~ Plucky ~

Do any of you remember our hen, 'Poor Grace'?
For that matter, do any of you remember me??!!
Good gravy, it's been about forever since I last blogged.
There is 'settling in', and there's 'settling in'!
Well, truth be told, we're still settling in... *smile*.

Poor Grace was Plucky! 
She had that ole' wacky beak, and yet she persevered. 
She never gave up, and whats more, she became the most favorite hen of the entire flock... both people and the other hens loved her.

I've been considering ole' Poor Grace and her plucky character.
I need to cultivate a plucky attitude myself, and have resolved to do just that.... beginning right now!

Each one of us can determine to have courage in the face of the difficulties that we are going through.

Looking forward to many more hikes in our canyon.
I just had begun to explore our new canyon and new town, then winter was upon us. 

Oh what joy it will bring to enjoy the creek, the mountains, and the beauty all around. 
Our canyon is just a teeny bit up the road from our new home.

Our new town also has hot springs, and hot pools! They are lovely and the view from the hot pools simply cannot be beat... why, you can see our entire town, and surrounding area from the pools!

Simply the best thing has happened to us... we are expecting our second Grand. 
It's a girl this time, and we could not be more excited to meet her. 
She is scheduled to have her debut the first part of June.

Our sweet Liam will be a big brother, and some day he will teach his little sister how to catch a fish!
I'm missing our Grand!! 
I miss going to church, and especially going to the temple.
I miss all the 'normal' things.
 We all miss 'normal' don't we! 

Here's to my new plucky attitude :
* getting a garden in this summer...yay! 
We moved in last summer too late in the season to grow a garden.
*My sweet husband getting off the doctors list... I hope in May!
(He ended up with a twelve inch blood clot in his leg, just before Thanksgiving, but thankfully he is doing great. Taking his blood thinners and getting back to regular activities.)
*Taking lots of pictures, and showing you all around our new home and town!
* Putting a smile on my face, and happy in my heart, and finding a way to serve others.
 Because I sure can get bummed out, if I let myself!

Attitude of gratitude:
~ Grateful for this day. 
~Grateful for little seeds that are sprouting and hold so much promise for a great garden this year!
~Thankful for my 'consolation' gift from our daughter. The concert that we wanted to go to in Santa Fe was cancelled, and so she bought me the cutest t~shirt and CD from the "The Mavericks" .

~ Old and New ~

 It's hard to believe that this picture is about five years old. I took this picture of our front porch the first spring that we moved here to Mill Hill Meadow.

 The picture of the kitchen is new. I took this picture of the kitchen just the other day for our house listing pictures.
We have just listed our home for sale. 
 Our dream is to sell this house and buy a new house in St. George for when we retire.

 It was so much fun and so satisfying to add decor and personal touches to this home. 
I will miss the galvanized wainscot that we put in the laundry room. 
Every time I pass by this space, it puts a smile in my heart and on my lips.
That tin was OLD tin that we recycled from our youngest son's garage roof.
We used some old wood from an old bedstead and made a new wainscot wall in the laundry room.

 Before we listed our house for sale, we took a trip to California to see our eldest son, his wife and our Grand. 
We had such a wonderful time. 
Our sweet little Grand is our heartbeat! All of you grandparents know exactly how that works :)

 Golden Gate Bridge.
It was our first time to visit San Fransisco, the Golden Gate Bridge...

 Ghirardelli Square, and San Carlos.

The city of San Fransisco has some absolutely crazy steep and winding roads. We even did the 'tourist thing' and drove down Lombard street.

 It wasn't our first time visiting Carmel~by~the~sea but was the first time that I had seen this gorgeous floral shop.

 We had lunch in Carmel~by~the~sea at a darling bakery and did a lot of window shopping. 
We even found a yard sale! Of course, it wasn't in a 'yard', but rather up two flights of stairs to a loft. 
I bought a Moda Fat Quarter set called Simplicity by 3 Sisters.
Absolutely darling fabric and patterns! I paid just fifteen dollars for it, and on Amazon, that same set of Moda fabric was around $120.00! 
Ha~ha.. they don't call me "Bargain Kerin" for nothin'!!

 So, here's to goodbye to the old house {hopefully} and hello to a new house.
We are not using a realtor this go round. We have certainly given our share of money to realtors throughout all the times we have bought and sold homes, and this time since it's the last go-round for us, we would like to save that money.

Thanks to everyone that has been so thoughtful and kind and encouraging!
Change is never easy for me. I'm working on being a patient person and turning my concern into a virtue of faith in our Heavenly Father and His timing.
I really desire to lean into my faith and lean on my Savior.
There are so many things that we cannot control.
Embracing the old adage: If you're going to pray, don't worry, and if you're going to worry, don't pray!" 

