Of Potlucks, Plumbers, Potagers and Princesses!

 Another week has gone by, full of fun memories, and work.  Monday started with my attendance at We Can, where we made cards for deployed service men and women to use in their correspondence home.  Afterwards there was a delicious potluck luncheon.

Then I took some dolls that needed restringing to the doll lady in town, which is always interesting.

Next it was to Emily's.  I am still trying to figure out how to use my iPad that Dad gave me for Mother's Day/my birthday.  The plan is that I will be able to take it to work, and when things are slow, I can do my blogging there.  She helped me figure things out and I was able to move pics from my phone to the iPad, and then I was able to do a blog post.  A couple of things are different, so I had to get on and fix them at home.  So glad Emily is willing to help me with this.

 

On Tuesday I worked on the yard most of the day ... I am loving how this old crumbly window well planter finally looks good.  I do have to remember to water it, as the sprinklers don't reach, but so far so good. 

 

Dad brought Grandpa home around four, which brought me in the house to do chores.  Of course, Dad was off to the temple for his normal Tuesday shift.  Then I made dinner for grandpa and Cheryl before heading over to Emily's for our ward book club, where we watched the old Scarlet Pimpernel movie that was  made in the early 1930's. 

 On Wednesday I was off to work for my regular shift.  I spent a lot of the day reorganizing one of my small booths into a junky craft supply area with lots of buttons, zippers, post cards, old photos, silver plate silverware that people use for crafts, old maps, clothes pins and vintage greeting cards ....

Dad got off work a little early that afternoon, so that he could go over and work on the tap in the tub in Emily's basement bathroom.  Yeah plumber man.

When he got home we had dinner, and then we red boxed, renting Safe Haven, the newest Nicholas Sparks book to movie, which we both liked a lot. I think Robin would even like this one, if you know what I mean.

On Thursday, after I got home from walking, I made a potluck item before heading off to work.  I worked on blogging with my iPad again, with the help of a coworker, who is pretty knowledgeable, and even deleted the blog post that I had done at Emily's on Monday .... arrrgggg ..... fortunately, the pics were still on the iPad so I could redo it .... ah that learning curve ....  Dad got home early enough that afternoon to pop the pot luck item the oven.

 Then I met him at the ward patriotic event and potluck dinner, which was fun.  I think that Dana DeWitt, Dad and I were the only ward members there who didn't have a family member participating. LOL

Dad did make himself useful though, taking on a new neighbor's baby for the duration of the evening, even eating (I filled his plate) with the little one on his lap.

 It felt good to be there to support the ward, of course, and we were some of the last to leave.  I did get a chance to do some fellow shipping with a sister whom I visit teach, who works with the cubs, so that was a good thing.

 On Friday I ran to Salt Lake and met up with Ginny,(shown to the right photographing a plant with her bling phone), to host one of the houses on the Utah County Master Gardener's Hidden Garden Tour.  It was held in Salt Lake this year because they don't have a group there.  The shot above is at the house we hosted.  After four hours of hosting, we spent another four hours trying to hit all of the 11 houses we could before the tour was over at 8:00.  We saw 8 of them, all told, which was good, and we both loved it.  Some Café Rio rounded out the day.

Dad worked a normal day, then stopped at Trevor's to repair an outside faucet that had broken off. Yeah plumber man.  Emily, mean while, had an extended day with Grandpa.

 I loved the look of the statuary in the middle of the birdbaths, and since I have the exact fairy as the one found on the birdbath to the left ... can you guess what I have sitting in my birdbath now?

 I thought this garden, off 9600 south and very far east was amazing, and I found a ground cover there that I love called Sweet Woodruff, that loves the shade .... so excited about that find ... now I just need to find a nursery that carries it.

I loved that a couple of the houses had kitchen gardens, or as they are called in England, 'Pottagers'.  This one was my favorite, and at the back of this picture is a potting table.  Also note the only bell jar (or choche jar) that I have ever actually seen in a garden.

 

 On Saturday Dad and I were both off early, after hiding grandpa's shoes and setting out his breakfast ... Dad went to run a 2 mile fund raiser race for a former bishop in our stake who had inoperable brain cancer, just to help with medical expenses.   It was his first run in three weeks, as he finally has his tendonitis under control. 

