Loads of Towels

Even though we brought home all clean clothes, there were some in the hampers from before we left.  And all the miscellaneous laundry while we were gone.

I ended up doing SEVEN loads of towels today. 

Pool towels, kitchen towels, bathroom towels.  Where in the world did they all come from???

I just crossed off every other thing on my to do list and realized it was just going to be a laundry day.

There is something satisfying about having it all done, though.

Getting Together For Josh's Bday

Church was good.  Nice to be back.  We had a good lesson in RS on Obedience.

The kids were here for Josh's Bday dinner and our monthly FHE.  We had round steak with mushroom gravy, and potatoes, with vegetables.  And we had strawberry shortcake for his bday cake.

Gidget is getting better.  Only a little 'naughty' today.  She has that puppy energy.  She goes and goes and goes and then conks out.  Everyone is tired.  It's been a long week for all of us.

Interstate 15

We drove home today.  We left around 7am.  This means we will get home in plenty of time for Christine to get showered and ready to go to the Stake Dance.  Some things are very important, you know!

It was uneventful and seemed to go by quickly.  Of course, I slept for a few hours early on, and I'm sure that made it feel shorter.  I made a lot of progress on the cross-stitching I'm working on.

All at home was good.  Josh and Mere and Gidge came over.  Mere went with me to the market at 9 o'clock at night.  I was so grateful for the company.  I was tired.  We got everything for Josh's birthday dinner tomorrow.  Poor thing.  She will probably spend most of her time on the couch instead of in the kitchen.

Corn Wagon Quilt Company----> Deer Creek

This is the Corn Wagon Quilt shop.

It is in Springville, Utah.

I have heard a lot about it and this was my first opportunity to go to it.

Duff and Christine were gracious enough to go there after we picked Chris up from lax camp.  I know she was anxious to get home and shower, and I appreciate them being good sports to go with me.

They stayed in the car and napped with all the windows open under the shade of a big tree, and I ventured in.  I wanted to get some baby receiving blanket kits.  I usually get them or order them from another company and I wanted to see what CWQuilts had. 

When I first walked in it was kind of like the first time I ever walked into TaiPan.  I just had to stand there for a minute and take it all in.  A little overwhelming.  But a good overwhelming.  ONE day, it is my dream to get into quilting.  (right now I just feel like I have too many other big unfinished projects to get done.  Like some family history stuff nagging at me....)

They had the nicest staff.  Walked me to just what I was there for and answered all my questions.  It was really fun to think of all the possiblilites!

After I selected my purchases, I walked through the whole store.  My problem is I want one of everything!  It just speaks to me.  I got lots of great ideas logged away!

On our way home, Christine got a text from Taylor and they were at the beach at Deer Creek.  We drove as fast as we dared and met up with Jennifer and Taylor and Jonah, and Leslie and Attysen.  That was a fun surprise!  Didn't know Leslie was down from Idaho.  By this time it was early evening and the temps had cooled off.  We had a quick but good visit under the trees.  The kids got to catch up, which was good.  Taylor has just finished his last chemo treatment and is getting ready for radiation.  His doctors are very encouraged for a positive outcome at the end of August when it is done.  What a blessing because at the beginning of the year things did not look like they would end well with this nasty cancer.

We headed off to start cleaning so we can leave in the morning and they headed home.  Leslie was going back to Idaho tomorrow also.



BYU Lacrosse Camp 2011

 Christine and her roommate from Washington state, Rilee.  She plays mid-field.

 With Couch Dix Barnes.

Christine and BYU Women's Lacrosse goalie, Gretchen Schwartz.

Christine received the Heart of the Team award this year.  Every camp team wanted her to play goalie for them. 

Interesting thing: when we picked her up, the camp coach talked to Duff and I about her.  He told us he has never seen someone at her age play at her level in her position.  He said her attitude and abilities are above and beyond. He put his camp assistants from the women's team on goal against her and told them to have at it.  She blocked at least 50% of the shots.  He wanted to know if she had any interest in playing for BYU during college????!!!!

WHAT?

Well, YEAH!!!

This is in no way any announcement, but it sure made her and us pretty dang excited.  Gretchen told her all camp long that she could easily play for the Y and hoped she would make that her goal.

She had a good experience and learned a lot.  She was grateful the weather was more tolerable than last year.

