Steve and Sharon...Dad and Mom...Grandpa and Grandma

Chirstmas

2012-01-20T13:37:00.001-08:00

I know it is way past Christmas, but I have too many cute pics and info to let it slide by.
Two weeks before Christmas I was called to be Primary President. To say I was surprised is an understatement. Now you would think with all my experience in church callings this would not throw me. But boy has it! More about that later. But having that new responsibility two weeks before Christmas and one week before the family came was just a little overwhelming for me. But I got it together and got the house and myself ready

We had Danielle and Clay, Mike, Amy and Maddie, my mom and dad for the the first 4 days. That included Christmas and Christmas eve. It was great! We had delicious food and a great time. I picked them up at the airport the evening of the 23rd in Portland. Bought another car seat at Target before we picked up Amy and Mike. So now I have an infant car seat, toddler car seat, a bumper car seat for pre-school age, a play in pack, a fancy stroller (a bob), an umbrella stroller, portable highchair, bumper seats for the kitchen table, 2 little step stools for the sinks, toys, a very large gate for stairs, a normal size gate for stairs, a swing, monitors, sippy cups, I could go on! I think I am pretty well stocked!

Christmas Eve was wonderful as always. We made lots of food, and my mom literally brought enough home-made candy for a candy store. It was to die for. I wish she wasn't so good at candy and cookies! I ate way more than I planned as usual! She made some new kind of truffles oh...... they were the best! We chose to open all our presents on Christmas eve because of trying to get ready for church and all the commotion. It as a wise choice. We had time to enjoy the process and appreciate what people had given us. We read the Scriptures and sang songs, my dad brought his keyboard and that was nice also. I didn't' make it to the movie part. I was exhausted after long days of preparation, driving to Portland and then cooking all day on Christmas Eve, so I went to bed.Christmas was a very special day, because it was Sunday we had church of course, but it was only Sacrament meeting. Amy and Mike waited to have Maddie blessed until they got here! I have to say, blessing a baby on the Saviors birthday was a very unique experience for me. It brings me to tears just thinking about it. I think it was the first time I really thought about the condescension of Christ and the first time I could really imagine the Savior as a baby, about what that must have really felt like for Mary and to know he came here with total dependency on his parents. The total humility of the Savior astounds and awes me.

Mike gave a beautiful blessing. Maddie was beautiful as always and very good. She didn't cry at all! I realized that we didn't get a pic with all the men that stood in the circle with her or a 5 generation pic with the kids while my parents were here! What a mistake! Mikes parents and his brother were here also. Mikes parents came over after for lunch, that was nice. The rest of the day was pretty laid back, badly needed. They took 62 pics of Maddie in her dress, I did my best to choose some.Jake, Lyndsey, Ruby and Miles, Megan, Greg, and Scarlet came the next day and my parents went home. It's always fun when the little kids are there. They all loved Maddie of course. I am so grateful for cameras, I would have missed a lot if not for others taking pics.Speaking of babies, the star of the show!
Do you think Maddie is loved? Maddie, Ruby and Scarlet.

Miles with Maddie! Pretty funny, you can tell he's a boy and half afraid of her. I couldn't resist the pic where he was just being curious and then got in trouble.

Is this not one of the most beautiful pics of Ruby! Holding a baby does that to us!Last year or the year before, I bought a lot of plastic bulbs for the tree so I could line the bottom of the tree with them. That way I don't have to worry about the kids and the tree. Sweet Scarlet and Ruby.

I don't know why, but I love this pic

Miles! I'm grateful we have at least 2 grandsons! It's been fun!Auntie Danielle with Miles and ScarletIt wouldn't be a visit from grand kids without cookie making and a tea party. I felt a little bad that we didn't include Miles he wanted to be there, but Ruby didn't. She wanted a girl tea party. So we had it when he took a nap. It was great fun as usual, Ruby's dress was amazing and so were her cookies! I wish we would have taken a pic of all of us at the table, we usually do, I don't know why I forgot!!! Our present to Scarlet, a talking purse, pretty fun!The only pic of me all week!I love it when Steve puts the kids and Grandkids on his shoulders, and it is always fun to watch him find fun things on the computer for them.
The rest of the week was pretty laid back, the aquarium, games, movies, way too much food. Amy didn't feel like she got enough caramels so her and Danielle made some more. I love these pics they look like they are on a cooking show!Then Maddie needed a bath, I love this pic, all the girls crowded around the baby taking a bath. We are so mesmerized by babies. The simplest thing makes us all "coo", "ahhh", "Ohhhh" and etc, no matter how old you are or if you are a boy, girl, man or woman. Babies are perfect and special.It rained everyday but one. But we still had a great time. The sun was there before the grand kids that were old enough to play outside got there. Oh well that happens. One more advantage of moving back to Idaho street, we probably would have gone out for a few minutes if it had been easier.

All in all it was a great week. I was grateful to have so much family around us.

2012-01-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Cool Lunch

2012-01-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

I know, how many times can I blog a about food! I know I haven't blogged about my incredible Christmas holiday season. I haven't had time! But I had one of those amazing moments. I was very hungry, trying to eat healthy, and thought, "I'll go get some of my Italian tomatoes/soup and add some beans to it. " As I was getting it out of the pantry, I thought ,"I should put some grains in it" I opened the fridge to get some Red Quinoa that I had cooked earlier this week, and saw some leftover whole wheat noodles, that had herbs, Parmesan, and some olive oil on it on the shelf. "Hmm" I thought "that would taste good". It was! Love you all!! Time to go vacuum!

Kamut and "Nativity"

2011-12-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

Today I cooked up some Kamut. The amount of water Chef Brad said to put in was too much. I was wondering if my Pressure Cooker was broken. It is chewy and tasty. It tastes like grain. I want to try a salad with it for dinner, but I have been working too hard and am tired by dinnertime. Megan and I bought these cool spoon strainers. First time I used it, pretty cool!

Steve talked me into buying all my Christmas food and etc. here locally. I'm glad. I was going to either stop on my way to get the kids for Christmas that would be the 23rd-way to crazy for me. So I thought I'll just go this week to Albany just to get the food and come straight back. That's when Steve said, how much more would it be when you consider the gas and the time. I realized he was right. I need to stay here. I have so much to do, not counting the wear and tear on me because of the driving.

I watched Nativity on Netflix tonight! FUN! Corney, not an acdemy award winner, but sweet great British humor. If you have'nt seen it, check it out!

love you all!

Spelt

2011-12-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

I have had a goal to try all the different whole grains for breakfast. So one at a time I have been putting a new grain in my pressure cooker before I go to bed and cook it up. The next morning is a new adventure. Now it is not a new grain every day, it is more like a new one every week (at least that is my goal, not always a reality!)

I have to say Spelt is so far my favorite! It is totally bland in a pleasant way, but therefore picks up the flavors of the other food and spices in the cereal instead of drowning them out. It has a nice soft texture. I am excited to try it in salad. I will let you know.

Spelt is a super grain meaning it has the 8 essential amino acids (like meat), it is 60% more protein than wheat and contains lots of other good things. I will have a hard time not making it my regular breakfast cereal!! love you all!!

