08/27/23 Writing outside on the back table

Arctic Circle Monster Shake
for the fail!

 It is a beautiful sunny sabbath - 72 degrees - the pond is flowing, everyone is still quiet and in bed so there is nobody breaking the peace of the day. So nice!  Even the ducks are quiet for a minute (although they were yucking it up a couple of  minutes ago! )

The week has gone by quickly and has been packed, as usual. Twice we tried to play pickleball this week and weather prevented us. Rain and thunderstorms were early in the week. We even went out Tuesday and almost played a whole game when there was a crack of lightning and thu

Beautiful Rainbow Wednesday Evening

nder so close we immediately stopped and scurried to the car. (Happy to report the girl team was ahead...) -- But since the game wasn't over there were no winners and there were no losers!

Worked out for Holly though - cause she told us last minute she wanted to come hang out with us. We already had plans so she was going to watch tv and work on her bouquet and boutonnieres alone but instead we were only gone 1/2 hour. 

She ended up staying from about 5-10 p.m. -- She had dinner with us and got most of her flowers done. They are really pretty - wood material. 

Wednesday was the usual dinner with B&L, Gpa, Cade and Dad....Cade's last week is this Wednesday coming up.  His family is coming down so we will get to meet his wife and little girl on Wednesday night and then likely not see him again...maybe ever...who knows?! 

Holly crafting her flowers 
for the wedding

Wednesday evening we did botanical monoprinting...sounds serious...it's leaf and ink art. It was alright...I think it might fall into the category with crocheting or some of those other crafts that just don't really spark for me. 

Holly has been saying things are great over at Erik's house and they are going to stay there for a long time and save money and then early this week she said they needed to get out. now. So I dunno what happened but somehow they found a place and Thursday evening we went and helped to move them. It's pricey - $1600 for 1 bedroom (holy crap!) but it is nice. It has pickleball, pool, gym and allows their pets. Which was mandatory. SO I guess you gotta pay a lot if you want pets. It really is cute and I'm excited for them. I believe you need to have your own place when you are trying to have a relationship and living with parents, cousins and other kids is not really a great help in maintaining a healthy relationship.  

They got in there and didn't have much in the way of furniture so Saturday morning I went with them for a little while and checked out some couches and bar stools. They k

Facetime Fun

Facetime Fun

ept shopping and found somethings that will be delivered on Monday. They are super excited and love what they picked out. 

Friday I had lunch with our prosecutor's (2 attorneys, Thad my boss (attorney), and Leslie (their secretary).  We were doing her review and I was basically the scribe. It was definitely a different deal but kinda of fun. We went to Sakura. Which is so fancy now - they built a new location - and it was seriously yummy too. Excellent experience. I'd go back. The price was about $15 each - which seems like a lot except everything is dang expensive now. And they gave us soup, salad and a big tray of rice, veggies, sushi and dumplings. I had enough for another meal but I told her I wanted to take it home and she was like, ok no box for you.  And since no one else was taking food home I just let it go! haha!

Friday evening the YW presidencies from the younger and mid classes came over -- we combine for our activities - and they planned the rest of the year for our class activities. They did a good job and we have some fun stuff planned. 

Saturday I started clearing the weeds behind our house in the city's property -- it's gotten so bad I don't want to ignore it anymore after seeing Maui...and then I shopped with Holly and Erik and then dad and I cleaned out the filters on the pool and just had a nice quiet day together.  I always like to say we have resort style living!  So it's fun to enjoy it every once in awhile!

While I was weeding I listened to several time out for women talks.  The 2022 theme was light - and so far the talks have been so so good. A couple of thoughts from them...

1 - a funny...Anthony Sweat (a BYU professor) spoke and referred to his Sweat-heart. I dunno why but that just makes me laugh!

2 - a serious - noone can make us feel bad. WE make ourselves feel bad. She talked about how the way we think of things determines how we process them. 

For example...a kitchen full of messy dishes. 

Kids walk in - don't even notice - and immediately go get the snack they wanted and leave never having a second thought about the dishes. 

Man walks in - grabs the food he wants, adds to the pile and leaves. He or someone else will take care of that later but he's not gonna waste time worrying about it right now. 

