Happy Father's Day!

I hope all the fathers in our immediate and extended family and amongst our friends had a nice day. Here is a cute Father's Day picture that Robin took today and posted on Facebook.

Ashlyn-7, Aubrey-2, Andrew and Katelyn-4

Here's the Father's Day picture of the Hawkins family from Jodi's blog:Right now their ages are 1, 2, 3, & 5. Abby just turned one, Olivia will be 3 in July, Miles will be 4 in August and Owen's 6th birthday is in August. Ty was released from the bishopric on Father's Day and put right back in with a different bishop.

Last week I was getting ready to order breakfast at the South Logan McDonald's. From behind me a couple of arms encircled my neck and a deep voice said, "Hi Grandma." I turned and bumped into the brim of a cowboy hat. It was Mason from West Jordan. He was with his scout troop on the way to Camp Hunt at Bear Lake. What a coincidence!

Jean and Ron purchased a home with a nice big shop/shed on 6 acres in Clifton, Idaho. We had seen the home before and living a rural Idaho country lifestyle looks appealing to us too. Congratulations to them! We hope they enjoy it and are able to sell their home in North Ogden soon.

We were invited to lunch with some Heber Valley Camp missionaries we served with who were getting together in Utah County. I was working at the temple that day so we were unable to attend.

We took the boat out for the first time this season...a couple of months later than usual. We went to the storage facility, drove to Hyrum Dam, removed the cover, put up the bimini top and continued to prepare for launch when I noticed there were no keys. When the boat is in our own garage we just leave the keys in the ignition. We disconnected the boat and I had to go 'home' to get the keys while Reed set up the downriggers and mounted the trolling motor. Reed got a nice 17 incher which is bigger than usual for the dam. Several got away but we still had enough for a 'fillet of trout' meal. (much to the grandkid's dismay)

I went for a spin to Millville Canyon with Hailey but the road was still closed. We ran over a snake on the road that was about 40-44" long. I took Natalie and Kaden for short rides up Providence Canyon. The muddy water was turbulent and I understand there is some major flooding up a little higher. The golf course is closed due to flooding and many roads remain closed. The Monte Cristo road is usually open on Memorial Day but as of June 15th, it still had 8 feet of snow. On the other hand, all this cool weather and rain has made everything very beautiful and green.

We made a loop up Logan Canyon to Bear Lake, down Emigration (Strawberry) Canyon to Preston and back home. Several campgrounds were closed and picnic tables were partially submerged. The Temple Fork road was open for a ways but the road to Spawn Creek was gated. There was snow near the roadside at the higher elevations and some of the aspen trees were barely starting to show green. Flooding and erosion problems are everywhere. Bear Lake is so full that there really aren't any beaches. The area we usually go to and drive along the beach and stake our claim with the gazebos and lawn chairs is totally under water. The lake level is up to the rocks at the side of the road. The temperature was in the upper 50's and when the sun went behind some clouds and a cool breeze blew, it was quite chilly. There were only 4 boat trailers at the marina...pretty unusual for the last half of June.

Courtney spent last week at cheer camp in Park City. This coming week the three girls will be attending Youth Conference in St. George.

Reed and Jill planted a garden and things are coming up. Before we left Nibley, Reed was able to eat some of the raddishes he'd planted.

Ducks quack, geese honk, crows caw and roosters crow but I don't know what the sound of pheasants is called. But we get to hear that sound several times every day. There are still deer wandering around. Some were foraging on the next door neighbor's trees the other day.

I must be getting old

One day last week I was older than 3 out of 4 persons in the obituaries in The Herald Journal. Yes, I must be getting old.

