MARCH 2024

Some photos this month of what life is like for Dad at Ashford.  This is the "Bum Heater"  HA!  Dad loved to lean on the heat vent and wants us all to come give it a try.  I must admit, it is pretty comfy warm!

We do a lot of bed arranging.  Getting things in just the right order and placement takes a lot of time each day...several times a day.

We had a wonderful visit with one of our missionaries Ben Burden who was down from Idaho Falls area.  Had lunch and the best chat.  Seeing these kids as spouses and parents is so rewarding!

We celebrated Dad's 96th birthday on March 16 with his friends at Ashford.  It was a party!

We played PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY and it just did not matter where they chose to place that tail!

Then we did a SING-ALONG with a bunch of old songs that many of them remembered.  Dad was right there on some of them as well.  If I only could remember the tune to THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND...Hmmm.

Family pic with our family at Ashford with Dad.  He loved having everybody there and being with his friends at the same time!

We took him in the activity room for some gift opening and that was fun.  LeAnn framed a collection of Mom's paintings done in prints at BYU and we got him balloons and a cool wood workshop with screws to put in and lights to turn on etc.

The next weekend I had my meetings in St George for Provo Power.  Scott was excited that former BYU Basketball coach Dave Rose was the keynote speaker during lunch that day.  He and hid son did a really nice motivational presentation.  I had not realized that he had pancreatic cancer...the same kind Susan and LeAnn both have.  He said he had only met 2 people with the same type of pancreatic cancer as him, so I got to tell him about my sisters, especially Susan who has outlived the norm already.  There is great hope.  He has lived 14 years with it already!

We stayed in St George for Scott to help with the Red Cliffs Temple dedication Saturday and Sunday.

We spent a day birding at Lytle Ranch, went to dinner TWICE at our favorite Mexican place, Irmitas, and I got a lot of reading done, which I have not done in a super long time!

I got to go to the first session of the dedication on Sunday.  We had a tour Thursday night of the inside, so that was also wonderful!

We met Valerie from Church News after the first  session, she was the one in charge of covering this event.

We walked a couple times by the Virgin River.  We love seeing the southern Utah birds and scenery.

We got this photo from Austin or Amanda...we did not know that Amanda's family met up with Austin's when they were in Seattle area!  Made me so happy to see them together!

Susan came for her spring break this year and we spent a lot of time visiting Dad.  The last night, all us girls met at Ashford for a photo with Dad.  He was pretty confused that night.  Maybe because he is used to us coming one at a time all week.  Oh well, we tried.  I am sure he loved all the visits anyways!

LeAnn cut his hair afterwards.  He is pretty good about letting us shave him or cut hair or put lotion on his feet, whatever we need to do to try to take care of him.

Susan had never been to the Provo City Center Temple so we made sure to go while she was with us.  We really enjoyed our time together in the temple.  It is so beautiful.

Speaking of temples, Scott got to be there for the placing of the Angel Moroni statue on top of the Salt Lake Temple as part of the renovation.

And speaking of renovations, that is pretty much what I do for a while almost every day.  I am sure we could have paid someone to get all these things done much more quickly than my 2-3 hours a day, but I am way too cheap!

The study is my favorite!  From brown paneling and farm wallpaper to crisp white paneling and sage green walls and a new closet and ceiling to floor curtains.  It looks so good!

The half bath is also done now with the new countertop, the walls painted barely off-white, fresh white trim and ceiling and new light, mirror and towel bar.  Looks so nice!  We do not miss the turquoise blue countertop at all.

Currently working on finishing up the hall bath...maybe it will be the most satisfying when it is completed as it will experience so much change in such a good way after being the eyesore of the house for so long.

 

January-February 2024

IF YOU WANT TO SEE EVEN MORE PICS, CLICK HERE FOR THE GOOGLE ALBUM

OK...so I forgot to do a post for January and we had a couple trips in February so this is really LONG!

