Check out my awesome little brother. . .Rob Harmon

Here is my little brother, Rob Harmon.  He is a singer, guitarist, songwriter, harmonica player and dad!  We were able to go see him perform at the Stillwater Lodge Summer Concert Series.  He has such a great voice and an awesome talent to write fabulous music.  We had a fun time with my parents and my brother Kirt and his wife, Maureen.

 

 Check out the scenery in the background. . . .doesn't get much better than this!  Good music, good food and wonderful family!  Love you, Rob!

Check out his website at www.robharmon.net. (Sorry, you will have to type the address in to Google, I forgot how to make it into a link you can just click on).  When you get to the website, go to videos and make sure you listen to "Voices of the Heart", a song he wrote for his autistic son who is 20 and never spoken a word.  It is a beautiful song.

Senior Recital. . .Nicholas Owens #10!

Last Sunday one of my piano students, Nicholas Owens, performed his Senior Recital.  He is the tenth of ten children in the wonderful Marilyn and Bill Owens family that I have been privileged to teach!  He did an awesome job playing selections from Haydn, Bach and Billy Joel, to name a few.  Nick will go on a mission in the fall, so he is going to keep taking piano through the summer so that he can keep up his skills and learn some more songs!   Proud to know you. . . all of the Owens!

Here are a few pictures:  

Whitney Simons, (graduated last year), Nicholas and Laura Damewood (also had her Senior recital this year--that was before I started blogging!)  Nick and Laura played a duet called CS Theme and Variations.

         


              Nicholas after the big performance!  He even made the refreshments!  They were yummy!

Rob and Schaefer come for a visit!

Rob and his girlfriend, Schaefer Abercrombie came from Atlanta to visit last week. We had a blast and made lots of good memories. Too bad I don't have many pictures. I stole this one from Raquels' blog and I stole the next one from Schaefers' camera! Ha! There is always a way!

Rob, Schaefer, and Dan hiked Angels' Landing last week!

Schaefer had never seen much of the beauty that Utah is! So, they went down south and had a fabulous day! The week went so fast. . .

it was so good to have them here. Schaefer just graduated with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy and is starting a new job there in Atlanta, and Rob has one year to go in that same field. He is doing his clinical s in Kentucky and Tennessee for the next six months.

A Bedspread Makeover

Again, I should have taken the before, the catalyst for this post! I will learn! Anyway, this bedspread was inspired because I was crazy over looking at my Christmas bedspread that was STILL on our bed since November, 2010!! Don't get me wrong, I love that beautiful bedspread that I pieced and quilted. BUT. . .I needed to see some summer colors, some freshness in our room. At this point in time, I don't have the means to quilt a bedspread, but I did have 50 bucks for one. So, with coupon in hand, and a 'one-day-sale' , (that by the way, comes along every week), I ventured off to the local Kohl's and purchased this deluxe bedspread which included the pillow shams. I excitedly put it on the bed and BLAH! I was less than impressed. So, what is

a quilter to do? Go to your stash, Nedra!

So. . .I had the pillow forms and a found all of these fabrics, except the blues in my stash. (I found a couple of blues on a great sale. . .$3.00 a yard at Just Sew in Apline). I made these three large pillows. . .

but it needed something more. . .

Here is the finished product. . .it really lightens up the room and makes it feel like summer. Not bad for $60 and some blissful time quilting!

Great treasures. . .

Here are some of our greatest treasures. . .our six grandchildren!! We recently learned that number SEVEN, (coming from Kim and Mark in November), will be a girl!

Happy and Smiling all the time. . .our sweet Caroline!

Caroline Joleen Bell, crawling at 7 months!

Cami, Makenna, McKay and Brett on their baptism day. Can't believe they are eight!

Jaxson, Connor and Wyatt at Gardner Village...great buddies!

We have such great joy in our children and grandchildren!

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 3 John 1:4

Running. . . .The Utah Valley Marathon

Tyler, Ashley and Casey (Ashley's sister) ran the Utah Valley Marathon 6/11/11. It was Ashley's second and Tyler's first, and I am not sure how many Casey has run. They have been training for it for months and it paid off when they all finished running those 26.2 miles! Here are a few photos:

Ashley, Tyler and Casey

Ashley running to the finish line with some nieces and nephews!

Tyler coming in to the finish line. . .a smile of accomplishment!

It was so inspiring to stand at the finish line and watch the runners come in. There were many with tears of joy and "I did it!" streaming down their faces. I was glad to be a spectator and feel the spirit of the moment with everyone. I don't know if I could ever do it, even if my back would let me!

I will most likely never run anywhere in this life. I ran a lot in college and loved it. Sometimes I even dream of running and how free it feels. I have deteriorating discs in my back that prevent it right now. That's another thing to look forward to in the resurrection!

The before and after, without the before!

Yes, I haven't blogged long enough to get in the habit of taking the BEFORE picture. So, this is just the after picture. Dan was quite relieved that I didn't make him put the old pictures back up just so I could take a picture. You will have to use your memory or imagination for the before!

Here is the NEW look on our family room wall! Kim's business, Poppy Seeds, (www.poppyseedprojects.com), holds classes that teach how to make the temple pictures. The wall needed more, so I put pictures of the kids around the temple, but the frames were dated and quite boring. Kim to the rescue--she gave me these frames for Christmas and 6 months later they are finally hung! Thanks, Kim.

The Justin Yates Family

This is the adorable Justin and Sally Yates family. The boys are Dawson, Walker and Colman. Tragedy struck this past week when Justin was killed in an airplane crash in Wendover, Nevada.

Serving as the Relief Society President in our ward, I have been a witness to the power of teaching your children and living the gospel of Jesus Christ. When the family first found out about their father, the oldest son, Walker kept saying, "I KNOW Dad is with Heavenly Father and he is OK, I just KNOW." I have seen the blessing of family, the blessing of a ward family and the sustaining and comforting power of the Holy Ghost. Our hearts are broken with the loss of this wonderful man. If anyone reading this has the means to donate to the family you can go to JustinYates.com and give a contribution with a credit card or paypal. Also, prayers for the Yates family would help and be so comforting.