EXCITING NEWS

I had a chicken carcass ( mostly meat)  that I had frozen. Pat gave us a roasted chicken, beans, potato salad and dessert when I had my 1st eye surgery. She is so sweet and good to us. Anyway, I took it out and boiled it and then picked all the meat off and made a chicken soup. I also made cornbread muffins.

We ate it on Monday after we had visited our friends who are in care centers. When we got home, I threw in some noodles and Tony and I ate while watching POLDARK. 

Tuesday morning, Tony and I went to the temple alone. The Brown's are having family problems and could not  get away from home and Lynn is still in Utah. We each did an endowment and then two hours of sealings. It was a productive day as we completed 66 ordinances. We were happy. We got out to the car and I was scrolling through my phone as Tony was driving home.  I saw this announcement.

We have been waiting for a long time to hear where the new Caldwell temple will be. There have been numerous guesses and most of them say, "I have this on good authority"....  It's been so funny and fun to speculate. FINALLY, we know where it is going to be and we are so excited because it will be 5 to 10 minutes away from our house, depending on the traffic. It is down Orchard to Florida. Easy Peasy for us.

Tony and I drove out to the location and timed it back to our house. It's gonna be a quick drive for sure. 
 It will be several years before it is built but it's coming.  Now the wait. Tony and I will surely be put into this temple district and when we are I am NOT going to serve on the Saturday AM shift anymore. I told Tony, it's going to be on a mid shift during the week. We've been on the Saturday AM shift for 8 years now and I am getting too old to be getting up that early!

JUST SAYING!  LOL 

Nonetheless, it is exciting news and we are looking forward to having a temple so close!!  Really, it's amazing!

GOD IS GOOD!

MEMORIAL DAY

Monday was MEMORIAL DAY and we didn't have plans other than Tony wanted to mow the lawns and go to the gym. He took care of ours early because he wanted to get it done before it got super hot. It was going to get up into the 90's. When he was done, he met Tammy and little Tony at Lynn's house at 9am. Little Tony has started a lawn mowing business and so far, Lynn is his only customer. Tony is trying to teach him the ropes and how to do a good job so his customers will be happy and want him to continue. He's done it twice now and it's a bit frustrating for Grandpa. lol  Kid's don't have the same idea of a good job as Grandpa does. 

While he was gone, I went through the yard and took notice of my plants. The flowers Mara gave me for Mother's Day years ago, just keep coming back and making me happy! I had cut them waaaay back this spring and they are just now coming up good and blooming. I LOVE THEM!

The yard is looking so nice. Tony mows right now until my eyes are completely healed. Soon, I'll be doing it again.

It won't be long and my colorful lilies will be opening up. They have some nice buds on them!

My Foxglove is blooming nicely. The hard wind we had a few day ago had it bent over pretty good so I tied it up. It will be fine and when it's all in bloom, it will be beautiful!

I wish I could remember the name of this one. I got it from Lynn and it comes back every year with pretty pink blossoms on it. 

They haven't started yet.

The front yard looks great too. We are thinking of having the house painted this year but haven't got anyone to do it yet. It's peeling a lot in places.  There's always something to do. Tony has promised to get me new house shades this year as well. I'm getting rid of the slated shades in the house and going with the pull down one's like his mother got. So much easier to clean and they provide good privacy.

After Tony got home, we went to the gym and walked with Pat. She was having a BBQ with her daughter and son in law at their home. I went home and boiled a chicken and then turned it on low while Tony and I went to visit Brother Hollingsworth. He is in a care center and is on Hospice. His wife was with him. She spend most of her time there to be close to him. She is a painter and has all her paints in his room and paints a lot of the time if he is sleeping. The 4 walls in his room are covered with her beautiful work.  I loved this particular one and she took it off the wall and gave it to me. 

Tony is going to build me a frame for it. I am really impressed with her talent.  I absolutely love the colors in this one. It was so sweet of her to give it to me.  When we went in to see Mark, it was hotter than all get out. When we left, the wind had come up, the sky was dark and it started to rain. Not heavy but we could tell it was really coming down in Boise. The temp was incredibly cooler. It was nice. We then drove over to Cascadia of Nampa to visit Sister Jenkins. She had taken another fall. She was back in her neck brace and her face was so swollen and black and blue. She looked miserable. The poor dear. She is the sweetest lady and I hate to see her so beat up. I am glad we went to visit the two of them. I told Tony, rather than visiting the dead, lets visit the living. It was a good idea.

When we got home, I finished the book that was written by a sister I minister to. She and her older sister live together and I visit them both. I was so impressed by Lorraine's writing. She is so expressive and has so many twists and turns in  this book, that it really held my attention. I was telling my friend Pat about it and she said she wishes it was a movie, she'd watch it. lol She doesn't like to read. 

