She Got the Job!

Hooray! Amy is thrilled! Chris and I are thrilled for her.

She found out on Wednesday, the 20th and began officially as a manager on Monday, April 25th.

She's 17!

Kristen had a busy day on her birthday with school and tennis AND I was the only one who was around to celebrate her birthday. Chris was quarantined to the basement and the Amy and Misha were at school.

I celebrated her with a birthday muffin and added decorations outside her bedroom door for a surprise.

We ordered pizza for her birthday dinner and then Chris, Amy and Misha facetimed with us when Kristen opened gifts.

Crazy to think that our youngest is 17 years old. When these girls were younger, it was hard to imagine that time would fly by so quickly. Kristen will be a senior next year and then after that, she'll be off to college.

Happy birthday Kristen.

Interviewing for a New Job

Working at VASA has been a great blessing for Amy while she has been going to school at BYU. 

Combine that with the time she worked at VASA in Colorado, and she has had quite a bit of experience.

When her friend and manager moved on to a new job, Amy was thrilled to apply for the manager position at VASA. 

She had an informal first interview and has a second interview with more of the management.

Amy is crossing her fingers that she will get the position as it will allow her to work full-time for the summer, give her a good wage, and give her experience that will hopefully work in her favor when applying to the business school.

Chris is Sick

Chris arrived home from a fast-paced, productive week in London yesterday afternoon.

He wasn't feeling too perky this morning when he woke up and had a bit of a scratchy throat. Just to be safe, he took a Covid test.

He tested positive.

He is doing fine right now and just relaxing in the basement watching tv. Probably what he would have been doing in order to recover from the jet lag anyway.

The rest of us will wait five days to test and do our best to avoid interaction. Apparently, wearing a face mask during those five days is the best advice if we do have to be around people.

A Cake from Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A celebrated Kristen's birthday with a cake from Nothing Bundt Cake. 

Chick-fil-A has been a great first job for Kristen and have treated her well.

Job Interview for Amy

Amy has had a first and second interview for a position as the manager at the VASA Fitness Club in Orem across from University Mall. She is really hoping that she gets and is able to earn enough money for Fall semester class. 

Prayers appreciated.

An Early Birthday Dinner

To celebrate Kristen's birthday, the Klines currently living in Colorado went out for dinner.

Misha drove down from Denver to join us, and we enjoyed a dinner at Caprese Trattoria in Longmont complete with birthday ice cream which Misha and Kristen shared.

I forgot to take a picture!

"Squirrel!"

I happened to spy this squirrel just sunning himself on one of the pillars on the deck. I tried to stay out of his line of sight while I grabbed my phone so that I could take a picture without scaring him off.

I walked to the kitchen window and zoomed in. He wasn't completely relaxing. You can tell that he was ready to scamper away at any time.

I came back a couple of minutes later to find two doves sitting in the same spot. They moved before I got a chance to snap a pic of both of them, but I got one!

Last Day of Classes for Amy

To say that she is relieved to have classes over for the semester is a HUGE understatement. Amy still has finals next week, but then she is done.

Broken "Love"

I am totally surprised I didn't hear the crash of a canvas picture and some decor in the middle of the night. I woke to find one of my canvas prints that had this "Love" word sitting on top of it on the floor. 

The print was fine but "Love" was broken to pieces.

Asparagus

My asparagus is already being bounteous in my garden. I planted a bunch last year and had to redo some that didn't come up at all last year. But the plants from last year that successfully grew are now producing nicely already.

It was enough for me, and since Chris wasn't home and Kristen wouldn't eat the stuff, I enjoyed it all by myself.

Prom-posal

Kristen got asked to her friend's prom. Kyle brought a beautiful bunch of flowers. Kyle's prom is April 23rd. 

And just so you know, she asked me to be ready to take pics for her.

Kristen plans to ask Kyle to her prom which is on May 7th. Let's see what kind of creativity she comes up with.

Roses

I like to treat myself to flowers every once in awhile, especially when I find a nice bunch in the clearance area at the grocery store.

These roses lasted for two weeks on my counter.

Treasure Hunting

I am looking for some antique type wrought iron that I can use with my dwarf Meyer lemon tree to hold up the branches when they become heavy with fruit

Crossing my fingers that it will actually blossom for me this year!

I perused the aisles at an antique store without finding much for lemon tree, but I did snap this cool pic out front of a rusty, old bike.

Making Her Own Freckles

I gave Kristen some henna for Christmas. She started practicing with it. I was a little surprised when she came into my office on a Sunday morning with her face looking like this. She likes freckles.

