MOTHER NATURE, WHY ALL THE WATER?

I ALWAYS THOUGHT APRIL WAS SUPPOSED TO BRING SPRING SHOWERS
AND MAY WAS TO BRING MAY FLOWERS?

SO FAR THIS SPRING WE HAVE HAD MOSTLY WET WEATHER, SNOW AND RAIN.

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

During the first spring of this year (March 15th)
Luana planted the tulips Janaye gave us last year
in hopes of an early showing.
At first we thought they had not survived our
third winter(April 3rd) because the HOA tulips
started to bloom around April 22nd
and we had nothing to show for her work.

But alas, a week ago they began to pop out
of mother earth, and today they are just about
to open up and show their true colors of
white, pink, and orange.

That brings us to this years garden.

So far nothing has started to grow
mainly because of the snow and all around
bad weather, I guess only time will tell.
So far, about the only thing growing
in the garden area is weeds
and there are truly lots of those.

I have always been told, 'plant them and they will grow' so I have done just that.

Perhaps I will need to put out my favorite sign in the garden to

encourage it to have a little respect and to show us how it is done.

For 2011, -- HERE IS TO THE GARDENER IN ALL OF US!
Just remember, it does not matter how small the seed,
Mother Nature always prevails.

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE WARD TURKEY BOWL

It was a little after 8:am on Thursday Morning and there I was looking at all the new snow in the park from my very warm but very safe front room window, 'But what to my wandering eyes should appear' what seemed like most of the male population of the 4th Ward (under 40 that is) was there, and they were all reared up and ready to play some serious flag football in the snow. You guessed it, it was the 4th Wards 1st ever annual turkey bowl, and I was going to be there to witness its inaugural kickoff. I thought it would be fun to go out and take pictures as the crazies try to run in the show without killing them selves off, so I left the warm vantage point in my living room, walked into my bedroom to get dressed for the occasion.

First I put on lots of warm pants, shirts and warm socks, I grabbed my warmest coat from the closet, put on my super BYU cougar ear-muffs, carefully slipped on my favorite insulated gloves, put on my shoes, grabbed my camera, and went out the front door to watch and learn from the pro's.

Did I hear you say 'WHAT DID I LEARN'?
It was Nothing, YES nothing at all.

You see, when I went out side to take some pictures the park was totally void of human beings except my self. There were no members from our Ward, no children playing in the snow, no Fathers laying on their backs making snow Angels, no wounded football players laying on the ground crying in agony, no teenagers snowboarding down the slopes that surround the park, and no blood stains in the snow where wounded comrades had fallen. There was no one there, nada, zip, only me, my bruised pride, and an empty snow laden park with lots of tracks down the middle.

As it turns out, ALL THE POOR LITTLE COLD TURKEYS WENT HOME about 9:00am for some warm turkey of their own, to where it is quiet, warm, and safe, where there is no 4th Ward members waiting to take you down, and no 'Turkey Bowl football' antics.

I wonder if everyone just gave up and went home as unfulfilled participants, fallen hero's driven back by Mother nature and her Cold Weather Construction Crew? Now did everyone just run into their homes and head straight for the master bedroom and jump into that big tub full of hot water where they could sit quietly for hours until their cold battered bodies relax, warm up until the stiffness in their old cold bones melt away?

Well, welcome to the World of the Annual Turkey Bowl.
Just get over it, cold happens, and bodies hurt. So.

There is even something more exciting to look forward to, the weather feels worse when you get older. Just ask Grandpa or Uncle Ed. Now they know what I am talking about.

SO HERE IS TO THE LONG WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR WHEN AGAIN WE CAN ALL HANG ONTO OUR PRIDE, MUSTER LOTS OF COURAGE, AND AGAIN TRY OUR LUCK AS WE TREK OUT, ONE MORE TIME, INTO THE EARLY MORNING LIGHT ON THANKSGIVING DAY, WHERE IT WILL THEN BE:

THE 2ND ANNUAL 4TH WARD TURKEY BOWL

AND THIS IS WHAT WE ARE ALL WAITING FOR?
BRING IT ON NOVEMBER

THE OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN UTAH TEMPLE


DURING THE DAY

DURING THE NIGHT

AT DUSK

AT 30 MILES AN HOUR AT NIGHT

This picture turned out to be so eerie that I thought others may like to see it too.

SPRINGTIME AT THE DAYBREAK

The Tulips are in full bloom, and the weather feels like spring has sprung. This picture is from our front porch and it is just wonderful to wake up each morning to a view such as this, every day of the year. Even the winter snow days feel right.

My only complaint this past week has been: Some of my neighbors have begun mowing their lawns and I don't want to start that task yet. So just cut it out. Do you understand me? Yeh, right.

Soon the Community Pool will open its doors for the season, then Luana and I can again begin our ritual early morning (6:30am) trek to the pool for our daily swim.

You would think we would just be satisfied by sleeping in on those warm summer mornings, but no not us, we just roll out of bed at six, put on or swim suits, dawn our flip-flops, grab a towel or two and head up the walk to the pool. The pool is only a couple hundred feet from our front door on the left side of the flowers shown above. It is so close I guess you could say it calls to us every morning, except sundays.

And the Hot Tub feels great after a cool refreshing swim. I would include some somewhat graphic pictures of Luana and I enjoying ourselves at the pool but our Blog is 'G' rated and we don't want to scare the Grand kids.

• Living in a ward where the organist is the Mormon Tabernacle Organist and the backup organist is the former Mormon Tabernacle Organist.
• Seeing the Angel Moroni on the new Oquirrh Temple from my porch.
• Walking to the pool in the summer.
• Emptynester family home evenings once a month.
• Going to sacrament meeting with almost as many people as stake conference.
• From the Oquirrh Temple, you can see two other temples.
• It's quieter than living on Redwood Road.

Did you notice, we can see the top of the new Temple from our front porch. We were hoping for this and it happened.