Friday, August 15, 2014

Stone Reservoir

The end of June/first part of July we spent our vacation time camping at Stone Reservoir.  We had the campground from Saturday till Thursday.  Lill and Alicyn came up for the weekend, and Char came over, but on the weekdays, Dirk came with his boys, and Meagan came over with the kids and Ben, and Char and we really enjoyed the boat and the water.  

It was a much needed break from reality.  Things with the new house aren't going quite as well as planned but that is for another post.  Makae is not doing so hot - another post, etc.  Anyway.... it was nice to relax, spend time with family and just be together with no urgent business to attend to.  Jared came with us and was just part of the family.  He has spent most of the summer so far with us.  It has been nice. 


Sylvie in her cool glasses Granny got her.
Getting ready to pull Ethan while boarding.


He's getting up.
He's down.

He's up.
And away he goes.

The dock with the multiple tubes.

All was great till we got home.  I pulled the boat and Shawn the trailer.  I didn't turn wide enough and the boat trailer hit the fence post and knocked it out of alignment and bend a post.  It also scratched up the boat in a place.  I told Shawn I am never pulling the boat again.  If he really wants to go camping over Labor Day, he will have to get it fixed.

Other than that we did have a great time.  I especially love it when the little kids come.  Char had Olin as his sister was just born.  He and Rhone get so excited for the tubes and such.  It is really quite fun to watch them.  Dirks kids has a great time as well.  Ben (Dirk's Ben) loved the tube.  What a nice week.


Baby Ella

I got a brand new grand niece on the 23rd of June.  Sweet Ella.  She is a cutie.  Luckily Meagan was here to see her brother and meet her new niece and the cousins were excited for her.  She isa cutie.  Hope we get to see a lot more of her.
Moments after her birth 
With her Aunt Meagan
Olin likes his new sister!
Char's grandkids!!

Jace's Birthday

The family went camping over fathers day weekend up at my Dad's property i n Samaria.  It was fun, but Jace didn't want to celebrate his birthday up there, so when we got back Sunday night, the 15th, his actual birthday, we celebrated it at Granny's.  He opened most of his gifts that night, he got inline skates as well as a skate board from Ethan as well as many other gifts.  He enjoyed himself.  Here are some of the pictures of him and his tiny cake. I can't believe my baby is so grown up.







Welcome to Utah

It took us two days to get to Utah.  We got away late from Colorado, but we had a lot  of helpers help us with the last load.  We really appreciated all they did for us.  But we didn't get to Rawlings till about 8 and I was so tired and we decided to call it a night and spend it there.  We took off the next day and made it to Utah to Mom and Dad's.  We then went to Susan and Ed's and finally took a bath. Boy did we stink.  While at Mom and Dad's we celebrated Cade's birthday.  It was his birthday on the 1st and that is when we made it to Utah. Gramps had made a cake for his birthday and I had his gifts delivered there and we made sure to make if somewhat nice for him.  He was pretty excited with his gifts.  

On Monday we headed to the storage place and unloaded the truck and then brought the stuff we needed back to Susan's and unpacked there.  At least we have a place to stay for three months.  If was great seeing my family and having all their help.  It was nice to finally get here.   I am really looking forward to being home.

The traveling caravan
Cade's new Fairy tale shirt
His gifts cards. 
His new inline skates.
The valley where our house will be.
My cousin, Lisa, makes the most beautiful flower bouquets. She sent this one to as a welcome home gift.  So pretty! 
I knew I would miss the Sunrises in Colorado, but this was a pretty amazing Sunset on one of our first nights back.
We came back to all of the trees in bloom.  It was so pretty and smelled so nice.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Friends who made Colorado great!

