We're back home again

After last Sunday's supper, Sarah, Steve, and I took Alice and Ivan to the nearby Spanish Fork river trail that parallels the waterway.  Alice brought her scooter and we put Ivan in a stroller.  The evening was quite lovely and Alice enjoyed exploring on her scooter and throwing rocks into the river.  The walk was great until a rude bicyclist almost ran Alice over which startled her and made her cry.  So, walking back to the car and going home was not as nice, including putting her to bed.  Happily, it was her only big melt-down the entire time we were caring for her so I count that as a blessing.  Here are photos of the happy time..

If it were Missouri, we would have never let Alice walk in that grass where chiggers and ticks would have abounded

On Monday, I needed (well, wanted is more like it) to go to my favorite Utah store - Deseret Industries - where I snagged a new purse, a lunch tote, two pairs of denim capris and three short-sleeved tops.  I brought Alice along with me and the first place in the store we went was to the toy section.  Alice chose a stuffed monkey for her and a cute lion for Ivan.  And she played with the monkey while I tried on clothes.  She was so good and patient with her grandma (actually, I am called Nana by her.  Steve is called Poppie)

On Tuesday, Alice joined me in picking up Kirsti and Ryan from the airport around lunch time.  They had a great time but they were pretty happy to reunite with their children.  

Because Kirsti and Ryan needed their bedroom back, Steve and I drove Ryan's car up to Provo and stayed overnight at his parent's home.  They have a VERY nice guest room and bathroom in their basement which we have used several times.  The next morning, Wednesday, we stopped at the BYU bookstore specifically to buy a new decal for our Kia but also to check out the candy corner and buy some chocolate covered cinnamon bears.  I am wearing one of my new DI tops in the photo...

We returned to Spanish Fork for the rest of the morning where I cut Ivan's hair.  He was not very happy about the whole thing but he sure looks cute with his little-boy cut. Here is the before/after photos..

I helped Kirsti dig up some grass out of their garden 

until it was time for lunch and then the Provo FrontRunner commuter train station which we caught to take us up to the airport.  After driving to and from the Salt Lake airport multiple times with all the pick-ups and drop-offs throughout the week, this was WAY better.  I think we will try to utilize it going forward, if possible.  Our flight back to Saint Louis was via Dallas and we didn't get home until after midnight.  Beckie picked us up.  

We tried to sleep in Thursday morning until Sally whined us awake.  And then we had a rather chill day unpacking, doing laundry, figuring out what we needed from the grocery store and then making an quick shopping run.  It was rainy most of the day with two rather huge thunderstorms that blew through, one at noon and one around 5:00.  The latter one was so intense that it flooded I-55 near our house AND the intersection just down the street.  Happily, not in front of our house.  But, we did detect some minor water seepage in our basement by our HVAC and water heater which will need some further investigation.  Our neighbor down the street also experienced some basement water which he had NEVER had before in all the years he had lived in his house.  So, it was a pretty remarkable amount of rain, for sure.

Friday we had a pre-arranged date at the temple with Dave and Lois McAllister and Joy Honovi - some long-time Columbia friends.  The McAllisters have since moved to Washington state and Joy still lives in Columbia.  We ate delicious BBQ for a late lunch afterwards and it was so good to catch up!  Dave and Lois have a daughter and family who live in Nauvoo so I think we will see them again in coming years.

Friday was sunny and dry and windy but we awoke again Saturday morning to thunder and heavy rain.  It rained all day, at times heavy enough to cause traffic issues.  We had the temple baptistry all morning and I taught Southerland piano lessons in the afternoon.  Who knows when Steve is going to get to mow the lawn with all this wet!!!???

Steve and I started watching season 2 of Picard after we put Alice and Ivan to bed and we are up to episode 5 after tonight.  It is great!   I got to watch No Time To Die on the flight home.  I am by no means a James Bond fan but I had watched everything else that looked interesting which Southwest had to offer.  Most of the movies were either rated R, were ones I had already seen, or that I started watching and just couldn't stomach (Sing 2, Selina).  So, I watched the latest Bond movie and was surprisingly weepy at the ending.  Last night, Steve and I watched Roxanne which I had checked out from the library.  I have yet to see Cyrano but I figured I could re-watch a version of it.  Boy, that soundtrack was SO eighties (saxophone, electric keyboard) but it was still a fun watch.  The love story is good but the crazy fire department is the best part!  This evening, Steve and I finished watching Ant Man and the Wasp which we started while sitting in the airport.  

 

Grandparent adventures

Some photos from last Sunday's Mother's Day gathering at Emily's for dessert.  Joe made an amazing gluten-free chocolate trifle and I brought a gluten-free strawberry pie.  YUM!!!  What a blessed mother I am....

