It has begun!

This morning I attended the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the Brigham City Temple.  It is the first one I've ever been too and was quite excited to attend.  It was being broadcast in all the Stake Centers and the Tabernacle but I wanted to be there to see it in person. 

Each ward received 20 or fewer tickets for the seating on the Temple site.  I was not lucky enough to get one but my friend Connie and her husband got one.  We even waved at each other across the street (she's such a brat).  I was happy were I was sitting, right on the park strip in front of the Tabernacle.  I could see the stage and they had the sound so it went across the street.  So other than seeing every one's backs it was okay.

This is what it looked like at about 7:30 this morning.  Everyone just starting to get there and still setting some things up.

Here is President Boyd K Packer and his wife arriving.

Everyone standing while he was being seated.

Just a picture of the Temple site with all the people waiting for it to start.

We sang "High On the Mountain Tops" for the opening song.  So cool to be singing it with the mountains behind us.

This is Elder William R. Walker, the Executive Director, Temple Department.  He conducted and spoke.

This is Elder Steven E. Snow, Presidency of the Seventy.

This is Elder Allan F. Packer, of the Seventy.

This is the choir that provided the music.  They were from Malad, Fielding, Garland, Tremonton, and Tremonton South Stakes.  They sang "Let the Mountains Shout for Joy" and of course "The Spirit of God".

This is Sister Donna Packer, Pres. Packer's wife.

This is President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

He and his wife are from Brigham City.  He spoke and then gave the Dedicatory Prayer.

Shovels ready..........Pres. Packer is the 3rd one from the left.

Posing for the photographers.

The man on the end is my friend Mayor Dennis Fife.  He also used to be our Bishop.

This is all the Stake Presidents of the area in the Temple District.

They also had all those who had been Stake Presidents come up, then all the Bishops, then all the city officials to participate in the ground breaking.  After that they had children come up and shovel some dirt.  Then anyone could stay and shovel some dirt too and take pictures. 

When I first arrived another lady came and put her chair by mine, her husband was working the event.  She had brought an umbrella and shared it with me through the whole thing.  We had nice conversation, she was very friendly, but I never got her name. 

The weather stayed in the 70's with the sun going behind the clouds periodically to give us a reprieve from the heat and there was a nice breeze to make it perfect.

I enjoyed the talks and the spirit and was very glad I went to be a witness to history in the making.

Vacation....Day 6.......

Saturday started out with Debbie making us scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.  Then we headed to the Farmer's Market at Pioneer park.  I didn't know such a thing existed.  It completely surrounds the park, one side farm produce the other side crafts and things and a huge section of food vendors.

Can I just tell you the people watching was at it's best.  Everyone from bikers to yuppies and dogs were there. It was just fun walking and looking.  I forgot my camera and was so mad at myself because you would have loved the pictures I would've shared. 

There were assorted musicians all around with their instrument cases or hats out in front of them for tips. There were several violinists, several guitarists, a few folk singers. But the two most interesting to me were the harpist (with at full sized harp) and this guy.....

They say the piano is not a portable instrument but this guy proves that fact wrong.  He had made a makeshift cart on which the piano sat and pulled it with his bicycle.  You can see it in the picture.  I took this with my phone so it could have been better but I could NOT pass this up without recording it on film.

He was actually quite good and he had another guy that was with him and they took turns playing.  You can see the big tin on a pedestal for his tips, it was pretty full.  Hmmmm wonder if I should give this a try....... I'm sure there were even more musicians to see but we only walked through the produce part of the market.

The fresh produce was wonderful and the selections were plentiful.  I picked up 3 zucchini, 3 yellow squash, 2 Mexican zucchini, a bundle of garlic and a pound in a half of baby red potatoes for under $10. Charles and Debbie got some sweet corn and shared it with me.

If I lived closer I would go to this every Saturday morning.  Debbie says they do and now the market is going to be open on Tuesday evenings too starting this week.  It is the ONLY way to buy fresh produce and a lot of it is organic. 

When we got home Charles and Debbie had to take Puddy to Angel's condo so that he would be there when she got home later that afternoon.  They also had to go to the grocery store to pick up some things for the dinner they were planning.  I stayed home while they did this and just relaxed and read my book.

When they got back we just hung around and talked and watched TV.  For dinner they made a great salad, grilled the corn we got from the market, and grilled black bean burgers and mushrooms.  The black bean burgers were really good.

