Enjoying Spring-at the tulip festival

If you love spring, (does anyone NOT love spring?) you might enjoy these pictures we took at the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival on Thursday afternoon.

Since we bought Salt Lake Connect Passes, which included the tulip festival, we decided to hurry and get there before warm weather had a chance to cut short the beautiful spring flowers.

It was a dusty, windy day, but the blossoms more than made up for the weather.  

We gathered all the family members that could go (missed some), endured the crawling rush-hour traffic, and headed south to Lehi.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Top ten reasons to go to a tulip festival:

10.  Lots of healthy walking (exercise)

9.  Beautiful smells

8.  Plenty of photo opportunities

7.  Bonding time with grandkids

6.  Fresh air (dust included)

5.   Benches provided

4.  Local venues supported

3. Meditation time  

2.  Family togetherness

1.  Tulips

Spring is so lovely!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

JoAnn

I looked out the window….

Spring has arrived in Utah!

As I write this, I’m gearing myself up to return back to work tomorrow, after a wonderful week long Spring Break.

It won’t be easy!

Spring Break came just in time. 

(Is it called Spring Break because you are getting close to the breaking point?)

We just finished up a term at school and that involved correcting papers, doing grades, cleaning and organizing my classroom, and some planning. 

My husband has been recovering from hip surgery and I am almost finished as his care-giver.  He is doing well and no longer needs my assistance getting in and out of bed, putting on those awful tight compression socks, and being driven to physical therapy.  (He has had an incredible recovery and I’m not really complaining, but it makes my need for a break sound more convincing- even if daughter Heidi did most of the work during the school week.)

We saw “Captain American Fork-AF -The Worst Avenger” at Desert Star Playhouse.  My husband’s first outing at 3 and a half weeks post surgery.

Did I mention that his real first outing was a walk outside the house.  He was going to go to the corner of the street, but decided to continue all the way around the block!

While some of my friends jumped on airplanes and headed off to warm, exotic locations, I was content with staying home and catching my breath.

I stayed up late watching Netflix movies and reruns of “Blue Bloods”.

I caught up on the last few episodes of “Fixer Upper”.

I slept in.

I got a pedicure and a hair cut.

I worked in the yard.

We went to a play and out to dinner a few times.

It was just what I needed!

This weekend we listened to General Conference, the semi annual conference for our church.  The messages were uplifting and full of encouragement.

Just what I needed.

Conference weekends are my favorite weekends of the whole year!

If you want to check out any of the messages you can click on this link.

We renewed our Salt Lake Connect Passes and took our family to the Children’s Museum.

It’s not just for children, you know….

A visit to Wheeler Farm completes the break!

Don’t you love the spring time?

What do you see as you look out your window this spring weekend?

I hope it was a great week!

♥

JoAnn

P.S.  Thanks to Robbie and Brittany for the special sea food dinner they cooked for us!  Yum!

Why I didn’t get any Saturday cleaning done today…..

Saturdays are usually the day I do most of my cleaning, organizing, and laundry.  I love working in my pajamas and deep cleaning my way through the house.  I don’t seem to get much done after working all day during the week, so I really need my weekends.

This morning I met up with some fun ladies I work with in my church.  We serve in the Young Women’s organization of our church-meaning we teach and associate with the young girls ages 12 to 18.  We had been wanting to make our classroom inviting and fun for the girls.

Today we got together and came up with some colorful, fun bulletin boards and other decorations.

 

I hope the girls will like it!

Today we also had a fun outing to Leatherby’s, an ice cream store.

And…

We want to wish a Happy Birthday to Coco!

He just turned one.

 

So…

After running some errands, making homemade Cauliflower soup, hanging out with family, and preparing for the upcoming surgery of my husband (he’s having a hip replaced) I haven’t even made a dent in my weekly cleaning.

And that is OK!

It was still a productive day.

JoAnn

P.S.  Do you find that some days you just have to let go of your obligations for other pressing obligations?

(Pretty sure they will still be there when I’m ready.)

