I have been absent from blogland for a little longer than usual as Charly and I went on a little trip. We are back home now, so here's a catch-up on what we've been doing.
Our first stop on our little getaway was St. George. We had some business to take care of regarding the house we purchased in 2024. We have been renting out the home, but the tenant was moving out, and we wanted to see the condition of the home. Fortunately, the tenant left the home clean and in excellent condition, for which we are very grateful.
The home has a great yard and beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and red cliffs, as you can see in this view of the back yard. We thought we might move into the home one day, but then decided that we really wanted to live much closer to family (children and grandchildren) so we decided to move to Utah County (where we live now) use the home in Southern Utah as income property. We have been having a difficult time getting new renters, in part because the home is outside St. George in small town/rural area. We decided that we would consider possibly selling the home, if we can't get renters in it soon. We met with several realtors, and also with our property manager to help us decided what to do.
Even though the tenant left the home in good condition, there were maintenance some things that we needed to be taken care of. We bought a couple of new ceiling fans and a new kitchen faucet, which are being replaced. A large desert (dead) plant in the front yard is being removed, and we are getting new carpet in one room and replacing all of the window blinds. We also had an old hot tub removed. Of course, we aren't doing all this work, but we have made arrangements to have these things done so that the home will be easier to rent or sell.
One of the realtors we talked to, was having a drawing and I won this plush blanket, which is nice and warm and comfortable. I love plush blankets and will enjoy this one this winter. I usually don't win things, so this was kind of a big deal to me.
After a few days in St. George, it was on to Las Vegas for a few days of fun and relaxation. This was the view of the strip from our 14th floor room.
We had a great view from our room, and it was fun and interesting to watch the lights of the city at night. The Sphere of Las Vegas, which is the round ball you see had fun, interesting and always changing scenes which was fun to watch.
Here's another view. This was a digital animation that was showing on the Sphere.
Even though we don't drink or gamble, we did go to see a show - Blue Man Group. We enjoyed walking around the strip and visiting the shops and stores.
Our favorites were the Coca-Cola Store and The Hershey's Store. Charly thinks the cookies form the Hershey's store (made with iconic Hershey's candy) are the best anywhere. I agree with him.
Charly had been wanting to see Blue Man Group for years, so this was part of his birthday present.
We also went out to the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park so check out the history of Las Vegas. We learned that the first white settles of Las Vegas were a group of Mormon missionaries. That was back in the 1860s.
There were lots of fun and interesting things to do during the day in Las Vegas, but probably my favorite thing was just walking along the strip at night. The lights of the Vegas Strip are magical.
After we left Las Vegas, we went back to spend one night in St. George before going home. While in St. George, we drove up to a lovely little mountain town about 30 miles northeast of St. George in the Pine Valley Mountains. There wasn't much in Pine Valley except some old homes and this lovely church - the Pine Valley Chapel, which has been in continuous use as a chapel since it was built in the 1860s. Church services are still held there every week. It was built by a ship builder named Ebeneezer Bryce. Ebeneezer Bryce is the same early pioneer settler for whom Bryce Canyon National Park was named. The pine wood from this area was also taken to build the wood pipes on the pipe organ of the Salt Lake Tabernacle over 300 miles to the north in Salt Lake City. History is so interesting.
My birthday was the day after we got home. I had a very nice birthday. Charly and I went to a movie - The Angel and the Badman which is a newly released movie from Angel Studios. It's a very good movie - go see it if you can.
I also got this beautiful diamond art card and bookmark from my long-time blogging friend Karen over at Life is Good. Karen's blog is one of the very first blogs I started following years ago. She is lovely and talented person who is kind and generous, as so many bloggers are.
I also got this sweet card from my daughter and her family. I love all of the sweet messages.
I loved all the cards, texts, messages, and phone calls I received with birthday wishes. Thank you to all of my friends, family, and blog friends who reached out to say Happy Birthday.
Later in the afternoon, Charly and I decided to go get our flu shots. We are going to a conference next week, and there will be a lot of people there, so I wanted to have some immunity to the flu. First, we went to Walgreens to get our flu shots. Big mistake. They could not figure out how to give us our shots using Medicare. We finally went down the street to a CVS, who figured it out, and had us in and out within about 20 minutes.
After getting our flu shots, we went to Denny's for dinner.
My Grand Slam meal was free because it was my birthday. It was very nice. It was a nice way to end the day with some good comfort food. Honestly, I had a great birthday week, and I am so grateful for everyone and everything that made it so.
That's a little recap of the last week in my world. Hope you also had a good week. I'll be back soon with some scenes from the upcoming weekend. Things could get interesting because we have been told to expect as much as three inches of rain of the next few days as Tropical Storm Rachel makes a track straight through California, Arizona and up into Utah.
Take care and have a good weekend.
Until next time,
😊Deb💖
"Count your life
by smiles, not tears.
Count your age
by friends, not years."
~anon.
