Houses, Antiques, and a Birthday, Oh My!

 Yep, it was another one of those weeks, where our lives were just go, go, go.

Monday was a lesson in flexiblity, because Becca came by as she was in town showing houses, she had one more to show, and it was an old one, I said I didn't have time ... she talked me into it, thankfully, because the house above was so fun to look at.  My friend Ginny is looking for a house in Payson, and this one had some issues, but it was so fun and so charming to see ... O Boy, makes me want to buy a fixer upper, luckily the lot size was so tiny it was not going to happen, but so fun.

Afterwards we went to the house here in Payson that has been remodeled by one of our customers from work ... it could be a TV show some time soon ... cant wait!

Becca and I walked around the house and peaked in the windows to see the staging.  So amazing.  Thanks for talking me into going, you silver tongued realtor person.

After I finished my blog postings I ran over to the antique mall to do some faux displays.  Nell and I have been in touch with a writer, who is doing an article in a national magazine, and who contacted us about trending collectibles ... she wanted back ground and pictures of popular items, based on our market.  These are a couple of the pictures I put together for her.

  On Tuesday I watched Becca's kids while I did some crafting for the the fleaology.  Becca was off in Salem riding Darby's horse... so good to see her doing something just for herself!

Just as she was picking up the kids, Andrew, a photographer/customer of Treasures came by ... he'd been to flea.o.logy and had seen the garden house and had some fun ideas for a photo project ... I'll be prepared to show you some of his pics when we get some snow.

On Wednesday I had the day off, and though I should have used it to do projects for flea.o.logy I ended up just reading, what a lazy, lazy girl I am .... I finished reading the Hundred Foot Journey, which was so, so much better than the movie ... its our book club book for the month, so it will be interesting to hear what everyone thought of it.

 Thursday I worked, and it was time to get some pictures done of items I was bringing to fleaology to post on line.  This is a sample shot.

 I also had a customer come in, who is a great crafter, and evidently one of my good customers for my 'smalls for crafting' booth.  We exchanged names for Instagram and became face book friends ... she is a very talented lady, and I have really enjoyed seeing some of her projects on line!  Her Instagram is punkurjunk, if you want to take a peak.  After work I delivered the trays I sold on Reclaimologists last week, before heading home for dinner, loading up the van for the show and a couple of episodes of the Big Bang Theory.

 On Friday I finished up loading goodies I'd completed that morning for the show.  I put an add on KSL, and did some pictures for the show in various places on line, before arriving at Olson's at 2 to supervise set up.

These three pictures show my set up.

I got home around 9:45 P.M. after set up, just in time to collapse.

 The next morning at 6:00 I was at the garden shoppe again to supervise  the set up of the final half a dozen dealers.

Aunt Joyce came just before we opened at 8, and brought me a Christmas gift.

To the right are Shannon, Jeff and Mandy, all members of my Reclaimologist group.

Becca and Brady brought their munchkins to enjoy the show!!

Spencer and Brittney came too, I thought this picture with them all on their phones was fun.

Of course Nell is my partner in the flea.o.logy business, but doesn't love having her picture taken.  She is a great help at these shows, and I so appreciate her support.

 ... and while I was hanging out and selling at fleaology, Dad was at Meg's again, for the last time.  He and Uncle Doug finished up the bathroom there.  

...before coming to the show to help me load out. Spencer, Trevor and Brittney all helped, and Nell would have, if she could have.

Dad and I had time to go to dinner at the Mexican Restaurant owned by a ward member, before heading to Orem to see Barefoot in the Park with Barb and Randy and some extended family of theirs.

 I got up early Sunday to finish up my lesson for Relief Society.  It was on prayer, and was really a good lesson for me.  One of my new year's goals is to say my morning prayers, something I have struggled with, so it was a very timely lesson for me.

After church Brittney and Spencer came upstairs to play the piano and visit a bit, which we always love!

 This is a picture of the goodies I bought for myself at flea.o.logy ... not a lot, but fun never the less. I took the picture to post it on Facebook, where there was a call to share flea.o.logy treasures, but i also thought putting it here would be a great record for me.

