Tab Choir at the Red Rocks

Last night I went with 3 other friends to watch the Tabernacle Choir perform at the Red Rocks near Denver. It was my first time going to a concert at the Red Rocks, and to hear the Tab Choir perform there was absolutely amazing! This was the last concert of the choir's two week tour, so a special visitor flew in to be in attendance--President Monson! Of course, he was sitting on the front row, and from where we were sitting, he looked like a little ant, but just knowing that he was there made it extra special. The concert venue was perfect, as well as the weather, and I would love to attend another concert there again sometime. It was a wonderful birthday gift from Bev. Thank you, Bev, for a delightful evening.

Rex and Alene...an institution and example...

We have two wonderful friends, Rex and Alene Kofford, who have been married for 63 years! And we thought our 33 was impressive. They are both in their 80's, but are still very active and enjoy life. They have served 3 church missions and are now busy teaching the marriage and family relations class in their ward. If you ask them what the secret to being married this long is they will tell you two things...patience and humor. They both have a terrific sense of humor and they are just people that you enjoy being around. Rex and Alene are part of our empty nester's family home evening group, so we are fortunate to meet together each week, and enjoy their company. Last night, we traveled up to Cripple Creek--not to gamble, but to attend the summer musical and celebrate Rex and Alene's anniversary. We took a yummy picnic lunch and ate at the gazebo across from the theater. It was cold! Yes, it is the end of June, but it was cold! After the performance, we drove back to our home and enjoyed my "Chocolate Lover's" cake (Rex's favorite) with milk. It was a wonderful evening. Thank you, Rex and Alene, for being a true example to us all. We love you!

Rex and Alene in front of our home

Rex displaying his sense of humor

Rex and Alene cutting the "Chocolate Lover's" cake

Roses...

I love roses. I have always loved roses. Bruce has never been much of a "flower giver," but when Paula was born, he did give me a dozen beautiful yellow roses (my favorite). When we lived in our home back in Arizona, I planted my courtyard full of roses. The only bad thing about growing roses in AZ is that they bloom for a short season, and then burn up because it's so hot, or the leaves get eaten up by cutter bees. We finally live somewhere where we can grow beautiful flowers, including roses. We stripped out the ugly old evergreen bushes in the front yard last year, and I planted 4 rosebushes. Last year they didn't do much, but this year they are producing beautiful blossoms. We also have a large climbing rose bush in the backyard that was planted before we purchased the house. It is loaded with buds, but just hasn't bloomed yet. I am so excited, so we have been taking pictures of the roses. The last pictures are of the backyard rosebush, which has lots of ladybugs on it this year. I know, it's something old people do when they get bored, but I don't care. They're still pretty, so enjoy...

My birthday...

I think birthdays are supposed to be fun, aren't they? Well this year my birthday kinda stunk. I guess by the time you're 56, they just kinda come and go anyway, right? So anyway, my birthday was last Thursday. How did I celebrate the wonderful day? By getting up at 6 am (after going to bed at 1:30 the night before) and spending the day doing our magazine route and then coming home and working on an inspection report for Bruce. I had intended on at least grilling salmon (my favorite) and having a nice dinner, but instead had leftover soup from the night before. What a deal! I did get calls from my children (with a little reminder to one of them from his dad), and the best call I got was from my brother to wish me a happy birthday. That was a wonderful surprise, and meant allot to me. Other than that the day was pretty lousy, so I hope to take one day out this week and actually celebrate.

Thoughts about Father's Day...

So today is Father's Day. We didn't see any of the kids today, but they all called to wish Bruce Happy Father's Day, as well as the grandkids. I made a nice breakfast this morning, and then Bruce went off to prison. I guess that sounds kinda wierd...Bruce went to prison on Father's Day. Actually, it is something he does on a regular basis. He goes to the prison to teach Sunday School lessons to the inmates. They always let him out to come back home--at least so far. Bruce is a great husband, father, and grandpa. Sometimes we take him for granted, and we don't tell him enough how much we love him. Thank you Bruce...we love you!!

