Father's day weekend in pics!

My post was so long for Father's Day I didn't add any pics.... so here's the pics! It was a lovely weekend!

The weather was so lovely Friday night we ate our dinner of Shrimp Tacos out on the deck. Sarah was down, so it was extra fun!


I love my yard, it looks so nice Friday night! No wind either....
I love to look out my back window and watch the birds... they seem to love my yard.

Andrew does a nice job of taking care of the yard and the garden since he's free during the day.

We bought a new Deck umbrella because it gets so hot out there with the sun beating down. Luckily Dave was here to help Jim put up the top. Jim and Andrew had worked hard on Saturday to fill the base with sand.


Sunday all we had to do was put the top in the stand and figure out how to open it.

Jim and Dave had it up in no time!!

Will be nice to have a bit of shade if we want to eat outside...

a mother/daughter moment

Andrew is just happy to be here...

Dave contemplating life....

Sarah and Dave

Dad, Andrew and Dave wondering where the food is...

Another mother/daughter moment

Eating our lunch (Sarah's taking the pic)

Another shot with me taking the pic

Sarah and Grandpa

Sarah and her Dad

us 3 ladies, with a sneaky Dad in the background... We love FatBoys!

Sarah and Andrew... (funny, but I have a very similar shot when they were little doing this same thing!)

Sarah and Dave...
We had a good afternoon! I love summer, and I love family get togethers!

Father's day!

It was Father's Day today! Jim and I had to give the talks in Sacrament meeting!! We made it through without crying to bad, and got lots of compliments.... but let me back up a minute.
Two weeks ago on the 5th of June, Brother Mortensen came over, I saw him coming up the driveway but thought oh, he's just here for Jim and something with the Young Men. But Noooooo... he asked if we'd speak in two weeks... I'd been having a feeling it was going to be my turn for the last month... so it wasn't too much of a shock. The subject was "Don't be in a Hurry" from the June Ensign, and I got to talk on "Don't be in a hurry to fill your day with "busyness". Plus it was going to be Father's day. Goodness did I have a lot to think about.
I'd been praying that I would be able to come up with something for my talk for a few days, then during the week before Sarah and I went to Salt Lake, I was getting ready for work and kept having good thoughts for my talk, so I had to go write them down so I wouldn't forget... and I was 15 minutes late for work!! Ooops! But it was worth it. Then I didn't give my talk too much thought while I was in SLC with Sarah.

I started the week off pretty good, then on Tuesday, when I got home, Andy and Jim were waiting for me in the kitchen, I didn't think much at first other than they were hungry. But Andrew told me that my Dad had told him the results of all the tests he had been having done. We had held a family fast on Fast Sunday, so I hadn't been too worried, but the results were prostate cancer... I think I was a bit in shock cuz I didnt' cry until later. Then I had to go to YW's and we had a movie night here at my house. Sometimes being with my beehives is good therapy.

Dad had to go back to his doctor Thursday to talk about his options. Boy, what a time for that, and preparing a talk, and to have it be Father's day.
The doctor said that his cancer is between slow and fast growing cancer. 1 to 5 being slow, Dad's is a 6 and 7 to 8 is fast. The doctor thought that since Dad is almost 84 that he would be better off without having the surgery to remove his prostate. And that he could have a normal life for probably the next 5 years or so, and they would keep testing him and if it looked like the cancer was growing, they could give him hormones or whatever they give you for that, to slow it down. But he does have a tumor in his bladder that is cancer, which they will do a simple operation to remove, and it will probably grow back and then they would remove it again. But he has to have a pelvic Cat Scan this Tuesday, to make sure his lymph nodes aren't involved. They just want to make sure since last summer he was having problems with his leg swelling and stuff. If everything is okay that way, then they will do what they have planned. If it shows that lymph nodes are involved then he might have to have the extensive surgery after all. We will just keep praying all goes well.
Boy, I wanted to give my talk and say something about my dad for Father's day, but didn't know how I was going to keep my emotions in control. And I was having a hard time with my talk...
but Saturday morning, after praying about it all night long almost, I got up early and put on some of my favorite instrumental music... and just wrote what I needed to write. Don't you love that.. when you just are inspired to write stuff and you get that warm fuzzy feeling... and of course the whole time I was typing I was weeping...
I finallly had my talk written, and my YW's lesson prepared, and I finally felt good... I took it down and practiced on my dad and mom, and my sister Marilyn and her husband Ty happened to be there. So it was good to practice. Couldn't believe I'd actually written a 20 minute talk.
Later I had my dad give me a blessing, that I'd be able to say what I needed to say and be calm, and keep my emotions in check. He gave Jim one too, I don't think Jim ever had a Father's blessing.... I cried.
I got up today, and felt good. We were having Mom, Dad, and Sarah and Dave over for dinner after church. So I got ready, made some dinner preparations, and off to church I went.
My YW's lesson went well... I love it when we have moments when all the girls are listening and you feel that warm fuzzy feeling in the classroom... And then it came time to talk... and I was able to do it!! My voice didn't shake... even though I cried at the end when I talked about my Dad and Heavenly Father... I was able to say what I wanted to say. Jim did a good talk too, and talked about his Dad as well, which was really good. I learned things that I hadn't known before.
Afterwards, Jim, me and Andrew had a lovely time eating lunch / dinner with Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Dave. We sat out on our back deck under our new big umbrella and ate and visited and enjoyed the day. Then we all took naps. I loved today! and I love my family.

