Happy #8 Sweet Ellie!

It's hard to believe sweet Ellie is 8 already!  We had a fun evening eating the favorite birthday dinner and the amazing swimming pool birthday cake.  Thanks for letting us join the fun!  Happy birthday Ellie!  We love you!  We are looking forward to you upcoming baptism.

Family Camp 2014 - Red Cedar Lodge - Dairy Canyon

It was another great Family Camp this year with Weed and Derek hosting.  We had a turn out of 38 - missed Brynnli and Bean.  It was the perfect place for all of the new babies and Paul having had knee surgery recently.  It was comfortable, convenient and  beautiful!  Bedrooms and bathrooms aplenty, a great kitchen set up, a huge grass area and pond, and perfect weather made it just right!  Many thanks to Weed and Derek for all of their work putting it all together!  

Here's the group shot - missing Lou, Bryan, Afton and Joel unfortunately.  They somehow missed the camera call.  

 Lou and Joel

 Bryan and Afton

 JJ - our camera man

Pics of the younger set on site

We had lots of activities (besides cooking and eating great food) including a CPR class taught by Moss and rock pets by Christie, soccer games, a kids' soccer clinic by Supe and Beacher, badminton, Bocce, baseball batting, fishing, boating, taffy sculpting, a hike, a mini talent show and impromptu dance party, Nerf wars, Pobre Gatito, and from what I hear, mortuary lore by Bryan.  And we did plenty of relaxing and enjoying the cool weather and beautiful scenery.  I'm sure we all gained a few pounds from all of the great meals.  I think Eden's comment, "We should do a family camp every month: says it all!  Thanks again Smiths!  Heads up Weavers.  You are up for next years' Family Camp 2015!

Recovering

It's been a good week for Paul's knee recovery.  He is doing well and has graduated to just walking around the house unaided for the most part.  Doing the stairs and being away from home he still takes the crutches just to be safe.  He's doing well with his physical therapy exercises.  In one of them he uses a wheel chair to push against the wall until his knee will bend enough to touch the wall. It is painful and challenging, but he is getting it.  Probably the thing that is going to be the hardest for him is not pushing too hard too fast, but so far, so good!  Staples come out next week after the Family Camp!  

I have learned to give Paul a shot in the belly once a day - not a permanent thing - thank goodness!  And since we have been staying close to home, I got busy and finished a quilt project that I have wanted to do for quite a while.  I have always avoided doing a certain type of binding, but decided to take time to learn to do it.  I found a great how-to video on-line and it came out very well.  I even like it and will probably do more that way.  No hikes in this neck of the woods for a while, but I have enjoyed the time just relaxing and concentrating on getting Paul better.  Hopefully it will be a good fix and over time we will be able to get back out there.  

Paul's Cyber Knee

Paul got a partial knee replacement on June 26th.  It was a good thing since he had bone grating against bone on that side of his knee.  He got it done up in Park City by Dr. Charles Lind who came highly recommended.  Now he is starting on the long and painful road to recovery.  

Hopefully it will all go well and the "cyber knee" with be worth it!  

Walking with his new crutches, working out the knee in bed the with CMP,
the before and after pictures and just chilling in the bed.

Below - the view from our "IHC Hotel" room (I was able to stay there with Paul)
and views from my walk on the bike trail behind our room.

Happy Birthday Derek, Moss & Me!

Celebrated more June birthdays - Derek doing the windbag pose, Moss sharing his birthday pie and birthday with me, and a card to remember that great day a long, long time ago when Moss came as an early birthday present!  Thanks to everyone for all of the gift cards and Supe and Beacher for the cool trekking umbrella. It's been a great, long lasting birthday and I'm looking forward to another great year with all of you! Below - Grandpa and Trigg - happy guys!  

Happy times - lots of house stuff coming together this week!

It was a very busy week for house stuff.  Ferf and Ryan's paperwork finally got finished up and they moved into their lovely new home.  It is such a nice place for them and we are so happy for them!  Paul was busy this week finishing up his stonework on Juge and Lance's new house.  It came out so nice. Our house is looking pretty nice too since we worked hard trying to get things in good order for an appraisal. We even filled up the fountain and I cleaned out the patio "shed of doom".  And we enjoyed a nice bike ride of about 14 miles Saturday morning and checked out the progress on the new bridge in the process.  To top things off we went on a dinner picnic up Cedar Canyon with the Weavers after Paul washed off the fireplace. Juge did all the work putting together a yummy meal for everyone and Lance cooked it up!  I also worked on a quilt and got the top all put together.  Got to get it finished up next week!

New bridge and Borrowman kids enjoying their new houses

Stone work - all finished up!

The girls having fun and being silly!

Picnic fun and Paul enjoying a little well deserved relaxation!  

Doctors, Art and Father's Day

Had a varied and fun last few days.  Paul had doctor's appointments up north on Thursday, so we drove up Wednesday after work and had such a nice time visiting with Brynn and the girls.  I was dumb and didn't take in pics there, but had such a good time.  So nice to get to see everyone a little more often.  Jay was off scouting.  In the morning we headed down to Provo for the first doctor visit.  We got there with a little time to spare, so we drove up the canyon and took a little walk to see Bridal Veil Falls.  It is such a pretty place.

