MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014

Merry Christmas, 2014

Before delving into our doings in 2014, we want to express our sincere hope to each of you that 2014 has been a wonderful and memorable year, and that you will have a very Merry Christmas. Further, that 2015 will be even more satisfying and rewarding for us all.

2014 was the year that Ruth Ann and Felt finally did something about the cold winter and inversions that occur in northern Utah. We constructed a second home in warm, Mesquite, Nevada. Located 30-40 miles south of St. George, Utah, and about 100 miles north of Las Vegas, we are in a “55 and older” community called Sun City Mesquite, a Del Webb development. The house is a two-bedroom, single story structure; stucco exterior walls, Mexican tile roof, with plenty of glass to let the sunshine enter. The yard is beautifully landscaped and features a spring emerging from a rock outcropping, at least that is what we tried to create. We both find entirely too much enjoyment sitting in the warmth, and watching the water spill over the rocks into a small pool. No, we are not moving, but we can foresee the day, in the not too distant future, that we will spend the summer in Northern Utah, and the winter in Nevada. But until that occurs, we are making an effort to spend a week each month in Mesquite. We do still serve in the Logan Temple, so when the temple closes for General Conference and again for cleaning, we will extend our stays in Nevada.

Now if the second home did not cause sufficient consternation amongst our children, when Felt found and purchased a bright red, fourteen year old BMW Z3 sports car like he has been searching for, well, the children’s anxieties seems to have “boiled-over.”

With that out of the way, now let’s get to the important things in life. We now have six wonderful great-grand-children, with two more on the way. That will be our big news in 2015. Tyler Calder’s wife Liesel is due in February with their first child, and Rachel and Jeff Naylor’s third, is due in April. We figure, if 6 are great, 25% more should be absolutely wonderful. We have discovered that our position is more like cheering from the grandstands, than occupying a position of responsibility. But that is just the way it should be.

We see Julie and the G-Grand-children at least 2 times a month. Unfortunately, we see Scott and his children less frequently, Mary Lou, only about once a year, and Ali even less. Next year we hope to see Mary Lou and Scott more often, and visit Ali and her boys in Alaska.

Mention was made that we serve in the Logan Temple, however Ruth Ann is a Counselor in the Ward Relief Society, and Felt is the Ward Clerk. In addition, he teaches priesthood once a month, so we have maintained our intensity and commitment. We have found great joy in serving our Heavenly Father, and the people that we have association with at church and in the community.

With so many that we know facing trials and challenges, we feel very blessed to enjoy health and happiness. Each morning as we awake, we find reason to rejoice that we have still another day to be together and find joy. We extend a genuine hope that you too will enjoy that same blessing as well.

We are grateful to call you friend or family. And we are especially grateful that as we mature/age our Savior and His atoning sacrifice for each of us becomes more real in our lives. Our hope is that as you celebrate this wonderful time of year that you too will realize that He (Jesus Christ) truly is the greatest gift of all.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

Felt and Ruth Ann Stirling

As a gift for you we are including a link to some Christmas cheer
This one is beautiful music and video.

‪www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNlCGlDuCEI Cached‬

ALMOST CHRISTMAS

Christmastime Blog

I don’t seem to be able to keep up to date with the BLOG. So I will try again.

We are doing well. I will attach our Christmas greeting or maybe put it in a separate BLOG post.

We have been well and have enjoyed a couple of more trips down to Mesquite for a week (4-5 days) at a time. The more often we go the more we enjoy it. We have enjoyed several trips on our RZR with our neighbors and had some good adventures. They vary from 4 hours to almost 8 hours and we definitely enjoy the shorter ones more.

Felt has spent the last couple of weeks making Peanut brittle out of the River Road recipe book his mother gave us. We are trying not to eat as much as we package to give away. He has become very adept at the process and it comes out perfect each time – after one botched batch at the beginning. It is almost as if we need to ruin one batch before we can make it the right way.

We have had a very mild fall and early winter. We have had a couple of very light snowfalls. Nothing that stays on the pavement. We are not complaining.

We have been able to go to a couple of Christmas concerts or programs and they definitely increase the Christmas spirit in our home.

We did decorate our Utah house for Christmas – we put up a small tree and wreaths on the doors. We also put up a nativity and some poinsettia plants. Much less than in the past and I think the house looks great. Down south we took a cut glass bowl and filled it with brightly colored ball ornaments and hung a wreath on the door. Both worked just fine.

We are spending Christmas in Utah. We don’t want to miss seeing the great grands at Christmas.

Ok so I am behind at posting!

Time for an update on our happenings.

We are doing pretty well. We had a wonderful summer. We enjoyed several shows at the Eccles Theater in Logan as part of the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater productions. Our very favorite was “les Miserable”. We actually attended 3 times; once just us two; once with Julie and Dave; and once with our good friends, Carolyn and Mark Baird. We could not believe it but they got better and better. In addition we drove over to Bear Lake to go to the Pickleville Theater – a family owned playhouse – to see the popular version of “Who Shot Juanito Banditio?” We laughed and laughed. And as usually happens, saw some good friends in the audience. And we ended our theater going with a trip to Tuachan in St. George to see “Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat”. It is one of our favorite shows and we are still humming some of the themes.

