From Palm Trees to Truffula Trees

Yeah Monday ... I spent the entire day blogging our trip.  Dad spent the day at Spencer's house again.  Then we headed to Lindon to eat at the Island of Hawaii Grill with these party makers.  We talked about our upcoming trip to Hawaii, so that was fun.  The food was good, other than the seriously worst coleslaw I've ever eaten, and eat it I did, because it was my cruciferous veggie for the day. (They are the most healthy vegetables known to man, you should eat one a day too)

I love this picture that Hannah put up as her profile picture ... Davin and Bri and the kids, along with Hannah went out to the Salt Flats to take some pictures, How fun is this one of Hannah and Bri?

On Tuesday, Dad and I spent the day in Salt Lake, he was working at Spencer and Brittney's condo again, and I, of course was out collecting inventory for the shop.  We took lunch and dinner with us, and finished off the day at the old Butler 8th ward to participate in a Senior Couple missionary fireside.  Here is Dad with a bunch of old bishops, Bishop Hein, who sent Emily on her mission, Dad, Bishop Essen, who is currently the bishop and former Bishop, and former Stake President Stevens who is also a former Mission President to London England.  He and his wife presented and lead the discussion.

Here we are with them.  They had a former Finnish Missionary and his wife serving there, while we were serving in Finland.  Sister Stevens was released from the General Primary Presidency to serve with her husband in England.  It sounds like their experience serving was similar to our own.

On Wednesday Dad went to Salt Lake to work on the sub- flooring some more.  By the end of the project, he had gone through around 20 drill bits.  He was very proud of his 'saw horse', using their old oven and their new range hood to hold up the boards to saw.

Then Dad went to his Barber shoppers' practice that night.

I worked, then went to Young Women's that night.  The Mia Maids and Laurels worked on covering journals. 

Aubrey is quite the artist, and drew this young man for the cover of her journal.

Here are the mighty leaders, Becky, Cheryl, Caitlyn, Me, Bonnie.

And a few of the resulting journals.

I worked on Thursday, and Dad worked at the temple.  This bowl is a part of a bathset that we have had for sale for almost 20 years.  Its the bowl, a pitcher, a two piece sponge holder and a potty.  It was hundred and fifty bucks, which was cheap, but no one wanted it because of this repair.  I thought that was the best part.  They had to drill two holes for each 'staple', then insert and glue them to stabilize the cracks.  The metal bits do not come through on the pretty patterned inside of the bowl.  I thought I'd add a picture here, because it shows how well the Victorians made things work.  Here is their old  saying "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

That night I went to my book club

When I got home, I opened my package, which had come that day to find my new replacement shoes .... does anyone else get hooked on an item, and hate to see it get worn out?

On Friday night we got to go and babysit these cute kids.

They always show us dances and gymnastics.  I love that Adi is wearing the hand knit socks we sent from Finland.

On Saturday I got together with my friend and soul mate Wendy to go up to the Market Beautiful, which was happening at the State Fair Park. 

We ran into lots of dealers that we know, including this gal who has booths at Treasures.

Alice, a long time dealer at the Acorn Show, that I used to do, had this rocker for sale, how could I resist?

Here's we are with the owner of Copperhive Vintage.

 We had a great time, and it was fun to catch up.

 While I was doing my thing, Dad was doing his thing. Above, is John Sasine's quartet, he is the chorus director, and it is the bass from his quartet who came that day to coach kids from all along the Wasatch Front at Skyline High School.  They had over 140 kids who attended.

After church on Sunday we had our presidency meeting, which is really a staff meeting.  I'm excited about upcoming temple trips..

We also got news that day that a new branch was formed in Lohja, Finland, making 30 congregations in two stakes, plus 2 districts.  They're were many lobbying for this congregation, since Lohja is 30 miles away from where they have been meeting with Espoo members.  This picture shows that they don't have the same guidelines about taking pictures in church that we do.

On Sunday evening, we celebrated Dr Suess' birthday, one day after the fact. 

I was pretty happy with how the cake turned out.

Becca and her kids really got into it.

It hard to get a non blurry picture of Madison, but I tried.

 Here's some of our funny Suessish food.  Who Hash, Poodle Noodles, Red Fish-Blue Jello, Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Suess Spinners, Trufella Trees and Maisy Eggs.

Nell was home with a sick Eva, but sent some Suessish goodies as well.

We set up a kid table in the kitchen, 

And a senior table in the parlor.  Terry Kew said, she remembers starting at the kid table for meals, and how happy she was to move to the adult table ... now she wasn't sure how she felt about eating at the Old Folks table ... hahaha.  Notice how well the old red and white pennant banner from Fleaology goes with the room and the theme.  Yeah!!

 Darby brought Trevor and Nell's kids, since Trevor is our of town for work, and Nell was home with a sick kiddo.  Darby and Scott put together the Suess game and helped the youngster play it, which I appreciated.

