Arizona "VACAY"! (slang for Vacation)

Thursday March 31, 2022

I woke up sore and with a bad headache. Not sure what I did, but luckily Cali had some ibuprofen, which helped a lot.

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In the morning Darryl took me shopping for some new exercise clothes, bras, etc., since I lost mine when the suitcase fell off of the truck. In the afternoon I went swimming with Parker.

Saturday April 2, 2022

Parker is in the running club at school, and when she asked us if we would run in the city wide RUN3rd 5k, we said ...hmmm...sure, we can walk it. 

It was a family affair with only Alan not able to join us. He works the graveyard shift so he needed to sleep.

Darryl actually ran pretty much the whole distance and finished first in his age group, men 65-69 yrs. old. Congratulations!!

But the biggest surprise of the day was when it was announced that I had finished 2nd in my age group, 65-69, in the women's division. After my name was announced I heard Cali say aloud, "How the heck did that happen!" Oh what a great time!

Monday April 4, 2022

We enjoyed watching General Conference over the weekend, and on Sunday night we took Cali and Alan to the airport to catch their flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico where they set sail for their much delayed (due to Covid-19), honeymoon cruise.

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I had a good time fixing Parker's hair before school each morning.

Tuesday April 5, 2022

Darryl and I were able to attend an endowment session at the beautifully renovated Mesa Temple.

So beautiful and peaceful!

Smile Honey!

Tuesday night I braided Parker's wet hair into small braids and she loved the results Wednesday morning.

Two sets of missionaries moved in to the unit a couple of doors down from Cali's house, so Wednesday afternoon we made a couple of Lemon Meringue pies and took one to the Missionaries house.

We kept one for ourselves and Gideon and Parker loved it, with Parker saying it was her new favorite pie.

Sister Guffey and St. George

Tuesday March 29, 2022 

Since the end of February I have been planning our journey to Utah and visiting our beautiful Missionary granddaughter, Sister Emily Guffey, at the St. George Temple Visitors Center. 

But on the day we traveled to St. George to see her, 1 yr. and 5 days after she started her mission, she was transferred to Cedar City, Utah. So, instead of spending an hour or so with our beautiful missionary granddaughter touring the visitors center, this Grandma was very grateful to get the 5 minutes of hugs, kisses and laughs as we caught up with her in Cedar City on her way to an appointment.

As time goes by there are some little, poignant moments in my life I remember like it was yesterday. One of those was the first time I held Emily in my arms. And now, I had her in my arms once again, a beautiful. sweet, righteous young women, but in my memory I remembered the tiny, dark haired baby who made me a grandmother. Yes, there were a few tears on my part. She was so busy she didn't have time to be emotional. C'est la vie!

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We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with our dear friends, Boyd and Carol Fife, at their place near Cedar City, then drove down to St. George, Utah to spend the night.

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I don't remember how many times I have driven past the city of St. George, Utah,  but for once we decided to stop so I could enjoy the town. 

Unfortunately, the St. George temple was closed for renovations, but it was lovely to see it in the early morning light.

We checked online and it said the visitor center opened at 9:00, so we thought we would take a tour before continuing our journey to Mesa. But, there was sign on the door saying the center wouldn't open until 10:00. Okay... on to plan B.

Welcome to the Brigham Young winter home in St. George Utah. 

It was a beautiful home and very interesting for us to see the construction, details and antiques in the home.

This home was begun in 1869 and Brigham Young used it at his winter home until his death in 1877. 

It was a lovely way to spend the morning, but we needed to be on the road and traveling. 

So we left and went to Mesa, Arizona where we would spend the next week and a half relaxing and having fun with Cali and her kiddos!

 

Grandma Selfies and Hiking Herriman

 April 1-2, 2022

Selfies. I am not obsessed with them, but I do seem to take a lot of selfies when I am being a tourist with Darryl, or when I am with my grandchildren. Here are a few from this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't get selfies with Tyree, Clancy, Gabriel or Ezra. I will remedy that the next time I see them!

Sweet Miss Rachel, smart as a whip and very creative. 

Rachel is Mom's big helper around the house and a little nanny to her baby brother.

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Next is our dearest Reagan, a beauty who loves Roblox and Minecraft and ....

She has such a great imagination when and is quite a storyteller.

And then our Little Miss Annabelle,

Gymnast and fashion icon of the 4-10 year old granddaughters. 

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Avery, oh sweet Avery. She is a spitfire. Full of energy and fun...

and she loves to tease! Peppa Pig and Buzz Lightyear are her absolute favorites. 

💖Oh these girls! 💖

On Sunday I got Sammy to hold still long enough for a quick pic! What a sweet little 'Leapling' this little guy is, and now he is a big brother.

Jethro had no choice but to do a selfie with Grandma, as he was trapped in a seatbelt in the car and couldn't get away!

Our miracle boy loves to dance and paint and play computer games and he love playing outside with his brothers and best friends. 

And finally, selfies with little Liam. What a joy!

On Saturday morning Skye and I hiked up the Blackridge trail in Herriman. It was a beautiful morning to watch the sunrise over the Wasatch Mountains.

And it was fun to spend the time with her and to talk about the world, scriptures, church, family and so many other things.

Soon she will be off to law school, so right now she loves having the time to take these little jaunts to enjoy Gods Beauty around her.

Smile Skye, it's selfie time!

She pulled out her Book of Mormon and did her morning scripture study on the mountain top. 

I just enjoyed the view!

We hiked 4.81 miles that morning. What a pleasant thing to do!