The Perkins Tri-yearly Palm Springs Vacation Etc.

 Yep, another week plus more has gone by.  Monday, July 8th, I got a couple of things painted for fleaology, which was coming up quickly.

I also got the post and planter around the bird house painted.  It felt a little selfish to take time out to do something for me, but I had the paint out, and it seemed like a good time.

 Dad worked at the Ogden store opening up things to make the pharmacy more visible, since Macey's now owns it.  When he got home we put our heads and skills together and made a bench from an antique bed that I had bought for that purpose.

On Tuesday I finished up the bench doing some jig sawing and attaching a skirt to the front of it.  Then I spent hours and hours feeding paint to the hundred year old dried pine.  Fortunately it was hot and it was drying fast and continuously.  The bench turned out really cute, and then I blogged about it.  Dad meanwhile was finishing up the project in Ogden.  That night I started feeling sick ... and headed to bed early.  Sigh.

 

On Wednesday I was off to work, still a bit under the weather, but managed to pull off a full shift, though I did offend Kathy when I didn't feel good enough to come up with creative ideas for a project she was doing ...

 

Dad's day started at the office, as they were supposed to have a meeting that got cancelled, he tried to salvage the day by running around to the Salt Lake stores he supervises to make sure their seed returns had taken place, so they could get their credits.

 

That night Dad made dinner, while I lay down.  Then he brought me some medicine for what ailed me, and we spent the evening watching a docudrama about Abraham Lincoln.

 

Thursday Dad started his day getting his teeth cleaned at the dentist.  Then he went in for the meeting that was supposed to have happened the day before.

 

For me it was a much more productive day, as I felt so much better. I did have a crown come off while at work, and tucked it away to be reapplied the next day.

 

 I had book club that night, thanks to Dad for doing a quick house straightening and being the chef.  I stopped on the way home and got goodies for refreshments.  Above are shown Shanna Weight, our leader, and Emily, with Liam, who still comes to our ward book club, which we appreciate.

On Friday Dad headed back to Ogden to work on redesigning their profit panels, which are the sides of end caps. Then he picked up his computer at the office and tied up loose ends before heading out of town.

 

After having my crown reattached at the dentist that day, I hurried home to finish up projects for fleaology, then I took pictures of them to post of KSL.com along with pictures others had of their items for a flea.o.logy add.

 

Scott picked up Ashley's kids on the way home from work, they were spending the night to get an early start on Saturday for our extended family trip to California. 

 I actually stayed up all night finishing up projects like the faux enameled pot above, then writing blogs to be scheduled to post while we were gone.  I also spent some time working on my flea.o.logy dealer list.   When Dad's alarm went off at 3:30, I started packing my bags.

Trevor had brought over Nell's goodies for flea.o.logy too, so my living rooms looked fun and colorful when we left town.

 Here we are dropping Grandpa off at Uncle Rick's house in St. George before heading to California. Left to right are Darby, Dad, Ben, Zach, Katie, Grandpa, Rick and Wendi.

Loved this picture of Aunt Brittany with Ian at the condos in Palm Springs.

Emily commented on how many of us still had to do work, even on vacation.  Mike, of course, as a store manager had to stay in touch, as did Dad.  Emily did some translation work, and I spent time doing the final flea.o.logy map.  Awe how the Internet makes that all possible.

                  Then we all got in our swimming suits and got out to the pool for our first swim.

 

 On Sunday the church goers among us, got ready and headed to church.

 

 

That evening, Spencer and Brittney facetimed us on my Ipad to wish Eva a happy birthday.  Since it was already Monday morning there, it was July 15th ... Eva's birthday.  I think it was tricky for Eva to realize that, but she had fun talking to them.

 Early Monday we split up, with the Trevor Perkins family, the Summers, the Mitkos, the Halls, Dad and Me and Anna Rose (Kim's friend) all going to Disneyland.  The Davin Perkins' family, the Talleys, Ben and his friend Hanna and Darby headed to San Diego to go to Sea World and other good stuff there.

 

 

Trevor Elenor, J. Scott, Anna Rose, Kim, Eva, Nell, and Grandpa await the main street parade.

 

 

 So that was our day at Disneyland.  A couple of families had park hopper passes and we didn't see as much of them.  Kim and AnnaRose were off by themselves most of the day, so we rarely saw them either.

It was a great day and Trevor rode an amazing 31 rides.  Dad rode 9 and I rode 10 .... only because one could ride the Winnie the Pooh ride twice in the time it took to ride Splash Mountain.

My favorite ride was Star Tours, an oldie but a goody, Dad wouldn't let me ride it a third time, silly boy.

 That night we drove to San Diego where Briahnna had found friendly priced rooms.  On Tuesday morning Trevor and Nell went to the beautiful San Diego temple, while their kids hung out in our room.  Then we all met at the Beach.

 

Ben brought some little kites, and Brady managed to get it flying so high that the life guards came and told him to reel it in, as the Air Force base nearby doesn't allow kites on the beach!  Yeah Brady!!

