Happy 50th to ME! 🎉🥳💜

For as long as I can remember, my plans have been to be somewhere FUN on my 50th birthday. As the time was approaching, I started making plans with Suzanna to go hike in the Olympic National Forrest in Washington. I have been dying to hike through the Hall of Mosess.  The lush, moss covered trees have always looked so incredible to me. As the time drew near, I became aware that Suzanna would no longer be able to go. She was going to need a hysterectomy. I was super sad! 

I started looking at ticket prices to have someone else come with me and hike instead.  Last-minute tickets to Washington were around $1700! No thank you, we can spend that amount of money for when we travel to Europe instead, ha! So I rearranged my trip to go to Vegas instead.  Thankfully Sidney and Molly were able to come with.  

I was sad about skipping Washington, but then

 realized how lucky I was that plans didn't work out because I came down with shingles just before I left. I would not have felt like hiking!

I got them up the back of my leg from my knee to my butt cheek. Then some on my back, armpit and my face.  I'm pretty much covered.  Also lucky for me, I had several doctors tell me thatI have a high tolerance for pain, so thankfully, I wasn't in much pain. The doctor gave me some medication to help with the nerve pain that I did have, so I was able to enjoy my trip pretty much pain-free.

We had such a great time! We ate dinner at Din Tai Fung, we also ate dinner at Alexxas Italian restaurant. We went to see the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. That was incredible! It has been incredibly digitally remastered.  The seats rumble, the tornado blew through us, and foam apples fell from the sky. The only bummer deal about our seats was that I booked our tickets just barely too high to catch the apples. But that's OK. 

We spent our time soaking up the sun at the pool, eating ice cream from Salt & Straw in the evenings and having so much fun!

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 I took Molly to see Thunder Down Under (Sid said it "wasn't her vibe" whatever that means! haha!) and we had a ball!  It was a great way to celebrate 50!

The Summer that Utah was on Fire🔥

We are on fire.

All over.

The air quality is so bad that it's equivalent to smoking 3 cigarettes a day.

Thousands upon thousands of acres have been burned up.  Deer and other wildlife gone.  Ranchers have lost countless cattle and worst of all, unfortunately 3 firefighters have also lost their lives, with several others injured.

We've also been blessed by other firefighters stepping up to help.  Ranchers and cattlemen have come from all around to help round up mountain ranging cattle.  They've supplied transportation for the cows as well as food and lodging for them.  Food and lodging have been provided for those people who have been evacuated from their homes.

Such a tragic thing to be going on - and how beautiful of a thing for people to shower love and support on one another.