JULY 2009

July is starting to be a very busy month. My birthday was Sunday, July 5th. I feel so old now that I'm "37"!!! (Wow, Angela is only a couple of years younger than me...how did that happen????)

WARNING!! THIS IS A VERY LONG BLOG!!

We've been spending lots of time with Ian, especially on my days off, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We've had so much fun playing tennis and miniature golf. (By the way, I got a HOLE-IN-ONE!) He also helped Bob and I out in the yard, planting the garden and flowers, digging up weeds, and trimming shrubs. We also cut down a huge branch off the cottonwood tree with my little chain saw I got for my birthday last year. Ian worked so hard helping us carry the branches away, and helped stacked our new pieces of firewood.

Bob bought my birthday presents early. He bought me a bright pink tennis racket and some pink tennis balls. Very cool, huh? We've already played a few times.

Sunday, July 5th was my birthday. It was great, especially because we picked up my sweet granddaughter, Ariel at the airport in the morning. She flew here to spend three weeks with us. She is so great!! Her and Ian have been able to spend lots of time together this first week.
We just hung out the first day she got here, but early on Monday, July 6th, Ariel went with Richard and Angela's family to Lagoon. They stayed all day, and got home pretty late. They said they had a great time!

Tuesday,July 7th, we went to Bob's parents' house for whole wheat pancakes. We stayed out there for a few hours, then came back home. Ariel and Ian played computer games for a while, and Bob and I went to clean the boat. THEN...disaster struck---at least for me. Ian yelled out that I had a phone call, so, I started getting out of the boat. Of course, I didn't go down the ladder, but tried to go out the side of the boat, and after I stepped on the wheel base of the trailer, and started to step off, my foot slipped. To try and save myself from falling sideways, I fell forward on BOTH hands and knees. What a pretty site!! Oh, the pain!! Now, I have to suffer for a few days until the soreness wears off, and because of my wrists, I can't play tennis for a few days. That's what I get for being such a klutz!!
Ian stayed the night with us overnight on Tuesday, July 7th, and at 5 am Wednesday morning, (July 8th) Bob, Ian, Ariel and I all went fishing at Strawberry Reservoir. We had such a good time. After a few hours, Bob pulled into a cove and parked the boat. He fished from the shore while the kids and I went for a hike. The hill was covered with fresh new sagebrush, and tons of wild flowers. It was a beautiful day, and the scenery was breathtaking! We all had so much fun that day. They caught several fish, even though the wind was blowing and the water was choppy.
We left the boat there, so that Bob can go with his brother Brent along with Brent's sons, Brandon and Tom on Friday, July 10th. They first stayed overnight at a resort at Daniel's Canyon on the way to Strawberry. Robert came home, and then on Saturday, July, 11th he took Richard and the kids back up to go fishing.

On Thursday, July 9th, I had to work. The kids have been writing stories today, playing on the computer, and washing my car with Bob. They're over there now playing tennis...without me! :(

On Friday, July 10th, I got the day off, soAriel and I went shopping at Michael's and Robert's craft stores; we finally found a scrapbook and supplies for her to start a scrapbook about her summer fun.

Saturday, July 11th, Ariel and I went to "Super Saturday" over at our church. It's a fun day where all of the ladies in the ward (Relief Society) get together to work on crafts and have lunch. I signed us up for a "soap making" class. We made such pretty soaps and wrapped them up for gifts.

On Sunday,July 12th we went to church, and then later on Sunday night, Ariel's cousin, Megan is spent the night with her here at our house.

My Dad was supposed to some out to see us for a couple of weeks, but he's got to have some surgery and won't be able to make it this summer. I miss him a lot, but he's got to take care of his health. He's not feeling too good right now, so it would be hard for him to travel. But...hopefully, I'll be able to go down to Florida for his 80th birthday.

Day by day account of our adventures with Ariel (for the rest of Ariel's trip):

Monday, July 13th: Ariel played all day with Megan; made movies with our movie camera about hobos, ...(I had a late afternoon meeting at JetBlue); went for a walk, etc...

