Quotes of the Week

"Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success."
-- Brian Adams

"Make the world a better place one person at a time. Start with yourself."
-- Linda Poindexter

"First thing to do every morning is read or listen to something positive. Your mind is like a garden -- whatever you
plant grows. Plant good stuff."
-- Alwyn Cosgrove

Another Fabulous St. George Retreat

We have some very wonderful friends! We love to go on trips with our friends! We especially love it when our friends, Bruno and Colleen Kossin, invite us to one of their fabulous homes for a fun friends' trip. This time our destination was St. George.

It was planned for five couples to go on the trip, but Lane Lewis had knee replacement surgery a couple of weeks ago which took him and LaVona out of the plans. Grant and Diane Stewart had planned to go, but ended up changing their plans when their grandson invited them to his graduation and so they headed out in the opposite direction we were going.

That left just Bill and Jan Evans and us looking forward to a good time with Bruno and Colleen.

Look how excited Jan is to be there! Actually, she was not only excited about staying with the Kossins, she was also excited about having so much food to eat, which she ate nonstop. Funny Jan!

While Jan was snacking, Glen was doing work. It drives Bruno and me nuts when Glen works so much when he's supposed to be on vacation. What is the definition of vacation? Isn't it "gladly getting away from work?" NOT "taking work with you!?!?!" Glen claims it was relaxing being in their beautiful home surrounded by friends while doing his work.

The group was willing to go with us to the St. George Temple. We gave them a choice. We told the two other couples we would be going to the temple when we got to St. George. We could either go right when we arrived in town and then join up with them after OR they could go with us to the temple. They chose to go with us. Good choice!!

Glen and I requested going to the restaurant that serves the food on a hot rock and you cook your meat to your own liking. We enjoyed Anasazi so much when we went before and wanted to relive the experience.

It was a little smoky (okay, maybe a LOT smoky) during the cooking, but it was sure worth a little smoke to have the experience. YUM!!! At first I thought I burned my salmon, but turns out it tasted delicious! Good for me!!!

Jan didn't want to work for her food, so she requested no hot rock and just had her food perfectly prepared before it was brought to the table. Now where's the adventure in that?!? (Then, for a minute when I thought I had burned my food, I thought she had a pretty good idea after all.)

On to dessert. We turned down whatever Anasazi had to offer because Jan had her heart set on some ice cream--at Iceberg. It looks like Glen made a total eclipse of the sun for Colleen with his shadow in this picture.

Jan was excited to see her generous serving and promised to share with Bill.

Bruno and Colleen shared their dessert, too. Don't think Glen didn't have anyone to share with just because I don't eat ice cream anymore. Nope! He shared with Jan who was eager to eat his leftovers.

Back to the house for a little walk around the neighborhood. Glen was fascinated by all the cactus (or is it cacti?) and how they flower. He's checking this one to see if it could possibly bloom while we were there.

As we were leaving to go on a walk, Bill and Jan posed in front of the beautiful red rock mountain just up from the Kossin's home.

I put on my walking shoes and posed for a picture with the beautiful valley behind us. Don't know what's going on with my arm. I'll just blame it on the photographer.

The purpose of our walk was to go see the house where a huge boulder rolled down from the mountain and landed in somebody's back yard. It was just a block or so away.

Interesting to see the damage it caused and marvel at how amazing it was that it didn't crash into the home. Look at the shadows of our group pointing up at the mountain and speculating about where exactly the boulder had been sitting before rolling down the mountain.

I asked Jan to pose by the boulder so we could tell just how big that thing is and she willingly complied. Made me thankful there is one house above where Bruno and Colleen live. That makes me feel like if any boulders decide to come their way, that house will stop it before hitting our friends' home.

What a beautiful backdrop to the men walking back home.

That night we had a rousing game of Five Crowns. I lost. Boo hoo.

Next morning breakfast was served (thus making Jan so happy and Glen, too, I guess).

 The guys went golfing and the girls went bike riding.

We got such a kick out of Colleen who was so disgusted as she showed us where the bike route ends--right at the cemetery. Then you are left to figure out how to wind through neighborhoods to get back to a main road. She feels like that was very poor planning.

We drove through a black lava rock area--quite a contrast to the red rocks not too far away.

We stopped at this beautiful pond to catch our breath and watch the animals. From here we walked our bikes up a hill for a short time when a guy walked by and teased us about walking our bikes. Jan retorted back that we had been riding so fast and so far and so long that our bikes were steaming and we just had to jump off and give them a rest for a minute.

It was a very warm day so the thought of jumping in the pool sounded pretty inviting.

Normally I would never take a picture of me in a swimming suit, but I had this picture taken to prove to Bruno that I had gotten in the pool just in case I got out before the guys got back from golfing. He pointed out the fact I have never gotten in the pool before. They all know my unfondness for water because of my lack of swimming skills. He asked when the last time was I got in a pool and we figured it has been 12 years ago when we lived in Georgia and I was taking the kids to our neighborhood pool a lot.