I went garaging, just around town, and it took me two hours to spend the 15 dollars I had left in my purse.  After getting back I worked in the garden some more, then Dad and I cleared out the van in anticipation of the rest of the day.

Next we headed north spending a bit less than an hour at fleattitude, the sale that Jenn and Cathie are doing now.  It was fun to visit with friends, and it was good that Dad stopped at the magic money machine.

Next we headed to highland where we picked up 6 free pallets to use in woodworking projects ... thanks Randy.  They had gotten all kinds of stuff on pallets when they were opening Maui Chill, and these were some of those he had left after getting rid of most of them at a yard sale last week ... and hey, I didn't have to pay the 75c each that the others had fetched. LOL

Barb was busy getting ready for Krista's open house the next day, and we got a chance to visit with her for a bit.  Of course it was great to see their extended family too.

 

Then it was time for the highlight of the day ... we headed to Timpanogos High School where Eva was to have her year's end dance recital.  Here is Eleanor, get ready for the big event.

The theme was princesses, and Eva was one of 6 Mulans.  Their second number was a cute one about tea cups and saucers ... all the dances were quite entertaining, and Eva was really very serious about following the routines, it was so cute to see.

 

When we got home, we got to watch Beckie for a couple of hours while her parents went to their adult session of their stake conference.  She was adorable, even though she is cutting teeth and was cranky... I actually ran and did our grocery shopping and grandpa watched her for most of the time.

This morning we had to start early to make it to Highland for Krista's missionary farewell.  Jake Heuer spoke as a youth speaker and they both did an amazing job.  Jake, and Krista's brother Ryan will be going later this summer or this fall.  We love these kids, and it is so good to see the good things they are doing with their lives.  It was also fun to see Trina and her family, and Kelsy and hers, who all came for the farewell of their sister, with Trina's arrival being a surprise.

We headed back after the meeting as Dad had to get to his High Council assigned ward's meeting block. 

 It was a nice surprise when Davin and Bri stopped by on their way home from an evening walk up to the Grotto in Payson Canyon.  It was fun to get to see Adilyn crawling, and to see Elias singing Primary songs he is learning in the nursery at church.  In the picture to the left Davin is doing the 'popcorn popping' movements, while Elias sings ... very softly!

And it was also very entertaining to watch Adilyn playing with the top of the block sorter with her hands and feet ....Briahnna said that when they first gave her a bottle she held it with her hands and feet.  So cute!

Well that does it for our week, hope you enjoyed seeing some pictures of the memories we made, and we especially appreciate all of those of you who were part of those memories ... we love you all!

Talley Family!!!

This is Beckie playing with the piggies at the high school. She then fell in her face into a manure pile...

If any of you know my friend Katie, she is getting married in August and I got to go dress hopping with her. So pretty.

Beckie has been teething. This is her cranky on the bed crying pose. 

Me and little Liam. 

Went with Becca, Davin, Bri and their respective children to the park in Provo with the water fountains. Should have taken pics of everyone there!

Liam was doing tummy time on his Boppy I went to the bathroom, came back, and found him here 

I asked Beckie where daddy was and she did this face. 

I was feeding Liam in the hall and the tub was filling up. Couldn't see how deep it was until I finished feeding him and stood up. 

Hi. Guest post by Emily. Don't have any good news or anything exciting to share, but I do have a bunch of cute pictures to share. Plus, I should say, Sam caught 7 fish in two hours this morning. I think he might be like Hank Hill and accidentally using cocaine on them. Oh, and it looks like I'll be working with a company that contracts with the FBI, so as long as I pass the background check and make security clearance, I'll be starting with them soon, so if anyone gets weird phone calls asking weird questions about me, that would be why. 

Plumbing, Fire and a Graduation.

 Yep, it was a wonderful and fun week, filled with lots of memories, and most of them were good. Monday we had a stay at home day full of laundry, blogging, church callings and gardening for Memorial day.  I love that Emily drops by to print stuff off on our computer, that means we get to see her more!