After that appointment we stopped by the BYU Museum of Art and enjoyed the two exhibits that were available to see there.  One was Simpler, Brighter, Stronger - Early Modernism and Southwestern American Art 1910-1960.  Some paintings I liked, and some not so much.

There was also an amazing photographic exhibit:  Edward Burtynsy: The Industrial Sublime.  For it he photographed industrial scenes from around the world to display what he calls  "The beauty in the beast". They make you think about the impact of industrialization.

Then we tried out a little hole in the wall joint known for it's pieshakes for lunch.  The shakes were good, but the ice cream was not up to snuff.  I had read about how wonderful the shakes were in a magazine, and I'm afraid they were a little over rated...good idea, but not as well executed as they could have been with better ice cream.  Then it was off to the next doctor appointment.  After that one we drove the very long route home and enjoyed loads of beautiful scenery.  Friday evening we enjoyed going to art exhibits on display for the Art On Main program.  There's an amazing exhibit of the city's permanent collection on at the Art Museum right now.

Saturday morning we headed up to Cedar where Paul, with Lance to help, finished up the stone on the outside of Juge and Lance's new home.  I went to the Paiute Parade with Juge and kids and then went over and had fun hanging out with Lou and kids.  For dinner Juge, Lou and Christie had planned a fun Father's Day dinner for the men and took care of all the cooking.  I just brought the paper goods to eat on.  Such a fun evening.  No pictures again, but fun just the same!  Thanks to all for a delightful time in the cool of Cedar/Enoch!  Our at the house celebration was pretty low key.  Paul got a lot of his Father's Day presents early.  Today Weed and Ferf and families came to wish him a Happy Father's Day!  He's excited to get to eat out thanks to everyone's gift cards!  He's also excited for his bluetooth phone doohicky and loves his waterproof jacket!  Thanks to everyone!  Happy Father's Day Paul!  We love you!

Pioneer Trek 2014

Paul was part of the committee who planned our stake youth pioneer trek and I kind of tagged along during some of the planning activities (camping out in the Kaibab checking out the possible routes) and ended up going along as an "auntie" for one of the families when quite a few people couldn't go at the last minute.  Not being a real favorite among the teen set I'm not sure I was a very much enjoyed asset to our little family, but I was an asset as far as working hard and trying to help out wherever I could see a need.  We had a great Ma and Pa and some great kids who were very cooperative and some who were a bit less cooperative. It was a good learning experience as far a trying to get just a little bit of the feeling of what it might have been like to be a part of such a journey.  I'm glad I went,  and I was so glad to get home for a shower and to sleep in my very own, soft, warm bed!  The one night of shivering in my sleeping bag without that extra wool blanket I should have taken and then waking up to frost on that sleeping bag was a very good learning experience. Having watched 17 Miracles the night before made me realize that my tiny freeze and frost experience was pretty much nothing compared to what many of the pioneers experienced on a daily basis in the way of physical discomforts.  

Paul gets an honorable mention!

The Southern Utah Art Guild is pleased to announce the Award Winners at the Opening Show at the Red Cliff Gallery.

Best of Show – Lonnie Clark for “Magic Carpet” – Oil

1^st Place – JoAnn Arnold for “Spinning Wheel” – Oil

2^nd Place – Ronald Wilkerson for “Twisted Rope” – Oil

3^rd Place – Barbara Marshall for “Old Fashioned Flower Garden” – Fused Glass

Honorable Mention:

Paul Jensen for “Alcove in Zion Wall” – Oil

Paul Lillywhite – “Kaleidoscope of Climbing Gear” – Watercolor

Dean Rex – “Poppy Fields – Tuscany” – Oil

Gail Alger – “Flower Tower” – Watercolor

Bonnie Hacking – “Cracked” – Oil

Louise Crosby – “Waders” – Oil

Lonnie Clark – “Gonna Ride North in the Morning” – Oil

Chase Anderson – “Diamond Shino Jar” – Ceramic

Debbie Bice – “Paris Springs” – Photography

Ken Harris – “River Run” – Oil

St. George Mayor Jon Pike was the judge for the show.

There were 180 pieces of art entered into the show from over 90 artists.

Congratulations to the winners and to all of the artists for a great show.

SUAG Board of Directors

        

Happy Birthday Lance!

We had a grand evening celebrating Lance's birthday/having our monthly family dinner up at Oak Grove.  It was so beautiful up there with lots of green going on and the rugged mountain backdrop.  The food was scrumptious...I ate way too much! We cooked up about 90 scones and all but 3 of them got eaten along with all of the other great food and birthday cakes to go with them. If getting dirty was a sign of having a good time, the kids had a great time! Happy Birthday Lance!  Have another great year!  We love you!

Kaebri taught people how to make leaf crowns, Eliza enjoyed the dirt, and we all enjoyed the food!  

Everyone needed to be King of the mountain!  

This must be called Picture Rock!

Lots of  green leaves and grass and blue skies and Pine Valley Mountain for a backdrop.
Look at that heart-shaped hole in the trees.