Sally's Backyard Birds: Summer-ized

Summer goes by much to fast! I had so many plans and didn't get to most of them! I was able to get most of the yard work done such as, weeding, hedging, trimming trees, but, there is so much more!

Gene and I have gone on lots of evening drives in the Triumph too. But, it's been too hot to go anywhere very far. We'd talked about driving to all of the Utah Temples and haven't been able to find the time.

We've been to Idaho twice. Once for a "quickie" family reunion. Gene and I and his adorable sister, Patrese, met up with their cousins on the Stosich side at the Idaho Falls Chuck-o-Rama for lunch. Stayed with his sister Myra and her husband Lynn or one night and came home.

A few weeks later, we headed back up to Idaho Falls for the funeral of Gene's Uncle Albon. What an amazing man he was!

Albon L. Smith

This time we stayed with Gene's brother Harland and his wife Donna. Patrese was with us for this trip too (she's a great traveling companion).

These quick trips give us a chance to catch up, a little, with family if nothing else.

One of the greatest experiences I've had was on June 23, 2013

Gene and I were able to be part of the largest choir ever! We attended 2 practices and then the last one on the day of the broadcast for a wonderful meeting.

It was so fun to be part of this choir! Over 2,000 voices!

Most of them were the missionaries from the Missionary Training Center (MTC). We filled one whole side of the Marriott Center! This was a broadcast from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was broadcast worldwide! It was wonderful! The announcements about the future of missionary work and the call to the members to do their part was so inspiring!

Times are definitely changing and the work of the Lord is moving forward!

Special Broadcast: The Work of Salvation

My view of the broadcast. From the choir seats!

Of course we (my dad, Gene and I) have been to our usual summer concerts in the park. The one we attend most often is on Monday nights at the American Fork Amphitheater. They are almost always the best!

There is so much variety and great talent!

One of my favorites is when the American Fork Symphony performs.They're fantastic! They play mostly patriotic music and later the American Fork Marching Band plays for us!

They are award winning and so fun to watch!

The color guard is led by Kevin Boughton.
He was a teacher at Joaquin Elementary School and is awesome!

American Fork Symphony during Steel Days.

One of my most favorite friends in the whole world is Gladys! I LOVE this woman!

She is one of my dearest friends. I try to stop by and visit with her every week. If I don't stop by in person I give her a call. She just simply makes me happy. She is 93 years old and loves to be busy.

I help her with a few things, but mostly we just chat.

Gladys needed a picture taken for the ward website.
I took this and texted it to the brother that was entering the picture on the site. Isn't she awesome!

I Love Gladys!

My friend, Teri, told me about the Temple to Temple 5k that was going
to take place on Pioneer Day this year.

It's the first one ever and it started at the Provo Temple and ended

at the Provo Tabernacle which is being remodeled to become

the Provo City Center Temple (2015).

With the help of my friend, Georgia, we pushed Gladys in a wheelchair!
She loved it!

The race started at the Provo Temple.
(I gave Gladys a US flag and a Utah flag to wave, which she did very enthusiastically!)

The actually starting point was at the NE corner of the temple. We started up the hill, and figured it was a silly thing to do. We were just going to come back down! So, we waited for the mob (over 5,000 people) to come back down and jumped in when there was an opening! We're no dummies!