Get Ready, Get Set, Go...

Monday, June 23, we had a week of sweltering heat. Into the 90's the thermometer flew and stayed there. Ugh!! We are grateful for air-conditioning. This showed up on my Facebook newsfeed and I really got a chuckle out of it. Sent it to my kids so they could enjoy the humor. It seems the entire world is in a heat wave. We are headed to Greece this fall. I saw a news headline that the Acropolis was shut down from 1pm to 5pm one day because the temperatures were so extreme that tourists were passing out. Yike!! 

Claude had an appointment in Lexington to see a dentist who specializes in implants. His office happens to be in the same building as Dr. Sajadi, my should doctor. The place on Claude's jaw where the tooth was pulled that had the cracked nerve, was examined and judged healing well. This doctor wants another three months of healing before he put the post into his jaw for the implant process. We were all prepared for Claude to come home with a post and pain. Did not happen that way. So, Claude made good use of his outing and stopped at Lowe's to get special light bulbs for the living room ceiling fan. 

While Claude was gone I did the laundry and got a haircut. Then I worked on setting up our folder for the Greece trip. We booked this trip last July. During that time, I have received and kept eMails in a fold in my eMails, researched and printed things we needed to be aware of, I had Greece files on my laptop and Claude had a folder with files in it. It all needed to be gone through so we could toss what was not needed, see what we did need to have a printed copy with us, see what we needed copies of on our phones, only necessary files saved on the lap top for creating the PowerPoint of our trip when we get home, etc. Lots to think through and process. I would spend Monday and Tuesday getting through this with only minimal things to do after that. 

We had a nice BLT dinner at Arby's and came home to watch television. I was able to crochet a burp pad for a baby girl that evening. I made these so the Relief Society can given them to mom's when they have a baby. We have a sudden influx of young mom's having babies between now and December. 

Tuesday, June 24, was another purposeful day. We started it with a Zoom meeting with our annual meeting with our financial advisor from Strategic Wealth Design. Went fairly quickly and felt good about where we are right now. 

Then I set to work doing a few home chores first. I tend to put these off in favor of working at my laptop. This day, I determined to do them first then treat myself to laptop time. Greece was my focus on the laptop. Felt really good to end this day with a folder that can travel with us to Greece. Lots of stuff to put in as time goes but now it is maintainable. Yeah Me!!

Wednesday, June 25, final day to prepare for our trip to Michigan. Claude brought the suitcase in Tuesday. I packed my clothing part. I prepared three more burp pads to crochet around while we are gone. I like to take a craft project in case I get around to it. Stopped the mail. All those kinds of things so we would be ready to leave on Thursday.

I received a notice on Facebook and was over-the-moon happy to open it. It was a post from Jake. Our son was in Colorado visiting his cousin, Kristi. Jake has taken a really liking and interest in hiking. Last year he made a trip to Utah and hiked a mountain there by himself. Kristi is an avid hiker and biker. She recently rode her bike around the perimeter of Flaming Gorge Reservoir (154.9 miles). It took her 13 hours and 19 minutes to do this. Yep, she is avid. She and Jake have been communicating about hiking. She invited him to spend a week with her and she would help him hike a 14'r. That is 14,000 feet high. There are not peaks like that in Michigan for Jake to try. Jake accepted the invitation and was there all this week hiking with Kristi. On this day, they made it! Jake posted this picture on Facebook with this caption: "Hi all. Here's me and cousin Kristi standing at the summit of Grays Peak in Colorado. She got me up and down before the rain! Great hike, and my first time climbing a Colorado 14er."

Aren't those smiles great?! So happy to get this picture and to seem these young people having a great time and achieving a worthy goal.

Laura dropped by in the evening. She had a gift for me. It was this amazing fan. What a sweet give for a Lady who suffers with hot flashes and has for 25 years!!

We would be packed and ready to leave to Michigan on Thursday.

Thursday, June 26, we had a safe drive to Michigan. We drove through Indiana this time. We did drive through a couple of rain storms but they didn't last forever so we could press forward.