 Above we see Becca with the cabinet she bought from Trevor and Nell at the sale.  It goes perfectly in her  living room, and is the prefect finishing touch.  She and Brady Love It!

We were there with other Perkins and Summers to celebrate ...

Reagan's second birthday!

We all had a great time visiting, except Elias, who was a bit too tired to party. They'd spent the day at the zoo, and he was plum tuckered.  Still a great party, Happy Birthday Reagan!

Books and Temples and Games too!

Another week, a bit slower than the last, but perfect for snuggling up with a good book, right?  In fact I finished the book I'd been reading, Monday before starting into fun tasks like baking cookies and making Ben's favorite soup. (Sorry Ben, you could have had some if you ever came and saw your old mother!!)  Later I delivered some soup and bread to a my sick friend, Ginny Taylor, before Dad and I headed over to the Docsteader's for the smallest FHE group ever.  It was just Debbie (her hubs always works security at the Provo temple on Mondays), Dana DeWitt,  Dad and me.  The Kews, Taylors and Forsters were all sick, and the Christiansens and Wings were just missing in action.  I taught the lesson, and learned a lot in the process, so that was good.

Tuesday I cleaned out my email in box, which was quite a chore, but  I needed to do it to send out my dealer email for flea.o.logy, which is coming up this Saturday.

Next, I had made arrangements to go and photograph this adorable child's play cottage at a home in Lindon.  I seen a picture of it following a lady on Instagram, and commented I'd like to see it, since she was local. 

 She invited me over, and it turns out she knows me from the shop and flea.o.logy.  When I called, she even said she recognized my voice. Gotta love customers that become friends!

While I was having fun in love and adoration of all things white and frilly, Dad was also dressed in white, right down to his shoes, as he filled his shift at the Provo temple. 

On Wednesday, I got busy at work and changed out the Christmas booth I had done up front ... when I was done, I think it was my absolute favorite of any I have done in the past, and believe me, I've done a lot!

I also listed these trays on Reclaimologist's since Wednesday is their required listing day, and sold them to a lady who's on a mission in Vermont!  She and her husband take care of the grounds at the visitor's center there.  That sounds like a super fun mission.  I'll be delivering them to her daughter in Orem this week!!

Thursday was another typical workday at Treasures, then after work, Richard let me sneak off a minute early so Dad and I could make it to our ward temple night at the Provo temple.  We did sealings and it was super fun, one family included a Benjamin Spencer, with a daughter named Rebecca being sealed to them.  Then we did a family that had 9 daughters and a son, that one felt like kindred spirits too!

Afterwards we met at the Mexican restaurant on the bend of the highway here in Payson, that is owned by ward members.  Dad is sitting across from the bishop, and I am sitting next to the Relief Society President ... this ward is so warm and welcoming, We Love It!!

On Friday I had an appointment with Nell.  We had received a message on our flea.o.logy face book page from a lady who works for a National Magazine, and who is doing a special issue on flea markets.  She wants us to share what's trending here in Utah, and to send her pictures.  It was pretty fun, because we know that being listed in another national magazine will do nothing but put us more firmly on the map!!

When I got there I took a couple of pics of Lu as she played with her Ipad isn't she the cutest?  .... she turned to me and said "Grandma, why are you taking my picture again!"  Yep, I'm that stalker grandma ... I confess.

 I also got a couple of pictures I could use on Instagram while I was there.  I love Nell's corresponding family of dolls that she made.  They were a hit on Instagram too!

 On the way home, I took some pictures to send to our magazine editor at the antique mall.

Next I ran to the grocery store, to stock up, and also hit the discount book store, where I picked up the other two novels by the author by whom was written Persuasion -  A Latter-day Tale, that I had finished (and loved almost every inch of) on Monday. The author is local, and did an amazingly good job ... you know I am not aways a fan of LDS romance ... Her name is Rebecca H. Jamison!, and yes, I am a fan.

While I was having all this visiting and shopping fun, Dad was busy finishing up the tile in Megan's shower!!    

That night Dad and I headed over to the house of sickness ... Terry is so sick she can't hear, how weird is that?  Made for an interesting evening, that I am not altogether sure she enjoyed, but which involved take out and a movie.

