Since we last posted, at the beginning of June, our time has been consumed with little Chirp whom Dad rescued when some magpies had a heyday and destroyed the nest he was comfortably living in. They have a lovely friendship and Chirp waits on the deck and chirps to encourage Dad to come out of the door. He's growing and getting more adventurous and is now able to get his own food (nightcrawlers) out of the dish in one piece (Dad used to have to cut them in pieces - yuck!) and eat cut up strawberries off the plate. He enjoys splashing around in the wet grass when we turn the hose on. Emma has had to step in a couple of times and tend him/her while we were gone, so they have become pretty good friends, too.
Wesley and Chet enjoyed getting acquainted with Chirp and took turns holding him and feeding him while they were here with Lauren last week. It was darling! It was so fun to have the Mannings come for a few days and play!
While Dad played with his baby, I was helping with other babies. There have been four born in June, all healthy and well - 1 boy and 3 girls. To balance things out, there are 3 babies due to be coming in July and all are boys. Such a blessing to participate in such a sweet time in a family's life.
We enjoyed, for the most part, going to Duck Creek (in the canyon east of Cedar City) to meet with some of Dad's siblings for a trust meeting. Kate, Anne and Janine were unable to come, but the rest came with spouses and we had a great time. Christi also attended and we picked her up on our way. All went well until we began the drive up the canyon. For some reason our little Toyota didn't like that drive and decided to not finish the climb. We were scheduled to arrive at 4 or 5, but after waiting for the tow truck and for Carl and Michelle to pick us up after a kind man took us back to Cedar City, we finally got to the cabin at about 9:30 - too late to make the cobbler that I had planned to prepare for everyone. Oh well. The car hung out at the mechanic shop all weekend, waiting for the small valve that needed to be replaced, but was nowhere to be found and had to be ordered. The gathering adjourned on Sunday morning, but Dad had to wander the streets of Cedar all day today (Sunday) and likely most of the day tomorrow (Monday) waiting for the repair on the car. Just for the sake of history, the needed part is called a PCV valve and is valued at less than $30, but the labor to install it is quite intensive and will likely cost around $400. Urrrrggh!
**As a side note, and much to his credit, Dad never once said, "Stupid piece of junk!" about this difficulty. He was pleasant and calm the whole time! I was a mess, however, worrying about missing a birth because I didn't have a way home. Nick was a hero and came to the rescue when he called and said he was on his way down to pick me up. He arrived after 1:00 AM and woke up at 6 in the morning to drive me back to American Fork to meet the next hero, Emma, who drove me home. What would we do without such a wonderful family??!!
Emma was delighted to be invited to Lagoon with the Harts. She had a blast! She's really looking forward to going to North Carolina in a little over a week from now. She's got all kinds of visits lined up and plans to hit all of her favorite restaurants while she's there. She has had a couple of different movie nights here with different groups of friends, which has been very fun for us! We love having people come and make some noise here! Other recent activities have been boating with her roommates, going to Bear Lake, playing spike ball at USU on the hill, and other such fun times. She also works some days and has been having job interviews with different companies :)
We are anxious to get to Idaho and see the yard improvements at Harts and the new additions to the Nilsson barnyard. And we can't wait to get to Texas and Arizona and see the folks down there! We are trying to make those plans work out sooner than later. It's also fun to drop in on the Sandy Bellistons and the Mannings now and then and see their goings on. Thanks for the yummy cherries, Joe, and for always feeding us, Lauren!
We love you all and are glad you are spending time doing such productive and useful and delightful things in this crazy Covid era.
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