5 down and 17 more to go

Last night Amanda and I F.I.N.A..L..L...Y took the test for levels 200-500 of our on-line course we are taking from the School of Natural Healing......and we PASSED!!!! We are both so excited. Now we just have 17 more levels to go and 2 years to do it in. It took us over a year just to get this far. No, it isn't hard, it is just that life gets in the way and we have let this drag out far too long.

Now I am going to be up to my eyeballs in reading and worksheets now so I can try and make up time. Along with the school work, I am studying Spanish, and have started to practice the piano again. I think I will be plenty busy this winter.

Berries in November?

Can you believe that I was out in my garden this morning picking strawberries and raspberries in the snow? It is amazing that on November 11 I still have any garden left. This is my first year growing either berry and I had no idea how long they would continue to produce. I think this year may be a fluke since we have had a nice long WARM fall.

Just for your info, the berries were D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!! Yum! Yum!

Personal Progress - Integrity #7

List the issues, trends, and problems that weaken the family.
1- You are #1, deserve a break, don't let others tell you what to do.
2- Marriage between a husband and wife is old fashioned, we need to get on board and accept same-sex unions.
3- Drugs, smoking, immorality, body art & piercings.
4- Disrespect for laws and authority.
5- Lying, swearing, cheating, stealing, gossiping.

My plan to strengthen my family is to:
1- Set the example by reading my scriptures, saying my prayers, attending church meetings and the Temple, serving diligently in my callings, as a visiting teacher and in the community.
2- Love each person unconditionally
3- Establish traditions such as: family dinner and home evening once a month, picnics, playing games and doing other activities, family vacations, family reunions, family Temple days, family craft days, etc.
4-Help each other as needed: babysitting, minor or major home repairs, car repairs, rides.
5- Support each other in activities.
Just to name a few.

Personal Progress - Integrity #3

I am so close to being done with my personal progress. I have just a handful left. For Integrity experience #3 I was to read several accounts in the scriptures of how individuals lived with integrity. Nephi, Joseph and Potiphers wife, Esther, Job, Shadrach, Mesach and Abed-nego, Daniel and the Lions Den, Paul, and Joseph Smith. Then I am to identify in my journal the ways these people demonstrated integrity and to think of a time when I had the courage to show integrity and share it.

I noticed when reading all these scriptures that all these individuals stood up for their belief in Jesus Christ no matter what circumstances they might encounter and in some cases even when death was the ultimatum. I am so glad that so far in my life I have not had to suffer for my belief in the Savior. I have only received blessings for following Him.

One evening a few years ago, our family was watching a movie. Within the first 5 minutes I had such an awful feeling come over me and I just got up and said that I could not watch this movie because it was too crude and vulgar. Once I said that, several other family members said they felt the same way, but hadn't quite mustered the courage to say anything. I am glad that I had the courage to do so and set a good example for my family to hopefully follow.

My Father

It is with much sadness that I write this. My father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday. Oh how we we'll miss him. We love you dad.

General Womens Meeting

I just got back from attending Womens Conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake with my daughters. We had a wonderful day together.

We went to Olive Garden for a late lunch, which was nice. Then on to the Conference Center. Alisha got tickets through her ward which was very nice. 5 years ago I was able to get tickets for all of us to go together for our first time. Since then we have tried to take turns attending at each others Stake Centers. While we were waiting for the meeting to start we visited with some ladies who live in the Salt Lake area but are originally from Venezuela.

I loved the meeting, but especially President Monson's talk. It was a good reminder for me to not be judgmental. It is something I struggle with, but hope that I am getting better at. I loved the story about the neighbor and her dirty laundry. To paraphrase: There was this young couple that would sit down to breakfast together and about once a week the neighbor would hang out her laundry and the young woman would comment to her husband, "There goes our neighbor again hanging out dirty laundry, you would think she knew better". One week as the young couple sat down to breakfast and the neighbor hung out her laundry, the young woman commented, "Wow, she is hanging out clean laundry, she finally got it figured out". The husband said, "No, I just got up early this morning and cleaned our windows." What a good visualization lesson that will be for me. I also loved President Monson's sense of humor. He is adorable. I LOVE OUR PROPHET!!!