Woman walks in - WHAT THE ?????  Why is everyone so messy?? Why do I have to do everything???? Forgets about the snack she wants and starts cleaning the mess while she is fuming. 

Did she have to react this way????  Was there a better way? This type of scenario can be applied in so many areas of our life. Think about the way you act and react to situations and try to find more positive light-filled ways to go about life. 

At some point in my life I realized that fuming and angry kind of sucks and I tried to change the way I think...I am so blessed to have children that can fill my sink with dishes, I am so blessed to have a husband to leave clothes on the floor, I am so blessed to have a yard to care for, I am so lucky that I have a home to heat and cool. I am so thankful to have a/c in my car while I sit in traffic that is backed up for 3 miles...you get the idea. By reacting this way instaed of fuming I am at peace and I enjoy life's journey more. Let's face it ... laundry needs done every week and I can enjoy it or I can grumble about it...but either way it still needs done. Which way would YOU rather complete a task? or life?

(I started watching a show during laundry folding and now I look forward to laundry every week -- it's my ME time!!! Plus BONUS I actually stay awake for the show!!!)

3 - Courageous - One of the talks was about Joan of Arc and how she learned early how to recognize the voice of the Lord. She knew early that she would have to do difficult things. She remained strong in her testimony and belief in God and never denied Christ to her death. She was virtuous and lovely and people could feel the spirit from her. We need to all remain courageous and strong in our beliefs even when the world tries to beat us down and make us deny it. We may not be killed at the stake as she was but people will come into our lives and challenge our resolve and we need to have the courage to stay true to the faith. 

Well the sun is starting to beat down on me so I'm gonna wrap this up and find a less light filled area!! (Exactly opposite of what my tofw talks were saying!!! )

Tomorrow is AJ's birthday so don't forget to include him in your calls if possible. He goes to work from 10-6 and the gym around 8 so 7:30 or 9:30 are probably the best times to reach out (I'm guessing!!!)

Also the YSA ward told him he is too old to go there and he's really unhappy about that (he's looking for a 27ish year old and the ward he is supposed to go to is 31-46 or something like that).  So pray for him to find peace and his place in the gospel and most of all someone who will be able to marry in the temple and start a family with him.  He is such a good guy and deserves to be happy. And he really wants kids!!!

K, love you lots!!! Look forward to hearing about your week. xoxo mom

08/20/23 JFW- Jeremy Free Week

DJ, Bryce & Mo

 Jeremy said one of his colleagues used to have an abbreviation similar to JFW when he was gone...so he changed it for himself. Last week there was electric meetings called UAMPS in Wyoming and he and some people from the power company went to Wyoming and so I had one less boss in the house!

Turned out to be a pretty busy week anyway! haha...I ordered signs for city hall several months ago and they finally came in!! Yeah!!! And got installed on Monday. (Which was what I was waiting for before putting the pictures back up in CIty Hall).  Tuesday our maintenance guy came over and suggested that all the pictures frames (which were dark wood and gold colored in a variety of textures) be painted black to better match the decor. He didn't have anyone that could do that currently but said over the next month or two we could get pictures done a couple at a time. 

Chris and Ruth
Emory and Amelia

Well, you know me...that seemed like a long process -- so I just did it myself. There was approx 50 pictures. And these are heavy. Initially I went to Home Depot and just bought enough stuff to try it. I took 5 pictures home and worked on our back porch. They came out great. But hauling all those pictures back and forth seemed overwhelming plus I still had work to do at my office. 

Ellie, Kayla and DJ
Reading a book before bed

So, I set up a little workshop in my office and outside my office. It started out a little slow but I eventually got the hang of taping the pictures and I did two large batches. The first set was about 20 and the second batch about 25. I was able to get them all done before quitting time on Friday. 

But that was a lot of up and down stairs this week!  (The pictures were stored in the basement that doesn't' have an elevator) so I had to bring each one up one or two at a time for safety reasons -- that staircase is long, narrow and a little scary with stuff!!!