We arrived in Muskegon about 5:15pm at the Pizza Ranch. With texting, I had set up for Katelyn and her kids and Aubrey (Bre) to meet us for dinner. This is always a fun place to eat. They have a buffet for all you can eat. One section is fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. Another section is a salad bar. The last section is all kinds of pizza and you pick a slice of the kinds you would like. For dessert they have dessert pizza and an ice cream machine. Everyone can find something they like and enjoy all of it they like. In the pictures starting on the left side of the table and going around are Emelia, Kennedi, Katelyn, Joel, Raelyn, Claude, Sandi is the second picture, and Aubrey Anne. 

After a fun-filled dinner, Claude and I headed to Holton where we would stay with Nissa and Todd for the time we were in Muskegon. 

That evening I received notices on my phone of severe storms back in Kentucky. We were to have had our June Relief Society Activity that evening. That was canceled at the last moment because of these severe storms. 

Friday, June 27, we started our day with breakfast at the Bob Evans in Muskegon with Paul and his new peeps. He is now in a relationship with Destiny. Destiny is the mother of Noah and Rainsley. They joined us and it was good to meet them. Claude was the little boy whisperer. Noah was taken out by Destiny and Paul. Then Claude asked Noah if he would like sit with him. Noah happily went to Claude and they enjoyed eating the ice cubes out of his glass of water. We had a really nice breakfast and visited for about two hours. 

Claude and I then went to the Ropers to visit for the afternoon. Kennedi loves her daddy.

Bailey had given me pictures of her that were made into outline drawings. I made for sets of them and took them for the Roper kids to color. A new box of crayons made the activity a little more fun. (Raelyn, Joel, Kennedi and Emelia)

I shared the pictures I have of the Roper family with Kennedi and Joel. 

Katelyn got home from work and Drew headed to work. We stayed till about 5pm and then headed to Holton.

Todd grilled burgers and chicken for sandwiches for our dinner. Yum! Nissa had Mello Yello for me and Diet Coke for her dad. We had a lovely meal. 

Todd found interesting things for us to watch on television. There is a guy from Michigan that does a podcast of his boating on Michigan rivers and fishing. He is quite the character and very entertaining to watch. One episode was even his dream trip with friends to fish is Alaska. 

Then Todd found some Northern Disclosure episodes for us to watch. This is a podcast of Northern Exposure episodes narrated by Joel (Rob Morrow) and Maggie (Janine Turner). I loved this television show. Claude had not seen any of the podcasts. After watching a couple, he said we needed to go home and watch the shows again. They were a family favorite.

Saturday, June 28, we had the morning to be quiet. I crocheted a baby bib. Claude got a nap. Todd ran errands and Nissa and I talked and she read in her book. Such a pleasant morning.

The afternoon was Drew's baptism. It would start at 3pm. Raelyn would say the opening prayer. Nissa played the piano and I lead the music. Katelyn would give a talk. It was excellent. She compared this process of baptism and joining the church to hockey. Drew LOVES hockey. Claude would perform the baptism and the confirmation. It was really nice to be able to be there for Drew. 

Claude got dressed in his whites and came into the Relief Society room where the program would take place. He showed me his socks. I cracked up. First of all, these are my socks that Nissa gave me. The tops of them are exactly like other socks Claude and I have so they would be easy to confuse with all white socks. Second, they have writing on the bottom that says, "If you can read this, bring me a Dr. Pepper." On My!! 

I loved watching Nissa play the piano. She does such a lovely job. I remember all those years ago when I taught her how to play. She is a natural and I know playing is something she truly enjoys. 

Katelyn made sure she had a few pictures of family. Back row: Drew holding Kennedi and Katelyn holding Joel. Front row: Raelyn and Emelia.

Then a picture of Drew with each of his family members: Raelyn, Emelia, Joel, Kennedi and Katelyn.

Drew with the missionaries who taught him the gospel discussions.

Claude with Drew. 

