Weekend with Pa

 My sister and I visited my Pa last month.  

He just turned 95 and is the cutest, sweetest old man.

My grandparents moved to Spokane a few years ago but lived on Lake Coeur D'Alene for most of my life.

We went to the Lake one day and had a picnic.  What a  beautiful area...evergreens, beautiful water, etc.

  While we were visiting, I texted my cousin Liz a lot of our commentary.  

It might not interest anyone else much but I think we're hilarious.

Me: Pa is obsessed with royalty, no?

Me: So fresh and so clean (pic of white shoes)

Liz: That's the same thing he was wearing when I was there (2 months before)
Me:...same thing he was wearing when we visited last year.















Me: Oh crap...he started talking about Obama. Here we go...
Me: (30 min later) ..... "He's a rat, can't trust an Arab"  (I don't agree but don't know how to divert the conversation)

Me: Have you ever noticed he says HARses instead of Horses?  It's a small town Utah accent from the 20th century.

Me: Don't worry that I just bawled my eyes out watching him cut up my cantaloupe for breakfast.  He's so sweet and crazy capable for a 95 year old.

Me: "What would you kids do without a computer?  I don't even know what you do all day on 'em." "What are you texting your boyfriends now?"

Me: I heard him talking late last night after we'd gone to bed so I snuck upstairs to see what was going on.  He was saying his prayers out loud.  Blessing everyone..it melted me to pieces.
Liz: I know. He does that every night.  Hes' just so precious.  I wanna keep him forever.

Me: Help me remember this...he says there's a wooden box downstairs that has letters from him when he was at war and various things from that era that he meant to make a book out of.  He wouldn't let me take it but said I could disperse it once he's gone.
Liz: Oh cool...write it down too.
Me: He's scanned all of his photos onto the computer. That'll help a ton...I should've taken a jump drive so I could burn them for all of us grand kids.  I'll do that next time I visit...cuz he is going to live another 5-10 years. (here's a pic of my grandma's journal.  I'll pay you a $1 if you can transcribe this for me)

Me: Pa just lets us do whatever, it's kinda nice.  We can sleep in, eat on the couch, he doesn't care.  Gussie ran such a tight ship, it was stressful to remember all of her rules.
Liz: haha. I know.  I think he's always been that way, Grandma just wouldn't let him.  I just love him.
 
Me: I meant to take a picture of his freezer, it kills me.  Juice, cookies and milk (grossest).

Here's some pics.
We made Grandma's Mac/Cheese for him, it wasn't exact but close enough.
 

Isn't he the cutest thing?  

I sure love him and wish he lived closer....until next time Pa!

Sur Le Table

 Remember this project from a few months ago?  

I finally finished the table to go with it.

This project was torture.

I sanded. primed. painted. polyurethaned it ALL.

But the polyurethane dried funky so I had to:

sand again (messy). prime again. paint again. polyurethane again.

 

 It was miserable.  But then I distressed it and am really liking the final looks of it.

I'm tempted to sell it and start all over again.

Any takers?

Your Majesty

The Queen's 007 'entrance' to the Opening Ceremonies was....

LEGENDARY!

What's your favorite Summer Olympic Sport?

Looking for New Tunes? Here's some...

DC-Day 4

 Sunday we went to early church-ran into a lot of old friends and familiar faces.

The new church is small, but how convenient!  

And metro accessible.

I sure miss DC and the scene there.

Don't get me wrong, I love SLC and living here.

But DC holds a special place in my heart that can't be beat.

 After church we had a picnic at Gravely Point Park.

It's just north of the DCA Airport, next to the Potomac so planes constantly fly in/out....

...right over your head=Photo Opps!

 I'm actually surprised I didn't get us all to do a jump shot in front of a plane.  

That would take some serious coordination.

Hmmm...adding it to my 'to-do' list for next time!!

Then, Kami took Liz/I to one of my favorite places. 

Of all time.

I fell in love with this temple way back in Primary..circa 1994.

I've been on these ground countless times during many critical times in my life.

Visiting this temple brings DC affiliated memories rushing back.....