Ellie eating a messy cupcake

Besides that project I had several little projects for Thad and emails that needed answers and just stuff from Jeremy because he was out of the office. Needless to say it was a fast full week of work. It was hard but I also enjoyed doing something different!  Several people said either -- Don't you have people who can do that?? OR Oh, you are so lucky, you get to craft at work! haha

Emory and Mo

Wednesday for YW we watched the WorldWide Youth Broadcast about art - it had music and then in between each song artwork done by our young people. There were tons of yummy treats (pizza, popcorn, oreos, yogurt pretzels) so the kids were pretty happy to sit and watch the video even though it might have been less well received without the goodies! The very first song was a group of kids from Chile riding a bus and then stopping and singing on the side of the road. Cool, eh!?

Dallas and Emory

Friday evening, Dad covered a game at Bingham High School (he went there as a kid for part of a year). Crimson played. They lost but dad said it was a good game anyway. Bryce and Marlee came up and we went and visited Dallas and Kayla and kids for a couple of hours. The traffic getting up was actually kind of slow so we intended to arrive at 5 but didn't actually arrive until almost 6:30. We stayed just a couple of hours and then headed back. 

Yum!

Dad and I got a room at the Embassy Suites by Hilton -- nicest hotel we've stayed at in awhile! (I was able to get the government rate of $128 instead of the usual $250 rate they listed normally)  We want to stay there every time if possible. It was at 104000 S by the free way - so close to Laurito's, not too far from Dallas and on the way back to Bryce's. 

Bryce and Mo at Wardle Park

My most favorite part -- the dude made killer omelets however you want them. So yummy!  Our room had 2 rooms - a living room/kitchenette and a bedroom. 2 TV. A very large & tall shower. There was a large pool and hot tub (which we didn't have time to use sadly) and a gym with lots of equipment.  Will definitely choose them again if I can get the lower rate. 

Saturday we met everyone at Wardle Park with Chick - Fil - A and cupcakes for Marlee's birthday. We played from about noon - two. Ruth and Chris (her new boyfriend) and Ray and Suzanne came -- but not until 1:30 or so. Ruth and Chris went and played pickleball (we had seen them Friday night so we had visited) and Ray and Suzanne - by the time they walked from the car to the bench -- Dad was really not looking good. He sat and visited with me for a few minutes and then said he wanted to go home. It was pretty hot out at that point. I walked him back to the car -- he was complaining that his legs hurt. He really didn't look good at all. I told the kids we need to have him visit their house or we need to go to his house from now on. That was too much. I guess a restaurant would work as well. 

We drove home and stopped in Beaver at the Creamery (cheese factory store) and got an ice cream. It was nice -- EXPENSIVE, but nice.  $10 for a waffle cone with 3 scoops. Which turns out is a lot of ice cream. We threw away some and ate more than we wanted to. But the 1 scoop was $8 so might as well?!  What happened to the $1 or $2 ice cream cones?!?! They do have a fun room the kids would enjoy with a big cow in it and fun facts on the wall. For sure a good place to stop in and check out at least once. 

We're all home and settled now. Hurricane Hilary is hitting Mexico and then making its way up the states. Cedar City got flooded quite badly in the hospital and jail -- PRE-Hilary!!! So everyone is bracing for several bad days of monsoonal rain. We got some of it coming home but thankfully it was just the last 30 minutes and not the whole length of the state as it's supposed to be today. 

Gigi and DJ

Linda just cancelled me for our walk because it's rainy outside. So I'll have to decide if I want to walk alone or take the day off or find something else to do. We'll see!

My spiritual thought for the week - I feel the turmoil of the world -- and I know the peace that comes when your thoughts and deeds are in the right place. Everyone is challenging if the church is true or not and questioning doctrine and procedures etc etc...for me -- I have to keep reminding myself of when I feel truly at peace and happy. And it's when I'm listening to good music, performing service, reading uplifting books, listening to conferences, etc. So I need to just focus on following that and tone out the people that are trying to abolish that. It reminds me of the tall and spacious building and the people yelling at those holding the rod. It's real. It's happening. It's bothersome at times. But hold on and keep moving forward and try to ignore the noise and focus on the peaceful things and you can still find peace in this crazy world. 

DJ and Ellie
building a tower

SO I guess my condensed thought is...Seek peace!

