The good, the bad and the ugly

The good:

We had a really nice trip to Utah. This is my mom and Kevra at Cameron where we stopped for a Navajo taco. (The best anywhere.) The weather was very cooperative and we enjoyed the cool Mt. Timpanogas scenery. Kevra had fun at EFY. She chose poorly in the shoe department, lots of walking. She felt like her spiritual batteries had been recharged and made lots of new friends.

Mom and I enjoyed the hospitality of my aunt and uncle's home. They fed us well and we had fun visiting. My cousins and their families came over one evening for dinner and we had fun getting requainted. Here is a picture of me and the 3 cousins that live there. One day my aunt, my mom and I went to SLC to see the art exhibit. It is an lds international exhibit they have every 3 years. It has all kinds of mediums; from paintings to sculpture, to quilts, carvings, stained glass, etc... There are over 1000 entries and they pick 200 to show. This year they put it in the conference center on the main floor (it is usually in the church history museum, 2nd floor) I LOVED it! I really enjoy looking at the art and seeing where it was made and reading the little blurb about what the artist was thinking when they created it. If you go to lds.org and click church history, then museum, then competition. My favorites were flight, love, lead me guide me, tree of life 2, to name a few. After the museum, we ate lunch at the Lion House Pantry then rode the trax up to the U of U, my mom went there about 55 years ago. This is a picture of my mom (rt) and my Aunt Jerri. Mom is 77 and Jerri is 70. It was a fun day and I wore both of them out.

I worked on a quilt while I was at their house and mom and my aunt did some family history. I really appreciate them letting us stay, it was a blessing for us. We drove all the way home on Saturday after we picked up Kevra at 7 am in Provo. This is picture just heading down onto the res from Page. It was stormy most of the way home.Kevra drove some going up and coming back, which helped me out, since my mom doesn't drive much anymore. Oh, on the way up we were going to stop in Page to spend the night, but had not made reservations. I usually do, but we had changed our plans and went on to Page. There were no rooms anywhere. We started to drive on to Kanab and called Sterling to get online and find us a room. We lost contact with him until we got to Kanab, no rooms, not in Hurricane either. He found one in St. George after some searching. I drove all the way there. We pulled in just before 2am. It was crazy. I had planned to go up 89, but 'the best layed plans...'

The bad:

There were some events at home while we were gone. This is the worst one-Sterling got laid off from his job. There is no easy way to say it, so I just put it out there. I won't bore you with the details, only to say, it wasn't a complete suprise, though we had been hoping it wouldn't happen. It is kinda scary to be out of work in our economy. They did give him 3 1/2 months severence pay and I just got my big check from work, but it will become a challenge when all that runs out if he has not found a job. I am a glass half full kind of person, so am thinking positive thoughts and have no doubt he will find a job. I am trusting the Lord to take care of us, as long as we do our part. Keep us in your prayers.

The ugly:

The other thing that happened at home while we were gone is that Barkley bit someone, hard, he needed 2 stitches. It was a friend of Jordon's and they were coming in the door after being at his house. The friend came in first and noone was home, so I think they just startled him. He has never chomped down like that before. He has bitten kids, 10 years ago, but never drew blood. At any rate, the boy is going to be okay, thank goodness, and Barkley is under house arrest from the Canine crew until Monday. I have wondered if we should put him to sleep. He is almost 15 years old and doesn't hear or see very well anymore. I told Sterling, when he goes blind, that's it. I keep waiting for him to drop dead, but he keeps hanging on. Too onery to die:)

So, there you go. Never a dull moment.