Christmas outfit

2011-12-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

I wanted to look Christmassy, so I went and bought me some red tights and searched my closet for things to go with them. Voila! It was fun. The comment I got a lot was just that "you look Christmasy!" Plus I have worn these shoes before, but today they got a lot more attention. Love you all!

Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad

2011-12-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad came and it was very nice. We had a good time. Mom and I worked our little fannies off cooking the day before and the day of. Mom brought a to die for Cheesecake-chocolate-how can you lose with that! I brined my turkey for the first time. I was soooooooo yummy. My dad took one bite and said mmm this is so tender and delicious. Now this wasn't the polite kind this was the react before you can think kind of comment. I was very pleased considering dad usually can't eat anything and react like that unless it is mom's. :-) I tried Chef Brads recipe it worked great. I also cooked it without stuffing for the first time. I loved what it did for the turkey, but will have to work on the stuffing turning out as good. I made two stuffings this year, mine and Chef Brads. Steve said he wasn't to excited about it, but I noticed he had 3 helpings over the two days. It had black quinoa, mushrooms, bacon and lots of other stuff. It was tasty! But again I need to figure out how to make it more moist. I think I cooked it too long. The coolest biggest surprise was the gravy-it was to die for. I did the turkey just like he said, with lots of fresh herbs, a couple of lemons, onions and some carrots. I didn't have to do anything but add thickening to the drippings-it was amazing. I cooked the turkey on a rack (my cooling rack :-) ) for the first time without foil. I was afraid it would make it dry, it didn't. The key was brineing it for 24 hours and taking it out of the oven at 160' instead of 180. I will do it that way again. Steve said I put too much rosemary, that will be hard for me to change, but I will compromise and do half as much, but I will not eliminate it! I also made Chef Brads orange rolls, they were a big hit! Steve wants them again but with more glaze. They had uncooked amaranth in them, I thought I would like them better without it, but Steve really liked it that way. So Thanks to Chef Brad we had a yummier healthier Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great two days. The day after Thanksgiving I put up all my outside lights. It was so much easier than last year. I love them!!! Well that is more than enough for now! love you all!!!!

Decorating for Christmas

2011-12-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving I set up the tree for Christmas. I was behind the tree doing something and bending down . I stood up and without paying attention when I stood up I turned really quickly and hit my head harder than I can ever remember. Steve asked me what happened and I finally said "I can't talk". Finally after I got it together we could not believe how big the goose egg was. I had Steve take pics of it. I wish I had taken pics a week later. The ugliness spread down to my eyelid and is still there. I still have a sharp bump on my head. Steve said it was a good thing I didn't hit my nose or it for sure would have been broken. Enjoy!
A few days later I had Steve help me get down the Santa's. It looked so cute and funny so we had to take a pic of them. Of course this isn't all of them, several I had already put in other places.Well, more another day!

October before Maddie was born.

2011-12-04T20:57:00.002-08:00

I have always wanted to grow pumpkins and have my grandchildren come into my patch and pick out one. Unfortunately my Grand kids live too far away. :-( I also didn't know if pumpkins would grow. So this year I decided to give it a go. I have had two empty beds outside for the last two years. I planted pumpkins in one bed and corn (for decorations again assuming they wouldn't put on ears amazingly they did! ) in the other bed. Well, much to my wondering eyes should appear!? Pumpkins galore!! I knew they wouldn't all ripen in time or get big enough because I planted them late, sooooo I pruned them down to 4 pumpkins. It was so much fun to watch them grow. October came and I was wondering if they would turn Orange in time. We went to a show of Jake's in Portland and I asked Ruby if she would like a part green, part orange pumpkin. She thought that sounded pretty cool. They hadn't bought any yet so I asked them if they wanted them, they said yes. I brought them up to Portland on my way to Amy's.The beginning of my dream coming true! Two years from now when we are back in our house on Idaho Street, I plan on growing a pumpkin patch. I will then get Jake and Lyndsey to bring their chillins down or I will come and get them and have them pick out a pumpkin! Then I will have kids from church come. I'm pretty excited about this! I also will grow corn outside, I never dreamed it would actually produce corn! I used the stalks for my entry, they looked pretty cool!
Another thing I did this year was can lots of Italian tomatoes. The kitchen gets pretty wild but boy is it good. I also canned some zucchini soup. It turned out OK, I think I need to work on that. I also look forward to being down by my greenhouse on a daily basis so my zucchini doesn't get soooo big!One of the things I love about my greenhouse is the perfect environment for peppers!! I got so many this year that I froze some for the winter! Aren't they pretty!?Miles had a b-day in October, sad to say I didn't get to give him his present. I made these fun capes. I had to drop them off on my way to California and Miles wasn't there. Here are his super hero capes! Lyndsey says the one with the M is his favorite.Well it is getting late. Will post some more later! Love you all!

Home again!!!

2011-11-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

Is there anything sweeter than this!? I don't think so. Amy has posted most of the pics so I don't know if I will post very many. The service I love best in this life is serving my own children. There isn't anything else quite like it. They are so grateful, but even if they weren't I would still love it best. There is something about being a mom that will make you do things that seem impossible. I had a great example, my mom. I was thinking about her a lot this week. As I helped Amy and Mike learn the little but important things about babies, like how to burp them, how to calm them down when their tummies hurt, other things that I can't remember right now. But for some reason my mind went back to my little apartment in Provo and my mom showing me all things I needed to learn with Rebecca. She was amazing, staying up late at night calming her as she cried, so I could sleep, lying to my friends that I was sleeping so I wouldn't have guests to soon. Bringing me good books and keeping conversation light. Then I started thinking about how most of the things that make me a good mom I learned from my mom. Taking my kids out of school to be spontaneous and fun. Or taking me out of school take me to the beach to cheer me up when I had lost it one day. Getting up every morning and making me a hot breakfast (when I was the only one at the time) before seminary. She would stand at the counter across from me and talk, or more likely listen to me talk while I ate my breakfast at 5:30am with her hair all wild. I love that memory. I also will never forget the morning I was complaining about something (not about her) and she interrupted me and started saying" I the most important, me the... etc"she went on for a full 30 seconds or more. The amazing thing was I got it, it really made me think, I "tried" as much as a 16 year old can, to be less self centered. She knew when to open her mouth and when to listen, she is still that way-an amazing woman and mom!!! She loved and loves shopping, I have so many memories of shopping with her and my Aunt Ferry and my cousin Debbie. We would be in our dresses, because in those days you would never go shopping in pants, then at lunch we would go out to eat at the Bon Marche downstairs. I felt so mature. I will always love her for that as silly as it sounds, I felt so big. We practically lived at the lake and the beach, my mom loves the beach, that is probably why I live here now! I loved that, the lake I suppose that started with my dad, he loves the outdoors, I think my mom learned to love it. I took my kids to the lake because of that. I learned to be assertive from her. She was the "take back queen". I watched her take things back and she always got her money back. I carried on the tradition. I remember once when we were shopping and we saw this outfit that was so cute, but my size wasn't on the racks. Mom asked them what size the one was that was on the wall, and I am not exaggerating, about 20 ft up in the air. It was my size, she told them she needed them to get it down so I could try it on, they did! One day at Kaufmans she had them take the clothes off of the manikin in the window so I could try it on, they did. Both times we bought the outfits. I could go on and on. She still worries about me, I think that must never go away. If I don't blog for a while she will email me and ask me if everything is alright.
I have truly been blessed to have such a good mom. I wouldn't be the mom I am if not for her.
Well, I finally read every ones blogs and commented. I want to get caught up and post some pics of Jake's kids and some other pics I have. But for today this might be it! love you all!!!

