Its Celebration Season.

When we arrived at Mosida on Monday we found all these colorful kerchiefs hanging on the rail fence.  It turns out that a ward, who had used the lodge for a primary activity, had gotten them all wet then left them out to dry. 

It was a work day, and most of the girls worked on redoing signs, here we see sister Newman hard at work, with LaVern Crump helping out. Sister Lathrop and I wrapped the potatoes for lunch in Tin foil and washed the windows in the lodge. 

We drove out to retrieve more of the signs, and I thought that Sister Marvin looked cute with the drill.

The guys work on adding the Fort Seminoe sign on the facade we are building this year.

and there it is with Dad and Elder Smith in front. 

How many Sister Missionaries does it take to remove out a screw?

That night we went to the Hale Center Theater to see Once, and happened into Melanie and Bill McBee.  They were one of Dad's marriages back when he was the 'bishop' of Maceys in Orem. 

The next day they worked on getting up the wall of the fort, well facade anyway.  Doesn't it look great?

A member of the Stake Presidency that oversees us, had this nice piece of equipment that was used to put up the heavy duty pipe frames to support the shade structure that Dad had helped to make last week.  It's called a Telehandler Forklift. 

Here they are after they got them cemented in. They put them up at six different sites. Now they will add some kind of roof to each.

I had stayed home on Tuesday to do sandwiches for my friend Mary's Coronation tea the next day.  On my way to the store to get the groceries for that, I stopped at the Peteeneet Museum to see a one-man show being done by a listed Utah artist, Courtney Lunt, who I follow on instagram. 

While there I found this wonderful painting of a pioneer mother with her baby, and it just seemed perfect for the pioneer corner that is growing in our family room. It's paid for, but we will get it the end of the month once the show is over. 

After shopping I got started on the sandwiches for the Coronation tea party ...

Then we met up with the Moes

and Heuers for dinner at Rumbi Grill before heading to see the movie Chevalier.

At the theater we ran into another couple who married back when Dad was the Bishop of Macey's, they are Aaron and Janae Nuckles. How funny is that, two days in a row.  During that time, Dad remembers 8 temple marriages in one year. Now both of these couples have grandchildren.  Dad calls them the Macey's ties that bind.

We really enjoyed a movie that we thought that was going to be a little racy because of the focus of the advertising, when in reality it was pretty informative, about a black man who achieved success among the elite of his society, receiving the French equivalent of a knighthood.  He was the son of a French Colonial plantation owner and a slave.  His parents lived openly among French society as he was raised there.  (This part was not in the movie, but is in his personal history).  It actually made me think better of the French.  It took place around the time of Marie Antoinette, in fact the main character, in real life, was her music tutor. (Also not mentioned in the movie)

On Wednesday morning I went to Amy Stringham's house in Orem to get some cupcakes she had made for the tea.  She'd posted them several weeks ago and I showed them to them Mary who was enchanted.  How cute are Amy's little kiddos. 

Here she is with the 20 cupcakes she made. Mary asked her to make them like an English flower garden. 

Mary also planted an English style flower garden along her front walk to greet her friends as they came to the coronation tea.

She did various fancy English cheeses. 

Our mutual friend Keith had come the day before, to help her decorate.  This large vignette was in her basement.

This one centered her dining room table.

Here are the sandwiches I contributed, cucumber to the left, then my famous ribbon sandwiches (Which I had at my wedding) behind them was something new I tried, crab stuffed baguet slices. Mary made the roast beef sandwiches to the right.

Here are the baguette slices, and they were delicious.

I also made these Cranberry and Brie tarts.

This cute couple are Mary's neighbors.

another cute friend who wore Mary's fascinator. (English small hat that tilts and just rests on the top of the head)

These folks are back again this week. Debbie and Mike are the owners of Fairy House antiques in Provo.

and our own sweet Rosemary, the manager of our North Treasures store.

Here's a closeup of her plates. 