Holly and I have got to get together soon and get working on her plans. Things are starting to be real! Your transfers make me realize time more clearly!    

Love you lots. You are amazing!!! Keep up the good works!

mom

Shelly's feet got a lil paint!

08/13/2023 Football Season has begun

 Hey!  

Seems like I had a quieter week than usual but Dad's week was kinda cra-cra. He started football season (how is this even possible?)  That means Tuesday was approx 3 hours after work for Media Day and Friday was a football game. He got all the elements of a grueling game...It was 100, they had a lightning delay and from start to finish he was gone about 5 hours (After working 8 hours earlier in the day).  Good thing he loves it!  And BONUS...Pine View won big against Logan. So that was cool!  

AJ agreed to team up with dad and is his color guy for the season. (Excluding next week for a prior commitment).  So hopefully they will enjoy each other and have a great season. 

Me on the other hand...Monday night Casey's cancelled pickleball (they ran a 1/2 marathon on Saturday and were work out still!)  Tuesday - Dad was pretty tired out after his long day. Wednesday - B&L were out of town so we just took Dad to Alfredo A's and had a burrito.  Then I had YW but we were just painting nails and only about 10 girls from all three classes came.  So super low key. Thursday - same as Tuesday. Although AJ stopped by and hung out for a bit after his ultimate frisbee games.  Friday Linda brought her 6 grandkids over and played for close to 2 hours. Saturday pickleball and chores. 

Next weekend Dad is traveling to Bingham High School to broadcast his game so we'll get to see the kids. Also it's going to be a JFW (Jeremy Free Week) - he is going to a conference in Wyoming. I've got a lot of things coming together (hopefully) this week - my signs are supposed to be in. I have pictures to hang. Even Though he is gone I should have a lot of action. Plus the girls in the court are still behind and needing some help. 

I recently read a book by Og Mandino - the choice - 

Summary: 

Choice The key is Choice . You have options. You need not spend your life wallowing in failure, ignorance, grief, poverty, shame, and self-pity. But, hold on -- If this is true then why have so many among us apparently elected to live in that manner? The answer is obvious. Those who live in unhappy failure have never exercised their options for a better way of life because they have never been aware that they had any Choices.

The main character is a very successful insurance salesman/supervisor but has no time to pitch a baseball to his son. This makes him realize his priorities are messed up. (He didn't save much of his salary so this choice comes at a cost.)  He quits his job. Buys a lighthouse in New England once owned by a best selling author and writes a book. He sends this book out and it keeps getting rejected. His wife and he take jobs as waitress and gas station attendant. They finally find someone to publish his book. And it goes VIRAL. Eventually the book career is demanding appearances and travel and taking him away again.  

Through some "beyond the veil" interaction he remains true to his "choice" to be there for his family. 

It's a really heart warming book with a lot of good reminders to keep life in perspective and to focus on what is truly important. 

I actually really LOVE this author and have a small stock pile of his books (some I've read, others I'm getting to!)  It seems no matter how much I read I always have another dozen books or more to get to!

Today is YW and I have to go to the ward council, so it's a busy Sunday ahead!  

Look forward to your letter and talk tomorrow.  You have such a fun way of writing it's always interesting to hear about your weekly adventures! Don't think we don't love getting those...cause we do!!! You have a talent for writing and great stories to share. 

Love you Ducky!!!

Mom

08/06/23 Last week before football season

 How is it August already?!  Dad starts football this Friday...what?!  Media Day is this coming Tuesday.  So the relaxed days of summer are coming to an end for Dad. And girls night Friday's are coming back! I think Linda is coming this weekend with her grandkids to swim on Friday night. 

This week was about like always...Monday night I picked up Rigatti's on the way home from work. Eldon and Diane and GPA came over. AJ came over about the time they all left. We hung out with him and talked in the pool. 

Tuesday was our employee appreciation night at the Pine View Theater -- I rented two theaters and got popcorn and soda for everyone and their family. We probably had about 150-200 people in total. Everyone really seemed to enjoy it. I thought Holly or AJ or GPA would come but everyone was busy doing other stuff. 