Birthday Greetings For Joshua

to JOSH!

Have the best day ever! Wish we were there.  We'll be home tomorrow and we can celebrate on Sunday.

Love,

Mom, Dad, and Christine

xoxo

Sundance Dinner

David went fishing early this morning again.  He is determined to catch something.  He has a good sense of humor about getting skunked!

He and Linda wanted to take us to dinner at Sundance tonight.

It was a beautiful evening.

Sundance was cool and peaceful.  And so GREEN.  Almost like we were in another world. We walked around for almost an hour just taking in the beauty. The skies threatened and decided to open once we were safely inside enjoying our dinner.

 We have never seen the water this high and this fast.

On the road up to Sundance, there are some places where the river has eroded the bank clear to the asphalt.  Trees and bushes have fallen over.

 The predominant color--other than green--seemed to be all sorts of purples.

 Linda and David.

 This part of the river had wreaked some damage.  It took out the entire asphalt walkway/path to the right.  Lots of sandbags to prevent more and keep the water where it needs to be.  In most parts, the river was all the way up to the under side of the bridges.  I had sandals on and you could feel the wet cold on your toes and feet.  As it would hit the bridge it would spray up and over it!

It is just craziness to see so much snow on the mountains at this time of year!

Everything sure looks different without snow all over it.

Sundance is where I learned to snow ski.  I took it for my PE class requirements when I was in college.  One of the best things I ever did!

After we walked around outside, we took about another hour and toured everything there was to see and read inside.  There is a gallery of large pictures all about the beginnings of Sundance.  It was once TimpHaven.  Then Robert Redford bought it for his family and ended up repurposing many of the acres for the arts and skiing.  I didn't know that out of the thousands and thousands of acres that make up Sundance, only 450 are developed.  I also learned that quite a bit of the filming of Jeremiah Johnson (which is one of my favorite movies!) were done at Sundance up at the Stewart Falls area.  Stewart Falls has special memories for Meredith because she hiked there almost every summer growing up when her family would go to Aspen Grove.  She and Josh did some courting up there too!

We ate at the Foundry Grill.

They had the most tasty bread!  A whole grain something or other.

David and I each had a salad.  Mine was the cutest little baby head of iceberg lettuce.  They cut a tiny slice from the bottom so it would sit flat.  Then cut a tiny slice off the top and flared it out some and filled it with small diced tomatoes and crumbled bacon drizzed with bleu cheese dressing.  I like bleu cheese dressing, but my family doesn't so I only get to have it when I'm out.  It would have been good with Ranch though too.

Duff had a black bean and chorizo soup and Linda had some tortilla soup.  Goodness!  Their 'cup' of soup was more like a meal!

I had the halibut with crab and corn risotto and fresh local vegetables.  I thought I was in heaven!  Linda had a margherita pizza, Duff had the strip steak, and David had the halibut also.  No room for dessert after that!

We walked around some more after dinner and then made our way home.  Tonight was one of those rare occasions when we weren't in any kind of a hurry.  You know:  hurry to get there, hurry to get through it all, hurry to eat so you can get back, etc.  We had all the time in the world with nothing pressing and I haven't enjoyed a dinner out like that in a long time.

We did go to the Dairy Keen in Heber on our way home and ordered SMALL shakes as some dessert.  They are having 'christmas in July' and I so enjoyed my Pumpkin Pie with ginger snap bits and whipped cream shake.

Ahhh.

The Pool Filter Blew Up

The pool filter on Lisa and Craig's pool blew up.  There was water everywhere and of course it is the middle of summer in Arizona and the pool is getting nasty without it working.  My dad has been going over everyday and putting chemicals in it so it won't turn completely green.  There was a huge dust storm (I think they call it a haboob) that came through and now there is quite a bit of dirt and mud adding to the issue.

Lisa and Craig decided to leave a day early to get home and get it taken care of.  It needs to be completely replaced.  The filter is 20 years old so it was on it's last legs anyway.

We heard from Chris at lax camp.  She is having a really good time.  She is getting great feedback and they have been giving her some special attention being in the goalie position.  The goalie from the BYU women's team is there and has taken her under her wing for the entire camp!  All the age group teams request her to be their goalie for their games.

You go, Chrissy girl!

Not Guilty?