Me with yet another of Mary's neighbors, she is also wearing an ethereal fascinator.  Mary lives in a senior community.  When she moved here ten or twelve years ago, she rented the adorable house she lives in.  But when the owner passed away, she could not afford a down payment to buy it just then.  The neighbors got together and came up with the down payment so she could stay in the neighborhood.  I imagine there were arrangements for Mary to pay them back, but I just love that they cared, though Mary is so dear, I should not be surprised. Especially since they are all members of the predominant church and Mary is not. I just love stories about the goodness of people.

This is not all the ladies, but all of those who were wearing hats.

The beautiful cupcakes.

And here is my fellow Anglophile and her dog. Yep, she's wearing an official King Charles the Third Coronation tea shirt and her dog is wearing a Union Jack scarf. Thanks Mary.

I bagged up a plate of tea items, including an English scone with King Charles on it, for Kathy back at work, who had not been able to attend.

I loved this picture of Dessi Staggs, as she and Eli are out hiking the slot canyons in southern Utah. (He was one of the assistants we worked with on our second mission, and she was a favorite sister missionary, as Dessi Anderson) He's from Kansas and she is from Centerville, Utah.

Dessi and Eli

Dad helps me out on Thursday morning, before we head to work and the temple.  His car had overheated on the way home from Mosida the day before, meaning he missed Mary's tea party.  His car is in the shop and they can't even look at it until Tuesday. 

At the temple, that day, a new worker on Dad's shift, turned out to be a young man he went to school with through Junior high and his two years at Olympus. He is a retired lawyer from Iowa, and then a judge in SLC who now lives in Santaquin, Richard LaJeunesse (his family history is from Montréal) 

At work Thursday I said goodbye to the old gates from LaCaille that had been in our lot all winter.  They are headed to Brambles and Blossoms in Provo.

I reworked my white ironstone and natural wood display a bit that day. 

I also used this picture to ask friends and family to save me full size colored glass bottles for the garden path I want to do this summer in a Facebook post. You may recall we heard of the idea in a book about the building of the Panama canal during the French period, when the French workers drank so much French wine, that they used the upside down wine bottles to pave some of the roads in the settlement. 

My brother Ross pointed out, on facebook,  that I needed to ask my drinking friends ... then Ashley, who currently works as a bartender at Market Street Grill (Why didn't I think of that) piped up and reminded me what she does for a living.  It made me laugh out loud.  Do you remember the old ROFL?  Yep. that.

That night after work, while I was making dinner, my friend the chemist made up some of the capsules we take ... I think these are ginger capsules.  Yep, that first year of a Chemical Engineer training did not entirely go to waste, right?

On Friday we headed to Salt Lake, primarily to take temporary claim of Darby's car.  (Thanks to all who offered on a car on our family page)  I dropped Dad at Darby's to spend the day with final details of her remodel, then I went junking.  I met a kindred spirit at DI that day, and she agreed to a picture together.  Usually when I ask older clerks to use as few of the plastic bags as possible, they don't get it.  She totally saw my vision and supported me. 

After a couple of DIs I headed for the Good Will Outlet out by the old distribution center west of down town.  I spent hours going through the books and buying them by the pound.  As it happens that works out to almost a buck a book, so about a third less than the average book at DI.  Still I found some beautiful old books from the turn of the nineteenth century.  So fun.

We met at home intime to go to Ruth Clayson's viewing. I visited her as a visiting teacher, back in the day, for a couple of years, and so grew to love this great lady.  I was sorry to miss her funeral on Saturday, but as it was at the exact same time as Penny's baptism, so it was not to be.  It was good to talk with Clark, though, and get to meet her children of whom she was so proud.

Next we headed to Spanish Fork for the reception of Kai Gamett and his bride.  He served with us on our first mission, and he is the grandson of Nellie Jäkkö  (Pronounced Yakker) who you may recall was so kind as to take us mushrooming, when we stayed with them in a northern forest.  (Nellie was also a Dutch ping pong champion as a young girl, if you recall her story.)

Here we are with Katie and Kai Gamett.

