On Friday they wanted to do some sight seeing so we drove down town.  We drove up by the capitol where you could look out over the whole valley and even see part of great salt lake.

We drove past the temple and they wanted to go look around the grounds so we parked over by the conference center and walked over.  It really was a beautiful day and the beautiful flowers on Temple Square didn't disappoint.

 We went into the visitors center to look around.  I think they were impressed with the sacrifices and hard work it took from the saints to build the temple.

 After, we went to this place called Top Golf.  Keli and Bob are both great golfers so we thought this would be fun. 

Kelley has golfed a little bit but was never too crazy about it and my experience goes about as far as Pauls par 3.  This was a whole different deal though...I mean just whacking the ball as hard as you can, then eating delicious wings and sweet potato fries till it was your turn again was a seriously great time!  Keli was a great teacher too.  She showed us which club to use and how to hold it right, then how to swing and hopefully make contact with the ball.Then she tried to think of nice things to say after I hit the ball and it just rolls off the edge of the platform and drops to the net below.  Ha! I got a few good shots but they were just flukes.  I could see it sure is a game where you need to practice a lot!  Kelley did really well.  He can hit it Happy Gilmore style and it goes clear to the fence.

We planned a little get together for Friday night so the rest of Kelley's family would have a chance to visit them Keli and Bob.  Kelley did some ribs and chicken on the Tregar, I made a potato salad and Keli made a yummy chopped salad.  Mark brought some of his delicious baked beans and we had a great meal!

It was good to see Kim and Fred and Renea.  Now Kelley's folks are gone, we just don't get together anymore unless there is an occasion.  It's pretty sad.  

I was glad it was a nice warm evening so we could sit and visit for a while after dinner.  It was great to get caught up on each others' lives.  I love this Jensen family I married into.  They are as diverse,  dysfunctional, unique and fabulous as they come, and  I think we qualify to fit right in with them!  One thing you can always count on with them is that they are real.  What you see is what you get. And what you get is always loving and sincere. 

I'm grateful for KeliAnn taking the time and effort to drive here to visit us.  She is one of those special people that you just love the first time you meet.  Her and Kelley have always been close...kind of the sister he never had. She is the glue that holds Kelley's moms side of the family together...always keeping in touch and letting us know what's going on with everyone.  Her new husband Bob is really a peach too.  Actually a pretty amazing guy.  The more I was around him, the more I realized just what a great guy he was.  When we were up fishing, we went in to get a fishing license for him and Keli.  The gal there said it would be 24.00 each!  We decided it wouldn't be worth it just for a couple hours of fishing so they said they would just watch.  When we got out there and got all our poles out in the water, we told Keli and Bob one of each of our poles was for them.  Bob didn't say anything at the time but was just sitting back cheering all of us on as we started catching.  Keli caught one, then said "the next one is your's Bob" He said 'No, I wouldn't feel right about that'.  He didn't make a big deal about it, just knew what he was going to do and did it.  I was kind of put to shame cause I didn't even think about it being wrong since we don't ever keep the fish, but his words "I wouldn't feel right about that" were ringing in my head during our Relief Society lesson yesterday on Honesty.  Anyway, that, along with lots of other things put him way up on my list of people I want to be like when I grow up.    

We got to spend a fun couple of days with Keli and Bob last week.  They had been visiting Jason  and his wife in Colorado and drove down here to

 spend a few days with us. 

They got here Wednesday evening.  We had dinner together, then sat and visited till it was time for bed.  Thursday we decided to take them up fishing.  I was so glad the leaves were still on and were pretty spectacular!  It was a real nice warm day...couldn't have asked for any better!

 We stopped at the ranger station to see if the salmon were spawning and they were!  It's interesting and kind of sad to watch them swimming upstream to lay their eggs.  They mostly just seem to be getting nowhere.

 It was windy but not cold when we got out on the lake.  Kelley caught the first fish, then I caught a couple.  Keli Ann caught three.  Her and Bob are great company and we had a fun fishing with them.

You can't tell very well, but there were some deer that came down to the water here.  It's deer hunting season now and there were hunters in all the campgrounds around the lake.  I really don't know how people can shoot these beautiful animals.