Monday the ground was FINALLY dry enough to put seeds into the ground so I planted corn and pumpkins in the "back 40".  The vegetable garden is now all planted.  Monday night, Beckie drove Steve and me to the airport for our "Utah Grandparent Adventures" week to watch Ivan and Alice while Kirsti and Ryan celebrate ten years (TEN years??!!) of marriage in Hawaii.  Ivan is walking now - getting better and better every day.  Alice is a precocious young lady who helps us find everything around the house.  We have stayed around the house - not venturing anywhere we would have to drive - because Ivan still takes two naps per day and because Steve and I are not practiced in small children and outings any more.  We have visited the neighborhood park with Alice on her bike and Ivan in his stroller.  We have blown bubbles in the back yard.  I did drive Alice to her final swim lesson at the Provo Recreation Center.  This weekend, Sarah has been here to visit and she helped us get the kids to church and back.  

The tickets for this trip have been purchased since March so when my oldest sister, Jerri, passed away on May 1st and the funeral was planned for Friday, May 13th, it did not look promising that I would be able to attend.  But, Ryan's parents came to the rescue and they were willing to take care of Alice and Ivan for two days while I flew down to Phoenix to attend the funeral.  Steve dropped me off at the airport Wednesday evening and spent time with is sister Michelle and his brother Jeff while I was away and he picked me up early Friday evening and we resumed grandchild care that night.  Jerri lived a long and full life, passing away at age 88, and so the funeral was a beautiful celebration of her life.  All but two family members were able to attend (a step-granddaughter who lives in Indiana and a grandson-in-law who was starting a new internship could not come).  It was so marvelous to see so much of her family.  Below are her four children practicing their musical number for the service. (Jim, Amy, Rob, Brent)

My flight to Phoenix was at night but my flight back to Utah was during daylight and I was able to snag a window seat so I could see the magnificent Grand Canyon.  I also saw the mission office in Phoenix as well as Anthem where we lived as we climbed up from Sky Harbor.  I also saw Bryce Canyon and Brian Head.  I loved it all.  During my other flights and waiting for flights, I have enjoyed watching movies (The Intern and Reminisce, Black Panther and Thor Ragnarok)

Beckie has been holding down the fort at home and, on one of her busy nights, she enlisted the help of Emily to come keep the dogs company.  Missouri has had a horrible heat wave this past week so she has had to water everything.  Hooray for a functioning air conditioner!

 

Well, dinner in the crockpot is done so I need to close.  Next week will be the closing adventures here in Utah.

Stella and Sally and Strings and special days

Meet Stella, the 2017 Kia Soul. We finally picked her up on Friday.  She drives GREAT!

Sally visited the groomer on Friday and here are some before and after shots.  I asked them to not leave a poodle topknot this time and to cut the ear hair short so she really looks different.  I had no idea her ears were that tiny! First, Sally in her favorite spot - looking out the front window hoping to bark at something....

Lucy's 5th grade orchestra has a concert Wednesday night and I drove to Ballwin to attend.  

Walking into the elementary school brought back SO many memories of Two Mile Prairie and Blue Ridge and all the other elementary schools I traveled to each week when I was teaching in the 5th grade strings program.  The orchestra did great for their very first live concert.  Their 3rd grade concert was usurped by Covid on 2020 and their 4th grade orchestra year was completely on-line.  Given all the setbacks these kids had,  I am delighted to see Lucy playing so well.  

We worked in the temple baptistry again this Saturday and got to help the Bear Creek youth who came.  It was great to see so many familiar faces and especially to see Steven who came with them.  Elizabeth Crippen drove over to attend the 2:00 session and Steve and I met her afterwards and we went to dinner at a BBQ place on Olive.   It is hard to mess up BBQ so the meal was yummy but honestly, for the price, we'd rather go around the corner to the Stellar Hog BBQ.  Plus, their baked beans are hands down better!

Today is Mother's Day and I asked for a garden hoe.  Steve will get a garden rake for Father's Day.  I guess that is what happens when we get old, we start giving practical gifts.  We already have one hoe and one rake but we need two so we can share the work load.  And, if we are going to acquire more stuff, it ought to be practical!  You can also see the lovely flowers I also got.

I close with a photo Emily took of Steve and me. 

 

April wrap up

Happy May Day!  We have a gorgeous day here in Saint Louis to open a new spring month.  

It was not your typical week for us.  The anomalies began Tuesday around mid-day when I knew I had a urinary tract infection.  It came on quickly - before lunch I felt fine...after nap, I hurt.  No one ever wants a UTI but this one was particularly poorly timed as I was supposed to join some music friends at a movie theater that afternoon to see "Bravo Maestro" - a documentary on conductor Gustavo Dudamel.  I sadly had to cancel and spend my afternoon instead at the doctor peeing in a specimen jar.  I am on a five-day antibiotic regimen but I am not sure it is the best medicine for the job as I have felt kind of crummy the rest of the week.  Nothing to put me in bed, no raging fever....just the tiny aches one gets when sick.  I even wondered if I was coming down with some other kind of illness.  Even the doctor's office is not sure it is the right medicine due to the inability to exactly identify the kind of bacteria in my urine.  So, I might be put back on another antibiotic next week.  Time will tell.  