 

The kids all managed to get pretty sandy and yucky and seemed to enjoy every minute of it.  Davin asked me to watch Elias for a bit, and I followed, often having to run, as he chased sea gulls for almost a half an hour ... what attention span, but he had a ball!

 After a fun day at the beach ...  We went to Old Town in San Diego, where finding a parking space, even on a Tuesday evening, is an adventure ... I can't imagine what its like on the weekend.

 Above are Hanna and Ben, who sat across the table from Dad and me.  To the right is Hanna with Reagan and Kai.

In the upper left of this picture you can see Beckie dancing.  There was a roaming guitarist, and the music moved her.  In the lower right of the picture is Kim Larsen, my nephew Chris' wife.  We met them at the restaurant, as Britt keeps in touch with her and they live in San Diego. It was my first time to meet her, as Britt and Becca met her at her baby shower years ago, when I was out of town.  So glad they are keeping in touch!

Then we headed back to the condo in Palm Springs .... a long and late drive ....

But look how refreshed Dad is the first thing the next morning! Becca is all cleaned up and ready to head home.  Sam had only been able to get three days off work and had to be back at it on Thursday morning.  We were sorry to see them go.

 Wednesday was our night for dinner, so after a morning of junking in Palm Springs with some of the kids, then an afternoon of antiqueing  in Beaumont, we stopped and got Pizza, and Nell made up a nice salad, and we had everyone to dinner at our place.  Above Trevor shares a parody of a movie/cartoon, which everyone seemed to enjoy.

That night Brittany and family, Becca and family, Ben and Hanna, Darby and Dad and I all went and the Croods at the dollar theater.  Other than trouble finding it, ala a goof on google maps, we had a great evening and got a clear view of the wild fire on the mountain on our way home.

On Thursday Trevor and Nell were nice enough to cram Dad and me in their mini van and we went touristing around Palm Springs.  Did you know that the house that Elvis lived in for the first year and a half of his marriage to Priscilla is in Palm Springs?  It was $30 a person to tour, so we just took a picture of our biggest Elvis fan in front of the house.  She was so cute, when it was time to go she kept crying; "I want my Elvis house ..."  What a doll.

 

You may not know the back story, but, when she was a baby, they found that Trevor crooning 'Blue Christmas' Elvis style would always calm her down.  In fact once when Nell was flying to  South Carolina, Elle, was very unhappy and crying, so Nell called Trevor, while they were actually on the plane on the ground, and put the phone on speaker so he could sing it to her.  All the people on boards were so amazed.  What a funny baby ...  we all adore her!

Next I asked if we could have our picture taken with the huge Marilyn Monroe statue in town.  While we were there, a news crew from LA stopped Trevor and asked if they could film him for the news.  They wanted to know how a wild fire nearby had effected our vacation.

Good advertising for Hatchets, as the film they showed on the afternoon news was a close up of Trevor's head, and the emblem showed clearly, if only for a few seconds.

That evening we all met at the street fair held every Thursday evening in Palm Springs, just a few miles up the street from out condo.  Elias is shown here after feeding a carrot to the horse.  The smell right by the horses was horrendous, so I couldn't stay to get a better shot.

About 9:30, we gathered up the crew who had ridden in with us, Ben, Hanna, Darby, Kim, Ian and AnnaRose ... and headed home.  Dad drove all night with just an hour break while I drove through the canyons between Nevada and Utah, and later Ben drove for a half an hour when Dad was wilting.  We picked up a disoriented Grandpa in St. George, and thanked Rick for his kindness is caring for him for the week.   Darby was nice enough to take Kim, Ian and Anna Rose home to Orem on her way home.

 We got home about 10:30 A.M., just in time for Dad to mow the lawn before crashing, and for me to sweep up drive ways and fork leaves into the garbage cans before drawing out the flea.o.logy map on the grass with spray paint, and start to welcome dealers for set up .... but flea.o.logy is going to be its own blog post.  So thanks for coming along!

Happy Birthday America and Adilyn!

 What a week this has been, what a good mood I'm in, well its almost like being in love ... with life that is.   As always, life was busy with lots of projects and events, what's not to love about that?

For me it started with listing some of the stuff I found when I cleaned out the hall closet last week.  This bedding set was one we used for a several years ... it was put together by a decorator back in the day, and I spent a hundred on it at an estate sale ... whoa.

 Next I was off to my monthly We Can meeting, here you see most of us at lunch after our service project is completed, a couple of gals left early and another is taking the picture!

 That evening we hosted our family home evening group.  Grandpa Carlo came for the first time, and was eating up all the attention he got.  He was a little disruptive with a continual stream of chatter, but everyone said they didn't mind, so maybe he will join us the next time we host.

After FHE Dad and I got to run into Provo to pick up his car, that was finally done ... after more than two weeks of  going from repair place to repair place (3 in all), but the warrentee on the transmission held, so it was not a pricy venture, just an inconvenient one.  We dropped off Davin and Bri's car, which they loaned us for more than a week, while Davin took his Deuce and a Half to work a couple of days.  So funny. Thanks to Davin and Bri for their generosity in loaning us their car.