It started getting really windy later in the afternoon and some dark clouds were gathering too so we decided to call it a day.  Just as we were pulling the boat in, it started to rain.  Kelley was having a heck of a time getting the boat in cause the wind was so bad, but with everyone's help, we finally wrangled it in. 

When we got home, the rest of the family joined us for a nice dinner at Texas Road house. 

My heart is full after a weekend of General Conference.  The talks were all so good I felt like they were talking right to me!  The music was so beautiful too.  They sang some new songs that were really amazing.  Nothing touches my soul like the music can.  At the general womens meeting they had a choir comprised of all ages of women and young women that was really good.  Before President Utchdorf talked, the choir sang  How firm a foundation.  As they sang the last verse, "I'll never, no never, no never forsake" they had the camera on President Monson.  He had tears running down his face.  It was pretty powerful.

  I thought I'd throw in a few pictures from the rock garden.  It's so pretty right now with the cosmos blooming like crazy.  They have become one of my favorite flowers over the years.  They seem so fragile and delicate, but are the ones that survive through the hottest part of the summer.  Plus they come back every year without even having to tend to them. 

Kelley threw some wildflower seed back behind the waterfall this spring and we kind of forgot about it cause it was out of sight.  Next thing we knew, the whole area was full of three to four foot high pink, white and purple cosmos.  They made a perfect backdrop to the waterfall.

 My cute irrigation cart took a turn for the worst while I was in Arizona. I came home to find them mostly dead.  I'm not naming any names, but sometimes when the boys move it off the lawn to mow, it doesn't get moved back...hence, no water from the sprinkler system.  The rest of the flowers looked great when I got home and and I'm sure grateful to KC, Candice and Katie for getting them watered.  Anyway, I watered the petunias good and within a few days, they started coming back!  

A few pots that  I've neglected that were hidden back behind  some  overgrown mums, making their last hurrah for the summer.

It was good to have Candice over on Sunday.  She had an incident a few days ago where a dog got loose from it's owner and came running into her house chasing Candices' cat.  The cat freaked out when Candice tried to save it and dug her claws deep into her arm. She came over Friday and it was really swollen and red. She had cleaned it out good and put hydrogen peroxide and neosporin on it, but it looked like it was getting infected.  She said it was really hurting too so she went to have the doctor look at it.  He said it was definitely infected and gave her an antibiotic.

In between conference sessions, Katie went dr. pimple popper on her and squeezed out a big hunk of puss and goo. I was downstairs watching a program about this boy from India that had been kidnapped and sold to a family in Utah.  I was glued to it because while I was in Arizona, Tara brought over a birthday present for Camille which was a book that told this boys story.  Camille told me to go ahead and take it home and I've been reading it the past few weeks.  It's really interesting.  Anyway, while I was watching this program I heard this loud scream from outside.  I ran outside and found Katie squeezing more puss out of Candice's arm.

 Toby and Michelle must have heard the scream too because they came over to see what was going on.
They brought over a bunch of boxes too. Toby is always great to bring over any boxes they get for Kate to use for her shipping.  They stayed and visited for a while too.   

That little Talon is such a sweet kid.  He always has a big hug and a smile.

Their new little guy took a liking to Candice.

ice

 Later that afternoon, Kelley and I went for a walk down the canal road.  The leaves on the trees that hang over the road are so pretty right now.

 The wildflower seeds Kelley planted on the other side of the fence have really taken off.  I didn't think they were going to do anything, there was only a random plant here and there and  and they were pretty scrawny. I pulled weeds there a few times this summer and it seemed like there were more weeds than flowers.  Then after being gone for a few weeks, I was surprised to come home and find they had grown and filled in to look pretty good. 

The sunflowers are huge with their heads loaded down with seeds.  I think we'll try to do something with them this year. Last year someone came and stole the heads off of them before we got a chance to harvest them.  

I sure love this time of year.  We've had wonderful warm weather and the garden is still producing beans, squash, tomatoes, broccoli and peppers.  Candice has eaten a truckload of kale from the garden this year.  We somehow ended up with 6 kale plants,(some bumpy and some curly...really nice plants.) and they were huge.  We could have fed kale to the whole neighborhood and still had some to spare. The bees make everything grow happy.  We don't have to look far to see how very much we have to be thankful for.