The weather is finally cooperating and it has been a busy, fun-filled 2 weeks. It started on Friday, June 25th. We went to the Arts Festival at 4:30pm and stayed until 11:00pm. We checked out all the craft booths (lots of beautiful art...the glass lamps and bowls were my favorite), went to 2 film fest screenings and saw about a dozen short films, mostly by Utah filmmakers (a few good ones), ate great food, listened to a little bad slam poetry, and skipped around to 3 or 4 musical groups (most were decent) for an interesting evening. Here we are in the food tent.
The Arts Festival was spread out between the gorgeous Salt Lake City Library and the City and County Building. This is the sculpture garden.
Some booths and the "sandstone castle" where Dad worked a long time ago. "Save the Clock Tower! "
We ate crepes filled with chicken, artichokes and spinach from "Crepe Tyme" and had a delicious dessert from the Market Street Grill booth...vanilla Haagen Dazs ice cream covered with a lemon sauce and fresh strawberries.
Next was my birthday celebration at Rumbi Grill in American Fork (always good).
With ice cream cones afterwards at Maggie Moo's. Can you see the bird nest and the wasp nest?
Colby and Brie on the roller coaster with the cows!!
Enjoying the cones.
Then we went to Wine's Park in Lehi, across the street and down one block from my great grandfather, George William Kirkham's house (which he built and where my grandmother, Maude Kirkham was raised) and the still-standing Tithing Barn.
The birthday girl about to open presents.
As Briton would say, "--poof! another wish"
Everyone getting in on the swinging action.
The birthday loot....a marvelous terrarium made by Autumn (including a mushroom and little bluebird), fizzy scented bath hearts and stars and shells made by Airie, a book of Women's Conference talks from Briton, a handmade card and gift card to Target from Baron, and a blue summer sweater, honeysuckle perfume and new ear phones for my radio from Dad, plus a Murray-the-cat card. Wow, I'm spoiled.
Oh, and I made 56 chocolate-dipped strawberries to take to work to share with coworkers and friends at the gym on my birthday. YUM
We kept busy on the 3-day 4th of July celebration. Saturday morning we picked the first of the raspberries and did yard work. Saturday afternoon and evening we went geocaching around Farmington…found 7 of 10. The other three were tricky ones…one was a nano that we’ll try for again on the Legacy Parkway Trail, one was a major uphill bushwhacking adventure from the Beehive Church (could have taken a path that went north and eventually turned east and south…but no, not The Idiots) in the hot sun and we finally wore out from standing on a steep incline looking under lots of rocks, and the 3rd was supposedly in a pine tree at a West Farmington Church (there are two churches on 1525 West now!) We’ve had bad luck with pine trees since Portland. These are unusual clouds looking east from Legacy Trail towards our house.
Saw lots of thistles on our geocaching trips.
Mom at a cache called "Wounded Knee" 1/2 way up the hill towards the cache we didn't find. This one was unique. There was a rather large stump that had been hollowed out underneath for the log and swag and then transported into this clump of trees. Fun!
Sunday was church and then BBQ burgers on the deck with Airie and Abram with potato salad, fresh corn on the cob, chips & dip, raspberry jello salad, festive cupcakes and a marvelous watermelon. We followed that with a round of badminton and a round of pinochle.
Airie's delicious, patriotic cupcakes.
Dad attacking the melon.
This watermelon, that we bought from the Farmington Farmer's Market, is honestly the best one I've ever tasted.
Ready to try badminton.
Monday we drove to Lehi and picked up Baron and Colby, drove to Provo and had lunch with the Hardys, took Airie (while Abram studied for The Bar) and went to see Autumn at a booth at Orem’s Freedom Festival, went back to Lehi to deliver a credit card to Donette and buy movie tickets, then went to 3 geocaches. The first one was a 10-stage walk around a park by the Provo River to gather up numbers for the final coordinates and one of the signs (on a Frisbee golf pole) was missing (!), but we narrowed it down to 2 possibilities and were successful. The second was at a small park in Provo with a stream and bridge. The 3rd was one of the oldest caches in Utah (first placed in 2001)...a bit tricky to get to with a short, steep climb. Then everyone met at Thanksgiving Point for dinner (JCW Burger Boys…great gourmet burgers and chicken sandwiches and other stuff), then joined by Donette and Brie to see Toy Story 3—AWESOME. Well, what a weekend. Now I’m back to work to try to recover.
The boys at Scera Park in Orem where Autumn was working. Went on to see a "pioneer village" including a blacksmith and a cooper (bucket/barrel/broom maker), etc.
Colby at Riverview Park.
with Auntie Airie...
Colby and the cache box.
On the bridge at the Lions Park in Provo playing Pooh Sticks...can you see the sticks?
Posing on the bridge with Mt. Timpanogos in the background.
Mom cooling her feet.
Colby and The Cars stickers...prize in the geocache that was under the bridge.
An attempt at a video. Did you hear the song? Is that from "Dave"?
On Friday, July 9th, we went to the Peruvian Festival at Founders Park in Centerville for a couple of hours. Good food and good music, bands and dancers made it a great place for dinner.
The music included Cusco/Inca-type pipes, Spanish-type guitar, zumba, samba stuff..all good.
Cute kids performing.
More dancers.
Mom with a baked papas (potatoes) with crema ocopa--spicy green "gravy" and beef kabobs called anticuchos (which turned out to be beef heart, but very tasty.) Of course, I chose maracuja (?)--passion fruit juice to drink.
Dad's dinner was a rice and chicken mixture with freeze-dried (on rocks in the sun) potato chunks called "carapulcra, " plus Inca Cola.
Here's one of the dessert booths.
We chose "alfajores" (2 for $2.50) which were the best things we had all night. It was 2 thick pie dough (sort of) cookies, powder-sugared, with a thick caramel-like filling. We had to go back for another two!
Dad smiling with one of his cookies!
(The parachute gives this one away.) On Saturday, the 10th, we slept through the parade and breakfast but went to the park for lunch...good 'ole hamburgers and chips, saw some of the entertainment, and walked by the booths...I bought a cat bag for $5 and a new map of Farmington Trails for $3. We talked with friends and consumed creamies to cool down.
This trio called "The Pink Stillettoes" sang, danced and played guitars. They are 3 sisters from Alpine and were actually pretty good. They had just returned from Alabama...making a CD.
We toured the new Farmington City Offices (they had an open house and should be open for business in a few weeks), just east of Farmington Elementary. We have mixed feelings about it. It seems shoe-horned in and we continue to be disappointed that they used brick and siding and no rock (except around planters) on the exterior after so many years of requiring every other building in the city to use rocks. It has some nice features inside.
The plain-looking box "clock tower" with a cool weathervane.
We took a drive up to the temple because we have a Travel Bug that wants to be photographed with temples, churches or holy books.
It's a lovery spot where our children have married.
Yep, that's the Travel Bug called Buddha. I wonder if he has a current recommend?
Floral planting
Painted daisies
After our visit to Festival Days, we changed clothes and hurried up to the Fine Arts Museum at the U. of U. for our neighbor Sarah Bullock's wedding reception. (Her father is our bishop.) They had a live "hootenanny" band including a fiddler, mandolin player and someone playing the spoons. Lots of young parents were dancing with their toddlers. The desserts included incredible warm berry or fresh peach cobblers with whipped cream. They had a photo booth to get your photo taken (2 copies of 4 shots) and printed out and then you pasted one set of photos in the newlyweds' book. You could write a little message on a chalk board and then sign the book, too. Afterwards, we made it back to Farmington for the great (short but fast-launched) fireworks. Wow, what a weekend. 
