Macaroni art

Wednesday I had yet another tooth extracted and an implant placed. I think that’s a total of 13 teeth extracted and eight implants but I’m not sure. It’s endless and it’s frustrating and painful and I’m really tired of this game. Oh well. Anyway, I felt pretty good Thursday until late afternoon when things really started hurting again. Doug had to leave early for his Celebration choir rehearsal for the Be One fireside on Friday. I needed to find something to do to entertain Finley that didn’t take much energy on my part. I asked him if he wanted to make a macaroni necklace and he was excited and asked “what do we need to gather?”  He concentrated so hard and was proud of his creation. He decided that he was “Maui” from the movie Moana “since I’m a boy” and that I was Moana “since you’re a girl.”  It was fun to do something a little bit different with my boy.

We have so many flowers in bloom right now. The roses smell so sweet and are thriving in this cooler weather.

Six months old

  That six months has certainly flown by! It’s hard to believe that little Zofia Rose is six months old today. She is such a joy and a light in our lives.

I decided to barbecue some chicken yesterday and have a backyard picnic in honor of Memorial Day (and I suppose reminiscent of all those picnics we had over the years with the Brewer family.) However, Doug had to work from 10-6 and Derek and Shelby had plans with her family so Chad, Anney and Finley joined us for a late, and short, picnic but it was still fun. The weather had been cold and rainy all weekend and it was too cool to set up tables and eat outside but we still enjoyed our indoor picnic.

Miscellaneous musings

I was doing so well for a while keeping up and also going back and filling in posts for the last 2-3 years. Well, not sure what happened but I've gotten way behind again. This may be a rambling disconnected post but then again, sometimes life feels rambling and disconnected!

I had plans to go down to Murray today and meet Dave, Greg and Kathy at the cemetery and put flowers on graves. However, it's a rainy day and I don't feel well with a pounding headache and other issues so instead stayed home. I'll remember my parents and grandparents and think of their lives and their influence on me and can do that without going to the cemetery. In fact, going to the cemetery usually brings back sad memories whereas I prefer to remember the joyful times. My grandma Jordan loved irises and grew so many in her yard and mom had a lot too so I'll post a picture of a beautiful iris growing in our yard as I think about them. Grandma could grow anything and we always said she had a green thumb. I remember flowers growing in the cracks of the sidewalks and in the gravel driveway. She had a touch.  Mom loved flowers too and we always had spring flowers (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths) as well as the irises and every year she planted lots of petunias as well as marigolds. I guess I come by my love of flowers naturally. I love to have something blooming in the yard from frost to frost. I've often told Doug that if money were no object  I would always have a vase of beautiful flowers in my home.

Doug, Finley and I took another trip to the library this week. We've been reading to that little boy since he was born and his parents do the same and he loves books. Our library is a fun place and we enjoy going there with him. I snapped a few pictures with my phone and while he isn't smiling in one of them I just love his eyes so had to keep the picture. He has such beautiful big brown eyes, just like his daddy did when he was young. 

I've spent a bit of money lately which I'm feeling slightly guilty about but at the same time  I'm happy with my purchases. My sewing machine is 24 years old and is acting its age. It's been an excellent machine but it was time to upgrade and upgrade I did. Meet "Dee" my new Crescendo machine. There are so many bells and whistles and it will take a long time to feel comfortable with it but I'm looking forward to learning. The shop offers classes and while I can't haul that heavy machine up and down stairs and back and forth to classes, I can use the machine at the shop to learn more about it. I'm looking forward to starting those classes but that may not be until after we get back from tour as the next few weeks are filling up quickly.

Also, Jerri found a great deal on an Accu-Quilt cutter and so we went in together to purchase it. We had looked at them and decided NOT to buy one, especially after we found an awesome ruler cutting system at the last quilt show we went to at the first of the month, but when she had an opportunity to buy a machine for 80% off she jumped and I jumped with her. It was SO nice to be able to cut papers and hexagon fabric pieces for my grandmother's garden quilt. The flowers are all finally done and now I need to make 666 green garden pieces and then start sewing the whole quilt together. It's been a long time in making but the end is in sight finally.

