Thursday, April 6, 2017

Almost a year ago.....

....was my last blog post. I have published yet another edition of my blog book and I love these so much that I'm spurred on to keep blogging as this is the only journal of my life that I have right now. I've been doing some chat books and that will fill in for the year I missed but here goes to hopefully get caught up a little as I go and to forge on for posterity. Wonder who will ever read these entries....but it doesn't matter. It helps me to find the good and blog about the positive (sometimes not) but to appreciate all the good parts of my life of which there are many.  Last year about this time, Randy and I took the Highway 50 road trip but we did it in two days and stopped at all the spots we love. We did it again just Tuesday and the only stop was the shoe tree and in Austin for soft-serve ice cream cones.

Such a long road but we love watching the cloud formations, chatting, listening to CD's, music and singing along with the oldies. Always better when there's two of us.
Before we left Pine Valley, we were able to enjoy a quick April snow storm........
 ....and enjoy conference together; so cozy.

I was so glad to attend Women's Conference with Lauri....captured this beautiful temple background....

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On Thursday, March 30 we celebrated Mom's 90th birthday. We decided to have an open house at her home thinking it would be easier than a huge rec hall. Not sure how happy she was about it but we planned on refreshments for over 100 and we didn't have very much left.
She was pleased to see Dr. Booth.....even though he said he represented Maureen, we were glad he came. Mom was very happy.
 I just wish I had taken more pictures. I was busy running around being the hostess. 
So grateful for my family.  Traci came down to enjoy the celebration as well.
I hope I can get some more pictures of the party from Joyce and I will add those later.

Some of my friends and classmates came. Diana and John came down from Bountiful.
My friends are my mom's friends too, Always have been and always will be.  Such a wonderful experience to pay tribute to my mother who is the epitome of compassion and service. She still tries so hard to do for others even when she can hardly "do" for herself.
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I've loved having Randy here for a few days to help me get our place cleaned up after the winter snow. I love watching spring come......
....and the turkeys strutting their stuff......
I do enjoy the winter though and this one hasn't been too bad. I don't mind sitting by the fire on a snowy day and watching the beautiful white miracle fall from the sky.  I especially enjoy it when a grand kid or two wants to come and enjoy it with me.
Evan and his helpers did a pretty nice ice sculpture turtle.....
....and the hot tub is always a hit. This time we added illuminated balloons to the mix......
Jack and Seth admiring the accumulation.
Traci and the kids dropped by on the way to St. George. I always enjoy sharing this beautiful place with my kiddos....... 
....and speaking of beautiful.  Traci shared this picture on Instagram and I just fell in love with it. She tried on her wedding dress and Mae was fascinated with it. They had a "Pretty Dress Party".
But if she isn't wearing her pretty dress,...Mae is at least sporting her fashionable boots......

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When I can, I love attending the kids activities. Baseball games, soccer, track............
....they always make me proud. Even though I can't get there, I like to know how they do.  Such good kids.
I just happened to be to the championship game on this night. They got rings instead of trophies.
I was privileged to see this cutie off on her Prom date. She's a beauty through and through.....
...and I got to watch George be crowned Junior Prom King and I took their dance pics...at the Opera House.  I will get those and add later.

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Randy and I headed back to California on Tuesday and I have enjoyed a couple of good walks around Cameron Park Lake.
 Beautiful flowers abound here.....
Momma ducks are protecting their babies.  This is a "Don't Feed the Ducks" park so they aren't dependent on nor are they afraid of humans so it's easy to get quite close. I just can't get enough of this. I'll go back each day a couple of times and check on these cute families.
These turtles were just lounging on the rocks taking life easy. We need to all try it once in a while. I think I'll go try it right now. There's so much more I could add to this post but when one hasn't blogged for a year, it can be overwhelming to try and get caught up so I won't do that. I'll just take it as is comes.....over and out for now. Life is good.

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