We Have...

A sprinkling system that has been repaired so the front curb is now watered!


Cherry Tomatoes turning red!

A weedless backyard thanks to Mike and our nephew Kevin!

Grass that is GROWING!!!

Butterflies!!! There are so many butterflies here in Blanding. I don't think I hardly saw any when living in Salt Lake.

Skunks... Well, I haven't actually seen one, but I have smelled them. A week or so ago, I was awakened by a pungent skunk smell. I honestly thought the skunk was right outside our window. It took a while for the smell to leave. Otherwise, the other times I smell the smell, but it dissipates quickly. (Someone in town caught 27 skunks in their skunk trap in 2009.) Can you believe that?

Dragonflies... Again, I hadn't seen many in Salt Lake but in the evening when the sun is setting, they are all over! It makes me wish we had those bugs that 'light up' when they move their wings. They were fun to watch in Austin, Texas. What ARE they called???

Three days until we leave for this... http://mikesidney.blogspot.com/2010/02/jubilee-year.html

A Little Bit of Everything...

Monday I made White Asparagus Soup. I had to peel every piece of asparagus because it is stringy. The soup, wasn't that great. The same type of recipe when I make Pumpkin Soup, but aspargus doesn't thicken very well.



Tuesday evening we had a wonderful rainstorm in Blanding. Mike and I sat out on the porch for an hour and a half and watched and listened to the storm. It was wonderful! (No pictures)


Wednesday we were out on the porch again after dinner when the young women of our ward showed up and said, "We are doing a service project this evening for some of the older people in our ward. We want to pull the weeds from your curb. Mike and I were a little embarrassed, but at the same time realized the service was for his parents. They did such a great job that we are now repairing the broken pipe of our sprinkling system and tomorrow, Saturday, I will be planting grass. I can't wait!!! We want them to see the fruits of their labors.

This morning Kent Hawkins who is with the Blanding City Fire Department came around and noticed all of our weeds in the yard. They are WAY TO HIGH! Then he said, "Well, I'm sort of contributing to this because Scot said I could buy the car - in the back of the yard - and I never came over and picked it up. We told him we had just obtained the new title on Wednesday and so he came over around 5:45pm this evening and picked up the car. We sold it for $1.00. The 'yellowbird' has been a part of the Christensen Family since 1976. It was a little sad to see it go.

The Yellowbird...

The Yellowbird's former home

I thought we needed a picture of the license plate

Our tall weeds, and this one isn't as tall as some of them!

(I'm 5'4")

Finally, I volunteer to prepare Apricots for our Relief Society Meeting on Tuesday, July 27th. Mike, Caroline and I pitted all of these apricots this evening and then I blended them up and froze them. Apricots are bountiful this season here in Blanding. Trees are loaded. I'm looking forward to some apricot jam!

Mike's Typical Day

Since moving to Blanding, Mike has provide the majority of care for his parents. I have been so impressed with him. He is such a kind and gentle man and that carries over to the care of his parents. Here's his typical day - no pictures - just a timeline.

7:30ish - Wake up, read scriptures, gets ready for the day and turn the heat up to 80 degrees for his parents (luckily we have the swamp cooler going on our side and the heat vents covered) and waits for the first "GONG" of the day. (The 'gong' is a battery operated doorbell that we bought shortly after moving here. Whenever his dad or mom need anything, they ring the doorbell and we can hear it on our side of the house. It is a much better way to notify us that they are in need.)

9:00ish - His dad wakes up. GONG. Mike does several things for him at this time: wheels him into the front room, gives him a washcloth to wipe off his face, brings him his pills, fixes him the SAME breakfast every morning (a waffle with LOTS of syrup!), opens the drapes, etc.

11:00am on the dot! Mike's dad takes additional medication. Doug is a little particular about some things, eating at a certain time and medications at a certain time. So, these things never vary!

Between 11:00am and Noon the Senior Center delivers lunches. Mike takes them and puts them out on the table and puts the items that are hot in the oven to warm.

1:00pm - We eat lunch! Mike wheels his dad into the dining area for lunch. Medication is prepared and given to his dad.

2:00pm - Mike gives his dad additional medication

3:00pm - Another medicaiton is given to both parents

6:00pm - Dinner is served! Mike wheels his dad into the kitchen, more medication is prepared and given. We clean up and his parents head back into the front room.

8:00pm - Mike usually goes in and sits with his parents for the last hour of the day. The front room isn't as hot!

9:00pm - The final medication of the day is given to his dad. Mike gets him more water and his med pass, organizes things and helps him into bed.

9:30ish - Mike is finally 'off' for the day. He comes into our bedroom, turns on the TV, and relaxes, family prayer and scriptures.

