Father's Day Weekend and a Little Summertime Getaway

Here's a little of what we've been up over the past few days. 

As usual, I'll start this update with Friday.  Friday morning, of last week, we met with another realtor, NOT the one we currently have our old home listed with. We are not at all pleased with what the current realtor is doing and NOT doing, so we are interviewing other realtors, and hope to be able to change agents.  Our current realtor had another open house on Saturday morning, but again, nothing appears to have come from it.   The meeting with the new realtor was very informative and went on all morning.  When the realtor finally left, I had a pretty bad headache. We also got a text from one of our grandsons who was supposed to go fishing with us Friday evening, and he wasn't feeling good. We ultimately decided to put off the fishing trip until everyone is feeling good.  

Saturday, we woke up to a smoke-filled sky.  The state of Utah now has 3 major, serious wildfires going on, one of which is less than 50 miles from where we live. Evacuations occurred and some buildings were burned, but thankfully, there was no loss of life.

Charly and I took a Saturday morning walk, then we stopped at a moving sale that a couple on our street were having. They were selling this air fryer for $5.  The lady selling it assured me that it works great and she still had all the instructions, and since I had been wanting one, I decided to get it.  I haven't had an opportunity to try it out yet, but I will soon. 

Sunday was Father's Day.  Our Father's Day church service was wonderful, with an awesome rendition of "How Great Thou Art" done by the choir.  It brought chills to my spine and tears to my eyes.  So good.  The messages were also excellent.  After our worship service, all the men in the congregation were given their choice of cold sodas to enjoy.  Charly was very happy with that Father's Day treat!  

Right after I got home from church on Sunday, I had to mark my ballot for Utah's primary election (which was last Tuesday). I had to take my ballot to drop off in the drop box since we would be gone on election day.  The drop box which is actually less than a mile from our home.  I like to vote in every election that I can, so to me, marking my ballot and getting it turned in on time was very important. 

Meanwhile, Charly spent most of Father's Day afternoon relaxing while I was cooking and preparing for dinner with our daughter and her family. 

We had a delicious Father's Day dinner of Charly's current favorite dish, Walking Taco Casserole. We enjoyed visiting and just being together. 

Our daughter made home-made pralines for her dad. Charly loves pralines so it was a great gift! They were scrumptious.  Our daughter is a very good cook, and pretty creative in the kitchen. 

We had a great time with our daughter's whole family.  Being with them made Father's Day extra special.  Charly loved it and so did I.

Monday morning, we headed off on a getaway to St. George, one of our favorite getaway destinations. 

St. George has some fun thrift stores that we enjoy exploring, and we always find a treasure or two. 

My favorite thrift store find was this wall clock, which will be just perfect for our downstairs family room where Charly and I have most of our books.  I took a picture of the clock as I was loading it in the car.   It's a really fun and unique piece. The bottom section of books opens up into a "secret compartment."   I'll post another picture when I get it hung up where I want it. 

We also went out to see and check on the house that we own in the area.  We are currently renting that house.  It is in a beautiful smaller rural community not far from St. George.  I don't know that we will ever move into this home and live there, but I love the surrounding area where it is located - just ten minutes away from Snow Canyon, a a Utah State Park. 

After St. George, our next stop was Las Vegas where we stayed at the Wyndham Grand Desert Resort. This was the view from our 10th floor window.

We have stayed at this resort before.  It is large, comfortable,  and gives us room to spread out.  It also has a little kitchen, including a refrigerator, which lets us eat in the room instead of at restaurants for every meal.  It has a washer and drying in the room, which means I won't have to go home with a big load of dirty clothes. 

The first night we were there, we took the resort shuttle over to "The Strip" and walked around outside. It was interesting, but too hot (about 104 degrees) so we returned to the room after about an hour. We got some post cards to send the grandkids and I splurged on a $4.99 Las Vegas t-shirt.  Las Vegas isn't my favorite place in the whole world.  It's expensive, hot, and dirty (in more ways than one). Still, we found some fun and interesting things to do, which I will talk more about in my next post. 

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"A little bit of summer 

is what the whole

year is all about."

~John Mayer

 

Catching Up - Again

I'm behind on posting again and haven't been in blogland much for the past week, so I haven't been around to visit my blogging friends.  I was out of town part of last week, so there's that, but I've also been busy with lots of other stuff, so here is a little update.  

My first week of retirement, I got this lovely retirement card from my blogging friend Faith over at Gold in the Clouds.  It is always nice to be remembered with kindness.

We are now completely moved into our new home, and while we aren't completely unpacked, we are making progress in settling in and we love our new place.

