Aaaaggghhh!! I am 70 years old!

     I had no idea that it had been so long since I have added anything to this blog!   Most of you who have read this in the past have also become Facebook followers so I am realizing that I have used that more often than a real journal OR my blog to document my exciting life!  
                                      But this July 27th needs to be recorded!

     What a fun day!  Full of love and appreciation.  And so wonderful to have our whole family together again at the cabin for the first time in a year!  My birthday fit very nicely between Jill's Jensen reunion at the cabin and Colleen's Hatch reunion at Brianhead, so for 1 1/2 glorious days we got to watch my "children" interact with each other as adults.   (Not a lot different from the patterns they started as youngsters...only now more funny).

     A little background.  At the beginning of 2014 I dreaded the arrival of this day.  Turning 70 seemed like the end of the world to me and I felt very depressed about it.  But some time after my March attendance at the "Power of Choice" Seminar I decided I could have fun, or I could be miserable.  Either way I would still turn 70 and I wouldn't really be any different than the day before when I was "just" 69!

     So here I am!  Seventy years old and having a ball.  Dancing to Pharrell Williams' wonderful positive song, "Be Happy."  "Clap along if you know that happiness is a truth....clap along if you know what happiness is to you...."

A little hair chalk can brighten up anyone's look!

(I didn't have time to put on the Goth make-up before dinner was called)

Chinese Haystacks have never tasted better!

Phase 2 of the day was the presentation of SEVEN different desserts - One for each decade of my life.  We strung that out for a couple of hours so we wouldn't die from sugar shock but also so that Jill and Peter could record me talking about some memory from each decade. 

#1 - The to-die-for chocolate & chocolate ganache volcano cake!

  Decade 1 - Birth to age 10.  Memory: Getting lost the day of the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho

(but it could just as easily have been the arrival of the first television on the block at the Farnsworth's house.  They are relatives of Philo Farnsworth who invented television)

#2 - The ubiquitous Mormon favorite: - Triple Layer Dessert  

Peter and Victor's favorite  (also chocolate)

 Memory age 10-20.  Can't remember what I said on the tape, but that was the time period we moved from East Washington St. out to Franklin Rd.  Grandma Morgan came to live with us.  I graduated from High School and went to BYU.  Got my first real, paying library job at the Idaho State Library during my Senior year of High School.

#3 - Jill's famous Caramel Cake - actually chocolate (of course) with amazing Caramel frosting!

 Decade 3 Memory - ages 21-30:  

Continuing at BYU.  Decision to fill a mission and subsequent call to Guatemala & El Salvador - a wonderful amazing time in my life.  Still yearn to go back.  Momma dies while I am there.  I return to BYU.  Continue school and jobs at the Harold B. Lee Library.  Meet Victor Austin at a Latin American Student's Assn. Mtg.

#4 - Pear Pie!   The absolute best kind of pie on earth.  Colleen and I both make it often.  

She adds white raisins & ginger to hers;  My recipe uses only cinnamon & a touch of nutmeg. 

Memory Decade 4 - Age 31-40

I follow Victor to California.  Start work at the Los Angeles Branch Genealogical Library.  Victor graduates and moves to Las Vegas.  I go to Indiana University (Bloomington) to get my Masters of Library Science.  I return to S.L. to work at the Genealogical Library there (even though it was not my original intent).  Have my Gall Bladder removed.  Accept Victor's marriage proposal.  Marry in the S.L. Temple Apr. 6 1979.  

Nathan and Becky are born while we were in the Verona house in Las Vegas.

   #5 - Fruit Pizza.  This one turned out less than we hoped as we ran out of making-desserts time!

Normally it is made of Cookie Roll Dough with a cream cheese topping on a round pizza pan with a prettier variety of fruit.   We used what we had and watched the bananas turn brown before our eyes!

Memory Decade 5 - age 41-50

Peter came and was our last child.  This decade is a flurry of parenting, children's activities, schooling, and various Church callings and Victor's participation in Signature productions.  We buy the Fogg property, Live in rental in 1989 for a few months, then onto the property in a 14' trailer.  Construction does not move along very quickly because we have to add a basement.  

 #6 - The "Cherpumple" - Which is usually two layers taller.  It is made by baking a pie into the center of a cake.  We opted for two layers (plenty!) and it garnered the most attention from the kids.  Nathan's masterpiece which we dubbed a Piecaken instead of Cherpumple.

