Category: Home
Thanksgiving Wall Hanging
It is finished! It took me five years to complete it. I would work on it a few weeks each year, get frustrated, and put it away. Now I have a folk art decoration that is not my usual style, but I love it. I love Thanksgiving. I love the colors of autumn. I love gratitude in all its forms. I love praising God and feeling his love for me. I love time with my family during this season.
Catching up
Mark was honored as an Eastmont Patriot of the Month for citizenship, leadership, scholarship, and extra-curricular activities. Woot!
I helped make this quilt for a new baby in the neighborhood.
Every conversation at our house includes a status update on my massive painting project and Richard’s apple harvest. I stopped counting gallons of paint, but Richard knows exactly how many pounds of apples were produced.
Court of Honor
Missionary
BYU Homecoming Spectacular 3rd row seats. Awesome!
It’s Inktober for Paige on Instagram.
ONE page of a piece Timothy is working on. Legit!
Did I mention I am painting a lot? It feels like our house is finally becoming our own. I waited a long time to paint because I knew what a big job it would be and I didn’t have the time. So far, I have spent about 17 full days on it. I have not had this kind of time…ever in my life to devote to such a project. Someday I might post “after” pictures, but you could also come and visit.
Watching paint dry
Here are a few pictures of Chile in honor of the birthday boy today.
Gold
Timothy did not enjoy having the piano stowed under plastic last week. He practiced on Daniel’s keyboard, but it wasn’t the same. Within a few minutes of removing the plastic, he was playing the grand piano. And I have found my new happy place.
When they didn’t contact us
I spent the week painting my living room and hallways.
The mission never contacted us to let us know Daniel arrived.
I just applied gallon after gallon of paint on the walls. It was a difficult week.
Post Update:
Six Years in Sandy
Today is the anniversary of our move to Sandy. This is what we looked like at that time. It’s been a big six years. And I wish I still looked like that.
End of May, Beginning of June
The count:
Frisbee Tournaments: 2
Concerts: 7
Awards ceremonies: 2
Trees lost: 2
Trees planted: 3
Cousins entertained: 3
Seminary graduation: 1
Plane tickets: 2
Days left until Paige leaves for NYC and Daniel Graduates: 1
Gratitude in May
I am able to keep windows open all day lately, and the sounds of the breeze swirling our great cottonwood trees and the fresh air somehow dispel the busy feelings and replace them with grateful feelings. Consistently, I feel grateful for trees and green and warmer air.
May 7-13
- grilled hamburgers and a lovely salad
- clean sheets and bathrooms
- Elder Kearon’s devotional
- time to read on Tuesday
- my neighbor was able to come over and hear her daughter perform a violin piece
- Taste of Home chicken pot pie
- passport work finished
- the quilting ladies
- the trees we had to cut down: Thank you for the beauty.
- productive days
- a quilt for Morgan
- our bishop’s miraculous recovery
- piano duets played by our sons
- Mother’s Day magnets from Daniel
May 14-20
- Paige’s Mother’s Day card
- open windows and fresh air
- Charlene Kettle
- Excedrin
- Sunday evening walk with Richard
- 2 days outdoors at a tournament
- NYC tickets ready
- Mediterranean salad at Wendy’s
- Mark is twelve.
- Sunday night gathering of my boys on the bed to talk to me
- Mark singing in the choir
- Mark playing Uptown Funk and Indiana Jones on the trumpet
- Tim’s jazz band recordings from Richard
- passport arrived
- dinner from my counselors when I was sick
Old, Last, and New
Losing trees is one of the saddest things. The previous owners’ daughters called this grove and the stepping stone path through the periwinkle “the beautiful.” I will miss the flicker of light filtering through the leaves. It hurt my heart to see two trees go, but aspens don’t live forever. The trees really called to me when we looked at this house the first time, and I feel some nostalgia for the days when there were tall aspens lining the path.
Speaking of moving to Utah, that was almost six years ago. Leaving Tucson meant leaving the incredible piano ensemble experiences our kids had every spring, where they played duets on a stage with twelve grand pianos. There is nothing on this scale here, but there are “monster concerts” the kids play in the mall with five pianos. It was nice to hear the boys perform duets together one last time before Daniel leaves.
We came home from the monster concert to discover that the corsage Daniel ordered for prom was the wrong color and the flowers were wilting, so I made my first wrist corsage on Saturday. I felt more stress about this corsage than I thought was possible over some flowers and glue. Daniel went to prom with McKenna and I just hoped the flowers would stay on that wrist corsage all evening. I probably should have hoped he would have fun, but that was a given since he was with McKenna and happy friends.