HAPPY NEW BIRDING YEAR!  We try to start on January 1 by going out to find as many birds as we can.  Each year we try to find as many species as we can and we got off to a good start this year just in places near our home.  Great Egrets...

...Red-tailed Hawk

...the Vermillion Flycatcher was still hanging around even in the cold.  We got quite a few species that first day and by the start of March we are up to like 200.

Scott had a work trip to LONDON for about 5 days.  Good times other than that car accident...not a happy thing.  Scott's license arrived the day he left for London so the photographer had to drive and has less experience on those backwards roads and cars in England.

When he got back, we made a quick trip to Arizona for the funeral of our dear friend Richard Rodgers.  Carlys, his wife is in the middle of this photo...

...and this group was all of the APM friends that we could gather right after the funeral.  We love these people!

Before we came down, we met a birder in Utah who told us to look for the rare "Streak-backed Orioles" that were hanging out in a park we planned to visit on our trip.  This was news to us, but we made it a goal to try.

And here he is!  We saw both the male and the female.

And to prove we really were in Arizona, the Gila Woodpecker on a cactus!

Also to prove we were there, we ate at Waldo's Tacos one night!  Mmmm!

Shortly after this, we had our trip to PERU for Scott to cover the dedication of the Los Olivos Temple in Lima.

This is in one of the main plazas in Lima.

And another view from this plaza.

We enjoyed very much getting to know the area and using our Spanish as much as we could.  The people were friendly and family oriented.  We loved this city and the temple dedication experience.

Next we flew to Cusco for our own adventure.  We hired a bird guide who took us and a Scottish fellow, Blair, on a day trip.

We saw quite a few new species including a few endemic (only found in this area)

We learned a lot about the culture of the people from our guide as we talked.  This woman was herding sheep near a lake we went to and it was so beautiful.

He took us to a "Colibri" Sanctuary, (Hummingbird)

We saw maybe 6 species here including this tiny White Bellied Woodstar one and the more regular size Sparkling Violetear on the right.

And this ginormous Giant Hummingbird

And check out this Black-tailed Trainbearer with it's super long tail!

 In Cusco, we stayed at the most cool hotel I have ever been in.  PALACIO DEL INCA    It used to be an art school and was part of the old Catholic Monastery there.  One of the Pizzaro brothers held onto it and created the art school there and now it is a very cool museum/hotel. 

We took a tour of the art and history of this hotel one afternoon and it was fascinating!

The Inka fellow in the photo above performed a blessing ritual and played like 15 plus instruments in his presentation.  It was one of our favorite experiences!

We went with our tour group to visit several places in the Cusco area on our way to Machu Picchu.  We stopped at this textile place where the Incan women taught us how they spin wool, dye the wool etc.  Super interesting.

We did get to feed the Alpaca and Llama there too.

Here, I am trying on the pink dye that they make out of squished, dried bugs of some sort.  Yes, Scott volunteered me.  I was really bad at making yarn so this saved me being the one to try this out.

We visited Salt Mines, another historical ruin or two and took a train to Aguas Calientes near Machu Piccu.  They bused us to the base of Machu Piccu and our guide took us through.

It was beautiful and just INCREDIBLE!

Llamas really do roam wild there.

I had my photographer along with a much smaller lens today.

We loved the llamas randomly coming up past us on a trail.  

And Scott did spy a new bird right in Machu Piccu that was so pretty!

 The Blue-capped Tanager

We learned a lot about Machu Picchu and every other location we visited from our guide Efrain.  He was outgoing and fun and we really enjoyed him.

This was our favorite view of the entire area!

When we got back to Aguas Calientes, it was POURING RAIN!  It saved it til we were done!  YAY!

Does not stop birders from going out though!

We went down by the river, but near the local train track, and watched for birds.

We actually saw quite a few and were rewarded for our patience.  This Blue-necked Tanager was also pretty cool!

Back in Provo, it was back to real life.  HA!

