GOING BANANAS

10 months later

2011-04-06T19:26:00.001-07:00

Where have the last 10 months gone? Here is a quick glimpse of July through December 2010.

July

Picnic in the mountains

September

A new baby girl added to our family

Parent's first night out - leaving the bean with us.

One new BLA officially added to the family

October

Budding Soccer Stars

G'rats family at the zoo. Grandma A came down from SD and we all met at the zoo.

November

Hunting trip with a break for geocaching

Thanksgiving Day Races

December

Wrapped up warm to look at the Temple lights

Family Home Evening Christmas Cookie Baking One newest baby boy

Everyone together to celebrate Christmas.

Washington State in June

2010-06-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

Solo Point, this is where the Bear starts his PT. Quite an uphill run from here. We saw lots of itty bitty crabs, a jelly fish, and millions of barnacles at low tide.

Up the hill to the old Insane Asylum. Glad it wasn't still there or they may have wanted to keep me.

At the entrance to Mt. Rainier. Have to love camera's with timers. Am I really this fat, it must be the camera lens?

Paradise on Mt. Rainier, or it will be after the summer thaw. We looked at the beautiful pictures of this spot on the internet and didn't think about the fact that those pictures were taken at a much later date. We did get to see the Mountain from a distance, which not everyone gets to do in June.

In the grove of the Patriarch's with the 1000 year old trees (yep abe and I felt right at home).

One goonie girl enjoying the view near the Goonie rock's on the 25th anniversary celebration of this historic movie...

Enjoying the views at bridal veil falls with one of our favorite people.

Right from WOW...

Beautiful ripe berries over a fast running stream.

Seattle Temple (Just in case you can't read the words on the sign)

We had some time to kill before we got to the airport and we found a brown sign showing us the way to a scenic place. So we drove off the freeway and found the "Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection". The price for the tour was within our budget (free dollars) so we parked and strolled among some really cool Bonsai trees. This one is over 400 years old. Well worth your time if you are ever just a little south of the Sea Tac Airport and have some time to kill.

January to May

2010-05-09T19:19:00.001-07:00

Resting on a 7 mile hike in January

Abraham boys never run out of energy even after our long hike

A day to remember in February

Building Snow Persons in February

Sledding on a perfect day

Ski bunny??

Welcome Boy Four to the family in March

Working up hunger on ice cream for Easter

Just swinging on Easter

First Easter Eggs

Boy cousins

Smiling Boy Four in April

May at the Zoo - Madison the tour guide

Resting near the petting zoo

The end of 2009

2010-05-08T14:41:00.001-07:00

Happy 33rd Anniversary - Welcome Baby Boy Three to the family

Petroglyphs in November

Coloring for Thanksgiving

Temple Lights in December

Hiking South Mountain last week of December

Windows

2010-05-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

We decided to put new windows in our summer home, so we had someone come and measure them. Since there were quite a few sales, we got them cheaper than we thought we might. So, we are replacing 16 windows. This should be a great thing right?

They were scheduled to come and do the install on Thursday. I knew they had my cell number so I went to work early to get a few things done, they would call when they got the the house right??? Anyway I didn't get a call so I decided that I must have given them the wrong day. About noon I found out that my phone was not working that morning and I had over 6 voice messages - 3 were from the installers. So plan B, they would come Friday morning. Friday afternoon abe was leaving for the Father & Sons and I had thought I could take the girls out and do something fun. Not with installers here, so Friday night they finally left at 7 and I went and bought something for supper. I did take the dog for a walk and scared the installers as they didn't realize that I had taken the dog and they were looking everywhere for him.

Even better, they wanted to come back at 6:30 am Saturday morning, so no sleeping in on this day. Since this house was built over a period of years, none of the existing windows was installed the same. The installers have really gotten frustrated, but it will be great once it is done.

I can't go too far from home today as they are here. Can't really do anything in my house either, and can't even relax and watch TV. Oh, well abe should be home soon so at least I will have someone to talk to. Poor, poor me..

Wednesday - or as we called it Bri's day

2009-09-04T20:09:00.001-07:00

Guess what we had for breakfast??? Yep, same old same old. This was the day we planned to take Bri for a drive. I had to stop and email the pics as well as download a few geocaches in Minnesota to add to our day. We left Bri and Melly at the hotel while we went to pick up Auntie Dee since we were going to have to drive right by the hotel anyway.

On to Flandreau, where we saw a covered wagon train going through the main part of town. The first wagon said something about Pipestone days on the side of it. We went to check out a geocache we had missed the last time we were in the area, but we still didn’t have much luck with this one.

We drove to Pipestone and the Pipestone National Monument. Melly slept all the way there and also while we walked the ¾ mile trail around the park. We stopped and took pictures of flowers and other interesting sites. The two ladies sat in the car and Melly stayed with them. The weather was nice enough for that and we left them in the shade with the windows down. Auntie Dee did worry when we were gone. She thought something had happened to us. We stopped by the pond where the Hiawatha pageant in held every year and took pictures of the rocks there.

A lady that works at the assisted living home told us to go to Lange’s café in Pipestone. She told us that they had great pie. I didn’t think we would be able to find this specific place, especially as I couldn’t remember the name of it. But as we were driving around (looking for a geocache) we found the café and bakery. They have their pie in a display case at the front and one of the pies that was obvious was Sour Cream Raisin with Meringue. My all time favorite pie. Bri and I shared a meal so we could have dessert. Melly slept through most of the meal. Auntie Dee of course wasn’t hungry, but could eat a sundae. They had really good food and the best type of ice. They brought us a pitcher of water and Bri and I drank most of it.

We found one geocache and then a second one before heading out of town. We were back on the road in no time and realized we still had quite a while before we were supposed to meet Russ in Sioux Falls. Melly had slept when we crossed the state line so we had to find a state line sign to get her picture by. We drove into Jasper and weren’t sure if we had missed the sign but then we noticed a sign that said “State Line three miles”. We took a little detour just so we could take a picture by the sign.

Enough time for Garretson and Devil’s Gulch. This place is great and the cost is right; it is free. We left a donation and we also left the ladies in the car. Melly came with us this time and we walked the ½ mile loop around the Gulch. Afterward we parked the car close enough to the sign and made them get out so we could get a picture of all of us near the sign. All we had to do was balance the camera on the car and set the timer. Not the best, but not too bad either.

Arriving in Sioux Falls and we still had over an hour so we drove to Falls Park. We were hoping to get Madders a gift, but they didn’t have anything she would enjoy. We did take some pics at the top of the observation tower and near the falls. Again, our two ladies didn’t get out of the car and Melly was asleep again.

We got to the restaurant almost 30 minutes early, but Russ showed up early as well so we were able to get seated quickly. We ate and visited until almost eight P.M. It was a nice leisurely meal and we were near the bathroom and away from the main flow of traffic.

Ahead of us was the drive back to Madison, on to Mone town then back to Madison. We dropped off Bri and Melly as Melly was getting tired of being in the car. She had been really good for most of the day and had even let her mom enjoy her meal, she just sat in a high chair while we ate.

Knowing we had to pack up and wanted to get away early the next morning we didn’t want to stay up too late.

What's good about Tuesday?

2009-09-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

Breakfast was the same, again we dropped Bri and Melly off. This time we picked up Terrie before we picked up Auntie Dee. Then we drove to Sioux Falls. We planned on meeting Terry’s daughter-in-law at one for lunch and we had about an hour to kill so we drove farther south and drove by their house and also around the graveyard where their baby daughter was buried just a short time ago. Terry showed us a photo album the hospital had put together for them as a memento of this little angel. She explained that they were able to hold her and spend time with her before they had to let her go. They were dealing very well with their loss. She told us about a dragon fly and also a butterfly that visited them at their homes after her death. She felt that these two incidents weren’t mere coincidence that they were both a sign from their little angel to let them know she is alright.

For lunch Auntie Dee told us she wasn’t hungry – something we had heard everytime we talked about food. She did tell us she could eat dessert though. I gave her part of my meal and then she had a little sundae. She also drank some Pepsi, but didn’t like it too well. She is not used to fountain sodas and so it tasted funny to her.

We drove back to Madison and stopped to visit Tessie before going to the picnic that had been arranged. The weather prediction was for rain, but by that evening it was perfect. It was amazing the number of people that showed up for this impromptu affair. It was potluck and the table was loaded with all sorts of dishes and way too many different desserts. We took pictures of different groups and some candid shots. We got pictures with Melly and some of her cousins. We also took a picture of mom and her brother and sister. Afterward Uncle Joe’s daughter took Auntie Dee back to Mone town, which saved us another trip and allowed us to go to bed a little early. Well that was the plan, but abe called me and told me that we needed to email some pics from the Boy Scout Encampment to someone. This would have been easy except that the internet connection in the room was not working. I fought with it for about thirty minutes before I realized that it was no use and finally went to bed about midnight.

Monday, Monday

2009-09-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Breakfast at the hotel – biscuits and gravy, sausage, and waffles. Then we dropped Bri and Melly off with GG Abraham. GG Carter and I traveled to Mone town to spend the day with Auntie Dee. We picked up Auntie Dee and took her to Uncle Joe’s home. He wanted to take his sisters to lunch so we loaded up two walkers and one cane and drove to the local café. They have senior “dinner” (which is at noon). For three dollars they each got a small bowl of grapes and cantaloupe, a hamburger patty, mixed veggies, a baked potato, a slice of bread and a cup of milk. Quite a bargain, since I’m not a senior yet they brought me a half hot beef sandwich – one slice of bread with sliced roast beef, a scoop of mashed potatoes covered in nice brown gravy, no sign of a vegetable anywhere. It was really good though and the waitress brought me a fruit cup just to be nice.

After lunch we loaded everyone up and went for a drive. We drove up the hill and by the rock, then past the cemetery and on to Lake Badus. As we were driving we remembered that Aunt Mary’s old house was not standing where it was supposed to be. It was there in June when we came back to visit but this time when we drove by the only thing left were the trees and the windmill. We decided to drive up the driveway and see what had happened to the house. I left the sisters and brother in the car and walked over to the house. It was obvious that it had been burned. Apparently the land had been sold recently and the new owners were trying to clear the land. The only thing left is the rock basement. I took a few pictures and we were down the road to Lake Badus and the Badus cemetery. Next we drove by Auntie Dee’s home where we stopped and took pictures of her red kitchen ceiling.

The next leg of our trip took us by the Lutheran church and on to Madison where we drove past the golf course and Prairie Village then through Lake Herman State Park. Our next stop was at McDonald’s, it was around three P.M. and all of the handicapped parking was taken so we parked as best as possible and unloaded two walkers and one cane and went inside. We all had a hot fudge sundae with nuts and a small glass of water. At quite a few tables there were people sitting around playing cards.

We loaded back up and returned to Mone town to drop off Uncle Joe. We had to stop at the assisted living home to pick up some stamps. While we were pulling out we noticed some people standing there and realized that they were relatives so we had to stop and visit with them. One of them had come all the way from St. Paul to spend time with mom since she was in the area.

Then we drove back towards Madison and stopped at one of mom’s old friends along the way. She showed us a book that she had written from her years of teaching in one room schools. During part of that time she taught at the Abraham school and actually had abe as one of her students. She had pictures in this book as well and we asked her if we could get a copy of it. We plan on visiting with her another year and going through the pictures she has, some of them from her high school years with mom as a young girl and others from her teaching years. Her memory is extremely sharp and it will be fun to see what she remembers from teaching abe and his brother.