 Dad did a crazy amount of plumbing stuff this week. Monday he fixed the sprinklers, replaced Emily's bathtub tap downstairs, fixed the leak in my kitchen sink that we have had for 10 years ... guess he was in the mood.  He found out why he waited ten years too, it was a pain and required twisting and damaging the drain in the sink, until he could maneuver it out and replace it with a new one.  Then he  replaced the shower head in our newly remodeled shower with one that is on a hose, so both grandpa and Aunt Cheryl could shower in greater comfort. Last of all he installed a filter on the sprinkling system, so that he won't have to clean out heads all the time.

 Tuesday included meeting Dad at Trevor and Nells so we could attend Eva's graduation from Kindergarden.  Here she is shown with her class mates.

 Eva's daddy brought her flowers, and grandma brought her the makings of a new princess book.  Aunt Darby came to show her support as well!!

After graduation, Dad headed back to work and I had a buying appointment with Robin's mom, Pat in North American Fork.  Robin came too, which made it even more fun.  It was raining, so we had to wait for dryer interludes to carry out the furniture I had purchased for resale.  Matt came down from Highland to help with the heavy work, thank goodness.  It was super fun to see Pat and John's new 'smaller' place.  As always Pat's great style is making it mark, and the place is charming.

 

That night I hosted the missionaries, even though Dad was at the temple and could not attend.  We love feeding the missionaries, and I couldn't pass up the chance to do so, as they are so rare around here.  Emily drove up and got them, using Liam as a chaperone, since Grandpa (who was going to be my chaperone) ended up in Highland with Becca, as Dad was late getting his car back from its inspection. (long convoluted story, and Sam was the hero of the day picking up grandpa later.)

 Above is a picture of Emily with the missionaries and Liam.

On Wednesday I had a normal work day, which included moving stuff around to make room for the new antique Victorian furniture I bought from Pat.  I have moved away from Victorian, and don't even have a booth, as I did for years.   I had to create a booth for it, which meant moving a lot of stuff to the store next door and being really creative.  I was exhausted when I got home, and Dad had made dinner.  He had gotten off a bit early and decided to make it, how sweet it he?

Thursday morning Ginny and I were walking and passed my friend Cristie's house.  She was outside and invited us to her deck to share some of her amazing gardening skills.  So fun! I love the bird bath to the right and thought maybe I could repurpose an antique repro stained glass light fixture to look like this.

 

Also on Thursday, my friend Patti Hansbrow, middle, invited a few of the We Can ladies to see her new place.  It was so charming, and lunch was so fun, even though I just had a bit more than a half hour to visit.  Kathie Tervort is on the left and Carolyn Shirley is on the right.  Patti's place is just minutes from my work, which is why I was able to sneak away.

 When I got back to work I finished up changing out our largest front display.  Its been getting rave reviews, which is always fun.

While we were finishing up dinner that night, a local man stopped by and invited me over to look at some antiques he had for sale.  Dad and I went over later and I found some great stuff there as well.  It was a super buying week all in all, with two buying appointments, then the flea market at Treasures on Saturday followed by a bit of garaging. Lets just say I am totally out of cash!

Also on Thursday Darby posted on face book that she wished her new disposal would install itself.  Her Fairy God Mother was not available, however, her father the plumber was.  Yeah Dad.

 On Friday I worked in the yard, most of the day, and went to one yard sale after a good customer called and invited me.  After Dad got home from work we headed over to Kews.  They were babysitting 2 grandchildren, as their daughter Hilary is here from Maryland.  We ordered out and watched a movie we missed in the theaters, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which we all loved.  While Dad and Steve were going for dinner, they saw smoke.  It was in a line from Kews' that could have been our house so they drove over and it was Dr. Taylor's house on the bend of the highway.  After we got back from the Kews', I walked over there, and was just heart sick.  Its a total loss, which seems so unfair when Dr. Taylor (former mayor) has done so much to preserve historic structures in Payson.

Saturday morning dawned early for me and I was off to the Treasures Antiques birthday sale and flea market.  My antiqueing show partner, Bruce, always blows out his stuff at these sales and I got some good deals, but they required moving more stuff around in the mall.