Then they put together a large puzzle.

With the help of Aunt Brittney.

It was tricky on the uneven surface of the coffee table, but they stuck it out.  Eleanor is Fox in Sox ...

Finally it was time to sing Happy Birthday to the father of legendary tale and philosophy.  Then the kids chose Kinder eggs, which we'd brought home from Italy, and that was that for a couple of years.

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jig

Goodbye Italy.  Yep on Monday we flew home, and said goodbye to wonderful incidental art everywhere.  It was a great trip and Dad and I are thankful that the Moes included us in their plans!  We got to Becca's after 10 PM and hit the sack ... for once I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow,  a skill Dad has that I've always envied.

On Tuesday we got Titan and Reagan off to school before I headed out to do errands, like depositing my work check, and picking up things from the house we'd need for the next couple of days.  I stopped to see Ashley and her new cat too. (Also got to say hi-bye to Zach and Ian)

She told me about this super friendly new cat they found. She is a lego killer ... they hear her all night attacking displaced legos, skittering them across the hard wood floor. Ashley says they try hard not to have any 'misplaced legos', but the cat manages to find one or two a night.  Some times the cat brings Ashley a captured, dead lego as a gift.  I guess that beats getting birds and mice. ... yucko.

Actually when I went to take this picture Dad was asleep too ...

Bed time Tuesday night ...

Just one more book?  Grandma? We also played Go Fish.

I headed to work on Wednesday while Dad held down the fort, as Becca and Brady finished up a Real Estate Conference in Louisiana.  His Mom had watch them for the beginning of the conference. 

 The kids had asked to play zilch the night before, so I brought home dice from work so we could play Wednesday night.  After the kids went to bed, Becca and Brady got home ... it was fun to share their conference experience, and our trip for a while.

I worked again Thursday, and Dad was back at the temple.  I made some stir fry and whole wheat noodles as we got back to our new, almost vegan eating plan.  (still finishing off milk, butter, and cheese) That felt good.

On Friday we both went to Salt Lake so Dad could work on the condo some more.  He got these can lights in place. 

 I spent the time doing some junking.  I loved these turned wood candle stick pillars I found at Haight-Ashbury there in Sugar House ....

I was also tempted by this mushroom, but I am just too cheap.

The bonus was getting to see this cutie at the end of the day.

 Of course we also love seeing these two as well. Oops 3, sorry Bear.

I was pretty excited to find this drop lead table at DI on Friday and put it in place on Saturday, after Dad took off for another day working at the condo, this time putting down subfloor.

That night it was vegan chili, notice the broccoli.  With our plan from the How Not To Die Book, we have to have a cruciferous veggie every day, and broccoli is the easiest to add.  So Chili with broccoli is becoming a staple around here.  Actually its surprisingly yummy. (We had soy protein faux bacon bits, which gives it a slight hamburger texture and a smoky flavor we love ... dang my mom would be proud!)

Barb who has Alzhiemer's in her family read the book, and has decided to do the plan.  In her weekly family letter she apologized to her children for not feeding them in a more healthy manner as they were growing up.  She encouraged them to eat more healthily, so I thought I might mention that and do the same.  Though, I feel like I really tried to feed you all a healthy diet, that was pretty low in meat, and high in veggies, with lots of whole grains, so I don't feel too guilty, I feel like we were moving in the right direction.  I do hope you will all read the book, though, so Maybe I'll do a Grandpa Milt and buy one for everyone.  BTW, Brittany introduced me to the book, for which I will always be grateful.

That night we met up with Barb and Randy, their daughter-in-law Tia, and a couple of

their friends from their neighborhood, for dinner at a Greek Restaurant, and then the play, An American in Paris.  It was a lovely evening and we really enjoyed their new friends.  The Prestons, Steven and Sonja, have season tickets with us in SLC this year, so we'll have a chance to get to know them better, as long as we don't trade too often. Of course Jeff and Robin and Tami and Robert were much missed on this outing.

 On Sunday we went to Elder Haws' homecoming.  He is in the pink tie in front.  He talked about a sister they taught who was amazing.  He said while things were going very well, they had taught her around three lessons, and she was already halfway through the Book of Mormon.  Of course that's a big problem for the missionaries, is that people usually don't want to be bothered with reading any material.  This lady was right on it, and Elder Haws said the spirit was always so strong.  Then came the time to teach her about tithing, which is often difficult for investigators to accept.  But when they softly approached the subject, she said, "I already read about it in the Doctrine and Covenants, and I know its a true principle." 

 That made me think about the power of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures.  Its sort of like, though Britt had told me about this book, How Not to Die, and though I'd listened to some of it, I really wasn't converted to the principles it espouses, until I was willing to take the time to actually read it. Because I did tha,  my life will forever be better.

Just a reminder to come to celebrate  Dr Suess' birthday with us.  The Kews are coming, and we all have fun when they do, so text me and let me know if you plan to come.