Saturday April 27, 2024
Dear Diary,
I woke up at 5:30 am. I had slept deeply throughout the night and I felt great. I prayed my thanksgivings:
- Thank you for vacations.
- Thank you for new perspectives.
- Thank you for guidance.
I edited my blog. Then I got on Angels phone and emailed myself some of the pictures she took yesterday so I could add them to my blog. While I was waiting for the email to come through, I called Christopher and wished him a good morning. The email with the pictures finally came through and I added them to my blog and posted it. I fed Little Bit his food and Angel ate some applesauce. I got out my blender and made a smoothie with 8 bananas, 4 strawberries, almond milk and grape juice. It was snowing and raining out and all I had been wearing were my sandals. I got my tennis shoes out of the truck but they needed new laces because Healer had chewed off my other ones. Angel wanted to lace them for me and I showed her how to do it. Once my tennis shoes were available to wear, I took Little Bit outside to go to the bathroom. We got ready to go and loaded our coolers and luggage in the back of the truck. I checked the room, left the key on the table and closed the door. We got in the truck and I couldn’t find my purse. Oh no! I had just locked my purse in the motel room. I couldn’t think of where I had left it because I had checked the room but it had to be in there. I went to the front desk office. The door was locked and no one was inside. There was a big sign taped on the door that said. Closed No Vacancy. I called the motel but there was no answer. I loudly knocked on the door and no one came.
I could feel panic rising inside me. How was I going to get my purse. We were stuck there until I got let into the room to get my purse. There were no signs saying when the motel opened and we could be waiting for hours. I took some deep calming breaths and reminded myself to flow with what is. I knocked on the door some more but I wasn’t frantic anymore. I knew it would all work out. After about 20 minutes, I walked back to my motel room. I looked at the window. The screen looked like it could come right out. I tried it and easily pulled it out without damaging it in anyway. The window slid right open. So much for being a secure room 🤣. I climbed in and there was my purse sitting in front of the TV. Now I remembered putting my purse there last night to block the red light in the corner of the TV. I don’t like to see little red or green lights in the room when I’m going to sleep so I cover them up. If the microwave has a light, I turn it around. If there is a digital alarm clock, I unplug it. I like it dark.
Happy to have found my purse, I grabbed it, closed the door, closed the window and put the screen back in place. Yay!! Now we could leave. It was almost 9 am when we finally headed to Salt Lake City. We drove down into the canyon lands and the scenery was breathtaking. I kept stopping so we could take pictures. We came to an amazing arch called Wilson arch. There was a viewing area and I pulled into it. We got out and I planned to take a few pictures and be on our way. Angel had different plans and asked if we could climb up to it. There were several trails leading up to the arch. The trails were calling to me and I told Angel yes. She excitedly started running up a trail. I locked the truck and followed her.
It was a fun climb and Little Bit loved being free to run. There were a lot of neat plants that I took pictures of to get identified on iNaturalist. It felt great to get my heart rate up after 3 days of sitting in the truck for hours. I reached the arch and stood there a few minutes feeling the incredible energy it gave off. Angel ran all over, up and down and around. She was enjoying getting her heart rate up as well. We hiked around looking at everything. I want to come back to that area and camp for a few days. The canyon lands have such amazing views and rock formations.
Back on the road we stopped a few more times to take pictures. Going through Moab, there were people everywhere. Polaris RZR’s and Jeeps were all over the roads. There was a car show going on in Moab and everyone seemed to be taking advantage of the 4 wheeler trails while they were there.
Just past Moab is Arches National Park. I asked Angel if she wanted to go there. She cheered and said yes. I pulled onto the road that goes to the National Park and there was a big sign that said only people with park reservations were allowed in. I guessed that with the event in Moab and it being a Saturday, the park was maxed out. I turned around, we would have to go another time.
When we reached Price, UT. I looked up to see if they had a thrift store. I was still searching for a juicer to use during our stay at my sisters and I wanted to start looking. There was a deseret industries (LDS/mormon owned) thrift store and it was open. Their thrift stores are usually very clean. I drove straight there. Angel headed to the toy section and I headed straight to the kitchen electrics. I looked on the shelves and didn’t see a juicer. I did a second pass through and saw a juicer in a box on the floor. It wasn’t just any juicer. It was a Breville juicer which is a very good juicer. It’s almost as fancy as my NamaJ2 juicer at home. The price was marked $55. Fancy or not, I didn’t want to pay $55 for a used juicer. I would see if I could get it reduced. Angel came running up with a toy horse she had found and we went up front to pay. I asked the cashier if the juicer might have been priced wrong. She wasn’t going to be swayed and said in a stern voice that the price was correct. I asked if there was any guarantee that it worked. She curtly said no and I couldn’t get a refund if I returned it. She dismissively told me I could see if it worked at the plug in station at the back of the store. Unperturbed by her attitude, I told her that was a good idea. If I was going to pay $55, it would be smart to plug it in and make sure it worked first. I got out of line and smiled at the lady in line behind me motioning that it was her turn now. She snidely remarked that it was about time. I wasn’t sure what was up with the grumpy people in that store but their bad attitude didn’t stick to me. I happily went to the back of the store and plugged in the juicer. It worked perfectly. The owners manual was in the bottom of the box. I checked to make sure all the parts listed in the owners manual were there and they were. I decided I would risk spending the $55 because it looked to be working perfectly and it was a high quality juicer. I went back to the front of the store to pay for it. This time there was a man at the cash register and he was very friendly. The negative energy at the front of the store had switched channels.
