...two rivers

I went "home" again today--just for a few hours. We had to stop and take some pictures of the rivers we encountered............with the snow melting, I'm sure you are aware they are running high and higher. We wished we could have spent more time to sit and listen...............but we had important people to visit with. It was a grand day.............

The first one is the Provo River just above Jordanelle Reservior. So this is actual uncontrolled runoff--I think--with some water from the Weber River thrown in for good measure. The canal through Kamas was full......you gotta love springtime in the Rockies even when it's a late spring!

River #2 is the Sevier River just at the north end of Leamington. This is "controlled" "make room in the reserviors" kind of runoff. It was a couple of feet higher last week. But it's still pretty spread out. I'm not really sure which is the actual river bed. And maybe both are..........this is a rather slow meandering river. You know, the river is twice as long as the actual distance. Someday I would like to take a long, meandering canoe trip............

See all the swallow nests under the side of the bridge? That's a great place for them. Michelle and I were just about carried away by mosquitoes! The swallows better get busy!

...May?..............

It's hard to think what happened to May! It's gone!!!! I had to go back through my pictures to discover what had happened to it. Here's what I found: (sorry the pictures are not better--sometimes this is as good as it gets)

   

 

Our sweet Michelle graduated from Snow College. Actually, this was the last day of April, but it got lost in all the shuffle with all of May.....

And "sweet" Lisa graduated from Utah State!!!! Bachelor of Science in English Lit. She loved it. She did very well............we are so proud of her.

We were blessed to have much of the family in Logan for the celebration. Pay Day for parents and grandparents...........double if you are blessed enough to be both parent and grandparent!!!

State water polo............Thursday night--loss--it was a heart-breaker; home at 11:00, up for school next morning. Saturday morning, 5:00 a.m., leave to get team there on time.........another loss..........The second game on Saturday was early afternoon. We finally won one!!!!! I was so thankful they could end on a win............

Richard picked John up at the airport that morning--Saturday. He was coming home from North Carolina where he had been for a three week selection process to see if he could train for "special forces"..........he passed! I'm thrown into a rather typical "mother's quandary" --glad he accomplished what he wanted to, but apprehensive about what the future might hold for him............

And a quiet little surprise in my garden.............aren't they beautiful???? I absolutely love the doves. They are our pretty much constant companions while we are working in the yard..........

...to market, to market

Sorry it's been so long since posting..........time has been flying by at warp-speed, hence, my life has also been "flying by".........."as it were in a dream"..........I never understood those words until rather recently. I'm not sure I understand them now, but I'm beginning to think so.

HOWEVER!!!!......

Last Wednesday I had the exciting opportunity to attend "quilt market" in Salt Lake City........

...a crazy, run as fast as you can, see as much as you can, talk with as many people as you can, and (sometimes--spend as much money as you can) unbelievable time!!!!! I don't have any pictures because, unlike the first time I went--four years ago--I did not want to haul around my big camera. And sometimes people don't like you taking pictures of their booths............but, oh my...........I wish so badly I had taken a smaller one and had asked permission to take some pictures. It was like a two-day-long trunk show. (If you are asking, "what is a trunk show"..........it's when someone brings piles and piles of quilts and shows them to you.......glorious time!!!)  And besides that!!!!! You get to meet the designers of quilts and fabrics............celebrities of the quilt world!!!!!!! And this time I got to meet one--two--I've been wanting to meet badly for a few months now, anyway. I'm a little surprised at how my "tastes" have evolved. Really, the agony and the ecstasy is that I am continually adding to "the things I love". I haven't really crossed anything off the "I love..." list, but added to it!!!! this could be a real problem! Now, instead of 100 quilts I yearn to make, I have a few times that!!!! An amazing concept...........and one I hope to understand (and fulfill) sometime in the eternities! Oh my..........there are some exquisitly beautiful quilts and amazingly talented people in this world........ and like I said, I wish I had some pictures to share with you. I guess I kind of walked around a little dazed at where I was and what I was doing and who I was doing it with!!!!! I learned so much, experienced new things, had such a great time, and nearly wore out my feet........it was a little hard to come back to real life.........but NOW I have the opportunity to recreate some of what I saw........and learned about some tools to make it easier to accomplish!! I'M SO EXCITED!!! still..............

