Girls Weekend, Mother's Day & New Pet???

In April Russ and I went down to Ivins for 10 days and it was SO nice!! We spent the first few days working in the yard and doing things around the house. On our 3rd day we had "one of those days!"  We've had a lot of issues with our pool and it seems like we've had a lot of repair men out to try and fix it. In March we received a phone call from the police that one of our pumps broke on the pool and it was flooding our neighbors yard behind us.  We've also had LOTS of ducks think this is their new home!! This means lots of poop in the pool and around it. On this particular day Russ went into the pump house and literally overnight some bees decided to start a hive there that was the size of a basketball! Later in the day we were moving some tables around and Russ stepped on a water pipe and broke it, which meant we had to turn ALL the water off for several hours! After fixing it, it was still leaking a little so he redid the whole thing again and it turned out great. I'm grateful Russ was able to fix these things. I can't even tell you how both of us are looking forward to having only ONE home to worry about!! We're hoping within the next year we can sell our home here and move everything down there while we serve a mission. We'll see?!?!?

 I'm SO happy we were down there this time of year!! The cactus are absolutely beautiful this time of year! WOW, I was in heaven being around them all week.

 After our hectic day we decided to spend the next day in Bryce Canyon. It was a perfect day for hiking and seeing this beautiful park. It was so nice because all the summer crowds weren't there yet.

 I was blessed to have all my daughters come down for 3 days...and 2 cute grandkids. It was SO fun and hopefully relaxing for them. I want to thank their husbands for watching the kids so they could come and enjoy themselves. We swam, shopped, played games, relaxed & enjoyed getting to know each other better. They are all amazing in their own ways & I'm so blessed to have them as part of my family:)

 These two cuties were so fun to have with us!!!

On our drive back to Utah we stopped and had lunch with Jared. It was his 27th birthday. He has brought me SO much joy in my life & has always been so appreciative of everything we do for him.

What a blessing he is:)

 For Mother's Day I really wanted to go to Victoria B.C. Its been several years since we've been there and the weather was suppose to be nice. We got up at 4:30 am and drove 2 1/2 hours to catch the ferry in Port Angeles. We arrived around 10:00 am. I think everyone else had the same idea, as the ferry was packed!! We rented a little cottage up in Sidney, B.C. and it was so cute and cozy.

 On Friday we went and visited the Craigdarroch Castle. It was built for coal baron, Robert Dunsmuir, which unfortunately he passed away before its completion. The castle was 25,572 sq. ft., there were 17 fireplaces & 7 chimmneys. It took 5 rail cars to ship 2,128 oak panels from Chicago. It had gas lighting as well as electric, hot & cold water for indoor plumbing, central heating, telephones,  & a burglar alarm system.

After 1919 it became a military hospital for 2 years. It was also a College for 25 years, a school board for 22 years and a Conservatory of Music for 10 years. Its been a museum now since 1969.

 I wish you could see these staircases better they were amazing with all the woodwork.

 This was the real reason I wanted to visit Victoria... I love the gardens!! It was such a pretty time of year to come and before a lot of the tourist are there. Even Russ enjoyed it:)

 Leaving Victoria on the ferry.

When we got back to Port Angeles we ate at a restaurant we'd been to before. I had Dungeness crab mac and cheese!! Its very rich & has 7 different kinds of cheese in it, but oh so tasty!!

Its actually an appetizer, but enough for a meal.

 I woke up early on Mother's Day to finish up a talk I was giving in church. When I walked into the kitchen and looked outside I couldn't believe my eyes. This peacock was perched on our fence just looking around. He thinks he's family and has moved right in. He walks around the deck all the time, lays in front of the door, walks around the yard, flys up on the roof and sleeps in the trees at night. We're NOT quite sure what to do with him or what to think about him. He's really pretty, we've just never thought about having a peacock for a pet before????

We have around 10 YM in our Stake that play on a LaCrosse team.  Russ and I have never watched a game before so we made the 3 hour round trip to watch them. They're a great group of boys.

Besides seeing lots of beautiful things, we've worked in the yard a TON, helped neighbors out, made meals for those in need, gone to church meetings,  and felt blessed to have the health and strength to do it. Oh ya, Russ got his first water skiing run in for the year yesterday:)

Life is good:)