May 2023 Randoms

BLOSSOMS

Like the Primary song Popcorn Popping says, "Spring has brought me such a nice surprise, blossoms popping right before my eyes!"

Happy May Day!

This was the first spring without our dog Tiki. 
We had resident birds in our yard we've never 
seen before, including a turkey, a pheasant, and 2 quails!

WATER PROBLEMS

Our hot tub stopped working in May. We bought it in Spring of 2020, and it was the first time we've had major problems with it. Josh worked on it several nights and weekends, and ordered a new control panel and electrical plug for it, but it still didn't work. We contacted the local company we bought it from, and the salesman came out and looked at it, but couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, either. We weren't able to soak in it all month, which was frustrating, because we use it so often as a source of relaxation.

One of Josh's responsibilities with the City is maintaining the outdoor pool. Every May, he has to clean it (which is a week-long process) and fix it to get it ready for swimming season. It's his least favorite part of his job duties, and is always a big stressor for him in May to get it up and running.

MOTHER'S DAY

For my class's Mother's Day gift this year, we made something that I'd been creating in my mind for weeks. It didn't turn out quite as I'd expected, but the kids did a great job and they were a cute gift. We made origami flowers and attached them to pencils that we wrapped in green plant tape. I saved large vials from the pharmacy to reuse as vases. The kids decorated the plastic vials in craft flowers, and we attached a small Mother's Day card they'd made, and then put the origami flowers inside. The only things I had to buy for this project was the green tape and glue dots, so that was a win for me, too!

Mother's Day weekend was wonderful. I worked all day on Saturday, which wasn't great, but while I was gone, Josh did a bunch of nice things for me: he washed and dried my laundry, weed-eated the terrace and bought me more metal flowers to put there which was a fun surprise, and he also surprised me by picking me up from work and taking me out to dinner at the 28 Club. When we got home that evening, I found a bag of chocolates that Kanyon had left for me on my pillow with a nice little note, which was so thoughtful! On Sunday, Josh spoke in church along with missionary moms Tiana Hilton, Stacie Oliverson, and Leslie Deschaine. Their topic was about our missionary sons an d how our lives have been blessed by having missionaries. I was asked to talk along with the other moms, but I didn't feel comfortable with speaking, so Josh did that for me, too. He did a great job, and I was so grateful that he spoke, and I enjoyed listening to him speak. He was very open about all the struggles we've had since the twins left, including how I have permanent damage to my vocal cords now from the chemical exposure I had. He then talked about how Jonah and Micah have been blessed on their missions, and how we've been blessed because our children are blessed. There were a lot of speakers, and not a lot of time, so they each talked between 7-9 minutes. After Sacrament Meeting, Josh and I left to go to Rigby. Kayon's golf team had left that morning to go to Idaho Falls to State Golf in order to play the practice round on the state course. We had both taken off work on Monday in order to watch him compete, so we decided to make a weekend trip of it. We stayed at a little cabin at Heise Hot Springs, ate dinner at their onsite pizza restaurant, and soaked in the warm pool and hot tub that night. We hadn't been there since 2018 when we went as a family to go on their ziplines, golf, and swim after Ammon graduated high school. It was a lovely way to end the Mother's Day weekend!   

Dinner at 28 Club

The freshly weed-eated terrace with new metal flowers that
Josh purchased for me, and new spinning pinwheel flowers
that I'd purchased, too.

Kanyon's Mother's Day gift for me

All ready for State Golf!

The Mother's Day dessert special at the Heise Pizza place.

The cabin we stayed in at Heise Hot Springs.

Sunday Siesta time!

Our soak was interrupted by a thunderstorm, but thankfully,
our cabin wasn't too far from the pool, so we went back
again an hour later and soaked much longer with less people.

CONCERTS

Kanyon's spring band concert was the 3rd week in May. He played the tuba, and although their band is small in number, they sounded so good! The final song of the concert was a joint number with the high school Legacy Choir and the junior high choir. It was based on a scripture, but I don't remember what the name of the song is anymore. Right before the song, Mr. Anderson talked about losing another group of seniors as well as losing a few families who would be moving, and the song would be a tribute to them. It was SO good! It brought tears to my eyes!

Josh and I went to a Jeff Crosby concert in Stanley on Saturday night May 20th at the Velvet Falls Dance Hall. It was a fundraiser for the local river guides. I 'd worked at the pharmacy until 4 that day, then Josh and I drove down in the converted camper van that we bought last fall. It was our first trip in the van, since it'd had some problems that Josh and a mechanic tried to fix over the winter months, but it continued to have problems, so Josh took it in to Quality Motors and they barely finished fixing it the previous week. The concert was absolutely amazing! We had SO much fun! The audience was lively and upbeat, and most of the crowd danced the night away just like us! We spent the night in the van at a campground just north of Stanley, and since it was the offseason, the campground was really quiet. It was an awesome way to break in the van! We drove home the next morning. It was a nice mini getaway for both of us, since we'd both been stressed and working extra hours in May.

END OF SCHOOL

My class hosted our Historical Heroes museum on the first day of the last week of school in Leadore. It wasn't originally going to be done so late in the school year, but several things happened that were out of my control, and as a result, our class museum got delayed as a result. It turned out really well, though. It's similar to a wax museum: each student was in charge of reading a biography about one historical figure, and then they wrote a report about them, made a display board, brought an item from home to represent that person, and they could dress up like that person for the museum day, too. On museum day, other students and families could come through, and the students did a 2-minute presentation about their historical figure, and they recited it from memory. 

Kanyon wrote letters and gave his own money to some of his favorite graduating senior friends. He put a lot of thought into it, and came up with some punny phrases for each one. He really impressed me--I've never seen him independently devote this much money and time into gift-giving before!

SKIES

Do you see the heart in the clouds?

See it now?! A lit-up heart shining through the dark clouds!

FRIENDS

At the beginning of May, I spent the night at Amanda's house after my dad's scout recognition dinner in SLC. She fed me dinner when I arrived so late, we watched a movie until we fell asleep, and the next morning, we hung out for a bit before I left to go back to Salmon. 

We both love McDonald's hashbrowns!

At the end of the month, I hosted a farewell dinner for my friend Whitney who was moving to Georgia. We became really close after our trip to New York chaperoning the high school musical group last year. We met up for coffee monthly after NY, and we also started walking together weekly in the fall and spring. I loved our time together! Amanda and Ryan had just arrived for a weeklong visit to Salmon, and Whitney brought her friend Nan to our house, too. I made roast, mashed potatoes, and creamy corn, and we just talked and laughed and laughed over dinner and after dinner. We had SO much fun together!

MOTORCYCLING in the MOUNTAINS

I had to work at the pharmacy on Memorial Day, but Josh had the day off, so since the weather was ideal, he took to the mountains on his motorbike. He rode up Little Hat Creek to above Morgan Creek, and then went back down Big Hat Creek.