Adventure to Wyoming and Kindness of Family

I drove to Star Valley, Wyoming yesterday morning.

The drive around Palisades Dam was breathtaking.

I pulled over four times to take pictures.

Pretty daring for little me!

This is when I wish I had a big fancy camera.... sigh!

I arrived at Star 6 Ranch to spend a few days with my sister and her husband!

He always jumps for joy when I come..

No, he is so good to me and puts up with us!

He even took us down to the river and set up chairs,
so we could just sit and hear the babbling brook go by!

Her holiday decorations are a scream!

Neil fishing in the Salt River...

I promised my sister I wouldn't put the picture in of the two of us...

bad hair day...

so here are our shoes.  

 Wahoo!

My big sis called me up the night before I left,

and said, "Neil's got everything in the truck ready to go!"

I said, "We're really going to go to Paris?

(The cemetery in Idaho).

They had dark, rich soil,

rakes, shovels, pruners and grass seed ready to go!

We drove there and worked hard and made it look so nice.

(Not sure why the cemetery people hadn't taken care of it)

This is a picture from behind Alain's headstone. 

These are the weeping birch trees my mother planted

when my dad died 45 years ago.

I just can't believe how beautiful they are.

So grateful for this mid-week adventure

and for the love and help of family.

(This picture makes me feel like this can't be real...oh how I wish it wasn't.) 

Circle of service... touching my life!

Over the weekend...

the BYU-Idaho University 5th Ward Wonderful Kids...

  dropped by for some good 

old fashioned

SERVICE!

One of the jobs they did for me was to pick the rest of the apples from the trees...

I gave them some gallon size baggies and said to keep them to eat.
(the apples... not the baggies)!

Tonight I had to run to a friends home and left my garage door open.

When I arrived back...
there was the most beautiful, fresh, warm apple pie sitting on my steps.

These young kids were the most

HARDWORKING, POLITE, HANDSOME/BEAUTIFUL, GENUINE

kids on the face of the earth...

cream of the crop...

OUR FUTURE!

Gratitude isn't a big enough word for all the help I've received.

The darling couple on the left hand side of the picture are my dear friends.

(and the three girls in front of them are their adorable daughters...with one more in the very front).

Bruce and Wendy have been such a great help and support since Alain died.

Bruce was the person that got to Alain right after his accident

and was with him when he passed away.

 They have to be the cutest, most in love couple

I have ever seen.

Alain and I very much enjoyed being around them....
their example and friendship and love for life was refreshing.
Wish it could have lasted longer...

 I'm counting on it starting right where it left off ...
 when we're all together again one day!

This is a picture of the pie and the little note that was left with it.
I love the saying, 

"What goes around comes around."
Isn't it true.... good and bad?

What goes around...  service...comes around.... apples

...goes around.... service...comes around... apple pie!

I just love it... and I'm grateful to tears!

"You see, we can't stay home all our lives,

we must present ourselves to the world 

and we must look upon it as a 

  adventure."

                                                               Beatrix Potter

"Miss Potter" has to be my favorite movie.  Before Alain died we watched it several times.  He came home from work one day and asked me what I had done that day.  I said, "Watched Miss Potter..."  He said, "Again?"  That happened more than once.  We didn't have cable, and watching TV is one of my least favorite things to do... (life's too short)... but I did get hooked on this movie.  I loved her determination when her mother discounted her talent, spirit and her love for life and nature, I loved how she found true love in a man who understood why her parents couldn't except it (because they had never know "their" kind of love).  My heart broke for the tragic loss she experienced when Mr. Warne died suddenly, shattering her hopes and dreams for the future, but most of all I was impressed with her determination to once again move forward and make a difference in the world.

I waited for about six months before I thought I could watch it again....by myself this time.  One Sunday afternoon after church, I decided that "this was the day".  Even before it started.... just when the music started playing, tears (with minds of their own), streamed down my cheeks.  This day, her loss was even greater because of my loss, but also my hope was increased for the fact that I can indeed "present myself to the world and look upon it as an adventure."

PS.  Anyone want to go to the Lake District some day?

We may not always remember the people we laugh with, 

but we never forget the people we cry with.

I have been blessed with a two week reprieve

of many of the emotions that accompany loss.  

What a blessing!

  Time to catch my breath, 

look ahead,

and even feel confident that I will survive this. 

I have felt Alain reassuring me more than once

that I can do this and that he is proud of me.  

I am so grateful for the time and the experiences that we shared together... 

learning, laughing, & loving!

My voice would be that of asking my friends and family... 

are you doing the same?

Never take for granted what you have been given!

PS... Thanks for crying with me!

Reaping what you sow!

I wasn't able to do a lot with our garden this year. Before the snow melted I told myself I was just going to cover the entire garden. It seemed overwhelming to even think of planting, watering, weeding, harvesting and clean up all by myself. I did cover most of it up, but I left an area  for 1 tomato plant, 1 pumpkin plant, some peas and a row of sunflowers. Truly it was mostly ignored, but what ended up happening...? The tallest sunflowers ever, the biggest juiciest tomatoes, and one big fat pumpkin still growing as we speak. These sunflowers had to be 12 feet tall.  They made me happy!

I am sad that summer is over, I am thankful for the beautiful autumn weather we've had so far, and I am bracing myself for the cold, long winter ahead. That's another post!

As I look at the years before me, without my best friend, my wish is that I will be able to continue to sow and reap, sow and reap, sow and reap.  I hope to be able to gain knowledge and experience and then in turn, use that to be able to SERVE others as Alain learned to love and do. 

Looking out my bedroom window....and smiling!