Any way, Memorial Day was a good day. 

Wednesday, Tony used a tool that Pat bought to poke holes in the grass and all around the roots of our flowering cherry tree. Then He  put a mixture of THRIVE and another item together and sprayed it all over the wholes and grass. It is supposed to put iron into our tree. It has been turning yellow and the leaves dry up. We had a yard guy come last year and he said, It's normal, all the trees around here look like that because we don't have enough iron in the soil in this area." 

He didn't say he could do anything about it so we are doing it ourselves. It already looks better so we won't be using him anymore.

It took Tony a bit of time and we did two mixtures of the stuff so hope it helps permanently. 

My pots are doing well. The IRIS is nearly done blooming. Sure wished they lasted longer. They are so pretty!

Tony finally finished his 2000 piece puzzle. It's pretty cool. If I knew if any of the kids would like it, I'd have Tony build a frame for it but then a lot of the kids like STAR WAR'S so it might be a fight. lol

We are watching POLDARK each  night as a little TV time.

I like Poldark and handsome. lol

ANDREW'S GRADUATION

Another day at the gym and a fun visit with Pat. She sure makes exercising better and easier to do because the time passes so quickly as we visit.  We came home and ate a quick bite and then Tony was off to get some brackets for the fence. He found a real deal and had to be quick to take advantage . When he got home, we left for Andrew's graduation. We parked at the Birch building again and walked over. Traci parked there as well and she and Isabel were there and waiting in line. However, when we got there shortly after her the line had grown to ridiculous lengths. 

They finally opened up more gates and we moved along fairly rapidly and we were finally in! We found Traci and Isabel and the four of us sat together. The graduation was bigger by about 100 students than was Ridgeview. Amazing! Kuna has really grown!

It went relatively fast though. One Valedictorian speaker and he was pretty short.  Andrew receiving his diploma!!

Then they would walk to the back of the auditorium and all the teachers would greet them.  Andrew's to the left of the person with the bit of orange in the middle of this picture.

Graduation over and the kids are throwing their hats.

We met outside and found Andrew pretty quickly!

Mom stealing a kiss!

We got a picture with him as well!

MOM, ANDREW & BELLE!

They are sure cute siblings!

We visited a bit, congratulated him and then we left. We walked back to the church to get the car and then headed to Costco to eat. lol  Tony loves the ice cream there so he got a sandwich and an ice cream. I settled for a hot dog and drink. Came home and I barely had time to get to book club. We had a good discussion at Klynns and then I came home. It's been a long day and I was tired.

GOD IS GOOD!

BEGINNING'S OF THE FENCE REPAIR

On Tuesday, we went to the gym early because I had the Silver Sister Luncheon at 11 am. Pat wanted to come again with me so we worked out early. The luncheon was fun. We did Chair Yoga and I didn't think it was going to be much of a workout but we were both sore the next day. Obviously, it worked muscles we don't use when we walk. lol While we were gone, Tony went to ourchance boards for the fence repair.  Later in the day, I helped him unload and take the boards eo the shed in the back yard. The little wagon he has was filled to overflowing when we started.

We'd already taken one load to the back yard when I took this picture. We made the mistake of using a little wagon to haul them back and when we went to pull it, it tipped backwards and we had to unload all the wood and start over on a bigger wagon.

This one worked MUCH BETTER!!

The loads were pretty good size and we did this three times.  Tony had to load all of them onto a cart at the store, then load them all into his trailor so this was his third time unloading them ...poor guy!

Then we unloaded them and stacked them in the new shed until he and Patrick can fix the fence. It's planned for the 1st part of June sometime. After we get back from Utah.

This was what we were looking for! lol

We got three stacks of lumber piles up when we finished. Glad that's over with. We are getting to old for this kind of hard work. lol

After going in the house, I noticed the plant that Pat gave me when Joyce died. It looked thirsty!  I didn't mean for this to happen, so I hurriedly gave it some water.

Wednesday morning, it was back to normal. I was so glad because it really is a nice plant. Definitely don't want to kill it.

I've been tending to Katie Kat since Monday. Shawn and Suzette took off for a graduation in Arizona. They will be back Saturday night and then I'll tend her again in June when they go to McCall camping. She's a good kitty. Yesterday, we went to the temple and so we walked in the afternoon when we got home. Pat waits for me. She's so sweet!