She's Here!!!!

2011-10-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

Maddison Winegardner is here! She was born October 22,2011 at 5:55pm after 42 hours of labor!!! She weighed 7pounds 11ounces, pretty small for our family. She is 19 inches long and cute as a button as you can see from the pics. She started nursing very shortly after she was born. Amy and Maddy are doing great! As Amy's Midwife put it, "you are a Birthing Warrior"!! She never cried, she handled her contractions amazingly. But after 36 hours of labor that wouldn't progress past 7 centimeters, she said she was ready to go to the hospital and get an epidural and some Pitocin. I will let Amy tell the story, but I repeat she was nothing less than amazing! The pics of Amy are just like she looked no makeup, coming hair or anything. Isn't she beautiful! Here are some pics of Maddy when was under an hour old! With Daddy!

With Mommy

And of course with Grandma!

Chef Brad

2011-09-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well, about a month and a half ago I said I was going to tryout a new grain every week and blog it. I did try some new grains, but then life got crazy. I didn't get to try some of the recipes and breads I wanted because of the craziness. But I am home and even though I will be leaving on occasion, it is time. I will highlight what I have done so far and what I am doing now. While Lizzie was here we made some Rigatoni that was to die for. It was a yummy comfort type of meal that tasted like it took us all day, and it took about a half an hour from start to finish all in the pressure cooker. We did it like he did with white noodles,but millet in it. Steve and I are so used to whole wheat pasta that I might try it with that next time. I didn't take a pic :-( . After Lizzie left, I tried barley and am pretty sure blogged about that. I tried Oat grotes next (whole oats). I basically never had time to or took the time to try some of the recipes, so I would cook up a batch of grain and then have it for breakfast with fruit The next day I had some leftover crab, so I made a crab omelet with oat grotes. Before the cheeseWith Chesse Next I did Quinoa. I had had it before but not really done much with it. This time around I ate it for breakfast, threw it in my salads, and anywhere else I could think of. I had it cold and hot. About that time I was getting really pumped. I decided to order some things that I needed if I was going to try everything. So onto Chef Brads website, and then onto Amazon to order what I learned from Chef Brads site. I didn't order anything from Chef Brad's site because he has a 25.00 min shipping charge at least for sending it to me. Two days later, Yippee! Here they came!I felt just like the box says!Have I tried all this yet? The pans, salt, and yeast. I have yet to use the Pizza stone and paddle, but I will and I will share it with you!!! About that time I went to Lizzie's to babysit. Lizzie had tried Chef Brads bread recipe and we decided that it wasn't as good as ours. So I made our recipe with some more white flour, we decided that the way we make it with only 2 cups of white flour is the best. When I got home my xagave was there and my Farro. So I tried my Farro. First as always a breakfast cereal which I didn't take a pic of , but they all look basically the same. As far as taste, they all taste a little different but not a lot. The Farro cooked up better after sitting all night long on warm, it kind of opened up more, I liked it better that way. I wanted to do something different for a change, so I cooked up some more farro and decided to add it to my bread like he does on his show. So I cooked up some more Farro and put it in my bread recipe using Kamut flour. I only made a half a batch in case we didn't like it. It made 2 and a half loaves. I used the half a loaf to make one loaf into the shape of French Bread and put it in my new French bread pan. The dough before I cooked itAfter I cooked itI didn't slice it before I cooked it or do anything different. Side of bread below.I have to tell you, it may not be the most beautiful loaf I have ever made, but I can say that Steve has NEVER raved over any loaf of bread as much as he has this one. Now the bread he ate was the one shaped like French bread and only about 3" in diameter and about 2" tall. He couldn't get enough of it. I don't know if it was the Farro, or just putting a cooked grain in it. I'm going to try it with the other grain he did it with and see. After that cool experience I was pumped to try another recipe. Sooooo I tried his Farro Torte, I took some pics of it cut, but they didn't turn out. I didn't have a big enough pan to cook the whole torte in so I put it in two pie pans. One of the torte I put crab in, mmmm..... The other just the normal recipe. I froze that one.Steve took a bite of the torte above and said that's good, then with every bite he liked it more until he ate about 1/2 the pie. I had to share the tomatoes and squash from my greenhouse we ate with the torte.Do you like my fat free (not) squash. I agree with Julia, butter makes everything better! Well, my next thing I want to use my Farro for is risotto. I have never made it before, but I want to try it. I will tell you, Farro is expensive because it comes from Italy. But I think if I had gotten it from my little health food store it would have been a lot cheaper. I would try the things Chef Brad does with the less expensive things first. He said the torte could have been made with any grain. I do like Farro though.

Now onto the time of year. My tomatoes have done wonderfully and it is the first year I haven't lost a ton of them to becoming rotten. I think it is a combination of things, but also being tired of losing half my crop, so I have been more vigilant about checking them. Here I am making Stewed tomatoes to can :-) Seasoning and veggies, Lizzie, I used my new Penzeys Tuscan Sunset Seasoning you gave me!Next my beautiful skinned tomatoesChopping (those peppers are from my greenhouse!)

The finished product!

I had some left over but no jars in the house to put them in, so I used it to make me a bowl of soup. I added some Farro from the fridge and some Parmesan cheese. I was too lazy to put some beans in. It was yummmmmmy! I decided after I make a batch of spaghetti sauce to can, I am going to make more stewed tomatoes to use for soup during the winter. I'll open a jar, add some beans, whatever grain I have cooked up and some cheese, voilla yummmy soup! Love you all!!

So far Behind!

2011-09-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

I think so many of my blogs start this way! Oh well, I will get better! so much has happened. Lizzie, Shad and the kids all came on the 4th of July. I stayed with Jacob's family for a night and then brought his kids back with me. Later in the week Jake and Lyndsey came and stayed with us for a couple of days and then took the kids back home. Not long after that I went down to Lizzies and babysat Lizzies kids for about 8 days and Rebeccas about 4 of those days also. It was wild and crazy and close together, but I will never pass up a chance to be with my kids, their spouses and my grand kids. Life is short and you just never know how much time you will have with people. Then throw in some Tuna and it has been a very busy summer. Tonight I will blog Lizzie's family visit and then the others on another day!

