Happy Holidays

Yep, we're starting this week's blog with one of our missionaries posing with his wife in the form of the painting American Gothic. Well, they did a great job, thanks for posting Andrew and Liesel Hale.

Here we hark back to Father's Day the day before, as Dad receives his gift from Trevor.  Go Cougs!

As for Holidays, Mondays' was one we participate in every day of the year ... Eat Your Vegetables Day ... I keep a food journal, so I know, I ate Kale, Avocado, Potatoes, Onions, Garlic, Celery, Corn, Red Peppers and Green Chilis.  I also ate an Orange, some watermelon and blueberries. 

The guys working on the stucco and roof of the Carriage House were up there again Monday, as they finished the roof itself.  They still need to come back and do the trim.

Now here's a girl who I bet eats her vegetables, Seri Gregory, she texted last week about doing yard work.

So, she and her bestie Jenivieve Pierre came by and cleaned out most of the north driveway.  They also helped get some big wood panels into the van ...

Along with Elias and Bri, who had also texted to see if Dad needed help with any heavy lifting.  It was perfect timing, thanks you two. 

Dad and I finished getting other junk in the yard into the van.   I had fun busting up the huge window a neighbor had given us, as well as loading a couple of pallets, including the one the sauna came on.  Of course, we always seem to have a satellite dish kicking around ... boy that was satisfying. We finally got it to the dump on Friday.

When I heard a chain saw first thing on Tuesday I went to the balcony and got a picture of this branch falling from the fat tree. On Tuesday it was National Picnic Day, but the only picnic we know about is the one that the tree removal people had in the airconditioned cab of their truck. 

Angel and his crew work at it all day, not quitting until after 7, and then coming back for another 8 hours on Wednesday.

It was fun when Hunter and Lori Scott came by as they had a wedding in town and were waiting for the reception to start.  What a fun surprise.  They are the people who bought the Moes home in Geneva Heights, we've not seen them forever, they now live in Brigham City.

Here they are with their grandson Amulek, who took the first picture.  Fun kid, and also fun that we taught a lesson in Primary today about the mission of Alma and a different Amulek!

We all went up on the balcony, as part of the house tour, and saw that the tree was pretty far gone here.

One big trunk is all.

The setting.

The final cut on the fat tree.

Enormous logs.

The boom truck

Dad measures the diameter of the trunk and finds it to be 50".

Everything's down now.

What a day. I had a prayer in my heart for the safety of the workers all day, and later found out that Dad was praying just as hard as I was.  We're so thankful that our prayers were heard.

Thank you, Angel's tree service.

Hello tree stump ...

and goodbye tree chunks.

Can you see the space it makes to not have the huge tree?  We'll certainly miss the shade.

This gal stopped as they were doing the final cut, to ask for slices of branches to use for decor at a wedding she was doing that weekend.  She had a long wait, almost an hour while they got the upper trunk down.  Always fun to meet new people. 

Wednesday was more of Dad hanging out with the cutting crew, and me going to work.  The holiday was Juneteenth, that celebrates the day the last of the slaves were freed in Texas back in 1865. It's also the day that hidden bigots let their lights shine, by saying things like: " That a stupid holiday, its just made up." Really? Are there holidays that are not made up?  Hmmmm just wondering. 

Then again it may have been Dress Up Day, as this young man portrays a bit of history a little closer to our day.  Dressed as a gentleman from the 1940's, he stopped to try out the old typewriter.  It was a perfect moment. BTW, he volunteered that I was not the first person who'd asked to take a picture. I totally get that people dress up in period and fun over the tops stuff to shop at the antique store.  They know they have an appreciative audience. and its one of my favorite things about my job.

Dad came by the mall after the tree service people left, around 5, to move a set of double cubbies to the new booth I am moving into from the back booth I am moving out of.  This will mean me going down from 4 1/2 booths to just 4, as the new one is smaller.  I'm having to be selective, and creative. He also moved another cubbie outside, that is going into foster care with another dealer, until I need it again.  Yep, that's a thing.  Amazing what Dad can do with one hand. 

I went into work early on Thursday to move another 3 sets of shelves from other booths into the new one.  This is the largest, and my friend Keith was there redoing his booth, and offered to help in case it was too much, but all went well. 

The day was super hot, and the mall always manages to make things feel even hotter, but then it was The First Day of Summer, so what did I expect?  I was just grateful I had come in early and got a lot of the heavy lifting done, before we opened at 10.

Here Clint and Richard work on recovering this booth on Thursday, so it was a bit tricky to get the wallpaper onto the wall of my new booth, as someone has to be at the check out. Kathy is getting this new booth.

This gal was fun to talk to.  She teaches Math and English at ALA in Spanish where Davin and Bri's kids attend.  She didn't recognize their names, as she teaches at the Junior High level, but when I described Elias' hair, she lit up.  Yep, his hair is amazing. She's a clock collector and is looking for an Ethan Allen Case Clock ... (Grandfather Clock), so if you have one you want to kiss goodbye, let me know. 

Dad picked me up after work and we headed to Provo, to Gurus, where we met up with Spencer and Brittney, et al. 

What a sweetheart!

The line was long, but the kids had plenty of time to tell me about going to the Bean Museum at BYU. 

Spencer bestowed his hat on me for a minute. 

And you thought they were just socks, when indeed you can use them to look like a bunny or a puppy.

