Dagny's First Motorcycle Ride

Grandpa has always loved motorcycles! He has been riding since he was a little boy, and has taught all the kids to ride, starting with a little yellow and purple Z 50. Wade was driving by himself when he was only 5 years old.  Looks like the tradition will continue--Dagny loves it too. 

Grandpa and his biker babe!

Ready for another ride around the circle!

Take You for a Ride on my Little Green Tractor

Kimberlea's parents, Bill and Carolee, moved from their farm house out in the country into town. They had this little green tractor, but it wasn't running. It was going to cost more than they wanted to pay to get it up and running. So knowing how Delwyn likes to tinker on machinery, they offered it to him. He was so excited! It has a little trailer to haul things and also a snow blade.

Every now and again, the farmer comes out in him. He thought Dagny might like a ride, and she did!

Last summer we made a flowerbed almost the whole length of the backyard. We need a lot of dirt to fill it in, and the trailer works great! Originally I thought we would have to use a wheelbarrow, I shudder to think how many loads that would have been! It takes about 7 tractor loads to to empty the big trailer. Wade enjoys yard work, and he is a fabulous help! 

He thinks it's quite fun to drive the tractor!

Ready to unload!

I'm so excited to get this flowerbed full of dirt! There are a few flowers planted in here now, next summer I want to add a lot more. Most of them are Iris, and I want some flowers that bloom all summer long.

It's going to take a lot of dirt and many, many loads, but we are making progress!

Denya's Summer Theater Experience

Denya is the play Bye Bye Birdie! We made a quick trip to Provo to see her.

This is her favorite restaurant and we go here to eat every time we come to Provo.

We invited Mom and she met us in Provo that afternoon. We love their calzones! Denya is having a spinach one.

We are having meat calzones. I have also had their lasagne, it's all delicious!

Denya had to be there early to get ready. The Mt. Timpanogos Temple is just across the street from the amphitheater where she is performing, so we spent some time walking around the grounds while we waited. It was beautiful!

The temples in Utah all have large grounds. There are several big flower beds.

These plants were particularly interesting to me. 

More beautiful flowers. The pictures don't reflect the beauty you see when walking around in  person.

The amphitheater is also beautiful with flowers and a big lawn.

When we went to get our tickets, they told us we were the first people to purchase online, so we got a treat! A bag of snickers! I laughed. The play goes from August 5-13, but there are only a few limited days that work for us. I wanted to make sure we got tickets for the night that was our first choice, so as soon as they were available, I was quick to get them. The ticket sellers were impressed that we came from Colorado, but we would go anywhere to watch our daughter perform!

The seating was made of stone. They gave us cushions to sit on, and it was pretty comfortable, but Mom was smart to bring her stadium chair.

Bye Bye Birdie tells the story of a rock and roll singer, Conrad Birdie, who is about to be inducted into the army. Conrad's agent, Albert Peterson, and is secretary, Rosie, come up with one final publicity plan: Conrad will bid a lucky teenage girl goodbye with a kiss. Kim MacAfee wins the honor and her town goes into an uproar when Conrad arrives.

Denya was part of the teen chorus and had a couple of lines.

She loves to sing and dance!

The whole crew!

After the play, we were allowed to go on the stage for pictures. Denya is so cute in her cat eye glasses!

The play was little silly, but we love to watch plays, especially when Denya is in them! The amphitheater was really a fun place and we had an enjoyable evening!

Melissa's Special Mom - Debi Whitley

Debra Marie Whitley, known as Debi, passed away on August 6, 2016. She got West Nile Virus, which turned into meningitis. She was in and out of the hospital for about a month. She was at home, not really getting better, but not really getting worse, and she passed away in her sleep one night. Maybe it was a blessing-- meningitis robs your quality of life and leaves many lingering effects. It was quite a shock to all of us. Delwyn and I made a quick trip to Texas for the funeral.

Austin and his cute girls at the funeral home.

The pall bearers carry the casket to the grave site, Austin, her sons--Michael and Steven, her son-in-law Barth. The other two men might have been her brothers, I'm not sure.

Her casket was beautiful! Yellow was her favorite color. The flowers were so bright and cheery.

Getting ready for the grave dedication.

Austin looked so handsome! The boutonnieres were beautiful, the roses were huge and opened up all the way.

I'm so glad we were able to be here to support Austin and Melissa and her family. I just love the Whitleys. They are all so nice and kind and treat us so well. Our families have a lot in common and I have said before that if we lived close, we could have a lot of fun together.