Bruce on his 58th birthday

Grandpa with Lexi on 4th of July

Grandpa with Lucy and Amanda

Grandpa teaching Emma how to pan for gold

As far as thoughts about my own dad, who has been gone for several years... I was always my daddy's little girl. Some of the things I remember the most was going to see Elvis movies with my dad at the local theater and him coming to Primary daddy-daughter dates with me. He was very sensitve and cried easily. He always cried when he heard the national anthem. He and my mother were both naturalized American citizens, and his citizenship was very important and special to him. They had both come from Canada, where my dad was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. I remember looking at pictures of him in his uniform and thinking how handsome he was. No wonder my mother was smitten with him. My dad was a good father, except when he let his temper get out of control, or he started drinking, but I try to remember his good qualities.

My mom and dad in front of "Old Glory"

My handsome dad in his RCAF uniform

Humor in the face of adversity...the perfect example...my friend Bev!

You are no doubt familiar with the old saying, "Laughter is the best medicine." Well, my friend Bev takes that very seriously. Oops, I forgot, she doesn't take anything seriously. I take that back...there are some things she takes seriously, but most of the time she is busy laughing and having a good time...no matter what. For example, 3 weeks ago Bev had surgery on her right foot, so she is in a cast from her toes to just under her knee. Most people would just "shut down" until the cast came off, but not Bev. It has slowed her down a bit, but she has definitely not lost her greatest gift, her sense of humor. To get her out of the house and have a little fun, she has decided to try out the electric shopping carts at Safeway, King Soopers, and Sam's Club. Each operates a little differently, but Bev just sees that as an opportunity to have a little fun. She has become a pretty good driver of the little electric carts, even though today at Sam's she did run into a couple of things. Some strange man even referred to her as a "wild woman." Imagine that! We just laugh allot the entire time we're out, and people seem to follow us around the store because they enjoy the laughter. See, it must be contagious. Wouldn't the world be a happier place if everyone could laugh a little more? Thanks Bev, for being a great friend, and for adding a little humor to my otherwise boring life.

Gardening time again...

Well, it's that time of year again...time to get the garden planted and trim up the yard. Along with that comes building our garden enclosure to keep the hail and little critters from destroying our garden. So, this is year #3 and version #3 of the garden enclosure. Next year will be yet another version, as it is not perfect this year, but at least it's high enough to walk in this time around, making it much easier to work in. We have already had a couple of small hail storms, so we got it up just in time. The weather has been crazy...lots of rain, which means everything is really green. It just hasn't been very warm.

We have two levels of garden. The upper level is mostly strawberry plants, with the exception of the tomatoes and a few spaghetti squash here and there. We planted 3 strawberry plants 3 years ago, and they have continued to spread until now we a garden full...so many that we dug up 13 plants and put in pots to give away. At the end of the season each year, Bruce just mulches them with old leaves.

Here are the tomato plants. I started them from seed this year inside the house. Next year, I will probably start them earlier. We put these little plastic thingies around them called "Walls of Water." They have vertical pockets in them that you fill with water, the sun warms them during the day, and they act like little greenhouses and keep the plants warm at night.

In the lower level, we have planted lettuce, spinach, beans, and cucumbers. They are just starting to pop up. This year we also planted two raspberry bushes to see how they will grow. They will not produce berries for a couple of years.

I also planted a couple of herb gardens in pots with plants that I started from seeds. There is nothing better than cooking with fresh herbs from the garden.


Here are a few pictures of other flowers from the yard. The blooms on the snowball bushes only last a couple of weeks, but are beautiful while they last. The other bushes with the little white flowers are called "snow in summer." We want to plant a couple more bushes to fill in the gaps in front of the roses, which are just now starting to bloom. The little violas are coming up everywhere from seeds that fell from pots last year.