The week of no regrets

The hospice nurse taking care of Tom Allison in Kansas City said that this was the week of "no regrets".  This is the week where the lucid moments need to be taken advantage of.  The days before his body shuts down in a coma and whereafter, there is no time to say the things that haven't been said.

I've thought a lot about that in the last few days.  If we all knew those around us only had days or moments to live, would we treat each other differently?  Would we say those things that normally we're too uncomfortable to say?  Would we swallow our pride and indifference, forgive and lower our expectations and guarded thoughts?

When confronted of the reality of that, I still don't think I can do it.

But, I don't want to be filled with regret.

And I don't mean...regret for not sky diving and Rocky Mountain climbing.

I'm talking about eternity altering regret.  Relationships and love and intellect...the only things we take with us.

I hope one of the lessons I learn from the life and death of Brother Tom Allison, is to never regret.

May the Force be with you.

A Warning Video

Parents have a warning after son dies playing the "choking game" - WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina |

The Fungs are friends of ours who lived in Kansas City. Please take the time to watch this video and teach your children the dangers of playing the "choking game".

It is real. And it can happen to one of your children in your very own home. You may not even know about it.

We were all shocked and saddened when we first heard of Spencer's death. His faithful parents are wanting to make sure this never happens to anyone else's child.

There are two videos...be sure to watch them both.  They are both located below the main screen.

On a non-hike day

You can't hike EVERY day.  Turns out, it's just not possible.

Eventually your home and family will be begging for their domestic goddess to return.

In other words...there will be no food, a pile of dirty dishes and clothes, a stink in the air and a very lonely doggie.

So with much reluctance, I have to take a day off now and again.

After the home front chores are caught up....because they are never actually completed...it's time to do something creative.

Something that makes your home smell citrusy...and that tastes good.

And when you haven't made it to the store for your favorite cupcake ingredients, you make due and attempt a new recipe.

Sea Glass Candy

I love the look of it.  Always having been a fan of the actual sea glass on the beach...it would be fun to psych out the family and make them think you are torturing them by eating glass.

It worked.  Some girls came by last night and thought I had a jar of dirty glass sitting on the counter and were surprised I asked them to suck on a piece.  What kind of sick Mom am I?

Apparently, this stuff is all over wedding receptions in apothecary jars...apparently.

I got the recipe from the Idea Room.

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 - 1 tsp flavoring oil  (I used essential oils, which only required about 4 drops)

1.  Lightly grease a jelly roll pan.  I used vegalene spray.

2.  Pour sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium saucepan.  Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves.

3.  Without stirring, boil the mixture until a candy thermometer reads between 300 and 310 degrees (about 20-30 minutes).  Drop a small amount into ice water.  If it separates into brittle strands, it is ready.

4.  Remove from heat and let boiling subside.

5.  Measure flavoring oil and pour into candy mixture. You may also add food coloring if desired.  Blend with a wooden spoon.  Be very careful when adding as it may let off a strong smell and steam.  I found that there was no smell or steam with the essential oil...that may be the difference.

6.  Pour onto greased jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.  Let cool.  Be patient.  It will take at least 15 minutes.

7.  Cover with wax paper and hit lightly with a hammer to break into small pieces.

8.  Take the pieces and lightly coat them with some powdered sugar...mmmmm, more sugar.

This is the simplest recipe ever.  I ended up making lemon and orange and hope to make grapefruit and lime for the jar later.  It is no fuss.  Literally, put it in the pot and walk away.  I found that it took quite awhile for the temp to get in the high 200's but then it would quickly shoot up into the desired range so toward the end you want to watch it closely.  My glass turned out thinner then the glass I saw in the tutorial.  It is a little deceiving.  This batch will not fill an entire jelly roll pan.  Pour it on the pan and just let it spread out where it wants, otherwise you will spread it too thin.

If I can learn to do it...you can learn to do it.

So, I used a beautiful day to stay home yesterday and today is overcast and windy.  Bummer.  I guess I'll have to finish moving and perform more domesticity on another non-hike day.  To add to my torture...I'll be sucking on broken sea glass as I go.

The Un-glamorous Life

Every day living consists of cleaning a bit at a time.

It's especially fun to clean the wallpapered bathrooms in the retro house.

Not uber-highly offensive....unless you're staring at this while going #2....

Lions, tigers and oxen...oh, my.  The stuff of nightmares, I tell ya.

This part of the bathroom may not have wallpaper, but it's not fair to have to clean it!  I think I'll just shut the door on this room and back away.

What's not glamorous about all this?  In the words of Nacho himself...."My life is goooooood".  Unglamorous, but good.

So I Walk

The world just feels right when I can spend some time out in it.

