MOTHER'S DAY AND GRADUATIONS BOOKEND THIS MONTH

As always, in the month of May, Mother's Day is celebrated. We had Jon and Mindi and their family, as well and Todd and Kailee and their girls, up for dinner. I decided to do Cordon Bleu with all the trimmings. It was a bit of work on a busy weekend but I did most of the work on Saturday so Mother's Day Sunday was rather relaxing. It was good to have Jon and MIndi in our home again. It's been months. They gave me a beautiful vase with flowers in it. Aria presented me with a huge card to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. It was a great day. We even had time to look at some possible places to have our reunion in 2020. 

The huge card from Aria

The ice cream cake was frozen so hard
it took all of Jon's strength to cut into it.

The vase and flower from Jon and Mindi

Just checking out the resort possibilities for our next reunion

The week prior to Mother's Day, Paul hit his finger with a sludge hammer....well kind of. The sludge hammer really was the blunt end of an axe and he hurt his finger when it got caught between the handle of the axe and the pole he was trying to drive into the ground. It was a real bad injury. Paul even got a little light headed once he made it to the garage and called me out to come help him. Of course, on Mother's Day, everyone wanted to know how it happened. Paul went out and got the axe to try and demonstrate how he did it. He was quite dramatic and had everyone in stitches. This whole month, during the healing process, he has mentioned his finger at least 10 times a day. I'm glad it is healing, though he will lose his nail, for sure.

As for the graduations.....We attended two. On the 22nd of the month, we attended Aria's preschool graduation where she performed in a special program. Todd and Kailee were concerned if she would even go up on stage and take part but as soon as she saw her preschool teacher, Aria joined right in. She even sang the songs and did the hand motions, a little timidly, but she at least did them. It was fun to be a part of this special day for her. Afterwards, we toured her school. It's an amazing facility with different themed rooms of learning and a huge gym upstairs. We then enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden together. 

Aria's group were the monkeys

The second graduation was Jaron's high school graduation ceremony. It was held May 30th in the UVU events center. Jaron was one of over 700 seniors from Bingham High that graduated that day. We were glad to have been in attendance to watch him get his diploma. We were supposed to take him to dinner the Tuesday before to celebrate his big day but both Paul and I came down with a flu bug and had to cancel. Because of that flu bug,we declined to go to the party that Jen held for him in her South Jordan home. Instead, we grabbed a bite of lunch, made a quick stopat Costco, and headed home.

Jaron's senior picture

With the month of May, comes lots green leaves and colorful blossoms on the trees. It's such a beautiful time of the year, especially with all the rain we've had this Spring. The lawns have never been so green. Of course, with all this comes lots of yard work - cleaning up the winter leaves especially in the water feature, weeding, and planting annuals. It was all accomplished this month in between rainstorms. We love, now, to sit out in the backyard, with the water feature running, and enjoy the blessing of all the hard work.

The water feature, free of the great accumulation of leaves that had
happened this fall and winter.  Notice the beautiful pink blossoms of the
crab apple tree. We love Spring.

On the first Sunday of the month we officially celebrated Avery's first birthday. After dinner we opened presents and had homemade hostess cupcakes. Of course, Avery was a mess and Aria had to join in the fun, too.

Avery's new toy to add to the toys at Grandma and Grandpa's home

Each year at this time, we put flowers on Paul's parent's graves in the Pleasant Grove City cemetery. We did this on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, after our day working in the Provo temple.  We're glad we live close enough to make this an annual tradition.

In Greg's studio with his bigger than
life size painting of the Savior,
in progress.

A couple of other things happened this month. The first being an Elder's Quorum activity held at the home of Greg Olson, the artist. He and his wife built a home in our neighborhood and moved in about a year ago. He opened up his home for this activity. We enjoyed visiting for a while and then going back into his studio where he showed us his current project for the Jerusalem center. We were able to ask questions of him and see all the beautiful pieces of his art hung in his studio. He is an amazing artist but both him and his wife are so very humble and gracious. Before we all left, we enjoyed some refreshments that I had put together - a fruit pizza, a vegetable pizza, and a couple of cookie pizzas. Everyone seemed to enjoy them.

