Over Memorial Day Weekend, John and I took a little “staycation.” That’s the new term for an inexpensive, not-too-far-from home vacation. On Thursday, May 21, we drove down to St. George to spend a few days with Mom & Dad. It was a very relaxing trip. We had planned to help Mom strip the wallpaper from her kitchen walls, but SURPRISE! It was already done! The walls have even been painted, so she finally has her red kitchen that she’s been wanting to have. It looks very nice. Instead of working on the kitchen, Nancy was able to read most of Mom’s life story. We are working on eliminating duplications. I learned a lot about Mom that I didn’t know, so that was good. We also played some cards that night.
The next morning, John and I drove to Hurricane (about 30 minutes away) where I had an appointment with a friend of Dad’s, Shela Lambert, to learn some machine quilting skills. She is a professional quilter and a wonderful teacher, so I am now all fired up to get going on finishing some of my many unfinished quilts. That took most of the morning, so in the afternoon, Mom and I took Dad and John for their first visit to Tai Pan Trading. I succeeded in getting out of the store without buying anything. Dad bought a nice basket to put their magazines in. Bailey has been chewing on the old one making it unsightly. When we got home, we moved the magazines into their new home, and Bailey’s toys into the old basket. We had dinner and played some
cards. While we were playing cards, John got up to see what Mickie and Bailey were doing. Mickie was watching Bailey chew on the new basket!!
The next morning we got a lazy start, but finally got going. We all drove to Zions National Park. John had never been, so it was a trip to introduce him to the park. We were able to attend a Ranger lecture, see the museum exhibits, and take a short hike to see some hanging gardens. It was just enough to whet our appetites. John and I want to go back and spend a couple days driving through Kolob Canyon and taking a few more hikes. The weather was PERFECT. Not too hot and just a slight breeze to keep us comfortable in the sun. We will either return sometime in the fall, or next May, depending on how our schedule works out.
Above: There were so many awe-inspiring views. My photos certainly don't do them justice. Here's one of Mom and John taking in the view.
Above: A little waterfall coming out of the rocks on our hike to hanging gardens. John and I at the hanging gardens.
Above: Hanging Gardens on the Weeping Rock Trail. See the red flowers hanging from the ceiling above where we stood? At the right you can see the ferns and other plant life growing directly out of the rock. Plus, the water was dripping down on us out of the rock ceiling. It was like standing in a gentle rain shower.
We attended Sacrament meeting with Mom & Dad on Sunday, and then drove to the cabin. We had a few thundershowers on the way, but it was dry when we got to Mt. Pleasant. We did have a few showers during the evening and the next day, but the weather was gorgeous again. We actually had to have a fire in the cabin as the skies were blue, but the air a little nippy. Everything was closed on Memorial Day, so John and I watched World War II movies all day on the Fox Movie channel. It was fun. Also did some walking and puttering around the cabin. The next day, we were going to go into town and visit the hardware store to pick up some supplies for cabin projects, but John decided we should drive to Spring City instead and see if we could find Orson Hyde’s home and grave. He had just finished a biography about Orson Hyde. We didn’t find his home or the cemetery, which was odd because it’s not that big a town, but we enjoyed the friendly people who waved at us when we drove by and enjoyed seeing the many restored adobe pioneer homes. When we’d seen as much as we could see, we drove back to Provo and I got the house back together and John worked on the second grow box.
One of our goals this summer is to get the backyard back in shape. We knew it would be a chore because we’ve neglected it the past couple of summers, but it has been even more work than we had expected. There is still much to do. So far, John has got the two grow boxes assembled and the dirt sifted and compost added. I’ve planted sweet potatoes, rhubarb, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe and walla walla onions in them. So far so good: everything is still alive and growing. John needs to finish up the sprinkling system for the grow boxes. Then it’s on to moving the gravel around, building the new woodshed, and fixing the grapes where the lath trellis is falling apart.
Left: Ron Storr's new fence posts. Above: John's new grow boxes.
Katie and I are trying an experiment with another type of grow box. I saw these in a catalog when I was looking for stuff to grow. I’ve planted two tomatoes in mine; Katie has planted one tomato and a couple other veggies in hers. Mine are doing very well. Saw my first marble-sized tomato today. I planted some other tomato plants along the fence by Vellinga’s. My plans are to start some tomatoes from seed in the fall and plant them in the small planter and grow them in the basement under grow lights. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.Above: Experimental Planter
John and I are also participating in a wellness program at BYU. They have us walking 8,000 steps a day, six days a week. I have decided to walk four miles in addition to my regular day of work around the house which turns out to be around 12-14,000 steps. I’ve started to lose some weight, so I’m going to stick with the program until I get to where I want to be. I’m tired a lot, but as long as I’m making progress I guess I’ll stick with it. I’ve lost 8 pounds so far over about four weeks of walking. I can’t really say the exercise makes me feel more fit. Mostly I’m just tired. Eric insists I’ll get used to it. Well, that’s about it for now. We are celebrating Amber’s birthday tonight and we need to call Scott & Heidi and hear what they are up to these days. Hope you are all well and happy.
2 comments:
It looks like you had a fun trip.
Nice post mom, I need to be better about reading these
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