One Mans Trash is Another Mans Treasure

I look forward to this day all year . My sisters, mom and dad and I get together every June and go garage sale-ing. It started years and years ago and has been a tradition ever since. We meet around 8:00 in the morning and drive to Heber. We found that this one neighborhood has a garage sale every year on the Saturday before Fathers Day and it is our favorite place. We find the bulk of our purchases in this neighborhood. Every year it seems to be different people sitting out in front of their own houses selling their wares. I came away today spending less than 10.00 and got over 200.00 in stuff. That does not include the garage sale we stopped at by my sisters house where I found a practically new gas lawn edger for 50.00. I have been wanting one of these for years, but did not want to fork out the $100 plus dollars. It is so much fun to get together with family and visit, eat, shop for dirt cheap treasures and have hardly a care in the world. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

Viva Las Vegas - time to leave

Thursday morning we got up fairly early and went to the Las Vegas Temple. It felt like a bit of Heaven in that dusty, sinful place. The inside of the Temple is just beautiful. It actually has a garden type terrarium in the center of it. Breathtaking! While Dennis and I did a session, our granddaughter Leea did baptisms.





Afterwards, Mark and Elain met us at the temple to pick up Leea and tell us goodbye. Then we headed for home. We had a very nice drive and it always feels so good to come home and find things and loved ones safe and sound. We had a wonderful time with Mark and his family.

Viva Las Vegas Day 2

On Wednesday we went out to Hoover Dam. The Gorge has such beautiful formations. The best part of this trip was seeing the girders being built for the new bridge that will cross the gorge. Then all traffic will stop going across the dam (I hear that is for safety reasons - a post 9-11 thing). Anyway it was very cool to see how they make bridges.









We stopped in Henderson for a picnic at a park. It was so nice to see green grass and eat at a table.





We had to check out of our motel before we left that morning, and when we got back into Las Vegas we checked into the "Fiesta" which is a few miles down the road from the Santa Fe, but about 120.00 cheaper. I guess the Santa Fe has some sort of "Seniors" thing going on on Wednesdays and they jack up their rates to an incredibly outrageous price. Mark and his family had a package deal (air, motel and rental car) so their rate was not so bad. The Fiesta was not as nice as the Santa Fe, but it was just for one night and all we did there was sleep.

Viva Las Vegas

Day 1:
We got in last night around 10:30 pm. We are staying at the Santa Fe Station and it is in the boonies (North Las Vegas). But it is still an ok place to be. Mark, Elain, Leea and Taylor did not get in until about 1:00 am. We were so tired waiting up for them. They would have been here sooner, but Mark took a wrong turn and they ended up going the opposite direction. It was so good to finally see them and visit for a few minutes, then off to bed for everyone.

Today we walked part of "The Strip". There is so much smut all over the place and I was glad when we could finally leave there.


We had our picnic out of the back of the van in the parking lot of the Tropicana before we started our walk down the strip.



In front of the Rain Forest Cafe inside the MGM Grand


Inside the M&M store.


These toy slot machines were inside the M&M store. You put M&M candy in the back and pull the handle down and out comes the candy. The store had so much "expensive junk" it was amazing. People seem to go crazy for this stuff.


Walking and walking and walking and..............more walking



Overlooking the water in front of the Bellagio

First fun run of the summer

It has become a tradition in our family to go to the Nestle 5k fun run in Springville for the start of Art City Days. Usually I am the one taking pictures, but this year my goal was to run a 5k. This was my first 5k this year (I have walked 2 others in the past 10 years), but I didn't run all of it. I am not in shape for that yet, and my knee's are not so sure that they want me to run as they keep giving me some trouble. I had the privilege of pushing the triple jogging stroller, so mom and dad could get a good run in, which they rarely get the chance to do.

The group of runners (minus Steve who forgot his running shoes and drove all the way home to get them).

This thing is actually quite easy to push, it is just a tank to maneuver through 2500 (Yes you heard right - two thousand five hundred) people. It feels like driving a Humvee in the middle of a parade. I don't know how it was for the others who all started ahead of me, but being near the back of this crowd of runners, I could just BARELY walk until the masses broke up about 3 blocks later. It was a very slow start for me as I felt like I was crawling and could not maneuver the "tank" through the mass of people.

It is too hard for the picture taker to take pictures of everyone out on the road, so she can only get pictures as we come near the finish line, and this race ended on the Springville High School track.
Dennis


C pushing it to the very end


Alisha didn't see her husband Randy and son T cross the finish line, so here they are posing nicely for her.


Look at me go!




P rode all the way in the jogging stroller, but he wanted to run across the finish line, and he could do so since he had a race number.


Random pictures of our group during the prize drawings and awards.

Friends, Family and Barbecues

When Amanda and Steve lived in North Carolina they met many wonderful people in their ward. The Porters were like surrogate parents and had them over for dinner several times a week and took great care of our kids while they were so far away from home. They had us over for dinner also when we visited the kids there. The Waxters moved their son Joey to BYU at the same time Amanda and Steve moved home and they caravaned across the US together. We had the great opportunity of having them stay with us while they got Joey settled into his apartment and got to know them better ourselves. We have all kept in some contact with each other and Amanda decided it was time to see them all again (especially since Joey and his wife are moving closer to NC since they just graduated from the Y) so Friday night we all got together for a barbecue. It's too bad we didn't get a picture of the cool 12' long picnic table Steve built.

Amanda & Steve with Baby R


Amy Porter (Jason's wife)


Joey Waxter and his wife (I can't believe I forgot her name)


Jason Porter and his mom Pam


What a handsome face


Kids having fun on the swings


My little cutie

Saturday fun

Alisha and Randy invited us to go camping with them at Burrston Ponds in Mona. We couldn't go Friday night due to another obligation and Dennis had to be home for church on Sunday (since he missed the week before), so we just went for the day on Saturday. It's nice that it is close enough to do that. We sat around the fire and visited for awhile, then did a few hours of fishing. Have I ever told you that I just love fishing. Really, no joking. I love just relaxing, watching the landscape, do some reading, and if I catch fish that is a big bonus. No one around the ponds were catching fish, so we didn't really expect to catch any either, but it is just fun to try, so when I actually caught one, and a good 12" one at that, it was pretty exciting. Dennis and our grandson C each caught fingerlings, but let them go as they were too small to eat. Randy's parents came and joined us for hotdogs and roasted marshmallows. We had a super fun time - thanks Alisha and Randy for inviting us.

C & T looking bored. They really wanted to go fishing and us adults just weren't moving fast enough.


C watching me take care of my fish - kind of hard to see it in my hands(umm, it sure made a tasty dinner)


Isn't that such a sweet face. T was bored with fishing because there was no action, so while he was playing around, Dennis caught this cute photo.



Randy and his mom roasting marshmallows


Chillin' around the fire