5-year olds

I had forgotten how unbearably annoying five-year-olds can be.  They are loud and obnoxious and love to say words like poop and pee in front of other people so that you are embarrassed. They giggle and grin thinking that saying those words are evil and fun. My granddaughter is a sweet little girl except when she gets upset which is a daily event. My daughter calls her the drama queen. The real problem is that she has a mind of her own and wants her way or its no way at all. She and her mom butts heads constantly like two rams butting heads to win the fair lady in the corner.

Drama Queen

She loves to dress up as a princess or fairy.

You must have wings if you are a fairy.

I miss my grand children.  

The Versatile Blogger Award

I am still so new to this blogging business that I haven' t quite found my niche.  So you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive a nomination for the Versatile Blogger Award from my favorite  blogger, Cheerful Thrifty Door. I appreciate the honor, thank you.

After accepting the Versatile Blogger Award, you must:

1.  Thank the person who gave the award and link back to them in your post

2.  Share seven things about yourself

3.  Pass this award along to 10 recently discovered blogs

Seven Things About Me

1. My grandchildren are the joy of my life.

2. I dream of a trip to Poland with my cousin to visit Sztabin in northeastern Poland and   Klobuck in southern Poland where my ancestors lived.

3. I've been studying Polish for a year and a half.  I know lots of words but feel that I still will not be able to understand anyone and my mind will freeze up and not let me remember what I have learned.

4. I am a devout Christian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I believe in God the Eternal Father, Jesus Christ his son and in the Holy Ghost.

5. Genealogy is my forte.

6. Some of my favorite TV shows are Survivor, Dancing with the Stars,  The Amazing Race, Burn Notice, Dr. Who and Doc Martin.


7. Besides a Corvette, the Mini Cooper is a fun car to drive - I am thinking real hard about buying a Mini Cooper.




The 10 blogs that I delight in reading and hope that you might visit them also:




The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Hey, I'm Trying to Write Here


Susans Genealogy 


darla perrins

Second Sister

Its a Madcap Life

I had the Write Idea

Vintage Scapes

The Thrifty Home


Gone Thrifting

Alpine Arts Center

This art work was beyond my expectations - all of the statues were unique and worth every dollar if you can afford them.

Ute Indians who do the hoop dance.

The Christus.

Provocative woman.

Timeless - beautiful woman.

Talent just abounds at this place.

Idaho Sand Dunes - Bruneau

What can I say, sand dunes are fascinating, especially inland where you would never think that a sand dune would be.  I've been to the dunes on the Oregon coast but trips to Bruneau when I lived in Boise was a wonder to behold.  It takes less than an hour to drive there from Boise, Idaho. 

There is a small lake close by and a tiny pond.  You had to climb down about 30 feet to get to the pond. Back in my dare you do it days, my husband and I went skinny dipping in the small pond.  It was the most outrageous thing that I had ever done.  As we were enjoying the cool water, we looked upwards to the ledge of the road and saw people looking down at us.  I was so embarrassed so you can imagine me scrambling out of the water and hurriedly trying to get dressed while being soaking wet. We had no towels!

This sand dune had lots of tiny tracks too.

This is the lake where a variety of fish called "Crappie"  and Sunfish live.  I caught a two-inch sunfish once and took it home to the tiny one bedroom trailer that I was renting at the time.  I put the fish in my aquarium and used to dig in the garden for worms. I would hand feed it worms. It would come right up to the top of the water to get that squirming slimy wiggly worm. I even washed the worm off so that dirt would not get into my aquarium. I had a drape across the hallway of multi-colored beads for a bedroom door - flashy hippie style. It was the perfect place to rent while I was going to college.

 We caught a mess of Crappie on another trip and took them home to eat.

Top of Bruneau sand dunes.

Baby Pigs are so Cute

I just think these little pigs are adorable.  I added a little hat for each one from a vintage rose Swarovski crystal and completed with in sterling silver.

See my Etsy shop at Dian's Earrings.

Inside the "UP" House

During the Parade of Homes, they added the balloons to the UP house.  The builders went all out to get special permission from Disney to re-create this house.  They did add a garage which was not in the movie.

I remember taking baths at grandma's house. She had a claw foot bath tub but it did not have the higher back rest - it was all one level on the top.  My brother and I used to take baths together and because I had very fine blondish hair, my grandmother would rinse my hair with vinegar and sometimes, she used lemon juice.

I remember seeing homes that had bathtubs, basins and toilets in brilliant shiny colors that matched.  The ones that gave me a gag reflex were the pink ones. They painted the walls pink and the shower curtains were pink.  They were totally pinked out. Yuck!

 I had a good friend in Alaska who had a truck like this one only his was a bright orange.  You could see him coming for miles.  It was a rather run ride.

These chairs were made especially for the UP house.  They had a round table by her roundish chair and a square table by his square chair.

All too pink for that little princess. My daughter had enough pink when she was little - now, she can't stand pink.

How about a cowboy room? A bit of Toy Story decor.

Little Sahara

Little Sahara Mountain

I found this gadget which turned the backseat of my car into a bed for my kids when they were little. Being a single parent, the only way I could have a vacation was to go camping.  Off to Little Sahara we went in my delicious plum colored Pontiac Lemans.  Back then, cars still had some style to them - not like the little boxy cars or boxy mini vans that we have now a days.

Camper City

Camping at Little Sahara sand dunes was free then, but of course, there's a big ole fee attached now. The State of Utah saw its chance to make gazillion bucks off all those who liked to play in the sand dunes.

