My Confused but Persistent Easter Lily

A year ago for Easter 2009 my office manager, Linda, brought a beautiful Easter Lily to our H&R Block office where it bloomed beautifully. After it finished blooming, Linda sent it home with me to plant in my garden. Well, I brought it home, put it in the garage, and forgot all about it. It spent the winter in the cold garage with no water, light, or love. This spring about Easter time, I moved some pots and much to my surprise found the lily with a couple of little green sprouts on it. I brought it in the house, gave it lots of sun, water, and a little love and it bloomed beautifully for FATHER'S DAY!!! I know there are some great life lessons to be gained from this pretty flower like persistence, late bloomers, etc. but I just know I enjoyed its beauty and fragrance. Now my question is: should I put it back in the garage and ignore it until next spring or try to keep taking care of it inside?

Happy Summer Days

Kolob Canyon


For my birthday we enjoyed a very fun 4 day trip to St. George with Dan, Betsy, Addy, and Easton. We traveled down on Monday afternoon. That evening KC and I went to the Tuachan Outdoor Amphitheater and saw a production of Tarzan. It was amazing with lots of apes and Tarzan flying through the theater. We really enjoyed it. Dan and Betsy had a great 2 bedroom condo that we shared. We especially loved the pool and it felt very good since the temperatures were over 100 degrees while we were there. The kids loved swimming. On Tuesday after a morning swim we went out to lunch to celebrate my birthday and then did some shopping. In the evening Dad and I went back to the Tuachan and saw Cats. It was also very good but not quite as good as when we saw it on broadway. We love going to the Tuachan. On Wednesday we enjoyed some more swimming, relaxing, and a little shopping. That evening we played with Addy and Easton while Dan and Betsy saw Tarzan at the Tuachan. We came home on Thursday enjoying a short drive through Kolob Canyon which is part of Zion National Park.

Catching Up!!

It is time for some catching up on some wonderful events that have happened in the last few weeks. Now I am sorry that this entry is not in the exact order things happened. We now have 2 computers and 2 cameras. Some pictures were downloaded onto Ken's computer and some to my new laptop (which by the way, I really love) and so I made some entries from each computer. Now that is already enough to send my tech-challenged brain into a tailspin but then you have to enter everything on this blog backwards in order for it to come out in order. So I'm just grateful I got things posted.

We spent the last week of May at Snowbird Ski resort thanks to Grandpa and Gram Nix. They have two time share units there for that week and they let us use one of them. We did some things with them and with our family. We enjoyed long morning walks, swimming, visiting and playing some fun games of dominoes.
The view from our window. What a beautiful place to be!!
After the12 inches of snow on Monday it warmed up some and we had some great times in the nice heated pool. Dave's family stayed with us for most of the week and Dan and Matt and their families came up a couple of times for swimming and eating. So fun!!
KC's sister Suzy works at Snowbird in the Public Safety Office. We enjoyed visiting with her several times during our stay. She says people does some very interesting things at a ski resort!!
We enjoyed having the kids come up to join us for some fun at Snowbird. Here Jared, Landon, Addy, Easton, and Evan are gathered around the TV watching a movie and eating popcorn.
We returned from Snowbird just in time for Adam's blessing on May 30.
The family gathered at a Pleasant Grove park after the blessing for a picnic. Most of Scott's family came from Arizona for the occasion. They helped make some mighty yummy food!
Dave returned to work in Texas on June 1 but Tam and the boys got to stay with us until June 18. On June 2 Matt and Jess went to St. Louis for a wedding and so Chloe, Landon, and Tanner stayed with us for 4 days. The cousins had lots of fun playing together. Chloe helped a lot with Tanner and loved reading stories to the younger kids. On Saturday one exhausted grandma turned Matt's three over to Aaron and Diane until their parents got home on Monday. Why is it harder than it used to be? I can't be getting older. But don't get me wrong, I loved every minute I got to spend with my precious grandchildren.
We all enjoyed an evening at the Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. The kids got to pet a new baby chick that was born that very day.
Evan, Jared, Chloe, and Landon loved riding the ponies.
We all had fun feeding the goats, even Adam! There were several cute baby goats.
Tanner at the farm. Such a happy little camper.

What a difference a day makes (and a few miles)!!

Now you can all see the family picture below taken in beautiful sunny Orem on May 23. This picture was taken at Snowbird the next day, May 24!! Snowbird is only about 30 miles from Orem. We went up to spend the week at Snowbird, leaving right after Tanner's blessing and lunch. It snowed that night and by the next morning we had about 10-12 inches of new snow. Our 3 Texas boys; Dave, Evan, and Jared had great fun in the snow.

On Saturday, May 22, 2010, many of our family members went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple where Tanner was sealed to Matt and Jessica in a beautiful, simple ceremony. Now he is part of our family forever. This was a very special day. Please go to Matt and Jessica's family blog to see more pictures of the occasion. In this picture, Jessica and Chloe get a hug from our very sweet cousin, Christine Timothy.

Sunday, May 23, 2010, Tanner received his name and a beautiful blessing from his father. Dave and Tammy arrived late the night before to join us for the occasion. We were so happy to have most of our family together. We just wish Michelle's family could have been there. After church we went to Aaron and Diane's (Jessica's aunt and uncle) beautiful home for lunch. This picture was taken in their backyard. Through all the celebration, Tanner was a happy little boy full of smiles.

Wonderful Things Happening

On May 19 we met Matt, Jessica, Chloe, Landon, and Tanner along with some other happy family members at the Courthouse in Provo. With a short question and answer period with the judge and lots of paperwork, Tanner became an official member of the family.

We are so happy to have this special little boy as part of our family.

It's Springtime in the Rockies

These pretty tulips in our yard tell us it is spring. We have had warm and cold weather this last week. There has been sun, clouds, rain, snow, wind, warmth, and cold. I love experiencing all the seasons, sometimes all in one day!! On Friday evening we flew to Denver to visit the Goodman Family. Eric and Kyle picked us up at the airport. It was so good to see all of them.

Early on Saturday we went with Eric and Kyle to Kyle's soccer game. It brought back lots of memories of many Saturday soccer games with our own kids. Sometimes we would have 3 0r 4 games on the same day to watch and enjoy!!

It was team picture day.

Saturday afternoon we took Emily to her gymnastics class and got to see her do some great flips and jumps. We took Kyle to lunch at Subway and then to Target to get a toy he had been saving his money for. That evening we went with Lindsey to a play at the high school. It was fun to have a date with our granddaughter.

Sunday after church and lunch we drove south a bit to a hiking trail up a little mountain. Melodie, Eric, Sammy, Lucky (their cute dogs) and Kayla, Lindsey, Emily, and I made the trip. On our hike we experienced thunder, lightening, and snow. (Yes snow on May 2.) The snow was like little styrofoam pellets falling on us. It was really fun and beautiful. That evening we enjoyed playing games and watching family pictures.

We arrived home safely on Monday afternoon to find our red tulips blooming beautifully. We enjoyed our visit very much.