Tony went to the store again after we got home and bought the poles, cement and bigger boards for the fence. I stayed home and did laundry and read my book. Around 8:15, I called him and asked if he was OK. I was getting worried. He said he was home and unloading and would be in shortly. I'd have gone out to help him, but didn't even realize he was home. When he came in, we watched an episode of POLDARK (and handsome) and then went to bed.

It was a great day and God Is Good!

YARD WORK

We were on the boulevard today and saw the water running in the new park display they built in front of

TRACTOR SUPPLY!

It's really quite pretty. 

It'd be prettier up closer but this is what ya get when ya drive by! lol

After Tony finished the lawn mowing, I went out to check out my plants. Things are growing nicely. My Hen and Chicks are doing better now that I've split them up.  Here is the ones I had to pull some out of. It's still overflowing.

I repotted some into another planter box, and after replanting them over and over, because the dang squirrels kept digging them up to bury a nut, they are finally growing large enough that the rodents aren't bothering them anymore. YAY!!

The Quintz are looking better too, as are the Hydrangeas. 

These Lillies are budding out and will be blooming soon.

I'm pleased with what the yard is doing. Tony fertilized the yard a week ago and it is amazing how quickly the grass is responding.

GRADUATIONS AND MORE GRADUATIONS

Sunday was my 1st time in Primary! IT WAS SO FUN!!   I am excited to be working with the little kids again. They were all so darling. One little girl is autistic and can't speak. She is 11 years old, small, and her dad plays the piano for singing time. She took a shine to me and stood on my feet, sat on my lap, hugged me and held my hands. She left at one point to go see her dad and another little girl said, "Can I sit on your lap?"   It was so sweet!  After church, we had LINGER LONGER. We were going to eat outside but it was windy and cold so we stayed in the gym. I had made BBQ meatballs and besides some sandwiches, baked beans and a green bean casserole, everything else was sweets except for one salad. lol It was good though.The real food went fast . lol

In the evening at 6, we went to the BIRCH Building for the SEMINARY GRADUATION.

It was so nice. There were somewhere around 20 students and our Scotlyn was one of them!

Of course, that's why we went! lol

Proud Momma and Papa!

It was a wonderful Sunday and a great way to finish it seeing her graduate from Seminary. We went home and got to bed early because we needed to get up at 6am and go to the gym so we could be home by 9 and get ready to go to Scotlyn's high school graduation at 10.

Scott sent me pictures of her that he took before going to the

 Idaho Center.

She's sure a pretty girl. We are so proud of her.

We drove to the Birch Building and parked in the lot there and walked over to the Idaho Center. They are charging $10 dollars to park now and we didn't want to pay that much. Besides, the walk is not that far and it doesn't hurt to get a little more exercise.

Yeah, we're cheap, we admit it.

We found Scott and Jill as he was saving spots for us as well as Jill's mom, sister, niece and Claire and Lincoln. When we got there, we helped save the seats and Scott went down on the floor to get some pictures. He got Scotlyn and Porter.

And he got one of him and his baby girl!

Here she is standing while we all stood till all the graduates came in .

Seated while the program continued. It only lasted and hour and 50 minutes. It was great! There were several speakers but they were all brief!  We loved it!!  Best Graduation ever! lol

And here is what we waited for. Scotlyn receiving her diploma!

When it was over, we went out to meet her on the grassy area. It was windy and chilly again and I was so glad I wore my sweatshirt.

After getting her goodie lei, we got a picture of her and her little buddy, Lincoln! Our Great grandson.

Porter and Scotlyn

Flowers from Mom and dad.

Grandpa Scott and his grandson, Lincoln

Grandpa Tony, Scotlyn and Grandma Vernie

Mom and daughter

Dad and daughter

Scotlyn, Mostyn (brother) and Lincoln

Mom, and dad and Scotlyn

Grandpa and his grandson

SO CUTE!

After all the pictures, Tony and I walked back to the Birch building and Stillman and Michelle showed up to follow us to the Green's Club House for the after graduation party.

Scott and Jill had a wonderful luncheon prepared for a lot of friends and family. It was wonderful. We ate and visited and then we left to make more room for those who arrived later. 

Stillman and Michelle came over so I could give Jayden his Graduation card. His graduation is on Sunday the 30th and we are leaving on the 29th for Utah and won't be able to go to Jayden's graduation in Lewiston. 

Michelle took a picture of us with the boys and then they left to head home. The boys were missing school today so they could come to the graduation and still have 11 days of school left before they are out for the summer.  After they left, Tony mowed the lawn and I went up to clean the floor in the bathroom. Now that my eyes are clear, I see dirt EVERYWHERE! lol It's great but I've got some serious cleaning to do now that I can see it. lol  Been a good day!

GOD IS GOOD!~