The screen on my phone while
I was Facetiming Dad.

This month, I tried to Facetime my mom for Mother's Day with no success. Finally, on Monday, I just called to talk to her and dad. We had a great visit but Dad was concerned because he could no longer Facetime with anyone. It seems that Dana gave him a new phone but it doesn't have the capability to Facetime. Deon remembered that he had an Ipad that could Facetime so she called him and helped him set it up so he could call and see his family when we talked to him. For the first few days, he was Facetiming everyone several times. I talked with him three days in a row. He was so excited to be able to do this again.








This month I also attended a lunch with some of my old BYU Curtain Time USA performers from way back in college. We had spent 5 month together, performing in 25 different countries in the Middle East and Europe. We were part of a good will mission sent out from the state department. We met for lunch at a buffet in Provo as Roger Call was in town from Texas and wanted to get together. Ten of the 25 original were able to make it. (Two of the 25 have passed away and most of the others are on missions or live out of state.) It was good to visit with everyone and to catch up on what was going on in their lives. We all look so old, though. It's times like this when we realize that age is catching up with us. I was the youngest there as I think Tanya Hale and I were the youngest on tour back in 1965.  

That wraps up the month except for Aria and Avery.......

Avery is now pulling herself up on the furniture. She's been a little hesitant to do this so it's a big deal for her

Aria is into riding her trike (actually, what we used to call a big wheel) They brought it up one Sunday so she could ride it down to the pond. She did good on the way down but Todd had to pull her up coming home....it was too much of an incline for her to peddle on her own.

Aria is such  good big sister. She loves playing with and helping Avery.

A ONCE IN A LIFE TIME TRIP TO THE MASTER'S GOLF TOURNAMENT - ONE OF MANY WONDERFUL EXPERIENCES IN APRIL

A trip to the Master's Golf tournament, visits from Deon and Gary and Andrea and Casey, plus a Russia Moscow Mission reunion filled our month with wonderful experiences. 

I'll begin with at the first of the month when Deon and Gary came to visit. Their daughter, Carrie, and Granddaughter, Sydney, came to Utah so Sydney could try out for Young Ambassador's at BYU, so, much to our delight, Deon and Gary wanted to come up, too. They stayed with us because Carrie and her daughter were staying with Garrett and Kristen, here in Heber. One of the days, we had lunch with everyone at the club house at Red Ledges, where Garrett lives. The following evening everyone came to our home for Salsa Verde Chicken Lime burritos. The dinner was a big hit with the Fullers as they are Mexican food lovers. It was fun to have Garrett and Kristen and their boys, Carrie and Sydney, as well as Kyle Sorenson, and, of course, Deon and Gary in our home. 

The following day, we drove with Deon and Gary to Bear Lake, about a 2 hour drive. The Fullers have a family reunion scheduled there this summer and they wanted to check out the house they had rented for their family. We took time to see the home as well as check out the best places to launch a boat and play on the beach. Before we left, we had lunch at a new restaurant in town, Cody's Restaurant. We drove home through Logan canyon, a beautiful canyon that was still under several feet of snow. When we got home, we went to Garrett and Kristen's for hamburgers and hot dogs off the grill. It was a great few days with the Fullers.

Deon and Gary left at the end of the week and on Saturday, we enjoyed a weekend of listening to General Conference. Saturday and Sunday were filled with uplifting messages from our prophets and general authorities giving us much to contemplate and apply in our lives. We are go grateful that conference comes about every 6 months.




That Tuesday we were off for an experience of a life time - a trip to Augusta, Georgia for the Master's Golf Tournament. Todd and Kailee had given us plane tickets to Atlanta, Georgia and entrance tickets to the Wednesday practice session of the Master's tournament. We spent Monday night at Todd's so we could just take one car to the airport, leaving for the airport at 6 the next morning. We grabbed breakfast at the airport and then boarded our plane for Atlanta. When we landed, we met Garrett Fuller, whom Todd had invited as his fourth guest. After renting a car, we drove to Aiken, South Carolina, where we had secured a suite at the Fairfield Marriott. We stayed in Aiken, which was a 45 minute drive from Augusta, because the hotels were a bit cheaper there. It only cost us $600 a night instead of $1000. Prices are pretty jacked up when the Master's is being played.