...the promise is sure

I sang with joy in church last Sunday..........

"Shrink not from you duty, however unpleasant,
But follow the Savior, your pattern and friend.
Our little afflictions, tho painful at present,
Ere long, with the righteous, in glory will end.

Be fixed in your purpose, for Satan will try you;
The weight of your calling he perfectly knows.
Your path may be thorny, but Jesus is nigh you;
His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose."

                         --Hymns "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"
                            no. 266, vs. 2 & 4
                            Text: Eliza R. Snow  (she is one of my very most favorite poets!!)

Last  night when Suzanne talked about things being "unfair" and that Father in Heaven did not "want the same thing she wanted" we talked for a bit about choices and short and long term goals and desires. What if He gave us what we want here and now at the expense of the hereafter??? That would be the tragedy! I'm so thankful He sees the end from the beginning! Then, if we can trust His ample and 'sufficient' arm the words of the third verse bring tears of gratitude: (the first part are not entirely applicable to our challenge, but the principle is true!!)-----

"What, tho, if the favor of Ahman possessing,
This world's bitter hate you are called to endure?
The angels are waiting to crown you with blessings!
Go forward, be faithful, the promise is sure."
                                  --Hymns, no. 266, vs. 3

I feel to shout from the housetops that I know "the promise is sure"!!!!! I pray that someday I will be given voice to adequately and joyously express my thoughts and feelings. I know He lives!!!   I know He loves us---each one!!!! I know He cannot and will not forsake us!!! And He is sufficient!!! --more than...........what then, with His help can we not do???? And Suzanne is learning.........just as we have prayed she would. And she is being taught from on high......I'm not privy to that teaching, but I see it's result and I am so thankful. She told me last night she is not as afraid..........though we are still sad. We wish it could be different............but! if we could see with a perfect, eternal perspective, I wonder....... could it be possible that we would choose just this?? I don't know.............but I do know His promises are sure and that "all will be well". And we will have a fullness of joy...........

...tiny miracles round 2

I've just been to warehouse replanting some of those tiny seeds of two weeks ago. So exciting!! Just thought I share the sights with you......

 

The trays we planted in......these are the impatiens.......yes, we have a few hundred of them. Yikes!!

 More impatiens--I think--and geraniums to the right. You can just see a "trough" on the left that we planted the dahlias in...........they are in the picture below in their new "homes".

Tomatoes and lettuce----I had just finished watering them.........a little too vigorously. I'm praying for them, but they really should be fine.

 

The geraniums still in the sprouting tray. I'm amazed at the size of the cotyledons coming out of those super tiny seeds! I love to watch "baby" geraniums grow.........and from cuttings too! I get all excited over that first new leaf to come out of that woody stem..........

 The petunias............so tiny still............

Peppers in the back........onions in the front that really need to be in the garden. I'll have to work on that..........

...quilt for a "blessing"

I just finished a "blessing quilt" for a lucky little grandnephew.........not lucky because of the quilt, but lucky because he is a much wanted, much loved little blessing who has great parents and grandparents who will teach him the most important things he could know..........all in a loving, nurturing environment. I wish I could take credit for those thoughts, but, sorry to say, I learned them years ago from a young man in our ward who was blessing his own baby boy.......solid truth! Sooooooo, here are a few pictures of the quilt...........hand quilted by another loving g-aunt. I just did the binding. This is truly an "ancestor" quilt as well............the fabric came from one of Great-grandma's closets, purchased years ago, and many aunts, uncles and second cousins have had quilts from similar fabric. The quilting design is one Great-grandma has used many times.........you get the idea..........I'm tired...........

 

...tiny miracles

I just wanted to share this with you.........we planted some seeds last night: geraniums, petunias, impatiens, coleus, asters..........such tiny, tiny seeds, yet containing all that is necessary for green leaves, stems and beautiful flowers. Such glorious, joyful little miracles. You can see the concentration needed to plant such tiny little seeds. Thankfully, the petunia seeds were "pelleted"..........even with that, they are tiny, and when someone tried to blow the dirt off their hands the seeds went with the dirt!! We had fun together.................

Notice Michael's tongue--a sure sign of concentration

Looking for and finding (some of) those tiny seeds--gone with the wind...

Remember the book "You Were Smaller than a Dot"? Well, so were some plants!!