One day Tiffany, my ministering sister, dropped off a gift for me.
Inside were paint supplies that were needed for our upcoming Relief Society evening zoom class. Lena Phillips, a very talented artist who does charcoal drawings of people, was going to be teaching us how to do a simple watercolor painting.
I actually was not even going to participate, because I don't really have an interest in being an artist. I enjoy seeing what other people paint and draw, but it's never really been my thing.
Now I felt like I was obligated to participate, so I logged on and really enjoyed the first part of Lena's presentation where she showed us some of her drawings and then shared with us some of the reactions of people who had received her personalized artwork as gifts.
She likes to draw people who have passed away as she knows it is very consoling to the family members who are left behind.
Then she got her supplies laid out and told us we were going to paint Jesus. WHAT?!?? The class had been advertised as we were going to be painting a landscape.
She showed us the paintings three of her children had done and said if they can do it, we can too. I drew my pencil outline as she was drawing hers.
Then the mixing of colors to get the paint on the paper.
Lena's finished artwork.
My finished artwork. I ran out of patience to paint flowers in the foreground. It's a one-and-done deal for me. This was a great taste of painting using watercolor and I have determined it will be my last.
I am waiting to see what artistic Brooke has to say about her grandmother's artwork attempt.
LaVona was having a birthday which called for a celebration. Her husband suggested this Mexican restaurant, which we later deemed perfect for a guy lunch; but next time we'll pick somewhere different for our girls' lunch.
My neighbor Julie comes to town about once a month and since she was here, she was invited to join us.
(Me, Diane Stewart, Jane Crandall, LaVona Lewis, Colleen Kossin, Debi Winder and Julie Newsome Rasmussen)
My day for jury duty selection arrived. I fired up the iPad and joined the meeting at exactly 8 a.m. as per my instructions. It didn't even get started for another 45 minutes. ARGH!! They did some checking of sound with each of us, had us watch a video of what to expect if we are on the jury and another video about Covid safety.
More waiting. Then the judge came on and gave his spiel. He announced the case and then we were divided into groups. My group was #5.
More waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. Nobody checked in with us for HOURS!!!
The lunch hour came and went and nobody told us we could take a break for lunch. Finally, I hurried down to the kitchen to grab some snacks and hustled back up to nibble while I did more waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.
I was so glad I had a good book to read during the waiting. We had been told to plan on approximately 3 hours for jury selection.
After nearly 6 1/2 hours of waiting, the judge finally came on and told us the jury had been selected from the previous groups and he thanked us for our service and said we were excused from jury duty. HURRAH!!!!
Speaking of good books, Rebecca let us read this book before she returned it to the library. She had read it to Spencer and Madison and they were in rapt attention as to how the boys were going to get rescued. It was indeed an "incredible" cave rescue as the book cover states.
Glen and I were originally going to read it together when we traveled to Omaha, but since that trip got canceled because of jury duty, we had to fit in the reading at other times. I love it when a book is so intriguing we don't ever want to put it down.
I mentioned to Glen that I would really love to get new water faucets in the main floor bathroom and in the basement bathroom. After he had so skillfully changed out the broken faucet in the laundry room, which now turns on and off with ease, I wanted that for these bathrooms.
The main floor bathroom had chemical stains on the faucet and the drain which has driven me nuts for many years.
It was also a bit harder to turn off and on. With the children and their families all coming to town in a couple of weeks, I wanted the faucets to be easier for the small children to use.
The basement faucet was really hard to turn on and off. The new faucet is now so nice!!!! Glen did not have to replace the drain in this sink like he did in the other sink and that made him happy.
I had also mentioned to Glen that the tub in the guest bathroom on the upper level was draining really slowly. After Glen had snaked a gigantic wad of hair out of that drain, I got the trash can out from under one of the sinks and saw that it was very wet inside that cabinet.
There was water leaking from somewhere and Glen determined it was something broken on the drain. What a blessing Glen was able to get the unused drain from out of the trash so he could fix the leak.