Tuesday, July 14th; picked Ian up in the morning; went to JetBlue to pick up tickets for a Salt Lake Bees game for later this month; Bob had to go to a boat supply place to pick up a part for our boat; both Ian and Ariel (as well as Bob and I) had so much fun looking in all the new boats, and imagining how it would be to have one, especially the fanciest that's like an RV inside...you could live on that thing!!
After the boats, we went to play miniature golf. I got 2 HOLE-IN-ONEs, Bob got one HOLE-IN-ONE, Ariel got one HOLE-IN-ONE, and Ian almost got several that went right over the hole, but didn't ever stay...but I'm sure he'll get one next time we go.
Tuesday night, both Ian and Megan (Ariel's other cousin) spent the night with us. The three kids had a great time playing downstairs while Bob and I hid out upstairs.
That day on the way home we went to "Honks $1" store, and bought stuff. We had to go on Tuesday, because everything is only 88 cents. Wow..we got some bargains!

The next day, Wednesday, July 15th, we went to LAGOON. We had fun riding all the rides. I even made a bet with Ian that if he would go on the ferris wheel, I would go on the Colossas ride. They even got me to go on a water slide where you sit on an innertube. Guess who was the only one who got wet?!? I was totally soaked and it took me over an hour in the hot sun to dry out! Later on in the day, Bob and Ian went to play games in the arcade. Ariel, Megan and I played some outside games and won lots of stuffed animals. That night, Ariel spent the night with Megan.

Thursday, July 16th; Bob and I had to work, so Megan came over to spend the day with Ariel. They had fun making movies and being goofy.
After work, Ariel and I went over to my friend, Connie's house to make jewelry. She's teaches classes on jewelry making at schools and to her friends. Ariel made some pretty earrings and I made a bracelet.

Friday, July 17th; Bob and I had to work again. Ariel went over to Angela's house and played with Ian, Anakhan and Azure.

Saturday, July 18th; Ariel and I went to the craft store and got more jewelry supplies. In the afternoon, she went swimming with Angela and Richard's family. They stayed overnight in a hotel that had a water park with it. After Ariel came home, she made some earrings for me. I'm going to wear them to church today.

Sunday, July 19th; Bob had to teach his priesthood lesson for the high priests at church. I had to work in the morning. Ariel is going to Lagoon again with Angela's family. They are going to go with Richard's brother, and the only day off he has is Sunday...otherwise they wouldn't go today.

Monday, July 20th; Ian, Ariel and I went shopping for food, craft store
The kids were going to have a water balloon fight, bt the balloons were too hard to fill up Tuesday, July 21st, we went to the open house at the new OQUIRRH HILLS TEMPLE in Salt Lake. It is very beautiful. Great-grandpa & Great-grandma Barrett drove from Bountiful and went with us. Bob and I brought Anakhan and Azure, as well as Ian and Ariel. The temple is located out on the west side of the valley like we are, but it is farther south. It is very beautiful. I noticed they have lots more glass windows inside and not as colorful as some of the temples, but gorgeous just the same. We waited until Ariel was here to go see it, because she had never been inside a temple before. (I had taken Ian, Anakhan and Azure to the Draper Temple Open House.)
On the way back, we took Azure & Anakhan back to their Mom's house, and Ian & Ariel came home with me. Ian stayed with Bob, played computer games and helped Bob clean up my car.**Ariel went out to Lagoon AGAIN with Megan and her other grandparents, Lyle and Linda Evans.** She's getting her money's worth out of that season pass. This was her 4th trip to Lagoon while she's been here in Utah. Bob ordered pizza and pasta for us, and Ian spent the night again.

Wednesday, July 22nd, Bob and I took Ian and Ariel up Big Cottonwood Canyon to go hiking. We drove up to Brighton Ski Resort, and took the road up to the top of the mountain between Salt Lake and Heber City. We took 2 short hikes that were fun, but the mosquitos and other bugs were all in the shady parts of the hike, so we didn't go very far, plus Ariel's allergies got bad. We had to hurry down the mountain to get her some medicine, then we had lunch in Heber City.
After lunch, we drove back through the Alpine Loop. It's such a beautiful drive through the pine trees and the aspen groves. Bob and I would've hiked all day, but the kids were not in the mood.
After we got back home, Ariel went with her cousin, Megan and her other grandpa. She got some cute new outfits; they also bought an outfit for Tatum.

Thursday, July 23rd; Bob and I both had to work. Ariel was in my office all day making jewelry and typing up some of my recipes. (Ain't she sweet?)
Bob picked Ian up in the morning. Ian played games all day. Later in the day, Bob took Ian to buy a BB gun (even though I told him not to). Later, he took Ariel food shopping.

