Currently on a Hot July Sunday

 

The weather has been hot, as expected in mid-July.   The next week is expected to be very warm and we may get some rain from monsoon storms.  There have been some strong monsoon storms in Southern Utah, and there have been tragic deaths from flash flooding.  Sunday, the I-15, the freeway that goes from one end of Utah to the other, was closed due to flooding and a mudslide.  Despite that, we haven't had a lot of rain here in Northern Utah. 

I've been reading this novel, Sandwich by Catherine Newman.  I will be finished with it in a couple of days. 

I've been watching a documentary on Theodore Roosevelt on Netflix which is very interesting.  I really like documentaries about historical people and events, and this is a good one. 

I've been enjoying going to our city's Farmer's Market every Wednesday evening this month. There is a vender there who makes excellent, fresh sour dough bread and it is delicious!  

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I'm loving that Charly and I have been going to the temple to worship almost every week.   Last week, we went in the morning and it was a great way to start the day. 

I've been working on the "plant ledge" above our kitchen cabinets.  After getting the Coca-Cola bench I wrote about in my last post, we decided to use some fun Coke items as part of our decor.  We got some things through Facebook Marketplace and a few things at an antique and at a yard sale we went to on Saturday. 

Here's a closer view of the fun things we put up there on the ledge.  

We also got this vintage Coke Clock which is now hanging above the French doors by our dining room table. 

In my garden I put out these new garden flags in the front garden, replacing the 4th of July flags that had been there.   I also put a new welcome sign on the front door.

I have some little tomatoes (which are delicious) and lots of flowers, which I love.   The yard at our new home is small, but it is manageable and I am grateful that I have a place to grow flowers and vegetables. 

In the kitchen I made baked chicken, potatoes and green beans for Sunday dinner. I also baked blue berry and banana nut muffins. Josh and our grandson Miles came to eat dinner with us Sunday and it was nice to have them here. 

I'm grateful that this has been a good Sabbath with worship in the morning, a nice nap in the afternoon, dinner with Josh and Miles, a good documentary to watch, and a Sunday evening walk. 

I'm looking forward to (hopefully) going fishing with our grandsons this week.  This is my grandson Clay with a fish he caught last week.   I'm looking forward to spending some time with and learning from this young expert fisherman!

That's all for now!  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week, and I will see you again soon!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Everything good, everything magical

happens between the months of 

June and August."

~Jenny Han

250th American Anniversary Weekend

Our 4th of July was really a good one.  Here are some of the highlights.

Saturday morning, I was up very early, at 5 p.m., to pick up my granddaughters and take them to the Freedom Festival July 4th Parade in Provo, Utah.   Getting up early paid off and we were able to get good seats to watch the parade.

Here we are together in our front row seats getting ready to the see all the fun parade action. 

Here are some scenes from the parade that, I have heard, is rated as the #1 July 4th parade west of the Mississippi.  It usually draws quite a crowd - about 300,000 spectators, according to the city of Provo website. It was a fun parade and I enjoyed being there with  my granddaughters. 

After the parade, I took my granddaughters home, then went home to rest.  After rehydrating and taking a short nap, Josh and I went to another fun July 4th event in our community - the Colonial Heritage Festival.  

Josh's bishop (pastor) was one of the directors of this event, so Josh had been wanting to attend since he heard about it. 

The entire event centers around reenactment of colonial culture.  There were lots of "soldiers" and military reenactments. 

There were all kind of interesting colonial period exhibits.  

There were also some lectures and talks about the history of that era. 

Later, we went to our daughter's home for a special 4th of July family dinner. This is my son-in-law and daughter. They are a lovely couple and are raising a wonderful family.  

There was lots of American themed food, including this fun fruit salad that my granddaughter made to look like a flag. 

We enjoyed eating and visiting over a very  delicious July 4th dinner. 

After dinner, we played badminton and cornhole in the backyard.