Evolution of a fireplace wall…

Over the years our house style has slowly changed.  I guess considering we once wore bell bottom pants, plaid polyester leisure suits, and way too short of skirts, and we sported big hair and mustaches,  (I’m talking about my husband and myself- and no, I did not have the mustache and he has never worn skirts-long or short) we have changed our fashion sense as well.

Sometimes our fashion style was dictated by money (mostly the lack of it).  Often we got caught up in the trends of the day.  Anyone remember harvest gold or avocado green appliances, or hanging macramé?

Child-proofing/wear-and-tear measures also took a toll on our style.

And…

Sadly, there were times when we just didn’t know any better.

My husband just finished a mini remodel of our fireplace wall.  We He built a box for the television and installed shiplap to the wall.  (Yes, I know this is quite popular right now thanks to Chip and Joanna Gains-but I’m hoping it won’t be just a passing phase because I love the look of it.) 

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to document how the wall has changed over the years. 

Here is how it looks today.

You can see the look of the shiplap up close.

Here is our office wall with shiplap siding.  It is the same wall as the fireplace, just inside the French doors, so it’s sort of a continuation of the room.

The family room started out a neutral color, but I couldn’t find any pictures from that time period.  We got excited when the dark wall colors became popular and since the room is quite large and has plenty of big windows and good lighting, it seemed to work for us.  The wall color actually looked better in real life and with better lighting.

Does the old picture tube television give you a hint of the era?

A few years ago we decided to paint the bookcases and the mantel.  We also changed to a chocolate color wall.  We loved this change.

Eventually, our television was changed out for a larger, flat screen version-but it took up more room on the bookshelves, wasting a lot of space.  I had a hard time finding a picture that showed the television.  I guess I tried not to photograph that side of the room.

I think there might be one more change coming soon.  We talked about having the shiplap finish the wall and go to the corner.  Who knows if that will happen or not?  Any opinions?

Anyway, as I sit here typing this on my P.C. (thankfully, not my very old type-writer), smelling some hot, buttery popcorn coming from the microwave oven (not the old seldom used popcorn popper), I am grateful that change is a part of our lives.  Along the way we might make some mistakes or get caught up in fads and passing trends, but isn’t it great that we can wipe the slate clean and start over?

Isn’t that what life is all about?

Have a great week!

JoAnn

The Moment That Was January

I’ve always thought that January was a fleeting month.  Somehow it always passed very quickly, usually without any special fanfare or memory making activity.  We welcomed the new year, 2017.   We made some New Year resolutions.   Bam-its February!

Utah was blessed with plenty of snowfall- 167% of normal for January.  Blessed in that we need the water.  Maybe not so blessed in the hazardous driving conditions, constant shoveling of driveways, or the many indoor recesses at school.

Not only did we get snow, but it was COLD!

So, even though January was mostly a frigid-snowy-blur-of a month, there were some significant events that took place.

On one of the warmer days we found time to play out in the playhouse.  It was a fun break from being cooped up inside.

We also returned to Idaho for the sad occasion of attending the funeral of my brother-in-law Travis.  I wrote about our visit with Travis shortly before Christmas.  You can read that post here.  Right after we returned home, he was put on Hospice Care. 

He passed away on December 29, 2016.

We lost both of our parents right before and just after Christmas in 1987/1988 and it made the holiday very difficult for us.  (And each new year continues to bring back those bitter-sweet memories.) We all prayed that Travis could make it through Christmas and that they could have a peaceful time with their family.  My sister Julie is one of those people who always looks on life with a positive attitude and she decided that they were going to find the sweetness and joy in the situation and just enjoy spending time together taking care of him.  His pain was mostly managed and she said it was a beautiful, sweet experience.

Travis was a hero right to the end and Julie was his special ministering angel!

 

It was a lovely funeral with many friends and family attending.

You can read his obituary here.

So, while January flew by at record breaking speed, it will hold some powerful memories for me, and remind me to live each day with a little more courage and grace.

We sure love these beautiful ladies!

We will all miss Travis!

Thank goodness families can be together forever.

JoAnn