GG Abraham brought supper to us in the hotel. Afterwards we took Auntie Dee back to Mone town and visited with Aunt Florene for a few minutes before returning back to get some sleep before our next thrilling day.

One Day at a Time

2009-08-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

nmnmnm,mn,nm,nm,,, , (Melly wrote this and so this must be what she thinks about air travel and SD)

After leaving cool town a little later than we planned we arrived at the airport and walked right up to the counter to check in. We were there in plenty of time, but then the plane ended up leaving almost an hour late. While we were waiting we noticed that they gave us different seats than the ones we had requested. They would have been okay except we needed two aisle seats and they put us all on the same row. Since we had to pay extra for choosing seats I did ask them why they moved us. They ended up putting us in the front row, which has a few benefits - more leg room, but your carry on stuff has to be stowed overhead as there is no where to store it under the seat in front of you.

Even though we were an hour late taking off, we arrived only about 30 minutes late. The flight was great for the most part and melly slept most of the trip. We took some great pictures of clouds, and letters we could see on the ground, etc. I wanted to post some of these wonderful pics, but my card reader isn't working so we'll have to see what we can find in the thriving metropolis we are in.

To our hotel and now time to relax - more tomorrow.

Good news for Abe

2009-06-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

We called Garmin to find out what hope we had of restoring our broken GPS unit. They were very friendly and told me that we just need to send it in as it is still under warranty. So only the cost of shipping to repair it. Quite a substantial savings.

I also asked them about our other two units, they had both quit working about the same time last fall which really didn't make sense. I told them what they were doing and the tech told me that he could solve that problem easily. He told me that the government had change something about their satellites which made the WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) function not work, the unit would then shut down. He said the solution was simple - just turn off WAAS or update the software and they would work again.

So now we should be set and it only took a thirty minute phone call.

Camping and serving

2009-06-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

So several months ago one of the men in CG asked us to help with a Boy Scout Encampment in June. They wanted us to do a geocaching activity for the Varsity scouts. You can imagine this peaked my interest and so we readily agreed. We went to the area in May and picked out places to put our caches. We were told to go across Long Lake from the boat ramp and set up there. So we drove the very primitive road around the lake to the far side and found perfect places for our three - two part caches. Plus a practice cache. I wrote a story with clues for the boys and encrypted the entire thing. They would get the decoder at the first cache and then have to solve to find the second part. We had to do three different caches as there would be three groups on each of the three days that we were there - nine groups in all. So needless to say I had to create three different puzzles and then encrypt each of them. I spent well over ten hours doing all of this. Fast forward to June 1st.

We got to the mountains late afternoon as we had to take one of the scouts with us. After finding a campsite and getting everything set up we made supper. At about eight o'clock it started to get cold. I decided to go into the tent and read a book until bedtime. During the night it got really cold - low 40s and we had to rethink the way we had our bed made.

The next morning it was nice and warm as we were making breakfast in complete contrast to the night before. We got to the lake early to set everything up. It was at this moment that we realized that this lake has two boat ramps. The first ramp - which we didn't notice the last time we were here - made a lot more sense as the correct side as the lake was narrower here. So we drove around the other end of the lake and got to where we knew they would float across in the rafts that they would make. It was also way too far to where we had originally marked our places. The places that would go along with the encrypted clues that I had spent so much time on. So, plan B. We picked out new places and I went ahead and quickly created some math problems then encrypted those. The theme was Book of Mormon- the Power Within so we went with clues like - Take the number of Stripling Soldiers and divide that by 20... We watched the first group build their rafts and paddle over to us. Our cool boys made it across first.

As the other two teams arrived we asked the leaders if they had brought their shoes, or their gps units. They had some shoes, but no gps units. Fortunately we had two so we had the boys with shoes go in two groups and gave them directions on how to locate the caches.

We asked them to tell the raft instructor to tell the groups on the next two days that they needed to bring shoes and their gps units.

After this wild and crazy day we went back to our campsite and grilled a steak and sauteed vegetables with rice. Back in bed by eight as it was getting cold again (for this desert rat). We had noticed the cattle mooing the night before and this night they were even louder. The moon was getting full and the coyotes were also howling, the elk was bugling. It was a long noisy night.

The next day we decided to go do a little geocaching of our own in the area. We found an area with four caches within a short distance in a beautiful canyon area. One of the caches referenced this bridge which was part of the old highway. While I was signing the log, abe was holding the gps and it slipped out of his hand. It only dropped a few feet, but landed just wrong. The screen ended up burned out. This didn't make for a very happy day for him. We went back to our side of the lake and waited for our second group of boys. This group was small and we only sent out two teams again. Most of them had their shoes this time. We loaded up the makings of one of the rafts into our truck and took it around to the other side as it was too windy for them to actually paddle it back. During this adventure we managed to lose one of the center covers of our wheel - not a big thing, but now we are missing two.

Back to our campsite and we noticed that the ranch which was just a mile or so to the east of us must have released some water because we were now close to a stream. To add to our cattle elk coyote serenade we now had frogs croaking.

Thursday morning - our last day. I had left my phone off the entire time hoping that everything was going okay at home. abe told me that he was getting a signal in camp so I decided to go ahead and see if my phone was working. Just as it connected I noticed that I had a voice message. It was work telling me I needed to call the principal to straighten something out. I had to make two phone calls to set everything right. Amazing how the phone worked at just the right time.

When we got to the lake we visited with the raft instructor before going around the lake. The wind was extremely strong and the first try at raft building was not successful. In fact one of the rafts ripped apart as soon as it hit the water and two of the barrels that they were using floated over to us. They finally were able to try something different and made it over to us. This time we had three groups so the third time worked the best.

We ended up at M&S house before we came home and went on a caching adventure there - but that is another long story.

A few May flowers

2009-05-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

At first glance - you see cherry blossoms - then you notice the nice long thorns among the beautiful flowers. So you know better than to put your nose too close for a sniff.

Just an ironwood blooming - telling abe that it is time to go fish the big cats in the salt river - or so the legend goes.

We have had too many dry years here and so with a wet Spring the saguaros are trying to make up for time lost by putting on flowers everywhere. They are very interesting indeed this year.

The desert is truly putting on its finest and we have been able to go out to enjoy it all.

Capoons

2009-05-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

If you look at the deliciousness that is in this picture you see raisin filled dumplings wrapped in Swiss Chard and covered with bacon drippings and bacon bits. A familly dish that our SD relatives used to make. From the Swiss side of the family that is and this recipe is what Aunt Florene gave me during a phone call. Just don't try to find this listed anywhere else, except in a Ramona SD cookbook.

The recipe

Take large swiss chard leaves and wash well. Set aside and make dough.

3 cups of flour

3 eggs

1 tsp of salt

3 cups of raisins

1/3 to 1/2 cup of milk (to make a soft dough)

Mix together and spoon large teaspoon full of dough onto the top of chard leaf. Roll tightly tucking in ends (like making a burrito) We usually end up doubling this amount to fill our six quart stock pot.

Place a few extra leaves into the bottom of a large stock pot. Place the tightly rolled bundles into pot. Cover with boiling salted water (don't overfill or it will boil over when you are cooking capoons) then cover pot. Return to heat and cook for 20-25 minutes. Drain

Cook and crumble one pound of bacon, drain reserving some of the grease. Pour the bacon grease and crumbles over the top and serve. If you don't have bacon you can just put a little melted butter on top.

Don't worry about leftovers as they reheat nicely.

The Oregon trail to Canada

2009-05-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks Alex's Human and Chester Copperpot. We had a great time on our journey. We've got to come back to hike the rest of Silver Falls - leaving out these 76 steps.

Even if it rained all day Easter, we still were able to enjoy the nature that you showed us.

Visiting Herman the Sturgeon at the Salmon Hatchery on the Columbia River

Multnomah Falls were an awesome sight.

After two days near Portland we went North to visit our Bear. We went to the Seattle Underground and enjoyed the tour while we learned a little fun history about the area.

We also managed to take one day and drive to the ocean. It was too cold to even think about putting our toes in the surf.

After spending a couple of days with the Bear's we drove the rest of the way to Blaine, Washington. Time to get to work, with a little time to enjoy the beauty that is Washington. Our favorite was this eagle who was sitting there on two different occasions.

We'll have to come back sometime when the weather is a little less rainy. Oh, and by the way Alex's Human it wasn't allergies to green - I caught a cold but thanks to ZiCam was able to get over it in just a few days.

A day in the desert

2009-03-28T16:01:00.001-07:00

Okay, so this year we have taken as many opportunities to get out and enjoy the desert as possible before the heat arrives. Spring Break weekend, mom took it seriously and broke her wrist. We did manage to get out a couple of times and do a little geocache/hiking between spending time taking care of her. Last Saturday was an annual geocaching event and we went out with some friends to play in the desert and be with other geocache geeks from our part of th world. We also spent a lot of time pulling cholla out of our feet and legs. The joys of the desert!

Today G'rat and purplelurple asked us to watch the kids so they could dress up and go to the ren fair. With perfect weather we decided to go out and see what the bloomin' cactus and wildflowers looked like this week. We saw lots of squirrels, a fox and a whole plethora of butterflies. There were hawks flying everywhere. The entire world seemed happy today. We started the day with a cache near Flo town called "you have cacti in your what?" We ended the day 8 caches later with Gav walking a little too close to a jumping cactus and having to wait while grandpa pulled cholla out of his posterior. Fortunately none of it was too deep, just one prong in his hand which we had to carefully remove with some pliers.

Pics to make Leaner jealous

2009-03-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

Notice the perfect clouds in the background

The wildflowers are amazing near Superior and down towards Tucson

Last of all we almost ran into this guy when we were walking along a desert trail. Fortunately I spotted him before I took my next step which would have been about six inches from his head.

Caching and Caving

2009-03-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

We decided to take the oldest granddaughters to Kartchner Caverns for their birthday gift this year. So on a perfect day in March we got in the truck and drove the two hours to the park. We got there too early so we decided not to take the time to do some geocaching. Rhayn found most of the caches, but we all found some - eleven in all.

Girls at a geoccache spot, which rock is the cache behind?

Sitting in a tree outside of the Discovery center. It was a perfect tree for posing.

Standing by a stalagmite in the discovery zone. Okay it isn't real, but you can't touch the real ones, so it is the best you can get. You can't take cameras into the caves either so we thought we better take pictures while we were waiting for our tour.

After a long day we stopped at Cracker Barrel and ate and ate and ate. My camera was set incorrectly so some of the pictures came out pretty blurry.

Photo Tag

2009-02-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

Okay so I decided it would be fun to look and see what the sixth picture in the sixth folder was even though I wasn't officially tagged.

This picture is from February 2003. Those two cute little guys are Gavin and Brendon. We are sand sledding not too far from home.

