Trip to Wenatchee with Adyson

Adyson and I both wore pink on purpose so we could match! So of course we had to take a picture. Dear sweet Ady. We love her so much.
Adyson is with us for daycare on Mondays and Fridays starting with the Friday because her brothers all are in school. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday she is in a daycare/preschool for the social benefit of being with other children.

It was cloudy when we left Stanwood and rained a little bit on Stevens Pass.
I now know why I love the NW so much. The beauty of the mountains and the evergreens is phenomenal.
Pine trees growing right up the side of the mountain. They don't care as long as Mother Nature gives them plenty of water.

I wanted to get these line of trees on the very top of the mountain, but what I got was an awesome view of the change from overcast to sunny. It was very sudden. All at once the sun was upon us.
My uncle Rex is my real Mom's half brother. He and his wife Ella (as in Enchanted?) welcomed us and we had a nice visit. They even had great grandkids for Ady to play with so she disappeared for nice little while to have some kid's fun.
Their grandson, Lance Larson went to Taiwan, China on his mission and then went back to teach in a private high school while at BYU. So we had plenty of questions for him.

Ella is 81 and Rex is turning 84 in Dec. She had a reoccurence of breast cancer from 25 years ago and just had a mastecomy in May. Rex has congestive heart disease. He recently spent a few days in the hospital in Wenatchee so they could drain the excess fluid from his body that had accumlated. He was on water pills, but even then his legs were very, very swollen. He is also on oxygen. When we came in there were 25 foot long tubes for his oxygen canister so he could travel around his big rambler at will even with the oxygen hooked up. He now is on two water pills a day. Ella says they are both slowing down a lot. Still they manage to do the peach orchard (a small one). They are amazing people and I am proud to be related. He is also the Patriarch in their stake.
Leavenworth is a resort town where most of the buildings are built like an old German town. This is one example.
We had to make the token stop at McDonalds so Adyson could have a Happy Meal. The Heltons kept telling me she looks so much like me.

Anyway, the long and short of it is we got 4 boxes of peaches, two of which are going to my friend Cindy. I've decided to take it easier this year and not can. So we will eat them. They pick them ripe off the tree and they are huge. Guess what we will be eating and sharing with our friends for the next two weeks. I may freeze some to have in cobblers.

Laboring on Labor Day.

We have traveled away from home this summer quite often for extended periods of time. As a result our yard needed a make-over big time.

So today we labored in our front yard pulling those noxious looking weeds. Frank took one part and I took another area. The first hour was un-eventful and very enjoyable. We were able to begin to see the results of our hard work. The next two hours were not so enjoyable. The rain came, first a little smattering of tiny raindrops, then a little drizzle. Then the real duluge started. We felt the constant stream of wet, wet, wet and more wet raindrops on our sweatshirts. I finally went in the house and grabbed a baseball hat to protect my head. Soon we were both so soaked that we had to come in.

Then, in the pouring deluge of rain I hastily ran to the garage and grabbed my Costco sized container of “Preen.” It is supposed to control the weeds for up to 3 months. However, the last time I used it I neglected to notice that the weeds will come back if you don’t re-apply it every three months. I was un-detered from the rain. I don’t want to do this weeding again in 3 months!

My husband was kind of mad at me that I was out in the rain so long since I am a cancer patient in chemo. I just calmly told him I would take a super hot shower when I came in, which I did. Boy, did it feel great. I did not realize how cold my body was from being outside so long. I had to stand under the shower for an extended period of time to warm up.

The only one seeming to enjoy the raindrops is our white swan. You can see the raindrops falling from the roof of the house and forming a pool for our dear little swan.
Little tiny grains of "Preen."
This is the area that Frank weeded, and it got a good shot of Preen too.
This is tall wastebasket which I had filled with weeds twice. This is the last of the muddy weeds that accumulated in the bottom.

Muddy hatchet and muddy, muddy, gucky gloves. So much for summer. It's bye, bye I'm afraid.
I love this hatchet tool It has a hatchet on one end and a three pronged hoe on the other. It is a very handy tool for yard work.

Temple Square

Beautiful historic Joseph Smith Building.

We are all tired from walking Temple Sqaure. David and Rach just ran a half marathon that morning of 13.1 miles. Sunday they were poppin' ibuprofen 'cause of sore, sore muscles.

Terrin is playing the bad guy here on purpose. He's 11. Thats what eleven year olds do right?

Frank waiting for the rest of us at the water pool next to the temple.
Beautiful tapestry quilt depicting the the first four temples on this dispensation. The Kirtland, the Nauvoo, the St. George and the Salt Lake temple.
Spectacular daisies on temple square.
View from the Conference Center overlooking the SLC temple.
The State Capitol of Utah behind Terrin.
Church office building housing all the general authorities and auxiliary heads and their offices.
The Christus statue for Terrin to remember how big it was.

Tabernacle ceiling light.
Rachel explaining to Terrin how you can drop a pin at one end of the hall and hear it at the back of the Tabernacle.
How bout those pipes; enourmously large! What an awesome pipe organ. It is one of the biggest in the world.
Grandpa took this picture in the Tabernacle.

We are just heading for the Conference Center to show Terrin the huge hall and the garden on the roof.
Christus and Frank and I.
I love, love this temple!

Our Visit in Layton

All the boy cousins with Uncle David and Uncle Brent with the exception of Parker who was taking a nap.
Camron, Eric's son hanging out with his two uncles.
Parker lazing away the beautiful summer weather.
The pool is a great place when the weather gets hot!
What smile. I learned to know this little Parker with babysitting mornings while Rachel worked. He is holding his favorite stuffed animal, a huge monkey as big as him. He sleeps with it at night.
Ady had her hair done so beautifully.
It stayed perfect for over a week like this.

Rhees wanted to try on halloween costumes with Ady. They are a month apart. She is in a shark costume and Rhees in a dinasaur one that is two sizes too small.
This picture they are trying to scare me. They look so ferocious don't they?
David's two precious boys, Rhees, 4yrs and Parker almost a year and a half.
After eating ice cream at Gateway Mall and going in the pop-up sprinklers Parker's face was a decorated chocolate mess.
Frank and David and Parker.