A New Lawnmower

And you might be thinking, "Is your life so dull that you have to talk about a lawnmower?"  This wasn't just any lawnmower--a zero-turn RIDING lawnmower.  A lawnmower that actually made Misha smile!

Chris often tells me what he would like and then I go in search of the item on Craigslist.  I found this beauty a couple of weeks ago for a great price.

The owner inherited it from some other guy and it was barely used, but gas had been left sitting in it for three years.  After a couple of weeks waiting for it to be tuned up, Chris and I finally headed to Boulder to pick it up.  We borrowed a trailer from Mike next door.

I didn't take Misha hardly any time at all to figure out the workings of the mower and off she rode, happily mowing the lawn.

Service Project

There was definitely a bit of grumbling from our peeps when we participated in a service project to tidy up the landscaping of our local schools.  Granted, there was plenty of working that we could be doing at our house, but it was good to join with friends in service. 

We cleaned Prairie Ridge Elementary School.  Misha and I worked together to cut back some of the overgrown rose bushes and plants outside the teachers classroom doors, making it easier for children to exit without being attacked by overgrown bushes.  The work went quickly and we were headed home for what....more work!

Kristen Babysitting

Kristen had her second opportunity to babysit.  The first time, the little boy slept the whole time.  This time, our future neighbor, Jamie, had fun playing with Kristen.  She planned ahead with activities, putting together the racetrack, and getting out all of the toy cars we had (we don't have that many!).  I think Jamie's parents were a little more comfortable leaving him with Kristen to babysit at our house.  Sometimes new parents have to broken in a little when it comes to leaving their babies. 

Kristen got out her iPad when it was getting later and took pictures of Jamie and herself using an app that would then distort their faces in crazy ways.  Jamie thought the pictures of him were hilarious.  Kristen and I couldn't stop laughing at him laughing.

Taking Friends to See the Temple

We took our new neighbors along with some good friends to the Ft. Collins Temple Open House.  Kristen hung out with Jamie, which was probably a good thing for a two-year old boy, because they rushed ahead of the adults and played outside while waiting for us.  We enjoyed sharing the temple with our friends and hope they felt the spirit of that magnificent building.

The Beach

Our beach has been a major project this summer and will continue to be so for at least a little while.  Beyond needing to fix the container, we have had a flagstone patio installed, and built a gazebo.  I saw this gazebo at Costco one day, and noticing the price, thought, "You couldn't buy all of the pieces separately to make the gazebo and keep the cost below that."  I brought Chris back to Costco a couple of days later and he agreed.  So we bought the kit in the Spring and planned to put it together in the Summer.

Construction on the gazebo has taken a lot of man hours.  We've had a couple of friends come to help us, bribing them with jet ski breaks.  We finally finished the last steps on the gazebo this past Saturday (though there were a few steps we had to back track on).  It required at least four sets of hands to get that roof on!  But we are pleased with how it turned out.  And thanks to those who helped!

Feeling Blue

All of my girls were sick in the first two weeks of school starting.  Sadly, it hit Kristen the second week in and the day before the auditions for Cinderella.  Earlier in the summer when Kristen saw that the school was going to perform Cinderella, she was thrilled.  She practiced her monologue, she learned the audition song, she prepared about as well as she knew how.  Sunday morning before the audition, Kristen woke up with a froggy, sore throat.  We tried all of the home remedies we knew, but to no avail.  On Monday morning, Kristen was still hoarse.

As I drove to the school on Monday afternoon to pick up Kristen from the auditions, I watched as she walked to the car and just knew that the floodgates were about to burst.  She climbed in to the front seat and started a hoarse cry.  "Mom, I prayed and I prayed and I prayed.  All day long I prayed that I would be able to sing and remember all my lines.  I bombed."

This poor mom's heart was about to break because I knew that her heart was breaking.  "This was my start in acting..."  Ahhh, my sweet girl.

But, it was a tough lesson.  "Sweetheart.  I am so sorry.  I know you worked hard for this and you prayed, but sometimes...the answer is no."  It wasn't the answer she wanted, and she was still so sad, but I could tell that a peace enveloped this sweet girl's heart.

Temple Service

With Chris helping to facilitate getting ushers for two of the days of the Ft. Collins open house, he was also asked to be at the temple on both of those days.  Knowing that he couldn't drop his work for two whole days, he asked if I would help by spending half of the day as the usher coordinator.  I was happy to oblige.

