May Memories

Oh the joys of May . . . I remember as a child making little May Day baskets filled with flowers and candy and taking them to my friends. And, of course, there's Mother's Day, a day I have a love-hate relationship with. (It's getting better as I learn to celebrate the joys of being a mother instead of feeling guilty for not doing a better job of it. My kids turned out so well that I must have done okay.) Then there's Memorial Day which signals the return of summer and turning off the gas heater. May's flower is the rose which seems appropriate as Booklogged is raising some gorgeous specimans over at her house. In Germany, it is an old custom to plant a "tree of May" to honor someone. What a great idea. Finally, May's birthstone is the emerald.
And here's what's been happening in my world:
May 7 I attended a training in Provo. Stayed at La Quinta's as usual and ate at Zupas, as usual.
May 7 & 8 Spent the night at Jordan and Stacey's. Ate at Chili's and shopped at Target's for Stacey's birthday present. While Jordan and Stacey decided on the gift, I rushed Lincoln around the aisles in the grocery cart. He likes speed.
May 8, 9 & 10 Cassie came to Vernal to spend Mother's Day with me. We went to a matinee of "17 Again" which we really enjoyed. Zac Ephron is very good-looking. Then we went to dinner with the whole family at Canton City's Chinese buffet. Very good food, I ate too much. Then we went to Mom's house and played the Name Game using old names from a game we had played in December. That was pretty fun. It was Fast and Testimony meeting that Sunday, so we didn't have the usual Mother's Day program. It was an amazing meeting as people talked about their mothers and their kids. All the mothers received a CD of hymns. Wonderful. I always manage to kill the usual potted plant they give out. Then Cassie gave me the most touching book she had made with thoughts and pictures, a crossword puzzle. It made me laugh and cry. She is just the best daughter in the world. I'm so glad to be her mom.
May 23, 24 & 25th Memorial Weekend. Cassie came out again and we saw Star Trek. What a good movie. Sunday I gave my Relief Society lesson: Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples. It's always easy to get a good discussion going around the subject of homes and temples. Later we went over to Cheya's and played the name game and nerts. Cassie put in all these hard Star Trek names and really stumped the rest of us. And they fed us an amazing roast beef and mashed potato meal. Kudos to Myke, Cheya and Katie. The next morning we had our traditional Memorial Day brunch. It used to be breakfast but no one wants to get up that early. Steve and Verona hosted it this year and it was pouring rain. But we cooked and ate inside and it worked out great. Myke made his fantastic hash browns and I made pancake mix which Verona then turned into waffles (wonderful) and Julie brought some really good sausage. Mom furnished fruit and Annie brought juice. Poor Cheya cracked I don't know how many eggs and they never got used. Wonder what she did with those. It was a great meal and fun to see all the family that live in the same town that I never see. That afternoon we went back to Cheya's for more games and barbecued hamburgers, my first of the year. I really owe them a dinner out.
May 30 Susan, Corey and Audrey and kids came to visit so Mom had a barbecue at her house. I made a strawberry shortcake trifle that turned out really well. We had a good visit and some of the younger people went to the park to play golf frisbie.

Books Read 8
The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Bone Gardne by Tess Gerritsen (audio)
The Liught Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd
Damien the Leper by John Farrow
The Wonderful World of Oz by L Frank Baum

TV
All my favorite shows ended. I'm hoping Castle gets renewed because I really liked it. Shawn Johnson won Dancing with the Stars. I think Gilles Marini should have won but Shawn was good also. Chris Allen won American Idol. Great controversy over that one but I liked Chris best. Even though Adam Lambert is a fantastic singer and entertainer, I don't really care for most of the songs he sang. And the ending of Gray's Anatomy was sooo good. Now I'm watching the Bachelorette and little else. I feel like I'm wasting my money on Dish Network. I think I need to explore it more and find some good movies to watch.

Movies
I already mentioned that Cassie and I went and saw "17 Again." It was funny and entertaining. Two weeks later, we went and saw "Star Trek." Excellent. It had great suspense and Spock was great. The guy who played Captain Kirk was quite yummy. I just don't want to see those names in another Name Game.

Overall Impression
It was a cold and rainy month. (Sounds like the opening line to a scary story.) That was great for my lawn except when I wanted to mow it. But I was able to talk myself into retreating into my warm home and eating a banana popsickle. Vernal is pretty and green right now so I'm not complaining about the rain. I bought a rocking bench for my patio and go out there to read when my house gets too cold. Now if the wind would just quit blowing every afternoon. I'll regret saying that next July, won't I?