Jumping on the trampoline looked like lots of fun.  I wanted to try it, but I also didn't want to break something. 

It was so much fun to have a fun evening with these people that we love so much. 

No fireworks for us on July 4th because personal fireworks were banned by our governor due to recent wildfires in our state.  Our community's fireworks and patriotic drone show took place last month, and while there was a big fireworks show in Provo, it could not be seen from our house.  Josh really wanted to see the WWII movie Lucky Strike, so he and Charly went to a late showing of that. They both liked the movie and said they would like to see it again. 

Sunday was a low-key day.  Because our 4th of July was so busy and Charly got home so late after going to a movie with Josh, we did not go to our Sunday morning worship service.  I really miss church when I don't go, and I look forward to being there to worship next week! We had to go to our old house again Sunday to take the garbage cans back to the backyard after garbage day. Back home, we had a restful day, mostly inside because it was 99 degrees outside. Our Sunday dinner had a summer Independence Day theme - hot dogs, baked beans, macaroni salad, and chips.  Josh came over for dinner and we enjoyed eating and visiting with him. 

After dinner, Charly and I settled down to watch another American history series about Ulysses Grant on Netflix.  It is a very good series.  

When we finished the series on Ulysses Grant, we started another one about George Washington.  I love history and found the series very interesting. 

Later, when it was a little cooler, I went for a walk around the neighborhood. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Living in the United States of America. 
• Having a wonderful weekend celebrating this nation's birth. 
• Spending time with our children and grandchildren.

Praying For:

• Our nation. 
• My children and grandchildren.
• The sale of our home. 

Looking Forward To:

• Lunch with my cousin this week. 
• Seeing our daughter and her family again next weekend. 
• Getting our house sold. 

That's all for now.  I hope you have had a good weekend and that the week ahead is a good one for you.

Until next time

😊Deb💖

 

Thankful Thursday

Between moving, finishing up the school year, and getting ready to retire, my life is very busy right now.  Still, it's good for the soul to stop, and look at all the things, big and small, that there are to be thankful for.  

😊 Our granddaughter is graduating from high school next week. We received her announcement, which is lovely, and is now hanging on our fridge.  We are so proud of her.  I am grateful that we have been invited to be part of her graduation and attend the graduation ceremony and her graduation party.  

😊 Our daughter invited us to come with her to a plant sale held by a family in her neighborhood, that grows seedlings in greenhouses they have on their property.  This is an annual event, and we got some seedlings for our garden there last year as well.  I'm grateful the we could attend the sale and get a good start on the little garden we will have in the backyard of our new home.   My daughter also bought me some flower seedings at the sale as my Mother's Day gift, which was so very thoughtful of her.

😊 We have a much smaller backyard in our new home, which is fine with us.  We wanted something small and manageable, but with enough space for some plants and a small garden.  I had been looking for a raised garden box, but had not found what I wanted, and the idea of assembling a raised box was daunting to me.  I am grateful that I found the raised box shown in the picture at my local Tractor Supply, which is rapidly becoming my favorite store!  This was the display model, so I didn't have to assemble it, and it was also on sale! Win-win-win!  I'm growing some tomato plants from the plant sale in it. 

😊 We are continuing to move and get settled in our new home.  I have hung some pictures and am pleased with the way our formal living room is taking shape.  I am grateful for our new home, and I can't wait to live there full-time once I retire on May 29!

😊 We are still staying at our old home during the week so I don't have a long commute to school, and we continue to empty the old place out as much as we can while still living there. This past week, I sold this IKEA pantry unit on Facebook Marketplace.  I'm grateful that we were able to sell something else, and I'm grateful that it went to a very nice, kind young married couple who were happy to get it!

😊 I'm also grateful that I was able to get my car in for the routine service and maintenance it needed.  I had a day off for another appointment, and dropped my car off for an oil change.  It was finished in about an hour.  It's always nice that car service can be done with a minimum of hassle and disruption. 