She said not to worry, it wouldn't be that dark when she washed it off.

I was skeptical.

But look how cute and subtle her freckles are!

She would probably even like it if they were a little bit darker.

Dress Shopping

Chris and I took Kristen prom dress shopping. It can be a long process.

While I helped Kristen and ran to get new sizes or search for more options, Chris got a little bored.

Good thing we have electronics to keep us occupied in such moments. 

Macy's used to have cushy seats for people to wait in, but no such luck here.

Sharpen Shears

I have taken my garden hedge shears to Ace in previous years to have them sharpened. When I called this year, the person I talked to suggested that I could probably do it myself with the right tools.

A couple of years ago the girls gave me a knife sharpener and that is exactly what I used for the hedging tool. I had to taken the blades apart (and I should have taken pictures as Chris suggested), but I was able to try sharpening and it worked. 

I did have to find a photo online to make sure I got the blades back together in the right way.

I think I will probably do it again and run the blade through the sharpener more times, but that certainly cuts down on the cost of paying someone else to sharpen them for me. I also sharpened and cleaned all of my hand snips as well. 

If you have never watched Garden Answer on Youtube, (click the link to see her full line of videos) you should give this couple a try. Their videos answer so many of my questions and are pretty interesting to watch.

Misha Came to Help

Misha came to help with yard work today and it was such a blessing to have the extra help.

She helped us with trimming back bushes and branches, turning the compost in the bin and then adding new stuff to my garden beds. This is the first year that we have had great mulch to add!

She also power washed both decks. We have a new home subdivision being built to the west of us and our house is so dirty from the wind blowing dirt our way.

Thanks Misha!

Chris' Curls

I have always thought that Chris would have amazing hair if he let it grow long. Don't worry, he's not going to go that far, but back in October he decided he wanted to grow it out from the closely cut look he has always had. 

I love his hair. It is so nice to run my fingers through.

I looked over at the back of his hair in church today and noted all of the curls on the back of his head.

Locked in the Carwash

It was time to get my car washed. In fact, it was probably overdue.

I used the drive thru carwash not too far from our house.

I must not have been situated on the sensors properly because when it was time to leave, the front door of the car wash wouldn't open. I inched a little closer and nothing. A little closer...

Finally, I looked around a noted a phone number on the wall and gave it a quick call. "Hey. I can't get out of the car wash!"

The owner then saw me on camera and said he would send someone right over. I asked if they were on site or if they had to come from a distance. Fortunately, the employee opened the rear door right away and then hit the button for the front door. It didn't work.

Thankfully, there was a reset button and I was finally able to leave! Whew.

And So the Yard Work Begins...

As much as I don't enjoy the cold of winter, it is a wonderful respite from yard work that seems to keep us busy and sore for much of the summer.

Yesterday was the beginning of the marathon Saturday work days.

Chris began by mowing the lawn to remove a lot of the dead grass. He then fertilized it.

I started by trimming bushes and trees in the front yard. I did happen to notice that my tulips are started to poke through the mulch. Yay for that.

Since I really needed to get started on reviving my garden beds, I began that project next with the goal of getting at least one bed ready to plant peas. I'm a little late in planting them, but I think it will work out with travel plans later this summer for when the peas will be ready to pick.

I planted parsley last summer and left it in the garden over the winter. It is growing again which is nice to see.

I turned over dirt in all of the beds, clean out the extra leaves from around the strawberry plants, and finally got the pea seeds in the ground.

Chris and Kristen painted the fence around the garden.

Chris and I had thought to build new garden boxes, but when we looked at the outlandish prices of wood, we decided to make do with the boxes for another year or two. The wood would have cost over $500.

Chris finished up by added a pre-emergent weed control all around the yard. Fingers crossed it works!

Pathway Class Update

I am at 12 weeks of the 14-week Pathway Book of Mormon class that I teach. I have approximately

nine students that attend regularly and it has been fun to get to know their personalities during

this time.

 

With Daylight Saving Time, my class should have adjusted one hour, however, much of the

Caribbean does not recognize DST. So I had one student show up at the right time last week and

the rest of the class showed up an hour later.

 

I did send an email letting them know about the change, but apparently, none of them read the

emails I send!

Since it is easier for me to adjust one hour ahead (for everyone else it is still their regular time) the class now meets at 6 pm for me instead of 5 pm.