I am really looking forward to General Conference next week. To "feast" at the feet (so to speak) of our leaders. It is such an awesome experience.

Thanks girls for a wonderful time.

Labor Day Memories - MOON LAKE

The one thing we love doing most in the summer but don't get enough of is CAMPING. This year we only got 3 trips in....Memorial Day to Yuba Lake, the Lava Tubes, and Hot Springs. July 4th up Spanish Fork canyon to one of our favorite places "Tucker" and this past weekend for Labor Day we went to Moon Lake above Duchesne. We had never been there before and found it a beautiful place. It was disappointing that the lake was very low and that made for bad fishing. Saturday we decided to take a hike to the North East side of the lake to where the river comes in. We had read that the fishing is better there. It was a beautiful hike, but the end result was not what we had anticipated. All those that had their licenses carried their fishing poles and gear with them, but when we could see the edge of the lake, due to it being so low, it would still be quite a hike to the river and then another mile or more back down to the lake and it looked muddy and not deep enough to fish in. That was disappointing, so we sat down, took a snack break, then turned around and headed back out. You could see that if the lake was at it's normal high depth, the fishing would be better and the view would be spectacular. Truly a lake among the forest. Anyway, I loved the hike...the trail wound through the woods, over muddy spots with glimpses of the lake along the way, and the best part of all is I was doing it with my family. Even if the 4 year old had a major melt down and his 3 year old sister traded places with him in the carrier and all this made the going slow, it was still absolutely wonderful.

Our family prefers to camp outside of paid campgrounds. That means no running water, electricity nor picnic tables. We provide all our own via trailers with bathrooms (which we share with those that are tenting it), water storage in the trailers plus 4 or 5 - 5 gallon water containers, and generators. We love it this way, we can be as loud and obnoxious as we want and can run our generators way into the night.

Alisha and Randy found this beautiful, secluded spot

Hiking around Moon Lake

The North East end of the lake which was supposed to have the best fishing

What would camping be without one of Dennis' dutch oven cobblers

Oh, how the kids played and had so much fun.

Playing card games

Nightly trailer baths

The best part of camping....SITTING AROUND THE CAMPFIRE!

It is always sad when we have to clean up and say goodbye to another great weekend outdoors. The trip home was an adventurous one as not quite half way, Steve and Amanda's truck had a serpentine belt break and they were stranded on the side of the road for over 4 hours while we drove home, dropped off the kids, picked up a new belt and took it back to them. I am so glad we carpooled together and were there to help them out. But after the little delay we all made it home safe and sound. I'm afraid our camping trips for the year are over and that makes me more than a little sad.

Preserving the summer harvest

Today I have been busy drying peppermint leaves (for herbal tea), tomatoes (aka sun dried), zucchini chips (great healthy snack), apple leather(with honey and cinnamon), and freezing sliced bell peppers (for Fajitas this winter). I feel like a squirrel preparing my stores for a long winter.

I also cleaned out the fridge which was badly in need of it. There is nothing like cleanliness, and clean windows and a clean fridge all in one week is amazing. Now to get the floors and bathrooms done.

Whoever coined the phrase "The lazy days of summer", must have been a kid. I can't remember a lazy summer since I was a kid myself. But I do love the long summer days filled with sunshine.

A day at the beach and other daily trivia

What a wonderful day this has been. It seemed like a breath of fresh air after the stressful week I have had.

To start off, I exercised, which is always fun especially when friends come and exercise with me. Then I planted the new Echinacea plant I bought at Costco yesterday. I have been wanting one of these for a few years, but have been to lazy to check out the local nurseries, so when I saw the plant just sitting there waiting for me to take it home, how could I not. After I finished planting it, I decided that it was time to finally put the pink edgers around that flower bed. That was the last thing that needed to be done from roto-tilling up a good chunk of lawn this spring and turning it into a garden. Then it was on to edging and mowing the lawn. I always love how the yard looks after it's mowed.

