May 2023 Happenings

No big adventure in May
Life
was hard in May. Something fun was planned, then scrapped. We just
couldn’t make an adventure work in May. But that’s okay. We put it on
the list for next year.
 

Dad died in May
May was a very sad month. My dad died on May 5th. He had been sick for quite awhile, so it was a blessing of sorts….but it was also so sad. So sad.  

Much of May was spent facing the last days of his life, being at his bedside and watching him take his very last breath, and then grieving and planning the funeral / final arrangements with family (including giving part of the eulogy at the funeral…scary).

 
 
Here are some pictures.  What a great man. What a great father. How can he be gone? It’s had to comprehend that I can’t just call him on the phone or see him at our Wednesday dinners. I miss my dad! 🙁

 
 
 

 
 
 

I love this man so much!  Time with those you love truly is precious, and I am so glad I moved up to Utah after Warren died.  Moving here and buying a fixer-upper meant that I spent HUNDREDS of hours with my dad, a fellow project lover.  I will forever be grateful for the time we spent together!  Here he is mowing my lawn:

 
And here he’s putting up some lights in my backyard:

And here he’s painting my shed.  The projects never ended with us!

But it wasn’t all work. We all made a point of living our regular lives together, not just holidays.  I saw dad often — at least weekly, sometimes more — and I’m so grateful for that!  Sometimes it was as simple as just hanging out at the house together (like Cindy and Dad below):


And for awhile, we instituted “Fun Fridays”, where Mom, Dad and I would spent our Friday’s exploring all kinds of new destinations in northern Utah. Here’s dad eating some ice cream outside an orchard in Mona, Utah. What great memories those are! I want more Fun Fridays!

There needs to be a heaven so I can see dad again someday. I hope I made him proud.  I was certainly proud to be his daughter.  Proud and so dang lucky.  I love you dad!
 

May was also about gardening
Jac and I spent LOTS of time in May getting ready to grow, grow, grow a garden. This
included starting plants from seeds inside the house.  And growing them
into toddlers using a packed grow light shelf:

 
 
And potting them up to keep up with their growth spurts. And making sure they all were adequately watered:
 

And
buying a few plants to supplement these guys — because believe it or
not, the above was not enough. 🙂  And also buying THREE truckloads full
of our *special* soil mixture (mushroom compost, nutri-mulch, peat
moss, and vermiculite).



And, of course, all this growing required lots of backyard preparations for when the plants were ready to go out into the world:
 

And
finally, over the course of the month, the plants were ready, the
troughs and garden were ready, and….it actually happened. WE HAVE A
GARDEN!

 

And
YES!!!  It’s taking off. It’s growing and growing and growing. 
Everyday it’s exciting to see.  This is after just two or three weeks!

 

 


Can’t wait to watch it grow over the next four months! Nature is astounding!

 

Other May happenings…
In May we tried to get a fence. It did not go smoothly. After a lot of back and forth with the city over the permit, our final proposal was approved:

And then Best Vinyl came and put the fence in the wrong place (meaning not in compliance with the permit):

…which then lead to the city changing the permit and saying our fence has to be much shorter than originally approved.  Long story.  We then enjoyed lots of back and forth with Best Vinyl, and we ended the month with this — a chopped down, partially done fence. The saga continues…

Also in May…we were on flood watch the whole month!  With
the record setting snow this winter (over 200% of normal), flooding was
very possible in most of Utah, including along the American Fork River.
This freaked me out — a lot — and for good reason!  My house is in a FEMA-designated flood zone. My house is the red dot in the map below, and the dotted region is the flood zone.

 

I checked the water level website many
times a day, and at one point the American Fork River was just one inch from “action stage”
(imminent flood preparations start) and only 4 inches from “flood stage.”

 

Never
one to assume everything will work out….I got flood insurance ($800,
ouch!) and I filled and hauled home FIFTY sandbags, just in case.

And now here they sit, by the side of my house. Because there was no flooding. Thankfully, but oye, what drama!

Also in May…Jac broke his toe!  Ouch!

Also in May… we ate well.  Surprise, surprise. 🙂

 

 

  

 

One particularly memorable night—dinner and a movie 🙂

 

 In all, May was a hard month. But Jac and my family made it better! 🙂  Just wish my dad was here to see the progress on the garden. He’d love it.