When the guys got home from golfing, they also enjoyed getting in the pool to cool off. Everyone was hungry and so we decided to go to Bear Paw Cafe where we could choose to order off the breakfast menu or the lunch menu. Glen and Colleen chose lunch and the rest of us ate breakfast.

This outdoor ashtray right by the restaurant really struck me as funny.

A little later in the day we went to see the movie "Now You See Me."

I was happy we had time to get cleaned up before the movie. I didn't want to wear my sun visor all through the movie and dinner to hide my unwashed hair. Don't I look so much better here? Well...maybe that would be a true statement if my eyes were open in the photo!

We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant, Piccolo Mondo.

It was so very delicious. I absolutely loved the chicken meal I ordered and the salad was super delicious as well. Glen was sad they ran out of mushroom ravioli and he had to settle for his second choice--fettucinni alfredo with mushrooms.

 Then guess what was for dessert...? Iceberg for a second time as per Jan's insistence.

She told everyone not to worry if they couldn't eat all their ice cream. They could put it in the freezer and she would finish it up for them the next morning.

We had another fun evening of playing Five Crowns. I was determined I was not going to be the loser. Bill was a good sport and pulled up the rear so I didn't have to. Love that guy!

They all went hot tubbing and gazed up at the stars. It was way past my bedtime at that point and I chose to miss out on that activity so I could snuggle down in the comfy, cozy, king-size bed and drift off into dreamland. Didn't hear Glen come in and didn't hear him get up in the morning. What a good night's sleep I had!!! I loved being in that beautiful bedroom with our own private bathroom and sleeping in that big bed.

The morning of our departure we ate breakfast, got packed and then settled in to watch the tennis match Bruno had recorded from the night before. Bruno is an avid tennis player.

It is always sad when a fun trip comes to an end. We loved so much staying in Bruno and Colleen's luxurious home.

With the lovely sleeping accommodations, the pool right outside the door and the red rock mountains for a backdrop, it rivals any spa resort.

Thanks so much to the Kossins for being so generous to open up their home to us. It was a real treat--or should I say retreat--for us to spend those relaxing days with them and with Bill and Jan. Friends are awesome and we are thankful we have such wonderful ones!

Quotes of the Week

"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success."
-- Norman Vincent Peale

"Everybody in your situation has the same choice: you can rue your situation or you can dedicate yourself to changing it. Accept responsibility for your future. Refuse to complain, criticize, or condemn."
-- Mark Ford

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

When Pigs Fly

One of my good friends from Georgia, Chris Janes, has recently tied the knot. She and new husband, Mark Williams, threw a motorcycle-themed celebration at a park near where they live and it was a very fun party.

They love to go motorcycle riding together. It's a new thing for Chris and she said she loves it so much. It has become a passion and she even wears the leather chaps and everything.

The weather was the perfect temperature for an outdoor party. The park was nice. Mark and Chris were cordial hosts of the event honoring their wedding nuptials which occurred several weeks earlier.

Chris enjoyed telling us how much Mark got into the decorating mode with lots of great ideas of what to do to carry out the theme--complete with putting down white stripes on the paved path making it look like a road and putting up road signs along the way.

This is the sign-in table.

In the grassy area there were tables surrounding a motorcycle.

This is the table top decorations.

At the end of the road pathway, Mark and Chris were standing together in their wedding attire making a very beautiful couple.

The backdrop was a motorcycle and the American flag.

It was wonderful to see and talk with Chris's parents and Cameron and Danielle. They looked so nice in their purple attire. I should have taken a close-up of the matching purple canvas shoes they were wearing. So cute!

They were in charge of keeping the food stocked. Great idea to have a hot dog cooker and popcorn popper there along with various salads and bottles of pop.

Time for the cutting of the cake.

Mark was very gentle with Chris and did not shove the cake in her mouth. He scored lots of points with me right there.

A live band was playing during the party. After Mark and Chris took their first dance together, they invited everyone to join in dancing.

It was hilarious to see Cameron and Danielle make a beeline to the outermost table when the dancing was announced. Glen soon joined them.

I am so glad we were able to attend the wedding reception. I told Mark I was very anxious to meet the guy who talked my friend, who was so dead set against ever marrying again, into marrying him. Chris laughed about how she had said she would only marry again when pigs fly.

I saw the winged pig sitting on the picnic table and had a good laugh about it.

It was such a lovely afternoon. It was a joy to see my good friend again. I loved meeting her husband. I could tell by his eyes what a good man he is and looking at them both together I can see they are very much in love.

So happy to see Chris happy. I love that girl so much. Always have. Always will.