It was a lovely service. After, Claude and I headed to Lee's chicken to get food for dinner at the Ropers. Nissa and Todd headed home to get Baby. She has to stay in her pen when they were not home. It has been unusually hot and they wanted to give her a break from being in the heat. The missionaries were supposed to join us. They had to cancel as one of them actually had a severe case of poison ivy and needed to go to urgent care. We enjoyed our Lee's chicken with the Ropers. The kids ate really well. There was enough left to take some home to the Tylers.

As we were driving home, I started to feel very bad. As soon as we got to the Tyler's, I left Claude to bring things in from the car. I hurried to the bathroom. I ended up with two hurling sessions. Not a fun time. No one else was sick, so it definitely wasn't the food. I simply have trouble with digestion every now and then. I was down for the evening.

Nissa was kind enough to do a load of laundry for Claude so the baptism clothes could be clean and dry to take home.

Sunday, June 29, Claude and I planned to attend sacrament meeting with Drew and Katelyn. I sent Katelyn a text at 8am telling her we would not make it. I was still not sure I was settled enough to be away from the house. We spent a quiet morning. 

Drew had a hockey game at 2pm. Claude really wanted to see this. I ate a slice of bread for breakfast and had a little trouble with it but knew I was on the mend. I simply would not eat anymore while we were out. We decided to drive to the hockey game. It was an hour away. Drew loves this game so very much. He plays on a league of guys who didn't make the pros but really want to play. They have enough teams to form this league and they play regularly. It was fun to watch Drew. The kids love the freedom of playing on the sidelines. 

Claude, Emelia, Raelyn, Kennedi, Katelyn and Joel.

I put a little red dot under Drew in the pictures. He is number 17.

We sent Nissa a text when we were leaving the arena. We wanted to take Nissa and Todd to dinner. They wanted to cook pasta. So, we let them fix us a pasta dinner. They like to make spaghetti and not put a tomato sauce on it. Instead, they cook the burger and veggies and add them to the spaghetti with a little Italian dressing. Pretty tasty. 

I set to finish reading The Divine Comedy by Dante. I have been working on this for a good while now. I am reading all the Robert Langston books by Dan Brown. The fourth one is titled "Inferno" and references Dante's Inferno. I determined I would read The Divine Comedy before reading Dan Brown's Inferno. I learned a lot about this book. Dante is guided through Inferno (34 chapters, which are called cantos), Purgatory (33 chapters) and Paradise (33 chapters). Most people are familiar with the Inferno portion. Dante is guided through this journey by three people. The first is Virgil. Then Beatrice. Then St. Bernard. Virgil guides him through all of Inferno and most of Purgatory. Beatrice finishes Purgatory and most of Paradise. St. Bernard finishes Paradise. There is a lot of Christian belief mixed with Roman and Greek gods and lots of history and the characters from history. The language uses lots of older terminology. I learned a long time ago to read using the punctuation. If you read this poem a line at the time, all meaning would be lost to you. You need to read it from to a comma or semicolon and pause to get the meaning of a phrase which may cover several lines. Honestly, I didn't understand all of it but I did understand a lot of it. I actually enjoy trying to read something that is epic and old like this. It is a bit of a challenge and I like the flow of it. When I finished reading the book, I went to the living room and told Claude I finished. He asked if it was funny at the end. I assured him there was nothing funny about this book! Now, on to Dan Brown's Inferno!

I used these two pieces of art to help with reading the Inferno part. 

Monday, June 30, we started the journey home. The intent was to go all the way home.

We first stopped at the Amish store to purchase cheese, bread and cookies. On one of their walls was this piece of artwork. I really liked it. 

We went through a couple of rain storms but made it to Chelsea, Michigan about 1pm. Along the way, Claude suggested we get a motel and spend one more night on the road. I agreed. There were more severe thunderstorms forecast for Scott County and we really didn't want to drive in that madness. I got us a room at the Comfort Inn. I sent Jake a text and assured him he did not have to entertain us but we did get a room for the night. Jake returned from his trip Saturday and we didn't know what he needed to get done on his day off before returning to work. 