Duff and Craig took Christine down to Provo for Lacrosse Camp.  She is excited.   Lisa went down to The Barn and The Store.  I cross-stitched and Linda and David left for the day to go to Salt Lake.

Lisa and I watched the Casey Anthony verdict.  I have not followed this at all.  Lisa has been way into it.  I have to say though, I was pretty surprised at the outcome. She is accused of killing her 3 year old daughter.  I think the state presented a better case than the defense, but the jury reached the decision they did.  I've never been on a jury.  Always had kids at home so far.  Adrianne just served on a jury.  I wonder what it would be like.  I wonder what being on this jury would have been like.  From the evidence I've seen and heard about on television, it seems like she was guilty or at the very least a negligent mother.  The whole family dynamice seems so sadly dysfunctional. 

Lisa has been glued to the tv.  Everyone seems very upset about it.

Tonight was probably one of the worst summer monsoon storms I have ever been in or seen.  The wind, rain, lightening, and thunder was insane.  A little scary.  It sure cooled things down.  The power went out a few times.  The backup generator came on.  It went on and on.  Lasted for a long time.  Fun and festive feeling.  Christine was at the outdoor dance down on campus and said it was a lot of fun!

4th OF JULY, 2011

Happy 4th of July!

Our day was low-key but special.

I love the 4th.

I get so emotional about our country.  Like yesterday in church.

We stood to sing the Star Spangled Banner for the closing hymn.

I had a hard time singing after the first stanza.  I looked over and Lisa was crying too.  What a bunch of boobs we are.  For me, I can't help but think of my German grandparents leaving behind everything they knew to come to the land of Freedom and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They were 16 years old.  I could never have done that when I was that age.  They did it for their posterity.  That's me.  That's my children.  My grandchildren and so on down the line.  I think about how much they loved us to do that before we were even born.  They had an eternal perspective.

Then I think about all the wars fought and still going on to gain and protect our freedom.

 James Bond Marathon.

Enough said.

 David at the grill.

(We divided up the evening meals and each took our turn.  Tonight was theirs.)

 Linda and Christine getting the buffet set up.

 Razzleberry pie in the new cake pedestal.

 Burgers.

 Brats.

...and MORE nertz!

Chris and her friends watched the fireworks from Memorial Hill at Lindsey's since she lives right at the base of it.  We adults watched them from the back deck.  There were about 5-6 different shows going on all the was to Deer Creek.  It was beautiful.  It was raining and when the lightening got too close for comfort, we came back in!  I've never done that before.  Watch 4th of July fireworks in a summer rainstorm.

Kinda cool.

Nertz and Roast

Church was nice today.  Being a holiday weekend there were a LOT of out of towners, us included.  The entire cultural hall was filled to the stage and then they were sitting on the stage too.

We had decided to make a roast beef dinner.

Christine has been wanting to learn more and more in the kitchen.  She took over the kitchen with a little guidance from me.  Her roast and gravy were delicious.  She continues to become a great cook.

We have been playing Nertz. Nertz. And more Nertz.  Lisa and Linda are picking it up quickly.  Linda says she hasn't laughed this hard in 20 years.

In between we've played Clue, but always back to the Nertz.

I have never been a good card shuffler.  I've been practicing and everyone is giving me tips.

I'm improving.

David and Craig went fishing this morning and got skunked.  The river is so high and so fast.  They'll try again tomorrow.  We gals are not doing much of anything.  Sometimes we stay in our pj's for much too long, but I think that's okay when you are on vacation and relaxing.

Bring On The 4th!

We went in all different directions today.

I stayed home to change sheets on beds and clean bathrooms and things like that, while Duff went to pick up Christine from the airport.  They went to Saratoga Springs for her last pre-op appointment with Dr. Nicholls, only. to find that they went to the wrong office and had to go to the Orem office instead.  Then up to Tribal Lacrosse to get her new goalie bag for lacrosse camp at the Y next week.  It is a much smaller bag and easier to handle and still holds all the goalie gear.  They stopped to see the little cousins at Jan's before heading back up.

Our company got here safe and sound.  Lisa and Craig came for the 4th of July holiday.  Linda, and her husband David, followed them.  She is reconnecting with her uncles since her mother has passed away.  It has been many years and she is nervous. 

We are ready for the holiday and camp.  And we may do all of the things on the 'list' or none of them.  We'll see what each day brings.