Island of Fire ants

A photographer took a pic of displaced fire ants because of the hurricane and flooding. It said these colonies could be 250,000. Yay. Hope they don't head my way.

Decision for Utah home

We left Thurs afternoon to return to Utah, go out with a realtor, look over areas and decide on where we want to live in Utah.
Got in 10:30 pm to Scott's. Up driving around on Fri morning, then met with the realtor to see homes in Herriman and South Jordan. I still really love the house on Cabello but am no longer wanting to live so far out. And I probably don't really want to have chickens.

So now of the 4 choices in Utah, Rick and I met with the builder in Daybreak, drafted out the house, made our selections on building (not selections on carpet, etc.). We need to return in a few weeks after their drafting department completes the draft with cost and we sign and give them a down payment, then go to the design center and select colors, cabinets, flooring, just really all the stuff I don't like to do.

Obviously our choice was Daybreak.
As we mulled over, discussed, thought about, meditated on where we wanted to live and the amenities we wanted to have, the choice just seemed plain - Daybreak. Lots of walking with parks, lake trails, green spaces galore, workout and track for winter, 3 pools, kayaking on the lake, close to shopping, TRAXX and SLC and airport. This is the lifestyle we wanted.

We also had a great time. Rick and I get along wonderfully, which is of course nice.

On Fri afternoon we drove down to Paige's to see the ggrrls when they came home from school and took them to the gas station. I told Rick we need to cut down on the sugary junk we get them, especially when we live there. That evening we went out to dinner with Scott and Treena. Rick loves her dog Maya and was once again wondering if he wanted a dog.

Late Sat afternoon we drove to the park by Squirt's to have a picnic with Emily and fam, Squirt, some of Emily's friends from long ago when they lived in Orem. It was quite fun.

Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast around Galveston and Houston, causing billions of dollars of damage. Misery for the people there as they clean up and try to restore their lives. We worried about the Austin airport getting shut down and not being able to get home on Sunday, but all went well. We had a chair in the pool, lots of leaves, small branches down. Our rain gauge tops out at 5 inches, it was overflowing so don't know how much we actually got. Chris said it started raining on Fri evening and hadn't stopped.

Temperature has dropped, still a little windy, but is only sprinkling off and on now as of Mon morning.

We had a productive and fun weekend.

Zipline Lake Travis

Rick, Jason, Justin, and I went zip lining, the same one Paige and Kincade did. There was some steep hiking and I did get tired. I was quite nervous the first 2 zips, and then enjoyed it after that. The other 3 loved it from the beginning. In the office was a pic of a 90 yr old woman zipping. Good for her.

Took 3 hours from beginning to end. I would go again, just not tomorrow.

 

Bats at Congress St bridge

This is supposed to be the largest colony of this particular type of bat in North America, about 750,000 of them, which grows to 1.5 million after they have babies. They fly out looking for chow (insects) 1/2 hour before sunset from about March until Oct, then head to south for the winter. I have been wanting to see them since we moved here; Jason and Justin went with Rick and me last night.

We decided to ride the commuter train down to Austin, which would have worked out fine except the train kept getting delayed along the route for some reason. Added about 30-45 min total time (down and back) to the ride. We also walked along some of the streets, Jason found a most delilsh BBQ joint to eat at (not hard to do in Texas).

The bats were quite cool looking, so glad we did it. They come out in swarms of 4 different groupings, takes about 30-45 min from beginning to end. As they were flying out, the ammonia smell was so strong.

I love HEB

But now I'm sad.
I love best the HEB closest to me. I liked their café/deli; I always bought this most delish broccoli salad and street corn there. When Scott and Paige here HEB had a sign saying they were going to remodel. Old café/deli closed and I anticipated how cool and modern the new one would look. One day last week I went into the store; imagine my surprise when instead of remodeling, they closed it down.

HEB just wont be the same, plus I don't know another HEB café/deli that does broccoli salad. Now, we can never eat it again and it was good. Scott did find the street corn at new HEB.