   Mom gets the first slice

Memory Decade #6 - ages 51-60

We finally move into a completed home.  We rake a lot of rocks.  Kids are graduating from School, going off to colleges & missions.  We travel some.  We lose Grandpa and Grammy Austin, Adele has various surgeries in these last two decades.  Smoother times in many ways. 

#7 - Last, but not least:  Banana Cream Pie.  Peter's favorite, but liked by all.  (Even though Adele doesn't do pudding based things because of lactose intolerance)

 Memory Decade 7 - Ages 61-70

We are retired.  We serve a mission to Chile. All the kids are married and having families so we visit them a lot.  We buy the cabin - which is our joy and respite.  We, the Fogg House AND the cabin begin to age more noticeably.  We cruise, we timeshare, we serve in the Monte Bello ward.  We do a lot of Family History work  Still hope for another mission - pray for good enough health to get to England & Scandinavia!

Still more Birthday surprises!!

Apparently Nathan had contacted all my Facebook friends and those who chose to wrote memories or nice things which Nathan compiled.  What a lovely experience to read these thoughts.  Sometimes you just need to know you are loved, or have said or done the right thing at the right time, or just to have a surprise that you said or did something that you never knew impacted someone!   In addition to these letters there were lovely comments all day on Facebook as well  (Especially about the pink hair!)

FAMILY PORTRAITS  taken Sunday 27 July 2014

Child #1 Nathan Andrew Austin with wife Colleen.  Seated with them is Tara, Sterling (3 mo) and Gideon (age 2);  Behind is 1st Child Amaya (8), & Noelle (6).   Meridian, Idaho

#2 Child, Rebecca (Becky) Adele Austin with her three children:  Aria, age 2, Ethan, age 4 and Audrey, age 6.   Becky still lives in North Las Vegas.

Missing is husband Charles who is in Basic Training for AF Reserves in Texas

(Charles, practicing for Basic Training just a week earlier than our gathering)

 Child #3 - Peter Kevin Austin, with wife Jill and daughter Alyssa (Aly, age 6).  

They live in Saratoga Springs, Utah

The whole gang minus Charles.  Who would have thought we'd have

such a great group of friends!

One of the best parts of summer cabin days is the monsoon season that gratefully has hit the valley.  VERY dry Spring, but it is a favorite activity to watch a daily downpour!  The kids delight in getting soaked, then cold, then cuddling!    Aria, especially, ran and ran from one end to the deck over and over.   So refreshing to smell wet pine and see an occasional rainbow!

Begin each day with Grandma & Grandpa Cuddle Time.  Nothing better!

(We try at night too, but the little people are usually several shades of exhausted and cranky!)

This birthday was a busy, busy day (since we also went to Church Services that morning where Jill sang a wonderful rendition of the Lord is my Shepherd).   My cheeks hurt from smiling so much!   But I couldn't have felt more loved or appreciated!    Guess I'll just head for age 80 now and see how that goes!!  

                                        ***************************************

LABOR DAY WEEKEND CABIN FUN

Invited my sister Elaine and her son Alex and my niece Emily Miller and her family to have some cabin time again.  It has been over three years since we did this last so was great to have them back.  Daughters Morgan and Brooklyn have grown A LOT!   As has Alex who now towers over everybody!

  Morgan, Emily & Brooklyn Miller (Emily is the daughter of my sister Julene), and Alex and my sister Elaine Manwaring.  Taken on their visit to Bryce Canyon Sunday afternoon after our good Italian dinner which Emily's husband Ryan always makes for us when they come.

 Best friends and cousins, Morgan, Alex and Brooklyn

 Alex, Brook, Emily, Morgan & Ryan

Some of my favorite people!

Bryce was spectacular with the changing weather

 The kids couldn't get enough ATVing.  This is them at the top of the summit that overlooks our cabin area.

But as usual, the ATVing never goes smoothly!  One of them always gets towed!

It rained every one of the five days they were here!  Sure made the air fresh and cool!

Wildlife was another big draw for the weekend

Hummingbirds

Crows, bluejays & hawks

 Each youngun' found a favorite horny toad to play with

 And the cool evenings brought our nightly visitors

This is one musical family!  Ryan with his guitar which he played a lot for us... including the concert with Emily and her violin after Sunday dinner!  It was so fun to watch how in tune they are with each other as they vocalize and instrumentalize together!   Some cars coming down the road even stopped to hear for a while!