Earlier Deb and I had gone to the red box and picked out a couple of movies to watch.  So we watched "The Blindside"...Awesome movie!  We also watched "Sherlock Holmes", I loved this one too.  I have always been a fan of Robert Downy Jr.

This morning they brought me home and now I get to spend the last day of my 'stay-cation' relaxing and probably not doing much of anything (unlike the rest of my week?)

Here is my 'little' brother and his cute wife Debbie.  Thanks again guys for the invite and the company! 

Well it's back to work tomorrow..a little mixed about this.  Ready to get back to work and out of this house, but also Jamie and Leslie are back so now I have them to see and at work there will be a lot for me to have to catch up on.  Oh well, life goes on!

Vacation......Day 5.....

So.....I started out my day with a doctor's appointment.  It went well, he is cutting back my high blood pressure meds.  YAY!!!!!!  He was very happy with the lifestyle changes I've been making.

Then I ran to Kent's to pick up a couple of things.  I have always made it a policy of mine that when I'm taking time off from work I do not go into the store at all.  That means even if I need something I go somewhere else.  Plus Kent's is 3 blocks down from my house verses W'mart that is across town.

 I watched some more of "Jack of All Trades" while I did my laundry.

Then I packed up a bag and headed to the bus stop.  Caught the bus to the Ogden Front Runner station. On the way we got to witness a car wreck on Wall Ave.  So the bus driver had to pull over and wait for the police to come.  I have yet to have an uneventful bus ride to Ogden.

Even with the delay I did get to the Front Runner station on time for the 4:15 train.  The train was pretty full with it being the 24th of July (a Utah holiday) weekend.  Debbie picked me up at the Woods Cross station.

I was greeted by Charles and Angel's dog Puddy, who've they have been watching while Angel has been on vacation.  We mostly just sat around and talked, Puddy fell asleep on my leg.

Debbie made us a great dinner of BBQ chicken breasts, roasted red potatoes and a yummy green salad.  After dinner we watched "Harry Potter, The Half Blood Prince".  Charles ended up going to bed before it was over and I think Deb fell asleep a couple times too.

Everyone went to bed and I fell asleep reading my book.

Vacation.....Day 4......

Yesterday I went and had my hair trimmed and colored.  I usually go towards the darker colors but this time I've gone blonder.   After much discussion with Jen and her boss we decided that because of my ongoing battle with my gray that if I went lighter it would blend better. So Wa-La, I'm blonde.  Not totally blonde, but it is a shock every time I look in the mirror. They do say, "blonde's have more fun".  I guess I'll find out.

It was great talking to Jen. I just love her.  She told me all about their recent honeymoon to Mexico and what they were doing now.  After her first disaster of a marriage it is so good to see her so happy.

After I was through at the salon I took my 2 bulging bags to the D.I. Then I decided to go inside and see if they had any books I'd be interested in.  Shopping at the D.I. is always an adventure.  You never know what you will find.  Today's visit was a bust though, so I came out empty handed.

While I was perusing the paperbacks for the third time (just to see if I missed anything that screamed "READ ME") a lady carrying a metal shelf (something you would probably see in a kitchen) under her arm so that it stuck out in front and behind her,came around the display case behind me.  As she did she hit the glass display case with the shelves making quite a clatter.

She was heading right for me (there was not a lot of room between the book section and the display cases). I looked at her with surprise and she simply said "Oops" and kept coming towards me.  I had to jump back out of her way.  I moved down further and was going to go back to reading book titles when she swung those shelves around almost hitting me and managing to hit the display case AGAIN!

So I moved a little further down and then she swung around and hit the display case a third time and then she hit the book shelves. Every time she hit something I'd hear her say "oops".  Picture those comedy sketches where they are carrying the ladder and everyone is dodging it.  That's what this was like....I just stood there watching her wondering just how stupid she was or if she was drunk.

After my comical visit to the D.I. I returned home.  I was going to go to the matinee but I was feeling light headed and decided to just relax on the couch and I watched more of the "Jack of All Trades" series.

I've been making some huge changes (good ones) in my life and I think some of that is catching up to me.  I've been light headed a lot this week. So I made a doctor's appointment for today.  I think some of my medicines might need tweaking.

