Touchstone Tuesday

This touchstone was acquired just last year in Myrtle Beach.

I've said earlier that I really like turtles for some reason or other.

My little niece, Stevie, has played with my "bobble-head" turtles

for many years.

She knows I like turtles!!!

We were in a gift shop in Myrtle

when she ran up to me saying,

"Aunt Tina, Aunt Tina,

"I found some turtles for you!"

I thought these were so cute.

A papa, mama and baby turtle 

(bobble-heads)
made out of shells!

Thanks Stevie for scoping them out for me!

Good Reads

I've read some pretty good books lately.

This one was for book club.

"Still Alice" is story about a woman who finds herself 

diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

She is educated and on the top of her world
and then her world seems to crumble around her.

This book had me questioning whether or not I had Alzheimer's.

Thankfully I've forgotten most of the details of the book.

:)

"Heaven Is Here"
I just finished this one.

I was surprised to find it in our library system since the author is from Utah.

There is just one copy in the tri-county area!

and I've got it at present.

This is just the kind of story I like . . . . . triumph over hardship.

And what a hardship.

This is a true story about the blogger nie nie at the nieniechronicles.com

She and her husband were in an airplane accident

shortly after he received his pilots license.

He was burned badly but she was burned over 80 percent of her body.

She had a long-hard-painful journey to discover that

a person is not their body . .. . . . 

they are something more.

This one was hard to put down and I finished in record time!

"The Chosen" is an older book.

Published in the 1960's.

I feel it is relevant today.  

It's about two Jewish boys with different background

who develop an unlikely friendship.

One has a loving relationship with his father the other doesn't.

One is grounded in his religion, the other is questioning it.

WOW! did I find so many parallels to my life in this book.

Children who question and make choices.

Parents who have to deal with their questioning and choices.

This book spoke to me in so many ways.

And was a VERY interesting look into Jewish life which I know nothing about.

(this was my book club choice!  book club today!!)

HAPPY READING!

Fun to Do

Piano students and piano lessons are such a big part of my life.

I recently had my Spring piano recital.

It was a wonderful recital with 28 students performing.

I rarely blog about piano and my students 

because I want to protect their privacy. . . 

but I stole this from one of their blogs,

so I figure they wouldn't mind :)

These are great kids and I feel so honored to teach

each and every one of the students I do teach.

I really should keep a journal of all the cute things my students say.

Kid's really do say the darndest things!!!

It's great to be able to teach in my own home

set my own hours

teach barefoot

and do what I love.

Time swiftly passes as I teach

and leaves me smiling and humming for the rest of the day!

I have it good!

Grace is funny and very attentive . . . . . Anna is so excited and eager to learn . . . . . . Isaac is clever and smart and
is very inquisitive, he keeps me on my toes!  FUN!

Touchstone Tuesday

I love where we live right now because it is so beautifully green.

We are from Utah.

Utah has it's beauty,

You just need to look at the beauty of Utah with a different kind of "eye"

to find it.

There are certain areas of Utah
where the beauty

just smacks you in the face with all it's majesty.

Our fridge Magnet.  The hike known
as Walter's Wiggles.

When Halley got married back in 2007,
and we traveled to Utah for her reception,

we decided that we needed to take a trip down to southern Utah,

and show our boys The Canyon Lands.
(Why do you wait to do the things you should-a done
while you actually live in a place?!)

The Canyon Lands are
unbelievably BEAUTIFUL!

and in June they are

HOT!
(Unbelievably)

We dealt with temperatures up into the hundreds.

118 degrees Fahrenheit was the highest temp I remember. 

In Vegas (nearby) they were registering temps in the high 120's 

that week. CrAzY hOt!

We all had camelbacks filled with Gaterade

which became warm very fast.  

Warm Gaterade . . . . . 

JOY!
NOT!

Let's just say I was NOT a happy camper!

And YES, we were c.a.m.p.i.n.g  in that heat!
In tents (no a.c.)

The desert is a funny place.

You fry in the daytime and freeze at night . . . . 

seriously!

We have sooooooo many memories of this.

Some good, some bad.

This is the trip where my son broke his back

and I felt responsible . . . . I still feel responsible.

This is the trip where we conquered amazing things.
We hiked amazing trails and reached new heights.

Isn't that the way most things are in life?

We feel more joy because we feel more pain?

the pain makes the joy possible?

I'm just glad the pictures don't show (much)

my complete discomfort with the heat and distress I felt.

It really was a trip to remember!

Forgive all the pictures . . . . there are just too many good ones!

A kind soul (there are lots of kind souls in Utah) took our picture.
It was morning, the beginning of our hike, and heating up fast!

My hubby and sons were so kind to take m.a.n.y breaks for me.  I'm a horrible hiker.  My heart beats so fast
and my head feels like it wants to split open and let the heat out the top of it . . . . . . . .
See?  I'm  still whining after all these years!