😊 I feel terribly old, but I have officially applied for my Social Security benefits as well as my state teacher's pension.  I am grateful for these benefits that will help us have a good retirement.  I'm also grateful for a very kind and patient young man who walked me through applying for Social Security.

😊 I'm grateful for our new church congregation.  Charly and I have been asked to speak in our worship service this Sunday, to introduce ourselves and share a message.  It's always a bit daunting to me to speak in church, but I'm happy that we are being welcomed to the new congregation. 

Thanks for stopping by to share the good.  I hope you also have much to be grateful for!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"It's the little blessings 

that fill our days with love."

~anon.

The End of April and Beginning of May

It's time for another update at the end of a busy week. Honestly, last week at school was VERY stressful. With year-end standardized testing and increasingly crazy student behavior, I was beginning to wonder if I could actually make it to retirement! I needed some time away.  

Attending BYU Women's Conference was the perfect way to use some needed PTO.   I loved and learned so much from the keynote speaker sessions as well as individual classes.  I always enjoy being on the beautiful BYU Campus, which is actually only about ten minutes from our new home!

On Thursday, Josh happened to be on the BYU campus for another reason, and he texted me, so we met up for a few minutes during my lunch break from classes.  It's always good to see one of my children. 

While I was at BYU Women's Conference, our realtor was busy getting everything ready for the listing of our house to go live!  We now have the sign in front of our house, and we already had a showing within the first 24 hours it was listed.  We are hoping that this bodes well for a quick sale. 

We stayed in our new home all weekend, because it is so close to the BYU campus, where the conference was held.  Saturday, I enjoyed a morning walk to the post office to mail a Mother's Day card to my mom.

Later, Saturday, we met up with our grandson, who just turned 15-years-old, for his birthday lunch. He brought his dad, our awesome son-in-law, along. We had a great lunch at Dave's Hot Chicken, the restaurant our grandson chose for his birthday lunch. 

Our grandson told us that he just got his learner's permit, so he can learn to drive, now that he is 15.  He will be a sophomore in high school next year. I have no idea where the time goes. Here he is after lunch at our house with his birthday gift. 

In addition to everything else we did on Saturday, we also did some work in our new little backyard.  The backyard of our townhouse isn't big, but it has room for some gardening, and that's honestly all I need. We got some plants at Home Depot and then discovered this store, which is very near our new home, and had little fruit trees on sale for only $10!  Needless to say, we now have three small fruit trees that we will be planting in our yard.  I had never been in a Tractor Supply Store, but honestly, it was a fun place, and I'm sure we will be going back there often!

Sunday morning we were up and at church by 8:45 a.m..  This is another of the beautiful paintings in our church meeting house. 

Sunday dinner was deep-dish "Detroit Style" pizza from Papa Murphy's (take-n-bake), coleslaw,  macaroni salad, and fruit. 

After dinner, I went for a Sunday evening walk around the neighborhood.  

A lovely surprise I received this weekend, was this fun retirement gift box from my blogging friend Faith over at Gold in the Clouds.  I love everything in the box, especially the tote bag, which I took to BYU Women's Conference.  It was perfect for all the things I needed to have with me there.   Thank you so much Faith!  Blogging friends are just the best! 

Gratitude:

• Taking our grandson and son-in-law to lunch on Saturday.
• Attending BYU Women's Conference.
• Getting our current house on the market. 
• Having a showing within the first 24 hours. 
• Receiving a surprise retirement gift from my blogging friend Faith.

Praying For:

• Help in my last weeks of school as student behavior deteriorates. 
• A quick sale for our house. 
• My children and grandchildren. 
• Our nation.

Looking Forward To:

• Selling our home. 
• Getting through the last 19 days of school.
• Going to a plant sale with our daughter next week.
• Finishing the last 19 days of the school year and my career!

That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by.  

Have a great week!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Hope is being able to see

that there is light

despite all the darkness." 

~anon.