Murray Park

 

While on our outing in Utah, we also took the boys to Murray Park.

Years ago we enjoyed annual reunions at this park and Glen wanted to check it out so that we can plan another one for this summer.

It really is a lovely park.  The snow in those mountains has started to melt the the creek was a rushing one.

The sky was a beautiful one like many in May.

The boys tested a couple of playgrounds for us.

This slide was their favorite.

Great fun for everyone.  We will meet here once again with the Jensen clan on July 5th.  If you are one of the clan please check the FB group for further information.

The Wheel at Scheels

We were drawn to take the brothers to Scheels not for the animals

of which there were many

and then some more.

We came so that Grandpa Glen could take them on the in-house Ferris Wheel.  He was good to wait in line while the boys and I explored the store.

There were giant fish aquariums.

They were filled with flora and fauna.

Finally their turn came up and they were off.

It is still amazing to me that they would build out a store to accommodate a Ferris Wheel.

A wave to their personal photographer.

And another salute.

As you see, it is a huge light filled space right in the middle of the store and its two levels of merchandise and food court.

Grandpa loves his boys

and they love him.

Especially when he buys them brand new soccer balls as well as takes them on fun outings.

In Remembrance

While in Utah we placed flowers on the graves of our parents.

The Utah grandsons went with us.  Raymond was pretty impressed to see his great great grandfather's grave.

He discovered that he was not the first Raymond on his mother's side of the family.  He also has a grandpa Raymond on his father's side.

I love the bouquets in Utah that come from personal gardens.  There are always lilacs and irises for Memorial Day.

Henry was a bit upset about there not being a grave stone with his name on it.  Raymond quickly chimed in, "I find you one."  And he did.

On our way to the Draper cemetery, we had showed them the family homes on Relation Street and the saltbox house that belonged to the Danish blacksmith, Lauritz Smith, who was one of the first residents and founders of Draper.

This marker is surrounded by Smiths.

Raymond, ever the student of the 1st and 2nd World Wars, found this marker which he found pretty impressive.

Sometimes it is sobering when you recognize that you are here on this earth because your grandparent lived and not died on the fields of France.

Then we went to visit Glen's parents grave site at Larkin Cemetery in Sandy.

The boys were impressed with this beautiful spot.

It was a great day to share with the boys stories about their ancestors.

We also discussed the generations and how life ebbs and flows.

The Art of Power

I just finished Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power by Jon Meacham.  I have read other books about Jefferson and I have read other books by Meacham.  This one was interesting in that it addressed the political side of Jefferson and his ability to use political means to exert the power he needed to execute what he thought was best for the new nation that he had helped birth and create.  The reader also hears his voice as Meacham used many of Jefferson's written words to tell his story.

He was against a strong federal government and yet he used his power to finalize the Louisiana Purchase.  He hated direct confrontation but could get what he wanted with a cold shoulder and seeming apathy.  He won friends and admirers with his personal conversation and thoughtful letters.  He knew that slavery was an evil which threatened a new nation based on democracy for he wrote, "all men are created equal."  However, he lacked the moral courage to change his personal lifestyle by freeing his slaves during his lifetime as did some fellow Virginians.  The enormous debts he left behind at death necessitated that most of his slaves be sold on into further slavery.

As a nation, we owe much to Jefferson including what became our Manifest Destiny, a country spanning ocean to ocean.  He worked hard to hold a tenuous 13 Colonies together as 13 States.  He suffered migraines as he attempted to handle the stresses and strains of being the Third President of the United States of America.  He was a Renaissance man whose talents and interests were many.  I find him fascinating and I would love to visit Monticello again as well as see his retreat Poplar Forest which is 90 miles southwest of Monticello and currently being restored.

We found him in front of Scheels last weekend.  Raymond was pretty impressed as he currently is with the presidents of the United States.  He likes leaders.

I do feel that Mr. Jefferson wouldn't mind where Henry chose to pose.  He doted on his grandchildren.

Mr. Lincoln sits on the other side of the entrance.  He, too, loved children and he, too, used his political skills to hold together a nation.

New soccer balls courtesy of Grandpa Glen, also a fan of children, especially his grandchildren.

Charm square pot holder tutorial

I found these cookbooks for my daughter and DILs for Mother's Day gifts.  They seemed to ask for a quilty kind of project as well.  I had a stack of five inch squares of Lori Holt's Polka Dot Stitches packaged by Riley Blake and several fabrics from her other lines that I have picked up on sale, so I decided to make a quilted pot holder to go with the cookbook.

The first step was to pick four coordinating squares and sew two pairs together checking for darks and lights.

Each two sewn together squares is then cut crosswise into 2 1/2 inch strips.

Alternate the two strips

and sew together lengthwise.

Now cut 2 1/2  inches pieces off each side leaving a 4 1/2 inch four square block.

You will now have four 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch pieces and two 4 1/2 inch squares.

Now sew together two 2 1/2 inch inch pieces to form another 4 1/2 in square.

Arrange the four squares in a pleasing manner.

Sew together to make one side of the square pot holder.

In no time at all, you will have sewed together several.  My stack of charms had 28 pieces so I eventually made seven pot holders.

Now cut 10 inch squares of Insul-Bright, one for each pot holder.

Also cut ten inch squares of left-over batting.

Also cut coordinating binding.  You will need one WOF strip 2 1/2 inches wide.  I had some of Lori's Sew Cherry line which has strips of different colors and patterns.  I decided to use polka dots for the bindings.

Also cut ten inch squares of backing fabric.  All these pieces will be bigger than your quilt block but it will make it easier to machine quilt and then trim to size.

Now make a sandwich of backing, Insul-Bright, batting, and then pieced top.

Machine quilt on the diagonal.

Cut off excess and square up corners.

It will look like this and be about 8 1/4 inches square.

Iron your binding strip folding it in half.

Sew binding with 1/4 inch seam around three corners and leaving about two inches at end.

Trim binding even with edge on last corner.

Hand stitch binding down by hand.

Decide how big you want your loop to be and trim binding.

Sew loop piece by machine leaving two inch space on pot holder unsewn.

Now tuck in end of loop and attach remaining binding by hand.

Viola!

Cute quilty pot holders with fun backs and bindings.

I rolled them up

and tied them with a ribbon to the cookbooks.