I must admit that it was like a little city on weekends with tents, RVs, and campers. A lot of the campers brought their 3-wheelers before they were outlawed to be unsafe. It is one of the world's largest sandboxes.

Mountain Skiing

They say that the great horned owls are one of the birds of prey that nest in the juniper inside of Rockwell Outstanding Natural Area, which neighbors Little Sahara. I've never seen one.

Big Horned Owl

Ridge on top

Thistle

Thistle is considered a ghost town; it was located up Spanish Fork Canyon in the midst of the Rockies.

Landslide in 1983 that drowned Thistle

Canada thistles thrived in the valley so the small town was named Thistle.

Canadian Thistle

In 1983 the mountain started moving 5 inches an hour!  Thistle’s 22 families were evacuated from their homes. The sliding mud called a "slump" had dammed up Spanish Fork River causing the water to back up behind it. The town of Thistle, Utah disappeared under the waters with water reaching the rooftops. 

Gazing downward from Hiway 6 at 5,000 feet, I saw Thistle's buildings under water in the small lake dubbed Lake Thistle. Mother nature built a dam - the entire mountain had moved and the trees drowned.

The lake was determined to be too dangerous so moving equipment was brought in to release the water so that it would not flood other nearby towns. 

This event turned Thistle into a ghost town, unlike most ghost towns - most of the buildings are all under water.

School House

After much of the lake subsided, a few very wet stinky houses exist. 


The land is a marshland, home to frogs, birds, insects and perhaps fish. It may also serve as a watering hole for rabbits, elk, and deer. 

Eureka

Eureka

There are hundreds of ghost towns in Utah. Because Utah was settled by pioneers, many settlements were later abandoned or the population dropped so low leaving disheveled and unkempt buildings.  Some are literally falling down and the wood is rotting through the dusty rat infested houses. Why were they abandoned? Old mining towns ran out of gold, copper or silver and thus the miners and families moved to the next mining town; military left Utah when they determined that the Mormons were not a threat to anyone. People starved to death. The dirt is mostly clay and sand; if it is not watered frequently, plants die.

Eureka was founded in 1870 when the TINTIC Mining company was in full swing (Tintic was the name of a Ute Indian Chief). Eureka was known as the quietest mining town in the west and in 1910, it was the 9th largest city in Utah with 3500 residents.  With all these old creaky and extremely very dangerous buildings in this town, there are still around 700 residents who live there full time.

Tintic Mine

New Sign

Inside dangerous house

Ye Ole Tintic Lumber Company

Porter Rockwell's Cabin

Porter Rockwell lived in numerous Utah settlements. He operated the Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery at the south end of the Salt Lake Valley known was Point of the Mountain. The site is now on the grounds of the State Prison.

There is a steak house in Lehi which serves delicious buffalo meat and melt in your mouth steak; this family-owned restaurant is dedicated to Porter.  He was an infamous mountain man who never cut his hair, just like Samson in the Bible. Why is there a cabin dedicated to him in Eureka - don't really know.

Interior of Porter's Place

The bar originally came from a bar in Montana and has resided here every since.  It is an exceptional steak house and especially draws people during the June rodeos. 

Moving Day

Even though I am not moving, it was a very stressful day when my daughter and family moved out of my house. Since I gave my old couch to the goodwill to make room for my daughter's gigantic chocolate brown u (square u) shaped sectional set, I am in need of a new sofa. Lucky me! But first, the carpets are in desperate need of a good steam cleaning.

I would definitely would have to visit Vegas, New York City or LA to see the real McCoy like this yellow diamond.  Have you ever seen a diamond that large, let alone a yellow one? Well, I never have.

Why hasn't anyone invented that may I ask?

One of my favorite authors is Josi Kilpack - from her book Blackberry Crumble, today I made one of her recipes only I substituted blueberries.  I thought it was hard taking photos of earrings, food is a whole different matter.  There is definitely an art to taking photos of food!

I jump for joy when I find an exceptional author who writes murder mysteries and this lady has jumped into both fields - a murder mystery and a recipe book.  Every so often, she plops in a recipe at the end of a chapter.

Blueberry crumble

August Wedding

Simple and beautifully decorative, this wedding cake takes the cake!  A little pun intended.  My cousin's reception was held in an upscale neighborhood in Draper in the lush green and professionally landscaped backyard.

As we entered the front door which was kept open, carpeted stairs greeted us with deliciously dark wooden banisters. Handmade quilts hung on the railings for viewing while we waited in the congratulatory line which was in the living room.

Going out the back door of this king-sized home, there were stone steps gently cascading downward to the patio.  To the right on the grass next to the fence was a giant balloon dragon for the kids to romp and jump in while we sat at round tables visiting with old friends.

I couldn't help but notice the water feature in the middle of the yard which had a constant drip of water making it look like a water fence.

A water jar was filled with slices of lemons and a similar belly-shaped jar was filled with a delicate peach flavored drink.

Skewers of fresh fruit on long wooden dowels with tassels of lavender and white polka dots delighted my grandkids.

The trend is to serve yourself.  Fresh fruit and cheese plates were attended and kept full.

This was a large step upward to serving chocolate milk in a carton with donuts.
Scrumptious cakes - take your pick or have all three.

The best cake had a creamy filling and delicate butter frosting (definitely not a lard frosting) with tiny purple and green flowers atop.

Lemon squares

Mini carrot cakes

Unlike the previous wedding that we attended, this couple was in their mid forties and both had never been married before.  Isn't it wonderful that a couple can find their mate even after 40.

Wedding photos were in the works - notice the large wooden pergola over the patio.