Father's Day Weekend and a Little Summertime Getaway

Here's a little of what we've been up over the past few days. 

As usual, I'll start this update with Friday.  Friday morning, of last week, we met with another realtor, NOT the one we currently have our old home listed with. We are not at all pleased with what the current realtor is doing and NOT doing, so we are interviewing other realtors, and hope to be able to change agents.  Our current realtor had another open house on Saturday morning, but again, nothing appears to have come from it.   The meeting with the new realtor was very informative and went on all morning.  When the realtor finally left, I had a pretty bad headache. We also got a text from one of our grandsons who was supposed to go fishing with us Friday evening, and he wasn't feeling good. We ultimately decided to put off the fishing trip until everyone is feeling good.  

Saturday, we woke up to a smoke-filled sky.  The state of Utah now has 3 major, serious wildfires going on, one of which is less than 50 miles from where we live. Evacuations occurred and some buildings were burned, but thankfully, there was no loss of life.

Charly and I took a Saturday morning walk, then we stopped at a moving sale that a couple on our street were having. They were selling this air fryer for $5.  The lady selling it assured me that it works great and she still had all the instructions, and since I had been wanting one, I decided to get it.  I haven't had an opportunity to try it out yet, but I will soon. 

Sunday was Father's Day.  Our Father's Day church service was wonderful, with an awesome rendition of "How Great Thou Art" done by the choir.  It brought chills to my spine and tears to my eyes.  So good.  The messages were also excellent.  After our worship service, all the men in the congregation were given their choice of cold sodas to enjoy.  Charly was very happy with that Father's Day treat!  

Right after I got home from church on Sunday, I had to mark my ballot for Utah's primary election (which was last Tuesday). I had to take my ballot to drop off in the drop box since we would be gone on election day.  The drop box which is actually less than a mile from our home.  I like to vote in every election that I can, so to me, marking my ballot and getting it turned in on time was very important. 

Meanwhile, Charly spent most of Father's Day afternoon relaxing while I was cooking and preparing for dinner with our daughter and her family. 

We had a delicious Father's Day dinner of Charly's current favorite dish, Walking Taco Casserole. We enjoyed visiting and just being together. 

Our daughter made home-made pralines for her dad. Charly loves pralines so it was a great gift! They were scrumptious.  Our daughter is a very good cook, and pretty creative in the kitchen. 

We had a great time with our daughter's whole family.  Being with them made Father's Day extra special.  Charly loved it and so did I.

Monday morning, we headed off on a getaway to St. George, one of our favorite getaway destinations. 

St. George has some fun thrift stores that we enjoy exploring, and we always find a treasure or two. 

My favorite thrift store find was this wall clock, which will be just perfect for our downstairs family room where Charly and I have most of our books.  I took a picture of the clock as I was loading it in the car.   It's a really fun and unique piece. The bottom section of books opens up into a "secret compartment."   I'll post another picture when I get it hung up where I want it. 

We also went out to see and check on the house that we own in the area.  We are currently renting that house.  It is in a beautiful smaller rural community not far from St. George.  I don't know that we will ever move into this home and live there, but I love the surrounding area where it is located - just ten minutes away from Snow Canyon, a a Utah State Park. 

After St. George, our next stop was Las Vegas where we stayed at the Wyndham Grand Desert Resort. This was the view from our 10th floor window.

We have stayed at this resort before.  It is large, comfortable,  and gives us room to spread out.  It also has a little kitchen, including a refrigerator, which lets us eat in the room instead of at restaurants for every meal.  It has a washer and drying in the room, which means I won't have to go home with a big load of dirty clothes. 

The first night we were there, we took the resort shuttle over to "The Strip" and walked around outside. It was interesting, but too hot (about 104 degrees) so we returned to the room after about an hour. We got some post cards to send the grandkids and I splurged on a $4.99 Las Vegas t-shirt.  Las Vegas isn't my favorite place in the whole world.  It's expensive, hot, and dirty (in more ways than one). Still, we found some fun and interesting things to do, which I will talk more about in my next post. 

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"A little bit of summer 

is what the whole

year is all about."

~John Mayer

 

Good Things and Gratitude

Here are a few of the bright spots in my world the past week.  Once again, I'm joining with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Fives.

