Uintahs with the Branch

 Saturday we took some men up to Mirror Lake in the Uintahs for a day of hiking, canoeing and nature that our District put on for the 3 transition branches. We spent the day with Scott Wilson, Brad Phillips and Kim Hildreth.  Wayne climbed to the top of Bald Mountain with 2 bald guys ( Brad and Scott) and a very determined special-needs man Kim.  Kim is slow and wobbly but he doesn’t give up.  We had lunch and a gorgeous lake to sit by. 

 

Sidetracked in Jackson Hole

 Our band went up to Jackson Hole to play on the square and at a rest home.  It was a quick 2 days, but we had a ton of fun...and looked cute in our western wear.

We played twice in the square on Tuesday.  We all got there around 3:00 and sang at 4 and 5. We added some western songs:   Ghost Riders in the Sky, Country Roads, Red River Valley, Happy Trails and Grandma's Feather bed.     The weather was perfect- overcast and cool.  We had many people stop and listen or pass by and listen. We find joy in singing the oldies.

Sidetracked band Jackson Hole style: Bob and Kimi Farley, Wayne and Melinda Welch, Nick Cash, Emma Roberts, Garth Oborn, Angie Smith

Garth and Ann Oborn are in charge of this group and do a great job with booking gigs and keeping equipment fixed...and they pay each of us a little gas money as well.

We sang at Sage Assisted Living on Wednesday morning, before heading home.  This is a gorgeous care center with a big view of the Tetons in the background as we sang.   We didn't have Maren or Rob with us-- but Emma Roberts filled in for a bit.    By the end of the two days our feet were killing us because we are NOT used to wearing cowboy boots!  

Dolly Parton and a firestorm

 I posted this on insta and it blew up!   So many fans thought I was hating on Dolly-- which I'm not.  I love Dolly.  I'm hating on our endless youth anti-aging culture that got us to this point.  We are so brainwashed we don't even know we have bought into it.  The Beauty industry/ plastic surgeons/ media all thrive on our insecurities about our looks.  They make billions of dollars a year convincing us NOT to age naturally.  They want us to fight it every step of the way...and many buy into this.  But I am not!  

There are so many more interesting things about me and you than how we look.  

Like... How you feel.  Your passions. Your dreams. Talents. How much you care about others.  The way you treat people.  What you think about, plan, and explore.  What excites you.  

And what I loved most about Dolly was her generosity, big heart, inclusion, talent, and humor.  Her looks kind of made me sad..because they became so Barbie-like.  I wanted to see the "real" Dolly.

My feelings about Dolly Parton are complicated.   

I put  Coat of  Many Colors on repeat yesterday morning after hearing Dolly passed, sitting with a complicated ache in my chest. 

I loved Dolly Parton with my whole heart. Her songwriting, her humor, her generosity, and the way she poured love into people was pure magic. 

Watching her over the decades brought a quiet sadness too. She spent half a century turning into an exaggerated, plastic version of herself to stay visible in the spotlight.  She even joked about it. The tiny waist, the endless procedures, and the fear of letting a single natural line show on camera. 

An eighty-year-old woman does not look like smooth porcelain without a team of surgeons. 

When a cultural powerhouse feels pressured to erase every trace of time, think about the message that hands down to the next generation. It teaches girls in their twenties that getting older is a personal failure. It tells them their future faces are something to dread, carve up, and hide before anyone notices they lived. 

If an icon as brilliant and beloved as Dolly never felt safe letting eighty look like eighty, we will never get to see what real, dignified aging even looks like.

I am sitting here in my bright thrifted cardigan with all my sun spots and laugh lines in full view, wondering if you felt that same ache watching her over the years?

What I wore in August

 

School has started!

 I had my last first day of school! I can't believe I'm almost at retirement!

Andre's first day as a Sophomore at the University of Utah.  He changed his major to film, and he's still with the marching band playing trumpet!

Sophia's first day as a Senior at Viewmont High School.  She doesn't believe she is a Senior and neither do I.  She will continue with her choir, band and musical theatre pursuits.  She has a bunch of good friends, and a car to drive so she is doing great.

Alfie's first day of Jr. High...this was taken after school and he loved his first day.

Poppy's first day in 3rd grade.  She got her cast removed just in time and now has a brace on for 6 weeks.  She is a good reader and they are figuring out ADHD meds for her to help her focus better and not zone out.

George's first day of Kindergarten at a Charter school... this way he can do Kindergarten twice! 

Elsie is in First grade and feeling it.  She has a ton of confidence and wants to really learn to read this year.

Lady is going into 3rd grade and hurt her wrist this summer.  She is so smart and has a lot of anxiety.

Tayla first day of 5th grade ( she also hurt her wrist).  She is almost as tall as me, and definitely the tallest in her grade.  