Chris was originally asked to provide 40 some people for each day, but because August 18th was a VIP day, it was not projected to have nearly so many people in attendance.  The numbers were dropped to around 30.  When I arrived, however, the coordinators were surprised that our numbers were so low.  Classic case of miscommunication.  Because of that, I would be filling a spot as an usher instead of helping in the coordination and filling of positions.  That was okay.  I was just happy to be at the temple.  I was "placed" outside of the temple next to the hosting tent.  It was hot and I made sure to stay in the shade as much as possible.  (Some people take selfies and look stunning.  I... do not.  But Moroni does!)

The gentleman that Chris had been working with, Mike Weida, brought me water after awhile.  I couldn't see that my being at the particular position was all that helpful since most people were with a guide.  Fortunately, after two hours, Mike took me inside the temple where it was cooler (and before the day took a rainy turn).  I got to stand outside the Bride's room and also used a hand-held counter to keep track of the visitors for the day.

I spent four hours at this position.  Chris arrived around 2:30 and was given the usher post by the Celestial Room.  Mike Weida relieved me of my post around 3:00 pm, and I headed home.  Traffic was a bear.

Amy and Misha along with their respective best friends, Allie and Megan, volunteered to help at the temple on Saturday afternoon.  They helped put booties on people's feet before they went in to the temple.  They were able to sit out front and in the shade.

Deoderant Double-Duty

Kristen remembered on Friday afternoon as she got off the bus that she left her gym clothes at school.  "That's okay," she said, "my deoderant is in the bag and will hopefully keep it from smelling."

Hmmmmm....

STOP

I picked Kristen up from the bus stop just as the rain started to pour.  As she hopped in to the Pilot, I gratefully noticed the long line of cars that had stopped in both directions and said, "Look at all the traffic that you stopped."

She quipped, "I'm a woman people stop for!"

The Dock

Chris ordered a dock for our beach at the beginning of July.  Some of the parts were back ordered so we had to wait until August for it to arrive.  It came on a huge semi.  We were fortunate that the landscapers had machinery down at the beach that they could help unload it with.  For a forty-foot dock, it came in a rather small package.

Amy and Misha Back to School

Amy and Misha went back to school on Wednesday, enjoying one extra day of freedom.  They started their day with seminary.  It was too early for pictures as they rushed to get to seminary on time.

19

I remember when Chris and I were first married, we pondered the question, "What do you think our life will be like 20 years from now?"  While we haven't quite reached that twenty-year milestone, I can safely say that we could have never imagined then the life we have now.  God is good and blesses us in ways that are far beyond our imagination.

He brought me flowers.

Kristen's First Day of School

Oh, she was nervous.  There were a few tears on Tuesday morning, and frustration, and doubt.  Kristen has attended the same school for the past seven years from Pre-school to 5th Grade.   Change was a little unnerving for her.

Now that she was in 6th Grade, Kristen got up early to read scriptures with Amy and Misha at 5:45.  Her bus came at 6:45, so she had plenty of time to get ready after scriptures, even a little time to doze again if she wanted.

We didn't have time for early morning first-day-of-school pictures, so I tried to snap a few as she headed to the bus.

Another Beautiful Sunset

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

IKEA

Kristen has been asking to go to IKEA all summer long, and I have wanted to pick up a few things.  On the last day of her summer break, she and I road tripped down to Highlands Ranch and spent a couple of hours wandering through the store.

The carts have crazy wheels but are necessary in navigating down this escalator.

We are looking forward to having a new IKEA closer to home, but that won't be for another two or three years.  Until then, we'll have to make a day of it.

Ft. Collins Sneak Preview

Chris was asked to help facilitate the ushering assignments in our stake for the Ft. Collins open house on two days during the open house--August 18 and September 2.  It had taken a lot of his time getting things coordinated, answering questions, sending out emails, and filling new requests.  Because of his service, our family was offered the opportunity to attend a sneak peak of the Ft. Collins temple.  It was meant to be a dry run to make sure the tour was staffed as needed, to make sure that the tour ran smoothly, and to ensure that the number of volunteers was sufficient to handle large amounts of people.  We were thrilled to attend.

The temple was amazing and beautiful, and we were excited for its close proximity to our home.  I noticed as we walked through the temple, that Kristen would press her thumb against the floral decoration on the door knobs.  She was already allowing the temple to have an impression on her life.

We saw some of our friends and enjoyed time soaking up the beauty of a night well spent.

And the sunset as we drove home...beyond beautiful.

iPad Pick Up

This idea of going back to school has always been met with excitement in previous years for Kristen.  She has always loved school and learning and friends.  6th grade, now that was a big, fat scary deal--new school, new friends, new teachers, a bus ride.  A couple of days before school officially started, the school had iPad pick up for sixth grade students and new-to-the-district students.  Kristen and I walked in to the school library to find two friends from elementary school, and already things were looking up.

