Greed

Tonight, my daughter and I left to grab a bite for dinner.
My dog, Chester, wasted no time and ran downstairs into the room where
my daughter is [temporarily] storing her boxes after moving back home.

He managed to locate a bag full of chocolaty cookies.
He carefully pulled the package out of this bag and pulled it into the hallway.
He then went back into the room to find more yummy treasures.
As he did, somehow, the door to the room shut.
Trapping him inside, and worse, separating him from his cookies.
My husband came home shortly after and discovered the dog in his predicament.
Chester was freed from his prison, and never got to eat his treasure.

We make poor and irrational decisions if our decision is motivated by greediness: greed for monetary gain; greed that results in a conflict of interest; desire for power, titles, and recognition of men.

“He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.” (Prov. 15:27.)

Robert D Hales

Children's Museum

My brother-in-law took his kids on an outing today, His wife is recovering from delivering a baby and is in great need of resting and healing. I love these kids so very much and quickly volunteered myself to help. Here is a glimpse of our day… [it ends rather abruptly, but I don't have the inclination to fix it... after-all, I am an amateur!]

Father’s Day Surprise

My brother and his family are on vacation. They are in Washington DC. They paid a visit to someone I know…

Gadgets are a girls best friend

I am not a big “bling” kinda gal.
Multipack earrings from Claire’s are right down my alley.
When asked, I can never think of a want.
It is easy to understand why my family names me as
the person most difficult to gift.

We all shout for joy when a new (affordable) gadget
catches my eye and peaks my interest.
This year, was such a year.

Thanks to Kylee’s great editing skills,
she put together the great video from a
recent outing to see the lights at the SLC Temple,
where we had the opportunity to put this
great gadget to the test.

HERE is a link to her great video.
(Thanks to Neale for letting us tag along!)

3 girls and a city

Taylor went back to school today.
But not before a girls trip to New York City.

We took the redeye Wednesday,
slept as much as we could on the plane,
took a wild taxi ride to the hotel,
was lucky enough to check into a room at 7:30AM,
took a nap for a couple of hours,
then hit the ground, running.

We DID NOT STOP for 4 whole days.

We toured, shopped, ate, theatered, subwayed, museumed, walked,
walked, walked, walked, walked and walked.

We learned a lot about the city and ourselves.
We decided how to best approach our next trip.
We  discovered so many new loves.

Be sure to check Kylee’s blog for details and awesome photos!
Check back here too…. I may be able to muster up a post or two.

Finally…

Two years later, we finally made it back to Lake Powell. (A crazy year, coupled with bad timing, caused us  to cancel all of last years plans.)  We hit the road Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a leisurely drive, taking in the beauty along the way…



As usual, we camped at the Super 8 in Page… Kylee and friends managed to find a friend. Without delay, I was summoned to remove him from the premises.

Setting aside unwanted guests, we hiked, relaxed, read, napped, swam, played, and laughed for three full days…

Best part

The best part of my day yesterday…

1. Waking up early and making birthday breakfast with my husband
2. Sharing breakfast with Evan’s sister and a couple of her kids.
3. My nephew Jacob, LOVING my homemade Blackberry Buttermilk Syrup.
4. Getting to know Michaela Smolíková from the Czech Republic.
5. A thoughtful, homemade gift from my oldest daughter.
6. A phone call and birthday wishes from my youngest daughter.
7. Being able to tell my youngest… you will be home in TWO WEEKS!
8. Grocery shopping with the hubby.
9. A birthday text from Tamra.
10. A text message from new friends… an invitation to join them in their traditional candy dipping.
11. A plateful of homemade chocolate dipped yumminess.
12. Still being the #1 pick of my daughter, to escort her on her errand.
13. A birthday text from Amy.
14. Birthday dinner at The Spaghetti Factory… never a disappointment.
15. Secretly video taping the “play by play” of the BYU game.
    
    
    
    
16. Laughing with my husband as I share the “secret video”.
17. Staying up late, discussing “life” with my husband.
18. Spending my day with people I love, and knowing they love me.

the…

(the photographer... me, & mostly Kylee!)

July’s travel log…

On Sunday, Evan left for Phoenix for a business trip.
He was gone only a few days, but we scheduled a slight detour.

Bright and early Wednesday morning, the girls and I packed up the car,
dropped Chester off at Grandpa & Grandmas
and started our road trip.

First destination, Las Vegas.
Only for dinner and a nights rest…
but not before picking up an extra passenger.
Evan joined us and was our chauffer to our final destination…

But first, a cold trip to the beach
where we laid around, took pictures (acquiring some scrapes in the process)
and shivered.

it was relaxing, in spite of the chill.

We spent the next three days in the park.
After the first day, I came to accept two facts.
1] no matter what care and attention I pay to my feet, Disney always delivers blisters
2] prickly heat has become a permanent part of my early summer wardrobe

 

I will share more later.
As for now, I am tired and I am so very much looking forwarding to sleeping in my own surroundings!!
It is not very Disney…. but it is fitting to say
There is no place like home!

Thank You Harry

Dear Harry Potter:

Thank you for giving my girls something to love for so many years.
Thank you for the gift of reading… over and over again.
Thank you for their excitement before each new movie.
Thank you for inspiring them to get good grades so they could skip school after each midnight premier.

Thank you for inspiriting others and their great creativity.(see below)

You will be missed.

Crazy about Harry.

Kicking off a 3 day weekend…

After a spontaneous decision, Kylee packed her bags
and took off to Portland with some friends.
Determined to have some fun of our own,
the rest of us kicked off the weekend with a bang.
(Literally!)

We started our day with a movie…
Transformers at the new Cinemark down the street.
Followed by few errands that we had to get out of the way,
especially if we wanted to eat!

Later, we threw some chairs in the back of the truck,
packed a small cooler with some water,
grabbed the camera and the dog,
and headed west to Riverton for some fireworks!

Staycation

We were supposed to be in Lake Powell.
We made a difficult, but responsible decision
… and canceled the trip.

We continued to work for the rest of the week.
Except
…today.

The girls and I are going to play.
…and maybe get a sunburn!

Grand Finale

Tonight was Taylor’s last High School Choir Concert… and it did not disappoint.

It was such a bitter-sweet experience.
The program was the best yet!!
The realization that this was the end was saddening.

We have had 6 full years of great experiences here.
Kylee with dance, Taylor with choir. Both with good friends and positive experiences.
Evan and I both agree…. we will miss Jordan High School!

Here is a taste of what we enjoyed tonight.

and this…

String

Two nights ago, the doorbell rang.
It was dark outside,
and no one was there.
But this was:

so, she did.

Mind you, it was cold, and she was barefoot.
She followed the string past the neighbors,
across the street,
back across the street,
around the corner,
around to the next street,
and half way down that block.
(Nearly 1/4 mile by my calculations,)

At the end of her task,
she found this:

so she did.

When she arrive home,
this was at the door:

(Also attached was a bag of m&m’s and a name.)

I, being concerned that the neighborhood cats
would clothesline themselves as they
scurried around the neighborhood at night,
set out to gather the string that led Taylor
on this treasure hunt.

As I gathered it, I realized that I was going to
end up with one GIANT ball of yarn.
So, our project began…

We collected a variety of silly jokes.

Created tags.

Tied it to the yarn.

And ended up with a large ball of
SILLY STRING.

Her answer was tucked in at the very end of the line.
”No joke… it would be silly for me to say NO,
so my answer is YES!”