A Sunflower Party with Missionary Friends

Sister Sheryl Sullivan is a retired school teacher, a widow and a family history missionary.  She also loves parties.  Neala would have been so impressed.

I was invited to her September party - Sunflowers and Owls.  She keeps a Christmas tree up all year and it becomes her party tree.  It was decorated in sunflowers and owls.  She changes pictures on the wall, she changes the dishes in her cupboard to match the theme.  She goes all out.  I was impressed.

After dinner, we were given a blank canvas to paint a picture of sunflowers.  I used to love to paint and at one time wanted to be an artist, I just didn't have the gift for it and gave it up.  But, I painted this picture of sunflowers.

Meeting new people and trying new things is the best part of moving to St. George.

FamilySearch Update

Our family knows how much I love family history work and how we have served this past year plus at the St. George FamilySearch Center.  Well, I made my first family history conference presentation at the Family Roots Conference in St. George this past weekend (29 Sept).

Because I'm not a big presenter, I thought no one would show up, but was pleasantly surprised to have a room full.  It was a delightful experience.  I talked about one of my favorite venues - Descendancy Research.

Just thought you would like to know.

A 10 Year Old?

On September 9, Mason turned 10 years old.  My, my what a fast ten years that has been - for us, but maybe not for the parents.

He is a gentleman, a kind person, a loving grandson and curious.  He loves his Lego creations.  When they were visiting the end of September, Kacy didn't want to stay in her bed, she felt more secure sleeping by Mason.  That tells a lot about his character.

Happy Birthday Mason!!!  WE LOVE YOU.

Green Acres is the Place for Me - Gillettes Idaho Farm Visit

Rusty and Cindy Gillette are two special people in our lives.  We met them in Samoa, Rusty was teaching welding at Pesega and Cindy was helping in home economics stuff at Pesega.  We traveled all over the island with them and went snorkeling alot.

They have a 2500 acre farm in Gooding, Idaho.  They raise beans, seed beans, feed corn, potatoes, sugar beets, and lambs for the grand kids to show.  We have wanted to go visit for over a year and finally had a great opportunity to do so the 10th and 11th of September.  We were up north for Mason's birthday and just continued traveling north.

 Sugar beets

Theron had a great time driving the "self-driving" "gps" tractor.  He said it took a lot of skill to turn the wheel at the end of a row.  We ate a sugar beet straight from the field and brought home three cans of pinto beans for food storage picked directly from the combine.

There is a real science to farming and I for one am so grateful that we have farmers.  I like my food.

Theron and Rusty met with a solar company because Rusty is considering putting in a 1 megawatt solar system.  As Rusty said, we are so different and yet we are such good friends.  It is true; the people we have met on missions are some of the best people we know.

Just a little bit of personality analysis - Rusty talks fast and never finishes a sentence, he jumps from subject to subject and around and about his mind is just going, going, going in all directions.  Cindy's favorite phrase is 'isn't that right?'  I don't ever know whether it's right or not.

August Happenings

One of the most special activities of this August was a Stake Temple night at the St. George Temple.  We, as Temple and Family History Coordinators, (I'll never out grow this calling) planned a ward baptism activity.  We had adults and youth with one family.  In total we performed about 150 baptisms.

We finished the firepit in the backyard.  It has taken all summer to get the yard finished.  After the firepit was done, we completed the kitchen.  I'm so glad to have Theron around, he can do just about anything.

August also brings back to school time.  Taylor is sporting a new NO BRACES look and he and Cameron are starting 9th and 11th grades.  When did they get to be so tall.

Well, three of the four are off to school, but Kacy loves the action and she is attending dance now.  This picture says all about Tyce's excitement at being able to ride the bus and head off the Kindergarten.  Keep it up Tyce.  Let's see you do this your senior year in high school.

And our last entry for August is celebrating Taylor's first mountain bike race.

Our Daughter is 43 - when did this happen?

August 7, 2018, Adrian celebrated 43 years of being in our family. 
This picture was taken when Adrian was a little over a year old.  It has hung in our home since then and is mounted in Theron's great grandmother's frame.  Her smile is not at all indicative of how she was as a child; she was always obedient and happy.

As her mother, I can brag about her and tell her she is the most loved daughter we have (of course she is the only one), but we are so proud of her.  She has always had a strong testimony of the gospel, lives a challenging life with cancer and two boys who are now teenagers, and is the solid example of kindness and love.

Happy Birthday Daughter!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

July 2018 - The month in review

July is probably the hottest month in St. George.  This is our first year living here full-time and with a fully finished backyard -- pool and all.  We spent a lot of time in the pool both in the morning and evening.

The month started out with me having a colonoscopy and going on the drinking drug Colostyromine.  This has really helped by situations :)  I was feeling really good so we decided to take a quick trip north to celebrate the 4th.  This is the first of a new tradition.  We used to go to Elynn and Norman's and watch the Kaysville Parade; but, Elynn's MS is getting worse and she has trouble getting around, etc.  The family celebrated at Curt and Melanee's this year.  We went to the South Jordan parade, had barbecued ribs by Curt and food galore.  I love this family.

The raised bed gardens were our July project of the month.  We made the design in a keyhole fashion and made the bed so that it is 3 ft. high.  No more bending and stooping to pull weeds and hopefully harvest crops.  Because of the heat, they are very slow in getting started.

The towel rack was the next project.  Here's Theron trying to drill the holes.  He welded the rebar and it is a great towel rack.

At the end of the month, Carol and John Padilla came to visit.  They were getting away from an Anita and Joe family reunion and needed a place to relax.  It was great having them come down.  Neala is in her new home in Texas and they are going to visit her in August.

Then, Todd and Adrian stopped in one night on their way to Arizona. Todd thought he could get a little work in, but we don't know how much he really got finished.  No one ever knows what Todd does :)

Then Curt and Mel came to see a Tuacahn show and it was the first time the kids have had to swim in the pool.  In the past, they have seen this ominous big hole and been restricted from entering the back yard; but this time, it was free roam.

July ends on another happy note - Love all.