One more thing... I want to thank Kim of  My Field Of Dreams
for all the sweet hospitality that she and her husband have showered upon my husband and me. 
We've stopped by their house on our trips to see our kids and each time Kim and Ron have shown us such kindness. Thanks for the amazing citrus and for the delicious lunch! You are both truly kind people and we feel blessed to consider you our friends!
For everyone in Blogland...Kim is just as sweet and smart in person as she is on her blog! Stop by her blog and say 'hi'. 

* Seriously*?

 It's been said that as we age, time passes more quickly.
It is certainly true in my case. 
I cannot seriously believe it has been so long since I last blogged!?
Busy days that meld into weeks, that meld into months, and before I knew it, time flew by.
 To be frank, it's a little, or a lot frightening how quickly time flies by...

 Nearly a year ago, our youngest son got married. We have a 'new' daughter in love.
 They are head over heels in love and looking forward to celebrating their one year anniversary at the beginning of next month.

 Liam. He is our very heartbeat. 
He just turned one year old! 
It's true what everyone told me... being a grandparent is the absolute best!
As one of my sweet friends told me..."makes you glad you didn't kill your kids when they were younger, doesn't it"! 
Yep. 
Grands are the best!! 
After waiting for our eldest son and daughter in love to have kids, the six-year wait was SO worth it!

 Summer is just cruising along. It's been a hotter than usual summer.
We recently celebrated Pioneer Day, here in Utah. 
The day our state celebrates statehood. 
We decided to get up into the mountains, away from the heat, and to get close to the water. 
  Here in the valley, we are on water restrictions.
We are allowed to water twice a week.

 Of course, the sunflowers don't mind the heat and lack of water.
They just continue to grow happily along... blooming and adding sunny yellow to the borders.

 Most of our flowers are fine with the drought.
That was all part of the plan when we planted nearly four years ago. 
Can it really be that we've lived here at Mill Hill Meadow for just over four years now?!

 The master bathroom makeover was high on my priority list, tho it has taken four years for me to actually dive in and get it completed! 
 Finally took the time to get it done this summer, and I'm so happy that I did.

 Sure enjoying the charcoal countertop and the white vanity.
Black and white accents can easily be switched up for a new look down the road if we so desire. For now, the simple cottage look is perfect.

 Do y'all remember my friend that owns the cute old gas station/shop? 
This summer I spied this cute 'married' hutch in the shop and bought it for our dining room.
 Decked out in the Bee dinnerware that I've been collecting for a few years now.

 Still doing a lot of thrift shopping. 
I love a great deal and the thrill of a great find!
Recent finds... the 'thankful' sign. It's quite large and perfect for Fall decorating, but really I could display it all year long.

Another find; this giant rustic frame. 
Soon to be fashioned into a large chalkboard. 
It will replace the cupboard door chalkboard that I've had for years. 

Have a happy day.

Attitude of gratitude:
 Feeling thankful to have overcast skies this morning, as it will make cleaning out borders and flower beds a more pleasant task.

~Goodness, gracious! Life clips along at a pretty quick speed! ~

How is it that time just seems to speed up, the older I get?? 

Before I know it, a day is gone, then a week, then a month, and so forth. 

I never had any intentions of being MIA from blogging so long, but then that time thingy happened, and before I knew it "poof", months had passed by.

Wonderful, amazing, miraculous life has been happening around here.

The above picture is from Waikiki, Hawaii. 

My darling husband and I just returned from a lovely and wonderful trip to Hawaii, to celebrate our 30th anniversary!!

Our amazing kids got together and surprised us with the trip! They paid for and arranged everything! The flights, hotel, excursions, etc... 

All we had to do, is pack a bag. 

We have been so incredibly blessed, and the blessings just keep coming. 

I feel truly humbled by the blessings that have been showered upon us.

A huge blessing is that we are going to be first time grandparents!!!!!!

Yep.. we finally get to join the grandparents club, after waiting for years.

Our darling daughter in law is due in July. This is an older picture, of course.
She is really good to update her pictures, but I don't have an instagram account, and that is how she usually does it.
We got the happy news about becoming grandparents on Christmas day.
The last present that was opened was one that our son gave me. It was a bag, and inside the bag wrapped up in tissue paper was a framed picture of a sonogram.
Instantly, I gasped then started to cry.
I blubberly gave the bag to my hubby, and jumped up and gave our daughter in law a hug.
By this time, she was crying too.
I told her that I had no idea why I was crying, but I suppose it was because I was so happy,
She told me that she didn't know why she was crying either, because she had known for a few weeks!!!
Those stinkers knew that they were expecting when they were here for Thanksgiving, and didn't utter a word.
Anyway... we are over the moon happy about being grandparents!