Snow Day

2009-01-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

We had decided two weeks ago that we wanted to take the grandkids and go play in the snow. We had watched M&S playing with their children and sliding down a nice snow hill in the White Mountains. So since we had two girls for the weekend, we asked to borrow three more kids. It worked out perfectly. G'rat and purplelurple could spend a day without any children, JVA and SLA had Saturday off, so did dacheese and SP. So abe and I loaded up six grandchildren in two cars and drove to M&S's home. He took the twins and one boy, I took the girls and one boy. In our car we sang Silly Songs the entire way. Rhayn had a four CD set with such songs - 80 in all. The best part is they are camp songs and I knew most of them. Nothing better than - "the Quartermaster's Store" or "What did Delaware?" we can't forget my all time favorite "The other day I met a Bear". It was dark as we drove through the Salt River Canyon, and I told the kids that they would be scared if they could see how deep this canyon actually was. When I was young this was one of the scariest roads in the world to me.

We arrived late and after eating supper we tried to get settled in for the night. We weren't overly successful at this as the kids were too wound up. After having a short night the previous evening, I really was hoping that they would sleep in. This was just a pipe dream and the kids were awake way too early. We had Madders in the room we were in and she spent the night rubbing her feet on my arm.

After breakfast we loaded up and drove to the hill. The kids helped carry sleds and inner tubes and other slidey things up the hill. They didn't stop to ask what to do, and none of them even thought for a moment about anything, they just started sliding down and climbing up. Even madders was willing to ride down and we took turns taking them down and walking back up. Some of the kids went with JVA and SLA to the steeper part of the hill. The best part was watching abe sliding down like a twelve year old. He was flying down the hill and had a great time.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect - over 40 degrees and sunny with no wind. We spent two hours sliding down and climbing up. Everyone took turns and we didn't suffer too many wipeouts. Melly slept the entire time bundled up in a blanket.

We had pizza and other delicious things at a local pizzeria. Then back to M&S to pack everything up. Loaded everyone up for the long ride home. The twins slept most of the way home. When we got to the Salt River Canyon I told the kids we were entering the (dramatic pause and drumroll) Canyon of DEATH. Then when we crossed the bridge I told them we were crossing the Bridge of DEATH. Since the girls were asleep in the other car we didn't want to stop. So we got to Miami before we stopped to let everyone get out to use the bathroom.

It was early when we got home, but we were all pretty tired and ready to relax. A few books and it was lights out for the girls. G'rat told us the his went to bed without any complaint.

So now I am going to round up some winter things for our next snow day. We'll keep our eyes open for great end of the year sales so next time we can have a few things to keep the kids a little dryer and warmer.

I'm dreaming of a Blue Christmas

2008-12-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

Something special for Alex's human.

Santa Blue wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!

Making Christmas

2008-12-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

What is Christmas without baking? So we got all the grandkids together for a cookie making party. All the favorites: Peanut Butter Cup in a chocolate chip cookie, Peanut Butter Blossoms, and Chocolate Bear cookie dough with a candy cane kiss.

Putting cookie dough in mini muffin tins - Gwen and Madders did a good job. Melanie helped open candy.

Opening kisses and peanut butter cups but not eating any of them. (what a grinch for a grandma)

Hard at work with no breaks. After baking everyone was allowed to sample candy and of course eat a few cookies.

An artist at work while the cookies are baking - this is George Washington of course...

Three princess posing for a picture after all the baking was over

Tamales Part II

2008-12-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

Wanted to share this email I got from the middle of the desert....

The tamales arrived yesterday. They were still cool, and tasted WONDERFUL! Thank you so much for all the time and effort. I was able to share with everyone in the unit, and even had enough for me to have a tamale lunch the next day. Albeit a painful one, as I selected habenaro sauce instead of jalapeno by accident.

It was nothing sort of a miracle; thank you so much for making it happen.

After all these years we finally found a Christmas Gift that was wanted and enjoyed - not an easy thing with most people, even harder with some.

These are the little miracles that make Christmas a special time of year.

Procrasti Nation

2008-12-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

What country do you live in? I think that sometimes I reside in the Procrasti Nation.

We knew many months ago that we were going to have a girl baby. We knew that Brie would want a new dress for this new little girl. So why is it that with all the craziness that is my life I am not finished with this dress? First we decided to redo a bathroom - spending more time and money than we planned. We obviously didn't learn from my oldest sister that if you start a project it may take on a life of it's own. Now we do love our newly remodeled bathroom (except for the green bathtub and old medicine cabinet that we will hopefully redo in the spring). It was especially wonderful when abe's sister decided to come pay us a visit and get out of the land of cold.

So here it is Wednesday - with a blessing on Sunday - only three days away. One of which we will be helping with the Bishop's Christmas and then the Christmas program in the evening so that day is shot. Then on Sunday, it is my turn to give the lesson it is "Mothers who know stand strong and immovable in Relief". So sometime I need to finish up my lesson preparations. I may be finishing the last stitches in the middle of the night. But it will be done.

My most important other thing to do this week was to mail tamales to our Son-In-law serving in Iraq. We will see if he gets them and if he gets them and they are still edible that will be wonderful. They cost about $5 a tamale.

Here are a few pictures of a dress that according to the pattern is for an 8-13 lb. baby, but looks way too huge to me. I even cut it down a little because I think it may have fit Melly Roses older sister.

Smelly Rose

2008-10-17T18:31:00.001-07:00

Tuesday - Oct 14th
As big sister calls her - melly rose

The last picture is less than one day old. She can already hold up her head for several seconds.

Getting ready for a party

2008-09-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Madison helped us clean with Scrubbing Bubbles to get ready for her third b'day party next week.

We gave her a mostly empty can and it was amazing how much foam she managed to get out of it.

Ah, the power of scrubbing bubbles...

After the bubble fest hairball showed us this wonderful Elmo costume. It of course ended up on Blue. unfortunately the body part was too short for his long self.

Degreening my life

2008-09-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post some really awful pics and hopefully some much better ones. The first two look like a room in a house that should be condemned. The second two are much more inviting. We should have taken a picture of before we took the built in desk and shelves out - but didn't think about it in time. I love the fact that the room ended up a slightly darker shade of the same color that it started out with before they built the desk. This is visible in the first picture. What you can't see is the beautiful wooden floor that needed ever so little TLC - it has been covered with carpet for years.

Painting by a famous artist

2008-09-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share my Fitzsimmons original with you....

Nothing political about it, even though he is a political cartoonist for the Az Daily Star in Tucson.

It even looks a little like me - long neck and all....

Tune o' Fish

2008-08-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we had a piano tuner come to tune our piano. We moved the piano back into the living room where it had been for years. I decided to vacuum it out and remove any spider webs or various assorted other things that tend to accumulate in pianos. As I was looking around inside I noticed something that was in amongst everything. When I opened up the top of the piano and removed the item - a magazine - a miracle occurred. B flat had been an impossible note to play for years - along with a few other notes that you had to almost bang on to make a sound. Upon removing the magazine we now had all the notes back. When the tuner got to the house and finished his work, everything inside was right with the world. It may not be the most beautiful instrument - it has been pretty "loved" for over 40 years, but it does sound beautiful again.

Earlier that day abe went fishing and finally caught one of the big cats he has been trying to catch for years. 35 pounds of fish. It was quite a great day all around.

Quirk Factor MeMe

2008-08-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Rules
* Link to the person who tagged you.
* Mention the rules.
* Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
* Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
* Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment to let them know that they’ve been tagged.

I was tagged for this- the Quirky Meme, by desertratmama

1. I love words. We went fishing one time and I forgot to bring a book. so I read every thing in the vehicle I could find, including all of the car manuals, the maps, etc.

2. Speaking of maps, I have to have one where ever we go. I will pull it out and look at it regularly to try and figure out where we are. Even on an airplane I will pull out the airlines magazine and look for a route of where the plane flies then try and figure out where we are.

3. We don't go to concerts because I can't deal with the crowds. Abe would probably love to go, but he knows that I am really weird about this. If we go somewhere I spend quite a bit of time planning how we will be able to get out when we are done - including which exit to drive out of.

4. Yep, I deal with things by ignoring them. We have had quite a few fights because I didn't tell abe something - didn't tell him because I didn't want to talk about it. If you don't talk about it, it isn't real. Not the best way of coping, but tends to be my way.

5. I enjoy creating spreadsheets with excel - including formulas that are linked from one workbook to another. I use spreadsheets for everything. Most people would create a document, I create a spreadsheet.

6. Regardless of how bad they are, I can't delete pictures from my computer. I probably have hundreds of th em that I just can't get rid of. Maybe I will find some wonderful thing in each of them.

As I don't know anyone that leaner doesn't know, I can't link to anyone...

One special day in July

2008-07-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

After the craziness that was June we decided to get away for the fourth of July weekend- It was three days off for both of us. So we went on a geocaching adventure up the Coronado Trail in Eastern Arizona. A night with LandD, one night of camping and a night with MLT's in their new home. No fireworks as we were in our tent early trying to keep warm near Hannagan Meadow. We were hot and we froze and got rained on as we found over 30 geocaches.
A Blue Dog trying to find his way across a cattle guard near Big Lake.

At the trout hatchery with MLT's family

catching crawdads and chiggers before the thunderstorms started.

But
as
much
fun
as
that
all
was...

it didn't compare to the 18th of July, when we spent the morning in the temple.

Followed by lunch at Golden Corral with the inlaws and outlaws. We did miss out on the CostCo Cake they had at the BBQ and swim party that night (they didn't even save us a piece). But we were there for the best part - watching Madders make faces at herself in the mirrors in the temple.

One crazy week in June

2008-07-31T18:34:00.001-07:00

Monday - an unshower at Itchiban's for the bride to be and a few special relatives

Tuesday - temple session with one of the groom's friends

Wednesday - temple session with the bride

Thursday - pick up one B at the airport and our other B baptism that evening

All seven g'kids together with great grandma.

Friday - Shredding beef for the wedding - temple with Bri and Scott - setting up
for the reception

Taxi that hairball made specially for the reception.

Saturday - early morning wedding shoot before the heat was too intense. Temple wedding with lots of family -thanks to all who came, Lunch at Pacific Rim --Sushi, Dim Sum, Mongolian BBQ-- and then home for the reception.

All but one for a quick family pic with our newest member.

Thanks to the MLT's who were there to help set up and serve the food, and all the other's who helped us get ready for this special day.

June in Atlanta

2008-07-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

Stone Mountain

The boiled peanut man. We had to stop and try some fresh hot boiled peanuts as this seemed to be the thing to do when in Georgia.

Georgia Aquarium

Appalachian Trail - we hiked the trail (well a portion of it, a really small portion)

Brasstown Bald - the highest point in Georgia - we made the climb from the parking lot up. What you can see from the top - North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina then of course there are all the trees. You literally can't see the forest for the trees in the entire state that we visited.

Just a day away

2008-05-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

Monday we both had a break from work. Originally I thought we could get away for the weekend, but bishop had plans to be away. Then he came into our RS meeting and asked if we would help put together a "little food" for a wedding that was happening on Saturday night. So much for getting away before Sunday afternoon.

Saturday morning CC and I went to town and bought a cake and some food at CostCo. Then back to the church to set up our wedding arch complete with blue material from leaner's wedding and tulle from dacheese's wedding. Plants from CC's house and anything else that we could round up for an impromptu event. The bride and groom were very grateful as they weren't expecting anything and to say so myself, the room looked really nice.