I have so many pics, I don't know how I could ever post them all, so I will just do the best that I can! I think I will steal most of Lizzie's from her blog for when they were here. I might have to steal some from when I babysat also, it was a little to busy for me, 6 kids all over again! We went to the light house and in the end, Kate was too short, and the Lady got all hyper with Shad when he tried to lift Tanner up so he could see better in the light part of the Light house. But I think if the day had not been so cold and windy, and the kids had been a little older, it would have been really cool. We also tried to go to the tide pools at the Lighthouse park, mistake, Strawberry Hill beats it all to heck. I was going to check it all out before they came, but ran out of time. Oh well, it made great pics! Then Steve took Shad and Tanner fishing, it was so cool, Tanner loved it and didn't get sick the tiniest bit. That starfish is the biggest one Steve has ever accidentally pulled up. The bottom pic is when Tanner fell asleep, I think they went fishing at about 4:00am

I had something planned for every day. It was so much fun. We didn't do everything I planned but we had a great time. One of the things grand kids have reminded me of is that I love to play cards. I played cards for hours over the last month. It is very educational and fun at the same time. It also helps kids learn to lose. I make sure they win more than I do, but I also make sure I win sometimes. As a result they are all pretty good losers. I always act really happy when they win so it has helped them to be very happy when the others when. Tanner and Kate are really good at it for their age. We had a barbecue on the 4th, it was too windy to be on the beach so we had it in front yard in front of the shop. It was great! Kate thinks Steve is so funny, they were good pals!

We made cupcakes, lots of shaped pancakes, painted, went to the aquqrium, a cute little pirate village (kind of built sand castles, and just basically had a great time

Farmers Market

2011-07-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Every year I forget how amazing the farmers market is. This year I started late because of Rebecca's wedding and then forgot about it. I went today and oh my gosh, local berries beat the grocery store all to heck in taste and price. MMMMMMMMM!

Odds and ends

2011-07-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Megan and Greg gave me some pasta for mothers day. We used it a while back it was fun! We both enjoyed it very much. I think we sometimes underestimate the effect of eye appeal! Isn't that all beautiful!!!!

One of the things that is wonderful about this time of year is I can walk to the jetty if I want. Walking to the jetty means finding sand dollars, its like Bayshore all over again except they are smaller, but who cares its pretty cool just to find them!
A few random sunsets-I can't resist them, used my telephoto lens for a few of them.Well, I could go on and on, but I should probably stop, it's just that one day is never the same as the next and it is rare that you don't see and amazing sunset of one kind or another. I feel blessed to live here.
Got my first cherry tomatoes, yuuuummmyyyy!!Well, that's it for tonight! Love you all!!

My quilt my mom made

2011-07-27T18:38:00.001-07:00

Well, I am babysitting Miles and Ruby. I went to Portland on Saturday, we went to Bob's bought some grains and had lunch and then went to the new Pooh movie. It was fun! I think you will all like it. It is new but in the style of the old ones. I brought them back with me on Sunday. Jake and Lyndsey are coming on Thurs to stay the night and then leave on Friday to go camping. I will post pics and more info about what we have done later.I haven't done my new grain this week because Miles and Ruby have to be Gluten Free so next week.

I have been meaning to post the quilt my mom made me for Christmas and my B-day so since I have a lot to post and not time to do that, I thought I would do this today so I can catchup a little. Just for the record, I didn't get this quilt until a month and a half to two months ago. It is so cute and whimsical! Love you Mom!BackClose-upThe border

Have lots to blog, but.....

2011-07-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

I am not going to catch up everything right now. I will catch up on Friday or Saturday. But I am excited about something that I am going to do and want to share it with all of you! I emailed all of you and told you to watch Chef Brad online or on the BYU channel. I have been watching it and re-watching them and am very excited about it! I am going to try a new grain every week and blog about the things I do with that grain. I am hoping it will inspire all of you to try also and share the things that you do!

This week has been barley week. I bought the Hull-less barley another name for whole barley, it is the least processed. I cooked it up in my new best friend, my electric pressure cooker.You could also cook it in a pan on the stove. This is how it looks when it is done.When you watch his show, it doesn't look creamy, so I got paranoid and called the phone # on his sight. Guess who answered the phone? Chef Brad!!! I was so surprised, I was expecting one of his employees. We had a good chat on the phone, he was very nice. He said the barley was supposed be creamy, and the only time he rinses it is if he is putting it in a salad. The whole point of making a bigger batch is to put it in things throughout the week. He says if you don't have it in the fridge ready you won't use it. Soooo this week I made one of his recipes for a salad. Now one of the things I learned was to taste the dressing before you put it on the salad. I loved the salad before I put any dressing on it. Then I put the dressing he recommends on it and I liked it (not loved it), but your dad didn't like it and so quit eating it. He thought it looked beautiful and delicious. So I wish I had tasted the dressing first. He would have loved it I think if I had left the mustard and garlic out of it. I wouldn't be surprised if Megan and Greg would love the dressing. I also put some barley on one of my regular lunch salads . These pics didn't show the barley as well as I wanted, but I didn't have a card reader so couldn't tell what the pics looked like until I had eaten them. Oh well. I also added about a 1/3 of a cup to my smoothies, and couldn't tell at all. I want to make some bread next. He made a french bread and added it to that! I am very excited. Another thing I did in my electric pressure cooker, is make steel cut oats, YUMMY! Lizzie helped me with those and had me put some coconut butter in them mmmmmmm it was so good!! Well, I need to go to bed. Will blog more another day! Love you all!!

So much to blog

2011-06-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, life has been crazy busy since Rebecca's wedding. I came home and spent a few days just catching up, then I had all these things I had to do and every day I think of something I want to blog, but don't have time to blog everything I need to blog from the past. Sooooo I am just going to catch up and try to blog more often so it's not so overwhelming for me and those that read it!!!

The visit to California for the wedding was wonderful!!! We had all of our kids there. Most of the spouses were unable to come, but it was actually kind of fun to just have the kids by themselves for a change. It was fun to watch Jacob in particular. He was sleeping in the exercise room all buy himself and he was having the time of his life going from the sauna to the pool to the steam shower and etc. He was able to sleep in and that almost never happens when you have small kids.

I spent the first 3 days finishing Rebecca's dress and making cupcakes for the refreshments after the wedding. The dress took longer than I thought it would, shock! I was basically happy with it, part of it didn't turn out like I wanted , but Rebecca was thrilled and that is what matters. I didn't get a pic of the whole dress, or very many pics period, but I will add them later when I get some from Lizzie, and let you know so you can scroll down and see them. For now I will post the pics I took on that wonderful day!! Back to the cupcakes, we did about 100 cupcakes This is the pic I took at the wedding, I'm hoping Lizzie got a better one, I don't like mine, it looks crooked and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't straighten it!Everyone helped decorate them or we never would have gotten them done. The next day several people did about 200 strawberries. Before the wedding we had a party, at Lizzies, it was fun we had good food, some people swam and Jake played the guitar while people danced. It was fun! Such classic Jake and RebeccaSteve #1 and Steve#2 as Jacob named themBeautiufl Aliese and Elle

Beautiful Kate!

The swimmers

Doesn't this make you want to know what they are talking about! Time to eat!

Anna's b-day after dinner, what do you think that beautiful face is wishing?After dinner and Presents, Jake started playing his guitar and everyone started dancing.Last but not least, the future bride and groomA couple of days later we had the wedding. The bishop did a really good job. He talked to the girls as well as Steve and Rebecca. When the Bishop pronounced them man and wife, Rebecca was all but jumping up and down, and Steve had tears running down his face. It was a wonderful ceremony and day! I again am hoping Lizzie got more and better ones that I will add later, but here's some: Lizzie and Shad

I loved this one!