The area of lawn that was tilled under and turned into my new garden plot. All the sticks in the ground show where and what kind of seeds are planted. This picture is sometime in mid May.

The same area as the picture above, now covered with Cucumbers, Zucchini, Crook Neck Squash, Honeydew, Early Dew, Casaba, Crenshaw, Cantaloupe and watermelons. Spaghetti and other various types of winter squash, one baby pumpkin, raspberries and potatoes.

Echinacea plant and edging pavers. The pavers are level, but the grass is not.

Then Amanda, Malinda and I met up with Alisha at the reservoir in Spanish Fork. None of us had ever been there before. It is a really fun place to visit and it is free. The water was colder than I had anticipated, but most of the kids didn't seem to mind it. The adults played in the water with the kids for awhile, then we sat on the beach and visited while watching the kids have fun digging in the sand and playing at the waters edge. What a nice relaxing afternoon. (I need to get pictures from Alisha).

Bitter Sweet GOODBYES

It was so hard to get up Sunday morning. I am not a late night person, and all this week I was up way past my bedtime. But it was all well worth the sacrifices. At least we didn't have to perform on lack of sleep as they did. We fixed them a quick breakfast and were out the door. We had to have them back to the Springville Art Museum to catch a bus for the airport. It was hard saying goodbye to our new friends from Spain. As is the tradition, we sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again". Someone had copies of it in Spanish so we sang it in Spanish to the best of our ability. If it wasn't for the solemness of the occasion, they probably would have laughed at our pronunciations.

Then they were off to Las Vegas for a few days, then on to Bountiful for the Bountiful Folkfest.

Springville Folkfest Saturday July 31

This morning we all met at Alisha's house for a breakfast of bacon, sausage and pancakes. It meant getting up a little early because they wanted to go swimming after breakfast. I couldn't stay and play with them at the pool because we had a Nash Family Reunion that night that I wasn't ready for. So I dropped them off at the pool, went and got some copies that Paco had asked for of "The Star Bangled Banner", dropped them off at Alisha's house, stopped by the pool to see if everyone was having fun, then headed home to make my salad and gather all the stuff I needed to take to the reunion. I heard from the girls later that they ordered everyone out of the pool for 30 minutes due to some kid throwing up in it. Glad I wasn't there for that.

I would like to vent a frustration for just a minute if I am allowed to. Please forgive me, but I am not happy with the spinach at Costco anymore. I have been buying it in the large bags for the past 2 years now, but in the past few months, no matter what date it is supposed to last until, it always goes slimy and gross within just a few days of opening it. It is very frustrating to me. I bought a bag on Wednesday and the good until date was Aug. 5th. We opened it up on Thursday to put some in a salad Amanda was making, and by Saturday when I went to make my Spinach-Strawberry salad, it was half rotten. I spent much more time than I had planned on just washing the gross off of the good. There, now I feel better. Lesson learned, don't buy spinach from Costco anymore.

Dennis wasn't feeling much better this morning, but at least the diarrhea was gone and he wasn't throwing up, even though he was still nauseous. He had to go into work for a few hours, poor guy. He came home and rested while I finished getting things ready. Even though I left the swimming pool long before my girls, they beat us up the canyon to Mutual Dell where the reunion was being held (due to the spinach washing). Anyway, we all had a good time. It was the Blanco's turn to plan and they did a great job. We spent 3 hours doing the zip line. Everyone went down except dad and myself. I couldn't go due to my broken/cracked ribs, and dad felt he was too fragile to go. At 73 he has every right to not want to take chances and injure himself, even though some of the family tried to goad him into going down.

Amanda and A (during the ride)

Amanda and A (notice the tear streaked face - she is usually the dare devil of the group, but apparently she didn't like the zip line)

Malinda (and many of the younger generation) played like monkey's.

My mom all harnessed up and ready to go. Amanda, R, C, and T watching.

The look on P's face tells it all.

Little Miss K. didn't like it too well.

Even though he was not feeling well, Dennis couldn't pass up all the fun.

I had to bribe Miss LaLa to ride it with her mother. It's amazing what a child will do for a piece of penny candy.