Wednesday morning, we got up real early and left for Augusta so we could be there before the gates opened at 8 a.m. When we got to the gates of the course, we were amazed at how many people were already inside. We figured the gates must have opened early so as to accommodate the thousands of people that would be coming. Our first stop was at the pro shop to buy Master's memorabilia - golf shirts, flags, hats, etc. Not cheap but a great reminder of this fantastic experience. We watched several players warming up on the practice course before walking to the ninth tee so we could follow Phil Mickelson as he played the back nine. 

The course was immaculate - perfectly mowed green grass, flowering pink hibiscus everywhere, perfectly trimmed bushes, and not a weed in sight. We walked most of the back nine and saw the infamous 'Amen Corner.' At one of the water par three holes, we watched the players place a ball at the edge of a lake and hit it in such a way as to make it skip across the water and land on the other side of the lake. We got up close and personal to Tiger Woods as he walked to one of his next tee shots and fist bumped Toni Finau, from Lehi. On Wednesday's practice round, the players are somewhat relaxed and more apt to interact with the crowd than on the regular 
tournament days. We could also take pictures, though not with our cell phones. Cell phones are prohibited on the course so we had to bring our old cameras if we wanted any pictures.

Yes, that's Tiger Woods who ended up winning the whole tournament

Lunch was an experience out of the fifties - good food for very little money. A sandwich was only $2 and a pop a dollar. For dessert, we had a peach ice cream sandwich that was to die for.

Before the end of the day, we walked over to the par three course where most of the players were with their families playing this short course. When we got there, we learned that Jack Nicolas, Gary Player, and Tom Watson (all old golf champions of the Master's) had just teed off. We hurried to the second hole so we could see them up close. We watched them for couple of holes before heading back to the pro shop area. Paul and I were ready to sit, but Todd and Garrett wanted to walk (actually run) the front nine so they could say they saw the whole course. We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the car to drive to our hotel but were so glad for this marvelous experience. It was a great day...a wonderful Christmas gift. Todd and Garrett were in seventh heaven being there on such a famous course and surrounded by so many great players. It was especially fun watching their excitement with the whole experience.



Wednesday, we slept in, had a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then drove back to Atlanta. We relaxed that afternoon at our hotel before heading to dinner and an Atlanta Braves baseball game that evening. It was fun hanging out with Todd and Garrett, though the game was pretty slow. We left after the 7th inning stretch.

The next day, Todd and Garrett were able to get on earlier flights than they had originally scheduled, so we all went to the airport around noon. Paul and I didn't have flights until late in the afternoon but we didn't mind waiting in the airport by ourselves if it meant the boys could get back to their families earlier in the day. We all arrived home safely, having spent a fun filled 4 days together.

President and Sister Borders

We got home Friday night, giving us just enough time to get our home ready for a Russia Moscow Mission reunion on Saturday. We had to have our home and part of the refreshments ready by 3:30 when the Borders came with the rest of the food which we needed to cut up and set out on trays. This time everyone came straight to our home instead of going to the church for a devotional, as they had done in the past. There were probably just under a hundred former missionaries who attended. It has been almost three years since the Borders were released as Mission President and wife, so we knew only about a quarter of those in attendance. We served with them at the first half of their mission and most of the missionaries we knew have finished school and moved from Utah to pursue careers and married life. It was great to visit with those who remembered us and always wonderful to open up our home to Russian return missionaries.

Rolls, meats, cheeses, chips, vegetables and fruits in the dinning room.
Desserts and drinks in the kitchen

The children started running
around as soon as the dining
was empty.