Afterwards I ran to Highland as the Heuers and some of their neighbors were having garage sales.  I didn't find much, but Donelle was out 'weeding' her flower beds.  I asked if I could have some 'weeds', as they were really flowers she was thinning.  Here she is with a clump of Johny Jump-ups, miniature pansies, which are about the sweetest flower in the world.

Kylie came over while I was there and gave me a big hug.  I love her haircut, so very cute and so very happy and Kylie.  The white bag I am holding has the 'weeds' in it.  Thanks Donelle.  She promised me more weeds next year too!

 When I got home I found that Dad had been busy too.  He removed about 8 large above ground roots from our big trees.  He is shown here with the largest one.  He had also replaced and moved several sprinkler heads.  We then went shopping, with grandpa too, to Home Depot, where Dad got the fertilizer spreader I had been unable to find at a garage sale, along with a new hose, a bunch of plumbing parts, a pump for our new fountain feature, and a few plants to add to our flowerbeds which I have been redoing.  When we got home, I worked on the flower beds, while he got to it, and weed and feeded the lawns, the then he worked on the plumbing for the new fountain, of course. It was dark by the time I was adding the tiny ground cover between the bricks that surround the fountain, yawn, so much for red boxing a movie, eh?

 Didn't it turn out cute?  Moving it into place about killed us both, it is solid cement and heavy as heck, but we finally got it in place ... note some of Donelle's weeds in their happy new home.

Today Dad had his High Counsel meeting, so grandpa didn't get showered and got out of going to church.  I guess next week it will happen.  Church was great as always, but as Dad was heading back to church again for his other ward, he got a nose bleed which wouldn't quit.  He's been taking mega doses of ibuprofen, a blood thinner, and by the time he got his white shirt into cold water, and got it stopped, he decided to just stay home and take a nap with me.  Next it was dinner, and then blogging for me.  So that was our week.  Lots of fun memories, and things accomplished, but we are heart sick about Dr. Taylor's house.  Hope you week was wonderful too!

Meeting Friends, Old and New, and Jail Time Too!

This was a great week for us all, and it was the people in it that made it so extra special.   We managed to meet up with good friends, old friends, very old friends, and made some new friends too.

On Monday, after Dad went to work, Emily called me to come over and see the finished bathroom.  Dad had worked on tiling it and installing a new vanity, sink and mirror.  She added the towels, and other details.

This was mainly done, at least on this time schedule, because the Stevenson's were coming to stay when they picked up Rui after her high school graduation.  While I was there, the Stevensons did, indeed, arrive.

Here Rui's youngest sister get acquainted with Beckie. 

 

Rui's oldest sister, the baby whisperer takes Liam well in hand.

 

After I got home, I worked on my craft room and made some real inroads! 

 

On Tuesday I got three visiting teaching visits made, before heading home to make dinner for Grandpa and then ...

the Stevenson's were making dinner for Emily and Sam on Tuesday, and invited me too.  Dinner was yummy Japanese curry.  Dad, of course was at the temple that night.

 

On Wednesday morning, I walked with Ann, and then worked on the garden when I got home.  Next it was off to work.  Then I hurried home from work to start making fry bread. Dad got home early and had done some straightening, for which I am grateful.  Then we had the Stevenson's here for Navajo Tacos.

 It was so fun to get to spend time with the Stevenson's while they were here.  Dad and I were counting and we have actually met up with them four times.  (Once in Japan, then here before Rui came to live with us, then we met up with the parents and oldest daughter in Japan as they were picking her up from her mission there, and Dad and I were in Hawaii with the Moes.)  That and facebook has really made us all amazingly close, sort of strangely.

 

 

Wednesday was Becca's day to watch Grandpa and she snapped this cute picture of him with the kids ... gotta love Jamaican Titan!

 

 

 

I worked again on Thursday and had book club that night at my friend Carolyn's in Elkridge.  We were discussing our upcoming trip to the Shakespeare Festival and had our biggest turn out in a long time, 9 people.

On Friday Ann and I were off to do some serious junquing.  Here we are shown at the antique show we attended in Salt Lake.  We also went up to Coalville to a junk show, which was amazing.  Besides a trip to DI and two yard sales, one of which was also great!