Getting all harnessed up

After the zip line we had a yummy dinner of pulled or barbecued pork (no I did not eat any), rolls, spinach/strawberry salad, frogeye salad, relish tray, fresh tomatoes, watermelon, and dessert. During dinner, the Stone family sang the most hilarious song that Calvin wrote about Bob and eating. After dinner a few of the grandkids braved singing karaoke. Then the party broke up and we headed back to the Art's Park for the last performance from our beloved Spain group. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare. I was so tired, it was all I could do to keep my eyes open during their performance. After they finished I curled up on the blanket, put my jacket under my head and fell asleep, sound asleep, until it was over and someone woke me up. It was a happy/sad occasion for me knowing this was the last night of performances and we missed the first half and I fell asleep during most of the second half.

Afterwards we all headed to Carol's house and went up to the room above her garage that looks totally cool. It looks like the inside of a large old cabin and is decorated with hundreds of antiques. My dream room. She had sandwiches and snacks for everyone and the Spaniards had beer and we sat around listening to them play until 1:30 in the morning. Finally I told them I was sorry to be a party pooper, but I had to take Dennis home to bed. He looked like he had fallen asleep in his chair, but later he told me he was trying to not throw up. He had been sitting near the food table and it was making his stomach turn something awful. I actually think that everyone was glad to call it a night. We got home sometime after 2:00am, and we had to be up the next morning at 8:00 so they could pack their bags before we took them to be bussed to the airport.

Springville Folkfest Friday July 30

Another day of no morning practices, so after sleeping in and a breakfast of American Omelettes we were off to play Laser Tag. We all met at Nickel City and while they played I ran some errands for work and then went back to Nickel City to wait for them and hand sewed several patches onto Miguel's cape. Then it was back home to get ready for the potluck at Carol's house. Carol lives in Mapleton and lives in a house that was built in the 1880's. It is beautifully restored. We all just sat around, ate, visited, and enjoyed the music the Spaniards played. They truly love playing their instruments and singing. After a great afternoon it was off to the Art's Park and another great night of performances. The Spaniards are very good at adapting and that is what Antonio and Javier did due to Antonio's sore shoulder. He could still dance and play the tambourine, just not throw the cape.

Dennis woke up this morning feeling very sick with the flu, but he went to work anyway. As the day wore on, he got worse, and was dehydrated from all the throwing up and diarrhea. He couldn't get hold of the doctor, so he went to the emergency room and spent several hours there. I wasn't able to be with him as I was busy with the Spaniards. He had to have a neighbor bring him home from the hospital because he couldn't drive due to the drugs they gave him, then he spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on the couch sleeping until we got home around midnight.

Springville Folkfast Thursday July 29

Got to sleep in a little bit this morning, but because I let them sleep in they had a typical breakfast from Spain...coffee or milk and toast. We met the others in Payson for a day trip up Payson Canyon. First stop was "The Grotto". I had never been there before and it is a beautiful waterfall at the end of a short hike. As usual, the Spaniards carried their instruments and serenaded us for about an hour. Several of them braved the cold water and took a dip under the waterfall. Then we drove up to Payson lake and had a picnic of chicken pasta salad, watermelon, wheat rolls, pumpernickel bread, baguettes, chips, veggie tray and smore's dessert. I found it interesting that the Spaniards choose the pumpernickel bread. Some played volleyball, some took naps, and some of us had a wonderful conversation with Paco about vegetarianism and eating healthy. He and his wife are vegetarians. Then we drove up to Devils Kitchen. Then on to home for them to take a quick shower and be back at the Art's Park.