Sunday afternoon we drove to Tucson and then on Monday we went geocaching south of there. Graveyards and a ghost town along with a box canyon and a few little hikes up hills. The weather was perfect for being outside. The sun shone brightly but it wasn't too hot. We took a picnic lunch with us and enjoyed each other's company. It was an almost perfect day.

efiL sI dooG

2008-05-16T18:28:00.001-07:00

The day before the last day of April I went into the hospital to have a minor procedure done. While I would like to state that I had augmentation or something lifted, that would not be the truth. Fortunately the tissue that was removed came back benign. It took a few more days to recover from this than I thought it should. I managed to have the flu for a few days after that. Anyway, by Mother's Day weekend I was finally recovered. Work on Monday was great, I accomplished so much. Family home evening that night with G'rat's family.

Then Tuesday hit.

I left my phone in the car as I was going to just run into my office for a minute. 30 minutes later the phone rang, I noticed the number and wondered why abe was calling me. I started to explain that I forgot my phone in the car and he told me to just listen for a minute. He then told me that our Maddie had been air-vac'd to the valley. I locked my office and headed home to change vehicles and clothes and then down to the hospital. What a tough few days for our poor Brie and our littlest girl. It is so hard when all she wanted was a drink of water and we couldn't get her that. She wanted us to take her home. A late night Tuesday, a late night Wednesday, and Thursday they were able to bring her home. We watched her so that mom and dad could get some food and a prescription filled. She was so much happier and wanted to be a dog like Haley. So we played dog for awhile.

Tonight it is dinner in and some dumb movie on TV. efiL sI dooG is my new motto - I try to tell myself this all the time. Sometime it is easier than others to believe because truly "Life is Good" when you take time to reflect.

Thanks

2008-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you who missed the grand event of helping me celebrate turning old, here was the hi-light of the weekend.....

Thanks so much to my two great sisters who planned everything. I was so surprised and really didn't expect anything. Thanks also to the rest of you who came all the way to cool town on Sunday.

I really thought that I had managed to turn old without too many people noticing, guess I should have known better.

Kid's eye view

2008-04-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Last week was the annual Father and Son's outing. We borrowed Bethanie and SLA and da bear's girl and I went to CG on a geocaching adventure and then to the Cracker Barrell as that is what Beth wanted for supper. As we were driving around we looked up at the sun and noticed the "sun dogs" on both sides of it. I remembered that abe told me when he was growing up that his grandfather was quite a weather guy, using the sky and animals to help him know what the weather was going to be like. Of course this was in the great state of wet SD, not our desert terrain. But it was fun to see them. The guys called us from the mountain and we asked them if they could see the sun dogs. They said they couldn't and we decided they must be looking at a different sun than we were.

Saturday we went to the lake and JVA was making fun of me when I told him that the sun dogs brought the clouds that covered the earth. I told him that I didn't dream them up and that his great g'dad would have told him all about them. abe didn't defend me though so JVA continued teasing me. I finally got abe to agree with me as we were sitting at Dairy Queen having a cone. abe said that his grandfather would have said they were a sure sign of rain.

JVA told us that he gets his weather forecast from channel 10.

I told him this was before Channel 10.

About this time, Gavin pipes up with, "So they only had nine channels?"

Ah, to be young.....

Happy Bri-Rhaynny day!

2008-03-17T17:39:00.001-07:00

Any good reason to have a Costco cake.
Besides, Bri was in Hawaii for her 21 b'day so we had to wait to celebrate. Everyone was over including a few Simpers.

Missing pictures

2008-02-05T17:41:00.000-08:00

So here is a picture of Brie and SLA cleaning my disgusting dirty kitchen cabinets for my Christmas present. Or anyway, it is where the picture would be if we had thought about taking one. We should have taken the before and after shots, but I'm not sure how we would have done that. They did remove every cabinet door, pull everything out of all the cabinets and drawers, scrub and throw away stuff, then line the cabinets and drawers, repaint and touch up what they could and put it all back together. It was quite a process, and took a lot longer than the day that they had planned. Anyway, as I don't have a picture. all I can do is let everyone know how great of a gift that was. Something that no one in their right mind will ever volunteer to do again. But then, I'm not sure anyone in our family is truly in their right mind...

Pictures from a day at the zoo and paint

2008-02-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

A little bit of cheese

Here stingray, stingray....

How many girls can fit on one camel?

Nothing better than riding a tree

Lastly, a picture of leaner painting our room.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-28T19:07:00.001-08:00

And there went out a decree from Ceasar Augustus....

An Impromtu Hike can be a spirtual experience

2007-12-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 22nd. A great day to do some last minute preparations for Christmas. Hopefully time to bake a little and sew up some bags for the gift we were making for several people on our list. We didn't jump out of bed because we thought that we had all day to get everything done.

JVA and SLA just discovered that the Bear and his girl are not going north as planned. New plan, they would leave Monday AM. So as we have been putting JVA off for many years about hiking Devil's Chasm. Our latest excuse had been that we needed to wait until the Bear was home. So, as the moons had finally aligned with Jupiter and Mars it was time to attempt the assent into the wilderness of Cherry Creek.

We stopped at Safeway to purchase some lunch stuff and off we went. As we drove past Picket Post JVA called on the radio and told us that we should climb this also as we would probably be done and back by early afternoon.

We turned off of the pavement onto Cherry Creek Road and realized that we didn't have a map. I told them that the road would take us there even though Abe was remembering a turn somewhere. So then we started discussing who was right. We drove through Cherry Creek which was running quite nicely. Our explorer would have been too low and would have probably ended up with an engine full of water.

For once, I was right and we arrived at the correct location to begin our assent. Seeing how much water there was in the creek coming off of the mountain we knew that we may have some problems with the climb. We walked and walked and went up and up and discussed whether we were on the right trail. All we knew for sure is that if we followed the creek up we would get where we needed to go. The higher we went the colder it got. There was ice on the trail wherever there was a little water.

We had attempted this hike several years ago - JVA's Junior Year a few months after he had his ACL surgery. We had gotten a late start and had not completed the hike the closest we got was within viewing distance of the ruins in the previous picture. We got to this rock that we had to get over and it took two people - one pulling and one pushing to get several of us up the rock and through the rabbit hole that you have to get through. That time there was no water in the creek - or very little. When we got to this rock, the waterfall was rumbling over one side of the rock, but the place you have to go up was dry.

This picture was taken on the first hike. We took pictures this time also, at the end of this blog showing the water in the creek.

We got to this place and I was having one of my really bad, scared of heights days. JVA and da bear decided that they would help me up, so one pushed and one pulled as I was telling them that it would be better if I just stayed at the bottom and waited for them. But they managed to pull me up. I told them that this was like child birth, it was that painful. JVA said that he was scared. I asked him why and he told me that he was scared that they wouldn't be able to get me back down the rock.

Whe we got to the top of the rock I realized that this was the place that we had to cross the face of the waterfall the last time we were there. The difference was that last time there was no water and this time you would get soaked. So they decided to go up and around the waterfall. Knowing that this wasn't an option for me, I told them that I would just wait. We had Bella and Blue with us so I thought the three of us could just sit here and watch the water flow while we waited. Abe decided that he would wait with me and we would start heading down. After the other four had left I really got scared. Here we were on top of this rock and we needed to get the dogs and me down.

We went under the one rock and into the rabbit hole to the top of the rock. I helped blue and bella down for abe to help them slide down the rest of the way. And that is when I had the most horrible extreme attack of fear that I have ever had. As I was sitting there with abe and the dogs in the creek below I started thinking that I wouldn't ever be able to get down. That they would have to sedate me and air evac me out of this place. Then I decided that this was ridiculous, so I closed my eyes and asked the Lord for strength to get down the rock. Immediately I knew I could do this, so I told abe to help guide me and told him that I needed to do this right away. I laid down on the rock and he guided my feet, then I slid the rest of the way down. When we got to the bottom I realized that I wasn't alone getting down. That I truly had help.

We continued our return trip to the car marveling at the blessings that we have received. After 30 minutes or so the rest of the group caught up with us. They decided that it was farther than they thought and they would come back in a few months, starting a little earlier. Maybe by then the Bear's girl won't have her wrist in a cast. (she out hiked all of us, even with her arm broken)

They asked how abe had gotten me down and he told them that he didn't. So I told them that I had prayed myself down. They were amazed. But then, so was I.

Phone Home

2007-11-11T18:27:00.001-08:00

This morning my home phone rang and before I could answer it it stopped. Then my cell phone rang and I raced into the bedroom to answer it. It was our bear calling from New York, jut wanted to let us know that he is back in the states. He'll be back home in mid December for awhile, then out of the military a few months after that. Yes, he's bringing the girl back to meet the family and if we don't scare her off.....

It was Brain Surgery

2007-11-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

We had to drive into the desert on Saturday to repair do some maintenance on one of our geocaches.

As we were trying to get out of Cooltown we had to stop and wait for a really huge funeral procession to get by. Back on the road and a few miles out of town we noticed a firetruck blocking traffic. This time we had to detour as there were some power lines down on the highway. We thought maybe we should go home and give up for the day.

Finally we got to where our cache was located. A previous cacher told us that our "half a brain" was now two quarters of a brain. They recommended that we take some JB weld or something out to repair the cache. I disabled the cache when I found out that we had a problem. We even got an email from a cacher who planned on being in the area and wanted to know if they could fix the cache for us.

So with some gorilla glue in hand we preformed brain surgery. Feeling we had accomplished a lot for the day we headed home. We placed one more cache on the right road so that we could encourage more people to find our newly repaired half a brain.

Pardon me

2007-11-06T16:42:00.001-08:00

So abe finally did it.

He was finally pardoned by the governor, or he officially retired, whichever makes the best story as both are somewhat true.

He would love to become a fisherman full time, but....

A weekend of halloween and fun

2007-10-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

Friday was the annual MLT Halloween bash, leaner, rhayn and gwen came to town to help celebrate.

Good food and fun for all.

Saturday abe, JVA and SLA needed to sight in their rifles for the big deer hunt. So since leaner was in town and Beth and Gav were over (mom and dad were out of town celebrating their anniversary) we decided to invite everyone out for a picnic at Coyote Pond. Fishing wasn't the best- too much duck weed. But Beth and Rhayn each caught a fish. Gwen decided that G'ma was the best chair at the pond.

That evening it was on to the next halloween gathering -Trunk or Treat. Beth and Gav put on their costumes, but G'ma didn't have the right makeup for either of them so Jack Sparrow had a pretty scraggly beard. They participated in the costume parade, fishing pond, bobbing for donuts, face paininting, haunted house, etc. Bowls of chili and fritos and homemade rootbeer. Of course the highlight was the trunk or treating in the parking lot. We brought home more candy than we took with us.

Sunday we are making cookies for my RS board meeting and the kids have parts in the Primary program.

Kentucky

2007-10-23T20:50:00.001-07:00

Early in October I had to go on a trip to Kentucky. In between conference sessions we managed to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum and watched them make baseball bats. We also took a taxi ride and spent a few minutes at Churchill Downs. The weather was almost perfect even though we thought that it would be cold.

One evening, our group went to the restaurant at the top of the hotel. This is a picture from the bathroom at the Rivue. Notice how great these sinks were. We even had one of the men check out the men's bathroom to see if it were as cool as the women's. (It was the same).

The challenge

2007-10-18T15:58:00.001-07:00

Okay leaner here goes:

Artistic, unless whatever I am doing needs to be random, and everything I create tends to be symmetrical.

Not a loud person, or a party person, pretty much content with quiet and solitude especially at work.

