IT ALL STARTED 40 YEARS AGO!

How did that happen? Where has the time gone? It is truly amazing to think that Steve and I began a new branch of the Price family by making covenants with each other and God for all eternity in Idaho Falls LDS Temple 40 years ago! It was a dream come true day for me as we made our way north to celebrate this momentous occasion. We stopped at Hilary and Adam's to drop of the pickup and had lunch with them. It was a quick but fun visit. With a brief stop at the Pepperidge Farm outlet to stock up on Tim Tam cookies, we made it to Idaho Falls where we attended a temple session and had a nice prime rib dinner in the cafeteria. Here's my anniversary gift to Steve. This "tree of life" bowl was fresh out of the kiln of a local potter on Thursday. It seemed so appropriate for the celebration of our family tree.

After our temple session, we headed north to Heather and Aaron's to stay overnight in our Idaho vacation home.

Elsie loves her "Papa"!

Don't you love Quinn's "mohawk" hairstyle?
The kids loved showing us how the construction of their new home is coming along. It is a beautiful, well-designed family home.

These new kitchen cabinets are partially installed. You're gonna love it, baby.

Heather and Aaron's office is awesome.

Here's the family room/theatre room.

Saturday we drove an hour south to join the Lewis family for Cole's baptism. Here's Uncle Brent with some of their grandchildren.

Cole was so cute and so excited! Marci did a fantastic job of planning and organizing.

Then we made a stop by Jake and Marci's new house. It is going to be gorgeous and of course, it has a fabulous garage too. They will be living just down the road from Brent and Kathy.

There were six cars and trucks in the drive way and the funny thing was that every one of them was white.

We had a delightful weekend. It was nice to just spend time together even though we did a lot of driving. We love our family and feel so blessed. When we celebrate our 50th, we hope to go back to the Idaho Falls Temple again only this time with all of our children and their spouses. Ten years goes by quickly so put it on your calendar now!

Jackie's Jam!

Our family loves Jackie's jam! It has been a family favorite for years. Well this isn't Jackie's jam, but it was made from Jackie's berries. When I stopped by to visit her and pick berries last weekend, she gave me some that she had picked for me. That was so awesome. Since I have limited freezer space, I first made a batch of cooked jam. Then I didn't have quite enough raspberries so I combined them with blueberries and made blueberry/raspberry jam. Now you need to come and visit again so you can taste blueberry raspberry jam.

Celebrating the Idaho Way...

with work projects. That's how things were when I was growing up.

Steve had to fly to Boise on Friday for a dealer open house on Saturday. Since we were going to miss Pioneer Day together anyway, I became the delivery person for a load of doorknobs. I stopped by Jackie's to pick some raspberries on the way up, but she had already picked them for me. What a nice sister!

I was fortunate to capture a picture of Quinn actually walking. He took about 10 steps several times while I was there.
I brought a bag of juice oranges left by the Cases from their California trip. We all worked together to squeeze the most fabulous orange juice ever! Wow it was good!

The kids were great on Sat. I got to play, work, and weed with them while Heather and Aaron
worked on the new house. Tanner worked there also for much of the day and even learned how to install doorknobs. He installed at least 8 all by himself. I was very impressed.

The back of the new house.

Aaron is starting on the doorknob installation project. They have a beautiful house. They've done an amazing job planning and coordinating everything. You're gonna love it! They plan on moving in about a month.

Mystery Items...

Recent guests have left several items at our home. If you can identify any of these items or if you are the owner of any of these items, please step forward and confess. We desire for these precious treasures to be returned to their rightful owners.

These mystery shoes propelled Tiffany down the road and over the parkway several times during her visit and helped her achieve her goal in the Fun Run on July 3rd.

These sunglasses are pretty classy. Anyone out there claim them?
Hopefully this earring belongs to a female family member.

HAIR NEWS!

I went to my hair dresser today. I have gone to Jana for many years. I told her that I didn't want the hair helmut look that I kept getting every time I washed and styled my hair. She is trying to help me keep the look updated. The big news for those of you that feel genetically challenged is that she said, "Your hair is getting thicker and it's getting curlier too." This is not a common thing but happens to some after age 50. Now you have something spectacular to look forward to. Aren't you excited?