Tonights performances were once again amazing. During the Spaniards performance we noticed that during the dance part, Antonio walked off stage and when Javier turned around to do the next part, his partner was not there and he saw Antonio off stage (all of this actually happened quite quickly). We could see the obvious concern on Javiers face and he wasn't sure what to do, so he just walked behind the singers and walked off stage as well. The group kept singing as if nothing was wrong, but we all knew that something was wrong, so Alisha, Amanda and I all ran down to see if there was anything we could do as we had come to think of them as family by this time. We found out that Antonia had dislocated his shoulder while swinging his cape (these are very heavy wool capes) and they were trying to help him get it to go back in. He was in such pain. Patrice from the Folkfest took him to the first aid room and called the EMT's. They took him to UVRMC. Paco and Javier went to the hospital with him and the rest of the group hung around with such somber faces. We had no idea how long Antonio would be at the hospital, and the Folkfest had now ended, so we decided that Dennis and Amanda should take the little kids home, the group members that were with Carol and Val should go home and Alisha and I would stay since we each had someone we were hosting at the hospital and they had no other way home. Amanda's guys stayed with us and I would take them to her house when Paco, Javier and Antonio got back from the hospital. We finally got home about 1:00. Antonio was feeling good as they gave him morphine at the hospital, and his shoulder was back in place. He wad told that he had to be very careful for 2 weeks, but could never throw the cape again. After a typical midnight snack we all went to bed. I went to bed wondering how the nights events would change their performances for the rest of the festival.

Folkfest Day 3 - Wed. July 28

Today we got to sleep in and then Dennis made them fried potatoes, scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast and they seemed to really like it. They had to be at BYU to play and answer questions to one of the dance classes. You can see photo's and a video clip here. While they were doing that, Amanda and I ran to the grocery store and Costco. We only had 45 minutes to do our shopping for the week and get gas. It never fears that when you are in a great hurry, that is when everyone moves extra slow. We were 15 minutes late getting back. Even though Alisha and Randy were with the Spaniards the entire time, Amanda's and I's group wandered away from them and went looking for my car. When we got back to BYU no one knew where they were. Just as we were about to panic, I got a phone call from Cesar. They had stopped at a Jamba Juice nearby since they could not find my car and borrowed someone's cell phone and called me. Thank goodness the Folkfest had us fill out wallet sized cards with our name, address and phone numbers in such cases as this. When I went into Jamba Juice to get them, they were playing and singing to the employees there. It was awesome.

We were supposed to meet the rest of the host families from our group at Nun's Park for a picnic. We ended up being an hour late due to our being late from shopping and loosing them/hunting for them. We had a good lunch of chicken (we had both fried and rotisserie chicken available and the rotisserie was all eaten and very little of the fried), potato salad, watermelon, vegetable tray and chips. After lunch we walked up to Bridal Veil Falls. They carried their instruments up with them, and after walking to a rock in the middle of the water, played a song for everyone there.

We had to leave there in a hurry in order for them to be back to the Arts Park for a 5:30 sound check (the sound people really dropped the ball the night before and made special arrangements to have this early practice before the other countries come at 6:00. Of course, we were all late once again. Tonight was another night of great (and different) performances. We got home at 12:30 and they wanted to eat for their snack what they had last night.

Springville Worldwide Folkfest 2010

We just ended another wonderful and exhausting week of hosting for the Folkfest. It was an awesome experience. This year Alisha, Amanda and I wanted to all host from the same country and it worked out so beautifully. Alisha was the country chair for Spain which meant she was in charge of finding host families and was in charge of making sure all the other host families for Spain knew the schedule which was constantly changing. The country chairs host the director of the group and then assigns the performers to those hosting. I am amazed at how Heavenly Father plays a role in all of this, because as for my daughters and myself, we couldn't have been better matched.
For a more detailed account of what we did each day, check out Alisha's blog here.

All the host families minus Val's family and the Spaniards.

Antonio, Me, Cesar, and Javier

Alisha's family with Miguel and Paco (the groups director)

Amanda's family with Jose and Jesus

The Spaniards in costume which they wore quite often even in this heat.


They play such beautiful music and they love to sing anywhere and everywhere. We had two Jesus' in the group so I dubbed one as Beach Boy Jesus. He loved singing American songs and really got into it, and his voice was incredible as was all of them. What amazing talent!