I thought this was so sweet!Isn't she beautiful! Just like her mommy!Can you be more beautiful than this? I don't think so!The random people there were Steve #2's best friends back to high school, they couldn't have been sweeter or have said nicer things about Steve. They were so helpful also. Jacob wrote a song for Rebecca and Steve, it was very Jacob, funny as well as very touching. He wrote a copy for them to read while he sang it. It was fun to watch bachelor with all the girls. I never watch it unless I am with one of the girls houses and they are watching it. It was great to be with the grandkids that were there. After the wedding I was free to play, so we swam and I attacked them all on the floaty thing and dumped them over, they all loved that-even Aliese.

We made cookies with my new sprinkles also, a little overwhelming with so many kids at once, but still fun. That night when I went to bed I couldn't sleep thinking about how to make cookie making easier, espceially with so many grandkids at once. I came up with a new plan for doing cookies in the future. I am going to give each kid a sheet of parchment paper about half or the whole size of a baking pan. Then I will roll out or have them help me roll out the dough, give them some cookie cutters and let them cut out their cookies. They can then take the extra dough away from the cookies and set in a pile, I will then lift their parchment paper onto the cookie sheet and bake it. No impatient little kids waiting for their turn to cut out cookies and no broken cookies while transfering them onto the tray! I will also give them all a little bowl of frosting and a plastic knife, (I have observed they are easier for little people to handle) to decorate their cookies with. I basically let them do all their own sprinkle work anyway so this way they can just do what they want. I think it will be a lot less stressful and way more fun for the kids. I'm excited to try it!!! Will let you know if it works. I wish I had pics of the whole expereinces but I was very busy at the time and noone eles thought to take pics of us I guess. I should have asked someone to grab my camera and take pics. Next time!!

This was so sweet and I can't believe I got it on camera!!!

All in all it was a great week! I was exhausted, but a good kind! love you all!!

catching up

2011-05-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

I have decided if someone wanted to make big money off of me all they have to do is show me some cute sprinkles and I will buy them. If someone invited me to a sprinkle party, if there was ever such a thing, I would probably spend my life savings and have to come home and eat my food storage. It is pitiful! I went to Wal-Mart to look for some sprinkles for Rebecca's wedding cupcakes and on the end cap was the sprinkles you see above. I couldn't buy just one of them... oh no I had to have them all! I started with one then thought well the boys need one too. Then I thought "well I don't have any thing like the Tinkerbell one, so all that was left was Mickey Mouse, so what the heck, I threw it in my cart. So I went in for wedding stuff and a mic for skype, I came out with a mic and 4 sets of sprinkles and two candy necklace kits.

I loved the finale on American Idol. It was the best I've ever seen. It gave me hope in America that the last two people they voted for were clean, wholesome, humble people. The winner, Scotty was a downright gentleman. It made the last 2 episodes a lot of fun.

I have really enjoyed having my camera (well, one like it) back. I love taking pictures. I don't know what I will do with all of them, but can't resist a beautiful sunset, or a pretty flower. If I take it to my green house I can't resist taking pics of the veggies. And of course if my grandkids are around I want to take pics of them too!

Speaking of my greenhouse-every year especially now that we live up here, I have to say to myself, "be grateful for what you can grow and don't get up tight about not planting every square inch! If I don't tell myself that I start getting discouraged especially at this time of year. My tomatoes look fabulous (the little plant in the middle is basil)-that is the ones in the beds. The pic above was taken about a week ago. 3 days ago they had grown a good 4-6 inches. The experiment of hanging tomatoes.... I am not sure about. They are growing much slower. They don't look any bigger than they did a week ago. The one that I put their special soil and fertilizer in doesn't look as healthy as the one that I put my regular special soil that I add to my beds every year and my regular fertilizer. I had a crazy spinach plant that tried to take over the greenhouse. If we had been living at our house by the greenhouse, it would have been eaten instead of growing all over the ground. It started going to seed so I pulled it up. :-( Oh well.This year has been the year of the rhododendrons. It has been so beautiful! The wild rodies are more in bloom than I have ever seen them. They are blooming all up and down the highway, I love it! Our purple one bloomed.I finished Rebecca's dress as much as I can until I get down there, it is going to be pretty.

Well, tomorrow is my last sharing time for two months. I am glad. I know that did well, but I could do better and I am looking forward to feeling like I know better what I am doing. Last week the stake was there observing. I told them that I still don't feel like I know what I am doing, and they all said you sure couldn't tell. That made me feel better, but I still am grateful that I get to observe for a couple of months.

It seems like I had more to say but I'm tired and have company coming tomorrow.

Love you all bunches!

Well, it seemed like I had

Guess What I Got?!!!

2011-05-16T17:48:00.001-07:00

Well, I took my camera to a painting class and on the way there I left it on the plane! Talk about a depressing thing when you love your camera as much as I do. I called 7 airports and no one turned it in. So you guessed it someone stole it. Sooooo I look on line at Costco and then called Lizzie to get her opinion, she says, "go on eBay and get your same camera, unless you didn't like the pictures or etc. " I thought I loved my camera, plus she said that way I wouldn't have to learn a new camera. So I took my first real serious leap on eBay. I put in a bid and then was worried I put in to high of a bid, but I was the highest bidder. There were 16 people bidding on it. When it got close to the closing time I noticed someone had out bid me. I upped my bid and was about to go on a walk. I noticed that if I went on my walk, I wouldn't be there at the end. So I got paranoid and sat down and watched it. About 5 minutes before it closed someone out bid me. I then clicked on the little 1 click bid, and so did the other person, that went on for a couple of more bids, then it had about 2 minutes left and I was high bidder, I sat there so nervous wondering if this was an experienced bidder and would out bid me at the last second. But the last two minutes clicked away and I got it!!! I was so happy. It came in about 2 days later. I didn't have any way to get my pics off of the camera, so I couldn't tell if it took good pics or not. So Saturday I went to walmart, got a card reader.

Today it was beautiful so I went outside to take some pics of the Rhodies that Steve planted last summer and voila, beautiful pics. Ahhhhhhh.... I am so happy. I will be blogging more again!

I decided to blog my paintings I did with my sister in Missouri. It was an interesting experience. I enjoyed the time with my sister, enjoyed painting most of the time, but didn't like the teacher. I guess she is amazing and famous, but as teaching goes, I thought she was okay. She was a "fixer". I like to do my own work and I if I dont' like something or want some help, I like to ask and not have the teacher "fix it" for me! Oh well, live and learn. It made me want to experiment with oils again.I have several things to blog, a new dress, Danielle's present and etc. But will do that when I look more presentable. Enjoy the pretty flowers and the paintings. Love you all!

Jakes Show and other Things

2011-04-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to Jake's show at the Secret Society Ballroom. It was a quaint building that used to have some kind of Secret Society in it. It was fun to see Jake and his band having a great time and playing amazingly great music. They are all very talented. It is great fun to watch Jake, I wish everyone could watch him. He is definitely in his element up on stage. He has a great time and it just makes me smile to watch him. I wish I had a camera, it would have been cool to post some pics. He had a cool wool felt hat that someone made for him. They have some new songs that I really liked and were a big hit. Can't wait for you all to hear them. They are almost done with their new album.