Never at a loss for words, if you give me enough time, just don’t expect me to respond quickly. I need to think through what I am going to say.

Although not the most nurturing of individuals, I love my family and enjoy them. Watching the kids grow and change and now getting to know each of these grandchildren is truly the most important thing I can imagine.

Release and a call

2007-09-10T16:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday, our bishopric was changed. abe was released for approximately two minutes and then recalled as the 1st counselor in the new bishopric. The interesting thing is that our bishops wife happens to be my 1st counselor in RS. That is a lot of leadership in two families. I called the bishop today to verify that we were going to leave everyone in as it now stands and he told me that his wife needs something to do. Pen-nut you are very familiar with our new bishop and his wife. I think they were in your ward or at least in your stake. He has already served two different times, abe told him that maybe this time he will get it right!

Callings

2007-09-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

So now that I have called all of my children to tell them about this, I guess it is okay to blog about it.

A week and a half ago I received a phone call. I was asked if I could meet with the bishop that evening. We were sitting around minding our own business and were pretty much settled in for the night. I went ahead and got dressed to meet with the bishop. Knowing that because abe is in the bishopric, the chance of me having a heavy calling was pretty slim. So I was shocked when the bishop extended the call he had in mind; we were wrong. I have had 10 days to get used to this responsibility. So many amazing things have happened during the past few weeks that point to preparation for this calling. When we left the church that night, abe asked me why I was so quiet. I told him that I feel utterly and totally overwhelmed by this responsibility. Being called as the RS President isn't something that any sane person aspires to. But then I guess I never have been totally sane.

Where were you when the lights went out?

2007-09-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't live in the great state of HOT, you may not know that we had a power outage after a severe thunderstorm. We were sitting around having a nice meal, celebrating JVA b'day and our other J who also had a b'day. The wind started, followed by thunder and lighting and then massive amounts of rain. We watched our tree in the backyard touch the ground because of the strength of the storm. Then the power flashed off once and then again, this time it did not come back on.

We thought that it would be on again before too long and so we pulled out the lanterns and watched the storm. When the rain quit our road was like a river. Everyone went home and abe went to the church for a few minutes. When he got home we went for a drive to see how far the power outage extended. Most of town was dark, but there were a few lights in various places. We went home and opened our bedroom windows and then went to bed. We hoped that the power would return soon. At six thirty AM my phone rang. It was one of my teachers telling me that school was canceled. We had a meeting scheduled with some business & industry people that afternoon- we decided that that wasn't happening. I got up and went to school to find out what was going on.

Abe had therapy and then a doctor appt, so we went to the valley. We also went to a movie and returned home to a dark house. We spent the night with our niece - thank you hairball. All of our children were without power also, so they had to find other placed to be. Hairball and her brother had powereven though we all live in the same town. G'ma also had no power so she spent the day and night with hairball.

Friday AM and still no power. We went home and changed clothes and decided to drive up the mountain to get out of the heat. It was almost 4 PM before our power was restored.

We have gone over this a few times in our mind - what could we have been more prepared with? We had a generator that we borrowed, so our freezer and frig were okay. We could have slept at our house and we had enough water and food. Our phone worked, but not everyone has our cell phone numbers. This was a great preparedness exercise. Our bishop has been asking us to see how prepared we are. We decided that next time we just hope it isn't quite this hot. But I guess that is part of an emergency - it has nothing to do with convenience. We kept thinking that our power would come back on and everything would be back to normal.

We are all back home, no worse for the wear.

Priorities

2007-08-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

Three AM and driving home from the emergency room. It was a Saturday EARLY morning and I had been out all night helping a member of our church. Her husband had fallen in the parking lot after the football game and so I volunteered to drive her to the hospital and sit with her. Thinking it surely couldn't take too many hours. It was nine thirty when we got to the hospital. He was in immense pain, tied down to the board that they strap you to. We talked and got to know each other better during the long night. I had a ten dollar bill in my pocket and decided to buy a bottle of water for $1.25. I put the bill in the change machine and it gave me the correct amount of change - $10 in quarters!! I only had my pants pockets - no purse. So I walked around jingling the rest of the evening. At 2:30 they had finally decided they were taking him to a hospital in the valley and so we decided to head home as soon as he left.

Six-forty AM - brie brought maddie over as she had to work. I tried really hard to open my eyes as we started the DVD of Finding Nemo for her. By seven thirty it was obvious that any thought of sleep was far gone. So I got up and tried to get something accomplished. Eleven AM and finally we could take a brief nap.

One-thirty PM - time to get ready to go to the temple - we were going with the rest of the bishopric for the 4 PM session. The nap we had at least was a reprieve for awhile, and so I was awake during the session and the meal afterwards. By the time we got home though I was ready to sleep.

Priorities- what comes first? I managed to fit it all in, and I really didn't think that was possible at the time. I guess when we have the right intent we can accomplish miracles.

Just some pics

2007-08-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

A birthday phone call

A ruined visit to the Besh Ba Gowah ruins. Can't complain about the rain in Arizona though.

Keeping cool in the desert.

Pioneer children sang as they walked.....

Feeding grandpa's fish

HD

2007-08-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

We have been looking at TV's for the past few months. Our current TV has been trying to die, making weird noises and you can only turn it off and on with the remote as the on/off switch broke sometime also. Flat screen, LCD, High Def, etc. All pricier than were willing to pay. Last week we spent a few hours in town and stopped to pick up Season 10 of StarGate SG1 that had just been released. (yes, this is what we do for fun) We walked through the TV section and again looked at all the offerings. Abe decided that we didn't want anything smaller than a 32" TV. We noticed one in a box with $100 off tag on it. We looked at the model on the wall, it of course wasn't marked down. We asked one of the salesman if this were the same model. It was, so we asked if they had to charge the reduced price. Yep. So we went ahead and took the plunge.

We got home just before a huge dust storm that was blowing through the valley. We carried our 400 lb old monster TV out of our room and uncrated our new 32" wide screen HD LCD TV. Plugged it in and attached our lovely antenna - no we do not have cable. We let the TV program itself and it found stations we didn't even know existed. We get all of the stations from Tucson and Phoenix. There are four PBS stations, all different all the time. Everything is clearer than it has been for years.

Is this a good thing? I don't know, but last weekend we could finally let Rhayn watch Shrek 3-D with the 3-D glasses. Best of all abe can actually work the remote!!!

August desert pics

2007-08-12T16:50:00.001-07:00

We have finally had a monsoon season. Here are some pictures of the area outside of San Manuel, toward Peppersauce. These pics are for LVH, except for the one Ocotillo - that's for leaner.

Flew the coop

2007-08-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

Our third pair of mourning doves this summer hatched just fine. Their parents had determined that our plant wasn't good enough for them, so they tried a different place. A few days ago I was outside putting some plants on stands that we had purchased (clearance at Loews). I went in the house to do something and Blue walked over to me. I looked down and saw that he had brought me a baby bird. It was still alive, he had carried it very gently in his mouth. I couldn't put it back in the nest so just put it in the plant which is about fifteen feet from where it's mother sat with the other baby bird. JVA came over later and he tried to put it back in the actual nest. But the nest wasn't made very well and the two babies wouldn't fit. So JVA put both of the birds in the plant and we hoped for the best. The next morning I looked out and there was the mother bird with the two babies. They both flew away today. Our retriever had saved their lives. I tried to get a picture of the last baby as it sat on the fan blade, but it flew away.

Do Bears?

2007-07-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Camping has been something we have done for years. Not the trailer with all the amenities in a campsite with electricity, water, etc. The tent, air mattress, sleeping bag type of camping. When our kids were little we always took them with us and everything was well. Since becoming grandparents we have been anxiously waiting for the grandkids to be old enough to take on a trip sans parents. Before we went to SD for vacation we took a few days and went camping with the Raginin'Az group. We also took Beth and Gav with us. We drove twenty plus miles down a dirt road, away from the crowds and traffic. Away from people. We set up our tents and campsite. The weather was perfect.

By day two things were great, except for an accident by one of the younger campers. This camper tried to "go" in the forest, but didn't really know what to do. Now one thing is one, but two is a totally different thing. We turned this situation into military hands and after some amazing and detailed instruction everything was resolved. Except one of the other young campers mentioned that they were going to wait until we got home to perform this bodily function.

2nd Lt took control of the situation and before long we had a training session on "pooping in the forest". The training including the proper method of squatting and what options you have to use to prop yourself up. Taking the shovel, TP, and some wipes into the forest, the training also included a simulation and where to dig and how to lean. Upon the return to camp it is necessary to wash your hands with water - in case there may be some solid matter remaining from your trip. A quick wipe of the hands with a baby wipe and then some anti-bacterial lotion and you are back to play.

The things we take for granted!!!

2007-07-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense.

Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men
You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Redemption

2007-06-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

So as we were checking out geocaching in South Dakota we noticed that we had inadvertently forgotten to log one that we had found two years ago. Usually I wouldn't remember every cache, but this one was quite a pain to find. A mosquito infested swamp, teaming with ticks, only a tenth of a mile from the car. We did find it and we had to pick each other for ticks afterwards - kind of like a new song they are playing on the country stations. Anyway, I decided to log it almost two years after the fact. When I asked abe if he remembered our experience he actually remembered this one. But then he said that I couldn't be mad at him anymore for losing our ice cream cone antenna ball. After all, we didn't get that at our 600th find. it was really our 601st find. Takes all the fun out of him losing it after all.

Third times a charm

2007-06-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

So I haven't taken time to write for a few days. I am sure that I have been extremely busy. Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that our new "bird dog" Blue hasn't scared off our newest entry into the maternity ward plant. Here we go waiting for this newest dove to hatch her eggs. abe went to water the plant and he noticed the mom sitting patiently on her nest. I would think it would be way to hot under our porch to birth anything. Hopefully Rhayn will be able to come see this one before it hatches!

Rate this

2007-06-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

Last night we were standing outside after helping our friends, the Carps, wrap meat (they do that for a living) anyway, I said I was tired and abe said,
"Yeah, you've been short on your beauty sleep and it is starting to show."

So we are discussing the rudeness level of this. Please let us know how many rudeness stars (1-5) you would give this. Secondly, abe wants you to rate the humor level (1-10) Bro Carp thought that it was the funniest thing he had heard all week.

one fish, two fish, red fish....

2007-06-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

When we had R visit us for a few days last week we had lots of fun. One day she stayed with aunt maymay's, she spent a night at G'Gmas house. She also spent a day at G'rats.

She is such a big girl now that we had to put up an air bed for her to have her own room and not sleep with us. We really enjoyed her visit.

One of the nights abe took R and G fishing. They caught lots of fish! JVA almost ate a fish! They had fun.

Redrockmoores

2007-06-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

Just got an email from the mother of one who is part of our blogging world. Amiedanny were on their way to UT and were in a fairly serious car wreck.

Here is part of the email......."All had seatbelts...thankfully...Cam may have internal injuries and is being air-evacced out. Ethan needs stitches. Rest have seatbelt bruising so far. Van is totaled."

Please remember them in your prayers.

A rose by any other name.....

2007-06-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hairball - we discussed Jethro for quite awhile prior to your post, and while he is kind of Clampetty he isn't a hound. So it just didn't fit.

We spent almost all day Sunday thinking that the perfect name for this horse of a dog would be Trigger. But it didn't work, calling him Trig made us think too much of math.