Every time people come into our lives we are changed forever, and this time was no exception. Was it hard....that depends, late nights and early mornings are hard on anyone, showing our beautiful state...not hard, building friendships...not hard, constantly on the go...challenging, saying goodbye to dear friends from around the world....EXTREMELY DIFFICULT!!! What a wonderful opportunity to share this incredible experience with my children and grandchildren.

Day one-Monday July 26th...
We picked up our performers at the Springville Art Museum at 12:30pm. I was privileged to have Antonio,Javier
and Cesar
I took them home, gave them a snack and thought they might rest from their early morning flight from New York, but instead, being Antonio and Javier were the dancers they spent the afternoon practicing. (this group has been together for over 20 years. They live all across Spain and 1 in France, so they only meet together this one time a year when they travel to Festivals and play together. This is the only time the dancers have to practice). We had to have them back to the Springville Art Museum by 6:00 pm as they were performing for the Mayors Reception. Only Folkfest committee members and country chairs(and spouses) and some other invited guests were invited to attend. Randy didn't want to go with Alisha, so she invited me. After the Mayors Reception was the street dance in the parking lot where all the countries come and teach a simple dance to the host families and anyone in the community who want to come and participate. The Spaniards did not have to go to this since they performed, so they wanted to go to a local Restaurant and eat something. The closest one we knew of was the new Magleby's on 200 South and Main in Springville. Alisha, Randy, Clay, Tyler and myself ate with them and start to get to know them. We were in bed that night by midnight.

Tuesday-July 27th
Up at 6:30 am to exercise, then get them up, feed them an American breakfast of oatmeal, toast and deviled eggs(which they hardly touched), and coffee(I didn't know until just before they came that you can buy coffee in singles packets that they dip in hot water). They had to be at the Springville Art Park at 8:30 am, I think we got there at 8:50. I was always pushing them to hurry along all week. After dropping them off I had to come back home to work. We picked them up at noon and drove up to Kelly's Grove in Hobble Creek canyon for a picnic that was put on for everyone that was in anyway connected to the folkfest. The Spaniards took their instruments with them everywhere they went and always played.
After the picnic they stayed and practiced again as a group until about 3:00pm, then we came back home, they showered, rested for a bit, while I made spaghetti and lettuce salad. I picked up Amanda's 2 and with my 3 we had a car full, headed back to the Art's Park for their 6:00pm rehearsal. Tonight was the opening of the Folkfest, so Alisha,Randy and I put up chairs and blankets to save space for all the family coming later. Tonights performances were awesome. The groups this year came from Spain, Nepal, Inner Mongolia, Korea, France, Czech Republic, Paraguay, along with 3 local groups - Rocky Mountain Express(cloggers, Morning Star(Native American dancers), and Voice of Polynesia(Polynesia dancers).
We got home about midnight, fed them a snack...they all wanted toast (they love wheat bread), Cesar always wanted coffee, Antonio always had water, and Javier had milk or water.

More Summer Fun

Tyler was baptized on July 3. We are so proud of him and his decision to be baptized.



Afterwards we all went to Salem Pond and had a picnic. Good food, family and friends and fun times.

Summer Fun

We have had so much fun this summer. Here are some of the adventures.

We visited the Lava Tubes near Meadow, UT over the Memorial Day Weekend. We camped just outside of Yuba Lake and spent Saturday climbing through the lava tubes which was a lot of fun. We picnicked at the edge of a big white sand hill, from which several in our party got bitten by sand fleas or something. Very unpleasant for those bitten. After the lava tubes we went to some hot springs nearby. That was also fun (but I didn't get any pictures of it, DARN)
Inside a cavern

Coming out of the tubes


The kids loved it. Malinda walked through it all BAREFOOT! Crazy girl. She did pay the price when walking topside by getting stickers in her feet.

Where we started


When we were all done at the hot pots, Brian and Malinda noticed they had a flat tire. Not fun for them. It was about 7:30 at night and Meadow is not a very big town, which probably didn't even have a service station. Once they got the doughnut on, they had to drive to the next bigger town and luckily found a tire shop that had not yet closed.

Some people read

While others fixed lunch

Shooting trees with rubber band guns

The kids had fun catching fish....good thing they didn't care they were CARP!