There are a bunch of ladies that I will miss terrible when we move.  These ladies made Colorado a wonderful place to live.  They included me, were my friends, my shoulder to cry on, my companions, my family away from family.   The ways these ladies blessed my life is so cherished.  I hope each of them knows how much they mean to me.
Annette Seaver.  She was the first one to welcome me to the area.  She, like me has a daughter with BPD, and oh the connection we made.  It was so wonderful to finally have someone who got it.  Someone who understood exactly what I was going through, who felt how I felt and who was willing to cry and laugh with me.  I have never met anyone who was so willing to give and give and give, even when they had nothing left inside to give.  What a wonderful lady.  She has meant to world to me.  She came into my life at a time when I really needed her, and I hope I was able to help her the same.
Lang Fender - She was my first visiting teacher, along with Jen.  She always came.  She always had time for me.  She was so down to earth and so caring.  She was always willing to help no matte what I needed, sewing, cooking, cleaning -- she was and is a wonderful friend.  She moved a year before me, but we still love and miss her.
Jen Anderson - My other visiting teacher and great friend.  Jen is so outgoing and everyone likes her.  She has a way of putting everyone at ease, maybe because she isn't afraid to laugh at herself.  She was always willing to listen, to go to lunch, to cheer me up, to craft, to care.  There was a time I think I was ready to sink into despair and she was the one to pull me out of that.  She truly cared and it made all the difference.  I will miss her stories, her laugh, just her!
Anne  Snider - What an unlikely friend she was.  And our friendship is all due to her.  We didn't have a lot in common.  I'm Mormon, she's not. I like meat, she's vegan, I have kids, she has dogs.  But in spite of our differences she reached out to me, and kept our friendship going.  We went to museums, ballets, concerts, lunch, dinner, etc.  We crafted together, she showed me how to make cards.  She is such an inspiration to me.  I've always stuck in my own little shell, and here she was reaching out to others to include them, and boy did we become friends.  I will miss out outings, our talks, our breakfasts, our friendship.  Thank you Anne for making me your friend.
Kelli Rapp, Linda Jury, Julye Cox - These three ladies were such a hoot.  We crafted a lot together and became friends.  Lunches as well.  Julye was the first to welcome me to the neighborhood.  I got to visit teach Kelli - lucky me she moved back to Utah.  Linda I got to know through Crafting.  She is a true Texan, and boy I loved her drawl.  These ladies made life so enjoyable.  Thanks for the talks, the lunches, the good times.
Laura Shouldice - My next door neighbor.  What a wonderful lady.  She was the one Makae always ran too when she fell apart, and in spite of it all  -she understood through it all and still was a great friend.  The mother to my boys as well.  She would do anything for anyone.  She became my visiting teaching partner and my dear friend.  If something was going on at home, she was the one I could depend on.  What a sweet, sweet lady.
What a true christlike person.  She will be greatly missed.
Shannon Bartholomew - I became her visiting teacher, and through a funny connection we connected.  She and Jen were my go to girls.  Lunch, talking, crafting, visiting.  No one was as good as Shannon at putting things in perspective.  She was the sweetest mean person I knew.  She always said she had little tolerance for needy(not people in need) people, but she sure was good at being good to them anyways.  I will miss her a lot and I hope she enjoys Snow white.  I will miss her stinking cute kids too!
Valerie Hall - My neighbor and friend.  Mostly through crafting, and card group and church did I get to know her, but she would go out of her way to help you.  She is such a talented person.  Her wood creations are fantastic, not to mention the things she does in her house, her own cabinet tops.  And the cutest little girls ever.  Thanks for your friendship.
Jennie McFarland- this one isn't too bad to miss, because guess what - she moved to Utah and to Morgan!!!!  yep.  We met each other in South Weber when out kids became friends.  When she moved to Colorado it was nice to meet her again.  When I found out she was moving to Morgan I couldn't believe it.  We will have to get together there.
Darlene Martin - What a terrific lady.  This wonderful woman taught me a lot about seeing people for who they are.  She is not your typical Mormon, and yet she has such a love of the gospel and for people in general.  Her hugs and her excitement for life are very contagious.  She took on the world and although it gave her a ride she has stayed on.  She is such an example to me and I love her to death.  Thank you for you love, your sisterhood and your example.
Elena Acker - Our boys were best friends and that made us friends.  She us such a gracious lady.  Always willing to help, always a smile.  Smart lady too.  She treated my Ethan as one of her own, and I know he could be a pain.  Determined is a good word for her too.  Not everyone would go on trek with a  shot leg.  What an example to me.  Thanks for your friendship.
Heather Yancey - Friendship through crafting, and cooking, and kids.  She was always a quiet lady but such talent and care for others.  She was always willing to help.  I really admired how happy she was how together she was.  She was always very kind to me and I am so glad I got to know her.  Thanks you for your friendship.
Audrie Copple - When I first met Audrie I didn't think we would have much in common.  She was young, put together and quite pretty.  I was middle aged, dowdy and far from put together.  She became my visiting teacher and her caring came through.  I love this lady. She gave me perspective in my life that I would never have been able to find on my own.  She gave me hope when I had lost a lot of it.  She was always there when I needed her, and I found the more I knew her the more she was just normal like me, only put together. ;)  Thank you for all of your support, you caring and your friendship.
Brittany Vinton - I first knew her through Makae, she was one of her leaders and in spite of her issues she loved her.  She was so good with her.  Then we became friends through card group and crafting, and finally through being in primary and then she became my visiting teacher.  Her husband was great with my boys.  She was always so positive and showed such caring for others.  I am so glad we got to be friends and for the memories we have.  Thanks for your friendship.

Even though I don't know how often I will see these ladies in the future, I hope they know that they really influenced my life for the best.  Each of them left me a better person and each of them made me welcome and loved in Colorado.  They make it hard to leave!!!

Painting

A friend of mine in Colorado saw one of my paintings and the last thing she asked was to have one.  Only she wanted Snow White.  I have never done a person before, so this was kind of tricky.  It took a long long time, and I'm still not sure I like the results, but she was happy with it, so I guess that is all that counts.



Colorado History Museum

Anne and I took a little tour of the Colorado History Museum in Denver.  It was quite interesting. Anne and I have taken a lot of little trips and I will miss that a lot.  This one was fun.  One of the fun things was learning about the pioneer history of Colorado.  In one section we got to see what we would look like in the early late 1800's early 1900's if we had lived in south eastern colorado.  Here is what I would look like.  I think I will stick with 2014.


Goodbye to our Colorado house

Before we knew we were moving back to Utah, I had planted a bunch of bulbs in my yard.  the people who owned the house before us were really into the ornamental grasses.  Although I liked a few of them, there were way to many for me.  I finally got a lot of them gone and planted some bulbs, and flowering bushes.  Everyone knows that I am a flower fanatic.  We finally got our yard just the way I wanted it and then of course it was time to sell, but at least it looked nice for the viewings.  Here are some of the flowers I will miss, the yard, and some of the sites I will miss from Colorado! Now when I move to Utah I will have to start over.

Long's peak.  I will miss this view.  Even if it is distant.
I will really miss the Colorado sunrises!
Out fireplace.
Our kitchen
Our garden beds
The Backyard




Beautiful Columbine




Gorgeous irises




Peonies