Our free time is limited somewhat by our temple service mission. We served a two year Temple mission that ended in March of this year and agreed to serve another two years. We serve each Saturday afternoon and evening except when the temple is closed for cleaning or general conference. We have extra duties now, that require us to be ready to work/serve at 1 pm each Saturday and stay until all the members have left the temple that night, usually leaving between 10:30 and 11:00 pm. It makes for a long day but we enjoy the opportunity to serve and it is a great way to prepare for the Sabbath.

Recently we had two Saturdays off. The first one for Women’s Conference and next Saturday is for General Conference. This meant that we could actually come down to our home in Mesquite and stay for almost 3 weeks. And we had a great time.

We had some down time, but not too much. One night we went to a Luau at the Pioneer Center (rec center) here in our Sun City community. We did not know a soul but sat with a nice couple who had moved here 6 years ago from Salt Lake and enjoyed getting to know them. After a dinner they had entertainment with a “band” from the Polynesian Center in Hawaii and three dancers. I will try to include a picture of the girls. The young man did some fantastic dances also but he was hard to capture with my phone. At one point he did a dance with a lighted torch and it was fun to watch.

One week, our neighbors took us on a drive on their Razors – off road vehicles – up on top of the Mesa we live nearby. I had been fearful that I would be frightened, but they are very sure footed and we moved with no difficulty and I wasn’t scared at all. The ride was a little bumpy but not bad, and all in all it was exciting and lots of fun. So of course we had to go check out Razors. And we bought one, used, but not many miles and in good condition. It is an 800S for those who might understand those things. I would have preferred red, but you take what is there and so it is white and yellow.

Felt and I at the top of the Mesa above our home

In the dealer when we bought our RZR

We planned a trip to see the North rim of the Grand Canyon. (In our car) We knew it was nearby and made reservations as close as we could get with two months notice – about 40 miles away from the north rim. But it was well worth it! We discovered that the Grand Canyon is only about 3 ½ hours away from our home in Mesquite. And the views and scenery were well worth the drive. Huge pine forests interspersed with groves of aspen trees that were in all their fall glory of yellow and gold. We drove along the rim drive and stopped at each Vista point walking short distances. It was so much fun we made reservations for a year from now at the Grand Canyon Lodge.

One of the beautiful views of the north rim of the Grand Canyon

The trees were in full color - beautiful!



We cherish our time in our “get away” home. We love it more and more down here. The weather could not be better right now. We enjoy our neighbors and our yard is a real bonus – we absolutely love being outdoors watching our plants grow and thrive and listening to our water feature. Felt even installed a solar powered spot light that comes on at night to let us see the water flowing – the light is not very bright but is a nice highlight feature.

WE ARE IN!

We are in!

Last month we closed on our “escape” “vacation” home in Mesquite Nevada. That meant we had to make arrangements for landscaping in the back yard fairly soon. Since we had two weeks off from serving in the temple (closed for cleaning) we chose to go back down in July. Let me tell you we probably will not be spending much time in Mesquite in July after this. Several days the thermometer reached 112 to 114. We used sunscreen liberally and wore hats and drank lots and lots of water.

We hired a landscape company to do the design and planting and they did a fantastic job. It hurt to watch the men work in that sun and heat, but we provided cold water and they seemed to be used to working in heat like that. We had some input into the design. We had asked for some color, some palm tree type plants, and for a water feature that appeared to be a spring coming out of rocks and then being a water fall ending in a small pool or pond area. We also wanted a patio area off the covered deck. Note: There is no grass to speak of in any of the yards – all of it is zero scape – using rock and drip systems.

Oh my they exceeded our expectations – the plants and the red rock are wonderful – and the water feature is delightful. The sound of the water running is so peaceful and relaxing. I know the back yard will be our favorite place to be – especially when it is not so hot.

During the two weeks we were there we had blinds installed in most of the windows, ceiling fans installed, TV hooked up, additional furniture delivered and a refrigerator replaced (the first one did not cool). Julie and Dave came down to see how it all came out. We learned to play Bocce ball – fun activity – but another one that will be more fun when it is cooler. We went to the swimming pool several evenings, and enjoyed floating in the cool water as we watched the sun set over the mesa. And Felt learned how to change out the drip emitters – different ones put out different amounts of water and how to control the computerized water system. So grateful he could do that – it let me relax and enjoy!

So I thought I would share several photos with you. I can’t begin to show you everything. We feel so blessed to have this opportunity in our lives.

When I chose this chair it was a little out of my comfort zone but I kept going back to it. Now we both love it

Also a little different for us - but what fun to choose new things!

We decided on neutral with splashes of bright colors.

The indian rug on the wall is authentic. My Aunt gave it to us years ago and it has been stored in a box for maybe 40 years. Felt found it and thought of displaying it. One more good reason why I married him.