Unfortunately the last day both Ryan and Brooklyn were not feeling well.  We were glad that most of their visit was fine, but made it all end on a sadder note.

The other sad note is that we have decided we have cooties or something!  Three of the four cabins that surround us are now up for sale!  Hope Glen does not have to sell his after all.  Don't know what we would do without our friend across the road!

AUGUST - A Forsgren adventure leads us to an Austin surprise!

    While we were in American Fork I had Victor drive me back down to the Harriet Harrington home on 1st E. & 1 South.   I had received an email from Andy Meredith who had found reference to this home on my John Erik Forsgren blog.  He and his wife had purchased it and were happily renovating it to live in.  I was so glad to hear this because the last time we drove by the home it was in a sad state of neglect.   So, I hoped if drove by we might find one of them there and I could see how the project was progressing.

Harriet Frances Noon Smith Forsgren Harrington is the subject here.  Her mother was one of Heber C. Kimball's wives.  When Harriet's husband David Smith passed away in an accident she was subsequently married for a short time to our John Erik Forsgren.  That marriage did not last.  (He was not known for his ability to care for his wives).  After than, under the suggestion of President Brigham Young she was married to Leonard Harrington as a plural wife.  He became mayor of American Fork and served in that capacity for many years.  This is the home he had built for Harriet and her (their) children.

When we arrived I was astounded.  They had really taken it back to the bare bones - as, of course, you need to do!  They had even trimmed the massive trees that surround the home so there is more light and probably more safety for the workers!
    I walked past the No Trespassing signs since I heard voices inside, snapping a few photos along the way.

I was reminded of the demolition of the Peter Forsgren home in Brigham City.  Layers of flooring, layers of wallpaper and paint lay everywhere!  Original floor boards and stove pipes were exposed. 

Original hand-turned railings going up a very steep & only 32 inches wide staircase!  I opted NOT to try to navigate THAT!

An electrician told the voices upstairs that there was a visitor wanting to talk to them.  Andy and Candy Meredith were both there and greeted me warmly.  Both are younger than I expected.  They showed me around a bit.  They will be documenting all this on their own blog which I will eventually link to the Forsgren blog.

The surprise came when we were just chatting.  I remarked about the hanging greens over the front doorway and they told me that they had been married just a month earlier in that doorway.  So, of course, I had to get a photo!  

Candy told me she was from Lehi.  When I commented that my husband's family was from there as well and mentioned they were Austins, she said, "I'm an Austin!  Well - I am a Grace from those lines!"   Couldn't believe the small worldness of it all!   Of course I had to hustle them across the street to meet Victor where they tried to narrow down the connection a little.   The whole brief time spent there just made me smile!!

The home from the back side.  They do not have any renovation restrictions because it no longer qualifies for the Historic Register (because someone changed the roof line significantly in the 1930's) 

They wish to move in October.  If she can stay on top of these workers each day I suspect they will achieve their goal!  This is not the first home they have restored.

JULY/AUGUST - Taking advantage of the time we are given.

     Because we made the decision to come to the Salt Lake area from California we caught people by surprise when we asked if we could stay with them.  Gratefully we were warmly received by friends who didn't mind housing us.

Reunion and good bed from Ardith Gledhill Lindren Rhymer - a former Guatemala El Salvador missionary and roommate at BYU.  So grateful to catch up on news of her family and to visit about "wellness living."

We were able to visit Larkin Mortuary and say goodbye to nephew David Morgan.  David had expressed a desire to be cremated - a wish his father honored, so we were grateful to get see him one last time before that happened.  David was also an organ donor.  Because of the nature of his death they could not take vital organs, but they could get corneas and bones & vessels.  So a part of him will literally live on in the lives of others. He looked very peaceful.

Since we were close to downtown, we visited the Church History Museum.  They had a Boy Scouts of America exhibit running, featuring some original Norman Rockwell paintings.  We had so enjoyed them back in Massachusetts in 1988 that we didn't want to miss another chance to see his originals.   I love this museum.  They do fine work and I was grateful to be able to be granted permission to freely take photos.

 These were two of my favorite.  How many mom's have pinned things to their son's uniforms since the beginning of scouting??

This blue one is still my favorite!  So sad that a photo or "Boy's Life" Magazine cover can never capture the majesty of an original oil painting which has depth and glow and deepness. What draws us so to his work is that each individual painted is a living person that Rockwell knew in his home area.  

 If you are in Salt Lake don't miss this exhibit while it lasts! 