As we went for a walk Sunday evening, and we took him for his first stroll around the track it suddenly hit. We've done this all before. It was all kind of Deja vu. There we go, a perfect name..

So, introducing

Deja Blue

AKA Blue, Ballew (he is kind of Jungle Booky), Blue Boy, Big Blue, etc.

Back to three

2007-06-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

So even though abe has been fighting this, we finally got a dog. Last winter our neighbor told us about some people who had Weimaraner puppies for a sale and she knew we wanted a dog at some point. We told her that we needed to wait until we didn't have any kids here. So we didn't think any more about it.

A week or so ago, she caught me in the street and told me that they still had one puppy. Five months old and they were willing to give it away. The mother had a huge litter and living in Florence it was difficult to get people to drive all the way out to buy the puppies. The down side to all of this was that this puppy was a male. After reading about the breed and finding out that they tend to be a little rambunctious, we weren't sure if we really wanted to do this. The neighbor had done a little more research on this puppy and found out that he is very calm. She told us she would bring him over so we could look at him and decide.

It took us several days to arrange this meeting. Finally on Thursday we finally connected and so our new family member met us for the first time. We were envisioning a puppy, what showed up at our door was a huge puppy, every bit as big as Cur when she died. That may be the worst part, he looks a lot like her.

Now we have to come up with the perfect name for this new addition to the family. We joked about Cur-sir, Recur, Concur, etc . But no derivative of Cur would be a good idea. So any great ideas???

It was on sale

2007-05-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

We have been planning on buying a patio set for a long time. Today abe had a Dr. appt so we had a little time to shop. He was even willing to go into more than one store, that in itself was amazing.

Our last stop of the day was Home Depot, we stopped there to get some stuff for the wood floor and they had this set $50 off. We sat in the two swivel rockers and then in the regular chairs. Since it is what we were looking for we decided to go ahead and buy it. The best part was that when we went to check out it came up for $100 less than the regular price. Guess we'll have to have a BBQ and break it in.

Time passages

2007-05-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on are things that don't last
Well it's just now and then my line gets cast into these
Time passages
There's something back there that you left behind
Time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

Okay, so a song from 1978, but knowing I haven't sat down to blog for awhile, it seemed like the perfect title and thoughts.

Empty nest.

We've finally (for a few months) achieved that plateau. How do we feel about that? Everyone told us we would be lonely. Everyone keeps telling us that we will get bored. Advice from left and right.

No one told us that we might go through a little depression when we realized that our kids are actually all out on their own, you can't get that time back with them. It makes you feel OLD, which again is quite depressing.

No one told us that we would miss the goodnight hugs and kisses from Katie, and Gavin, and Beth. We have missed so much of their lives anyway it was good spending time with them. Each of them have their own special qualities and the intense day to day was good for awhile to make up for lost time.

We aren't lonely or bored, we actually like each other. Imagine that after all these years, we still have conversations and common interests. Yesterday I did lock abe out of the house. Thought he had a key, which he does, but he didn't have it with him.

And our empty nests in the back yard.....
one is full of the second set of mourning doves for the season. So we are watching this new mom and dad deal with their offspring. They will probably be gone before long.

Oh, and by the way, our dishwasher broke the day after everyone was gone. So we've been washing dishes by hand, not a big deal for the two of us. Probably makes more sense anyway. So all in all - life is grand!

No more news for me

2007-04-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

This has not been a good day. Too many reports and other things due by April 15th. I put together a sample calendar for the district and it ended up on the board agenda for tonight, let me just say that I had to revise it four times today, even though I had a few other things to do.

As I was driving back to work after eating lunch the radio informed me that troops that are deployed are going to get the privilege of spending an additional three months in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I have been a good mom, I have been patient and faithful. But I know that our bear is ready to come home. His calls have had a little more homesick ring to them than ever before. He mentioned a couple of months ago that there was a pretty good chance he would be extended. Then the last time he called he was pretty sure he wouldn't be. This hit me like a ton of bricks. My eyes welled up with tears and even as I type this my eyes are spilling over. Maybe it is just PMS, but if I let myself go, I know I could have a good long cry. Next month his four years are officially over. He has spent 20 of those months in Iraq. I shouldn't complain, there are so many families affected by this. Young fathers and mothers who are away from their children.

I am sure that when he calls he will be upbeat and accepting, he always is. I just need to complain a little, to vent, because we miss him in our lives. He has spent over six years away from us already and we are ready for him to live close to us so we can get to know this wonderful man who has had so many interesting experiences.

So for now, we will continue to pray for his safe return and put on a brave front.

The picture was taken the first time he was in Iraq - he insisted that we all take turns putting a few shells through his new gun. Note that leaner is holding the gun - something she has never liked to do.

Birds and buds

2007-04-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Here are our babies - dacheese took this pic. They posed nicely for this.

The other picture is Rhayn's rose. It is getting ready to bloom and it will be beautiful just like her. It has three more buds on a lower branch and they should all bloom together.

Arizona Potted Birds

2007-04-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

For some reason this year two different species of birds have decided that our back porch and our potted plants are the ideal nesting sites.

The nest closest to the house is a mourning dove. We think she has two eggs - they have hatched and we can now see a tiny bird next to her. Both parents take turns with the babies and the nest is never left alone. The plant that they selected is a philodendron that barely survived the winter freeze. It looks pretty rough at this time, but we don't dare do too much with it.

The other nest, in our asparagus fern, is four cute little guys. After trying to determine what type of bird this one was dacheese finally was able to figure out that it is a house finch. The dad is brightly colored, with a red head and red down his back. The mom and dad don't spend as much time with their babies as the mourning dove and we are hoping that we don't scare them off.

The hardest part is keeping the plants alive and not disturb the maternity ward or hurt the babies.

You never know what may happen in Abe's garden, or what you might see.

Birthday Bonanza week continues

2007-04-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we picked up mom and took her to LB Inn in Florence for a birthday dinner. She had lunch with Laree and Shari. When we picked her up she noticed a box on her porch filled with fresh flowers from her favorite daughter.

Mom, G'rat's family, JVA and SLA, Brie and Maddie and abeNanna enjoyed chips and salsa and some other food in celebration of her 86 birthday and Maddie's 18 month birthday.

That evening we received a phone call from our bear, thanking us for the easter stuff - a camo basket and camo eggs. We reminded him what day it was, so when he hung up he called his grandma. Leaner called her also and had Rhaynn sing her a Happy Birthday.

Birthday Bonanza Week

2007-04-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks to one daughter-in-law planning an impromtu egg coloring event and inviting all the locals over, we decided to end the evening with a surprise b'day cake for a grand old lady.

The two older kids picked flowers from G'pas garden. We ended the evening with ice cream cake from Safeway.

We will continue the birthday bonanza (something we learned from our other daughter-in-law) all this week and make it special for our mom, grandma, and great-grandma.

Pic from the Desert

2007-03-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

He'll probably shoot me, but here is a picture of our Bear and his friend. It was a very dark picture and when I lightened it up it is a little grainy, but much more visible.

They are both almost smiling (LOL)!

Field trips and flowers

2007-03-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Monday, we took Katie to the Sonora Desert Museum and met Gavin on his first grade field trip. There were almost as many chaperones as there were kids, so we had Gavin to ourselves.

We managed to find the animals in every one of the locations we looked. The cats were mostly sleeping, but they were visible. The wolves were up walking around. The otter was also sleeping, which was sad because they are fun to watch. The beavers were in their den sleeping on their backs.

We saw a hummingbird sitting on her teeny tiny nest. Katie walked a lot, but by the time we were at the hummingbirds, she was done. So we decided we better head home.

When we got home we noticed that our Lady Banks (Tombstone) Rose was in full bloom. So we got a picture of all the kids that were at the house.

Other than it being a little warmer than it should be this time of year, we had a good day.

Girls climbing walls

2007-03-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today we met at the Phoenix Rock Gym to celebrate dacheese and Rhayn's b'day. JVA had decided that he wanted to pay for them to climb for their birthday present. Rhayn is an experienced climber as we have seen in a few blogs of the past.

dacheese is afraid of heights and was determined that she couldn't get very high. We also took Bethie for this climbing adventure. SLA and JVA have been here a few times climbing. Will also joined us for the climb.

All of the climbers made it to the top at least one time - even dacheese!!! Bethie started out climbing just a few feet up before she was done with the climb, but by the end she had made it to the top of three different places.

Afterwards we all met at leaner's house for Corned Beef and Cabbage and of course b'day cake from Costco. It was a great day, thanks JVA for the fun.

Golden Birthday

2007-03-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Since we knew this was the year of Rhayn's golden birthday we have been talking for months about celebrating this on her special day. The biggest problem is that it fell on a Tuesday so we couldn't be out too late.

When LVH said that she was coming to Arizona and her g-daughter Jules would be here we decided to make a date of it with the two girls and us. We had celebrated dacheese's golden birthday together so it sounded like fun.

Rhayn's favorite food is French Onion Soup, so we started our adventure at Claim Jumpers. Rhayn had her cup of soup and cheesy garlic bread. For dessert we ate an IDeclair, or we shared one and attempted to eat it all.

After eating way too much we went to Arizona Mills and rode the carosel. Rhayn picked out a pink bunny and Jules picked a pretty horse.

On to the photo booth for pictures of the two girls. Since the technology has changed a lot since LVH or I have sat in one of these we didn't realize the girls were way too low. The first set of pictures came back as big white squares. So we had them pose again. Let's just say that they had their pictures taken.

Our last adventure was at the IMAX theater. We asked the girls if thy would like something to drink and the kid behind the counter said he would give them a cup of Icee and some popcorn for free. So they both chose white cherry icees and probably marched into the theater.

They both decided that this was a really big movie. The glasses for the 3D were a bit too big for both of these little ladies and had to be adjusted several times during the Deep Sea Adventure (narrated by Johnny Depp).

This was a very Big day - Big food, Big movie, Big glasses and one very Big Birthday Girl. Happy 6th Rhayn! Thanks for sharing this day with me.

The presence of presents

2007-02-26T19:02:00.000-08:00

I was planning on putting this on my blog a few weeks ago, but haven't had time.

Abe said that he can't ever think of anything to buy for me. Anyway, a co-worker of his found this Book of Mormon at a yard sale and picked it up. The lady didn't charge him anything for it. He offered it to abe, because he thought abe might want it. So abe decided to give it to me for my birthday.

The publication date is 1874. The leather cover is a little worn, but it appears like new on the inside. Okay, to get really corny, we met in 1974, 100 years after this book was published. What a really neat gift, and so much neater than anything you could buy at the store.

********************************

Now for the other "notable" present from my birthday - yes leaner and hairball, you know what I'm referring to - your gift to me. Let me just say it came in a bag with the word Castle written on it. It is a modified version of my favorite game - Yahtzee. I can't even leave it sitting around as the picture on the front is too descriptive.

*******************************

If these two presents aren't opposite sides of the coin, I don't know what are. I will not share my experiences with one of these gifts, but I may share from the other. You can just decide for yourself which of these is most like me.

Survival of the fittest

2007-02-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

Yeah! it is Saturday! We survived this week. It was wild and crazy and pure chaos. On Wednesday, we had over 380 students touring the high school. Everything went well and even when the buses arrived late to bring the kids from the valley, we had enough time to adjust and allow each group a shortened time for their tours.