I can't even describe the blessings that have come my way from these sojourns on ridges, in slots and canyons, in sand, on lava, around thorns, thru ravines and over sandstone.

Today's jaunt took a bit longer than I thought it would and yet as tired as I may get, I never tire of the awe factor.

"How can you explain that you need to know that the trees

are still there, and the hills and the sky?  

Anyone knows they are.

How can you say it is time your pulse responded to

another rhythm, the rhythm of the day and the season instead

of the hour and the minute?

No, you cannot explain.

So you walk."

~Author Unknown

For reasons unexplained, I can't stop walking. It's this driving inner rhythm thing goin' on.

My feet are sore.  The day is spent.  But my heart is always fuller after spending a few hours in the red cliffs.

I don't know how long this season of my life will last, but I intend to walk through as much of it as possible.

Saddle Hike, behind Tuacahn

over the top and through Snow Canyon

Today's hike:

7.5 miles 3:30 hours

Then it was sweetened pulled pork wraps for the family...

A pot of chicken noodle soup to be split between a couple of sick neighbors...

a couple of loads of laundry...

a store run...

a bank run...

a needed shower...

and some attention to Lola....

and now I'm officially spent and ready for bed.  

And so it will go again tomorrow....I'll walk...

Happiness Today

Happiness today is found in the hike with your quads and lungs on fire.  And soaking up brilliant blue skies and stunning scenery along with your comrades.

Volcano Trail

Be happy....go take a hike.

Hedge up the way

The retro house is covered in green, in spite of being smack dab in the middle of the desert.

backyard

The hedges are particularly noteworthy.  Especially the one that greets our guests as they walk to the front door.

Clipped to hug and define the stucco wall, it is the height of datedness.  The girls are singularly proud and fond of this shrub.  Behind the green bush and stucco wall is the pantry with glass blocks on either end.

Glass block-end.

There's also some vineage going on.  When Hunter was little, she used to say her dream house would be covered in vines....be careful what you wish for I say.

I saw a lot of green in another area bordering Bloomington today.  I hiked the "Montazuma Trail" just out from our neighborhood.  The weekend rain and snow have turned the mosses and lichens bright green.  It was a damp, earthy hike. Unusual, unique and very pretty.  We also ended up hiking through some patches of snow today on top too!  A little chilly out there.

Thankfully, there was no hedging up the way on Montazuma...

Retro glimpses

Some of my family members have requested more photos of the retro house. Today after church, if the sun comes out, I will attempt to capture the appeal of my stake center brick and stucco, 80's era abode.  I may even break out the big guns...the giant, neglected camera.

For now, here are a couple of photos to wet your whistle.

I'm a good whistler.

Anyway...

The first picture is of the shower in my bathroom.  It has a glass door on either side and the wall opposite the shower heads is glass blocks.  If you step out of either side of the shower and turn you will be in the closet, which has a heated light at each entrance.  And let me tell you...that is nifty.

The second picture is of the living room, obviously before we moved in.  The wall (not shown) opposite the built-in is actually an entire bank of windows facing south.  Bring on the sun!  It's a huge room with a built in entertainment area and a fancy wood stove, which I'm looking forward to inaugurating as soon as possible. This room was updated...new ceiling, light fixtures and built-ins in 2000.  Wood beams and heating duct are all original...thank goodness they left them alone! There are electrical plugins and phone jacks strategically placed in the floor which helps eliminate long cords all over.

Friday, I spent the first half of the day at the hobbit house, cleaning and preparing the last loads to leave. I thought I would be more grouchy about having to clean and tidy up an empty house that we no longer live in.  Surprisingly, I felt nothing but gratitude.  I was so overcome with feelings of gratitude that I nearly cried the entire time.  I feel so blessed to have had the hobbit home to live in. It may not have been the ideal home for us, but it was home for a time.  There will always be great memories associated with it.  I also feel blessed to be able to move into another great home, that hopefully will hold many more memories. This experience has taught me to appreciate the homes we live in.  I don't know that I will ever look at houses the same way again.  It's what happens in them, not to them, that makes them wonderful.

Yesterday, we perused the houses in the Parade of Homes in this area.  While there was a lot of oohing and aahing, I did not covet nor did I wish for anyone of those homes or the decor in them.  I appreciated them for the beauty and style they displayed, but they were not homes...not one of them.  There was no feeling in them...no soul.  Even the $4 million, 10, 000 square foot home, couldn't get my crave up.  Any one of those houses could burn down tomorrow and it would be of no real loss.  It's just stuff.  And we can't take a bit of it with us.

That's why I will always love the hobbit house.  For the lessons I learned there.

I hope to build more relationships in the retro house....a retro home.

Online

I'mmmmmm baaaaaackkkk...