Friday, July 24th; I had to work again. Today is Pioneer Day in Utah. (Not much of a holiday for me!) Utah has a huge parade downtown, and lots of fireworks in the evening. Ariel made jewelry in the morning...she's getting to be a pro! She's also starting to pack for her trip home on Sunday.
Later, Angela took her and Ian to lunch , and then to Tracy Aviary, a bird sanctuary in Salt Lake. Ariel took lots of pictures of the birds, even a baby eagle. Later in the evening, Bob and I bought a few fireworks to do at home with Ariel. Since she lives in Reno, where it's illegal to do them at home, she thought this was great. She was so tickled when we lit each one, and ran away each time they started to go off. She especially liked the "snakes" that grow and grow into long streams of burnt ashes. They're cool! After that, all three of us got up on our roof to see if we could see any fireworks shows in the valley...but we only saw a few. We just have too many tall trees around to have a good view.

Saturday, July 25th; Ariel and I went to the craft store for more jewelry beads.
I can't even tell you how many sets of earrings she made. She made a few bracelets and necklaces, too.
In the evening we went to the Salt Lake Bees game 7 pm. I had gotten some discount JetBlue tickets. We had tickets for Grandma and Grampa Barrett, Richard and Angela, and the kids, Ian, Azure and Anakhan. All the girls were more interested in the fireworks afterwards. It was a great show, and nice to be up close to see them.

Sunday, July 26th; THIS IS A SAD DAY!! Ariel went back home today!!
When we got up, Ariel made matching necklaces for me and for herself. They are so pretty. I'm wearing mine all the time!
We went to church at 1:00pm. Bob had to give a talk about pioneers. He gave a great talk about his relatives that came across the plains to Utah, and some of the miracles they experienced in their journey west. Grandpa and Grandma (Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma) Barrett came out to listen to his talk also. Robert is a great speaker, and everyone really enjoyed his talk.
As soon as we got home, we had to get Ariel's suitcases ready to go to the airport. Bob and I were both able to go back to the gate with her and wait until her plane left. We are going to miss her so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was crying because she didn't want to leave us ('cause we are just so much fun!) She was here for three weeks, and I know she was glad to get back to her Mom and Tatum and her dogs, Katy and Tahoe.
Later that evening, the house was so quiet without her, I couldn't stand it. We wish that we could be together more and live closer to each other.

Monday, July 27th; The house is so quiet without our little ray of sunshine here. Ariel called and I talked with her. She is back home and still sad and lonely. I have to mail her the jewelry beads, her pictures and scrapbooks, so that she can work on those. She doesn't start 6th grade at her middle school until the end of August, so she needs some activities to keep her busy.
Ian came to spend the day with us. I had to work, so Bob took him to run errands and to keep looking for a hummingbird nest in our yard.

Tuesday, July 28th; Bob and I went to the Jordan River Temple today. After we go home, we ran some errands together, then he worked on getting ready for his fishing trip on Wednesday. It was nice, but very different to have only the two of us at home together.

Wednesday, July 29th; Today is Grandma (Great-Grandma) Varda Rose BARRETT'S 85th birthday. She is such a sweet lady, and I love her so much! I have known her longer than I've known my husband, Robert. She has always been so sweet to me...she's the best mother-in-law that I could've ever wished for. Happy Birthday and thanks for everything!!!
Bob went fishing today with his brother Glenn and his boys. They caught lots of fish, and Glenn took some kokanee salmon home with him. They really enjoyed the day.
I had fun with Ian. He spent the whole day with me. He even cooked his first hamburgers today. He said he really likes cooking! (Monica would love him to be around to be her helper, along with her girls.)
***I sure do miss Ariel!!!! We had so much fun together while she was here for three weeks. Ian misses her, too. They such great buddies, and Bob misses her, too.
We'll see you in a couple of weeks in Reno!!!***

Thursday, July 30th; My cute, stinky fisherman, Bob took Ian back up to Strawberry to fish. (I had to work...that's just wrong!!) Anyway, Ian caught several fish, including his record for salmon. It was 17 1/2 inches long and two pounds! They caught 16 fish all together.

Friday, July 31st; I had to work again. Bob WENT FISHING AGAIN!!! He went with Floyd Beasley, one of our friends and neighbors. He is from Mississippi and we love him and his wife, Yvonne. (She is our new Relief Society president.)They are full of southern charm and hospitality. Bob and Floyd caught lots of fish, and came home very tired and sunburned.

July has been a great, fun month and we really enjoyed Ariel's visit and having her here with us. We saw Ian a lot and the two of them always have a great time together. We always love it when we can have family time together.

Well, the end of the month is here; guess what Bob is doing tomorrow (August 1st) ?????????? FISHING, OF COURSE!!!