I have had a few moments of relaxation and downtime, but mostly this last week was just very busy.   One of the goals I have for my retirement is to increase the time I spend reading to about two hours a day.  So far, I haven't been able to achieve that although I do begin every day by reading from scripture and I end every night by reading a novel or nonfiction book.  

One morning I was out running some errands, and found myself in the area where Josh lives, so I asked him if he wanted to go get an early lunch.  Josh suggested this place, The Brunch House.  

The food at this place was absolutely delicious!  I want to go back to this place again. 

We had the carpet cleaned at our now empty old house. 

We also had some yard clean-up work done at the old house.   A lot of overgrown plants were removed from areas in the front and back.  I think it looks great. Even though I really like flowers and plants, I think the new look is clean and has better curb appeal while the house is on the market. 

Yes, the old house is till on the market. We got a little statue of St. Joseph and buried in the garden.   We are not Catholic, but we are Christians and we believe in God, and we are praying that God will intervene and help our house to sell.    If St. Joseph can help us, so be it!

Here's the area in our garden where we buried the little statue of St. Joseph. After we sell the house, we will dig up the statue and display in a special place in our home. 

At the end of last week, we went to Idaho with Josh for a few days.  The first day we were there, we ate at one of our favorite all-you-can eat pizza places, Pizza Pie Cafe. Josh went here a lot where he was going to college in Idaho. 

Another day, we went to a fun farmer's market one afternoon and got some very delicious home baked treats

We went to Yellowstone National Park, and had a lovely visit there.  It was a beautiful, sunny day - not too warm or too cool.  It was a perfect day to be at the park.   Here are some more pictures of our day at Yellowstone. 

We had a great day at Yellowstone.  It is truly one of my favorite places, and I look forward to going back there again before too long, and being able to spend more time there. 

Monday, was our 47th wedding anniversary.  We had a nice day, but didn't do anything special because we have an anniversary trip planned for later in June. 

Tuesday morning, we decided to get back on our walking schedule, so we went to the mall in our new city and walked for about 40 minutes. 

Before we left the mall, we got Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches for lunch. They were delicious!  I atae half of mine for lunch, and save half for dinner.

I've been spending a lot of time going through boxes and throwing away what we don't need.  I've also been hanging some pictures.  These are our framed family Christmas cards from over the years. They are hanging in the hallway right outside our bedroom.  

Here are a few more pictures of the inside of our home as we get settled in.  I love the picture of Jesus that is the first thing you see when you come into the entry way. This is looking into the formal living room. 

This is the entry way looking into the formal living room, with the stairs going down into the basement.  The basement has two more bedrooms and a large family room, which is 100% finished, but is still a work in progress with unpacking and arranging. 

Another view of the living room - looking away from the fireplace. 

This is the living room looking at the fireplace and bookshelves, which I love!

This is the entry way looking into the family room. 

This is the dining room and family room or great room area, which is on the other side of the entry way. 

This view is looking at the family room with our two recliners positioned so we can watch TV.   Everything is still a work in progress, especially in the garage and basement. We are still sorting through things and getting rid of a lot, and trying to decide where to put the things we want to keep. It's a big job.

This is the kitchen of our home which is part of the great room (family room, dining room, kitchen) area. 

Downstairs, this is our large family room area, which is taking shape, but still a work in progress, with some boxes to unpack and organizing to do. 

This is the other view of the family room, looking at the entertainment center, which still has some empty shelves. 

We have enough space in this house, that both Charly and I have our own room for our books and hobbies. This is mine, and again, it is a work in progress. 

Wednesday morning, we went to a used book sell at a library in a nearby town.  We each got a few books, but not too many. because we are trying to get rid of things, not accumulate more. We have plenty of books, but it was fun to go to the book sale. 

After lunch, our handyman came to help us with a few repair items around the house.  Here he is, on a ladder, replacing a light in the garage.  You can see what I said our garage is still a work in progress, but a lot of the boxes are empty and just waiting for space in the recycle bin.  

The afternoon and evening on Wednesday were spent sorting through things to determine what might needed to be donated or thrown away.  In one box, I found these two old comic books.  I did a little research and found out that they were not very valuable. We took them in to a store that sells old comic books, and while they were not worth a lot, I did get enough for Charly to get a book from a sci-fi/fantasy series he likes. We exchanged items we didn't need for a book Charly will enjoy, so it was a win-win.

It's late and I want to get this posted, so that's all for now. Tomorrow and Friday will be busy days, but I'll make time to visit you all and post another update. Thanks for stopping by.  I'll see you all again soon!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"You will never be happy is your

happiness depends on getting solely 

what you want. Change the focus.

Get a new center.  Will what God wills, 

and your joy no man shall take from you."

~Archbishop Fulton Sheen