We continued on our drive and listened to An Old Man and The Sea, a classic written by Ernest Hemingway. About 1.5 hours before reaching my son Shawn and daughter-in-love Bri’s house I started to feel tired. I found a good spot to pull over and told Angel I was going to take a nap for a few minutes. I locked the doors and laid the seat back. I was instantly asleep and woke up 20 minutes later when Angel was poking at me. I asked her what she wanted and she said nothing, she was just bored because her phone she had been playing on needed charged. I felt mad about her waking me up for no good reason. I barked at her to just let me sleep and figure out another way to entertain herself, she could read a book or play with her toys or do her schoolwork. Then I closed my eyes again to sleep some more but I was awake now. I sat up and started driving. Angel was upset that I had talked sternly to her and I apologized and gently explained that people are often cranky when they get woke up and it’s best to not wake them unless it’s really important.
When I was 50 minutes away from Shawn and Bri’s. I called Christopher and talked to him the rest of the way there. When we arrived, I got off the phone and knocked on the door. Bri answered, we greeted each other and hugged. We went inside and I greeted Shawn and my grandson Sam. Angel and Sam were happy to see each other and immediately started playing. Little Bit was excited to see their dogs. Especially their German Shepard Sheba. Little Bit had fallen in love with Sheba when I had stayed for a week in February. He was still in love with her and immediately started humping her leg. 😂
I visited with Shawn and Bri for a while and told them we were staying for a few hours, then I would go to my other son Scott and my daughter-in-love Delany’s house. I called my son Scott to see what he wanted to do for the evening. He said he didn’t know but Delany had to work. I asked if he wanted to come to Shawn’s and he said he didn’t want to drive out there since he was driving there tomorrow. Shawn lives 30 minutes away from Scott. I said if he came to Shawn’s we could all eat and play a board game. I told him I could come get him if he didn’t want to drive. He said that would work. He was currently at a “van show” but would be leaving soon. I told him to text me when he got home and I would come get him.
Since Scott was coming over and we were all going to play a board game. We needed a table to play the game on. Their dining room table was currently Shawn’s office. His real office was downstairs but since he had broken his ankle and couldn’t walk on it, his office had been temporarily moved upstairs. Now Shawns ankle was healed enough to walk on and he said he wanted his computer moved back downstairs and then we could play the board game on the dining room table. I told him I would help move it. It took a few trips to get it all moved and now we had a table to use. While making trips downstairs I said hi to my 12 year old granddaughter Alex who was playing on her laptop down there. She slightly lifted her hand in greeting without looking up. I laughed to myself at her teenage preoccupation.
Angel wanted to go on a walk. It was cold and rainy out and I told her I didn’t want to go out in that weather but she could play in the backyard if she wore her coat. She was excited about doing that and Sam wanted to join her. They bundled up and went out back. Shawn was downstairs setting up his computer. Bri was in their bedroom doing something. So I took the opportunity to sit in the recliner and write my blog. I wrote for a while, then I noticed it was getting late in the afternoon, so I messaged Scott asking if he was home yet. He responded “no”. I messaged back telling him to hurry up. The doorbell rang and it was Scott. He had decided to drive there. I gave him a hug and laughed saying I had just sent him a message to hurry up.
Bri and I went to the store and got food for everyone. For myself, I bought a pre-made salad. When we got back the sun came out and it was really nice outside. Angel came in from playing outside and I told her we could go on a walk now. She was excited about that. Sam came in from outside to go on a walk with us and he was soaking wet from the waist down. He said he had been jumping in the water puddles. I helped him change into dry clothes and took the kids on a walk. The weather had completely shifted and it was lovely out. The trees were budding and birds were singing. Spring was just starting there and the energy of new life was everywhere. The kids rode their scooters along the sidewalk and I walked behind them, enjoying the sights.
When we got back, we all ate. Alex briefly came up from downstairs to eat and I got to talk to her for a second before she disappeared again into the basement. Shawn picked out a game for us to play called Carcassonne. It was a lot of fun and Sam and Angel joined in playing as well. Sam helped Bri with her turns and Angel helped me with mine. We finished the game at around 9 pm, Shawn won and I got second. I would have liked to play again but still had to drive to Scott and Delany to stay the night and it would have been at least an hour later if we played again. I told Angel to start getting her stuff ready to go. She was upset saying that she lost the reigns for her new toy horse. I helped her look and couldn’t find them. Pretty soon everyone was looking and we couldn’t find them. Finally I said she would have to do without them. Just then Bri found them. Great, now we could leave.
We followed Scott to his house. We brought our luggage upstairs and took a shower. I started a load of laundry, told Scott goodnight and we went to bed. I wrote my blog until almost midnight and it still wasn’t finished. Angel was already asleep. I decided to finish writing in the morning, turned off my phone and went to sleep.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.