And Kai's parents.  It was our first time to meet his Dad, Jason, but our third time to meet his Mom, Reina, who is just as tiny as her mom Nellie. 

And guess who got to go to New Orleans?  Yep, Hannah and Scott, and I hope that Dad and I get to go there someday, especially as Louisiana is one of about 5 states we have yet to visit.

I also loved this predecessor to Tom and Edie's trip to Japan. (They are Brittany's  in-laws) I can't tell you how much I love this.  You may recall that we had planned to go on this trip for Kai's graduation ourselves.  However, when our original pre covid price kept going up, and finally when our flights would have been an additional $900 each, we bailed.  We're sad to miss this wonderful opportunity, but perhaps it will come again, with a better price tag. They all embark next month, and we hope that they have an amazing time. (The original trip was to have been in March of 2020)

On Saturday I was looking for a sweet teaching reminder for Penny who got baptized that day.  I loved this when I ran across it.  I love any kind of pneumonic that helps me remember important information, and what's more important than remembering your baptismal covenants.  It's all in Mosiah 18:8-9, if you're interested.  

And here she is with her Papa before the big moment.

With the support of her whole family.  The little girl on Eleanor's lap is a cousin on her Mom's side.

Here's Trevor afterwards, wearing a heart dollar that Ben folded for him, and Nell's grandpa's tie.  What a fun style.  I told him he was like a walking scrapbook.

Here we are with Penny wearing her new glasses.

It was fun to meet Eva's friend.  She was complaining about being short, when I said, I thought she was just right, and guessed she was five foot two.  She said she was and I told her there was a song about a girl who is five foot two and proceeded to sing this song.

It was fun to find out that it was written in 1925, so it's almost 100 years old.  My Mom used to sing it all the time, so I have fond memories of that.

That afternoon we worked around the yard, Dad mowed the lawn and I got out the filthy Union Jack rug that had been on the floor of my British booth at the mall and gave it a good beating.  Next, I washed it out with a power nozzle on the hose.  It's now headed for my Mad Hatter's Tea Party house, in the back yard.  After all, Lewis Carol was a Brit. 

We had stopped on the way home from the baptism and picked out a few veggie plants.  Here's the box dedicated to tomatoes this year.  We bought a huge early girl tomato that already has small tomatoes on it. It's in the center. We can hardly wait. Yum.

And here is my far-from-thriving flowering almond.  I always loved the one my mom had when I was growing up, but this one, that's been in for five years, just doesn't seem too enthusiastic.  I guess I should be glad 'alive.  I've lost several bleeding hearts, also a favorite of my Mom's, but alas, I guess I'm just not the gardener she was. 

That evening we went to a local church to celebrate the wedding of Manae Madson, whose folks live just up the street.  I really only know her from Facebook, but have always thought she was one of the most fun people I know. 

Here's the girls shot. 

At church today I actually bore my testimony, after reviewing the "3 bears" , I felt some guilt as it's been a couple of years since I have actually borne mine.  Sunday School was great, Cristie Peterson made a couple of wonderful comments.  She was active as a child, but in her teens got involved with a man who had no interest in the church.  After marrying him, she didn't attend, but after his death and forty years away, she came back.  Two of her children are also active and have supported her.  She knows so much about that situation, and I think it's very good to have that perspective explained to one.

And last of all I will close with this Eleanor Roosevelt Barbie.  Yep, you can also get Rosa Parks and Helen Keller.  Who'da thought. I think there are about 10 in the historic collection. Not really sure who the target market is. 

OK so after reading this to Dad, he told me a funny reel he saw on IG... it was telling about all the different Barbies, and the last one was divorced Barbie, who was like $267.  When asked why so pricy, it said it was because she came with the following accessories. Ken's car, Ken's boat, Ken's house and Ken's best friend.  (sorry, I hope that didn't break the mood of the blog in focusing on the celebrations in our lives.) 

Love you all, and love keeping up with you a bit on Facebook, now and then.