I told Jake that no matter how old your kids get it is a great joy to watch them do something they love to do. Steve and I were so glad we went. It was a last minute thing. We found out about it on Thursday. We both had a good time! It was fun to see the kids and Lyndsey also. We both read a lot of books and got jumped on a lot by guess who? You guessed it Miles. He is all boy. What a riot.

Aside from the wind it is really pretty outside. If we lived at Idaho Street, I would go out to my little corner on the deck that is protected from the wind and pretend I was in Hawaii and start tanning my legs. The deck here isn't the same. It's more a walk outside for a minute and come back in deck. Oh well. Hopefully in one year, 5 months and 2 days we will be signing papers and moving back. I know I am ungrateful. Oh well, I'm still mortal so still very human.

Working on a dress for myself. It is really cute, but it is like walking through very deep mud to make myself work on it. I think it is residual mental garbage from being obese. One of these days I will be past that. I was talking to Amy about it on the phone the other day. Being obese made me feel I wasn't "worthy" of beautiful fabric. So it is hard to sew for me. I go through fear and all sorts of weirdness as I sit and sew for myself. It feels like that when I think of painting by myself also. I think it is a Satan not wanting me to be happy thing. I hope as I push myself I will get passed this. I used to love sewing for myself and was as confident doing that as I was sewing for anyone else. Time.... boring. I want all the crap feelings to be gone immediately. Oh well, it will come!

I'm going to be doing my first Sharing time tomorrow, excited and a little nervous at the same time. Loving being in Primary.

Love you all!

Favorite talk

2011-04-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite talks in conference was this: http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-atonement-covers-all-pain?lang=eng We read it today for our Family Home/scripture study.
It moved me as much or more the second time. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone.

It is different when you are together 24/7 and have no children at home. So we have family prayer and scripture study when I eat my breakfast. On Mondays we read a conference talk instead and I count that as Family Home Evening. We read 1 page a day in one of the Standard Works and as a result of that we have completed the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants, and now we are reading the New Testament. It's like the scriptures say "out of simple things proceedeth that which is great." I think half the reason we don't do certain things is because we make then too hard.

love you all!

Yummy Date Treat

2011-04-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

Megan wants the recipe for the date treat I had at Lizzies that I mentioned in the post below. Here it is!

First it needs to be fresh dates. They sell them at costco in a container not a bag. Ask Rebecca or Lizzie where. I got some at a farmers market where Lizzie lives.

1 Recipe makes 8 yummy treats (small but tasty, I'm sure you could double it or triple it)

8 dates
1/4 ounce of walnut pieces
3 tsp cocoa
1/2 tsp maple syrup(real thing if you want it to be healthy snack)
1 tsp coconut oil (I think you might have to go to a health food store for this but I'm not sure)

Pit dates if they are not already pitted. Chop walnuts into small pieces and put into dates, just enough so they can still be closed so to speak. In a small measuring cup, if you have the heavy duty kind use that. Heat over low heat just until warm the last 3 ingredients. Take off heat, mix thourghly. Dip your dates in it.

I haven't tried it yet because I just got home and don't feel well. I didn't watch Lizzie, so I would think you would use a fork or a toothpick to dip them. If it doesnt' turn out right call Rebecca, Lizzie is crazy busy right now. For WW's it is 1 pp for 4 dates. You really can't eat too many because they are really rich. The first one I ate I said "oh I can taste the coconut oil." After that I didn't even notice it Rebecca or Lizzie invented this I think I'm just a world of knowledge tonight aren't I! Bon Appetit

Being Sick, Fingernails, Conference,Ward and Branch Boundry Change, New Calling, Dates

2011-04-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

Being Sick: I have decided I hate being sick. The only good thing about it is having no responsibility which kind of isn't true, but mostly is true. My throat is killing me. I hate swallowing, my glands are so big that I swear the opening to my throat is smaller and the muscles that I use to swallow hurt and I swear my ears hurt also. I know I am almost never sick so I shouldn't complain. One of my favorite things is you're supposed to get as much rest as possible, and I have a great husband who definitely supports me in that, BUT you are also supposed to drink as much water as possible so I get all nice and cozy and then I have to take the covers off, get off the couch or bed and go to the bathroom. I was listening to conference and one of the seventies said there were things to be learned from illness. So I am trying to figure that out today! Enough complaining!

For about 3 months now I have been growing my fingernails out. It has been great! One day I thought" I think I will stop biting my nails". They got longer then started breaking and were different lengths. When I was in the airport coming home from Missouri, I was exhausted and wanted to be pampered so I had a manicure and a pedicure. She made my nails all even. At first I was upset about it and then I decided I was glad because it only took about a week or so for them all to be the right length again. I keep them just a tiny bit above my finger and I keep them polished-key!! very important. I learned the secret to keeping polish on. 1 coat of Nail Envy, then two coats of color(mine has been red, a shock I know!) then a coat of Nail Envy. Then a coat of nail envy every morning when I read my scriptures. The color lasts a week that way, and I don't use gloves at the sink, just in the garden. One broke at Rebecca's, but that will happen. I would have taken a pic, but I still don't have a camera!
Conference... oh how I love conference. I watched the Sunday sessions at Rebecca's on the internet. Boy is that ever great, it was just like watching it on TV. Today since I couldn't go to church I watched the Saturday morning session on DVR, it was wonderful also. I just feel loved, filled and at peace when I watch conference. It makes me have more faith, hope and feel happy.

I think I have told all of you, but I haven't put it in the blog yet, the boundaries for the Branch and Newport ward were changed about 2 months ago. I finally got a new calling a couple of weeks ago. They sustained me this week, I am the first counselor in Primary! I am totally excited. I haven't worked in Primary since Lizzie was a 3 years old! I need to order the Friend magazine and today I am going to study my calling online. The church has so much out there now.
Dates!! My new discovery. I was at Rebeccas and she has been talking about dates for some time now but it didn't click with me. Then at Lizzie's she started telling me why Rebecca and her are so into dates. They are healthy and sweet! On weight watchers if they are fresh they are free because they are a fruit. They make this date, walnut cocoa thing that is to die for! Danielle you need to do this, it would be sooooo healthy for you two and not cheating in the nth degree. You can only eat a few because they are so rich. Rebecca doesn't' consider it a treat because it is so healthy for you. I agree!

Well it is another windy winter day, but I still love looking out the window at it. Love you all!!!

A very busy month!!

2011-04-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy busy last month. Had to go to the Springfield and Portland in one week for Steve's eyes, and colonosc0py. A week later I flew out to Missouri to meet up with my sister for a week of painting classes-good but hard. Stayed a night and a day with Judy for Crystals baby shower. Tried all week to get Gracies b-day present done, finally got it done by staying up late. I would post a pic, but on my way to Missouri, I left my camera in the overhead bin and someone stole it. Left for California to help Amy and Mike move, like Amy said, we had a really great road trip it was great fun. Stayed at Amy's and Mikes helping them organize their whole apartment for 3 days, Her apartment is great! I was very happy for them. Then she drove me to Rebeccas for 2nights and days. We watched conference on Sunday and then Rebecca took a day off with Amy while the girls and I spent the day together. Sadly Gracie was sick and we didn't realize it until I picked her up to put her in the Walmart cart, she was burning up. We also went on an adverture, not by choice, the gps took us off in the tooleywigs we went an hour out of our way for Aliese to do a 15 minute PE test, crazy! It was pretty at least, but the fuel is low light was blinking and there weren't any gas stations so that was scary. We bought nail stuff at Walmart, came home and did nails. Then we made cupcakes and the girls frosted and decorated them. Rebecca then took me to Lizzies where I spent 3 days and nights at her house. It was great also. I was able to help as well as play. Lizzie has several errands that the kids couldn't go on so I was glad to be there to play games, make cupcakes twice and just enjoy being with them. Next month is probably going to be crazy too. Maybe June will be slower? Am I dreaming? I hope not. At times like that I am so grateful that I started taking better care of my body. I am grateful I can help my kids.