We picked up Jake and gave him his cheese, sour dough bread and cookies, then we went to the Mexican restaurant for a nice meal together. 

Jake suggested we take him back to his apartment. He wanted to spend some time at Starbuck's working on his laptop. We would check into our hotel and text him the room number. This would give us a check to rest a bit and he would join us later. This was a great plan.

Jake came to our hotel room with his laptop in tow. He would share with us pictures of his trip to Colorado. I will share those pictures at the end of this Blog. He had such a great time. He took us day-by-day of his adventure. Kristi laid out a plan for what they would do and they were able to do six 14ers. These are mountains over 14,000 feet tall. This was a big goal for Jake and Kristi and he achieved it. We lived in Denver when Jake was a little boy. We moved when he was in second grade. This was a fun time for him to reflect on that growth from the little boy to the made making it to the top of the mountain. It was a delight to enjoy this adventure through his eyes and pictures. 

We ended our visit with a trip to the ice cream stand. Yum! So good to see Jake and listen to his plans for the rest of 2025. 

Tuesday, July 1,  We slept in and were on the road about 10:30am. As we left the room. I noticed the note left by our housekeeper. I sent this picture to our family saying it must have been kismet for us to stay Monday night. Our Katelyn spells her name the same way!

We wanted to shop at Cabela's in Dundee, Michigan. This is a huge store. We were both successful in finding some needed clothing items. I loved their 4th of July decorations in front of the store. 

We stopped in Florence at Chipotle's for dinner and then drove on to Georgetown. It is always good to drive in and see the house still standing and not tree limbs down after big storms. 

This was a lovely trip. So good to be there for Drew at a big moment in his life. So nice to build memories with family. 

I will end with pictures of Jake's Colorado Trip. He stayed with Kristi for the week. He was able to see Kristi's brother, Dan, one of the days. He also got to meet Kristi's daughter Skye one day. Enjoy these fun pictures!

Steak & Salmon, Bailey & Harry Potter, Back to Reality...

Monday, June 16th, I did the laundry. There are certain things that are never-ending. Laundry, dusting, dishes, vacuuming, weeding, etc. Now laundry is a weekly chore, sometimes a little over a week, and it is usually only four loads of regular clothing. A far cry from the days of a family of five running through school and work clothes. I am always thankful I have a washer and dryer in my home. I remember the days of using a wringer washing machine in the driveway of our home in Louisiana as a child. We would then hang the clothes on the line. When we brought them in, we had a big glass Coca-Cola bottle with a stopper in it that was a sprinkler head. All that had to be ironed was sprinkled and rolled up till ironed. It was a process. I remember living in our little home in Denver and having a washer in the basement and a clothes line outside. Loved sheets off the clothesline. Since then, we have always had a washer and a dryer in our home. Not having to use a laundromat was heaven. So, while laundryis hear to stay, I am grateful for the improvements to the process through the years. 

We had wanted to go to Cattleman's Roadhouse for Claude's Father's Day meal. He loves a good steak and they have provided that the last two time we have dined there. When we got to Cattleman's Roadhouse, there was a 40-minute wait for a table. Claude really didn't want to wait 40-minutes. We opted for the Mexican restaurant and had a lovely meal. But that desire for a good steak was still there. So, Monday evening we went to Cattleman's Roadhouse, where there was now NO wait, and Claude enjoyed a good steak and I enjoyed my Honey Bourbon Glazed Salmon. We were both very happy with our meals. 

Tuesday, June 17th, we had a biscuit run in the morning followed by a trip to Kroger. We were going to have Bailey over for a visit. We requested a grocery list from her and we needed to pick up those items before we went to get Bailey. The Mini's are really good when we ask for this list. Hayden has a list on Google Keep that he keeps up-to-date for us. This is contains nutritious foods and some sweet treats. Bailey usually says, "I usually like what you have on hand." Then she provides us with a few things she wants. This time it was cucumbers, Snickers, three flavors of Uncle Ben's microwave rice, and popcorn. Easy to please, isn't she?