While I was off junking on Friday, Emily and Sam were taking care of Grandpa, and since they had him overnight that night, Sam took Grandpa fishing at Spring Lake that evening.  Grandpa was a bit confused, but seemed to love every minute!  Thanks Sam!

I got home from my junking travels, just in time to head to Spring City with Dad for the annual Home Tours they do there.

 

Dad ran into one of the guys he works with in the Temple on Tuesday when we went for Chinese in Ephraim that soon after arriving in Spring City.

 

This is one of the rooms in the Spring City Inn, the bed and breakfast where we stayed.  It was very quaint, and had some of the tiniest rooms I have ever seen, with shared bathrooms.

 

 In the morning we shared breakfast with the O'Neils, who had occupied two of the other rooms.  The father of the tribe was an international banker and it was very fun to hear about his career.  His wife's name is Jackie, and she kept saying she was the 'original Jackie O'  They were there (they live in DC) to see their grandson graduate from Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, evidently a highly acclaimed Prep School.  Who knew?

 

Next the owner of Spring City Inn, took us next door to the towns theater that is being restored.  This is the first production, and is called 'The Radio Show', it will actually be recorded and played on the radio too.

 Our Inn keeper is on the right, with his remarkable friend, theater owner and Liam Neeson look alike.  They showed us some of the sound effects for the show.  After seeing the theater, it was across the street to the DUP museum,

 

where we met up with some good customers from Treasures, Dave and Myra ... that was just after

 

Dad did some time in the Spring City Jail!

Next we saw my nephew Matt and his family.  They live in Ephraim and had come over to Spring City for the garage sales that flourish on the weekend of the Historic Home Tours.

 This is the first home we saw, and it had been remodeled within an inch of its historic life.  A professional designer had left it pretty, but devoid of the hominess you want in an old house.

 

This is the living room.

 

This is the largest house on the tour.  To the left is the original part of the house, it was built in the early 1880's then about the time our house was built, in the 90's the Victorian side was built.  A lot of the 'addition' was similar to our house.  It was fun comparing notes ... oh and the husband actually works in Salt Lake... whoa.

 

 

This building was the Endowment house in the mid-1800's, before the Manti Temple was finished.  It now belongs to the artist Randall Lake, who used to be our neighbor in University Village in the mid 70's.  It was super fun to talk to Randall, and have him tell us that adding a small bathroom with electricity and running water to the space he uses as his studio, cost more than the building had. 

He also uses candles for light after the end of daylight.  He has candelabras hanging from the ceiling, and climbs on a ladder to light them.  These are candle ends.

 

 

This garden house is of new construction, built by a builder from the rubble left from a building that burnt in Ephraim.  It was built to house the boiler for the main house.  Spring City did not have natural gas until the mid 1990's.  It now serves as a rental unit.  The family that owns the house, actually hailed from Cottonwood, and the father lived in Dad's ward at one time. (Dad recognized the son of the family as looking like someone he grew up with who has the same last name.)  Dad said it was this family that gave him one of his suits for his mission, after another of their sons decided not to serve a mission, after the suit was purchased.

 

When we got home Dad worked on the leak in the sprinkling system before we headed to Salt Lake for the Harley wedding .

 

 Here we see Riley, one of Spencer's good friends from the Salt Lake ward, and Kevin Harley, the father of the groom. 

Of course Dad loves visiting with people from his past.  The bride even knew Spencer, as they had all gone camping last summer.

 

We stopped at DI on the way home, and I found a table and two chairs ... here Dad masterminds fitting them in the back seat of his car, along with the large multiple post office boxes set I bought in Spring City.

 

And Dad also got to run into an old class mate from his time at Olympus.  What an old home week this turned out to be!

 

 

 

On Sunday Dad and I attended church along with Grandpa.  Dad ran off the last hour to speak in another ward for High Counsel Sunday.  Meanwhile grandpa went to the Elder's quorum, because Dana DeWitt, who is helping us out, couldn't get him up after opening exercises in Priesthood meeting.

That night Dad and I hosted a BBQ at home.  Here is Scott chowing down on some corn on the cob.

 

I know, look at those missing teeth, all three of them, I doubted that Eva could eat corn off the cob, but she did ... what a girl!!

 

 Well, that does it for a busy week of meeting friends old and new.