Our kitchen breakfast nook. The table and chairs are fun

Looking east from our patio area as the sun sets behind us. Love my fan palm.

View looking west of the mesa. Dave took this picture while the sun was rising. Great picture Dave.

Mesquite House Update

Update June 1, 2014

Well we close on the house in Mesquite on June 17 – just a little over 2 weeks to go. It has been a good thing that we took a trip down south to see family and Felt to go to a bi-annual high school reunion. It kept us from going back down to see the progress for ourselves. These pictures were taken by our neighbors and the developer.

And we do have progress! Since I posted last we have a nearly completed home. We are missing some things – faucets, toilets, shower door, interior doors, carpet, appliances and a few other things. But all those can easily be done in two weeks.

Our furniture will be delivered on June 20 and will look sparse at first. We want to take our time so bought the basics and will fill in and decorate as the year goes on. I will post pictures again after the furniture arrives.

So now for the pictures!

We got our stucco coat

Then they painted the house. We chose this yellow - no others like this on our street.

They painted the interior. Chose this color from a swatch. It looks different in each picture - the light changes the color - I think we can live with this.

They put on the roof tiles - Love the tile look!

The cabinets were installed - Again we had no real idea how they would look. We didn't do badly.

They poured the driveway and walk ways

Now we have counter tops too!

Garage door and looking more like a second home everyday!

Mesquite Home Progress

Report for mid April

Wow! These folks in Del Webb Sun City know how to get a home built quickly and yet with quality. We have been so impressed that I thought I would post one more time.

We have good neighbors, Cindy and Allen Hicks who have been taking pictures of the progress daily and sharing them with us. We feel like we are on site watching it all take place without the frustration of waiting to see if they will come work today. Many thanks to the Hicks!

We leave to go down for a walk through prior to the drywall going up this week. We meet on Tuesday afternoon and then they will proceed forward and we will continue to be excited.

One more exciting thing occurred this week. We got a plan back from the landscaper who will be doing our back yard. We had met with them and requested several things. The plan is wonderful and incorporates all that we had hoped for. As that moves along I will post pictures of that. In July and August.

So here are some pictures so far.

We got roof trusses

And windows

Electrical

Added barrier to the roof

Loaded the roof with roofing tiles

Wrapped the house with a barrier

Added hard foam board insulation and wire mesh to put the stucco on with.

I left out several steps, plumbing - water lines - duct work - but it is exciting to watch it take shape.

We will post more pictures after we go down this week.

Thanks for sharing our adventure!

Progress – ahead of schedule!

Progress – ahead of schedule!

We have built 3 houses including this one – the first one was a disaster time wise – it was supposed to be complete – move in ready in March or April. We arrived in Virginia to find that they hadn’t even cut any trees or made any beginning. We waited until September to actually move in.

The house in New Hampshire was a much different story. We built it long distance again but this time our builder was wonderful. Our home was completed and ready to move in just about when we expected it to be.

This house is not as important time wise – after all we have a home to live in – and we really don’t need it until it begins to cool off again. And what do you know? They are ahead of time! The schedule called for them to begin framing on Friday – one coming up in a couple of days. Today one of our new neighbors sent us pictures – I have posted some of them.

This was taken before they poured the foundation

After the foundation was poured

Framing has begun!

WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW???

What are we doing???

We have been talking about this for several years. But in January we actually did it! What is that you ask? We bought a second home!

After all the years of loving the winter and playing in the snow – our bodies have finally said – “I really like being warm much better than being cold”. We looked at several places and decided to chose a Del Webb community for 50 and over to the west of Mesquite Nevada. We both probably would have chosen St George if we were moving. But since we are keeping our home in Cache Valley – Providence Utah – we do love it here in the summer and fall, we chose to spend a little less and get a little more in amenities.

So now begins the wait – we are building a new home – it is a cottage really, about 1400 square feet – two bedrooms with an optional room we are choosing to have be a den or office and two full bathrooms. It has a smallish kitchen, but with all the bells and whistles – after all we don’t cook fancy or big anymore. A great room with a dining area that opens up to a covered patio and a small yard we plan to have landscaped with desert plants and a water feature.

The plan is to enjoy going back and forth for about 5 or 6 years. At that point we may chose to move to St. George or live in our little home for the winter. It is about 6 1/2hour drive from our door to the new door on great roads – I 15 (driving at the speed limit). But for now we hope to be able to go down for a couple of weeks at a time several times a year and go at least 2 times each cold weather month for a week at a time. We are limited somewhat by our mission we are serving at the Logan Temple, but know our service blesses not only our lives but our family also..

We feel so blessed to be able to do this and plan to share with our family and friends. Even when we aren’t down there they can head down and enjoy being warm, play some golf, hike the trails, go to Las Vegas - about an hour south – or just relax in a comfortable place.

I’ll keep you posted with pictures as we go along.

The view from our back yard across our neighbor's yard - the sun comes up over the Virgin Mountains

The floor plan for our winter get away.

This is the far corner of our property looking across our lot toward our neighbor.