Graduation Day

May was a busy month - just trying to get the daughter's loose ends tied up at school, then graduations, holidays, etc.
I think I spent half the month washing dirty dishes from all the gatherings!

But it's been good.

As I was shooting pictures at my baby's graduation, I couldn't help but feel so proud - not just of her, but of all my children. I am so grateful for each and every one of my family!

jenny grad

our family

proud parents


Now that it's all over, I've been sleeping in a bit - no more reasons to get up early. It makes me wonder - what am I going to do with the rest of my life?

We also had an anniversary this month - 34 years.
We planned to get away, but it just wasn't in the cards. (Or the budget!)
Hubby had some time off, so we spent it doing quiet things - breakfast out - yard work, touring model homes (dreaming) ...and I even talked him into an afternoon of scrapbooking with me! (He actually got more done than I did.)

Spent Memorial day with the family - cook out (we actually had a nice day for it!) and just visiting.
My sister stopped by, and we got to visit with her and her son's family. His little boy is so cute!

Now that the celebrations are all over, we can settle down to Summer vacation. If the weather will just cooperate...
Peace. (?)
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This 'n That

Feeling gloomy this Monday morning.
I could easily climb back into bed and pull the covers over my head for the rest of the day - if only I didn't have to work.
Totally blaming it on the weather.
I look at the calendar, and see that it's May - but there is no actual evidence to support that assumption.
Blah.
I'm so tired of wind and rain and COLD!
A little springtime please, before summer comes in with a vengeance?

A few celebrations this week - Saturday was our 34th anniversary, hubby and I.
We usually head down south for a weekend vacation - but due to the downslide in the economy (the nations AND ours...) we spent a quiet holiday at home.
Believe it or not, I actually got him to scrapbook with me for the day on Friday. We enjoyed it too - (and nobody died!)

Yesterday was my youngest daughter's Seminary graduation. Came home and spent the entire day in the kitchen to serve an early lunch, but it was worth it just to see my baby shine.

Sat between the grans during the ceremony, enjoying loves from each - moments that I live for...

Later, while we were visiting, we caught Jeff's 2 year old eating the Nestle's Strawberry Quick right out of the container.
A little hyper tonight? ...Sorry.

Rumors going around that Ghost Whisperer is being cancelled this year.
That would be a sad day for our household - it's the only show we can all sit down and watch as a family.
)The girls and I like the ghost stories - I think hubby just likes Jennifer Love Hewitt.)


Back to the real world now, schlepping fabric to the masses.
x.o
Tah!

Finale

Endings are so bittersweet.

Yesterday we attended # 2 grand daughter's graduation from pre school.
She was so cute and proud - she's such a little lady.
Miles to go from here - but she'll do great. She's already reading, so the sky is the limit!

Miss Moo




Last night was also my youngest's final choir concert.
They should have charged for awesomeness, because they really rocked the house!
They just got back from the choir competition in Anaheim, where they took 4 gold medals and 4 trophies - sweepstakes winners being one of them.
Wow. It really showed last night, they were amazing!

Yenny girl - front & center


As we were leaving, grandma T made the comment that our baby will be the last grandchild to attend this school.
It's true - she's ending a long family tradition here.
She's also the end of my legacy - long list of lasts for me...

Payson High Concert Choir

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Salutations

It's been a quiet week here in Grannyland.

I've been busy trying to get photos from my trip tucked away in the scrapbooks.

Problems with that are many - broke the bank to print the photos - and that was only half of them.

Spent hours setting up the work station, only to find I lack something... the basic background papers to put them on.

...Two hours spent at the scrapbook store, trying to make decisions.

Finally ready to work - but no ideas pop into the head... two more hours searching for idea books.

By the time I was ready to go, the family was coming home, and had to leave it for other things.

Such is life.

(I did get 6 pages done this week, so that's something - right?)

...And I finally finished the above card. Just in time to put it all away for the weekend.

Today is a work day. Another day, another dollar.
(Quite literally. *Sigh*)

Happy Friday :-)
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Road Trip

My road trip with my sisters this past week was so much fun! We saw so many amazing things - and so many others that we still want to see... (road trip the sequel?)
I fell in love with Arizona all over again (or should I say for the first time?) ...I never thought it was pretty when I was a kid.

Background: My parents were both from Arizona. They moved to Utah when my dad decided to go to Utah State. He finished school and found employment here, and we have been here ever since.
The rest of both of their families stayed in Arizona, so all of our Summer vacations were spent there. My oldest sister was there in the Arizona days, so she was our link to that era.
I never lived there - but still have many memories of the place...

Anyway, the purpose of our trip was to attend the open house for the new LDS Temple in Central. (Dad's birthplace.)

We decided on the way down to stop and see some of the sights that we had always wanted to see. (Dad was always on a tight schedule to visit people "back in the day," so we never stopped to sight see.)

We stopped at Camp Verde - a military outpost from the 1800's. It's a museum now, and was an interesting place - lots to see, and the views were so incredible - Beautiful country!

Camp Verde




Seriously the coolest headdress I have ever seen!


After that, we stopped at Montezuma's Castle. It was totally different than what I always imagined it would be.
They were cliff dwellings, in the most beautiful peaceful valley - I can understand why the residents stayed there for 300 years...
(Although how they got up there to build it boggles the mind!)

Motezuma's Castle




By the time we arrived in Central, it was dark - but we had to drive by the temple anyway... In fact, we got lost trying to circle it.
(*Hint - there is no road that goes around the temple - we ended up in some poor unsuspecting fellow's driveway.) Luckily, he was a very nice man, and we had a fun chat with him and his cat. :-)













The next day we did the temple tour. We met lots of nice people who were (almost) as excited to be there as we were.


As you can see, the weather wasn't very cooperative. The wind blew the whole time (no such thing as good hair days!) ...and it was COLD!
(Where do AZ natives keep the warm during the day?)

This was the view out of one of the windows at our hotel.
I had to get a picture because it just spoke to me of my dad - the Arizona cowboy.



We filled the rest of the day visiting museums, past homes, and cemeteries (sadly, that's where most of the relatives are now.)

It was fun to see that some of our old family photos were in the museum (which was in my sister's elementary school building.)
We have an aunt and uncle who are still living in the area, so we stopped to say "hi." They were in good shape, considering that he is 99 and she is 97!

The next day we drove up to Heber. We took a different route, so we were able to drive through Sunset Crater and walk around the Wupatki ruins.

For some reason I always thought Sunset Crater was a single crater created by a meteor. I wasn't even close. What it actually is, is a series of small volcanoes.

Sunset Crater













Ruins













Canyon













We drove around Heber while sis told us stories about that location. It was so nice to have her there to fill in the blanks from that time. I have a sister buried there.
We spent the night, then drove around Snowflake the following day.

There is a Temple there now too. (Amazing!) We found a helpful grounds maintenance person who took the only photo of the 3 of us together. :-)



We could easily have spent a couple more days, but it was time to get home.
It got dark around Kanab, and everyone was tired and quiet, so I asked my sis if she knew any good ghost stories.
That opened a whole can of worms that probably should have been left alone on a dark road in the middle of the night...

I'm getting to wordy and boring - long story short - I'm home again - and planning the next adventure...
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