We drove to LaGrange in the afternoon and retrieved our girl. She was all packed at ready to go. We visited with Michael and Andie. Turns out Michael didn't know we had the kids make a grocery list for their visits. Now Michael wants to make a grocery list when he visits. I told him he should do that and then come have a staycation at our home while we go to Greece later this year. That sounded wonderful to him! 

Before we got home, we stopped at McCallister's for a good meal for dinner. When we got home, Bailey brought her stuff in and set up the guestroom for herself. Then she had me follow her to the kitchen. She put a sticker from Campbellsville University on the fridge. How fun is that?!

We had a lot of Castle television shows DVR's. Bailey wanted to watch those. We spent our evening snacking and watchin Castle. 

Wednesday, June 18th, we agreed we would all sleep in. Then we would start our Harry Potter Fest. The day Bailey graduated she said to me that she wanted to have a Harry Potter Fest before she headed to college this fall. Claude and I had nothing on the calendar for the week days and set up this time for Bailey's wish to be granted. We had cereal for breakfast and then spent the day watching the first four Harry Potter movies. Breaks between to get something to eat and stretch. I made tuna salad for lunch and we had little croissants to put it on. Yum! 

We had storm warnings for the evening. We leave the blind on the door to the patio open all the time. Bailey was sitting in my recliner when the storm hit. The wind was ferocious. Bailey looked out the door from the recliner and said, "That looks like a hurricane!" It truly did. Very black and lots of wind and heavy rain. At one point we heard a whack on the window to the dining room. It was a limb coming out of the trees. We were save in our little home.

While watching some more Castle to fill out our evening, Claude was playing with his phone. He came across some pictures about how they do surgeries. He found one on reverse shoulder replacement. He had me watch it with him. It was drawings of what they repair and how they repair it and then what you arm has to use to make it work. In all of this with my shoulder, I had not realized they don't really fix those torn places in my rotator cuff. After the surgery, what I was doing is training my deltoid muscle to do the work of moving my arm. Now I understand why everyone kept saying, "Strengthen that deltoid!" 

Thursday, June 19th, morning I was awake and out of bed first. I looked into our back yard to check for storm damage. In the back by the fence near the shed, a large branch broke off of one of our trees. It didn't damage anything. It was a bad storm and a lot of people had downed trees that would need to be cleared away. We only had one big branch and some smaller ones down in the yard. 

When everyone was up, we had our cereal breakfast and watched the next two Harry Potter movies. Then we told Bailey we needed a break and to be out of the house for at least a little bit. To do that, we proposed a drive-thru to pick up a nice lunch. Jimmy John's was the one all of us wanted. 

Then we came back and watched the last two Harry Potter movies. In the evening, Bailey wanted to see more Castle. Now, the funny thing about this Castle viewing is that Bailey fell in love with Nathan fillion in the television show "The Rookie". She has watched all of that. Michael, her father, is now wading through "Castle" which also stars Nathan Fillion. Michael wants Bailey to watch it with him. She has been begrudgingly doing that to tease him. Turns out, she really likes the show and was very happy she could watch them at our home. However, we are NOT to tell Michael about this so she can continue to tease her father. Oh My!!

Friday, June 20th, Aubrey Anne (Bre) posted this picture on Facebook. She is beautiful. 

Bailey slept very late. Claude left the house to run a few errands while I settled at my laptop to do a few things I had not done while having Bailey with us. When Bailey woke up, I had just come in from picking up all the twigs, sticks and branches in the back yard. It was hot and I was needed to rehydrate and rest a bit. Bailey put on another Castle (the girl was really happy watching Castle). When Claude got home, we loaded the car and drove Bailey home with a stop at Taco Bell for lunch to be eaten in the car while we drove. 

I just want to say how nice is it to have a granddaughter who wants to spend time with her grandparents. A generational thing happens as you age and grandmonsters age. It is nice to find a place in that distance were we meet one a shared love and enjoy time together. It definitely felt good to have one of the things Bailey wanted to do before college accomplished.