The man himself, teaching art at camp???

I have never visited the Museum without stopping by the exhibit of the Joseph & Hyrum Smith death masks. 

Somehow I always want to see them and try to sense their spirit and how they really looked.  So many of the modern paintings are romanticized or modernized - but the death masks are the real features.  I felt very sad to see that the one of Hyrum (on the right) had been damaged & then "fixed".  I wondered if it had been vandalized or had been accidentally damaged in a move.  

Spent one hour at the Family History Center where I checked my USB drive for some data and then we drove out to Bountiful to take my cousin Garth Moore out to dinner.  Had a nice visit and catch-up.  We had seen him and his wife Corrie just before their mission to the Netherlands two years ago.  Sadly, Corrie passed away unexpectedly three months into that mission!  That was her native country and she was loved and happy there.  Of course being without her has been hard for Garth to get used to.   He directed us to Texas Roadhouse there in Bountiful.  I got what they call "Road Kill."   Sort of the equivalent of a Philly Beef and Swiss but without the bread.  I loved it!  (I am not usually a beef fan at restaurants!)

Garth is an interesting combination of my father and his own in his appearance!  This is my cousin that my kids will "remember" just because we always looked for Garth during Conference time whenever the Tabernacle Choir was singing!

Reunion with the "other buds": That would be Brenda Meikle Thorpe and Cherie Lundwall, the other two ladies forming our roommates group (with Ardith).  I didn't get to see them in February as we had planned (roads too dangerous and snowy), so we got together for brunch at Granny Annie's in Kaysville.  Afterwards Ardith returned to her home in Taylorsville and Victor and I went on to visit with Cherie at her home in Ogden and then later to end up at Brenda's to have dinner and for Victor and I to spend the night.  They have a new condo into which they have downsized.  Just perfect for them.

Can't NOT do genealogy, right?  Drove up to Brigham City and visited with Jill Forsgren & son Micah who will be helping with the Forsgren Reunion next year.  They showed me more fun surprises!!  When the Peter Adolph Forsgren house was being renovated & some floors were torn up they found pieces of carpet that would have been woven by Peter Forsgren.  Some of those remnants were given to Mark & Jill Forsgren.  What a pleasure to see the fine workmanship!

 I don't know what I expected, but this is beautiful work and made to last!  Jill has promised me a remnant after she completes covering a chair pad with some of the fabric.

Of course we had to stop at a couple of stands along "fruit way" before leaving the Brigham City/Willard area.  We spent the rest of the afternoon with Peter and Aly in Saratoga Springs.  Jill was with her mom at the hospital where Becky Jensen had gall bladder surgery this afternoon.  We had to leave before they made it home.

Spent the evening with Sowbys again in American Fork.  Always rest really well there.

AUGUST 1ST.  Spent a lot of the morning at the Springville Museum of Art in order to go to the Walter Rane exhibit.  Walt attended the USC branch at the same time that Victor and I did back in our single days....so we have followed his progress and works with pleasure.   As it happened they also had just finished setting up the annual Quilt exhibit & Competition.    It was all amazing.  Why, in all these years, did I not know this building existed???   A comment by one of the sculptors on display was that Springville spends more $$ per capita on the fine arts than any other city in the United States.   This is good stuff!

The large sculpture of the Indian by Mahonri Young is in this museum

Walt's self-portrait

I liked his paintings of children & family members even more than the current ones he has been doing for the Church.

What I didn't know was that he also has illustrated for the "American Girl" series of books and for others.

I studied his painting of the boy Joseph a long time

An earlier still life

The museum also has an amazing collection of Russian paintings and other wonderful stuff in its permanent collection:  

This one is from the Utah Artist's Collection

I have always been attracted to art that features faces & hands - especially of the elderly

Don't you love the excitement on their faces??  I felt just the same way when we watched our first TV broadcast in Boise.  It was such an amazing invention.  (This one from the Russian collection)

Such a " family history" painting!!    Lots of tales passed on by Grandma!!

The Quilt show embraced many rooms of the museum.  It featured both handworked and machine quilted examples.    No matter what your feelings are about machine quilting, the results were magnificent.  My friends Margene Taylor and Carolyn Gilkey would have been lovin' every minute of this exhibit!!

This one was voted "Best of Show" 

Though this photo doesn't show it well, this quilt is also decorated with pearls.

How can anyone DO such painstaking, detail work??

Museums and art galleries are hard on the legs.  But they sure are good for the soul!!