thyme and thunderstorms

Let's see...this week we went golfing for Wayne's class at a nearby golf course. Who knew the executive course was the easy course!? At any rate, I walked around with him, and he did the executive course for one of his PE classes. We'll have to do it again twice tomorrow so he can get full credit on that assignment, but at least we know the course now. It had started to rain when we first went out [read: pouring], but true to Utah's weather patterns, we waited under shelter for about three minutes and were able to go out after that, even though it was insanely windy.

Friday evening was another rainstorm, but this one lasted all night and even had fun lightning and thunder. We enjoyed a pleasant evening of cozying under a blanket and reading books while listening to the storm. I like thunderstorms. Star cat hid under the bed, though.

Wednesday we were able to take a break from thesis stuff to head up to SLC and visit with Aunt Sharla. She had a few questions about her computer and we enjoyed the excuse to go for a visit. If only school didn't get in the way so often.... :)

Thursday for mutual the young women and I played hide and seek and sardines. We were supposed to be doing an activity to plan our skit for camp, but the stake had a sudden change of plans and the older girls all went to a pre-youth conference activity instead. So since I'm with the younger girls...we planned a spur of the moment activity. And this is what sounded fun to them.

And yesterday we saw Wayne's folks again at the end of their Alaska trip. They had lots of good stories and pictures to show us, and we hung out with others in the Madsen clan for dinner. We don't find opportunity to see them often enough, so it was a good evening to listen to everyone's stories and "meet" people I'm sure I've met before. :)

We also bought a thyme plant yesterday, because it was for a really good deal at the grocery store. Now we'll have to learn something about growing herbs, in addition to the trees we've been trying to grow for the past two years! [We really love thyme seasoning because it's a staple in mediterranean foods. However, buying dried thyme from the store is very expensive. When I was growing up, my parents grew spearmint in the yard and the stuff was like weeds after the first couple years. Our friends Jon and Faith grow many of their seasonings in pots, so we thought we should be able to get away with growing our own thyme, and eventually parsley. -Wayne] Star busied herself sniffing at the plant last night; maybe Wayne and I won't be the only ones to benefit from this experiment??