Jason and Justin

Every year that we have lived in Texas Jason has come out around my birthday. He has also come out other times of the year, in the spring, or always for Thanksgiving. The first summer he came out early in March or something when Paige did. The next summer, I believe, I kept bugging him to get a ticket and come out during the summer but he always had an excuse. Unknowing to me, he had already planned a trip for my birthday, it was a surprise between he and Rick.

He also brought a Donatos pizza - something he never does, pack a frozen pizza in his luggage. It was so delish. This might be his last trip to Texas, if he goes to Thanksgiving with Justin. But maybe he'll plan a trip for early next spring.

Paige has mentioned she will miss Texas; I know the ggrrls will.
I think we will all miss Texas. It's been fun here.

Utah house hunting

Rick and I have been discussing (and discussing and talking and thinking and meditating) a lot about where we want to live in Utah. We have thrown around a bunch of ideas, including a small cabin/house at Bear lake, a townhouse in St George to be a second home/vacay house. We have ruled both those out.

Now we have 4 plans:
1. Daybreak, most probably build because we aren't finding any of what we want for sale.
2. Herriman, a subdivision without a lot of rules, restrictions, have chickens (a house next door to one I'm looking at has horses).
3. Herriman, South Jordan, Riverton, Bluffdale, regular subdivision with amenities like HOA pool, clubhouse, work out room, walking trails, with an HOA.
4. Something on Lake Utah.

They each have their pros and cons. I looked at a bunch of different stuff - 3 days of looking and looking, meeting with realtors and builders. My head was spinning, but we are narrowing it down. For the first time, we actually have time. Plus with the kids we always chose the school district first and then chose house. The house being the 2nd consideration.

Rick is 100% at Daybreak, I'm 90-95% at Daybreak; this is interesting because we have changed with me before being all about Daybreak and Rick not sure. We both love the whole concept of the planned community and all the parks, pools, etc. it offers. At first Rick wanted a bigger lot, maybe as big as 1/2 acre, then changed his mind when he realized as he ages he won't feel like taking care of it.

We are both going back to Utah in 2 weeks to look with a realtor at the above mentioned areas and to finalize plans for building if that is the way we decide. We have the lot we want locked in until then.

I love walking around the lake. I've taken pics of the boardwalk, but below is another one.

I left Scott's and stayed with Paige on Fri evening until I left on Mon morning. I watched the ggrrls on Fri while Paige and Kincade went out with friends.

Sat morning I took the ggrrls over to 2 model homes in the new part of Silver Lake that the ggrrls super wanted to see. They love walking thro models as much as I do. Stella and I left to drive to Herriman and look at the house again, then on to Daybreak and look at the lots again. She suggested eating lunch at IKEA and wandering around there. She also loves looking at bedroom sets for kids, so we went to RC Wiley next door.

We were gone 4 1/2 hours. Busy but fun and productive day.

Sun I went to church with them; at 5pm all the Upstills came over for Hattie's 4th birthday party for the family. Paige fixed baked mac and cheese, with toppings to add later of frozen cooked peas, bacon, and fresh tomatoes. Scott was working so I took a bowl down to him and we chatted. A quite fun day.

I got up at 6am to get ready and get to Scott's by 8 and he took me to the airport.

 

 

 

Long walk with Stella

One of the last mornings Paige and fam were here, Stella and I decided to go on super long walk. We went on the trail between the houses. She took some fun pics of a bunny that she posted on the photo stream. This was a fun walk.

Kayaking

For different reasons Rick and I haven't gotten to take out the kayaks much this summer. We were at the lake 3 weeks ago kayaking with Paige and family, and then also boating. So we were super surprised to get to the lake and see how much it had gone down. Since we have had water at the boat ramp we use, I'm never seen the lake this low. We need a wet fall.

Hiking on Great Hills Trail

When Paige was here I was looking for short, 2-3 mile hikes for us to do with the ggrrls. This one is off of Great Hills Trails by the Arboretum.  It had lots of ups and downs, stream crossings, lots of trees and was just a fun 2.3 mile hike.

Rick and I decided to do the same hike. The deer were in the playscape area and later wandered onto the road; people nor cars upset them so they must be used to humans.