I went visiting teaching with Sharon in the evening.  We had a nice visit with Kelly (the only one we could get a hold of this week).  After I got home I called Charles and Debbie to talk about when I will be there (I am spending the weekend at their house).  Then Leslie called a little later and I got to talk to Gunner.  They were at Sea World again catching some of the things they missed yesterday. 

Wow!  Can you stand it?!  My week has been so exciting.....I can't wait to go back to work Monday.

Vacation....Day 3.....

Well it was another fun filled day in the neighborhood.

As you can see I've revamped my blog page.

I watched the last movie from Conly, "Sundown".  FYI it's about vampires.  It was entertaining and made me laugh.  Very low budget and cheesy.

Then I watched the first disc of the series "Jack of All Trades".  It is funny, full of one liners and a lot of sexual innuendos.  I can see why it only lasted one and a half seasons.

I talked to my cousin Audrey on the phone.  She is in Salt Lake right now visiting her son and his family.  We were trying to see if we could find a time to get together but that was a bust.  But I had fun talking to her.

I went through some things in my craft/scrapbook/office room and now have 2 bags of things to take to the D.I.

Last night my friend Juli came over and we talked til 1am.  This seems to be the norm for us.  We don't even realize how long we talk for.  I started the book "The Swan Thieves" that I picked up from the library. 

I received a call from Cambria, they were at Sea World waiting for the Shamu show to start.  She told me all about what they have been doing so far.  Then I talked to Leslie for a while.  It was good to hear from them.  I miss them.

Vacation....day 2........

So here I am again to report on the second day of my "stay-cation" as my sister puts it...good name for it.  Thanks Di!

Yesterday was probably not as exciting as Monday but here is my report.

I watched 3 more of the movies Conly loaned me..."Evil Dead", "Evil Dead II" and "Army of Darkness".

By the time I finished watching "Evil Dead" I didn't think I was going to watch the others.  It was to put it plainly, GROSS!  Not gorey like most horror movies are because it was so low budget. When I got done I text'd Conly with what I thought and he ended up calling me and talking me into watching the other 2 in the trilogy.

"Evil Dead II" was not quite as gross as the first.  Conly had told me that I HAD to watch this one so that I would get some of the things in "Army of Darkness".  I think he said that just so he could torture me more since I wasn't at work where he torments me all day long.

"Army of Darkness" was by all means the best of the three. The gross level went down considerably and the one liners from the character Bruce Campbell played were abundant.  As Conly puts it, Bruce Campbell is king of the "B" movies.

I called Jen and have a hair appointment for Thursday morning.  Yay for a much needed color and trim!  Plus I'll get to hear all about her recent wedding and honeymoon. 

On a not so exciting note (like what I've already told you was exciting?), I cleaned up my family room.
Later in the evening after it cooled down I went for my walk.

So ended day 2.......

Vacation...day 1.........

So here is the report of the first day of my week off.....

I called my friend Maron to see what she was doing.  Well she was laying flat on her back in bed, in a lot of pain.  Saturday she'd had a 4-wheeler accident and was thrown from her wheeler.  They took her to emergency where after many tests and x-rays found out that she had 7 hairline fractures along the bones in her spinal column.  There is not a lot they can do for this other than give her pain meds and have her stay in bed for 4-6 weeks.  OUCH!!!!!!!!

So I spent the afternoon at her house keeping her company and giving Gary (her husband) a break.  She really is doing pretty good all things considering.  We had fun just talking about everything under the sun.  Around 4pm she was starting to look tired so I left her to get some much needed rest.

I watched 2 of the movies Conly loaned me...."Man with the Screaming Brain" and "Alien Apocalypse". They were very entertaining.....okay some of it was just plan retarded and very low budget.  But I was entertained for a couple of hours.  One of my favorite lines from "Alien Apocalypse" was..."Stupidity is terminal...and you've just been cured..." after he shot a bounty hunter.  You know we all have a few stupid people we have to deal with that we would all like to cure....

I also finished reading "Zen the Art of Vampires".  It was good and made me laugh so I will have to see if I can find more of her books.

Later around 9 in the evening, after it had cooled off and a nice breeze was blowing, I went on a walk.  It was very nice and even saw a few of my neighbors out doing the same.

So that is the first day of my vacation......you all probably have to go lay down and rest now from all the excitement.