Ukulele Class

 Gayle called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me about a ukulele class that she was taking at the Senior Center in Midvale every Monday afternoon and asked me if I would be interested in attending. I gave it some thought and decided that it would be fun to pick up the ukulele again and rediscover the joy of playing such a fun instrument. 

Gayle has a lot of friends from her mission in the class that worked at the ukulele store with her or took a ukulele class from her at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. The teacher of this particular class served in the same mission as Gayle, but started after she left, so she didn't know him before taking the class. The class is a "sing along" class where we play the songs and sing them together. Pretty festive! We are starting to learn Christmas songs now.

Unfortunately, the chords are different on the ukulele than they are on the guitar and I had forgotten most of the chords. I practiced a little bit and then attended the class last Monday. Boy, was I lost! Most of the class members had been attending the class for a while and were familiar with the chords, but not me! I benefited a little from attending the class, but decided that I need to practice a lot more this week before the class next week. I've been doing that, so hopefully I will do better next time.

At the end of the class, the teacher (I can't remember his name) asked if I was using a Concert ukulele, which I was. He suggested that I get a bigger one since my fingers are long, and I agreed that I should upgrade to a better ukulele. On Tuesday I went to the Guitar Shop here in Riverton and purchased a Kala Tenor ukulele.

They only had about four tenor ukuleles to choose from. I liked the feel and sound of this Kala ukulele and purchased it. It is so much easier to play than my concert sized one, so I'm glad that I made the purchase. I'd really be set if the purchase of a ukulele came with some amazing playing skills, but I guess I need to earn the skills the hard way - with a lot of practice.

Party at the Park

 Kessler had a Minecraft themed birthday party at Harvey Park in Cedar Hills today. This was his first ever friend party and he really seemed to enjoy it.

Harvey Park is pretty cool! It has a playground area as well as a splash pad.

I really enjoyed watching the grandkids and their Baldwin cousins play. So many fun things to play on.

I trailed Lainey most of the time. She wanted to sit on this colorful airplane and kept insisting that I sit on the one next to her. She wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Cheryl happened to see us and took this photo.

Kessler invited friends, cousins, and grandma's & grandpa's. Pizza for everyone!

Kessler doesn't like cake, so Cheryl made a "cookie cake" for him. It was a windy day. The candle was lit, but the wind kept blowing it out.

Each kid got to take home a Minecraft inflatable weapon. They were a big hit.

One gift Kessler got for his birthday from his parents was this dirt bike.

I'm not sure I would have been brave enough as a 6 year old to ride a real motorcycle. Got to give him props. He hasn't ridden it without the help of his dad yet. One day he will!

Mini Sister's Retreat

 Ten years ago, Jane had a total hip replacement surgery on her left hip. Because of a problem with the stem going down the shaft of her femur bone, it became necessary on May 7th to remove it and replace it with a new hip. During the surgery, somehow the bone got fractured, which made it necessary for Jane to bear no weight on that leg for 6 weeks. However, the leg was not healing, so on June 27th, she had to undergo surgery again to basically start over with a new replacement and have the bone "wrapped" to add extra support. She has been recovering for 3 weeks since that surgery and continues to not be able to bear weight on that leg. Ken asked me to come assist with Jane's care yesterday so he could attend the Aird family reunion. I was happy to help out. I had done that once before. However, I decided to see if Gayle and Janice would like to help me surprise Jane and have a mini sister-s retreat. They were both on board.

I arrived at the house first (by design). About 10 minutes later, Gayle & Janice entered the house, but only Gayle called out. Jane expected her to drop by. They walked upstairs and Gayle went inside Jane's bedroom first. Jane was very happy to see her. However, when Janice walked into the room, Jane lost it! She hadn't seen Janice in months and was so excited to see her. I wish I would have taken a video of that surprise. It was priceless!

We were able to spend several hours together. We made sandwiches out of a loaf of homemade bread that Janice had brought. Delicious! We had watermelon & zucchini bread as well.

We played the "Ungame" and learned a little more about each other. That was fun to just sit around and talk with each other and share memories over the years.

Gayle had to leave a little early because  she was having a Grandma Camp Sleepover with some of her youngest grandchildren. She taught them a song with musical instruments that they performed for Jane & I. (Janice had to leave before the performance) There were 8 of her grandchildren there - all female. Such cute little girls and they did a fantastic job.

It's always fun to get together with my sisters. We are very close! I have been blessed with three of the best sisters in the world.

Jane had a doctor's appointment after Ken returned to have an x-ray to see if she can now walk bearing weight. It didn't turn out to be good news - three more weeks of non-weight-bearing on that leg. She was so sad. She hasn't walked without a walker for over 10 weeks now. Such a hard trial to go through, but she's keeping her chin up and tries to not get too depressed.