...from '01, '04, '06, '07-'09, '10 and '12.

 And then we braved the traffic to Dulles for me to catch my flight.

I made my plane with a few seconds to spare.  

Not a fan of Dulles..too busy/too far.

I'm a Reagan Airport/DCA snob (budget permitting)!

 I'm addicted to flying.  I've been restless lately and flying fixed my troubles.

Well the combo of DC AND flying, I reckon.

I crave being unplugged from everyone/everything for hours at a time.  

I put in my headphones, read books, ponder, get stuck in my mind and indulge in several DC's(not to be confused with the District of Columbia).

Highlight of Sunday:

We found a deer on the DC Temple Grounds.  Such a peaceful place.  

I always like to hike behind the temple and follow some of the trails. 

Lo and behold--so does Bambi. 

The DC Temple Grounds is chuck full of, what Taiwanese call, Feng Shui.

Feng Shui [ˈfʌŋ ˈʃweɪ]n 

Literally translates into English as "Wind-Water".

The Chinese art of determining the most propitious design and placement of a grave, building, room, etc., so that the maximum harmony is achieved between the flow of chi of the environment and that of the user, believed to bring good fortune

DC-Day 3

A few pics from friday.

Smithsonians.

Capitol with SLC friends.

It'd been 8 years since I went inside the Capitol.

Took a photo of the very center of DC.

Upon exiting the Capitol, please place your pass somewhere on Rhodes.

Lunch with Car/Kam at Seaside.

Delicious beach food--best fish tacos I've ever had.

 

 

Basilica Shrine at Catholic University.

I could see this building in the far off distance/sky line back when I worked at Top of the Town.

 But it's too far from anything so I never went there.  

Thanks again Kami for being my chauffeur all weekend. 

 

DC-Day 2

 First stop Friday morning--Potbelly's Breakfast.

 It can't be beat.  I wish SLC would get one.

And then I met up with Kamster on the Hill.

I think she was creeped out by me taking her photo here.  

Her face-priceless.

 I have a long list of things that I didn't get to do when I lived in DC.

This trip, my goal was to cross off a bunch of them.

So I started at Ford's Theater. Check!

Then I headed to the Hirshorn Museum.

 

 

 BTW, the reflecting pool in DC is under construction.

Which was much needed, but limits photo opps.

Hurry up and finish it DC!!

 

 Weather permitting, I LOVE walking all the way down the Mall.

Past the museums, Washington monument, WWII, WWI, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean....

 

 I have been waiting since 2007 for them to finish the MLK Memorial.  

It is FAN-tastic and larger than I expected.

Here are some good quotes.

  

A quote from FDR's walking memorial.  My second favorite memorial.

  

 ....and then you gotta walk past the MLK, FDR and Jefferson. 

Did I miss one?

 

 The Jefferson monument is my personal favorite.

There's something magical about walking all the way around the tidal basin.

On summer nights, there are fire flies.

In the Fall, the leaves change colors.

In the spring, the entire place is covered in Cherry Blossoms.

In the winter...well just drive around them--nothing magical here when it's cold!

It's one of the most peaceful places on earth.  

I sat looking at Jefferson for a long time..reminiscing about the good ol' days.

For me, there's a strength/spirit at this memorial.  

When I lived in DC, I would metro into work and then run home.

(why commute for 45 min. when I could run home in an hour+?)

Often times I would stop at the Jefferson Memorial on my way before crossing the bridge.

I'd stop on the grass.. call a friend, talk to my grandma and/or pray.

These grounds are special to me.

It was an incredibly peaceful day...I was grateful to have it all to myself!

 I met up with Kami and Liz, friends from my home town.

We went to 'Jazz in the Park' and fought the crowd for a place to sit.

 The crowd was ridiculous...

 ...so we headed to dinner.

  These girls are gems.  

 We dubbed ourselves the Tremonton Trifecta. 

I know few people out there that are more kind, loyal, sincere than Kami & Liz.

Tremonton sure does raise 'em right.

PictureStitches from the day---Monuments!

 Tourists--WOOF!!!

Highlight from Friday:

Finding a random Farmer's Market near the Mall.