 Tuesday morning I was up early, as usual and walking with my friend Ginny Taylor.  She had gone through this garden the week before with the quilt walk, a part of the annual quilt show at Peteeneet, and had procured permission to stop by again and view it.  It was really amazing, what a treat.  Before heading out for the day, I finished up this door hanger to the right, a blogging project, and got it hung on the door.

Then I was off to Kaysville for lunch with my friend Arlene, and a conference about the chairs she is recovering for my living room.  I did some junking on the way home, and met up with Dad at home, as he had spent the day in Richfield and Price doing an inventory and store visits. 

After dinner we both worked in the yard for a while, with him mowing, while I watered and cleared pulled weeds from the lawn that had been accumulating from my weed attacks for a week or so.

On Wednesday I worked at the store, as usual, putting together this lacy lamp shade, in fact two of them, for this pair of lamps I bought about a month ago.

 

Dad delivered the new floor plan for the Orem store, which must feel weird, since he managed that store when it was new .... now its being remodeled!  He spent the afternoon at the meat packing plant at the Lindon Cannery, and was the only volunteer for the day.  But then, we all know, Dad can do as much work as four normal men, so I am sure that was good!

 

 

 I  was off to work on Thursday, even though it was the fourth of July, but Dad had bigger and better plans.  He and all of his boys who are in the country at the moment, ran the 5 and 10ks at the Freedom Festival in Provo.  Eva even got to go along in a jogging stroller to enjoy the excitement.  BTW, it was Davin that did the 10 K.  Dad was off his best run, by more than a minute, but still managed to take 5th place in his age category.  What a guy.

I stopped by the store for groceries on the way home from work, then enjoyed a dinner that Dad had made when I got home.

 On Friday it was all work and no play for Dad, as he did a 13 hour day, visiting all the southern stores, as far south as Overton, Nevada.

I on the other hand had a day that was all play and no work.  Ann Shumway and I headed up to Hoytsville for a sale called the Vintage Market ... Here we are in front of the old milk barn that they use for the sales.  Note the Eastlake headboard and footboard behind us, that is one of my purchases there.  They always have great deals!

 This is Dad's second cousin, Kathy Pace.  Her maiden name is Perkins, which is how we figured this out last year at one of their sales that I went to with Aunt Joyce.  She has the greatest style, and I love this outfit.  The wonderful European lace top she is wearing is actually a bra from the 1920's.  So, so pretty.

Ann and I had lunch at Subway, there in Hoytsville, then headed to Nephi to check out the Picker's Paradise, which is run by one of the two men in the Reclaimologists group I belong to.

I did have to get home in time for Emily Wright to come over and help Grandpa with his shower.  Grandpa still hates it a lot, and yells and even swears a bit, but Emily is undaunted.  She is a nurse's aid and works at the hospital.  She lives in our ward, and her parents are in our Family Home Evening group, which is where her Dad suggested we might hire her for this.  It was an inspired idea, and we are grateful he thought to mention it to us.

We are actually going to have her come and start helping Aunt Cheryl with her showers as well. :-)

 On Saturday, while I was at work, Dad made a double payment on the Orem house, paying it off.  He, along with a few of the kids, are very into Dave Ramsey, a financial Guru. So he was in a very good mood.

I, meanwhile, was at work, as I mentioned.  We had a bit of a catastrophe when a customer knocked off some vintage products, including this bottle of Mrs. Wrights bluing.  I was lucky in that Noel, who I was working with, just jumped in and cleaned it up!!

We also had a great sales day, with me selling 3 different things with a price tag of a $100 or more, as well as lots of smalls.  Happy day.

Dad, of course, was in charge of Grandpa and said that he finally had to take his shoes, after he wandered out of the house, not once, but twice ... always fun, of course.

That night, when I got home from work, we headed over to Davin and Bri's to celebrate Adilyn's first birthday.

Here we see Davin showing off his new toy ... now wait a minute, its Adilyn's birthday and they told us not to bring gifts as she is too young to understand ... then her Dad gets a new toy?

 Grandpa had fun, playing with balloons and eating cake and watching the grandkids.  He is always happy watching the kids, which I think is an important reason for him not to be in a nursing home, as long as we can help it.  Of course all of his day care options include children and babies.

Emily says if he is upset about something, all she has to do is put Liam in his lap and his mood changes almost immediately, well, almost always.

 Here we see Elias seeking balloons.  Well the cupboard does look like stairs, doesn't it?

Becca came with the kids, but without Brady, as he was off to work.

Emily and Sam had to pass because Becky has been sick for the last few days, darn it.

 And of course, there was cake ... two kinds, one for the one year old, and ice cream cake for the rest of us, yum!

Dad played games on his phone, and Eva even played angry birds on my phone ... good times!

On Sunday we had a great day at church, one set of  meetings for me, and two sets for Dad as always.  In the afternoon, I did this 'Imperial Street' on my laundry press, since I had nothing to blog about for Monday. 

 

 

Then I put together this patriotic mantel for another blog post, since I have to have three extras ready this week, as we will be having fun in the SUN next week.

So that was our week, full of fun, work, historic moments (paying off a house, and celebrating Adilyn's first)  We hope your week was just as fun!