Thursday evening we had around 90 people at our expo. This doesn't sound like a lot, we were glad because we had over 15 8th graders and their parents there. I don't think we've ever had that many. We even had fabulous prizes, including a two-night stay for two at the Embassy Suites.

The best thing about this week is that on Monday we did manage our hike and geocache. On Tuesday there was time for a bike ride and on Wednesday enough time for another bike ride.

Not that fit, but yes, we survived.

It's all downhill from here

2007-02-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

That should mean that it is getting easier to meet your goal, but if you are on a downhill slide that is a bad thing. This week that is what it was--a bad thing. Monday was great 30 minutes on the bike then a 2.5 mile walk with abe. Tuesday-- a late meeting then no time left to get anything done. Wednesday--to CG with abe for supper before the Stake Youth Valentine's Dance. We got out of here late and then of course everyone was eating out, so we didn't have enough time to go to a real restaurant. Supper at Filiberto's then off to the dance. I had planned on leaving him there and then returning home with ample time to exercise. Instead we stood around until 8 and we both left, bishop had finally arrived and we thought it would be okay to go. Thursday - well that is the blog prior to this one. Friday - my job is quite interesting, and this day I got to play bus driver so at 5:30PM I was on my way back from CG where I was picking up students. Saturday I actually had a meeting all morning and by afternoon I had to get home and clean the house. Can't convince it to clean itself unfortunately.

I am not looking forward to next week being any better as I have two huge events (my fault, I planned them) taking place at our school. Our annual 8th grade visitation, and our annual Career Expo. Since we are responsible for every aspect of this Wednesday and Thursday activity, not counting the two state meetings in Mesa, I also have to attend this week. I know Monday will be good as we will plan a hike or geocaching adventure, but the rest of the week does not bode well. If I gave up sleeping I may have time to get everything done. Needless to say, the last week in February I WILL SUCCEED!!!

Happy Birthday to me

2007-02-16T17:18:00.000-08:00

To celebrate my very last birthday ever I took the day off work. I had decided that this would be the ideal time to sew the dress I was supposed to make for Rhayn's Christmas Present. We cut it out in January, and hadn't even sewn one stitch.

After pulling out my machine and having nothing but problems with everything I almost threw it in the trash. Finally I got the top done and realized that I hadn't cut out the skirt right. There were supposed to be two pieces and somehow I had cut only one. So I cut that one in half and also cut the band for the bottom in half. It made a shorter dress, but I really wanted to get it done. Abe called about 11 and told me he would be home at 11:30 so we could go do something. I managed to get the dress done before he got home.

We got in the truck and drove to leaner's house to give Rhayn the dress. We stopped along the way at Joanne's to see if they had any wonderful Valentine things on sale. They didn't but we found a wonderful pair of socks for Rhayn and a weird chicken thing for Gwennie that makes funny noises when you throw it. Rhayn loved her new dress and socks, but we told her not to wear them together.

Rhayn and I went for a drive and spent a little time together without g'pa and mom.

After that abe and I went to the theater and saw "the Work and the Glory".

Home by 8:30 so that we could both get some sleep (we are getting old after all).

No cake, but it was a nice day after all.

Weak too - or is that week two?

2007-02-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

Were there really seven days this week? I think that this was one of those short weeks with only five days, no quantity, not much quality, and just barely meeting my goal- we got two walks in, plus a bike ride. I hope that next week will be better.

Lots of bubbles

2007-02-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

Thursday I got to do something I haven't gotten to do in a really long time. Take a bath! Now that isn't as weird as it seems. We have two bathrooms, one with a shower, one with a bathtub. The hot water going into our "big" bathroom has slowly gotten worse over the past few years to the point that it wasn't much more than a drip. The plumbers came to replace the water pipes in the entire house on Thursday morning and by that night we had all new plumbing. Complete with water pressure that is amazing.

I told abe at 9 that I was going to take a bath, at 9:30 when I returned to our room he told me that I didn't stay in very long. So I explained to him that when you can fill the tub that quickly it doesn't take as long to take a bath.

We also have hot water to our kitchen, it too had slowed to a drizzle and was getting worse by the day. We had them replace the 15 year old water heater with one of the new tankless kind. It heats water as you need it and doesn't waste so much energy. They claim it can pay for itself in around three years.

Can't wait for one of those cold rainy days again, thats when I love doing dishes and soaking in a tub.

Super Bowl Sunday

2007-02-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

After hearing that Superbowl is second in caloric intake only to Thanksgiving, I realized that we have been doing this right all along. We usually go over to our friends house and have hot-wings, chips, dip, potato salad, spinach dip, and on, and on, and on.

This year we missed the kick-off as we hadn't really gotten home from church early enough. But that didn't stop us from enjoying good food and good friends.

After eating an assortment of non-sweets we broke out the dessert around half-time: one Texas Sheet cake to celebrate mr. briep's birthday; a chocolate torte; and a cute cake decorated like a football field which included Peanut M&M players, a tootsie roll football, Hershey Hug's for refs and pretzel goal posts. We even turned off Prince long enough to sing Happy-Birthday to the birthday boy.

Then briep and SLA cleaned off the table and we pulled out the sewing machine, material, patterns, etc. To sew up a scrub top for SLA. Amazingly enough we were sewing the last seam just as the Bears bit the dust and the Colts came forth in a victorious miracle. Peyton Manning won that long waited for Super Bowl Ring.

After it was all over I realized that I didn't watch even a second of the game. Usually we move from the dining room to the living room off and on during the game, but not this year. So I just had to take the sad look on some of the faces that the Bears had indeed lost.

I forgot to ask abe this year who he thought would win, he has been right for the past 30 years, if we were just betting people we could be rich by now. Maybe next year? Nope we can't start now.

Ragged top

2007-02-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took JVA and SLA for a little geocaching adventure disguised as a hike. My thought was that we could find a geocache at the end of a trail somewhere. I found several in the Ironwood National Forest area down by Picacho Peak. The first obstacle we encountered was the Santa Cruz River, which had the nice sign "Do not enter when flooded". We stopped and talked about our options and about that time a truck drove up, and stopped to survey the situation. They too pulled out a map to see what their options were.

We told them that if they would drive through we would pull them out. They seemed a little adverse to swimming since it was less than 50 degrees out, and who knows how cold that water might be. About that time we saw a truck pulling a trailer driving quite fast towards us. He got to the River and went ahead and crossed. So we went ahead and drove through. The water was wide, and deep enough that it went up to the bottom of the doors on our truck.

We stopped at the Sasco ghost town. http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/sasco.html. Our friend Bob had told JVA about a really cool place to have a paint ball war. Abe and I knew where this was as we had been there a couple of years ago on another geo adventure. We took a pic of JVA in one of the Smelters. Climbed around in the basement of the old Rockland hotel and also walked along the Railroad platforms. Fortunately the river must have kept the paintballers away on this day as there weren't any at war. Last time we were there they were having a great time.

Our next stop was at the Big Bull Nose geocache. We got to within a half mile and decided to take another route since there was a deep wash between us and the cache. After driving down another road and getting to within a half mile we decided we could walk as opposed to driving around all day looking for the right road. After grabbing the cache we had lunch back at the truck.

Instead of finding the other two caches we decided that we would go over to Ragged Top (a huge outcropping similar to Picacho). We drove around looking for the closest road in and after three mis attempts finally found one that got us to within .43 of the cache at the Summit. JVA got really excited and wants to tackle this bad boy. It is about 500 feet taller than Picacho, there are no established trails to the top, there are no lines to help you attain the acme. He is now looking for any takers who want to go with him. We actually got out and climbed up to the foot of the cliff face. He got to within .10 of the cache, which is a little more than two football fields. Of course that was as the crow flies, and he hit an impassible point. http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Ragged_top_8520.asp While there was a lot of sheep scat around we didn't see any of the desert bighorn that live on this mountain. It is apparently their lambing season and not the best time to attempt the climb.

After climbing back to the truck we headed off towards Cortaro Road in Tucson for some Texas Roadhouse fare. Steak, and pulled pork and fresh hot rolls dripping with cinnamon butter. http://www.recipezaar.com/66307. What could be better?

TIF (thankfully it's Friday)

2007-02-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

Week one:

Riding our new bike, while watching tv=2 nights
Walking for 2 miles in the rain with abe=1 night

Yup, I made it this week.

Here is a picture of me taken recently. I'm on your right (the left side of the picture) in the waffle looking dress. Bet you can't wait to see my "after picture"!!!

January Hike

2007-01-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

After 1.5 miles we reached our destination and found our third geocache. The hike wasn't too hard, just enough uphill to make it fun. Rhayn walked almost all the way, the babies both slept along the trail. Between work and Soccer JVA and G'rat's families weren't able to join us this time. The weather was perfect by the end of the hike, it was a little cool at the beginning and as we were hiking along the ridge, it was fairly breezy.

Afterward we went to leaner's house and had hotwings, some good artichoke chili dip, fried mushrooms, and potato salad.

Can't wait to see wher we go next month!

One expensive bike

2007-01-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

So we have finally done it. We purchased an exercise bike. Yes, we have had one in the past. We have actually purchased many different pieces of exercise equipment that have become great clothing racks. Those wonderful things that they advertise on TV that look so easy, but when you get it and actually try to use it, you realize that the people demonstrating them are in amazingly good shape. You (or me) on the other hand are probably not. The only piece of equipment that we have seen advertised on TV that actually worked was the Total Gym. It is easy to use and even fairly easy to put up and take down (guess you know we bought one of these too)

Anyway, thanks to leaner's family we realized that we really liked using recumbent bikes. The kind that sits really low and you peddle forward on. Now understand that this is not something that will ever leave our bedroom. It doesn't have a wheel, and it keeps track of your heart rate, calories burned, etc. It also has programs built in that make it simulate riding up a hill then down, then back up. The best part is that it makes no noise.

We may be a little crazy, but if we are going to continue to climb up all these mountains in Arizona and keep up with these youngsters in the family, we need to do something. If you ever want to check out our expensive new toy, just drop on by.

Blue Monday

2007-01-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is apparently a song by Fats Domino made famous by some other group. But it is also listed as "Blue Monday: the most depressing day of the year"

Monday, January 22, 2007
Bad weather, credit card bills and the failure to keep up those good resolutions make today the bleakest of the year. So if you feel down, you are not alone - but help is at hand, reports Richard Garner
The weather is bad, the nights are still long and your Christmas overspending has finally caught up with you.
On top of that your New Year resolution to give up smoking has just gone out of the window as you strive to cope with the pressures of having gone back to work after the holiday break.
So welcome to "Blue Monday" - Monday, 22 January - officially designated by a psychologist as the most depressing day of the year. It has been singled out by Dr Cliff Arnall, psychologist and former tutor at Cardiff University, who has used mathematical equations to reach his verdict.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/health-and-beauty/article2175825.ece

No wonder we've all been in a "Blue Funk" We've even got a holiday to celebrate it!!!

The rest of the story...