Sunday, we had Todd and Kailee, and Jake and Nicole, and families for Sunday dinner. We needed both Todd and Jake to help Paul move all the furniture out of our living room and dining room. We were having someone come in the next day to redo our Brazilian Cherry wood floors. The kids loved having no furniture in the two rooms. It was like a giant gym for them to run in....and run they did.

The procedure we had done on the floors was not a complete resanding but a screen and recoat. The floor guy sanded the floors lightly to remove the existing finish and then put on a new varnish. It was a one day procedure though we couldn't walk on the floors for 24 hours and couldn't move rugs and furniture onto them until the following Monday. We camped out in the basement for the first night and then lived upstairs with no furniture for the rest of the week. On Monday, some of Paul's elder's quorum came and helped Paul move the rugs and furniture back in. It was nice to be back to normal living with beautiful new floors.  

A beautiful table
for our Easter feast

Because we had no furniture in our living room and dining room, Easter dinner could not be held at our home. Instead, Todd and Kailee opened up their home for us and Kailee's family. I brought rolls, potatoes, pineapple sauce for dinner, and cream puffs, for dessert. Todd and Kailee did the ham, salad and vegetable. All was delicious. After dinner the children had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Aria is finally getting into gathering as many eggs as possible. Last year she didn't quite know what to do. 

Avery was more interested in the Easter grass from the basket  than the candy

Toward the end of the month, Derrill and Irene came to Utah to visit their daughter, Courtney. Often when they come we go out to lunch. This time they came to Heber and we took them to the new restaurant in Midway, The Corner. It is a nice atmosphere and good food. We enjoyed our visit with them. 


My birthday was on the 28th of this month. Much to our delight, Andrea and Casey came to town. They needed to be in Utah for a niece's wedding and so stayed with us from Friday to Tuesday. We enjoyed our visit with them. Casey hadn't been in our home since our 50th wedding anniversary, 3 1/2 years ago. It was especially nice to have them here for my birthday on that Sunday. Kailee brought the children up for dinner. (Todd was out of town.) Aria presented me with a bouquet of flowers which she picked out herself from the florist. Andrea and Casey gave me a gift certificate to PF Chang's. Ryan Facetimed with his whole family and Jon texted  and Todd called. I love birthdays because I get to talk with all the children. It was a great day.

Aria also gave me these pictures she had colored. I especially like the top one
that she drew on her own. It's of her and me. I don't have any hair because
she says grandmas have white hair.

The girls really took to Casey which is unusual for both of them.

Aria was fascinated by the
 bubbles in the water display
 at Costa Vida

The  next day, Andrea and Casey went to the new Avenger movie and then met us in American Fork for dinner at Costa Vida. Jon and Mindi and Todd and Kailee and their families joined us. We always have a good time when we are together as a family - lots of laughs and good conversation. After dinner, Andrea and Casey wanted to see Jon and Mindi's home so we all went to Highland to have a tour. It was the first time Todd and Kailee had seen their home, too. (This was Avery's birthday but we decided to celebrate it the following Sunday at our home.)

Love this family.....missing Ryan and Katie, though

Spring is trying to bloom in Heber so that means Paul has started the winter clean up in the yard.  He spent hours most every day edging, weeding, and raking leaves from around the bushes. He is such a dedicated worker and our yard always looks immaculate. 

Big new!!! Paul bought new shoes. The big thing about that is that he didn't buy his regular white Air Jordans which are worn mostly by old men. He branched out this time and bought two pairs of shoes - A grey tennis shoes and red and black and white Air Jordans. Todd and Kailee always give him a bad time about his old men's shoes so now they can't tease him anymore.




And then there is Aria and Avery.........

Loving her new sun glasses

Grandpa reading the funnies to Aria 

Avery started to crawl this month. Actually it's more of a scoot but
at least she can now get around on her own.

                          

Avery and Grandpa

Happy Birthday to this 1 year old.
Taken on her actual birthday.

A most precious image -
Picture on the left taken April 2018 just before Avery was born
Picture on the right taken April 2019 with Avery almost a year old.
Same place - at the Thanksgiving Point Tulip festival