10:30pm - We always end the day watching Perry Mason on KBYU. I fall asleep around 10:43pm and at 11:16, as the show is ending, I wake up and ask, "Who did it?" Mike answers and I fall back to sleep!

What I haven't included is the many times a day that the GONG is run. It isn't often but probably 5-6 times each day. Mike is always willing to assist his parents with anything they need.

I have such a respect and deepened love and appreciation for him as I have watched him serve his parents. There are things that I do for both Mike and his parents, but they are limited compared to what Mike does on a daily basis. He follows this schedule and then does their wash - and ours too - works outside in the yard, piddles in the shed, runs errands with me, etc. He is constantly going. In some ways, I'm on 'vacation' compared to what he does on a daily basis.

NOTE: This post is meant ONLY to show what a great man Mike is as he serves his parents. Anything else you take away from it, I didn't intend for that to be.

One-One Hundreth

In the Book of Mormon, from time to time the writer will state, "This is only one-one hundreth of what we can write" or words to that effect. In a sense, I feel like these pictures are only one-one hundreth of what Mike and I have been doing this past week.


I went to a quilt show in Montrose, Colorado on Saturday with members of the Grayson Country Quilters Quilt Guild here in Blanding. I bought this fabric to make the quilt from the pattern - which is also in the picture. I'm quite excited to begin, although I have quilt in the works for my brother Roger. That quit top will need to be finished before I can work on this one.

Our Garden is growing! We water and weed and 'pray for our crops'!

Corn... It just shot up this week!

Green Tomatoes on our plants!!!

Mike has been digging out elm trees and its stumps. These elms have shoots all over our yard - the part that isn't in grass. We are working towards putting in a sprinkling system and putting grass in our back yard. The good news is that we found the reason why the front curb was weeds instead of grass. A pipe was broken. Now, that's an easy fix!

Mike picked up our "Bountiful Basket" on Saturday. (The green grapes and blueberries are in the fridge.) This week's basked included white asparagus - which I've never seen nor eaten and lots and lots of brussel sprouts. I'm reading up on how to best prepare them. Last time we had chard in our basket and it has become a new Christensen favorite!

My dad has always taught me that when ever I move somewhere, I need to find a hardware store. Not a chain like Home Depot or Lowes, but a true mom & pop hardware store. Redd's Hardware in Blanding is my choice - my only choice. I am a LOYAL customer, patronizing the store 2-3 times a week. I can't wait until all of our projects are completed so I don't have to go over so often!

4th of July Celebration, etc.

The FREE WOOD that we offered to anyone who wanted to pick it up was....


Taken within 48 hours of distributing the flyer. We now have an 'empty' spot where the wood once resided. Mike and I are both rejoicing. Maybe this woodpile is where our termite problem originated from...


We have new windows on the back porch. They arrived on Monday. This picture is of the old windows, but we do indeed have new windows now that open and chut and let fresh air flow through!

Lyman Family Reunion. It was a success! Mike's mother Caroline, who is 86 years of age, finally decided to take out her endowments. We took her to the the Monticello Temple on Friday, July 2nd. We had our Lyman family temple session and had both Caroline and her great-niece Katherine Lyman go through for the own endowment. Katherine is headed to the Cleveland Ohio Mission - Kirtland Visitors Center for her mission. She leaves on Aug. 4th!

This picture is of our dinner that evening. It's the only picture I took! Mike and I were in charge of this reunion, but his sibling all assisted in one way or another. I'm so grateful for all of their help!!! I definitely didn't have to do a lot because everyone pitched in! THANKS!!!

Don't you love our TV stand? Mike and I were in bed one evening and we 'created' what we wanted. The next day, I went to Redd's Hardware Store (yes dad, I have a 'hardware' store that I patronize frequently here in Blanding!) I picked up everything we needed and then a couple of days later, I 'built' it. It took about an hour. Mike and I both love it. It hangs about 16 inches from the ceiling and it is at a perfect height so that we can watch television in our bed. Plus, it doesn't cover the quilt I made as a wall hanging.

4th of July Celebration...

Mike rode is bike down to the parade!

The 'Posse'

(Some guy is running for sheriff so he advertised via the Posse. I thought it was clever.)

Highway Patrol Car from the 1950's

Only in Blanding can the LDS Missionaries ride in the parade!

Our home surrounded by family cars.

Our BBQ Dinner. Doug and Caroline ate on the front porch.

The rest of the family out on the front law.

The weather here in Blanding was perfect this year. Much cooler than last years 107 degrees. Our BBQ dinner outside was so fun. Thanks to our neighbors, the Hurst's, who have everything and loaned us the table and chairs and cooler!