😊 I received this fun retirement card from my long-time blogging buddy, Mari over at My Little Corner of the World.  It made me smile!  I am so grateful for Mari and the many sweet friends who I have come to know through blogging.  

😊 I received  another cute picture of three of my grandchildren having fun fishing at the lake.  The two older boys took their little sister fishing and she had the first catch of the day!   It looked like so much fun, I asked my grandsons if they could teach me how to fish, so we are all going to the lake together Friday night and grandma is going to learn to fish!  I haven't been fishing since I was a very little girl and I went with my parents.  I'm always grateful for time with my grandchildren!

😊  For years, I have wanted to get some yard flags, and with our nation's 250th anniversary coming up, this seemed like the right time to put some in my yard.  I got two patriotic flags and put them out in front yard.  I also ordered some flags for fall, because fall will be here before we know it!  I'm grateful that I have a nice little yard for plants and other yard decor. 

😊 Speaking of my front yard, this lovely orange sunflower just came out in bloom there, and I love it.  Charly planted the sunflower seeds several weeks ago. I've never planted sunflowers in my yard before, but this one is beautiful, and I hope to plant more in subsequent years.  I'm grateful for flowers in my yard because I love all kinds of flowers! 

😊 I have been working on hanging pictures in our home again this week.  I'm the kind of person who has to think about the perfect spot for each picture and wall hanging.  One day this week, I felt inspired with where I wanted to put several pictures, so I got busy hanging them.  I'm very pleased and grateful with how everything inside our home is coming together.  I am thankful for our new home and how much we are enjoying making it our own!

😊 We worshipped at the temple one afternoon this week.  I always grateful when we had time to worship Jesus (in addition to our Sunday worship) and and feel His peace there in the temple. 

😊 Thursday was Josh's birthday and we took him out for birthday brunch at The Brunch House.  I'm grateful for Josh and that he lives close enough that we can celebrate his birthday by taking him out to eat.  (The trip to Idaho earlier this month was his birthday present). 

😊 It was pedicure time for Charly and I this week. We wanted to find a new nail place close to our new home.  We have found that some nail salons are not the greatest, but we were so pleased with the one we went to this week. It is owned by a couple from Hawaii. This is their college age son who did my toe nails. They were the nicest people and did a great job on our feet.  Charly and I have been having pedicures for a while now and have found they are relaxing and help us avoid foot problems like ingrown nails.  I am grateful that we found a great new nail salon to help us with our foot health!

😊 I've been taking evening walks in our neighborhood almost every evening, and I am grateful that our new home is in a very walkable area, where I feel safe.  There are also lots of nice families and friendly neighbors!

There is always more to be grateful for, but I will stop there for now.  Thanks for  stopping by.  Have a good weekend!  See you again soon!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Cultivate the habit of being grateful 

for every good thing that comes to you, 

and to give thanks continuously." 

— Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

Weekend Update

Now that I'm retired, weekends aren't much different from the rest of the week (except the Sabbath on Sunday).  I'll start this post with Friday, which was (as usual) another busy day. 

I had an appointment for a haircut on Friday.  This is a picture of the salon where I go. I hadn't been in for a while, and I needed a good trim and "shape up."  I am trying to grow my hair longer, but it doesn't seem to be growing as quickly as it used to.  My stylist says I am using too much heat when I do my hair in the morning. She is probably right, so I need to change that. 

We had to go to our old house because our realtor had an open house scheduled for Saturday.   The place is completely empty of our furniture and belongings now, except for a few remaining things in the garage and shed.   This is the living room. 

This is our old bedroom. 

Here's the kitchen and dining room and the entrance into the back family room. 

Here's the family room.  The whole place is empty and clean and ready for new owners. Thanks to those of you who are praying that we can sell it soon.  We had a showing Friday, but apparently nothing came of it. 

Also on Friday, we had this very nice young woman clean our windows.  I saw her cleaning our neighbor's windows last week and asked her if I could hire her to clean ours as well. She did an awesome job.  She also cleaned out our big window well and cleaned the basement windows!  I paid her more than she asked for because she did a great job!

Our town is having a patriotic festival this week and Friday night, there was a drone show at the park which is about three blocks from our home.  We had a great view of the drone show from our back deck.  Here are some more pictures.    