This was Kristen with her own iPad before getting the school-issued iPad.  She'll keep hers and leave it at home during the day.  Since she isn't able to add so many apps to the school-issued device, I'm sure this one will still get used and be loved.

Swimming Lessons 2016

Kristen has been taking swimming lessons at Sunset Pool for the past two weeks.  It was a good time of the summer to sign her up as the classes, parking lot, and pool aren't nearly so crowded.  Unless she were to take diving or advanced classes, I think she has progressed about as far as she can with swimming lessons.  She  is a good swimmer and it makes me more confident letting her swim down at the beach.

Youth Temple Trip

Misha went with a group of youth from church to the Denver Temple.  It hadn't been announced much in advance, so Amy did not know to request that evening off and was not able to get someone to take her shift.  She was sad to miss the opportunity.  For Misha, it was probably one of the last trips she will make to the Denver Temple as the new Ft. Collins Temple will be dedicated on October 16, 2016.

While I Was Gone

While I was in Utah visiting my family, Chris and the girls held down the fort.  Amy worked some, they attended Tacy's open house (she was our babysitter for many years), and they drove up in to the mountains.  I have come to the conclusion that I was really homesick for them.  I enjoyed visiting my family and parents, but I sure did miss my peeps.

Chris worked down at the beach trying to get his solar system set up, while the landscapers worked on installing our flagstone patio.  This was the picture he sent me to show the progress.

A Quick Trip to Utah

My parents planned a visit to Utah for a couple of weeks.  Knowing their schedule, I booked a flight a couple of months ago to spend a weekend visiting them and the rest of my family.  Having Amy as a driver made leaving so much easier as she was able to drive her sisters places, and take my place in driving Kristen to her swimming lessons.  Chris was home in the evenings but working in Ft. Collins during the day.

I checked parking before leaving the house and found that the Pikes Peak lot was a full.  Boo.  That meant I had to go all the way out to the Mt. Elbert lot.  Not my favorite lot.  It is just too far away.  For the distance, it should at least be a lower daily fee.  Chris suggested that I leave a little earlier, like right then.  I was packed and just waiting to leave.  

This sad face was my last view as I backed out of the garage and watched the door close.  Poor girl would miss her mom.  

I found my way to Mt. Elbert and parked, noticing that a shuttle bus was close by.  I hurried to the closest waiting area and it moved on before I could reach it.  The blessing was that the driver must have seen me jogging with my luggage in tow to his next stop and waited for me.  Lucky for me, since that was his last stop before heading toward the terminal.

I planned to carry on my luggage so I bypassed check-in and went straight to security.  When Chris last checked, the wait on the south end was only supposed to be ten minutes.  Hmmm, things must have gotten a little busy and by the time I finally got through security and its long winding line, I had waited 30 minutes.  No worries, I still had plenty of time before my flight boarded.

For a Friday afternoon, it was not a very full flight.  I found an aisle seat where my window seat mate had "claimed" the middle seat with her laptop.  My perk as I enjoyed an empty middle seat next to me, and she slept most if the way.

We landed on time and I met up with my older brother Brad as I exited the terminal.  We stopped at Costa Vida for takeout, close to Thanksgiving Point, and drove up the hill to his home.  My parents were staying with him.  I hadn't seen them since Christmas, and Brad since January. Nice to be together.

My dad went fishing with my other brother, Dallin, on Saturday morning, and Brad had to work.  My mom and I shopped for awhile at the Outlet Stores at Traverse Mountain for the morning.  I had an eye appointment with Brad just after noon.  We hurried to pick up my dad as he returned from a very successful fishing trip and then headed to Draper and "The Practice" to see Brad and get my eyes checked.

When I had my eye appointment last October, my other Optometrist brother, Dallin who works with along with Brad at the practice, told me that though my prescription had changed, it wasn't enough to warrant a lens change if I wasn't noticing a difference with my glasses.  I wasn't.  Then.  It was in the last couple of months that I noticed that my progressives weren't working quite so well no matter how hard I tried.

I also picked out a new pair of sunglasses.  Most people, according to my brother, are not quite so picky as I am, but I need to be able to put the glasses on my head without the nose pieces catching in my hair; the nose piece needs to be a solid plastic piece.  I finally found a pair of Maui Jim's.

We made a quick stop at Harmon's on our way back to Brad's.  While in the store, it started to pour rain and hail.  After checking out, we stood under the awning for a time waiting for the hail to let up, but it continued on.  My mom just happened to have an umbrella in her purse, so Brad made a run for his truck and came back to pick us up under the drive through grocery-loading area.  We dropped my Dad off at his car, and then wisely chose to head over to the gas station where we waited under the awnings until the hail stopped.  It was crazy.  My mom noticed that the back window in their car was opened.  She opened up Brad's back window in his truck and yelled at my dad to close it.