Saturday, June 21st, was back to reality. We got up and showered to begin our day. Then off we went to Chick-FilA for Claude to get him chicken mini-biscuits. Now, the poor guy has struggled with the name to give people at these places when you place your order. When she asked for the name for his order, Claude looked at me and said, "What name was I going to use?" The girl was amused. Then Claude told her Thor. We continued on to the pick-up window. Our Chick-FilA has two lanes of traffic. They brought out our order and I looked at the sticker on it. I was sooooo happy. First, they spelled Thor correctly. Last time he said Thor and they wrote Ford. Goodness. The thing that made my heart very happy was they put the color of my Buick as purple!!! I picked out a midnight amethyst from the book as they didn't have one on the showroom or in the lot that color. In the book, it looked like a very nice shade of purple. When the car was delivered, it was really hard to see purple. If the car is clean and in the sunlight, you can tell it is a purple shade of amethyst. How happy to see someone saw that and actually used it to identify my car. Very happy about this. We now knew we would have a great day!

After breakfast, Claude dropped me at Walmart to do a little browsing and shopping. He took my car to the tire shop to have the tire sensor replaced. Turns out, it needed two new sensors. Then Claude picked me up and we headed home. 

On the drive home, Laura called with great news. She does not have to have chemotherapy. She will do some PT to get her arm read to be in position for radiation, but NO chemo. This is great news and a tender mercy for her. So happy she shares these good things with me. Happy she share the difficult and bad but we both rejoice with the good news.

Claude went to work in the yard. Mind you the temperature was in the high 80's and he still cut all the grass and trimmed some branches in the back yard trees. He changed a light bulb in the living room. He was one very busy man.

I concentrated on the Relief Society newsletter for July. Then I found possibilities for our Acropolis tour when in Athens. Claude sat with me after my research and we picked out one and I booked it. It can be canceled if I find something we think might work better. 

At 5pm, the Georgetown Ward youth were have a big fundraiser. They were washing cars, having a silent auction, serving a meal, and had bouncy houses. We wanted to get our cars washed. We both drove over and had our cars washed and vacuumed. So nice to have that done. We had dinner at Burger King and ended our evening by watching Silverado and Broken Trail. Nothing like good cowboy movies on a Saturday evening after a full day. 

Now, for a bit of humor. I told Laura about our difficulty in getting fast food places to get Claude's name, or he pseudonym of Thor, correct on a food order. In the evening, Laura sent me a picture of their fast food order. He hubby is Howard. How hard is that?! They got their order and they put 'Caward' for his name! Oh My Goodness! We all had a good laugh.

Sunday, June 22nd, today has been a great day. I was able to substitute in Primary today at the piano. Now, the beauty of that is really a little miracle. This last week I was looking for my light rain jacket. I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked in the cars and all the closets. Claude looked in the cars and all the closets. Claude drove me to the church of errands one day and I looked on all the coat racks and in the closet that once served as lost and found. No jacket. I had started looking on line for a new jacket. Today, I went back to the Primary room to play and Lo, and Behold, on the floor behind the piano was my gray jacket. I must have had it one two weeks ago when I was substituting in Primary at the piano and left it there. What a blessing to get that little jacket back. It is very light weight and I can roll it up and put it in the bottom zipper area of my backpack, it has roll up sleeves that snap when you get a little warm, it has a zipper pocket for me to secure my cellphone in when we are out traveling. This little jacket has been all over the world with me and I want to put a few more miles on it. I did tell Claude I will probably still look out for a replacement. It won't hold up forever. So very happy to get it back.

After a Zaxby's lunch, Claude laid down for his Sunday afternoon nap. I set out to clear some of our DVR things off the DVR. Then I came back to get the Blog done today. 

It has been a good week and a good Sabbath Day!

Reading, Temple, Yard Work & Father's Day...