 Sunday was pretty typical with three sacrament meetings each for Dad and I, though I managed to sneak in a Sunday School class too, because, as you know, I am a Sunday School junkie!!  The final sacrament meeting was to hear Leigh give her home coming talk ... she had been in Texas, in fact she even served in the same town from which Utah had much earlier imported Sister Jane Johnson.

 As always it was fun to visit with Clark and his family afterwards.  Above is Jill's oldest, Brynn, then Jill, Jo, Mary and me.

... and of course Clark with me, he told me all about working security at the downtown church campus.  It was interesting to hear how many buildings that includes ... besides temple square and its four buildings, there is the museum, the conference center, the Joseph Smith memorial building (Formerly the Hotel Utah), the church office building and its 28 floors, the Beehive House and Lion House.  And all use security at one time or another, so he gets quite a variety!!

On the way home we stopped by the care center for a nice visit with Grandpa Carlo, he was in a very good, chatty mood, that was like when he lived here.  He did seem so happy to see us, it was heart warming!

We got home and I made dinner while Dad ran to a Stake meeting for Bishoprics.  When he got home we ate quick and headed to Davin and Bri's for games ...

Briahnna got this yahtzee in one's in one roll.

 Davin, the show off, got three yahtzees in a row, right at the end of the game .... I have never, no never, seen that happen, and I went through a longish yahtzee phase myself!!

It was fun to play apples to apples with Heber, because he has the same kind of mind I do, something that has NEVER happened to me before, so of course I won!!  Yeah!

Well, as always it was fun to see the cute grandkids.  I can't believe how grown up Major Hunk is getting, can you?!

Partying Every Day But Thursday

What an extraordinarily partyish week!!

It all started innocently on Monday, when I caught up on all my blogs, finished my good deed journal for the year, and shoveled the walks.  When Scott got home from work, we were off to one of the care centers for Family Home Evening there.

This cute family came and did some musical numbers for us, and then we watched the RM, which is always good for a laugh

 Tuesday was movie day in a big way.  With Barb celebrating her birthday, as always, going to movies all day long.  This time they were all at Thanksgiving Point, which has $5 movies on Tuesdays, and saved us a bucket load.

We started with breakfast at MiMi's Cafe in Orem, then watched, Exodus, Annie, Into the Woods, dinner at JCW, then Unbroken and the Hobbit.  Dad and I got home around 2:00, and both worked on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, a guy bought this letter jacket, I so wish I'd seen it first, how cool of a gift would that have been for Darby?

I took some pictures to put on Instagram, including this one with the owl bust, which just makes me smile.  Maybe I need to find a place for him here at home. What do you think?

 That night it was off to the Moes to celebrate New Years Eve by playing games, including one I need to buy ... Telestrations .... it was awesome, no winners, just everyone having a blast.  My kind of game.

We mainly played with Trina and her family, including her oldest daughter, who is 6, and in the Moe tradition, a dang good game player.

Krista also came and played the last game with us, along with her new boy friend and old crush, Skyler Smith, who seems very nice.

At midnight Dad went out and lit off the one super firework he'd gotten from one of his bosses ... lots of other Highlanders were doing the same, so it was pretty fun.

Even Trina's oldest, Kameron, made it until midnight and came out to see the very small fireworks show.

Of course I was back to work the next day ... and to keep me busy between customers I worked on a Christmas smash book, which was super easy because the book was pretty much complete and I just added pictures, a bit of scrapbook paper and info labels.  Even though I blog now, I still miss the hands on part of scrapbooking somewhat, so this is the perfect level for me.

 .. and while I was thus engaged, this guy was tearing the sheet rock, bead board, plaster and tile from the south wall of the  kitchen, which had been hiding brick for 120 years! (Picture later)  ... that night was our only non-party night, and we took it easy reading and chatting in our room ... ok, there may have also been some big-bang involved.

