Provo visit - April 11th, 2016

Sunday evening we drove to Provo - Dan and Lindsey have a great Bed and Breakfast!  Lindsey had faculty meetings all day on Monday - so we got to stay with the girls.  I brought some Easter suckers - Olivia's stick came off!  Millie loved it and got all sticky!

 Finger painting at the kitchen table.  The chair thing for Millie - Lindsey has on the counter but I feel safer with it on the floor!  I did use it up high so she can see what is going on.

 Olivia really likes to wear these glasses - with no lenses in them.  She calls them her Harry Potter glasses!

Tuck the dog in the back yard - Kaden the boy in the picture is in Olivia's class - and Lindsey tends him in the morning - the he goes to school after lunch with Olivia.

Fence - part three

Dad putting up the picket boards along the side of the fence.  See the nice stacked piles that I did unloading the boards?  

 Getting finished!  nice shot of Dad between the boards!  He asked me to lean them against the runners so he didn't have to bend over each time to pick them up!  So I did!!  The weather people had forecast rain for Saturday afternoon - so Stan got up early to get things done - no rain came!  We felt many 'tender mercies' with this project.  Not the least is both Home Depot and Lowe's had sales of fencing materials this week!

 Dad and Stan finishing up the side boards.

 Almost finished - see Stan's favorite shovel?

All done - this is the back side - we will expand the garden area to the end of the old fence.

 Front side - We love it!  and Stan for all he did to built it for us.  A lady actually stopped as she was driving up the road - she asked if Stan would come see her yard and give her an estimate about building her a fence!

I had to show you all the yard cleaned up - Stan is going to get the wheelbarrow - he put it on top of the car.  Granny always said I job wasn't finished until it was all cleaned up!  Stan saw a couple other yard projects that he said he could accomplish in a short time - with rented machines...hopefully he can come back and do them.  We are so grateful to all our children for their love and support.

Fence - part two!

 Hard at work - the support boards Stan called - runners.  He sure knows how to work hard and get things done!  Every 'problem' that came up he figured out how to solve it - Dad was a good helper!

 The corner is not 90% - but Stan solved it with shims, etc.

 Dad beginning to put the pickets on the runners - near the house and the gate space.

 Stan was really good at putting up the pickets - lots of experience!  The screws went in fast with the power drills - I came out to check on things and Dad said: Stan doesn't like the way I'm doing this!"

Our neighbor to the south took down a part of her fence last year.  She told Dad he could have all the boards and the gate - saved us time and money - so we accepted!  Stan bought great hinges for it!

 My job was to take off the stapled in labels - and then I unloaded the picket boards - two at a time.

The experienced gate!  I like it - Dad said he would stain it to match - see the slope of the fence - Stan knew how to manage that so well...we love our new fence!

Stan builds us a Fence!

 Stan came to Pocatello to build us a fence in our back yard.  Here he is unloading all his boards and tools - Julie is in Maine visiting her sister and new niece - Alta Rose Lloyd.

 Riddick found some shade - Stan changed into shorts - it was around 70 degrees!

 Stately Riddick in the house - he is the best and we enjoyed his company.  I usually throw old bread out to the squirrels in the back yard - not even thinking I did that with half a roll - and Riddick promptly took care of it!  He had a doggie toy that we would stop working and throw for him every now and then.

 Getting ready to pour cement in the holes - Stan dug all of them by hand - he is really good at it!

 Dad went to get more cement - and I took over his duties of keeping the poles level while Stan braced them.  See the small orange level thing on the pole? It has small levels - on each side.  You need to keep the 'bubble' in the right place - it's not that hard ... I felt good contributing to the effort.

The whole scene - Stan brought lots of tools - made the job so much easier - saws, etc. ..plus his knowledge - that was the best thing!

Stan has a favorite shovel - here he is using it - much loved, experienced and duct taped in two places!

Lunch with Jordan

 On Tuesday we drove to Rexburg - attended the temple and then were so happy to take this beautiful coed out to lunch.  This is outside of Jordan's apartment building...Isn't she beautiful?  We got to thinking that she is going to be half way around the world this summer - so we'll take advantage of being just an hour and hlaf away from her...and visit while we can.  I put the camera on timer and placed it on the hood of a truck in her apartment parking lot.

The her roommate took this picture of us in her hallway - she is still so pretty!!  as are all the grand daughters!

Canadians Visit

 Friday morning we had a great visit from these YSA's from Canada ... Elder Jace Gurr - the one in the Bob Marley shirt! was one of our Office Elders in Kingston - he's awesome!  They were on their way to Salt Lake and General Conference.  We were pleased to provide them breakfast and a rest stop ... they had driven all night from Edmonton.

Last year Jace texted on their way back from Conference - - they didn't have any time to come to our house so we met them at the gas station!  Their car broke down in Utah last year ... hopefully not this time. They had a different car - and all were planning on staying at friends houses - they had tickets to most sessions so they'll have a good time.  Wonderful young people in this Church!  Fun to have them in our home for an hour or so.

Stump Loses!

 This is the back left side of our yard ... there was a trash tree in the way where Dad wants to build a fence...so he has been digging around it for weeks - when the weather is good.  Thursday he went to our mechanic friend to borrow a 'come -a- long' to try and get it out.  He asked Brother Ferrin if he had the machine - he said: I've got six of them!  Then he asked what are you doing?  Dad told him and he said he wanted to bring his big Dodge Ram Hemi engine truck over and attach a chain and get the stump out!

 He was so good at it I didn't get a picture of it - but here's the stump!  Dad told him thank you and he said that was fun!  Most things I do all day aren't very fun - but that was!!  Men and their toys!! We are very grateful for his help - Dad had dug as far as he could and Stan is coming this weekend to build the fence - yay!

 Pretty blue flowers in both the back and front yard - spring is here!

 Clark sent Grandpa Smith this cute picture he colored - and a nice note with it.  It is on our fridge door.

 Wednesday we woke up to 3-4 inches of snow - the flowers are trying to stay warm - Dad too!  I loved it.

Close up of the crocus trying to be brave!!  The snow melted by the next day and it has been warm since.