And I've never been more grateful for technology than I am now.

So much has happened in the week or so.  We moved.  We went to Provo and Las Vegas.  Boyd went skiing up north for 4 days.  I moved more and more. We had two families come spend the night.  And I've hiked at least 16 miles.

The only time I've been able to log on to internet has been in the van on the way to hikes or while packing up the hobbit house.  Boyd says I'm addicted but I think it's worse than that.  I felt so isolated from the world.  By last night, as I sat in the retro house all by myself...I thought I might bolt.  It took all my strength to not load up and head out of town.

I have a few pictures of my adventures....it's been a ride and it's almost over.
First there was Camelback Trail in Gunlock.  Sandstone formations...amazing...hiked up and over and through the Dragonback...

Then there was Las Vegas for the International Sevens Rugby Tournament.  I was rooting for Samoa...who took 5th.  Got to see some friends from KC there.  Nothing like rugby fans.  I'm totally addicted.

Good weather...good food...and a welcome break from the hustle of the move.  Had some Kanenwishers over at our house too...

Then there was the Gila Trail....from the south entrance of Snow Canyon through Johnson's Arch, Scout Caves, Turtle Wall Trail and up to Chuckwalla on Snow Canyon Parkway.  It was a beautiful day and I got to hang out with some lovely ladies from Toronto and Santa Cruz.  By this point in the week...I just can't get enough.

And then it was a trip to "Hell Hole" Trail....It's real...I'm not making it up...and it's red...just like I thought it would be.

A slot canyon resembling Zion National Park but closer to home behind Kayenta. An enjoyable treat to the senses, not even the remotest possibility of photographing what I saw.

Speaking of which...my little camera who has accompanied me all over the world has finally given up.  I let Bridger take it to school and it's never been the same. I'm stuck with the phone camera for now until I can find a palm sized replacement.  

I missed yesterday's 8 mile "Slots" canyon hike.  I was a little disappointed but I managed to accomplish quite a bit on the home front and now I'm feeling settled.

I think I've found my drug of choice:  hiking

It's all good.  It's all so good.  

I'm online, and it's all good.

Still Breathing

I'm still around.

No Internet yet. Crossing my fingers for Saturday!

Computer is fixed.

About 4 more car loads left to move.

And heading up to hike the Gila Trail with ladies from Toronto and Santa Cruz. Good times.

I'm still breathing...are you?

Where am I?

3 1/2 hours ago I was moving my kitchen and now I'm sitting in Las Vegas watching the USA rugby sevens tournament. Currently, New Zealand is beating Argentina.

What a whirlwind it's been this week.

My computer fell out of the back of the car.

We don't have the Internet and I can't get 3G on my phone or IPad. I hear our house is in a "dead zone". That mighta been a deal breaker on the retro house had I known that.

I'm exhausted, bruised and battered but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Back to rugby.

That's how we roll where I am.

Rockin' the Move

I'd say we're about half way through our moving process.  Anxiety only set in twice yesterday.  We have until the end of the month to move out of the Hobbit house.  But our schedule is fairly packed for the next couple of weeks and in my mind I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to pull it off.  Yes, how I am going to pull it off.  I'm not being a martyr about this.  It's true.

Yesterday, I had a hair appointment in the early morning.  A couple from Utah county come down to St. George once a month to work in a small salon that they own here in town.  They've been doing it for years.  You schedule your appointments at least a month in advance, since they are completely booked every time they come down. So yesterday was my appointment.  I was watching a music video on their laptop of Grace Potter and decided right there that a move to the Retro house deserved the haircut of a rocker.  No other rational idea than that.  Happily my "team" obliged....and this is how it turned out....

And I say, Ooh,La La...

Aggressive.

I will need to keep it trimmed...my eyelashes already touch my bangs.

I asked my "team" if they could perform Grace's leg transplant on me but they told me they weren't really skilled in that arena.

And then today I'll do a 180 and take my first group of ladies on a Temple Chasers trip.

All good things goin' on, but delaying our move.

One minute I'm carrying a box of stuff down the hall, thinking..."what on earth have we done?"  And the next minute I'm so stinkin' excited I can hardly stand this slow, one box at a time process.  It keeps getting pointed out to me that people think we've lost our mind.  And sometimes it feels that way.  It never occurred to me when we first started this pursuit that people would have much of an opinion, nor did I care.  Now, I'm beginning to question myself...but not really. Does that make sense?

Last night about 8:00, the girls and I and a couple of their friends took over a load of their bedrooms.  My new neighbor, we call "the handyman", took a moment to come over and chastise my daughter in the driveway....alone, in the dark.  The music in her friends' car was too loud.  It was an unfortunate way to have to meet the handyman who slunk off in the dark before a parent could come out and officially greet this welcome wagon.