Looking down at what we had hiked, and this was JUST the beginning of this hike!

Chancy. at the bottom of  Walter's Wiggles (the one on the fridge magnet)

Looking down on Walter's Wiggles.

Justin and Chancy at the top of Angel's Landing.

Justin, Looking down from Angel's Landing.

At the bottom of a slot Canyon.   Where did  Justin get the energy to continue to act like a billy goat?

I found a good rock to sit on and cool off a bit . . . . . it was nicer at the bottom of this canyon.
(Chancy joined me for a while)

Down another slot canyon.  I didn't go on this hike.  I found a shade tree and took
a much needed rest!

We used Zion's shuttle service.  There was a family on the bus talking about how many states they had visited.
They came up with 9 and were so proud.  Lincoln and I started talking about it, and it would have been easier
for us to list the states we HADN'T visited!!!!!  We just let the family bask in their glory!!

I love this picture . . . . it is now the background of my laptop computer.  Me and my boys!
Bryce Canyon.

So gorgeous!  (no not me!!!)  

Yes, he is gorgeous!!!  This shows the trail we had hiked so far!

It was so hot, that I convinced Lincoln that we needed to take the horse tour around Bryce instead of hiking it all.
A fateful decision.  I can finally look at these pictures and not feel queasy.  See the caps we had on?  We
were warned not to wear them because they spooked the horses when they blow off of your head.  There was not
a breath of a breeze and so we kept them on.

Happy as a clam! (hmmm are clams happy?)

You wouldn't believe it from this "capless" picture than a mini cloud burst stormed through the canyon,
flipped our caps off and spooked the horse that Justin was on which caused the horse to gallop off on the
opposite direction and successfully get rid of its rider.  Poor Justin.  It was the first time he had been on a horse
since he was a toddler and didn't know what to do.

Me handing out the caps . . . . an ambulance ride, an emergency room visit and an x-ray showed that
Justin had broken a small bone in his back.
YIKES . . . . what a journey that started.  He still feels pain from that accident.

Just a picture I like . . . . . I think those were the storm clouds that violently blew in and out of the canyon.

The desolate beauty of Utah. and the beginning of our 35 plus hour trip home.  We were going to visit the
Grand Canyon on this trip, but because of the accident decided to just go home.

 The Joy . . . . . The pain . . . . .

LIFE.

Ready, Set . . . . . GO!

Looks like I haven't uploaded my camera for a while . . . . . 

He's 16 now!

Happy (late) Birthday Mac!

Hope your wishes (and ours) come true!

We are diving into summer with this new 16-year old.

Swim season has started.

(along with his life-guarding job)

He's diving in and making a splash.

3, 2nd places at his first meet.

Which is good, considering that the 1st place 

swimmer swims year-round and several hours a day.

McKay is actually gaining on this year-round swimmer!

Parents get to sit and watch it all.

(Zane got 1st place in his backstroke race!!!)

Looking at this picture makes me realize 

I'll be losing my baby

in the not to distant future.

Empty nest will soon be upon us. 

Cousin time at the pool.

Stevie, showing off her skills!

Baxter is teaching his younger siblings how to make a big splash!

Success!

Here's to making a big splash this summer!

Purple?

Here is a picture of my plate of food at a Luau.  Complete with the purple roll made from Taro.  I guess Taro is
like a big sweet potato, but it is purple.  I think that is Taro in the middle of the plate also.  This picture is from
our 2nd trip to Hawaii . . . . . our first trip was taken on 35mm film, and I was too lazy to scan in pictures of that trip!

Touchstone Tuesday

I love this "hear no evil, see no evil and say no evil" theme!
(a fridge magnet)

Lincoln and I have taken 2 "work" trips to Hawaii.

I'm going to focus on the first trip.  

There was a conference for the Air National Guard in Hawaii

and so several of Lincoln's coworkers and their wives went on this trip.

While the guys were working,

the gals would find a beach somewhere and Veg.

When the guys weren't working we would do some 

POWER sight seeing.  

There was NO beach sitting when we were with the men!

I was three month's pregnant with my last child,

so this was 16 years ago.

I was a Utahn then and hadn't spent much if any time at a beach.

The beaches in Hawaii are varied.  

There was course sand, almost powder-sugar-like sand,

and if I remember right, on one of the bases (military)

there was even black sand. 

I think this started my love affair with beaches.

After we were home from the trip 

and I was feeling stress,

I would close my eyes and try to take myself back 

to those beaches in Hawaii

and I would feel better. 

Other things I saw/learned in that 1st Hawaii trip:

Japanese people do not know what a line is.

This lack of "line" etiquette

could be interpreted as rudeness, but is just a cultural difference.

They also have a capacity to squat-sit on their haunches for hours

with seemingly no fatigue whatsoever.

(have you seen this?)

