Hobbies, Hobbies Everywhere.

This was really a week of hobbying … see if you can find representation by family members in each of the following hobbies:  Barbershop Singing, Rock Hounding, Golfing, Car Restoration, Car Building craft, hiking, Swimming, Antiqueing, Disney Love, crafting, refurbishing, decorating, family history, and Art appreciation.

On Monday Dad and I separated, for pretty much the whole week. He spent every day in down town SLC, mainly at the conference center, hosting for the International Barbershop Harmony Society's yearly competition.  He took these pictures at the opening ceremony that day.

I meanwhile, was home turning into a smurf … do you notice two colors of blue paint?  The first blue was spray paint that I redid the old heavy metal chairs with.  The other is from the paint I used on Adi's desk, that she got later in the week for her birthday from her folks.

I headed to Highland and got to Becca and Brady's as he was getting ready to do this fancy finish on his new garage floor.  Later in the week he moved his 1971 Camero into his new work space.  Isn't she a beauty?  Of course I think so, Dad was driving a 1968 Camero when we met.  Of course Brady's Dad had a 1971 … see how he is?  I can't wait to see it when he's done restoring it.

 I picked up Reagan for a grandma date she earned by reading 16 books. 

I was surprised that she chose Mc Donald's for lunch. But then she is 6 … I carry my grandfather's missionary journal for just such occasions and worked my way through half a dozen pages while she played in the structure.  She's so fun.

On Tuesday, before Dad headed out, we met at the new Harbor Freight in Spanish, and bought his new cement mixer, that he asked for Father's day.

Then, since I was so close, I stopped at DI about opening time.  So did a few others.

I was pretty happy to pick up this set for $85.  Whew, but while I went to pay a crowd gathered around it, trying to buy it … 

When I got home I worked on adding a few new things to the garden house, including ...

Putting Ben's picture in this fun frame I'd found, along with adding the B.

Then I took some vases to the little floral on Mainstreet, and stopped to check out our new antique store, here in Payson.  Its in the back part of Eli's Ice Cream. 

I'm not the only one who was enjoying their hobby that day.  Besides Dad and his Barbershop immersion, these two got to go  golfing together at Fox Hollow in American Fork.

Dad ran into his friend Jan Vanderhooft … he's a former Barbershopper, former Junior High School friend and former National Guard buddy. (Our family connection goes back to before Jan was born, when my Dad and his brother sponsored Jan's family after WWII when they immigrated from Holland.)

On Wednesday, when Ginny and I were walking we saw this restored Cadillac.  Isn't it funny.  At first we thought it was jerry-rigged, but we googled it and its the real deal.

 After work I took Adi's desk over to her house, and while I was there we started looking at rocks under a black light.  They have been having a lot of fun rock hounding, as are some others in the family. Of course then we found that some of us had glowing parts too …

 These construction straws really glow.

 On Thursday I took this picture of the garden house, it is looking so pretty.

I had room for an easy chair, so I had Dad haul this one out of the garage that used to be in our room.  It really makes the garden house feel more cozy.

Then he hauled out the cement mixer, and got started on assembly, before it was time to head back to the conference center for more musical fun.

After Dad headed north, I hauled out this old mantel top to see if it would fit on my planting bench.  Yes!

After work on Thursday I headed to the Conference Center to join Dad for the Past Winners Quartet show.  When I got there he was talking to his Finnish class teacher Tiina Watts and her husband.  I'm not usually the short one.  They have a son who has sung barbershop.

    I love this painting that hangs in the Conference Center, it reminds me of something Trish Willmore said to me after Ben died (she is married to Ron Willmore's brother) Her son died when he was in high school, and she said that having someone you love in Heaven is like the door to Heaven being slightly ajar.  I have found that to be true, and this picture sort of illustrates that for me.

Of course we love this artist as well.