Aggressive.

It's all good though, because my bangs looked rockin' and I get to go to THE White house today.

Still Moving

Day one of moving came and went and we're still moving.  Big surprise.

Actually, we had a few set backs and some busy work....running around, stuff like that.

I got the laundry room moved over, except the washer and dryer of course.

We got the garage moved over.  Priorities.  The Razors needed to be tucked in at the new home.  We practically had a ceremony.

The living room is almost moved over as well.

And we placed our first boxes in the storage room in the basement.  There are three rooms.  A food room and a stuff room and entire giant room/closet for winter, hunting and misc clothes.

 

Hunter came home from school sobbing.  She said she hurt her ankle while acting out a scene in rehearsal. I said, "So, you were making a scene."
"Yeah Mom"
So, the little trip to the insta-care will be forever remembered as Hunter, "Making a Scene".
She should get an award for her drama.
Actually, I think she was more concerned about an audition she missed after school and another that she might miss this weekend because of the scene incident. Frankly, I wouldn't be upset...I'm okay with taking a week off of auditions.

This move is going to take forever.

Moving Day

"M" Day has arrived.  Since we just decided and signed on Friday at 11:15 a.m., and because we left town on Friday at 3:35 p.m. and returned on Sunday at 5:05 p.m.....we are winging this move.  It will be the biggest free-for-all you've ever seen.

I'm wondering how it will feel to go back to staircases again after living in the ranch-styled, one-level Hobbit house.  I have a pretty good memory.  Like, I still remember giving birth.  Is moving furniture up-stairs like giving birth?

view from basement looking up...

Answers to a few questions:

Does the rest of the house look as great as the kitchen?  Well, yes and no.  It is very different and it is dated.  Picture the very best quality you could get in the late 80's with a contradiction of some 90's thrown in...and there you have it.  

Are we leaving the ward?  No.  This is one of those crazy miracles where we are moving two blocks and staying in the same ward.  If you know Utah, you know how lucky that is.  Actually, one of the motivations for buying this house was that it was in the same ward.  

Are there any other homes like it near-by?  Well, again...yes and no.  My whole neighborhood is filled with houses all built in the same era.  They were all built very well....in the 60's-80's.  Some were refinished in the 80's or 90's.  But none are quite like this house.  It's a sleeper.  One of those houses that you'd never guess what's on the inside.  Does it need work?  Yes.  Is it all cosmetic?  Yes.  Is it totally livable the way it is?  Yes.  Will some people I know look at it and think I've lost my ever-lovin' mind?  Yes.  Were there other options?  Yes.  The entire town is full of big, beautiful, NEW houses.  Thus...the reason why people will think I've lost my ever-lovin' mind. 

Does it have a pool? No. And we are really having a hard time with that one. One thing we've loved about the hobbit house is the backyard.  Pool, hot tub, fireplace, outdoor kitchen....all will be missed.  But there was no room for people inside.  We felt like room for guests was the most important priority.  We can leave and go do fun things in this area but it's not convenient to have people sleeping on living room floors sharing one tiny bathroom.  And we figure, eventually we will add things to our yard.  I hope we will be able to before our own kids are completely gone.  I would love for them to be able to enjoy those things again.  The hobbit house felt like an endless vacation.  Good and bad for several reasons.  

The house is on a golf course.  No, We didn't plan it that way.  In fact, Boyd has not golfed in St. George since we moved here.  But being in an established neighborhood with huge trees, living on the golf course gives you that large yard feel.  There are no covenants like the one we lived on in KC though.  As a matter of fact, there are families in our ward that have chickens in their backyard.  Yes, chickens in the yard.  I've never seen them.  I can't even verify that fact....I've only heard.  Yeah for me though...I can buy fresh eggs!  

And we have a pecan and pomegranate tree in the backyard.  

And as we toil today, my heart will be full with love for my home in KC.  There is a chance that an interested couple may make an offer.  Please keep us in your prayers and good thoughts today.  Send a doctor and wife from Russia your good vibes.  We need it...and I would love for them to need it.  

I better get moving.  

With a side of mustard...

Today's hike called, "Hole in the Rock", took us on climbing adventures in mustard-colored stone.  We must have been hungry because we kept commenting on how the hike should be called..."Mustard Rock" or "Mustard and Hellman's Mayo".

Approx. 5 miles...about 1/2 of which is hiking in sand.  Hard to do in a different way than climbing.

The terrain was very different from other hikes I've been on in the area.  Pine trees, various colors of sand, ice patches in the shade, hues of mustard and bright yellow sandstone.  Very unique.

Speaking of mustard....
I'm hungry....
off to make a sandwich...