Wendy Roommate

Wendy came and visited from Colorado this weekend. I was telling Thea that she and I have been friends for over 30 years. That is a bit crazy. We met our first year at Dixie, but became roommates and best friends our second year.

I took her to the Newport Beach Temple. Maybe an odd thing to do on vacation, but it was a good day. Our little temple is sweet and a good way to spend part of a day.

It is pink with Spanish Mission architecture. The steeple is unique and Moroni is rather short, but still beautiful.

Saturday we went to Corona Del Mar and hiked the jetty. This is a picture of the Wedge in Newport Beach. It is across the channel and the tip of Balboa Island. I've heard that when the tide is big, the waves are spectacular as they crash against the Wedge. One day I want to be there to witness the wildness of the ocean that looks so tame in this picture.

I love pelicans. They are beautiful in a gangly, awkward way.

The end of the jetty. Last time Craig and I didn't make it all the way to the end. This time I wore better shoes. No flipflops for me on the rocks.

Looking back at Corona Del Mar. The Ocean was beautiful and we clearly saw the orange girabaldi fish in the seaweed up against the jetty.

A selfie before we headed to find some dinner. I think we were still on the jetty.

A beautiful sunset when we were done with dinner. Pictures don't really do sunsets justice. The colors were even more brilliant. Heavenly Father is a true artist - I can tell he loves color and texture.

We tried to get the sunset in the background, but it didn't really work.

Today I took her to the Lindt store and we bought chocolate. Yummy. 

The loot. I spend way too much on chocolate since I found this shop. But, dang, it is so good!

Good friends since high school

After ice cream, we went to visit Mary. She has been sick for two months plus. They finally figured out it was her gall bladder and took the thing out. She has been getting better, but still gets tired. 

But she was working that day. We were lucky to have a brief visit. 

We noticed we were wearing the same shoes. 

Good friends are priceless. I am so blessed by my sweet and loyal friends. 

Forever friends.

I didn't get pictures of everyone. But I will post the pictures that I did get. 

Sweet Vickie made us dinner on Monday. 

Our dear former bishop who is enjoying teaching primary. We miss them both. It was great being able to catch up

I've known her since kindergarten

Some people you just hang on to.  It's been about ten years since I've seen her last, but with some people time just doesn't matter. 

We spent time catching up with our siblings and families. I showed her some pictures and she showed me her pictures. We laughed over memories. We mourned over our tragedies. We rejoiced in our triumphs. We cried over our challenges. 

It was so good to see her. 

With our boys. 

I want my celestial mansion to be on the same block as hers. 

Picking Corn for the Community Dinners

We attended a service project this morning. We all got up and out of the house at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. Amazing for me. :)

We drove to a local corn patch -- very big -- to pick and husk corn. A different stake(s) will blanch the corn and cut it for the freezing. It will be used in the community dinners. A good thing.

I had forgotten that I was supposed to take pictures for our Relief Society Meeting before the broadcast. Craig said too bad you don't have your camera, and then I remembered. I had forgotten the camera. But I still had my phone. I don't think it takes great pictures, but I took some anyway. I have to send them all individually. It is a bit of a pain, probably because I don't know the tech shortcuts.

But the pictures are good enough.

The Bishop with half of Kelsey's face cut off. I was taking pictures on the sly.

A group of the scouts husking. Josh has the corn and Boaz is in the jacket in the background.

Busy boys.

Dirty shoes.

The bishop with the Deacon's quorum adviser. The young men program in this ward rocks.

The Scout Leader. He has really helped Josh grow. We love Brother Smith.

I love this man.

Another sneaky picture. Seth, Josh's best friend, is right behind him.

This is Kelsey.

Lynette, the Relief Society Pres and my good friend and the mother of Kelsey and Rachel.

Rachel with her little brother Rob facing the other way.

There were a ton of people that showed up. There were at least people from two stakes. Pretty amazing.

College roommates and best friends

My dear friend, Anaise, came to Utah. She moved away, very far, and I have not seen her In over ten years. 

I took my family to see her while she was in Salt Lake. Turns out, she was two minutes from my sister's house. 

She looks great. I am re-inspired to keep working on my health and weight. I am approaching 50 and I don't want to look it, or feel it.

She brought her dear family. I hadn't met most of them before. They are darling and fun. I knew them from her blog, but it was nice to get to know them in person.

I hung out a bit with Isaac. He wanted to be near his mom. With all the new people around, it is best to be near mom. :)

I'm so glad they made time in their trip for us to come and visit.