I think I will post my Father's day thoughts.... since it's Father's Day after all..

I hope you don’t mind that I take a few minutes more to express my appreciation to 3 Father’s in my life since it is “Father’s day”..
First—I just want my husband to know how I appreciate and love him for the kind of man he is, and the good father he is to our children. I am so thankful that he puts up with my busyness each day, and helps me grow as a person, and a wife and mother.

Next I want my dad to know how much I love him. I’ve been wanting to tell a little story about him for a long time. A few years ago, I can’t remember if he bore his testimony or was giving a talk but he was talking about my mother and how he appreciated her. And each of my 5 sisters and myself call everyday with little problems that we tell her, and if he happened to be the one that answered the phone, we would all say , Hi Dad, how are you, is mom there…. And we’d proceed to tell all our troubles and worries to Mom and she would help us through it. Well after I heard him say that, I decided the next time he answered the phone.. I’d just talk to him. Well that time came, and he answered the phone and I said, "Hi dad how are you, but instead of asking for mom I proceeded to tell him my trouble at the moment… in which afterwards.. there followed a moment of complete silence and then my dad said “let me get your mother……...I kept that up, and now every morning on my way to work I call and usually Dad will answer with a good morning Diane…. Thank heavens it’s always me, cuz sometimes he sings a little song…. But he’s gotten better at listening and giving his advice to me and I’ve come to love my morning talks with him and hate to hang up…. Thanks Dad…. Happy Father’s day and I love you.

And last, I want my Heavenly Father to know how much I appreciate everything He has done for me and everything He has given me. I’m grateful for His listening ear as I say my prayers and the answers and help He has given me through out my life. I’m thankful for His Son, and for all that He has done for me as well. I’m so thankful for this gospel and the happiness it brings into my life and the life of my family. I know this church is true. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

A quick getaway to Salt Lake City

Well, Sarah and I decided we needed a mother / daughter get away. So we price-lined a motel in Salt Lake City (we got the Hilton Garden Inn in Sandy for quite a good deal!!) and left after work on Friday, June 11th.

We had a bag of kettle chips to munch on during our drive... Yum!

We always have such good heart to heart talks while we are driving. Something about just me and my kids driving makes us open up and we share things that we probably wouldn't otherwise.

We got to our motel and checked in and decided we needed to relax and fix up after our drive!


Then we were craving the Spaghetti Factory. Yum!! I hadn't eaten there for a while and forgot how good the "Mizthera" cheese is (not sure how you spell that)


We got the giggles, cuz we were so hungry, when they brought the food, Sarah dug in and began to cut hers up (making quite the noise on the plate) and said "nothing like a good pasta!" hahahaha. That will probably live for a long time as one of our little inside jokes.
We wandered around Trolley Square a little, but most of the shops were closed. I remember going there quite a bit when I was young, it has changed alot. There's not much there. But it looked like they were trying to re-vamp it.

We decided to go back to our motel. Sarah had brought her laptop and the DVD of "Somewhere in Time" that was one of my favs when I was young too! So we watched that until we fell asleep.
The next morning we got up and got ready for shopping!!

I beat Sarah getting ready and had to wait....

and wait.....

and wait.....
and finally we were off and running for our shopping day!! They have this brand new HUGE mall, (The South Town Mall) it had a huge 2 story forever 21 store!! That's Sarah's most favorite store cuz they have tons of cute clothes that aren't too expensive.
Before we hit the mall though, we went over to a Nordstrom Pocket, I think that's what it was called. But it's like a Kohl's only Nordstrom. They had this fountain outside with a statue of Mark Twain sitting on a bench... so we took pictures... you can't pass up a good picture moment! Sarah sat by him and gazed into his eyes(i didn't get a picture of that with my camera, but she did!) then it was my turn, and since I was older, I thought I'd just try to read the book he was reading.....


Next came the ULTA makeup store, we had a fun time browsing in there, and bought a few things... Then off to the mall and Forever 21!!! Oh how I wish I would have thought to take a picture of Sarah..If you have seen "Confessions of a Shopoholic" then you might have a good picture in your mind of what it was like! We walked into the side of the store that had her taste of clothes and she'd go from one rack to another pulling off things till she had such an armload, she was leaving a trail behind her and I would follow and pick it up. We spent a good 3 hours in there I think. We are the reason the stock market went up on the retailer's side... after that we were pretty worn out from shopping. It kept raining buckets!! we had to run to our car with plastic bags on our heads.... after that I took our umbrella everywhere we went!!
Next we decided we better go eat. So we drove to the Fashion place mall to eat at Cheesecake factory. Yummmmmmm!! Sarah got Salmon,


and I got chicken stuffed tortillas. Then of course we had to have lemon raspberry cheesecake. But we were so full!! Walked around the mall a bit to wear off our food.
Then we decided to go back to the other mall and shopped a bit more. When we got out of the mall the mountain looked so cool!! it was another picture moment!