Lexi has her first day as well as a Teacher's aide at the girls' North Layton Prep Academy charter school.

First day of school for Monson’s girls and Lexi went well – they are all excited and looked darling in their uniforms and new backpacks.  

Sophia’s first day as a Senior at Viewmont High was full of emotions– she was happy and sad to be a Senior– she misses people from last year and can’t believe she is this old.  I told her to feel all the feelings..and do your best to enjoy.

Addison’s house was a bit crazy on their first day…. They are type B parents and don’t read all the emails and calendars ( so much like me), so they didn’t know George’s school started days before the Davis district– and he missed his first couple of days… oh well.  And they need a uniform for him!  Which they didn’t buy with the normal school clothes.  They have since fixed all of this.  George came home from his first day and said, “School was good, nobody hit me.”   He has a low bar.

Alfie was all tears heading back to school, “Why does the world make us go to school?”  “I hate learning.”  Which is funny becaue Alfie has always been a good student with a lot of friends.  They got Alfie and Poppy and George to school late after Addison lost it, yelling at them all to “eat  breakfast, grab your stuff, get in the car!”  (We all take our turns being crazy parents. )  Alfie went in mad because he was late – but he came home at the end of the day all smiles.  It went GREAT!  He loved his first day at Jr. High.  Success. Poppy loved her school too– and she got her cast off and only has a wrist brace now– so that’s good.  

Andrew is loving his marching band camp– he loves playing trumpet and has changed his major to film.  

Closing of Childhood Church

We went to the open house for the closing of the 4th, 20th, 36th ward church building in Bountiful on 1400 South. (Too many stairs and too hard to get it up to code.  They will be collapsing some wards and realigning boundaries in the South Stake.)  This is the church we had mine and Wayne’s and Addison and Bre’s wedding luncheons.      

We took Wanee and Holly…and what I thought would be like a 20-minute outing turned into 2 hours.   We saw so many people there that we hadn’t seen for a long time....David Irvine, Carolyn and Mark Zaugg, Dave and Robin Beck, Gary Wall.   So, a lot of visiting, plus they had history books of the different wards from the 1950’s on up.   I went through the 4th ward ‘60’s book and found so many pictures of my mom when she was RS president of that ward, and her as a witch entertaining the primary kids for their Halloween Party, and Dad serving in the 4th ward bishopric, and one pic of our whole family with Angela as a 1 year old.  Mom had amazing hair of course.  It even had pics of  “The Singing Mothers” that mom and Grandma were part of– and a picture of my grandma’s quartet- The Classics-  when they entertained at a ward thing.  It was crazy.  I have pics of me as a 6 year old in matching coats with Marcie that I have never seen before.  It was so great to go through these books.  I’m very grateful for ward historians who took their jobs seriously.   

I got a pic in front of the big Jesus - fishers of Men paining in the front of the chapel.  They handed out copies of that pic to everyone with a little write up on the back of how Dean Belnap painted it.   (Eric Belnap’s dad)  Then we had lunch under the trees and more visitiing.  It was awesome!  The building is for sale for 1.9 million if anyone wants to buy it. 

1967

1970

1970

1970

1967

1965

The Singing Mothers

1969 Grandma Butters quartet

1969-- Angela is the baby in the blanket

 

Painting the cabin

We got the ENTIRE outside of the cabin painted, and both decks!  We got $ 1.00-a-gallon paint– really good stuff from Sherwin–Williams– but couldn’t pick the colors– so now the cabin is a cream color with driftwood color trim and decks. We powerwashed the dirt and old paint off on Sunday when we got there with Addison’s family and Landon…and prayed it would dry by the next day.  There was old paint flying everywhere.  Addison was a mess!    Then on Monday we painted ALL DAY.  It was a ton of work.  We took up our 22-foot extension ladder and a paint sprayer, and we were happy that Wayne and Addison would climb to the top or hang out of an upper window with a long extension painting roller to get it all done– I couldn’t watch.  It was to crazy for me.  I remember decades ago when we painted the cabin and Steve Shurtz hanging out of an upper window to paint the high eave and Jane saying, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”  I understand that sentiment now.

   We had Landon, me, Bre, Alfie, Poppy, and George paint the decks, and it was kind of a mess with a 4-year-old painting..but we couldn’t keep George away. Alfie rolled on the second coat of paint on the back of the cabin with a 26-foot extension pole that Wayne got as well.   Landon filled all holes in the roof with roofing tar to seal those up.. So the cabin and the two sheds should be good paint-wise for a couple more years.  Our big goal is to take the deck off and put a new one on that wraps around to the front door. It was good to be up there.  It’s such an amazing view sitting on the deck and watching the quakies….very peaceful.  

What we really like up there is Wayne’s solar-powered battery to run the lights in the cabin instead of the NOISY generator.   Then it really is peaceful.