We decided to chance driving home as the hail seemed to let up, but we hadn't gone too far when we pulled off at a Maverick gas station and weathered the hail storm under the semi truck gassing area.  Fortunately the area was empty.

We waited for another five to ten minutes and then headed around the point of the mountain to Lehi.  And suddenly the rain and hail stopped completely.  The road was totally dry.

Brad and my dad worked on Brad's new deck for the rest of the afternoon while my mom and I snoozed and watched tv.  We chose Zupa's as a place for dinner and went down together to get takeout.  It is a popular restaurant in Utah now.  I ordered a kale and quinoa sandwich with a Tuscan enchilada soup.  It was so-so.  The soup was seriously salty.

Sunday morning dawned not so early with the huge mountains looming in the East.  I got up and went for a walk.  I walked the same path as Saturday morning, but slower for a Sunday morning.

Church was at 9 am and then we relaxed for the afternoon until we went to Dallin's for a family dinner.  We did not realize that it was not only Dallin's family, but also Donna's as well.  People overload.  The food was great, especially the desserts.

I went with my youngest brother, Mitch, and Brad on Monday morning to hike up to Timpanogos Cave.  It was a popular early-morning exercise spot.  Mitch does the hike numerous times a week. It kicked my butt.  I started out at his pace but wow, I am not in that kind of uphill climbing shape.  I had Brad and Mitch continue on ahead of me to the top and met them as they came back down.  Still a couple of miles and a good workout.  Mitch said that one of the ladies did this hike two or three times every day.  Uggghh.

I had forgotten to check-in for my Southwest flight and was glad that I remembered about twenty minutes late. I got B16.  Not too bad for checking in late.  Must not be a very full flight.

Brad had the day off so he and Dad continued working on the deck.  Mom was happy that I took her shopping.  We went first to a great little shop called Rod Works.  I got some great ideas.  We then headed over to Thanksgiving Point and were sorely disappointed to find out that they had closed the Emporium and were planning to replace it was a butterfly pavilion.  What the heck!  Butterflies?  That was the best store ever.  Chris and I bought our first Christmas tree there and still use it every year.  

We drove back to Brad's house (I drove my parent's car), made lunch, and then my mom and I went down to American Fork to Hobby Lobby and Seagull.  We had originally thought to go to the Parade of Homes, but would have only had four hours or so.  Seemed not worth it when you had to buy tickets for $15; Brad was happy to have Dad helping him on the deck.  I didn't want to take away a good work day for him.

They stopped after 4 pm so that Dad could get in some more fishing time up American Fork Canyon.  I came up later with Mitch for a picnic.  We stopped at Jimmy John's for sandwiches.  Dallin and Donna brought their kids up after their dinner so that the kids could fish with Grandpa.

Donna wasn't fishing, she just got stuck holding them.

I was up early Tuesday morning for my 7:50 flight back to Denver.  Brad drove me to the airport, leaving his house just before 6 am.  Security took about twenty minutes.  As I arrived at my gate, I quickly learned that the Salt Lake Southwest Airlines computers were down.  I was feeling proud of myself for using my iPhone to check-in, but to speed up boarding, I took my phone to the help desk and they created this lovely written boarding pass.

Our flight was a half hour late boarding and then leaving.  I left my backpack on the seat next to me and was happy to have another empty seat beside me for this flight.  I wasn't sure if anyone would be home when I arrived since the girls had to go to the high school to do registration stuff in the morning and then Amy took Kristen to swim lessons.  I guess she brought Misha back to the house because she greeted me with a great big hug when I arrived.

I was impressed that the house was mostly clean and tidy.  They are good kids.

Kristen and Amy returned home from swim lessons around 11:45.  Kristen came racing up the stairs yelling, "Mommy....."  So nice to know that I was missed.

My Dad's Converse

My dad taught his first couple of years of high school in Utah.  At the end of the year, the students would leave school for the summer and leave behind much of the stuff in their lockers.  My dad said that the janitors collected a pile of shoes about five feet tall and eight feet wide.  They invited my dad to look through the pile and find shoes that would fit him.  My dad picked out about eight pairs of shoes that were relatively brand new.  As a poor teacher 53 years ago, those shoes were a blessing.

These Converse were a pair that he picked out of that pile and he has worn them over the years when fishing.  They are definitely worn on the soles and not so effective for climbing over slippery rocks, but he has a hard time parting with them.  The Converse have lasted him well.