Up early on Friday,  I picked up Mary to check out an antique market a gal in Lehi has every year ...  I went last year but forgot how expensive it was.  These mirrored table plateaus were marked down from $175 each to $100.

I loved this antique easel with 1800's painting, and would love to have one, but just don't have the room.

1920s to 40's kitchenware. 

sewing notions are always fun.

Then I was back to the store to keep moving the goods from the old to the new booth.  I was impressed I got this table and its chairs in one cartload. 

Teapots.

Mary hired this handy man to help her with her booths.  I just thought the hot 20 something looks great with a baby buggy full of teddy bears ... he smiled patiently for the old lady's picture. 

And here it is after about 4 hours of work.

same booth from the other end. 

I got done in time so that we could go and unload our Monday van load at the dump. 

Then we cleaned up and headed up to Morgan to celebrate Finland's Midsummer.  I loved the London's hanging lounge chair.  It was a little bit of Heaven. 

This is most of the gang that met us up at the London's house. 

Dad with McKenna Field

Here we are with McKenna Field and her Fiancé, Ben. She is from our second mission (actually one of the 4 missionaries who was followed by a Finnish Media company for the length of her mission for their Mormon Missionary Project Documentary) She came because Ben is related to the Londons, so that was lucky for us. 

Here we are with the Vests, Rowene is Dad's second cousin.

these two sisters served during our first mission, Laurie Kehr, and Emili Jones.  The latter is the granddaughter of a Finn. 

Here we are with the Hunts, the Watsons, and Sister Wade (Who we brought with us) all from our first mission. 

Here we have the Watsons, our first mission leaders, the Londons, our hosts for the party and us. 

It was fun to meet this cute couple, Stephen and Sofia Edwards. She is a Finn, shown with her husband, a former Finnish missionary.  They have two children.

And I finally met someone who knew my brother Emory when he was on his mission in Finland back in 65-68

This is Glenn and Martha Mortensen, he didn't recognize Emory's name, so many Elder Larsens, but he did recognize the picture.  How fun is that? 

This is a picture taken at a Midsummer celebration in Finland ... If only we had a lake. 

Saturday was My Name Day.  Here's a celebration I shared with the Mission Presidents wife, Paula Aura on June 22, 2020.

We started at the church for our member cleaning turn, unfortunately only we and one other man came, so it was longer than normal.  Fortunately, he wanted to do the bathrooms and empty the garbage cans, so Dad and I vacuumed the building with two different vacuums.  

From there Dad headed into Provo to pick up our whole wheat sourdough bread at the farmers market, and I headed back to the store to continue moving my booth.  Dad had fun when he ran into the Staggs, both missionaries from our last mission. 

Then it was time to Dress up.  I added a horse to the hat I bought last Christmas season at Robin's Roost. I found Dad's at DI about a month ago, after my friend Katie had invited me to her Kentucky Derby Day birthday party. I spent about 10 minutes gathering and glueing on his fabulous decor. 

We arrive

But no one was going to outdo our hostess' hat, she made her horse head hat with chicken wire and netting.  

Pretty fun, eh?

Almost everyone had a hat. 

This is Katie's cousin, one of Margaret and Jeff Cooper's daughters, and her daughter.

Fun decor and delicious food. 

These boys have hats that are pretty over the top. 

these two are prepared for the sun.

Katie's husband with his mother and mother-in-law too.  He is Emily's age.  Does he look familiar Emily?

The family.

Katie in her alternate hat taking pictures ... no wonder I love her .... the horse hat is heavy and unwieldy. 

Here I am with Sherri, Katies Mom, and my longtime friend.

Crystal nee Cooper, me and another gal with a great black and white hat. 

How did I miss the flamingo here?

Can you see the horse?

And the races begin.

Katie sings the National Anthem.

more racing ... two little red headed cousins.  Lots of red heads at this party.

Here we go again riding with cousins and brothers.

And once more ... watching the bigger kids on horses, as they walked the track. Think I am a little obsessed with this pink hatted spunky monkey, well she is the one that said my hair looks like Elsa's, just sayin'.

Here are Dad and I in our finery at the photo booth.

And they're off ... it was so hot that they just ran about a tenth of the track, mainly for the photo op.

Katie's mini and Katie in their matching horse head hats, both made by Katie.

The judging of the hats, we got the best couple nod (Being the only couple it wasn't hard).

What a fun party .... if you didn't figure it out, Katie is the girl who has taken over fleaology, with very little help from me. 

Look how cute are my worker bee at church Saturday morning, yep that's Jeniveve and Seri, in their matching dresses.  I love that and remember having a friend at age 10 with whom I dressed alike.  If I recall I think Emily went through the same phase in Orem.  So fun. 

And here they are with Paige, Jenivieve's big sister.

This is the picture that I used for our lesson about Alma and Amulek, I think Spencer and Britt have a picture by the same artist.  I love it. We have the very cutest class.  There are 6 girls who usually come, ages 6 to 8, and one boy we have not seen.  Can't say as I blame him. 

Dad working on healing his arm some more.

While I make a beautiful deep dish Detroit Style Pizza.  They're always made in a rectangular pan, with thick dough.  The topping starts with pepperoni slices right on the dough (we used vegan hot dog slices), then the cheese, on top of the cheese you put the pizza sauce, often in stripes, then add other toppings you like ... Yep, you guessed it right today is Detroit Style Pizza Day

And just so you know, Kai just passed into New Jersey, where he is going back and forth between New Jersey and New York.  Yeah Kai.