June's activities began with me driving off to our stake Young Women's girl's camp. It started on June 1 and was held in the mountains southeast of Mount Nebo, about two hours from Heber. I went up with the Spanish Branch and did the meals for the 9 girls and 3 leaders. I had spent the week before cooking and freezing spaghetti sauce, barbecue beef, bread sticks, and cinnamon rolls so that cooking on a camp stove would be relatively easy. The girls were sweet and it was fun to get to know them and feel of their spirits. I was the oldest at camp and by the end of the three days I was feeling every year of my age. It took me at least 10 days to recover and feel like myself again. It was a great experience but I don't think I would agree to do it again.
Car packed and ready for the drive to camp 
At the church before leaving for camp in a caravan 
My sleeping arrangements - inside the food cabin 
Inside the food cabin 
Our camp
The weekend after returning from camp, we attended Aubrey's graduation, via Zoom, of course. She was one of the valedictorians and so she gave a speech at her session of the graduation. Because of COVID, the school held 4 different ceremonies with only about 75 graduates in each session. This seemed really funny to us as the graduation was held in a outdoor huge stadium with the graduates on the field in chairs spaced 6 feet apart. The guests were in the bleachers of this stadium which could have easily accommodated all the graduates and their guests even with 6 foot spacing. But we're talking Oregon here and they are COVID crazy with all sorts of regulations.
Everyone admiring Aubrey's cords and medallions
for her to wear at graduation because of all the honors
she received - honor roll, student body officer, valedictorian, etc.
Aubrey giving her speech 
Receiving her diploma - we had a better
view via Zoom than her family n the stands.
We also planted our garden and annuals right after girl's camp. We decided to take a chance on planting a garden even though we have been told that we would run out of water by August. Hopefully it will rain enough to keep our plants alive once the water is turned off. If not, we will have to use culinary water which is pretty expensive after you go over you allotted amount for the month. We do pray for rain often.
The garden
A few months ago, when we had lunch with Sam and Kathy and Kathy and Curt, we decided it was important to get together occasionally for dinner. I said I would be the first to host it at our home so, on June 10th, we had everyone over for dinner. I served teriyaki chicken with fried rice and stir fried vegetable. Kathy Morgan brought rolls. Kathy Bulkeley brought dessert, and Deon brought a salad. It was a great meal and the company was incredible. We never have to worry about running out of things to talk about when we get this group together. Deon will host another dinner in August. This will be a good tradition now that both the Fullers and the Bulkeleys are living here in Utah.
This month, Jon and Mindi put their home on the market, after working on it for almost 2 years. They listed it for $1.7 million. Within a week, they had an offer from an Asian couple. They have a business in American Fork as well as in California and want a home near their business in Utah. They paid full price and also seem to want whatever furniture Jon and Mindi are willing to sell to them. The 12 day period has passed for them to back out of the offer so it should be a done deal. They should close on July 30 at which time Jon and Mindi and family will make their way to San Antonio, Texas where they will live. A long ways from us but a good move for them.
Kim Howe joined us for dinner and took this picture so we could all be in it.
Wednesday, June 16th, Kailee left for Texas to help her sister with her new baby, so on Thursday, we went down to Todd's in the afternoon to help him with the girls. We had planned to spend the whole day there so Todd could go into work but Avery has such a hard time when her parents leave her that we decided to come in the afternoon and just spend time with them. We all went grocery shopping and Todd appreciated our help keeping the girls entertained in the store while he found what he needed. He was hosting a barbecue in his backyard for his office personnel the next evening and needed to get some supplies. Before we left to go back to Heber, we went to Cafe Rio for dinner then to Yogurtland for dessert. A fun day.
While we were with him, Todd took us to see his company's
new office space. It is in the process of being designed and will be completed
sometime in August. It is going to be an amazing office which
they shouldn't outgrow for a long time.
Eating yogurt - their eyes were bigger
than their stomachs and they couldn't
finish all they had taken.