 … and while we were busy enjoying years and years of quartet winners, some family members where joining together at Trevor and Nell's for fourth of July fun and fireworks …

 Trevor made another big water bag, like he did when they hosted the first family reunion, back in the day, and everyone appears to have enjoyed that.

Then they tried to get a watermelon to burst like the one Davin, Ben and Spencer burst last year.  Last year was around 350 elastics, this year they put on 500 and it still didn't burst … Dad an I watched the family marco pollo vids … on the way home from the show.  I'm not sure how it really  turned out because one minute its whole, and bulging like mad on the table … then there's screaming and finally chunks on the ground … a mystery.

We also enjoyed fireworks all the way home... that was a real treat.

Friday was Adi's birthday and her folks moved her new desk into her room.  She's so excited, she's wanted one for a long, long time.  Everyone has their own room now, and they each have a sitting hammock in their room.  They love them.

Happy Birthday Adi … who is now 7!

Dad and I were so tired as we drove home on Thursday night, that we forgot to pick up the van at the Trax lot in Provo … so I got up early to take Dad, so he could have the car, and I could use the van.  It turned out to be a silver lining because I had the van, and stopped at a storage unit sale in Springville at 7 am … no way I'd have been there that early.  But the stuff had belonged to a woman who had traveled the world, and it was such cool and cheap stuff.  It reminded me of the cool stuff Aunt Julie has collected over the years. I bought around 50 items and its helping me fill all those bins of antiques to go to the mall.  I've been working on them all week, and I am currently at 16.5 out of 18!

This nativity set is soooo sweet.

Here is the chorus that Dad hosted all week.  They are from Housten, and are called Space City Sound … and they took 16th out of 27.

The winning chorus is West Minster and they are from California.

Darby came to join Dad and hear his chorus sing too.  The Saltairs took 9th place and Darby took Dad out to La Hacienda to celebrate.

I borrowed these pictures of Kai's swim meet on Saturday … I can't believe how old he is.

 Emily took her kids to Home Depot to make model cars.

 I loved these other pictures of the kids as well, but unfortunately, though Emily face timed me, so I could see the super cute patriotic T-shirts Bekie made for herself and Abbey, they didn't take pictures.  Bekie colored red white and blue pictures and then she used masking tape to tape them on the shirts.  She is so creative. Its amazing how many little artists are popping up in this generation. 

Becca took her kids on a hike up to the flag in the canyon above Trevor and Nell's house.  I was amazed at the scale of the flag, as shown by the star here.

That night Becca and Reagan had a Mommy-Daughter date.

This morning we headed out early so that we could go and see the Tabernacle Choir for Music and the Spoken Word broadcast at the Conference Center.  It was wonderful.  In the second picture you can see that we ran into Jean and Mark Stevens, who are now serving as missionaries on Temples Square.

 Afterwards we went to the gardens on top of the building for the first time.  This man and his wife are serving missions here and on Temple Square … he also mentioned that he is the Transient Bishop for Temple Square on Wednesdays … that made me laugh, that 7 men share the job.  I remember when Dad was bishop and ran into folks with problems who didn't live locally, and he would contact one guy who was the Transient Bishop in Provo to get them the help they needed.  I always kind of felt sorry for the guy … so I thought this was brilliant.

The gardens are more natural, not what I was expecting.  The only flowers are wild flowers.

 I loved this shiny black polished stone wall … it reflects you as you look at it, with the temple behind you.  What a lovely bit of religious art.

This view is across the roof, with the black marble behind us.

Here we are on the roof with the temple behind us.

When we got home, I finished putting together this patriotic décor item as a gift for my friend Kimi.  I've had the stand for years … and now its done.  I took care of the painting yesterday.

Dad headed for Bountiful then, to attend another planning meeting for the Wade Reunion, that is coming up.  He got home just in time to …

walk up to the park for the band concert … so we really indulged in our hobbies this week.  We hope you all found some fun things to do that are of interest to you.