Then look what we found!! Sarah's favorite kind of sale!!!

Sarah found one right away that she was willing to buy...

And I tried to find one but this guy was the only one that looked about my age...
we were quite sad to find it was only a "Man clothing" sale... how deceiving signs can be....

(These are those pictures of guys, of the designers of the clothes that are on the rack, and the one I'm standing by we got the giggles so I tried to imitate his laughing face!! ) and then of course we found the smoldering one that Sarah stood by and she had to try to be smoldering too!!

Then back to the motel..

Sarah and her loot!


Me and my loot!

And new pj's.. of course... I go for comfort....
then we had to finish "Somewhere in time" and Sarah found a site where people post their "awkward family photos" that is hilarious... We laughed until we cried!!
Sunday morning we made it a point to get up and go to "Music and the Spoken Word". It was in the conference center. How neat was that! I'd never heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing live before. And the announcer guy was right there speaking and you had to be quiet so their could get the best broadcast possible!!


We had to take a picture of us to prove we were actually there!!

AND the choir sang "It's a wonderful world" which just happens to be one of mine and Sarah's favorite songs!! I think they knew we were in the audience and sang it for us!! :o) Made us both get a little teary eyed!
Then we went back to the motel to change and pack and check out of our motel.

We got an army guy to take our picture...

(notice the man in the mirror) hahaha!
Then we went back to trolley square to buy Dave a Birthday present. He's 27 on the 27th!! We found quite a good one. And some good Father's day cards!
We ate at P.F. Chang's for lunch and then hit the Gateway mall for a bit. Found a good sale at Ann Taylor Loft, which is rare, and that happens to be one of my favorite stores.
At about 3 ish we realized how worn out we were and that it was probably a good time to start for home... even though we hated to leave.

Sarah and I were trying to make faces that were sad cuz we were leaving..

Scared or apalled at the money we spent....

and tired.....but one of us would do one face while the other did a different one!


Started off and realized we were heading to Reno, Nevada!! hahahaha so we had to turn around and get back on track for Idaho!
After some more deep conversation, pizza from flying J and a potty break. We made it home.
Then Sarah had to go on to Rexburg for an early class the next morning, and she needed to study before her class the next day. I was sad to have her leave... We always have so much fun. But I'm glad I can do that with her now and then. Now to save for the next little getaway!!! :o)

A lovely sunset after a lovely weekend!

Spa night with my Beehives

We had a class activity last Tuesday... and decided to do a Spa night, the theme for the month is missionary work so I thought it would be a fun thing to do and have the girls invite a friend. One girl brought a friend.
I got face scrub, a mint jullip mask, toner, mosturizer for our faces, and foot scrub and tingly lotion for our feet, and nail polish and stickers for afterwards. And a mini pool to soak our feet.
I also made my water punch with lemons and limes and bought hershey's kisses, cuz what is a spa without chocolate!!
My best thing was I downloaded a CD of Nature sounds... like ocean waves, rain and crickets at night. My plans were that it would be a nice evening and we could be out on our deck, but alas the wind and rain continued (do we need to build an ark?) so we were in my computer/family room. It was a little cramped but worked okay. We had half the girls doing facials in the kitchen, and half soaking their feet, then we switched. And lastly we all painted our toes.... It was a fun evening, and I think the girls had a great time. Maybe we'll have to do this for a Booty Day with all the sisters... what do you think ladies??

This is Laramie, Morgan, Sierra and Maddie soaking their feet.... after they soaked a while we used a foot scrub on them. Then I gave a few of the girls that wanted it a foot massage with my Mary Kay Foot and leg lotion... it has eucalyptus in it so it tingles and feels really good afterwards. They liked it!

This is Kaci, Lindsay, and Sarah doing their mint jullip masks with cucumbers... They all seemed to like this too... we relaxed on the floor with pillows while listening to the crickets on my CD... very relaxing....

This is Morgan, Sierra, and Laramie... Maddie didn't want a picture with her mask on ... I also didn't get a pic of Katy, my advisor... we always seem to have a great time when we all get together and do class activities. I have a great advisor and a great group of girls....as you can tell by this picture, this group was a little more giggly while relaxing....

And I thought I better take a pic of our toe stickers... you can barely see the little daisy on my toe... the girls used darker polish so you could see them on their feet a little better... but I like more neutral colors. I don't have the prettiest feet, but you get the idea of what they looked like.
I think we will have to do this again when they all get back from the "Trek" in July!!