Monday, June 9th, was a day for of normal things. Laundry, completing pictures and Blog, reading some in The Lost Symbol. But I remembered Claude mentioning a day or two before that he was hungry for cupcakes. While Claude was gone to a dentist appointment to get his new crown placed, I baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes with NO icing. This is how he loves them best. It was a pleasant surprise when he returned home.

In the evening, I have two puzzles and a game I like to play while we watch television. For some disconcerting reason, I have started getting advertisements for headstones popping up on my Kindle. I know there are programs that automatically read what you are interested in and provide ads for you based on your preferences. Anytime you Google something or look at at advertisement on Facebook, the device you use registers that interest and the advertisements flood. I have not looked up anything about death and burial, so getting these ads is definitely a little disconcerting.

Tuesday, June 10th, in the morning, I started my weeding project. I would get the front flower bed and part of the side flower bed done. Claude cut the grass in the front yard. Then I went in to read some more in The Lost Symbol. 

Our outing in the evening would be a visit to the Louisville Temple. On the way, Claude stopped at the Burger King in Frankfort for our dinner. A lady was with two of her friends eating. I was immediately struck by her dress. I watched her while we ate and contemplated asking her where she got it. It was blue and white with a pattern that was kind of delft china-like. I had decided not to pester her. That was until I got up to refill Claude and my soda before we left. These ladies were sitting by the soda machine. I made eye contact with her as I walked back to our table and smiled. She smiled back and that was it. I paused and told her I truly admired her dress. Then I asked if I could ask where she purchased it. Sheepishly, she looked at me and said, "I bought it as a thrift store for 99 cents!" We chuckled and I assured her I couldn't replicate that and she made a terrific purchase. It was a fun moment. I love that when you can connect with a complete stranger and such a cheerful way. 

We would do an endowment session at the Louisville Temple. Steve Gulbrandsen, my sister's husband, had generate a lot of family names from my mother's family line. In the afternoon, I had printed a name for Claude and a name for me. We arrived at the temple and I changed into my white clothing and went to sit quietly in the endowment room and have a moment to think and prepare for the endowment session. I looked closely at the female name I had printed for me. Her name was Carrie Ruby Timms. I chose her because my Uncle Harold had a daughter named Carrie Mae and another named Ruby Rae. I loved these two cousins where were older than me. I felt drawn to Carrie Ruby Timms and I was sure it had to do with her name. However, as I read the card while waiting in the endowment room, I realized her date of birth day June 11, 1847. Wednesday would be her birthday. I had the warmest feeling that this was a great birthday present for the relative. Going to the temple is so uplifting. 

Claude surprised me on the way home by pulling into the Dairy Queen in Simpsonville for an ice cream treat. I am really enjoying the small strawberry sundaes. Just enough flavor and sweetness. 

The Marx family really filled this day. Hayden is staying in Chicago over the summer. He found an apartment he could rent with two other guys. He needed to move from his apartment on campus to this private apartment building. In addition, Bailey wanted to get her French horn up to Jon in Chicago so he could get it in great shape for school this fall. He is cutting the bell and fixing it so it will collapse and be stowed in a carrier Bailey can wear as a backpack. Michael, Andie and Bailey were up at a very early hour and left LaGrange, drove to Chicago, dropped off Bailey's horn, picked up Hayden for a quick lunch, moved Hayden, took Hayden grocery shopping, then returned to LaGrange all in one day! Whew!! These two youngest grandmonsters are really growing up!

Wednesday, June 11th, Claude and I started our morning with a biscuit run. This was probably the world's most perfect biscuit. Bojangles makes them fresh and by hand. Sometimes they are much better than others. This was truly the best Bojangles biscuit I have ever had. And, I love Bojangles biscuits. 

I finished my weeding of the side yard and did the back yard flower beds. I then came inside and plotted down in my recliner to read. I would spend the rest of the day reading. I was able to finish The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Claude would take a nap after he finished mowing the back yard. While he napped, I set myself up in the back yard and read outside. Claude had purchased me blueberries and I noshed on them while I read. Life just can't get much better than that!

