Sunday after church, we decided to take some flowers up to the cemetery in Logan.  

The Peonies were just starting to bloom and pretty incredible! Usually they have come and gone by memorial day but this year they timed it just right!   

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I picked a bunch and a few other iris and made some arrangements.  Gosh playing with the flowers sure makes me happy!

 When we got to Providence, I just couldn't stand it and told Kelley to drive by mum and daddy's place.  I always hope that maybe now things will be better, but it wasn't.  It was much worse.  I get an awful feeling when I see what's become of their place.  So much regret for not pursuing buying it ourselves.  It was in shambles.  No care whatsoever for the yard, everything overgrown with weeds and the lawns were dead.  I think what made me even sadder was driving through Providence and seeing all of mum and daddy's friends yards looking beautiful, like they did when their friends were alive, obviously bought by someone who cares or a family member.  Makes me want to go punch Boyd in the face.  That's all I have to say about that. ( I liked KC's suggestion of not going there anymore, and looking at old pictures and remembering it the way it used to be.)  He's such a tender one and understands my heart.   

 Looked like my sisters had already been there.

 Driving through the canyon was a treat.  Everything was so green and beautiful.  This area of "dry lake" with the cows and farm looks like something you'd see on a postcard. 

Soooooo this happened...

Sadly this was all the pictures I got,  When we got down in the water, all the sudden things got really crazy and there was no way I could be taking pictures.  After it was all over though,we were all wishing someone had captured this fiasco for Americas funniest videos!

It started out the perfect day...Sun was shining and it was nice and warm. Kelley and Dan brought the boat over into the back yard so we could get it cleaned up and ready to take up on the lake.  I patched a few spots on the covers that had ripped over the winter.  Kelley power washed the outside and sprayed for bugs and I cleaned the inside, windows, bathroom, seats, counters and vacuumed. Dan got it all registered and ready to go.

We didn't get a very early start and by the time we met up with Dan and Brenda, hooked the boat to his truck and pulled it to the lake (it's a pretty tough pull up the canyon) it was probably about 10:30. When we pulled in to the parking lot, it was packed!  Ha!  I don't know what we were thinking going on a holiday weekend! It was a little windy up in the parking lot and there was a storm forecast for later but we weren't too worried about it. We waited our turn to back the boat down to the water and when the boat was off the trailer, Brenda and I held on to it while Kelley got it tied up.  We waited while Dan took the trailer back up to park it and noticed that the wind was really picking up. There were also a lot of boats coming back in to the dock.

When Dan got back, we wanted to get away from the crowded dock and out on to the lake so we undid the ropes and Dan started backing up.  As soon as we started moving backwards, the wind got hold of the boat and within about 5 seconds, we were flying towards another boat that was docked on the side.  We hollered for Dan to go the forward and he tried, but then we were headed straight for another boat that had just pulled in to the dock. So we were hollering to go the other way and Dan was really doing everything he could to keep us from hitting one boat or the other.  We really had no control at all though, so Kelley hollered to just turn the engine off and he would try to wrangle the boat from in the water.  He had already been in up to his knees launching the boat but now he was full on in the water and it was freaky cold.  Like numbing cold.  Anyway, next thing we knew, the boat had slammed into the rocks and cement there on the side of the dock.  We just all looked at each other like we could't believe what had just happened!  We couldn't even believe that we hadn't hit any of the boats parked around us!  We had seriously come sooo close!  Like inches away!  People all around us were trying to help us and we pulled the boat out of the rocks with ropes and got it tied to the dock.  By this time, there were tons of boats heading for the dock.  The wind was blowing everyone all over the place and all anyone wanted to do was get their boats out of the water.

Kelley was in the water helping other boats get on their trailers while we were trying to figure how we were going to get our boat turned around to take back out of the water. We decided we'd have to just pull the boat around the dock with ropes till it was in the position for the trailer to back down to it.  Dan ran up to the parking lot and got the trailer while Kelley helped about 10 other people get their boats  on their trailers and Brenda and I held our boat from slamming in to the dock.  It was intense! 

Even with the guys pushing the boat onto the trailer by hand, it was hard to get it on right.  The wind just  pushed the boat where ever it wanted! I felt so bad for Kelley and Dan.  They were both so wet, cold and exhausted.  

We were bummed that we didn't get out on the lake but mostly just really grateful we could get safely out of the water and didn't crash into any other boats.  The more we thought and talked about it, we realized how blessed and protected we had been.  Kind of left us in awe and in a quiet gratitude the rest of the day.

Guys, I have the greatest bunch of ladies that I play racquetball with!  I have been playing at the Redwood multipurpose center for about 30 years now!  Ha! That's hard to wrap my head around!  You'd think i'd be pretty good after all these years, but I stay about the same.  It's fine though cause it's really the funnest way I've found to exercise.  Different ladies have come and gone but there's a few of us that have hung in over the years.  

