Instant Party… (and it’s portable, too)

This summer has been a hard time for me as far as blogging goes.

I have had a bit of a “burn out”.

Don’t get me wrong-I have loved having time to do house projects, yard work, and fun things with my family,  and there are things I do want to share on my blog- I just haven’t had any desire to sit down and document things.

Today I realized that my summer freedom is counting down quickly and that my first school work shop will be in less than two weeks.

WHERE HAS ALL THE TIME GONE?

Looking at my summer bucket list, I can proudly say that I accomplished some of my goals (and yes, I want to share them).

Unfortunately, I have a lot of things I haven’t gotten to yet.

One thing we did do was pull off an “instant” baby shower for my niece Amy.  I’ve mentioned before how having my sisters live within a two hundred mile span makes planning and attending showers a bit more challenging than normal.  We were getting together for a temple sealing so why not combine things and have a little baby shower, too?

Not everyone could make it, but we did have a good crowd.

After a lovely luncheon at a church gym in Rexburg, Idaho we quickly pulled out our portable decorations and took advantage of a captive audience (including our husbands and kids) and changed things out from a luncheon to a party.

 

Everyone helped put tables and chairs away (we kept two for shower).

We threw in a few colorful Gerber Daisies, some festive wrapping paper, pink striped straws, a little banner, and some mini desserts, and the atmosphere suddenly changed.  *(My sisters are pretty creative!)

 

No one was hungry since we literally just got up from the table, but the banana muffins, cherry brownies, sugar cookies, and raspberry-pineapple slush were pretty tempting.

We each brought a short shower game to play, so that gave our food a little settling time.

The cute parents, Trevor and Amy, are on the left.

It was a nice day!

*  *  *  *  *

Sweet baby Millie has now arrived and after a scary start is doing much better.  Many prayers have gone out for her and her family.

 We can’t wait to meet her!

JoAnn

P.S.  I’ll try and post some recipes from the party soon.

July’s beauty….

Olivia and I were enjoying the flowers on a recent trip to the Lion House with the family (Connect Pass outings #3 and 4- report coming soon).

This hot weather is good for some things!

Enjoy your summer!

JoAnn

 

Lazy Summer Days… (which really aren’t all that restful)

We have been busy playing!

Heidi and Paul came for a visit

-and we didn’t want to waste one minute of together time.

Summertime means lots of birthdays at our house.

Paul and Zachary got to celebrate their birthdays together, as they both turned 1 exactly a week apart.  They each got

their own little cake (sticky moments for sure) .

(Great Grandpa Clegg, Paul, and Heidi at Heidi’s birthday dinner. )

Summertime also means exploring.

We had a lot of fun at the Arboretum at Liberty Park.

WE LOVE LIBERTY PARK!

 
Since it was a HOT day, a little splashing in the water seemed in order, too.

A little carrousel ride made her day!

 

Busy, summer days are always great.

Don’t you love it when you are tired from having fun!

JoAnn

 

Jackson Hole…..part 2

Jackson Hole, Wyoming is a tourist town. 

Most of the people you see there are either taking pictures, posing for pictures, or carrying around a camera waiting for a good picture moment to happen.

We had to wait our turn to pose in front of the famous antler arches.

I hate having a camera hanging around my neck as an obvious sign that I am a tourist, but since everyone else had one it seemed to take the stigma away.  (At least I wasn’t wearing a bright, neon colored, flowered Hawaiian shirt with my camera hanging on top!)

Everything there seemed to call out for a photo moment.

Even the stores had scenic spots to pose along side beautiful stuffed animals.

(My husband was getting tired of being in all my photos by now, so mostly all you get to see is the scenery itself.

It is a beautiful, charming town for sure!

Lodging in a tourist town is kind of like sightseeing.

Everyone is needing a place to stay.

Motels, hotels, and lodges in a resort town usually involve one of two things:

1.  Expensive rooms

2.  Competition for space

Since we didn’t make plans to go to Wyoming until a few days ahead of time,  we had some slim pickings to choose from.

We went with a national chain and booked a room slated as a

“Delux Queen”.

It was priced higher than we usually pay for a pretty good motel room, but not as outrageous as most of the ones advertised.

Shouldn’t be too bad, right?

Well…

Does the phrase “Shampoo available upon request” gives you any hints that this was going to be a bare necessities,stripped-down model?

The “Delux Queen” didn’t mean the bed.  The one and only bed was just a full sized one (without a box spring or any additional pillows). 

Furniture was mighty skimpy, too –just one triangular cushion built in the corner with a small wall mounted table.

The bathroom didn’t have any separated spaces (and no tub).

We had to unplug the fridge to sleep since it made a loud whirring noise.

And…

No free internet,

which we didn’t discover until we were getting ready for bed (since there weren’t any chairs to lounge in anyway).

But…

IT WAS CLEAN!

(I’m feeling a little gratitude-guilt as I write this knowing that many people in this world would be thankful for a safe place to sleep.  It’s just that this was supposed to be a relaxing get-away, so complaining seems o.k.)

We survived the night and hurried to get started with our sight seeing the next morning.

A short drive North and we were greeted by these gorgeous mountains- the Tetons!

The mountains have been called things like regal and splendid,

and they really are breath-taking!

Having no foot hills, they just rise straight up so they seem so massive and powerful.  The highest peak, Grand Teton is 13,770 feet at its highest point.

We made a little loop around Jenny’s Lake and captured this stunning view.

It was a short little vacation, but we enjoyed ourselves and got some needed relaxation.  We’ll definitely do it again some day.

We might even splurge a bit for lodging!