The following weekend was Paul's birthday and Father's Day. Jon invited us to have dinner at his home so, after church, we traveled to Highland to be with him and family. His boys were there so we got to be with them, too. They had ordered smoked brisket and Mindi had put some chicken breast on the grill. I brought rolls and cream puffs. I was going to put a candle in Paul's cream puff and have everyone sing Happy Birthday but that didn't happen. Hopefully, Paul felt loved on his big day anyway.
Paul opening his presents and cards 
Jon's boys - notice they are all on their phones 
Jon opening his presents
This month, we have also spent time with Ryan. He and his family are moving to St. George for the summer and Fall school semester. Ryan brought Nathan and Grace to St. George a week early so Grace could start rehearsing for a musical with a performance group she was accepted into. When they got there, the temperature hit 109. By Friday night, they were ready for cooler weather so they hopped in the car and came to Heber for a visit. They stayed here till Sunday morning so it was a quick visit but we did a couple of fun things on Saturday. Beside just chilling at home, we went to lunch at Culver's, a new fast food place in town that serves hamburgers and custard. Ryan loved the burger and the kids especially loved their custard shakes. After lunch, we took the scenic drive to Cascade Springs. It's a winding road above Soldier Hollow golf course and the vistas are amazing as you look out over the Heber Valley and Deer Creek reservoir. At the Springs, we took the paved walkway around the beautiful area crossing several bridges and streams. A great afternoon in a little cooler weather then even in Heber.
One week later on the following Sunday, we headed down to St. George to see Ryan and Katie's new living arrangements. We stayed at the World Mark and spent Sunday evening and all day Monday with them. It was hot but we spent time driving to Pine Valley, a little town in the mountains above St. George. It was in the 80's, a nice change after only a 45 minute drive. We visited the white chapel there and then walked around the reservoir there.
The reservoir in Pine Valley 
The little white chapel, the oldest church building still in use, in Utah 
Nathan had to climb this rock on our walk
We found a pizza place for lunch before dropping Grace off to her practice. Ryan then took us around to show us his office and the exact lot on which they are having a house built. We looked at the rental he would be moving into, and the club house/swimming pool to which he will have access. That night, we went to Culver's for dinner and to the club house for a night swim. We left the next morning so it was a quick trip but fun to see where they will be hanging out for at least a few months....hopefully it will turn into a full on move from Medford. That's for sure what Ryan wants.
The clubhouse pool area, complete with hot tub, lazy river,
and a special pool for playing basketball.
Between visits with Ryan, we bought a new car. Paul wanted a red car so we decided to look at both Honda and Toyota SUV's. We found a red Honda on our first day of looking but wanted to check out the Toyotas. Later in the week, we found a Toyota Rav 4 that we wanted to drive even though it was not red. When we went to that dealership, the salesman pointed out a red 2019 Toyota Rav 4 with only 14,000 miles on it. We immediately fell in love with it, especially after we drove it. We bought it on the spot. The next day we cleaned out our Honda CRV and took it to the Toyota dealer as a trade in and drove away with our beautiful new red car.
After we picked up the car, we drove to Mod Pizza in American Fork for a late lunch. As we were leaving, it started to rain and then it started to pour. The rain was coming down so hard you could hardly see out the windows. It continued until we got to Pleasant Grove but started again, even harder, when we hit Orem. We battled the rain all the way up the canyon. We couldn't complain, though, because we are in such need of rain to fill our reservoirs and water our crops and lawns. It had rained quite a bit in Heber, too, so we took that as an answer to our prayers for rain.
This is Avery during the rain storm in Lehi. She is
afraid of wind and with the combination of wind, rain, and thunder,
she was scared enough to cover herself with the blanket.
And then there's our beautiful sunsets.....This picture was taken out our living room window.
We can't leave this month's blog without some words of wisdom........
And one political meme.....
Just couldn't resist posting this one because it is so
true to the frustration we are all feeling about this
current administration.
