Still Painting

I am trying to make time to paint every week.   I really should move my stuff to mom's paint room and have good light etc.... but the thought makes me a little sad still, so I'm in my dark basement for a while longer.
My process is an interesting one...the first hour of painting is just  a mess until I get in the flow and something cool starts to happen.  It takes hours of just putting marks on canvas in interesting ways til shape and form appear.    I realize if I force it or don't make bold choices, it's just blah.   I have 4 more ready  to show...

This one is called "Landon: Unfinished"   It doesn't really look like Landon, but He was my inspiration.

 This is "Imagine."  It's 4'x3' acrylic.  I like the color palate and how things just appeared as I went... I can see a butterfly, bike, fish, flowers, a woman's shape etc....   The jester head in the middle with the crown..was once a very large flower.....

 This is 20"x 16" canvas that I'm working on for Emilee Dahl's Hair salon.

This started out as a canoe on the water,  with kind of a native american motif, but as I turned it and flipped it to work on it this woman shape appeared and I just went with it.  It's 2'x3' and it's called "Fertility"

Sharing Sheri announcement

Friday Family Flashback

I found some funny kid stories from Mom's letter's that she wrote to Angela when she was serving her mission in Spain and then to cousin Levi when he was serving his in Spain as well.   So now my Laila stories are shared, I will move on to "the brother" stories.  As I read through these letters I am amazed I survived these years, and that my children are alive to tell about them as well.   I was basically overwhelmed from 1992-1996. This is what they looked like....

Nov 8, 1993
Here is a 5 year old Landon story.... The other day Melinda had to pick him up at school early so she had to get him from his classroom.  She walked in the room and told the teacher when she wanted. Landon got out of his seat and skipped all the way to the back of the room singing, "Melinda's here. Melinda's here.  Melinda's here" at the top of his lungs.  What a "yellow" kind of guy.  Melinda just laughed and the teacher just rolled her eyes.

Biking...one year later

The Tour de France is taking place and I am enjoying my own version of the Tour De Bountiful.  I love to bike.  I  have been doing it for one year now and I still enjoy it.  I'm definitely getting stronger.

Last year the thought of going up 1800 south, let alone any hill in Bountiful was a no go.  Now I can do 1800 south and Vineyard and many others all the way to Bountiful Boulevard.  I have figured out my pedaling better and how to serpentine to make it work.

At the beginning of the summer it took me 35 minutes to go from my house, up the hill to 1800 and up the hill to Bountiful Blvd...all the way south to Si's home in North Salt Lake...or what she likes to call it " South Bountiful".....Today, it took me 29 minutes.

I was proud of Wayne and myself going around Bear Lake twice--that's 51 miles each time... and then another 36 miles on top of that into a strong head wind.  Last year, I did it one time and was wiped out the rest of the week.  My knees were killing me.  Now my knees don't bug at all.

Last year every time I clipped in I was ready for a terrifying experience.... now I'm the boss of those clips and I can make it work.

Biking is getting better and better.  We are going on a 65 miler the end of August in Logan.  Looking forward to it....and I even think Laila is getting used to seeing her parents in their biking uniforms.  At least we aren't getting any more eye rolls.

Priceless.....videos

Elder Addison Welch had some great times in Louisiana from 2005-2007.  He sent home two totally funny videos and I finally got them into my Youtube channel to share.

Please enjoy....Joy to the World with Elder Vaake

click here and enjoy

and   Sour with Elder Young....it's  crazy.

Click here for funny

You're Welcome

Flashback Friday

Nov 2007
Laila said this while looking at our family picture:  "God is such a good artist drawer, cuz look how good he drawed us."

While learning to ride her 2 wheeler bike, Addison was holding on to the seat and running with her, trying to help her.  She told Addison, "You are kind of messing me up.  All I really need is Courage!"

When told she had cute shoes on, she replied, "Yeah, my mom wouldn't buy them if they were ugly."

When asked who her favorite brother is, she said,
"Addison is my favorite because he is so nice.  Landon is my favorite because he loves me so much.  Truman is my favorite because he's so cool.  Monson is my favorite because he doesn't  hurt me too much, and when he does he always says he's sorry, it's an accident."

Happy Birthday to Me

We ( Wayne, Tru, Laila and I)  have noticed that everything about my birthday has been round.
Round pancakes with strawberries and cream
Round Rhubarb Pie
Round scoop of ice cream
Round Donuts
Round Supreme Pizza
Round bucket of theatre popcorn
After eating all of that I'm feeling rounder.....
Round.  Round.  Round.
Maybe it's because my birthday keeps coming around every year.  It's been here 51 times.
It was a great day of unhealthy eating, a girl friend sleepover, shopping for fun clothes and exercise wear, thoughtful birthday wishes and family movie time.

Some of my girlfriends took me out to Pig and a Jelly Jar for a birthday lunch.  It's still July....so I get to pull the "birthday"  card for the entire month!

Erin Blake, Si Foster, Kimi Farley, Diane Lake, Melinda, Laura Belnap and Kim Johnston have been celebrating birthday together for about 15 years.