May Memories

The beginning of May also marked the beginning of a new semester.  I am teaching a new class this semester called "Capstone".  It is the last class that the students will have before graduation and it includes a 90 hour practicum that the students have to do.  I'm excited to teach this class, but there are no firm guidelines so I don't know exactly what I am doing.  I have been working with Carrie at the Murray campus who has taught this class a couple of times, thank goodness she is willing to share her ideas!.

Friday May 4 I worked very late trying to get ready for school Monday.  When I finally got home Kim decided to take me out to dinner - Hooray - Date Night! We decided to try dinner at the Brigham House, a new restaurant in town.

As we were entering we ran into Coach Robinette and his wife Chris.  He cautioned Kim not to order the Brigham House Burger because it was huge.  I believe it then became a challenge for Kim!  As we entered we saw that the Eddingtons were sitting at a table, they invited us to sit with them.  As we were decided what to eat Darrel recommended the Brigham House Burger to Kim.  It was settled, he had to try it.  OH MY GOODNESS!  That was the biggest burger I have ever seen!  I believe it was over 8 inches tall!

We had a marvelous time catching up with the Eddingtons.  Darrell and Jolene have been our friends since Shandra was little, and Tasha and their daughter Heidi are only a few weeks apart.  I love how time doesn't seem to dim good friendships, even when we don't see each other very often.

After dinner we came home and rented the movie Jumanji.  It is a remake of the original movie with Robin Williams.  Sometimes remakes don't live up to the original, but this one was really good. The writers had added some quirky parts that really made it entertaining.

On Sunday I talked with my friend, Kim, who is dealing with a terrible heartache.  I am so very impressed with how she is handling things, she is remaining strong, is seeking spiritual guidance and speaks regularly with her priesthood leaders, is attending the temple, and even made the wise choice to seek counselling.  Even though her life was suddenly turned upside down when she found that her husband had made some terrible life choices and will probably have to spend most of the rest of his life incarcerated, she remembers that he is a child of God with many good qualities.  She is not ready to forgive him at this point, but understands that she will need to work toward that goal.  She is making the best of a horrible situation and trying to make wise decisions about her future.  No, she is not hiding from her grief or being unrealistic about the hurt that will be inside her for a very long time, she has just had a very real feeling of peace that comes from the Holy Ghost and from our Savior.

I remember that feeling extremely well.  I experienced it at the hospital when BJ was dying.  I KNEW with all of my heart that everything would be okay.  It may not be the life I planned, but it would be okay.  I am so grateful that my friend feels that peace in this difficult time.  How wonderful that God cares about each of us individually enough to give us that peaceful assurance.

I visited my dad one night and found him in deep conversation with his new friend, Carol.  I'm pretty sure that neither of them had any idea what the other one was talking about, but it was so fun to see them both enjoying themselves.  For some reason she was interested in his shoes, so he took them off one at a time to let her look at them, and then he would put them back on.  Lately he seems to be spending a lot of time with Carol.  I wonder if he is having some romantic feelings for her.   I was so worried that may dad would be unhappy when we moved to the memory facility, but it really seems to be a good thing for him.  The aides tell me that he spends all of the day visiting with all of his new friends at the facility.  I'm happy for him!

Months ago I bought tickets to see the Music Man at the Hale Theater with Cyn and her mom and sister.  I totally forgot that I had paid for the tickets and wasn't planning to go.  Luckily Cyn called the theater and found that I HAD purchased a ticket.  I'm glad that I did.  It was a long day of driving, but the play was marvelous.  And, the best part was that I got to spend the day with Cyn.  Her life seems to be crazier than mine right now, so we will take any time we get to spend time together.  She and her sister, April, are in the process of trying to sell their home which has many stairs so that they can buy a home and have their mother move in with them.  She is getting older and more frail and it will be very good to have the help.  Such kind ladies!

We had stake conference this month, and as usual the Saturday night session was wonderful.  At the end of it Nancy Moyle leaned over an asked us if we wanted to go to dinner with them.  Of course we heartily agreed!  The Lindseys joined us for an evening of lots of fun and laughter!  Good times!

Rob & Heather Lindsey, Nancy & Doc Moyle

One night Kalel asked if he could have a sleep over with me.  Excited to spend some time with him, I got ice cream sundaes and told him he could pick a movie for us to watch together.  Imagine my surprise when he said, "The movie I really want to watch is "Into the Woods".  I have been looking for it on Netflix but I can't find it". 

He was exited when I told him that I had purchased it a few weeks ago!  How cool is it that my 11 year-old grandson wants to watch a musical with me?  It made my heart so happy!  Apparently he had just participated in a theater workshop where they saw bits of the movie and now he wanted to watch the entire movie.  We curled up together and sang and enjoyed the movie together.  He is such a cutie!

I cannot believe it!  There is no way this is possible, but I am told it is true.  My dear, sweet husband celebrated his birthday.  He is now

This is birthday picture I posted for him on Facebook

I don't have any idea how I can be married to a man that old!  He certainly doesn't act it (except when he creeks and cracks as he gets out of bed).  Here are some facts about the year he was born.

A few weeks before his birthday I asked him what he would like to do to celebrate and he informed me that he just wanted to stay home and get something done around the house.  Obviously I didn't complain about that - until a simple question of getting new doors on the bathroom vanity turned into 

You know the book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"?  Well that perfectly describes our bathroom.  First we were deciding whether to replace the doors on the vanity (buy or have Kim build) or get a new vanity.   Kim doesn't really have access to the tools he needs to build doors, and I have wanted to create a vanity out of a dresser for quite awhile.  We finally settled on the dresser.  We decided we would put a Formica top on the dresser instead of refinishing the top, and would get a vessel sink.  Great!  But then I realized that the current floors in the bathroom weren't in very good shape, so we probably should get new flooring also.  We decided that since we were using the dresser we wanted a rustic-type floor.  And, with new flooring and vanity, of course we must paint.  Well,  if we were going to paint anyway, perhaps we should think about replacing the tile surrounding the tub.  I have hated it since we moved in 25 years ago.  So, off we ran to find the perfect tile to go with the floor, paint, and vanity - oh yeah, with new tile it would be cool to include some decorative niches!  And new faucet and shower head.  Luckily we inherited a nice mirror from Kim's grandmother, so we could use that, however Kim will need to put a frame around it.  Oh - and wouldn't it be cool if we re-used our old bead board as accent?  Oh no!  What about the vanity lights?  Of course we can't have gold with white votives, that would look awful.  I know, Pinterest shows how easy it is to transform a light fixture using old Mason jars.  We found some great Mason jars at a yard sale, so now we just need to convert the rest of the fixture.  Wait!  Since we have pretty much blown the budget, perhaps we just get a new, energy efficient window. Oh yeah, we probably should get a new door since someone punched a hole in it. 

Broken door on the vanity, holes in the flooring

The dresser I want to use in the bathroom as a vanity

Ugly tile - White texture with yellow splatters

Demolition time

So - the bathroom is now gutted.  The only things we didn't tear out are the toilet, which is fairly new, and the tub.  We seriously considered replacing the tub, but it is a very comfortable tub.  It looks awful because we can't get it clean anymore, but we read on the internet about how easy (ha ha!) refurbishing a tub can be, so we are going to give it a go.

AND - I forgot to mention that Tasha, Zane, and the baby will be here in 3 weeks, so it needs to be done by then.  Kim just looks at me like, "Who are you kidding?"  Remodeling is never fun, you think I would learn after all of the remodeling we have done in the last few years.  However, I really love the end project, so hopefully this will be worth it!

Kim's says this every time I watch HGTV!