It was a very hot day! This was the weather on my phone when we got in the car after we had finished at the cemetery. No one stayed very long because it was so hot.

Two of my favorite people! We had a very nice lunch at the church. Leah Blake and her dad sat at our table and it was fun to visit with them. 

 Melissa looked so pretty!

Melissa said she was too young to be without a mother and asked if she could adopt me. I was very honored! I sure love this girl! Mothers are such important people in our lives. Whenever anything good or bad happens to me, my mother is the first person I want to tell.
I have some big shoes to fill! Debi was an amazing lady--very organized, kind, busy, worked full time at a community college, and was dedicated to her family. She always invited us over to dinner when we were visiting. I learned many things from her: I started this blog because of her, I learned to take pictures of even the most ordinary things, receipts, eating at a restaurant, shoes. She had a small camera in her purse and would pull it out to take a quick picture anytime.She was always happy and cheerful, liked to talk, and was easy to talk to. She had a strong testimony and enjoyed talking about the gospel. I loved this lady! I will miss seeing her when we come to Texas.

Melissa's Dad, Mike, with some of his granddaughters. They gave him lots of hugs and love!

Claire and Camille

Delwyn and I made a quick trip to Texas for Debi Whitley's funeral. We got there really late at night. The girls were so excited to see us the next morning. Claire wanted to cook something for me right away.

She is so cute with her kitchen set.

She made me some breakfast of bacon, eggs, and muffins. Yum!

Then they wanted to dance with me. Claire turned on some music and we danced and twirled until they were dizzy!

Claire and Camille each had a stuffed animal wrapped up in a blanket. They sat in the rocking chair and sang "I Am a Child of God" to their animal babies. It was the sweetest thing and really touched my heart.

Claire has the cutest ice cream toy! It has a little scoop she can use to put the ice cream on the cone. They have magnets inside so each scoop stays in place. We played ice cream shop for quite awhile. I love ice cream, and I thought this was the cutest toy ever! I would love to have this toy at my house for the grandkids to play with!

Of course a trip to Texas wouldn't be complete with a stop at Braums! We had hamburgers and then ice cream.

Camille had birthday cake,

Claire had chocolate. I was quite disappointed they didn't have any cherry limeade, which is my favorite. Austin said they have been out of it for quite some time. So I had cherry cheesecake and peanut butter cup which was quite delicious! They have the creamiest ice cream I have ever tasted. They did have some cherry limeade in cartons, so we were able to take some home for tomorrow. Yay!!

Douglas County Fair Parade

Here we are, ready for the Douglas County Parade!  I'm wearing my band shirt in support of Ryan and the Douglas County High School marching band. It was cool day, about 72 degrees, perfect for watching a parade. Usually it is so hot, we are melting by the time it is over.

The American Legion comes first with the flags. 

More flags. I love to see the flags at parades! It gives me such a patriotic feeling, I love America!

This is the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo Royalty.

Dressed up as the founding fathers of our country. They had such great wigs and costumes.

Advertising the Ducky Derby.

The Sun City Band from Pueblo is in the parade every year. I am always amazed they participate in our parade, as it is an hour and a half drive and the parade starts at 9:00. I wonder what time they have to get up to make it here in time. They are a large group of 6th through 9th graders and always sound great!

I am thankful for those who raise crops. I am sure it is hard work 

Here comes the band!

We were on the opposite side of the street from Ryan, so I wasn't able to get a very good picture of him. He is playing the bass drum this year, it's the biggest one and I don't know how he can even see over it! He is on the second line of drums, fourth person over, wearing a hat and sunglasses.

My friend Lisa Ellis took this picture. Ryan looks happy, so the drum must not be too heavy. Keep marching!

The football team was behind the band. Go DC!!

Every parade has some clowns, of course!

The El Jebel Shriners Denver chapter is in the parade every year driving these fun little cars to promote their hospital help for children.

I love to see floats in the parade! They are becoming a rare sight anymore. Maybe they are too much work. I remember the UBIC parade as a girl and the floats were always my favorite.

I got a picture of Ryan after the parade with his drum. See how big it is! I'm curious as to how much it weighs. I did try it on at the band parent night and it wasn't super heavy, but I'm sure it gets heavy when you carry it for two miles in a parade!

I love the parade and have great memories of coming every year with the kids. They were so excited to see how much candy they could get. I can hardly wait until Dagny and Lincoln are old enough to come!