I never dreamed this would ever happen, but this last January, Ruth retired.  She has had a really rough year with health problems and a lot of conflict there at Redwood. You could see it was really getting her down. So she decided she was done.  I know it was a hard decision for her because this has been such a big part of her life. She has pretty much run that place and for sure has made the different programs happen for so many years!   She even taught swimming lessons to 

Camille and Katie when they were little!  They had a nice retirement party for her and we haven't seen her since. She had talked about coming back part time after a few months of rest, but I guess she decided against it.  I've talked to her a few times on the phone and she says she misses all the ladies.  Well we miss her too. We kind of just arrange ourselves when we are going to play now and it works out.  Being flexible in our times to play makes it so more ladies can play too so that's nice.   

 This was on my birthday.  Marsha is so thoughtful and brought yummy breakfast treats for all of us.  It's really more of just a fun get together with these ladies every week!

We lost our dear Lanice in March.  She has been battling cancer for a couple years and finally decided to stop fighting. She really loved racquetball and would come and try to play (ha she still would beat us all even in her weakened condition from chemo) Then when she was finally too weak, she would just come sit on on the bench and watch us play. When she stopped coming, we would go to her house and visit her there. The most heartbreaking thing was watching her young daughter struggle with knowledge that she would soon be without her mother. Lanice's family is very close though and her sister was planning on raising her daughter. 

She worked as a deputy at the sheriffs department for about 20 years so they threw a big retirement celebration for her that we all attended.  It was pretty special to see how very loved she was.  The last time we visited with her she told us she would be saving a racquetball court for us in heaven.  She was brave, funny, and so positive with her circumstances.  She had the best attitude and would be the one cheering us up right to the end. Love and miss her.   

Gosh Everyone is getting married!  

Camille, Kellen and Jonas flew in Friday afternoon to go to Travis's reception.  Can you even believe it?  Our dear Travis, after only 7 short years of dating this girl,  decided to tie the knot!  Ha!  I love him so much!  He has been like a son to us for the past 20 years.  They had a real nice reception at the Joseph Smith building.  I sure do hope for a happy future for them.  He deserves the very best!

 Saturday morning we were able to go to Tayler and Erynlea's wedding.  They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and it was just beautiful! 

It's been really cool the way it worked out that KC and Tayler got married within a few weeks of each other.  They have gone through about everything together since they were young boys...from their baptism, school, sports, church, dating and then sharing a place when they met their future wives.  

Everything fell into place for both of their relationships and they knew this was it!

We just love the Scharman family and couldn't be happier for them! 

 When Camille is in town, we have a good time!  We only had a couple days but we packed them with lots of this...

 Oh how I wish we could laugh together every day.

 And this guy just fills up my grandma heart till I think it will explode.

 Jonas has no fear...at all.  He runs right out the door, straight for the road, the pond, anywhere he can just run free!  He loves getting squirted with the hose and throwing things.  He threw everything he could find in the pond, then wanted to go in after them.  He's the kid you have to watch every second, but don't mind cause he's so darn cute and just happy as a clam all the time!

 Later Saturday night, we went to Tayler and Erynlea's wedding reception.  It was at a home in Pepperwood that was absolutely incredible.  It was like mum and daddy's place at its peak on steroids.  Beautiful lawns and flowers and little creeks running through.  We got to visit with lots of friends and neighbors there and just enjoyed the amazing surroundings. Happy ending to a beautiful day and  happy beginning of a new life to the cute newlyweds! 

It was so fun to have Camille's family here for a few days!  It was such a wild time though, I didn't get much time to spend with the kiddos.  Here's a few pictures of us lovin on them

Can I just say how dear my Candice is. We found out after KC and Jackie had set their wedding date that it was on the same night as Candice's graduation. She has worked so hard, studied her brains out, sacrificed and struggled to get through it and was looking forward to walking with her class and receiving her diploma. We tried to think of any way to get around it, walking with a different group, some of us going to her graduation, some to reception? wearing cap and gown to reception? just Candice going to graduation?  There was no easy answer.  It didn't take long for Candice to decide that she would be there at the reception. That's just how she is.  Always putting others before herself. Anyway, we are going to celebrate her graduation so big because she is awesome and she deserves it and so much more!   

Here's  a few pictures KC and Jackie sent us from their honeymoon in Costa Rica.  They had some great adventures and came home happy and relaxed!

Looks amazing!

We didn't have a lot of time between the temple and the celebration at Thanksgiving point so we headed right over there to help get things set up. We had a little trouble finding the "Hidden Falls" area.  There were so many people walking around there because the tulip festival was going on.  Lots of traffic and road construction and chaos.  But when we finally found it, it was like walking in to a enchanted garden.  It was all surrounded with trees and lights and flowers and waterfalls and little creek running through..really incredible how you were suddenly transported into a serene secluded garden!  I could see how KC and Jackie fell in love with it!  Mindy had already hung the beautiful flower arrangements on the gazebo and they looked amazing!  Dang it I wish I had taken more pictures!