We're # 61 !!!

I just read in Money Magazine that we live in the 61st out of the top 100 best small cities in America! Hooray for us! I'm guessing that they were counting road construction pylons which helped to boost out status. This is the scene currently outside of our slice of heaven subdivision.We drove Tif and Abigail to the airport this afternoon. It's always sad for me to say goodbye, especially to those last visitors. It's been fabulous having so many of our family members visit during the past couple of months. We mopped the kitchen and vacuumed the living and family rooms and took the car seats out and put them in the garage. Things are quiet for awhile. We'll adjust.

This morning Tif and Abigail went on the broker tour with me to see 6 houses all over the valley. This was possible because Tif was all packed and organized. She had already washed sheets and dishes and finished up a few things for me. Wow, I loved the help.

Yesterday we met Larah, Cassidy and Parker at the Thatcher pool in the morning. In the afternoon we went to preview the floats for the 24th of July parade. This was Steve's favorite pick by the Murray Parkway Stake. It was pretty amazing with lots of movement and lots of crickets.

We just finished having a loud thunderstorm with a little rain. What perfect timing! It reflects my mood for now but tomorrow I hit the road running with a busy day of real estate, and helping people. I'm so blessed. Thanks for visiting and staying in touch. We appreciate it!

The Wonder Weekend!

The "Wonder Weekend" actually started on Thursday with a trip to the Heritage State Park. We went first thing since the temperature was predicted to hit at least 100 degrees (which it did all weekend). It worked perfectly for us because we were able to leave when it really started getting hot. Abigail, Tiffany and I enjoyed the train rides, pony rides, displays and festivities. This pony ride photo was actually taken earlier in the week at Gardner Village but she also rode the pony at Heritage Park.

Abigail was excited when she was able to complete the milking game that pioneer children used to learn how to milk the cows and goats.

And she loved washing the clothes.

My sister, Jackie, arrived on Friday afternoon. She brought with her coveted tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Pioneer Day Commemoration Concert. We had an early spaghetti dinner and then Jackie, Tiffany, Steve K. and I headed downtown for the performance. Grandpa Steve arrived home from his Alaska trip just in time for dinner and an evening of movies and popcorn with Abigail.

Here we pose just before the concert. The performance commemorated the choir's 100 years of recorded music. It was an amazing evening. Our prophet, Pres. Monson, attended and said a few words. It was an experience to remember.

The next morning Tiffany and Jackie headed to the Jordan River Temple while Abigail helped me tend to the flower garden. After Abigail heard me talking with the neighbor about the concert the night before and I mentioned how much I loved her flag shirt, Abigail ran in the house and put on a flag shirt over her purple dress. Then she needed her sun glasses and her hat. When we couldn't find her hat she settled for my "flag" visor because she loves "flags" too.
Next we headed out for an excursion at the pedicure salon. This was Jackie's first experience with a pedicure. I'm so excited that she was able to enjoy this pampering experience with Tiffany and me. This is one of the best gifts I give myself. I truly love pedicures.

Next came lunch. We stopped back home to collect Abigail so Grandpa Steve could have a break. Then we headed to Red Lobster where we met my sister Cathy, and my brother, Greg, for lunch. It was really nice that Jackie got an opportunity to visit with her siblings on this trip. We forgot to take our photo so you will just have to imagine how handsome we looked.

Everyone relaxed after lunch and I got to show 10 houses to some prospective buyers.

Sunday a.m. when Jackie headed back to Idaho, Tiffany, Abigail and I went down to Temple Square. We had a delightful morning and I was tickled to get a parking space right next to the entrance gate.

It really was a wonderful weekend for me--spending time with some of my favorite people and doing some of my favorite things. All in all, it was a very "sunny" weekend.

Added to the joy of my weekend was that I was able to visit or skype with most of my children. I love connecting with them. My cup runneth over with blessings.