While going through my things prior to moving I came across a Dance Program for the students of Annette Maughan. Marilyn and I took tap dance from her when we were quite young. A couple of other sisters doing the dance routines were Roxanne and Vicki Haslam. Roxanne was my age and Vicki was about Marsha's age. I remember going to Roxanne's birthday party when we might have been in 1st or 2nd grade. She moved to North Logan after that. Roxanne and Vicki's parents currently live in Jill's ward. They go south to Washington, Utah during the winter and are home teachers to our friends, the Claytons. Anyway, Vicki was visiting her parents one Sunday and after sacrament meeting Jill was telling them that I had a Dance Review program with Roxanne and Vicki's names in it. When I joined the conversation, Vicki asked me why I had the program. She asked if I had children in it. When I told her I danced with her and Roxanne and that I was Roxanne's age, I don't know which one of us was more embarrassed. Yes, I must be getting old. Or at least looking old.

A moving experience...

It's official! On May 24th we sold our home. With the current housing market, we feel very fortunate! We finally got everything fixed up just like we wanted. We didn't have to sell, but after 6 1/2 years, it was probably time to downsize. We didn't know for sure that the sale would go through until 4 p.m. on that day when we passed a 4 hour home inspection. We couldn't really box up everything and move out in case the sale failed. We didn't want to end up with 2 places. We are technically 'homeless.' It has been nearly two weeks since we moved in with the Schvaneveldts in Providence. Since Brandon, Jill and kids lived in our home in Nibley for many months, this is sort of payback time. We have a 'room with a view' and enjoy our sweet suite.

I've always considered myself to be neat, clean and organized. The moving experience made me rethink those qualities. It would have been much easier if we had our own place to move into. Then we would have known what we needed to keep and what we needed to give away, donate or discard. I started out being fairly systematic but due to time constraints, things got progressively more disorganized. Jill and Brandon were the main muscles and help for the move. They also had to rearrange their home to accommodate our household belongings. Their 3rd car garage is filled to the brim and the kids have had to give up much of their space and be inconvenienced. Riley and Bryan also did a lot of work. The Johnsons can no longer park vehicles in their garage due to all of our garage/shop and outdoor stuff. Kim was suffering a lengthy and bad bout of pneumonia during our move and I felt badly I was unable to help her. She said she felt badly that she was unable to help us. We were glad that Candace and Jory came with a pickup and trailer to claim some of our junk. We got to a point where we just had to haul and store everything else and will have to go through it later. We could have sold lots of things but felt if the kids could use them, we'd rather go that route. The boat and 4-wheeler trailer are at a storage facility.

I wish I could report that I know where we will build or buy. We are still looking, and looking and looking. This I know, we are being very picky. And of course we want the perfect small home with a 3 car garage and RV parking, nice neighbors around our age, with immaculate yards and no barking dogs, in a peaceful, beautiful, yet convenient setting at a ridiculously low price. Any ideas? I think we have decided on staying in Cache Valley for about 8 months out of the year and then head on vacations or rent some place where it is warm for the other 4. After all, our snowblower stayed with the house and the snow shovels were sent to Deseret Industries.

Before throwing away my 'trophies' I took a picture of them:

We made lots of trips to D.I and the garbage dump...and I don't know what possessed me to take pictures there:

We have driven our pickup trouble-free for 13 years and then it started having issues. What a bad time for it to act up! Anyway, the dealer charged us about $400 for a repair but must have misdiagnosed the problem. At least we limped through our move before it gave out. Reed had just hauled the trailer to the storage shed when the malfunctions persisted. It ended up being a computer problem and another $700 later, we are on the road again. Reed fell in love with a fancy new pickup he took for a test drive. Maybe some day.

We have booked an Alaskan cruise followed by time for fishing and crabbing on the Oregon coast with the Coles. We're hoping for warmer temperatures so the roads and trails in the high country will open for 4-wheeling. Right now the rivers, lakes and reservoirs are still too muddy to fish. We're involved in putting on family reunions this summer. Kaden and Brynlee have had birthdays this month and Reed and Kim will soon have theirs. Courtney, Hailey and Natalie got their report cards...all 4.0's.