Well, I came home sick so I am going to close now. I hate being sick. I am feeling better, just tired and very tired of swollen glands in my neck.

love you all!

Update

2011-03-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been busy at our house. A week ago today I took Steve to get his first colonoscopy-I know a really great subject. We have both avoided them, he took the first big step. The results weren't terrible but it motivated me to sign up for one. When I get back from my trip with my sister, I think I will set up an appt. He had 6 pollups (like that name) that if left in there were the kind that would have turned to cancer. I am so glad he had them taken out. Needless to say I believe in colonoscopies.

Then on Friday I took him to Portland to get his eyes lazered-it was take care of Steve week. It has made a difference for him. I thought it wasn't really necessary, but now that he did it I can see he really needed it. I am glad he did it. Now we are constantly putting eye drops in his eyes. We spent the night at Jake's and Lyndsey's house. Jake made us a wonderful dinner and breakfast. The next day we went to the zoo. It was great fun. I will post pics later but here's a sneak preview.
Don't you just love Miles hat!

Yesterday I bought and ordered seeds and plant starts!! Ahhhhhh such a wonderful thing! I will have a lot more seeds than that. I bought those at this really cool Feed and Seed Store. It is in Toledo a little town just outside of Newport. The really cool thing about them is they will order the seeds I want and not charge me for shipping. She said they will come in this week! Pretty cool! I also got fresh local eggs there. It is now getting ready to be a 3rd generation store. Gotta love that!

The other night I was sitting at the computer and called Steve to come and look.It's a rough life, but someone has to live it, so I will carry the burden! Love you all!!!

Snowy Day!

2011-02-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

Snow at the ocean is a rarity. It happens only every few years. The other day it hailed like crazy then it started snowing. I couldn't believe it so had to grab my camera! It didn't last of course. The next day it was absolutely gorgeous, still freezing but the sun was shining the ocean was blue. I took an hour walk on the beach and didn't see a soul until the last 3 minutes I was on the beach. The sun made it look like there were diamonds floating on the ocean.

I went to our Stake Women's conference this weekend, it was amazing. I was deeply moved by the main speaker. I also attended a class on order in the home. It was a great reminder,refresher and I learned a few things. She had the "rule of three". If you have a big project just do three things each day and it will eventually be done. Also she said to get rid of the junk drawer. She said to take all the stuff out put dividers in it and then little boxes or containers and have a place for everything. I loved how she said that nothing in your home should be "homeless". I liked that!

Then I went to a boring staff meeting for weight watchers. After that I ran into Costco very fast, because I had to meet someone I took with me to Woman's conference at the little mall in Albany. So I literally walked as fast as I could through Costco, grabbed a little sample of dry cereal and the young man that was running that sample table said" excuse me mam". The way he said it was in a way that I felt like I had to stop and go back. Low and behold it was Matt that Danielle used to date in high school! I was so excited and happy to see him, I hadn't seen him in almost 5 years. He looked great was working at Costco, going to Oregon State studying History and two other subjects. He wants to be able to teach three different subjects. I was so happy to see that his life was moving forward. Then I was in such a hurry I left my purse in the cart at Costco. I realized it when I went to pick up Melissa. We roared back to Costco which thankfully was only 10 min away and I ran inside and it was turned in and everything was still in it! I was so grateful. It was comforting to know that there are still honest people in the world.

Today we went to church, still no calling yet.

I got a new computer and printer. My computer is is almost all put together. I had to buy a new Print Shop program. I had to order it. I don't think I could live without print shop. Other than that, most of my programs still worked. My web designing program didn't work, but Clay is designing a new one anyway. I finally bought an external hard drive-Lizzie's suggestion. So now I can backup my pics to that and not have to worry about making discs. I have a few things to learn and get used to, but that will come.

Hope you all had a great weekend! Missing some peoples blogs, even if they think there life is boring the rest of us don't think so! :-)

Love you All!!!

Two days in a row of blogging! Wow!

2011-02-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

I woke up earlier than I planned today and couldn't go back to sleep-a blessing from Heavenly Father! I thought oh well, I will read my scriptures. My life has basically been a mess lately. I have been eating out of control, watching way too much TV and been very unhappy as a result of it. I have prayed a lot about it and just couldn't seem to pull out of it. This morning I felt prompted to read out of the Gospel Principles Manual. We are on Chapter 27 this coming week. If you aren't taking advantage of the GPS Manual (wow is that metaphorical or what!?) you are missing out! It is written in such a simple way, that it doesn't matter how long you have been a member of the church you can gain so much from it. I have decided simplicity allows for great depth and great learning.

Anyway Chapter 27 is on work and the value of it. Just what I needed. I think we are always wanting and hoping to have less work. Like Sis. Beck said we are always trying to find more leisure time. But that is not how the Plan is! The lesson talks about not only the value of work, but how that is the one of the ways to happiness. We are supposed to learn to LOVE work. What a concept! It also quotes Pres. McKay (prophet when I was a little girl) "Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that the power to work is a blessing, that the love of work is success." Just think how much happier we would be if we really practiced, believed and lived this!!! I am going to change my attitude!!!

We had a great time with Amy and Mike this weekend. We watched Movies, sewed, ate, and visited. The weather was gorgeous, I took advantage of it and took a couple of walks on the beach.

About a year ago I bought some stuff to put on my window in my sewing room so you couldn't see through the glass. I procrastinated because I thought it would be a big ordeal. One day I got tired of putting up a sheet across the doors and finally got out the package of the stuff to put on the door. Low and behold it was a plastic film that clung to the window by spraying water on the glass and then squeezing all the air bubbles out with a squeegee. It was so easy!! It is like those things you put on your window for holiday decor. You can peal it right off if you don't like it. Well, it is great! Well, I am, you guessed it-going to get to work! :-)
Love you all!!

Past time to blog!

2011-02-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

I wonder how many times I have said ,"I can't believe how long it has been since I blogged". Too many!!!

Before Christmas I was sick of my closet under the stairs. It had become the place to pitch things when I didn't' know what to do with them. When we decided to move into this house I immediately thought how fun it would be to make it a playroom so to speak. In the end I chose for it to be more of a place to put the dress up clothes. Here it is !
Last but not least the actual clothes. I put up a tension rod.love you all!!