The wedding planners there took great care of us and made everything happen without a hitch!  They had waiters walking around serving Hors d'oeuvres while all the guests arrived, then when everyone got there, they had everyone seated and started the ring ceremony.  It was really so nice. Jackie's dad said a real nice prayer to start it off, then Mark Scharman did a great job with the ring ceremony.  Mark and Kim were such a great help to us with the whole wedding!  Such great friends!

After they exchanged rings (ha ha Jackie forgot KC's ring, so while Mark was up there talking, Jackie was whispering down the line of bridesmaids to borrow Mike's  wedding band and pass it up to her!  It worked out!  and no one knew what had even happened!)

After the ring ceremony, we had a lovely dinner,

then they had the DJ get the dancing started.  They had KC and Jackie do the first dance, then Jackie and her dad and KC and me.  A few weeks ago Jackie had asked if I had a song I liked for the wedding and I picked "My wish" from Rascal Flats.  Oh man the words are so tender, I sure had a hard time holding it together!  It really was one of those moments I'll never forget. 

Jackie and her mom started out doing a dance

 to a sweet little mama song, then broke into "I feel like a woman" and it was adorable!  I had seen them practicing in the back yard earlier, but had no idea what they were doing.  It was really cute!

The kids were all so great through the long day. Jonas had pretty much had it by dinner time.  

 Sam was just going around making friends with everyone.  

Sams dancing was epic.  It was just so much fun...I think after some pretty jam packed stressful days, everyone was ready to let loose!

 Cutting the cake...after taking a few hits at the reception the night before, carrying it on my lap from our house to the temple and having it sit in the hot car for 4 hours, (definitely started to sag) then the drive on my lap again to Thanksgiving point, (I had the air conditioner blasting on it to try to solidify it again!) well I was just happy and amazed that it was looking as good as it did!  Mindy put new flowers on it and it looked as good as new! Mindy really was a miracle worker that day and fixed up several boutonnieres  and corsages that had got hugged too many times after the wedding.

After a great evening, KC and Jackie got a sparkler send off and just like that, a sweet new little family has been created.  I've been super sappy and emotional for the past few weeks, feeling all the feels and experiencing a lot of new ones. Mostly just feeling so much gratitude and love to my Heavenly Father for giving us a wonderful son.  He has been such a joy in our lives...and for the special woman he chose to join our family and share his life with. It's been so sweet to see the love they have for each other and the dreams and goals they have. Their future is surely bright!

"My Wish"

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow

And each road leads you where you want to go

And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose

I hope you choose the one that means the most to you

And if one door opens to another door closed

I hope you keep walkin' til you find the window

If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile

I hope you never look back back but you never forget

All the ones who love you

And the place you left

I hope you always forgive and you never regret

And you help somebody every chance you get

That you find God's grace in every mistake

And always give more than you take

But more than anything

My wish for you

Is that this life becomes all that you want it to 

Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small

You never need to carry more than you can hold

And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' to

I hope you know somebody loves you

And wants the same things too

Yeah, that's my wish!

Saturday was the most beautiful day!

I wish I could hold on to the beautiful spirit that was there in the temple as KC and Jackie were sealed and remember it forever! First of all, watching KC's face as he brought Jackie to the alter just made my heart explode.  He was just beaming he was so happy!  Then kneeling and looking at each other across the alter they were both crying, then I really broke down.

The sealer was so good and did a wonderful job with their sealing. I had the sweetest feeling that there were family from the other side of the veil there to witness this special event.

I was Jackie's escort so I got to go with her to the brides room to help her get into her wedding dress. She had the most beautiful dress but it had at least 50 little buttons up the back.  I thought it had a zipper and the buttons were just for decoration but nope, each one had to be hooked up!  Ha!  The matrons there were great though and were standing by with crochet hooks to speed up the buttoning process! They were really great with Jackie and helped in every way possible to make it a good experience.  We finally got her dress all done up and her veil in place and ready to meet up with KC and go out to waiting friends and family.  Mindy had made all new flowers for the day and they were beautiful!  We got everyone their boutioneers and corsages, and bridesmaid bouquets and then Jackie's amazing orchid bouquet and we were all set!  They sent Kelley and I out first, then KC and Jackie came next!       

 They had a great photographer and I can't wait to see the pictures he took of family and friends at the temple. It really was a beautiful setting. I just got a couple of shots and will add more as I get them.

 It was such a nice warm day, hot actually!  Sooooo grateful for a beautiful day after all the rainy cool days the week before!