I had never seen a drone show like this and and I thought it was pretty cool.  It was even better that we had such a great view from our back deck!

Saturday morning, Charly and I got up and went for a walk around our neighborhood.  It was a nice day and a lovely morning to walk. 

I worked with the plants in my little backyard on Saturday. 

The plants in our container gardens are doing really well. 

I also planted some more flower seeds on Saturday.  

Meanwhile, our realtor had an open house at the old house on Saturday.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any offers on the house. 

Saturday evening, I went for a walk by myself.  It was a nice evening walk. 

Saturday night, there was a traditional fireworks show at the same park where the drone show was on Friday night.  Again, we had a perfect view from our back deck.  

We went to church Sunday morning. The worship service and lesson afterwards were excellent.  I always look forward to church. 

After lunch on Sunday, I went out and watered our plants and walked around the yard.  These roses are not in our yard, but they are in my next door neighbors and I think they are stunning.  I also have some roses, and I need to figure out how to make them look like this. 

This interesting bush in our yard was almost dead when we moved in, but it is coming back.  It is a pretty bush with lots of little yellow flowers.  It is St. John's Wort. 

Josh came over for Sunday dinner. He had requested lasagna, and it was really good. 

Later, after dinner, I went for a walk.  It was a beautiful evening, and I enjoyed walking around the neighborhood, while listening to an excellent Christian podcast. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Traveling safely. 
• Enjoying fireworks and drone show. 
• Attending worship services. 
• Walking around our neighborhood. 
• Seeing that the plants, flowers, and trees in our new yard are flourishing.

Praying For:

• My children and grandchildren. 
• The sale of our old home.
• Safe travels on an upcoming getaway. 

Looking Forward To:

• Our upcoming anniversary getaway. 
• The sell of our home. 

That's all for now.  Have a good week. See you again soon!

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"Have not I commanded thee? 

Be strong and of a good courage; 

be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: 

for the Lord thy God is with thee 

whithersoever thou goest."

~ Joshua 1:9 KJV

 

 

Things I Am Thankful for This Week

Here are some of the simple things that I am thankful for as this week closes.  I am joining with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five.  Let's get started. 

😊 If you read my last post, you know that Charly, Josh and I took a road trip to Yellowstone National Park.  We had lovely early summer weather for our day at the park.  It was a perfect day, as you can see in the top picture.  This week, storms moved in to Wyoming and Montana and there was snow at Yellowstone, as you can see in the bottom picture.  Some roads were even closed due to the snow in June!  I'm grateful that we had such great weather for our day at Yellowstone, and that we didn't have to deal with winter weather in June. 

😊The other evening, my son-in-law texted us these pictures of my grandsons who were fishing.  These boys LOVE to fish and they had gone to a nearby lake with their dad.  I am always grateful to see my grandchildren, even in pictures, and it's a joy to see them happy and having a good time. 

😊Thursday, we donated some remaining items from our old house to The Other Side Thrift Store, which is an organization that helps men and women recovering from addiction and incarceration.  This is a great organization. We have bought furniture at their thrift store and we have used them to move to our new home.  We have also donated items to them in the past.  I am so  grateful for this organization that helps others because they helped us by taking some items from our old house that we no longer need.  They sent a truck to our house and took our old washer and dryer, bed, and microwave cart.  Now the old house is completely empty. 

😊Now that the old house is completely empty, I am grateful that we have another showing of the house scheduled for tomorrow.  This is a screenshot of the texts we received about the showing.  I am also grateful to all those who are praying that we can sell the house quickly and for the price we need.  

😊 A few weeks ago we bought two small bare-root trees for the backyard at our new home.  I haven't had great luck with bare-root plants in the past, so I didn't have a lot of hope for the little trees, but they were only $10 each, so we thought we would give them a try.  One of the trees, an apple tree, seems to be doing quite well.  It came out with new leaves right away.  The second tree, a peach tree seems to be nothing more than a dry stick in the ground.  I thought it was obviously dead, and so I decided to dig it up.  I am grateful that as I was digging around the tree, I found that it is not dead at all, and there were little leaves coming out at the bottom, by the roots, as shown in the picture.  Now, I am praying that all the trees we planted will grow and thrive in our backyard. 

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by to share the good.  Have an awesome weekend!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions."

~Zig Zigler