2007-01-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

For months (literally) we have been trying to solve a puzzle cache in Casa Grande. This team took another teams idea and then modified it a little. Anyway, we have driven to CG on at least three different occasions with the 4wheelTaco's to find this elusive cache. Once we were in a paking lot of a bowling alley and it would have been a perfect place for a cache, but after looking for 30 minutes we gave up. Another time we drove into a part of town where you wouldn't want to be after dark. The third time Ms. Taco knew she must have the solution, so we drove to the end of field and searched around there for quite awhile. Anyway, we had decided to ignore this for awhile, maybe it would disappear or it would solve itself. As I was emailing another team about one of our caches, we asked them if our newest solution was accurate. They then told me we were off on one number. With a little nudge we found our error and then called the Taco's to find out what they were doing Friday night. Ms. Taco told me that they were finding a geocache and going out to eat.

The best laid plans of mice and men. We left Cooltown around 5 PM and headed for the perfect location for a cache. A few minutes later, abe had a little box in his hand. We opened it feeling quite proud of ourselves. But alas, this wasn't the cache, just a well placed decoy. It did tell us we were close. So we continued looking. One more little box later, and one more decoy. It was cold, it was rainy. Mr. Taco told us he was hungry. So we decided to go get something to eat and then regroup. After dinner we went back and tried one more time. Not finding anything new we ended up driving home empty handed.

On Saturday we had a B'day party for Beth in CG. After eating Pizza and breadsticks and fried zuchinni, watching the kids (big and little) play games - leaner was quite good at skee ball. We gathered up the Tomb Raiders and Fowl Powell's to try one more assault on the cache. Our method was for them to find the ones that we had already found to see if there was one more clue. I grabbed the little box to see if we had missed something the first time. And sure enough, there was somthing we had failed to notice. Signing our names on that log was quite an accomplishment.

What a grouch!

2007-01-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

I had one of those days yesterday, the kind where you want to throw the phone across the room. The kind where you really don't want to deal with anyone or anything. I wanted to blog about it, but that was yesterday, so I didn't have time to do it then. I even had to apologize to someone about a phone call, because even though I was not in the wrong, I can't stand people thinking I am normally a grouch. I got everything done I needed to do and it really wasn't a bad day. We even had an adventure in geocaching that I will have to write about at a future date, but since we haven't finished "the rest of the story" I can't write about it yet.

Today the little stupid things, including the migraine that was getting worse, are all washed away with the rain that has cleansed the earth. It is cold and wet for real this time. The sun has peaked through the clouds a few times today and my spirits have been lifted. Today I think that I could conquer anything (except Picacho Peak briep). Today I was patient when things didn't go the way they should have (and I even had a reason to be upset). Today was another day, that grouch from yesterday is only a memory.

Cold and wet

2007-01-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

So when you read the title of this, you would assume that it is raining in sunny Arizona. Not so, it has been extremely cold the past two nights - in the low 20s. Some of our plants outside have frozen and there was frost on anything with a wee bit of moisture on it.

Today, abe and I went on a geocaching adventure (surprise! surprise) afterwards we decided to go see a movie and enjoy our day off. While we were in the movie we both received a phone call - of course our phones were turned off to keep from disturbing others around us. Both calls were from home, both from Jesse, telling us that a water line had broken outside the house. On Sunday when I got up ready to take a nice warm shower I realized that the water was frozen. This happens at least once every winter. This morning when it was frozen again we didn't think anything of it. As it was still frozen when we left there was no problem, as the day progressed the line began to thaw and that was all it took.

So here we sit, JVA and abe worked on the line, but there is still some problem. So, if we want a shower tonight it will be across the street at the kids house.

Life is such an adventure!!

Speaking of Birthdays

2007-01-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the people who have birthdays in January in our family.

The first was on the first, then there was a young man whose birthday was on the third.

Next we have two birthdays in one week - the 11th and the 12th for two really old people.

Then there is a special girl born on the 21st of the month, an easy day to remember as her dads birthday is the exact opposite (12).
Happy birthday to these five special people!!!

Okay, so there is an extra picture. Just wanted to show how cute this guy was as a little boy, back before he ran out of energy.

More desert fun

2007-01-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to baby Max's blessing. We got to Safford in time to eat lunch at our favorite place - the Casa Manana. Then we found a few geocaches while we waited for the Taylors to get ready to go for a drive. We drove East of Safford to the area known as the Gila Box. None of us had ever been there before and other than the geocaches that were along the way, there were a lot of neat things to see.

We got this wonderful ice cream cone antenna "ball" at our 600th geocache. Abe had been complaining about having a vehicle that is too hard to find in a parking lot and that we needed something to help us find it. So when we found this bright pink ice cream cone, we knew it was the ideal thing.

Sunday morning we went to church for the blessing and then over to the T's for lunch. We crowned the oldest of the Taylor children as the King of Guacamole and then after taste testing it and the salsa, some of us weren't extremely hungry. The family photographer showed off his new $10 camera. Don't know if it takes great pics, but it is small.

It was sad that leaner wasn't able to go with us, due to her illness. We did have a nice time, but it was cold and their house is pretty small for the crowd that was there.

More on the 1st day of the Year

2007-01-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

We went with SLA and JVA into the desert. We also took our friends the Carpenter's with us. After climbing to the top of a couple of hills finding geocaches, we went back to the main road and built a fire. G'rat was going to meet us there and bring the food. We had sliced potatoes and onions and he made hamburger patties. We put all of that together and made foil dinners. While we were busy cooking, SLA got a chance to try out her new camo shotgun that Santa had brought her for Christmas.

We also made some dutch oven Peach Cobbler, forgetting that SLA doesn't really like Peaches. But she ate some anyway. Sadly, Katie wasn't feeling well, so G'rat just brought the two kids out and wanted to get back home after a short visit. We did manage to take them to one geocache that was close by so the kids could find it.

After we cleaned up everything, we continued into the desert on some more geocaching adventures and the rest of the group went home. We finally got to try out our new truck and add a little more Arizona pinstriping to the paint. One more hike up a hill and a few more nice flat walks were part of our adventure.

For the first time in ever we actually remembered all of the food and all of the other essentials for our meal, along with enough water, chairs, a table, to make it a nice day. We normally forget something, so this was a good way to start the year.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T06:24:00.000-08:00

Our Bear called last night at 12:04 to wish Happy New Year to everyone. Just wanted to relay the message. He told us that Verizon had set up a free call center for the troops to use over the holiday until January 2nd.

He called to talk to us, then hung up to call Crissa, then he called back, just as we were falling asleep. But anytime we can hear from him is fine.

Today we are going on a grand adventure. Hopefully it will be fun and we will write about it later. Hope your year started off as well as ours did, and continues that way.

Last hike of 2006

2006-12-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

We met at the trailhead at nine thirty and started up the trail a little before 10 AM. Babies in slings and camel backs with water on many backs. Trail mix (m&ms, reeses pieces, raisins, mixed nuts and fresh pecans), jerky, granola bars, pop tarts, and many other delicious treats in back packs and fanny packs.

4.5 miles from the trailhead to the top of Fremont Saddle, overlooking Weaver's Needle in the Superstition Wilderness. Although the sun was out, it is amazing how cold it was sitting and eating our trail snacks.

Here is a picture of the three biggest kids with Weaver's Needle in the background. The air wasn't as clear as it could be due to fog that was rolling in.

The kids made it all the way up and most of the way down. Both babies were carried by everyone and both took a nap during the four hours of our hike. By the end they were done and wanted to walk so they got to walk a little.

Hiking has been something we have enjoyed so much through the years. The first time we did this hike we were badly out of shape and it was so much further and steeper than it seemed this time. Years ago LVH and Alex's Human hiked this trail with me. It was much warmer that day. The trail is well worn and is one of the favorite hikes for the locals. Unfortuantely that means that there are always a lot of other hikers along the trail. You have to stop and let the faster people pass.

It was so much fun getting to hike with all of our kids - minus the bear- Not too much complaining although G'rat did tell us that he expended all his energy as a child and doesn't have any left. But even though his fingers are strong from WOW, he and his couch potato self did a really good job making it to the top. It was a good way to end this year.

Ready for Christmas?

2006-12-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

Abe put the star on top of the tree, but this year we sang We Three Kings, instead of our traditional Oh Christmas Tree, simply because we really don't know the words.

Our bear was home and helped put the lights up, he was also there to add some great Bass to our song. I doubt if we are ready for any grand choir, but we sound better than I thought we might.

This wonderful addition to our front yard was given to our bear in Texas when they greeted the troops. We are hoping that the tomb raider's on the other side of town don't decide it would look better in their front yard.

Are we ready for Christmas? Tomorrow night we will read the Christmas Story and bake some cookies. Hopefully on Sunday we can take a few things around to some of our friends. The gifts will happen, they always do, but what I really want this year is that feeling on Christmas, the one you feel so much love for everyone around you. When you follow through on those thoughts of giving and sharing with others.

I hope this year we are truly ready for Christmas.

Bear News

2006-12-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

According to G'rat, da bear called from Iraq on Friday to let us know that he had made it back safely. I was working on the beginnings of a cold and had taken some medicine. So I was asleep most of the day so I don't really remember the phone call. I sure hope that I spoke nicely to him!

Some pics

2006-12-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures of Connie Mitchell and me on our trip to the ACTE Convention in Atlanta.

Six weird things

2006-12-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the '6 weird things about you.' People who get tagged need to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as state these rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says 'you are tagged' in their comments and tell them to read your blog. I'm not so sure what the definition of weird is so here goes:

1. I can't say simple words like Butt, and Fart so I use other words like Bum and Fluff.
2. I like to eat in the bathtub - okay, maybe not weird, but really gross if you think about food in the bathroom.
3. I don't like it when my kids say anything bad about each other or their spouses.
4. I would rather eat dessert than food so if I go to a restaurant I often get a small salad and then dessert instead of a meal. Here is a picture of some creme brulee that we had in Atlanta.
5. I only listen to music at Christmas time- starting in mid-November, the rest of the year I listen to talk radio.
6. Since socks seems to be a family thing, my weirdness is that most of my "dress" socks are seasonal - Fall, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. I noticed that the pair I had on the other day actually aren't a pair, they are just two similarly colored snowmen socks.

It was hard only choosing six things because I have so many weird things to list.....Okay, this isn't fair tif-do as I can't tag anyone- will something bad happen to me?????

Thanksgiving

2006-11-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

After too much food we all went to one of the green areas near leaner's home. JVA remembered to bring the whiffle balls, and a couple of bats so that we would have something to do besides lay around watching football. They managed to come up with two four person teams, Rhayn on one and Gavin on the other. There was one base and home plate so after hitting the ball you had to run past the pitcher and possibly another membe of your team on your way to the base. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

The automatic watering system was apparently set for about the time we were there and so we had to keep moving game locations. And when the sprinklers hit the last dry place we had to make a mad dash away before we got wet also.

After the game we went back for pie - too much food earlier to eat dessert. JVA found a recipe for a pumpkin pie with a cheesecake layer that he wanted to make. Brie made two apple pies from scratch - a lot of peeling went into those pies. We also had a regular pumpkin pie and a pecan pie. SLA made half of the crust, JVA made the other half. Brie rolled it all out. JVA mixed the roll dough, and SLA made it into butter rolls. I just supervised and cleaned while they did most of the baking.

The powell's and G'rat's had to move on to their extended families, so we all settled in and watched some Christmas claymation movies.

We ended the evening on a high note as the girls took on the boys in Trivial Pursuit. Since the powell's and G'rat's family weren't there, it may have been an unfair advantage. For the first time in ever the game ended in a tie. With the girls almost winning, even SLA earned a piece of pie with a correct answer.

The picture shows our three sons and one grandson.