodeling including the painting, has cost us over $20,000.00.   A lot of money but so worth the changes.  I'll post more as things move along. 

Granddaughters

 I am so blessed to have grandchildren.  I've often heard that your grandchildren can be such blessings in your life and that is so true for me.  Tucker sent me this picture of Peyton after one of her most recent competitions.  He flew down to Fresno to be there for her competition and also to close down his apartment, pack everything in a U-Haul truck and then drove back on Sunday.  Glad the whole weekend went well for him and that he was able to support Peyton.

That same week, I got a text from Emmi telling me that she had just been coined by DIRNSA.  The person who coined her is a 4 start general in charge of the NSA and pretty much runs the intel community.  Very impressive acknowledgement from a 4 start general.  Apparently they don't give out these coins freely so if you get one it is a HUGE deal.  Congratulations Emmi Girl.  

I'm so proud of all my grandchildren and what they are accomplishing.  Peyton and Brock will be graduating from High School this year.  Jordyn Lyn and Mallory will be graduating from college this year.  Mallory in Linguistics and Jordyn Lyn in Design and Graphics.  Taylor has completed two years at UVU and is applying for a program at the Univ. of Utah this Fall.  They are all high achievers and I'm proud of each one of them and their many accomplishments.  So proud to be your grandmother!

My Little Farm

It has been such fun taking care of the critters around here.  We have squirrels, birds, and two ducks that depend on us to feed them each day.  We have been putting whole nuts in the bird feeder for the squirrels.  Here are some fun pictures of Chip and Dale along with Quick and Quack.  

This is Quack eating some of the duck food that Emmi Girl sent to me.  He will also eat the pellets out of my hand - which I love!

I had to add this picture!  I heard all kind of noise as I was feeding the ducks and looked up on the roof of the building across from our backyard and there was a huge Goose sitting there watching us.  

This is Chip having a Walnut and a Hazel Nut.  So funny watching them put one in their mouth and trying to carry another one as they scurry across the fence.  Sometimes they drop them and have to rescue them.  Neal found an Almond buried in his Tulip pot out by the pool.  It hadn't been opened.  Still had the nut in it.  I'm sure one of the squirrels was saving it for another time.

This is Dale working on a Walnut.

 

Fun Times

 We have a small group that meets about every quarter to go out to dinner and then back to one of our homes to play games.  We haven't been able to get together for the past couple years because Patton's went on a mission to Australia.  The just got back and were anxious to get together again.  We met for dinner and then back to our house to play games.  We taught them Fruit Salad.  It was fun to hear all about their mission.  The hard times as well as the fun times.  

Good people, good friends and good times.