JoAnn

P.S.  The drive home was also beautiful.  The west has some amazing mountains!

Do you have a scenic place you like to visit?

 

Wild West Weekend

My husband and I had a fun weekend get-away!

It involved cowboys, antlers, and rugged mountain peaks.

A family gathering in Rexburg, Idaho,  celebrating a temple sealing and baby shower for my niece Amy and her husband Trevor, gave us the idea of driving a few hours longer to escape in cowboy country- Jackson Hole Wyoming- for the rest of the weekend.

We drove through the little towns of Sugar City, Tetonia (remember the Teton dam disaster?), and Driggs,  commenting on the beautiful farm land, and over the mountain via the Teton Pass Highway to Wyoming .  The drive there was spectacular and the ten percent grade going up and down the mountain pass wasn’t even too bad.  (I held on tightly to my door handle the whole time!) 

Jackson Hole, Wyoming is a small area completely surrounded by mountain ranges, and just a short drive from the famous Teton Peaks.  It is the southwest gateway to Yellowstone National Park, and the beautiful Snake River adds to the charm of the area.  It is an outdoor dream-come-true for the adventurous (and even those who just want to appreciate the beauty of the area).

We started our get-away at the Bar J Ranch in nearby Wilson.   We arrived just in time to quickly browse the surrounding ranch before the dinner bell was rung, beckoning us to a chuck wagon dinner and cowboy entertainment. 

They have quite the set up and can quickly serve around 700 people delicious fixins’ like steak, BBQ beef or chicken, baked beans, and baked potatoes.  We had rolls, apple sauce, cake and lemonade, too.  It was delicious!

 

After dinner we were entertained by the Bar J Wranglers, five cowboy musicians with amazing talent at singing and playing instruments, including the fiddle, banjo, guitar, and etc.  I didn’t get a picture of them, but you can read more about them here.

It was a great beginning to an interesting, relaxing weekend.

Oh, and just to add to my theory about it being a small world, we sat right across the aisle from a couple from our home town (friends of our kids who had spent a lot of time at our house).

It was a great day!

JoAnn

P.S.  Not everything was peachy.  Check back later to read all about our lodgings!

Waiting for perfection…or not

 

Remember these Mother’s Day planters?

After the grand kids went home, I filled my  two pots with a few little plants, put them in the sun, and have enjoyed watching them grow. 

I brought my geraniums home from school to add to the color. 

They are adjusting to the heat so they aren’t quite at full beauty.

The perennials have been so pretty.

(I wish I’d taken pictures of some of the earlier ones!)

I was waiting until everything was weeded and I missed out on the pictures!  (I think there is a life lesson in this!)

The flowers below are waiting for my shovel to move along and finish the edging job, but I took the photo any way.

Often, I wait for the perfect moment to enjoy things-when the weeds are all gone, when the house is completely clean, when I lose weight, when I’m all caught up on things.   It’s a fault I’ve always struggled with, compounded by the fact that I seldom have everything in order AT THE SAME TIME!

I’m trying to stop looking at the whole picture and focus more on the details.

I’m one of those people who has to have the closets neat and tidy to have an out door party!

I avoid buying new clothes because I need to shed major pounds, even though I know I’d look better in something that isn’t ten years old.

I avoid getting together with old friends until I can fit in smaller pants.

This mind set usually leads to FRUSTRATION!

Does anyone understand my problem?

I know that while I’m waiting for things to be perfect, life is moving on and I’m missing out on wonderful moments.

There.  I said it.

So, I’m going to be trying very hard to appreciate small victories, or baby steps, in my quest for perfection.

Don’t be surprised when you see pictures of my flowers with tall spires of Johnson Grass sticking out of the top, or finger prints on the glass doors in photos I share.  Please try to ignore my bad hair moments in family pictures.

(I may resort to some photo editing!)

Hello.

My name is JoAnn

and I’m a recovering perfectionist-wanna-be.

 

Framing history… and Schools out!

Our oldest granddaughter, Maddie, is pretty excited for school to end for the summer.  She just finished first grade. 

I don’t have a picture of myself running from school  on the last day, but I am pretty certain that I had that same grin on my face (o.k., maybe not that much energy in my step either…).

While I will miss my students, I am tired and need some catch up time!

School is now officially out for the summer (insert a big “Yeah!”)  and I survived the last hectic week- hot classroom (my cooler was broken), packing-wrapping-every thing-up for new carpet, restless-student-frenzy.  We endured walking field trips, sunny soccer games, and having everything boxed up for summer remodeling. 

To celebrate the arrival of summer, my sister Linda and I set off for a day of dreaming  and exploring at the Utah Valley Parade of Homes.  We have this little tradition that every summer we  sneak away and spend the day, armed with our cameras, looking at new homes. This year we saw some great houses and some fun new ideas.We had a delicious lunch at Paradise Bakery, a fun place to eat,  and we enjoyed getting caught up on a lot of news. 

One of our favorite ideas involved framing old family recipes, on the original cards and in the cook’s handwriting.  I have a lot of recipes that look very similar to these from my mom.  They even have a few splatters and stains on them!  I can’t wait to frame some of our favorites.

 

These recipes were sitting along side old family china and tea cups.  Imagine the stories that were shared by the ladies as they sipped hot drinks and ate delicious home made treats!  I’m sure they found great pleasure in the few moments of relaxation they had.

Hopefully, I will get to some of my  summer projects soon.  I have a big list of things lined up to do, and some fun breaks, too. 

Right now, however, I am going to put my feet up and watch some television.  Just because I can!

Do you have some fun summer projects planned?

JoAnn

P.S.  Thanks for sharing the pictures, Liz!