Wednesday we went with B&L and GPA to Green Iguana - it's a Mexican place that Squires love. It was really good. And the burrito was GIANT. The kid that we met on the airplane, Cade - has been coming to our luncheons too. (He is doing an internship down here for physical therapy school. His family is in the Bountiful area if I remember correctly. So he's kinda lonely and he really hit it off with Dad and everyone. So it's like we have another AJ type kid coming to dinner with us every week! His internship is over in a couple weeks and then he heads up to Logan for another 6-8 weeks. Pretty rigorous schedule for a young married guy). 

Our YW activity this week was swimming at St George Pool with the stake. It didn't start until 8:30 p.m. and lasted until 10 p.m. Pretty late night for me.  But it was a blast. Sister Wilcox and Sadie Geary and I played together most of the evening. We played basketball (and made a turn away from the basket and throw it over your head behind your back shot from about the imaginary three-point line). Then we ran the slide 10X. We figured it out...that's like 30 flights of stairs! 

Dad took the opportunity to go to bed early so he was actually asleep when I got home!

Thursday evening we just quietly floated in our pool and talked and hung out. Probably one of the last of our quiet summer nights. 

Friday we finished up the paperwork for Grandpa's funeral arrangements - he wants everything paid for and established before he goes. Took over an hour but he's got everything figured out. Our next plan is to shop for a headstone. 

Afterward, we went to firehouse subs and they had pepperoni pizza and meatball subs. Does that sound like Dad's dream food or what?!  He loved it. 

We got up super early for a Saturday and played pickleball at 7 a.m. (Dad hates that!)  When we were done he came home and went to sleep for like 3 more hours!  I cleaned up the garage a bit.  Sorted through the old paint and supplies that were left to us when we bought the place. There were about 7 cans of paint that were all dried out. I swept and mopped and tidied. It's not perfect but it's better. I'm trying to tackle little pieces at a time and make it better.  Friday night we went through Dad's clothes in his closet. I'm trying to keep the house nice but somehow we keep accumulating stuff and then I have a hard time parting with it!

Dad moderated the congressional candidate's debate last night (that's a pretty big deal!)  And he did great. Unfortunately, they thought maybe 100 people would come...but more like 200 came. So the room they got wasn't big enough and there were people standing all over the room and chairs willy-nilly everywhere. It was so packed. Which is cool, I guess!

Ben and Laura and Dad came (I knew about Dad, I was surprised to see B&L!)  Everyone really enjoyed the debates...weird, right? It was actually quite interesting. We invited Celeste Maloy (one of the candidates) to come to ice cream afterward...and she stopped in -- but didn't eat. That surprised me!  

AJ came over and hung out again (he actually was here alone for about 45 minutes cause he didn't know we were at the debate).  

I think he's existing but it's hard what he is going through. Poor guy. He just has to get through it and hopefully, there are great things coming in his future. But it's so hard to know that the past 5 years are gone and he has to restart his life, kinda. 

Dallas called and Facetimed me yesterday with a smiling baby girl (well lots but one of them -- Emery -- was really smiling!)  They are getting so big and adorable. 

My thought for the week...during the debate last night Celeste Maloy made a statement that I really liked. She said she didn't like mud-slinging nasty politicians and she didn't want to be one. She said if you have the policy behind you and the facts behind you -- that's all you need. It's only when you don't have either of those that you start distracting people and throwing nasty comments. 

I like that...and it was interesting as we listened to the debate and the other candidate got a little feisty...it made me think...oh you have to be mean...you don't have the policy or facts behind you! haha

So life lesson...Be in the right and keep the high ground and be nice to others. 

I love you lots and hope that you had a fantastic week. Do you have something fun planned for pday? Is everybody staying healthy there? 

(My missionary mom group talked about a couple kids that have come home with some serious illnesses while they were on their missions...like parasites and malaria and crap!!! So take care of yourself and stay healthy!)

Oh, another bizarre news story this week. A young man was visiting relatives in Utah. He is from Florida. He got his mission call while he was here. He was hoping to go to Japan on his mission. He opened the call and he was in fact called to Japan.  After reading his call he suffered heart failure..and died. Seriously...he was dead. That's so crazy. 

I guess I'll sign off now. Look forward to talking to you tomorrow. Love you! mom