We considered that a double tender mercy. First, we noticed the leak before the children were here using that sink a lot which would have caused a big water mess. Second, we had the exact part needed because it hadn't been used on the basement sink.
On Memorial Day, I was chuckling when Glen walked down the driveway because he looked like he was marching in a parade with the flag unfurled behind him. What a patriotic scene!
That evening, we were invited to dinner at Rick and Debi Winder's home. Bill was in the patriotic spirit playing taps on his trumpet before we said the prayer on the food.
We loved eating our grilled chicken dinner outside on their deck and visiting together with such good friends.
The bonus for me, personally, is whenever I am around Debi when she has her hair straightened, she reminds me so much of my Aunt Mary in her looks, in the way she stands and when she moves a certain way. It makes me happy to see her and think of my Aunt Mary who is no longer with us.
(Me, Collen Kossin, LaVona Lewis, Jan Evans, Debi Winder and Jane Crandall)
(Lane Lewis, Glen, Bruno Kossin, Dennis Crandall, Rick Winder and Bill Evans)
Bill played taps again at the end of the evening for the couple who came late. This time we talked him into taking out his trumpet mute so we could get the full trumpet tone as he played.
I was having a rough day yesterday with a new stye rearing its ugly head on my right upper inner eyelid.
The last stye I got, two months ago, on my left upper outer eyelid has never totally gone away. There is a lump inside that eyelid that I fear will be with me forever. Then to now have another itchy, red, pussy lump on the other eye has been SO ANNOYING!!!!!!!
Despite the annoyance, I was able to whip up a new recipe. This time it was chicken piccata. I was so frustrated after hunting all through the pantry and downstairs to discover I had not bought capers as I had thought I had done in preparation for this recipe. UGH!!
Oh well, I made it without the capers and it was delicious. Next time I will do it right. Now I'm wondering if I can even call this chicken piccata. Perhaps it is the capers that makes it piccata????
It has been so nice to see the beauty of nature as everything has been greening up in this spring time of the year and the flowers are blooming.
The sunsets are always spectacular from our viewpoint as we look down into the valley. Nature is always awe-inspiring to me.
The grandchildren are out of school now. Here is Lincoln's kindergarten graduation photo. So darling, yet I am of the opinion that cap and gown should be reserved for high school and college graduation. I believe Sarah agrees with me because she refused to pay to buy a cap and gown.
Eli is looking very spiffy as a graduate of elementary school. He will be starting middle school in the fall.
The crafts were unleashed in the Excell household as the boys were "so bored" early on into their first day of summer vacation.
Swimming seems like the best pastime in sweltering Las Vegas!
Caroline got recognition of her end-of-school-year status with a lawn sign.
Brooke got nominated to be on the Hope Squad. It is a peer mentoring group which provides friendship, encouragement and support for students who may be struggling. Good for her!!
We were surprised to see photos of Jacob's family and part of Abe's family (Klarissa and baby didn't go) who were all together at a beach in Florida.
I love it when cousins get the chance to be together.
Jacob's family went to Florida with their friends and Abe made the 4-hour trip to spend some time with his brother. Seems like a fun way to have a pre-family reunion before the actual family reunion begins.
Abe and Klarissa went to Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia to spend a few days vacationing for their anniversary. It looks like they did some very fun things while they were there.
Here's a look at some photos of Ben and Haley's boys.
Haley has started her own photography business--haleythomas.photography. She has some cute subjects to hone her photography skills on.
This is 8-month-old Levi. He looks like a little man wearing his blue jeans.
Looks to me like Ben and Levi are getting excited for wearing matching family reunion t-shirts. They are practicing up for it by wearing matching t-shirts from our last family gathering from 2 years ago.
We have the new batch of matching t-shirts all ready to hand out as the children and grandchildren arrive. It is one of my favorite things about reunions and the shirts become a lasting memory of our time together.