My overall malaise had an impact on my yard work the rest of the week - that and the rain that fell off and on from Thursday onward.  And that is not good as I have so much work still to do out there.  We did manage to plant the lovely little dogwood tree.  Steve got his two blackberries in the ground and I put in the 25 asparagus plants.  We also managed to remove some more sod from the front yard.  THAT will be slow going so at least we made some headway in that area.  I just would have done a whole lot more if I could have.

We also had some quality time this week with Elise, Beckie, and Emily-Noah-Lucy-Quinn  which we don't always get to have.  Elise came in to town late Wednesday afternoon and stayed through Thursday evening.  She had dinner with a mission friend Wednesday night.  She and Steve visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens Thursday morning and we three attended the temple Thursday night.  Beckie and I went to the Botanical Gardens Friday morning.  Both mornings were overcast with rain in the forecast but we carried our umbrellas to ward off any precipitation and it worked!  The gardens are finishing up the tulips but the azaleas are just magnificent as well as some late flowering Japanese ornamental cherry trees.  

And, speaking of flowers, both Beckie's and my Christmas cactus have decided to bloom again.  This is the third time this year for both plants!

Our time with Emily and kids (Joe was involved with SIUE graduation all day) on Saturday was after our work in the temple baptistry.  I did piano lessons and all the grandkids are doing so well.  Noah's composition and transposition skills are blossoming, Lucy played beautifully and there were no tears this week (she hates to mess up and often will start to weep when she does), and Quinn has, I think, turned a corner in his playing.  The lightbulb has turned on for him.  Even Larkin did well with our little chicken-picking-up-corn exercises I do with her off and on when she feels she need a piano lesson. Only, it is not chicken but kitten-picking-up-food for her!  After piano time, both Noah and Lucy wanted to play their spring concert music for me on their cello and violin and that was wonderful.  Noah is regularly playing up in fourth position and Lucy is so confident in her playing.  She got a size-larger violin and she loves how beautiful it is (and I agree - the flame (wood grain) on the back is particularly lovely).  When it was time to leave, Emily sent us home with a pretty little May Day bouquet.

I had a fun time at pottery and my glazed pieces were out of the kiln so I was able to bring them home.

Elise brought Spiderman Homecoming with her so I could watch the next movie in the line of Marvel movies Wednesday evening and then Steve and I have started watching How Green Was My Valley.  (I have no idea where I get the idea to watch some of the old, random movies that I check out from the library).  This film is rather long for a 1941 movie and so we have not had the time to finish it.  Last night, Steve needed to work on a lesson for today and I needed to bake a dessert Sunday dinner as well as make a batch of granola.  So, I suspect we will finish it either today or tomorrow.  So far, I am having a hard time understanding how it got a Best Picture award.  It is pretty disjointed as it tries to pull in all the parts of the book that it is based upon. 

Probably the biggest news of the week is that we bought a used car!  We have been dragging our feet on this endeavor for several reasons - first, we weren't sure what kind of car we wanted.  Second, we are still paying off my crowns.  Third, it is just scary purchasing something that expensive, particularly right now when ALL used cars are SO high in cost. But, it had to be done as summer heat is approaching and we didn't want to face another summer having to drive with windows down since the Element's AC is too expensive to repair (plus, at over 220,000 miles, it seems risky to invest so much money on a new condenser).  SO, Tuesday morning, we visited a local Enterprise Used Car lot to just see what cars we could be comfortable in.  With our recent car rentals, it was clear that some small cars were just not going to be good for Steve's and my old bodies.  We identified a few models that might be suitable but didn't go any further than that.  Enterprise used cars are pretty pricy and understandably so since they are late model, low mileage, and have a great warranty.  We checked out cars online on Carvana later that afternoon and remembered how much we liked the Nissan Versa Note that we rented back in 2016 for our Iowa trip.  We wanted to see if we could still get in and out of this kind of car so we stopped at a Nissan dealership Wednesday morning just to ask if we could get in and out of a Versa Note and, four hours later, we had purchased a 2017 Kia Soul!  We got a good price and added a 6 year/60000 mile extended warranty and we can still handle the monthly payments.  The Soul was roomier than the Note we were shown and it was in better condition.  It had just barely been traded in so it had not gone through the dealer inspection, cleaning, etc. so we have not picked it up yet.  Hopefully the windshield will be installed Monday or Tuesday.  At least this summer, we will be able to drive in air-conditioned comfort!  We are still keeping the Element for now because of it's hauling capacity. 

And so, there you have it.  April is over.  May is here.