Thursday, June 12th, my big goal was to clean the Adirondack chairs. They have sat outside all year for two years. Being under our big trees with the little critters and birds in the yard had left them covered with grime. Claude went to Lexington for a meeting and then had a couple of chores to do as he returned home. It was me and two chairs and side table all morning. Not sure these chairs will make more than this year. We have had them for many years. Bought them for our Sadieville home. I love the white lawn furniture but I really don't think they do well under trees and outside all year. There were board loose on each item. Claude would put them back on with wood screws. We'll have them out for this year and then see what we decide.

Friday, June 13th, I awoke before Claude, snuck out of the house, went to Frank's donuts and purchased hot glazed donuts and returned home just as Claude was waking up. He wasn't aware I even left the house! I showed him his breakfast surprise. He was very happy to start his day this way!

My big chore this day was dusting, sweeping and vacuuming. We have a smaller home but all the floors are laminate. We have placed some area rugs on that. I made it through all of that and felt very good about getting it done.

I spent my afternoon getting my PowerPoint finished for the Relief Society lesson I would teach on Sunday. 

We had a small field of mushrooms in our back yard again. 

Look at this cute picture of Kennedi reading!

Saturday, June 14th, Claude was thinking of watching the Lord of the Rings movies. I told him I really wanted to clean our bathroom and go over my Relief Society lesson again. Then I could sit with him the rest of the day. That is what we did. He was beginning his being spoiled for Father's Day on Saturday!

Sunday, June 15th, was Father's Day. Hayden was the first person to send Claude a text to tell him Happy Father's Day. Way to go Hayden!

I had a very busy day at Church. It is officially summer. Lots of youth camps in June. Lots of families starting the summer travel experience. This means the need for lots of substituting for these people. I would substitute for the chorister in Sacrament Meeting. By the end of the losing hymn, my arm was done. But it is good to do this and love doing this. I also was the substitute pianist for the Primary kids to sing the special musical number. They sang the first verse of "Teach Me to Walk in the Light". The men joined them on the back of the stand and sand the second verse. Then the entire congregation sang the third verse. It was beautiful. 

The second hour I taught the Relief Society lesson. It was the April General Conference talk by Pres. Camille Johnson entitle "Spiritually Whole in Him". Such a beautiful lesson reminding us that we can be spiritually whole even if our bodies are not physically or emotionally whole. She share several scripture stories to teach this principle. I loved the talk and was grateful to share it with the sisters in Relief Society.

The Priesthood enjoyed their Father's Day. Right after Sacrament Meeting, the Young Women handed our beef sticks (jerky) to all the men. Then the ladies covered their callings so the men could all meet together in the Relief Society room. Bryce Christensen shared some of his stories with the men. Then they went to the counter in the kitchen and retrieved a sweet treat to eat while they visited with each other. Claude had an apple turnover that he raved about all day long! 

We tried to have a Father's Day lunch at Cattlemen's Roadhouse. The wait was 40 minutes when we got there. Claude really didn't want to wait. Option two was the Mexican Restaurant we like. They had a nice table and we enjoyed a lovely meal together. 

When we returned home, there was a package on our front steps. We both knew that meant Nissa sent something for her dad. Sure enough, it was a cute Yoda with a little stack of cards with fun Yoda sayings on them. Claude picked one and then he set his Yoda by my turtle from Mother's Day. Claude then laid down for his nap. While he napped, I watched the Season 1 Episode 3 of Northern Disclosure on my Kindle. Loving this look back at Northern Exposure. John Corbett was the guest on this one. He played Chris, the radio DJ, on Northern Exposure and was a fan favorite. 

Jake sent me a text in response to one I sent him. He wanted to know a good time to call his dad. I told him I would text him when Claude woke up. I did and Jake called and had a great chat with his dad. 

After talking with Jake, Claude wanted to watch movies. We would watch two, "Hidalgo" and "Broken Trail". They are both based on real life events. 

Andie called in the evening to say Happy Father's Day to her dad. 

It was a very nice Father's Day for Claude. However, he is just sure it should be a Father's Day WEEK!!