AMAZING!

Some Hawaiians really don't like us white people.

They call us Haole - - 

(as explained by a Native, we don't have the "breath-of-life")

When I would tell people the names of my children

they would look at me weird when I would tell them

my daughter's name,

Halley, which sounds an awful lot like Haole.

White people are also responsible for all the "bad" things in Hawaii.

(I'd be mad at us too.)

We brought them rats, mosquitoes and cock roaches.

Can you imagine a world without them?

Hawaii WAS without them before the white man.

A true paradise!

 (lost)

Hawaii was beautiful.

The Polynesian cultural center was Fantabulous!

and is almost the only place you truly see the Hawaiian culture.

Luau's are great fun.

I ate my first p.u.r.p.l.e roll there.

Fresh Pineapple is to die for!

Having a gecko in your hotel room is "a good thing."

(otherwise you'd deal with the cockroaches)

Interstate Highways exist on the Island.

Interstates . . . . . . what state are they connecting with?

I think that just means the federal government paid for the road!!!

What a fun trip!

What they don't tell you

It's kinda weird.

To learn through the grapevine,

that your son

graduated at the top of his class.

YES Valedictorian!

in his course of study.

He even got to give the speech at graduation.

(wow!)

Congrats Chancy!  

We are so excited for you and the new course you've set for yourself.

To think, this kid was only inches away from being a high school drop-out.

He did graduate high school . . . . 

has had a tough road,

and thank heavens is making a "go" of it.

He will be moving to San Jose, CA to continue his studies,

and is currently working for a company to gain experience in his chosen field.

YAY!

Looking good, Chance!

On a different note,

Do you dream about your children?

Chancy is the child that frequently comes to me in my dreams.

In one dream he was about 5 years old.

He was with me all night talking and babbling to me 

in that "child speak" language he had.

All his "r's" were "w's" 

he'd mix up double consonants also . . . 

like he'd say gril for girl :)

SO CUTE!

Touchstone Tuesday

We always seem to piggy-back our family vacations

off of Lincoln's work trips.

He had a work trip that he was going to need to drive a lot.

He gets paid mileage, a small stipend for food and the hotel.

WHY NOT go?

The states in the trip were Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

This area is STEEPED in history.

It is great to learn history first hand and on the spot.

This particular stop had us in Plymouth, Mass

where the pilgrims first set foot on "Plymouth Rock."

How surreal it felt to be in the area where all this history took place!

Here is the small wood carving we picked up as a "touchstone."

Here are Justin, Mckay, Halley and Chancy leaning/sitting on the
structure guarding "plymouth rock."

It's hard to see how big this rock is . . . .  It is really a lot smaller than I expected.
Apparently it is much smaller than it was originally as people have knocked
and scraped off pieces of it for keepsakes.   The rock has quite a history and if you are so inclined
here is a link to that history.    http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/History/tour5.php

We visited a replica of the "Mayflower."

We could not pass up a cup of "New England" clam chowder, while in New England.
Poor Hubby was working while we did all of our sight seeing.

I hope the kids remember these trips . . . . . . 

The Spider Chronicles

We live under a canopy of

BEAUTIFUL oak, holly and pine trees.

I lOvE the green.

but with the green comes

sPiDeRs!!!

The other night,

my 16-year old

SON

called for his father.

His father was asleep

so I came to his rescue.

MY SON'S PROBLEM:

He was trying to get some ice cream

and a spider came out from under the stove!

I went and got a shoe

(not his shoe, my son pleaded)

and I gave that spider a good wack!

I was so zealous in my spider murder,

that I set off our "glass breaker" house alarm . . . . 

How annoying.

As I waited for the alarm company to call

and make sure everything was okay,

I got to thinking about this situation

and it hit my

funny bone.

I tried to be serious to the lady on the other end of the phone,

but by the end of my explanation,

we were both laughing at the "spider killing" 

and the false alarm.

EEEeeee gads!

Story 2:

Every couple of days I go out with a stick

about the size of a sword and swashbuckle

down all the spider webs on our deck.

My 16-year old son

has been using the front door to go to work.

He works at the pool that is adjacent to our

BACK yard. 

It's much easier to leave via the back door

and not to walk around the house to the back gate.

I questioned him and asked why he was doing this?

(I'm pretty sure it wasn't for the extra exercise!)

"There is a spider web blocking the stairwell" he stated.

NOW . . . .  I had JUST gotten through swashbuckling those spiders 

and so the conversation went like this.

"no there isn't"

"yes there is"

"no there isn't"
"yes there is"

"No there isn't" (with attitude)

"YESSSS there is" (with even more attitude)

So I marched him out to show him a clean stairwell.

and those Dag-nab-bed

spiders had re-spun those webs in a matter of a couple hours!

Industrious little critters.

Now I just need to teach my son the art of fencing

so he can use the back door.