I had promised Dad I would go on his "bus" trip when I got back so I joined him to meet the driver he always tells us about and it was a lot of fun.  Pam is the driver and is really nice.  She took us all along the base of the mountains here in Provo for like an hour.  Most of the residents do not talk, but just enjoy the drive and views.

Speaking of views, as Scott and I came home from Dad's house after working one night, this is the view we saw.  We had to pull over in heavy traffic to get this shot, it was STUNNING!  The new Orem Temple is so pretty!

So, I decided I wanted to look for an American Dipper, who forage in busy rivers.  Little did we know that the trail was like 18 inches deep in snow, but that did not stop us.  We had a lovely hike in the snow one Saturday and yes, we found the Dipper!

For Valentines I made Dad these cute Valentines to put in all his friend's valentine boxes.  It was such a fun party they hosted at his assisted living.  (I will add a photo when I get it from Mike.  My phone was dead that night)

We all came to support Dad and he was in heaven with all the family of his friends there and us to chat with.  He is so social!

Fabruary 2, we were overnight in Seattle ready for our flight to visit Jenna when she called to tell us that Ty had been in a head-on collision.  She sent us this photo after Wayne took her to the scene.  His car on the right and the woman who hit him on the left.  

When you see the photo of the car from the other side, you are in shock that Ty is alive.  Jenna had a woman who lived near this road run to the car and Ty actually gave her Jenna's number to call before blacking in and out.  Jenna heard his voice so she knew he was alive but that is all she knew.

We flew to NJ not knowing much more than this.  He got checked out in the ER and they kept trying to send him home but he would pass out or he could not walk etc.  Luckily, they kept him until shortly before we arrived in Newark.  We took an Uber to their house.

Ty had serious concussion, chipped wrist, lightly fractured elbow and completely bruised and beaten up ankles and feet.  They literally pulled his feet out of his shoes that were stuck under brake pedals and such.  Lynette and I retrieved them the next day.

We knew angels had protected Ty.  No other explanation.

He slept most of the time while we were there, having a few times to talk lucidly.  We got to keep kids busy and not loud and crazy.  We loved every minute of it!

We were so grateful that we also were there right when Jenna especially needed us.  Heavenly Father knows it all.

Such cute kiddos!!

Cassidy

Klay

Bennett

And Carter (sporting the GQ look)

Scott and I drove over to meet up with Clair, Bernice and Rachel and had such fun talking and eating lunch and walking at a nearby Audubon Center in Audubon, PA no less.

We hauled 2 huge suitcases full of Clairs stuff from Dad's house to give to him and that was great!

We brought a few things to Jenna that she chose as well including the painting by my Mom that she chose.  This winter scene looks so perfect in her home!

We explored a new woods north of Marlboro one afternoon and these kids are really great birders too!

Oh, and Braden had a birthday while we were gone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADEN!

We extended our trip in NJ an extra day to help out so we had only a couple days in Seattle area with Austin and Laura's family.

We played and talked and went to basketball and got out walking as much as we could in this short time!

We always love being in Primary when we visit because Laura is the President and Austin is the chorister so it is always so much fun!  The kids LOVE to sing because they have made it so cool to sing!

It was the Superbowl Music Game today, sort of like "Name That Tune."

Kenzie and I used all the Banangrams tiles to create this crossword!  

We got back to Utah in time for Valentines Day.  I was so entertained that one of my students brought a Valentine for "Mr Taylor"  Made his day I think!

Our Presidency changed this month.  This is me with my friend Lynda Keith, our RS President, and Alexis Manning our secretary who just moved.  Thuy Ng (Chau) was missing this day, but she is awesome as well.  I really love these ladies!

So, life is full.  Scott and I spend many nights or afternoons up at Dad's house working on getting his house in good shape to rent.  It is tiring but we are making progress that is heartwarming.

I would say I need a vacation, but I am honestly tired of so many trips too :)