A few of our favorite things.

Trek this week had a lot to do with twinning, which is one of my favorite things.  I always notice when people dress alike or similarly.  My girls suffered from twinning, at least the older four girls did when I was sewing all their clothes.  Emily and Becca where saved the trauma because by then I was clothing the kids with my garaging skills. 

The girls in the middle were in a trek family with an over achiever mom. She made each of the girls in the 'family' two skirts and two aprons, so they had two fully matching outfits.  Sister Marvin had bought the same skirt and apron as a girl on the trek.  Another set of girls, a leader and two girls, just happened to have the same fabric, while the other two were also a coincidence, but one dress had been washed and faded.  My favorite was that Sister Lathrop's shirt matched my apron and my apron matched her shirt. and Hollyhocks!!

Here's a little fake twinning.  I wore my blue dress with the white bib apron this week, and decided to edit myself into a picture I took of three missionaries last year who were twinning.  (Parker, Crump and Munro)

Definitely not a favorite, is that a twig on a tree that punctured the side wall of a tire, causing a flat on one of our trucks ... not sure why Dad wanted the picture in here ... but here it is. 

and definitely a favorite is the cowboy on the right, and the fact that both of these cowboys served missions in Finland.

Here's a random picture of a trek family.  

Running into anyone with Finnish connections is always a blast.  We met up with this couple at Nancy Petersen's (Always a favorite) funeral.  He had been Dave Petersen's companion on their mission, and when we were introduced at the funeral. they remembered us from having come out to teach the Hoedown ... and here they are again, as pioneers.  I think reconnecting is actually Dad's very favorite thing. (Although there is grandkids and remodeling. that probably ranks higher)

Observing the goodness of others is definitely a favorite thing for me.  Here Sister Lathrop fans a young woman in the shade after the girl showed signs of heat exhaustion, after the women's pull Dad and I took her and another back to the medical building for further cooling down.

We even enjoy other people reconnecting.  When we started the trek on Monday, there were two different men who wanted to meet LaVern, as their mother/mother-in-law had known her. I didn't get a picture of the other man with her ... but ....

On the last day when I was looking for the second guy, one man said, "No I wasn't looking for LaVern, but my wife was.)  It turns out this gal's mother is LaVern's walking partner.  Boy does that LaVern get around for a small town gal. 

and in scenes from another hotter than heck place we see some strange sort of alien children, the expression on Benny's face proves he was named after his soul twin.

And here's my soul twin ... never worry about the dirt, just do it and clean up later, we're not made of spun sugar.  Love you Abbie-Paula. 

And morning glory is absolutely a favorite thing for me.  How sweet is this climber on my front porch?

and this garden box is owned by them ... even covering a small crop of growing potatoes. 

They just make me smile. 

Speaking of which, this little girl brought in a kitten her family is nursing, to the antique mall when I was working on Thursday.  It was starving and close to death when they found it abandoned in their back yard last week.  Now it looks like a normal kitten after just a week of this kind of love.  

And probably my favorite, favorite thing this week was going to the Minerva Teichert exhibit at the church history museum on Friday. 

Robin had seen it advertised first and passed it on.  So glad she did.  You may recall I have just finished reading her biography.  Such perfect timing. 

So many original large paintings and murals.  It was just amazing.

I knew the significance of this shawl from the biography.  When she was about 2 1/2 she was following older siblings into town, when she got lost.  She found a house similar to her own, and went to the door and knocked, magically hoping it was home, even though her home didn't have a fence.  It was cold and the nice people wrapped her up in this red paisley shawl.  The father took her to the police station hoping to reunite her with searching parents.  Her father was there, and when they tried to take the shawl off her, she screamed, because she loved it ... they let her keep it.  She treasured it her whole life and used the pattern in her paintings.  It may also have been the beginning of her love affair with the color red. Which I totally understand.

I already own a copy of this one, and loved seeing the original. 

  I discover this painting when I was reading her bio ...  in it are the angels who came to minister to the children when Christ visited the Nephites. The coming of the angels here reminds me of Brian Kershinik's angels. 

I have always, from my first aquaitance with her art, loved her borders ... I also like the detail of the stapling to the frame work on this one. 

sooooo    beautiful.

I bought the poster of this painting ... that represents the first planting when the pioneers arrived. 

It was fun to see a few artifacts.  This buffet was in her living room.

as you see on the right.  I also love the fact that she had this hand painted frieze along the top of the wall. 

Just for fun is me and Robin mugging with an angel Moroni that once grace a church building spire, not a temple.  Who knew?

So after lunch with Robin and Barb at the Cheesecake Factory, (Yes, sugar free cheesecake is definitely a favorite thing now!) the stars finally aligned, I found myself in Salt Lake at the City Creek Mall where Anthropologie is and was able to spend my gift card from Spencer and Brittney that I got a couple of years ago.  Yes, I did.  AND they carry Marimekko ... see the dress I am holding?  It is the same pattern in a large scale as the print on Dad's tie.  And yes, a sales person asked him if it was Marimekko! 