California Spring Break - Day 6

The Hampton Inn advertised a hot breakfast and the girls were looking forward to the

possibility of waffles for breakfast. They were not disappointed. This was the first hotel in the

past two years that has had an actual breakfast instead of a bagged fare with an orange,

muffin, and some kind of juice.

We left our luggage and the van parked at the hotel. Valet parking in San Francisco was

$50 + 15% tax.

 

Our day started with an Urban Adventure Quest scavenger hunt in downtown San Francisco.

We set off in the wrong direction at first, turned around, and walked back.

 

Yes, there were a lot of homeless people around.

 

The scavenger had us stopping at Yerba Buena Park for our first set of clues. We spent a couple of hours on Wednesday morning and into the early afternoon discovering parts of downtown San Francisco and learning more of the history of the area.

We found clues at:

Union Square

Chinatown

The Cable Car Museum

Kristen had to have a few nose plugging shots similar to the last time we visited San Francisco when she was 5.

We took the trolley to Fisherman's Wharf and continued with clues in Ghirardelli Square (FYI there were no free chocolates at the Ghirardelli Shop) and finished our scavenger hunt at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.

It was lunch time and we were all hungry. Chris found us a bus to Presidio (a 1,500-acre park at the Golden Gate Bridge on a former military post).

Lunch was at Pizza By the Slice. I lucked out with a huge salad a meatballs while the other three had pizza.

Our time in San Francisco was running out quickly. We walked around the Presidio and noted the Lodge, the Disney Museum, the Yoda Fountain, and the Palace of Fine Arts.

Palace of Fine Arts in the day time.

We stopped at a small fortune cookie making factory.

Cool art wall.

Chris ordered an Uber since there were no buses that would get us back to the hotel in time.

Unfortunately, even though Chris called to request our van be brought to the front door, the valet service dropped the ball and didn't even go to get the van until we got there. That took another 20 minutes and slowly ate away at the time planned for getting to the airport. We still had to get gas as well.

We finally reached the airport, dropped off the van, took the train from the rental car tower to Terminal 3 at the airport and raced to gate 17 after passing through security. Our flight was boarding as we arrived.

California Spring Break - Day 5

We checked out of the VRBO this morning, gassed up at Costco, and started back toward San Jose.

Amy had a flight to catch around 4 pm, so we had the day to explore.

 

Since the sun was shining, I requested a stop at Capitola again for a few more pictures of the colorful homes on a bright sunshiny day.

Perfect with the reflection.

Our next stop was at the wharf in Santa Cruz. The girls looked for souvenirs. The water around the pier was busy with families playing at the beach, some people swimming, a few boaters, and plenty of seals barking and playing in the water. The seals were pretty noisy and entertaining.

 

Chris and I wanted to check out the Santa Cruz Lighthouse and arch rocks along the coast. We wandered through the trees before finally deciding we weren’t all that close to the lighthouse. As we headed to the road, we came across the Steamer Lane Supply lunch spot. It had people lined up outside for takeaway and looked liked a popular spot.

 

Chris got in line and texted the girls to come and have lunch.

I spied the lighthouse and went to take a few pictures while Chris waited in line.

 

It was the perfect spot for lunch. Again, four of us had fish tacos and Kristen had a hot dog.

 

Chris mentioned a covered bridge close by and stopped so I could get a few pictures. We then continued on to Crowell State Park for a short “hike” (no elevation gain this time). We walked less than a mile along the Redwood Grove Loop Trail. Add on the extra mile in and mile out and it was a perfect jaunt for the afternoon.

 

And then sherbet at Penny Ice Creamery. Chris, Amy, Misha and Kristen were talking about the flavors they wanted to choose and I suggested they just get a pint of one flavor and share. That was definitely the cheaper option and everyone seemed to agree on Lemon Sherbet. (Non-ice cream since Amy has to avoid dairy as much as possible.)

We had just enough time to get Amy to the airport at 4 pm.

The four of us continued on to San Francisco. Instead of going to the hotel first, Misha suggested we go check out the bridge and get some sunset pictures. We were a little early for sunset but just in time for dinner.

 

Again, Yelp for the win. I found Pearl 1601. We didn’t realize it would be as spendy as it was, but this time the food was definitely great. It was all freshly made pasta with cheese based sauces. Amy wouldn’t have appreciated it.

 

Sunset was beginning as we exited the restaurant. Chris drove us toward the bridge. We stopped first on the East side of the bridge for some great shots and then drove to the Fort Point side for more shots looking at the bridge with the sun in the foreground.

Beautiful.

 

Our final stop was at the Palace of Fine Arts before settling in at the Hampton Inn in downtown San Francisco.