Musings

Yesterday Katie's sister Shannon posted an article about her home and yard that had been published in a magazine this month! A real magazine! She lives in a home built in 1803- yes 1803!

There are no homes in Utah that old except for Cliff Dwellings and Anasazi ruins. Utah was not even settled until 1847. Prior to that Catholic missionaries came through, but no one settled down here. So it is quite amazing to me to think of living in a home over 200 years old.

The home we live in was built in the 1950's and I think we are the third owners of it. A beautiful fruit orchard was taken out to build the houses on our side of the block. My mom's house is quite a bit older and the house next to her and one up the street were some of the first real homes built in the area we live in. So, we think they are old. But no where near 200 years.

The amazing thing about Shannon's home is her one+ acre yard. I will never complain about mowing all our grass again. Megan says it is like a park. The gardens are beautiful. I am not kidding. You should see the pictures. She even has a pond (big, no little man made polyurethane pond) and ducks! How would that be? We have quail that walk through our garden. Does that count? Anyway, it is quite amazing.

And to top it off, Shannon has a sister who is just as creative and hardworking, Katie, and she is actually in our family! What a blessing that is for us. Katie is also attracted to old homes and beautiful yards and colorful flowers.

Lauren is on the last day, test day, of her life saving class to train to be a lifeguard. This is also the first day of spring break.

For the last month I have planned on catching a ride down to Cedar with a friend who was coming up to Provo to a regularly scheduled meeting. On Tuesday that meeting was cancelled. What to do? I did not HAVE to go to Cedar, but I wanted to go and support Lauren in her last hours of training. So, I started looking for an alternative ride. After going through all my friends who have family in the south eastern part of Utah and sending out an e-mail asking if anyone was traveling south, I found a ride as far as the Paragonah turn-off, 38 miles north of Cedar.

I had a wonderful trip getting to know my driver much better than before and feeling a true kinship. She lives in a teeny tiny town nestled in the middle of southern Utah very far from the beckoning crowd. She is an awesome person who does awesome things for families.

Anyway, back to the story. Lauren arranged for her roommate, Ashley, to come and -pick me up. Ashley is the life saver! She rescued Lauren last week.

I have spent two nights in a college girls' apartment and survived! J/K it truly has been a delightful experience. I had a fun time shopping in the college bookstore yesterday. Lauren and I got back from Santa Clara at 9 last night and left to go back at 5:45 this morning.

So here I sit waiting for the test to be taken and over. It is a gruelling exam!