The whole point of us getting together yesterday was to help Jane have a fun day and not feel so bad about missing her family reunion. This is what she said to the three of us in a text that evening: "Today was a highlight day for me. It meant so much for me to have you all spend time with me. The surprise visit from Jan, the beautiful Bleak girls choir, the wonderful lunch, and peace of mind from the doctor. I am truly blessed!"

That statement made it all worth it!

Kessler Turns Six

 On July 12th, Kessler turned six years old.

The one thing he wanted most for his birthday was fangs. He got his wish!  Does he have a secret desire to be a vampire?

Parker was out of town so Cheryl brought the kids over to our house for the day. We had a taco lunch and invited Eric's family and Ryan to join us. We had a great time. Here's a picture of Kessler's birthday candles placed on top of his ice cream sandwich. Kessler doesn't like cake.

One thing about Kessler is that he loves to listen to music on our Echo device. The first thing he did after he arrived on his birthday was to run over to our kitchen desk and ask Alexa to play a certain song for him. Knowing how much he likes listening to music, as one of my gifts to him, I connected my phone to Echo through Bluetooth and played a special AI created birthday song for him. My niece, Melanie, helped me create it. Kessler loved the song! It's all about him and the things he likes. Here are the lyrics:

Today's the day it's Kessler's turn

Six candles on the cake we'll burn

He jumps he flips he spins around

The coolest kid in all the town.

Kessler, Kessler, take the stage

Dancing, singing, center page

With a giggle and a super hero pose 

He's got the moves everyone knows.

He's Inspector Gadget in the skies

With clever tricks and bright blue eyes

He cuddles sisters sweet and tight

A brother who brings joy and light.

On his bike or trampoline

He's the fastest you've ever seen.

With Ninja kicks and Jujitsu flair

He guards the goal with style and care.

Kesler, Kessler, take the stage

Dancing, singing, center page

With a giggle and a Super Hero pose

He's got the moves everyone knows.

Halloween's his favorite day

Costumes, laughs, and spooky play

With a memory sharp and jokes so bright

He makes the world feel just right

Kessler, Kessler birthday star,

We love you just the way you are

Keep dreaming big and shining true

The world is better 'cause of you.

He listened with great care and there was a big smile on his face as he did so. He's such a cool kid.

Everyone else seemed to enjoy it as well.

While Lainey took a nap, Kessler and Wesley got to go outside to play in the water. Cheryl brought a little splash pad for them to play in after they had been in the hot tub for a while.

All in all, it was a very fun birthday for Kessler. We are so happy to have him as a grandson. We love him so much!

One other think about Kessler - He's such a loving brother to his sisters. Cheryl sent this photo to me of Kessler hugging Lainey in the crib with this quote from him:

"I love Lainey more than anything. Nothing is better than Lainey. Not my birthday, not shows." He's such a loving kid!

Little Joys

 Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me happy. Often it's just the littlest thing that can bring me joy. That's a good thing! If I always had to wait for big things to happen to bring me joy, I would not experience much joy in my life.

One "little" thing that has brought me joy lately is seeing the joy on Lainey's face when she goes in our hot tub. She experienced this for the first time just a couple of weeks ago. What I didn't expect is that she is not afraid at all of the water and she jumped right in without the slightest hesitation. There was no holding her back. Thank goodness for kids floaties. Lainey is definitely a water baby. She took right to it and loves every minute she can get to float around.

Another thing that has brought me joy lately is this bed improvement. Last year I bought a white Queen-sized Boho bedspread for the bed in the middle bedroom downstairs, but it didn't seem wide enough so I gave it to Cheryl and then bought the King-sized one pictured here.

It still didn't seem wide enough and one could see the box spring under the mattress. Therefore, I decided to purchase a bed skirt. Great decision. I love the results and seeing the bed every time I go downstairs brings me joy.

Jared and Catherine are currently in Colombia, which I'm very happy about. It has been a year since Catherine left Colombia to come to the U.S.A. to visit Jared. Instead of returning to Colombia 6 weeks after arriving here as anticipated, she ended up staying here, getting married, and having a child. After great lengths, Catherine finally received her green card, which freed them up to fly to Colombia to surprise her mom. The surprise visit was something to behold. These pictures show the joy her mother had at seeing Catherine for the first time in a year.

Brigitte finally got to hold her only grandchild for the first time!

Seeing the video of their reunion brought tears of joy to my eyes. I'm so glad that Catherine could return to Colombia to see her mom again. It meant so much to both of them. Pure joyful moment right there.

Another thing that brings me joy is seeing pictures of how quickly Benjamin is growing and changing. He will be four months old in just a few days. He can roll over now! He definitely looks like a Colombian here. So cute!

They will be in Colombia until August - the time Jared has to return to Arizona to start teaching again.

There are so many other little things that have brought me joy, but I could only share a few of them in this post. Life is ALWAYS good and joyful.