Tulip Festival 2013

The Tulip Festival down at Thanksgiving Point is a wonderful way to celebrate spring!

The Book Club ladies and I ( minus Deanna ) drove down there today. The weather left a bit to be desired but at least we didn't get rained on :) It was breezy and that's not pleasant when it 's barely 50*. 

We walked through much quicker than last year. It was pretty even though not everything was in bloom due to our cold weather.

ornamental kale

cheery

I love these birds ~ they were in the garden gift shop

Isn't he cute? I barely snapped this picture before he hopped away.

one of my favorites ~ hyacinths

up close

daffodils are  like bursts of sunshine on a stem :) well, in my mind anyway.

moose statue

bottom of a waterfall

looking up towards the main building

I was messing with my camera settings but thought I'd share this anyway ~ We were looking at the map.

These ladies are the best! Love each one of them :)

Erin and I fell in love with these urns! Love the rust :)

water tower at Thanksgiving Point

We window shopped at the Emporium. It's a fun place to get ideas :)

Not my style of art but I like the green and gray together.

Love the cabinet! The seating area is inviting too.

Great colors ~ and numbers are so fun to decorate with!

What a great bed ~ color and all.

I just had to prop up the little bird pillow and photograph him.

visually interesting

Awesome frame! The ladies requested that I help them all make one of these. We will do that one day this summer :)

Employee lockers close to the restrooms ~ creative!

When I dropped Erin off at her house I saw this sweet wagon of firewood ( you know I love me some firewood piles :). 

 I'm thankful for a day spent with wonderful friends :)

It Was Cold But....

It was cold. So very cold. Like it could snow cold. 

Ben had a track meet today about 40 miles north of here. It was cold and windy but.... 

This week we were once again reminded of how fragile life can be ~ how things can change in an instant. 

So I sat there grateful that I had a son to encourage and cheer on. Grateful for the time spent talking on the ride home. Grateful for memories being made. 

changing shoes

getting pumped up for his jump

these next several pictures are his 3rd jump of the meet ~ he jumped 15' 11"

running the 400 ~ he came in 3rd

My heart and prayers go out to all those affected in the Boston Marathon bombings. 
What a beautiful picture to see people going out of their way to help one another in the aftermath. So many heroes both in first responders and every day people.
  

Change

Life around our house lately:

~ Ben got a job at Zupas as a dishwasher. Yeah! He's been job hunting for awhile and Zupas has awesome food :) 

~He is in Advanced Theatre this year and they've had regional and state competition recently. State was actually today. Ben was in a group with 2 girls doing a classic Shakesphere piece. They took 1st place in Regionals and took 4th in State.

He loves theatre!

~We painted the basement this week and laid carpet down there. Wow. It looks so much better! We'll replace the windows down there as soon as possible.

~The girls moved into the basement today. So far we've moved their beds and dressers. Their lease at their apartment isn't up til the first part of May so they have time to move the rest of their stuff and clean over there. 

~Dani is moving to Oregon the first part of this summer. She will be going to school and just wants a change of pace from Utah.  

~Heather is renting our basement for the next year while she continues to work full time and finish school. 

~DJ's job was affected by the Sequester so this week he started working 4 days instead of 5 a week. It would be nice if someone came to their senses sooner rather than later on that matter! 

~The trees are slowly working their way to being green :) Now that's a happy thought!

~The rhubarb is coming up. It looks so healthy. Yum!!

~I know that God is bigger than all the bumps in the road :) He never changes. EVER. I'm so grateful for that. It's comforting.

I hope Spring is pointing you toward it's Creator.    

"I am the Lord, 

who has made all things, 

who alone stretched out the heavens, 

who spread out the earth by myself..." 

~Isaiah 44:24 (NIV)

 

A Bit Of Catching Up

2013 is moving along so fast I thought I better update this before we end up in August! 

 These past few weeks have been busy ~ We have started repainting the main floor of the house in preparation to put it on the market next spring. 

A couple of weeks ago we did the living room. New paint, curtains and curtain rods. We've always had the basic, white curtain rods. I always wanted pretty ones and now we have them! All we have left to do in that room is replace the ceiling fans, paint the door (trying to decide on a fun color :) and decide what to do with the floor. Friday we painted the home office and finally trimmed out the window ( It's only been 4 years since we got the new windows ~ Ha!) 

 Over the next few months we will paint the hallway, basement staircase and kitchen all the same color as the living room and home office. I felt like this was a smart thing to do as it will make the house flow better. Seeing how it was built in 1948, it needs all the help it can get!

I loved my yellow walls! We had many bright and cheery years together :) The new color is Sand Pearl by Behr. It's the Premium Plus Ultra. Primer and Paint in one. Love it!! It covers so well ~ It's my go to paint no matter what color I'm using.

A glimpse at the new color. It's much more neutral but still has a warmth to it. 

Easter was quiet but nice ~ Just us.

Ben and Dani helped make sugar cookies. Ben was performing CPR on his batch. Look at his eyes. He's a funny kid :)

Did I say it was quiet? Hmmm....Not so much. 
Rolling out cookie dough turned into sibling silliness. 

A quick photo before Easter dinner.

 Opening Easter gifts.

These 3 light up my life :) 
Ben loves turtles and stuffed animals so last year I bought him a stuffed "turtle" for Valentines day. I was so excited for him to see it. When he opened it I said "Don't you love your turtle?" 
All 3 of the kids looked at me and said "Mom, that's not a turtle!" Hmmm....it just so happens it was a frog :) If you only knew that my brain malfunctions like that all the time! 

This Easter Ben got a stuffed turtle. I got it right this time :)

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Last fall  I started a book club at my house. My friend, Laura, and I had talked about it for awhile. I finally put it in motion and it's been a huge blessing in all of our lives! 
We meet every other week and we are on our second book.
There are 7 of us that get together and I love each of them.
This week we celebrated Laura's birthday.

She's a great lady! I've known her for many years and am blessed to call her friend and a sister in Christ.

A quick shot of the book club ladies minus me.
I'll take better group photos of all of us when we go to the Tulip Festival in a couple of weeks.

Well, will try and update some more in the next day or two :)

   

Mountains & A Musical

DJ's mom and dad have been here for a couple of days. They came to see Ben's musical "Into The Woods". Last night was opening night and the kids all did such a great job! 
Ben did awesome in his role as the wolf. He nailed his solo :)

This is what our side of Snowbasin looked like last night when we went out to eat.

This is a little later in the evening ~ The light on the mountain was so pretty.

Dan, Vivian, Ben, DJ and Me

Dani, Ben & Heather

Dani, Ben w/ his wolf mask, Heather


It's snowing again. Hoping for a snowy weekend as the mountains sure could use it.