 Gender reveal party.
Our son and wife called after their checkup to see what the gender was. That was on a Wednesday, and they wouldn't tell us!
They wanted to drive down and have a gender reveal party with the whole family.
So that following Sunday, the whole family met, and we had my daughter in laws family on Skype, and she handed me the knife to cut the cake.
Of course laughter, and squeals of delight followed the cutting into to the cake to reveal that the baby is a boy!!
Just my daughter in law and I had been thinking that the baby would be a boy, everyone else in both families thought that the baby would be a girl.
Yay!!! We can hardly wait to meet this darling boy!!
Now... if they could just pick a name! I keep texting my ideas to then, but so far, none of my name ideas have been chosen.
Our son wants a name that is adventurous like : Indiana Jones, or John McClane... etc.
Naturally, our DIL vettos those names... **giggle**
So, if anyone has any awesome name suggestions, I'd love to hear them!!

 A few more pictures from our recent trip.
All of you that are still waiting for snow to melt and the weather to warm up,~~ you are welcome!

 We stayed in a five star hotel that overlooked the ocean and Waikiki Yacht Club.
Boy, did we ever feel spoiled and la~te~da.
Our kids really spoiled us!
When we left Utah, it was snowy, snowy, and cold.
We had to wait for the plane to be de~iced, before the plane could take off.
You can imagine what a welcome sight blue water, palm trees, sand and sun were for us!

 Sunrise over North Shore.
We made it just in time one morning to see the sun rise over the ocean.
We collected a few pieces of beach glass, coral, and lava rock to take home with us.
I put all of our little 'treasures' on a blue colored glass dish in the living room. A constant reminder of a wonderful and lovely trip,

 The LDS Laie Hawaii temple.
We had wanted to attend a session of the temple while we were in Hawaii, but it wasn't open when we were over on that side of the island.
It sure is beautiful though!

 The view from one of our adventurous days.
Our kids arranged for us to go to Kualoa Ranch, and do a two hour ATV ride.
Kualoa Ranch is the setting for many movies and shows :Jurassic World, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and 50 First Dates, Lost, & Hawaii Five-O..., just to name a few.
There are tons of activities to do there, and I would highly suggest a visit there if you go to Oahu.

 Too fun!

Looks impressive.
Made completely out of styrofoam.
Our tour guide looking at a rope that someone had placed on the skull.

 Sunset view from our room.
That view never got old, as you can imagine.
I have this pic as my current computer save screen.... sigh.... wish I had this view each and every day.

While we were on our trip, our youngest son got engaged!!
Goodness, gracious!!
We knew that these two were going to get engaged, but we thought it would be official once we got home from our trip, not while we were away.
He sent us a pic, and told us it was official.
They are so darling together, and I hope and pray that it all works out beautifully.

This is one of my favorite pics that they had taken.
Her dad took it, and I think it shows their cute personalities and how much fun they have together.
Her dad did an excellent job taking pictures, and I think he is planning on taking the wedding pictures as well.... yay!!

So, now y'all are up to speed, as much as possible at least, without having to read a novel...*giggle**.
This is a big year for me:
  * Our 30th Anniversary
  * Our first grandbaby
  * A wedding
  *Four family birthdays in July
  * Me turning 50, later on in the year.
I'll do my best to update this ol' blog more often, and to get around to visit and chat with everyone.
Enjoy this amazing day... 'cause it'll be gone for ya know it ** hee hee**.

Attitude of gratitude:
~Feeling so thankful for the birdsong outside. Seeing robins and hearing birdsong means that warmer weather is on the way.
~Feeling thankful for daffodils blossoming in the yard.
~Feeling so grateful that our youngest son is in fine health this morning, after a late night scare.
Second time that he's had a disabling panic attack. This time we managed to avoid and emergency room visit and the docs giving him nitro.
Seriously, hope and pray this boy finds out what is triggering these extreme anxiety attacks and is able to fix them.
~Feeling grateful for sweet friends that help out... no questions asked, just supportive and loving when we call at 10:30 at night and asked for help with Spencer.

Our view... trees are beginning to green up, as are the fields.

Last nights scene.
The sunset reflecting off the tops of the mountains. A fresh dusting of snow covers the tops of the mountains, but all that moisture sure helped everything green up even more.