The End of May First June Weekend

 

The day after Memorial Day, we went to St. George again. We enjoyed a beginning of the summer getaway in one of our favorite places.  One of our favorite parts of our stay in St. George was worshipping at the St. George Temple.   It is a special and holy place for us. 

Another day, we went to nearby Kolob Canyons, which is the western portion of Zion National Park.  We hiked and enjoyed the beautiful canyon.  It was nice that it was not at all crowded when we were there.  The main part of Zion National Park is always crowded during the summer, but few people know about the Kolob Canyons portion of Zion, which is a true "hidden gem." Here are some pictures of this amazing place. 

We had a great time at Kolob Canyons. I really love this place!

We are still looking at houses in St. George, and we are hoping to buy a home that we will move to when I retire in 1-2 years.  (Can you tell that Charly really, really wants a 3-car garage?) We are working with a new realtor and went out to lots of home on this trip. The two in the picture were our favorites.  We made offers on both homes, but obviously, we are only buying one.  Our offer on the top home was rejected by the seller, but we are still negotiating with the seller of the bottom home.  

When I returned home on Sunday afternoon, I was so pleased to see that some of the seeds I planted in my garden are coming up!  These are green beans.  My pumpkin seeds have also sprouted. 

Sunday after church, I did some indexing of 1930s city directory records from Portland, Oregon.  The records that I, and other volunteers, index are then available on Familysearch.org for those who want to research their family history and genealogy.  

Sunday dinner was chicken, Pasta-a-Roni, corn, steamed carrots and spinach salad.  

Sunday evening after dinner, I went out for a walk around the neighborhood.  Sunday was a nice day - quite warm. 

I really enjoyed all of the flowers along my walking route.  

After I finish this post, I plant to read some more in this book, He Restoreth My Soul by Mary Sturlaugson Eyer.  This is the second book in the author's biographical memoir.  I read the first book last month (in May). 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Having a nice time in St. George.
• Traveling to and from St. George safely.
• Seeing friends in St. George. 
• Worshipping at the St. George temple. 
• Hiking at Kolob Canyons. 
• Finding some homes in St. George that we like and can afford. 

That's all for now.   Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week!

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"To walk in nature 

is to witness a thousand miracles."

~Mary Davis

New Year's Weekend

Friday, New Year's Eve, was snowy.  We woke up to snow, and the roads were icy but not snow packed. 

There was a lot more snow up in the mountains - especially at the ski resorts. I was glad that we had come home from San Antonio on Wednesday before the real snow hit.    It was an overall cold, gray and snowy day.  Charly and I had to do a little shopping, but didn't even go for a walk today.  I hurt my foot in San Antonio and wanted to take a couple of days off from walking.  I have an appointment with a podiatrist next week. 

We decided to once again get take-out from our favorite Chinese restaurant for our New Year's Eve dinner.  There was only one person in the restaurant, so apparently other people were also opting for take-out, especially with Utah hitting a new daily record for Covid cases on Friday. 

I got Beef- Broccoli which is one of my favorites, but I couldn't even finish it all. 

In the evening, we watched the movie, Nomadland, on Amazon Prime Video. I read the book last year and wanted to see the movie.  I found the movie to be very sad.  I know I would not want to live in a van, and I find it tragic that so many hard-working older Americans have no other choice.  

After Nomadland, we decided we wanted to watch something lighter, so we watched one of the  Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes I got for Christmas.  

If you are unfamiliar with Mystery Science Theater 3000, you can read about it here.  Basically, it is a television series that plays and makes fun of bad old movies.  It may be an acquired taste, but it can be quite humorous.   We used to watch it with our boys when they were little.  

New Years Eve was the last time we had the Christmas Tree lights on.  The tree was down and put away on New Year's Day. 

I started the new year with reading the Bible, (Book of Psalms), my scripture study book, and a new Daily Devotional Daily Joy.  

We spent most of the morning putting away the Christmas decorations.  

Finally, by early afternoon, everything was packed up and put away in the basement storage room. 

The only thing we still have up are the Christmas cards on the back of the front door.  I will leave those up another week or two. 

The rest of the livingroom/diningroom area is now cleaned up and ready for the new year!

Charly got me these beautiful flowers, which are brightening our dining room now that the Christmas decorations are down. 

New Year's Day was sunny but extremely cold.  When I got up it was only 12 degrees outside, so we decided to wait until afternoon to take our walk.  When we did go out, it was still only 23 degrees and the sidewalks were very icy, so we cut our walk short.  Neither of us wanted to fall, even though we were both wearing boots and I was wearing my YakTrax on my boots.  There was so much ice, it was hard to walk, even very slowly. 

Instead, I exercised downstairs using the Health Walker.  I am grateful that I have that option when conditions outside are uncooperative. 

Our first family meal of the new year was roast chicken, angel hair pasta, green bean casserole, garlic bread and spring mix green salad.  

Later in the evening, we watched another Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Being from Another Planet.  So funny. 😁

Our church congregation changed the time for our main service (Sacrament Meeting) and it now starts at 9 a.m. which is considerably earlier than the 11:30 a.m. time last year.  We always try to get to church about 20 minutes before the service starts, and this morning, there were not very many people there that early.  More people came a right before the service started, but it was super cold again Sunday morning, and that no doubt kept some people home.  

After church, I ate lunch, then took a short 45 minute nap.  I got up and did some indexing of 1918 military muster rolls.  Charly and I then took a walk.  The sun was shining, but it was still cold, about 27 degrees. The sidewalks were icy in places so we took it slow, but completed our usual 2+ miles.  

I fixed fajitas for dinner on Sunday evening.

Later we watched another Mystery Science Theater 3000, so we could end the weekend with a little humor.  

And last but not least, we got some more pictures of our Virginia grandkids at Christmas and their latest after Christmas activity. 

With those sweet smiles, I will leave to get ready to go back to school tomorrow. Thanks for visiting.  I hope that 2022 is off to a good start for everyone!  Have a great week.  See you again soon!

😊Deb💙

"What the new year brings to you will 

depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year."

~ Vern McLennan