Here another dress, as well as a skirt that are Marimekko.  Unfortunately, the t-shirt knit dress was more than $200.  I did find dishes I loved though, bet you're not surprised. 

The Portrait ... Thanks Spencer and Brittney.

We headed to Bountiful and dinner with Bruce and Dianne, since we were in town.  Time Spent with my siblings is always a favorite thing. 

of course cute little girls is right up there in the ranking ... and these two were at the wedding of two Finnish Missionaries in Willard ...

We knew Elder Hollingshead's brother on our first mission, then he came at the end of our second mission. The girl he married Sister Madison Valcare who arrive in Finland two months after we left.

Here we are with the happy couple and his brother, Jaden. 

We got so many pictures we wanted to save of beloved missionaries.

Elder Jaden Hollingshead reminded us that he was one of the missionaries that gave us the Moomin Mama Donut Shoppe Sign, that is in our family room now. 

Here it is ...

Another Marimekko tie, Spencer Jeffries.

Erin Joost and Anna Petersen, companions reunited.

Finnish Missionaries

I thought their cake was stunning.

Here is a group shot of all the former Finnish missionaries,

More photos from Japan ... I just can't seem to get enough of them.

And on Saturday Eva turned 16 ... she questioned me calling her sweet 16 ... not sure why, because she is almost always sweet ... and I've know her for a long time .

Another favorite thing is selling antiques ... this funny tea pot lamp has been in my possession too long, though, and I have given up ... this gal almost bought it ... but alas its now in my DI box, so if you want it be sure to speak up... and though this particular relic is not a favorite thing ... having garage/flea/yard/antique sales definitely is. I always meet old friends, and make new friends ... we even had a couple of guys drop by who were looking for work, and who took care of the north driveway .... which was a mess ... YES!!

Sitting at the antique yard sale with Nikki, my friend from Treasures, I notice this pretty scene ... its my front gate, I love the light and shadows, and design, etc. 

Happily these suit cases sold ... after taking up room in the mall for a few years ...  they were bought by the prop Master for the Payson Community Theater.  They are doing Annie Get Your Gun this year, so I can go and see them again.

Here's a favorite thing .. New Friends,  Sister Newman, who is a missionary with us at Mosida came to my sale ...

She also, clever as she is, found some repro civil war era fabric to make into a pioneer dress and apron... can't wait to share the finished product ... stay tuned. 

She'll be a little more covered than these two girls who came shopping later that day ... to their credit, it was very hot ... so I am not judging, it just made me laugh. 

and happy day ... Emma Peterson nee Quigley, one of our most fun missionaries came too.

We missed their wedding (Quinn & Emma), because it was in Twin Falls, Idaho ... but so happy to see them again. 

 

Meeting people with historic houses definitely ranks as a Favorite thing for us both.  This couple from Mapleton has bought a house in Eureka ... we gave them the full three floor tour ... others only got the main floor, mainly because of time.

We plan to tour theirs at the Eureka Days (The Tintic Silver Jubilee) next month.

So here are Nikki and I at the end of the sale .... between us we made as much as we do on a good day at Treasures  ... and we got to divide it between us.  Here is a funny story ... Nikki brought a large collection of match box cars ... and said.. "I remember the first time I did your sale (About 2007)  I brought a collection of these, and a guy bought the whole thing.  I hope that happens today ... When a guy came up to me and said he wanted to buy the whole collection, I wish you could have seen the look on her face .... absolutely priceless.  I especially love these sales now, because all the money goes into an account to pay for original art. 

After the sale we got cleaned up just in time to join these funsters for Sushi. 

They both love ginger as much as Dad and I do (maybe even more) ... the waitress was amazed how much the four of us, while the other four (Aunt Darby, Eli, Adi, & Nenna) looked on ... ate!!

So today I committed a faux pas, definitely not a favorite thing.  I'd told LaVern we were speaking the day before Pioneer Day ... but I thought that was this week.  Then Dad corrected me yesterday, and I thought nothing of it.  She had told all these wonderful people and voila!!  We did not speak today, but we had lots of wonderful company anyway.  The Gurrs, Newmans, Brimhalls, us and the Crumps.  Thankfully we had a High Councilman who gave one of the best High Councilman talks I had ever heard.  And the Missionaries we are meeting at Mosida, are absolutely a favorite thing.

We also got to teach one of our favorite Primary classes.  Such a great group of young ladies (the girl on the right is Emmry).  They are 9 turning 10. AND we got to talk about one of my favorite people in the New Testament ... Tabitha.  I have actually always loved teaching Primary, I just dislike missing Sunday School and Relief Society. 

and here are a few of Darby's finishing touches at her place ... she finished cleaning up the smeared black grout, and ...

and painted the laundry closet with the secret passageway.  And being virtually done with a huge project is another of Dad's favorite things.

 Thanks for coming along on another week's journey, we love you all and love our encounters with you all as well. We look forward to many more.