May family dinner

I love being able to get together with my family once a month for dinner. We like to celebrate everyone's birthday and since I get tired of planning menus I have the birthday person choose the menu for the day. With both Anney and Shelby having birthdays in April I usually have one of them choose for May and one for June. It was Shelby's turn to choose today and she asked for a green salad, meatballs and a chocolate cake. I made Italian turkey meatballs from scratch and served them with buns (for sandwiches) and polenta. The cake turned out to be a disaster though! I've made it several times before but this time we just greased the bundt pan instead of spraying it. Well....it came out in about 50 pieces. I was just going to throw it away and make a new one but decided that it would still taste okay so Doug made ganache for it and poured it over the top of the crumbs and chunks and while it looked awful, it tasted wonderful and disappeared!  I also made a rhubarb crisp since the rhubarb plants are huge this spring. Both desserts disappeared quickly along with some vanilla ice cream.

I had fun playing with the kids and of course snapping some pictures. Zofia Rose is nearly six months old and is sitting well now and so we took some pictures of her out on the grass. Finley, however, was a different story. He was busy being a super hero and looking for bad guys so he could save the world. Therefore it was a bit harder to get a picture of him. Super heroes rarely stop moving you know!

Master's degree!

Such a great day! We were all able to gather together in support of Derek as he received his master's degree in music.  I was so happy that Matt and Sherlyn were able to fly in for the occasion. I love that our sons love and support each other; it makes a mom's heart proud.

Seating was very limited for the convocation held in Kingsbury Hall. Doug and I got there early and got in line. We were told by one grumpy usher that we couldn't save seats but there were two other kind older ushers that not only allowed it but facilitated us in making sure that Shelby, Matt, and Chad got to their seats in time. Anney and Sherlyn were on kid duty and took Finley and Zoë to the park for a few hours.

When Doug and I met at the University of Utah all those years ago we never dreamed that we'd have three sons who would also receive degrees from the U of U, along with one daughter-in-law Sherlyn. I'm so proud of my boys for their thirst for education and their willingness to work hard.  They're a disparate group in their interests: Matt with two bachelor's degrees, one in English (technical writing) and one in Film and Media Art.  Chad with a bachelor's degree and master's degree in Health Promotion.  Derek with a bachelor's in Music (vocal performance) and a master's in Music Theory.

After the ceremony we met and took a few pictures and then headed to Murray to eat at The Cheesecake Factory (Derek's choice). It was crowded and noisy but we had fun. Finley wasn't too pleased with Doug giving attention to Zofia though. He's a sweet boy but is having a hard time sharing HIS grandpa! Chad and Anney had to leave right after we ate but the rest of us went to Derek and Shelby's place. It was nice to visit with Matt and Sherlyn for a bit longer. We'll see them fairly soon though as they have tickets to Doug's concert in Seattle in July. It was a long and tiring day but a good day. I love my family and am happiest when we can be together.

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Doug and I had a fun day today. Life has been way too busy and stressful lately and I knew we needed a mental health day. I wanted to find something to do that wasn't in the Salt Lake area or South because Doug has to make that drive so often that it's not a stress relief to head down there. I don't know what made me think of the bird refuge but I'm glad I did. We've lived this close to it all these years and have never visited there before. We loved it and will definitely be going back over and over. We've talked in the past about birdwatching or birding and what a fun hobby it could be. Well, in some ways neither of us need another hobby but in other ways it's something we could do together so this may be the start of something fun!

We stopped at the visitor/education center first. It's got some great displays and then we watched a short 30 minute movie about the refuge, its history, and some of the birds we might see there. The volunteer I talked to said every day is different there and I can see that since it's a migratory spot so the population of birds is going to be ever changing.

We drove out to the auto loop, a 12 mile loop about 14 miles west of the center. We picked an absolutely gorgeous day to go. The weather was cool and beautiful and we basically had the loop to ourselves and could stop whenever we wanted to look around and take pictures. I've already forgotten the names of most of the birds we spotted but there were some beautiful ones. We saw several different Great blue herons, such big beautiful birds. I wish I could've gotten a shot of one in flight but at least I was finally able to get a few pictures of one standing in the water. Doug was happy to see several snowy egrets. I had hoped to see some of the tundra swan migration but no such luck. We took a picnic and just took our time and had such an enjoyable day. It's huge, 80,000 acres/124 square miles and as far as we could see there was nothing but beautiful wetland, birds, and mountains in the distance. I felt such peace there.