On Friday Dad and I spent the day stripping wall paper in the kitchen, so we could get rid of the pink striped paper that was visually fighting with the newly exposed brick wall .... Here we see Dad down to some 1940's paper ... and it was tough stuff.  Becca came by when I was doing some on the other side of the room, and she can testify how nasty it was. ... We mudded some places, and got painting, so that we were mostly done by our evening party time ...

We met up at 7 for Mexican in America Fork with all the kids who are in town at the moment, including Brittany which was awfully nice of her.

Ben brought Hanna, and by the time we got there we were all seated at three different tables, awaiting a 5:00 4 top in the middle of us all, who were still chatting ... they kept it up until 7:30, I guess they got tired of the kids running back and forth and all of us calling to each other across them ... or maybe 2 and a half hours is enough for a dinner chat ... I don't know. (Well, actually I am pretty sure I've been guilty of the same on occasion.

Here I am with my oldest grand boy!! Pretty grand, ain't he? (As my mother would have said)

Here we all are, once the tables were arranged for us to be together ... the waiter was so apologetic about his inability to give us the one long table we had reserved, that he was very attentive ... of course, with this family full of servers ("NOT WAITRESSES MOM')  The nice man walked away from serving us with a $100 in tips ... not too shabby, but then he really was so nice!!

The dinner was in honor of our 40th wedding anniversary, and it was such a lovely, lovely way to celebrate!!  Thank you all!!

As we were leaving Hanna showed me her fingernails that she had done up with some of the nail art I had given  her for Christmas, I shared mine too, although her fingernails are just prettier, nail art aside, and I am OK with that. 

Trust Davin to find a king kong icecicle  and to show it off to the nephews ... Alex thought it was a lot of fun, and who better to ham it up with than Uncle Ben?

When I got home, it was time to snuggle into a hot bubble bath with one of the most fun books I've read recently ...  Did you notice my toenails match the book?  They also match the walls in my bathroom which is why French Blue is my winter toenail color, the bathroom itself is the only thing I need to match during shoe weather!!

On Saturday, Dad was off to Megan's again, for more bathroom work.  I headed in for a half a day of work, before going to the other store to redo the big display I am in charge of there.  

Then we all met up at Davin and Bri's for dinner and a movie.   Briahnna called in an order to Cafe Rio, and we watched The Hundred Foot Journey, which I think everyone liked.  I have the book coming into the Payson Library (They ordered it for me!) and will be reading it for book club this month.

All of the kids enjoyed sitting in Davin and Bri's child size recliner, the surprising moment, however, occurred  when Davin sat in it. .... really?  Here we see Reagan getting comfy!

We got to meet Heber's daughter Sophia, which was fun, Dad said that Bekie would love her, just for her name if nothing else.  She loved Davin and Bri's Barbie house that they got their kids for Christmas.

When we got home Dad finished up painting the areas that had needed more mud  We had hung the mug shelf earlier that day. 

... and Ta Da, here is the brick wall  of wonderfulness.  We love it!!

On Sunday we went to church, including one of the care center meetings for me, after being able to go to sacrament and Sunday School in our ward.  Dad went to a Branch Presidency meeting and two care center meetings.  

After church we cleared more of the mess from the brick wall exposure, which had left tons and tons of gritty dust everywhere.  Between Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dad and I mopped the kitchen floor at least 10 times, and its still a bit dusty looking.  Of course we also dusted and dusted those days as well.

Then were were able to celebrate Trevor's birthday a few days early with a turkey dinner.  Trevor and Nell were back, so we were just missing Spencer and Brittney who were still in New Mexico at her brother's place with her family.

Right after dinner it was time for Britt and her children to leave for the great north ... Trevor tried to keep one of the kids ... but I suspect Brittany noticed right away!  Charley seemed to enjoy the snuggling more than the smuggling though ....

It was a great week, with lots to celebrate with our amazing friends and family. Thanks everyone for helping us celebrate the big 4- 0  It was lovely!!

.. and last, but not least, here is our returned English Missionary posing with his kids in front of the London Bridge in Arizona ... he says when it was moved they dissembled it and numbered ever stone ... pretty cool eh?  They were on their way home from Arizona visiting with Nell's family the week after Christmas and stopped to see this wonder of wonders, on Saturday.