Babies Quilt

2011-01-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

Next week my #8 grandchild, Lizzie's little Elle, will be one year old. I wanted to do something fun and special. I had this idea in my head that I had never seen, so there was no pattern. I couldn't find the kind of dolls I wanted so I remembered these cute fabric paper doll fabric with outfits. So this is what I came up with. I cut them out , sewed some muslin on the back and stuffed them so they would be soft. I felt like a little girl dressing the dolls before I put them together. I ironed the clothes on with stitch witchery type stuff, then sewed them together with muslin on the back. It was great fun. I was so excited when it was done. Steve absolutely loved them, he kept saying how cute they were! I was originally going to make pockets for them, then I thought it would be cuter making the pockets look like blankets. Well, I'm tired. Love you all!

So much to share!

2011-01-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

I am so far behind, at times like this I just want to forget the past and move on from today, BUT that would be foolish. I use my blog to share and to document. Soooooo that means I need to catch up. For fun before I go back and catch up, Steve and I went out to eat the other night for Chinese, Steve's favorite. These were our fortunes, I had to share.
Christmas was wonderful. It was definitely different, but I still enjoyed it very much. I can never think of a time in my life when there hasn't been lots of people around at Christmas and always children. I think there might have been one Christmas when we lived in Wyoming that we stayed there by ourselves, but we had Rebecca and I think Jake, so children around. This year, because of our Reunion just one month before, our kids were either at their in-laws or just staying home. Steve didn't want to travel so we were home on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning all by ourselves. I was worried that I would be sad, but I wasn't , it was very pleasant. It was very quiet. I would love to say it was laid back, but we were expecting Rebecca, Steve, Amy and Mike that night for Christmas Dinner. Since Rebecca and Steve wouldn't get a Christmas Dinner unless I did one, I waited for them to come to have it. So that meant cooking all day. I was reminded of why I do Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. By the time Christmas comes I am tired out! I just want to stay in my jammies and do nothing. But I was happy to have Rebecca and Steve so I just bucked up and did it.

It was so nice to get to know Steve better. We met him at the reunion, but it was pretty busy and chaotic there. Here it was quiet and low key. It was really nice. We are excited for them to be married. He will be a great addition to our family. They and Amy stayed until Tuesday and then left to go to their homes. Mike went home on Sunday. Then that very night Megan and Greg came with Greg's little brother Chris and his wife. It was nice and pleasant and fun to see the changes Scarlet has made. She is so happy and easy going and LOVES to smile. Megan got some great pics with Steve it is hard to choose so there will be several.Aren't those great! Megan got a few of me just before they left.Then they left and Jake's Family came the next night. It was like a revolving door. Ruby and Miles stayed with us New Years Eve and Jake, Lyndsey and their friends stayed at one of our beach houses. The next night they came and stayed with us. While Ruby and Miles were with us we did some fun things of course. We made cupcakes-Surprise! Ha! Ha! We made the dinosaurs. It was cool to use my new pearls and big sugar sprinkles, it made them look more like dinosaurs. Plus, I figured out an easier and better way to put the sugar on, it was less messy and faster!After that we sewed. It is great having One of my grand kids close enough to teach them to sew. Ruby is actually using the sewing machine and serger all by herself. Miles sat on my lap but I made the mistake of letting the sleeve of his shirt that he was wearing get in the blade of the serger. He saw the cut in his sleeve, it was less than a quarter of an inch, but he got scared and didn't want to sew anymore. I was sad, I hope he will try again. Aren't they cute in their matching clothes!
Then of course we had to make pancakes. Danielle gave me this cool thing from Williams Sonoma, it is for pancake batterfor some reason I never noticed it. It is so wonderful!!! I have all these cool pancake molds, but I had just about given up on them because it is so hard to pour the batter around and into all the little crevices. This makes it a breeze, plus you can draw designs.It was a great time. We always have so much fun. They left and then I thought I was going to breath, but it seemed like then I had to catch up on life and get the Christmas all put away. That of course took longer than I thought it would. I still have my lights up, but I turned them off. The weather has been horrendous so one of these days I'll get them put away. I have hung up a few more pics around the house. I have a few more to go. I hope to get the car back in the garage this week. I got it in there for about a week and then Steve started another remodeling project. But thankfully they are all done! So we can put the car in and enjoy the house until it's time to sell. Hope you are all well! Love you all!

Hobbies

2011-01-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

I know I should be blogging Christmas first, but this couldn't wait! Wednesday I went to sleep feeling very overwhelmed and uptight, crying myself to sleep kind of thing. I woke up not feeling much different, even after reading my scriptures. Keep in mind I have been reading and pondering my scriptures on a regular basis. I couldn't understand why I was such a mess. Thursday was Weight Watchers which usually cheers me up, but I was stressed about that also. I did my meeting and it was fine. Then for the first time in about a month or more, I went to my greenhouse, plugged in my music, and started cleaning up beds and weeds coming up through the bricks on the floor. It took me about 2 hours. I was exhausted, but invigorated! I was happy to the point of almost giggling. Life seemed doable for the first time in a long time. I didn't feel overwhelmed or the tiniest bit sad. I felt like I had so much emotional and mental energy. It was great! I woke up this morning feeling the same way. The moral of the story? BALANCE!!! I have been running around working myself to the bone. I got sicker than I had been in a long time. No matter how hard I tried, life was not fun. It is important to do things you enjoy, if you don't you will burn out. How can you be a good servant to the Lord, your family or anyone if you are burned out?

Now for the exciting crazy part those veggies you see up there are from my greenhouse! They are the last of the summer crop. I have other things growing still, but they are more cool crop things. The peppers taste soooo sweet and delicious. The tomatoes are okay. When we live back down there, I might just see if I can lengthen out the season by protecting them more. Well, love you all!!!!

Christmas Eve at My Mom and Dads

2010-12-24T23:37:00.000-08:00

Steve and I went to the valley today to spend the morning and afternoon with my parents. We had such a wonderful time. It was very peaceful and sweet. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Steve dropped me off to go and check out our properties. I visited with my Dad and Mom and helped my Mom get dinner ready. Steve came back, we ate a delicious New York cut Roast. As Steve put it "after being married to me for 35 years he would never question my mom and beef". If there is something I don't know it is beef. But my mom really knows how to cook it. We ate the roast, salad, rolls, and baked potatoes. We then opened presents. It was fun, I was very excited to give my parents their presents. It's fun to give presents you know someone will love and that you acually thought about. We gave dad the dvd of Les mis and the CD. I know it will become his new love, besides mom of course!!Mom opening her present

she was totally not expecting this, she saw it at Deseret book and fell in love with it, I bought it for myself. I didn't feel like it was mine, about a month ago I realized it was moms. She loved it!Mom is making an amazing quilt she is giving to me for Christmas, but it isn't done yet. I wasn't expecting a present, and she cheated and gave me several really nice things. Even though the pic below is not flattering of me at all, I had to include it becuase of my dad, he purposely stuck his head in like a little kid would, we all bust out laughing even before we knew how funny it would look.She gave Steve his favorite, Rocky Road Candy! My dad wanted a pic with Steve, I can't say they were very photogenic here! The ones below are much better!We then ate some amazing cheesecake, and some apple crisp or strudel or whatever it was it was delish! Then we said our goodbyes came home and watched the best movie. I highly recommend it, it is based on a true story, "Something the Lord Made". We got it from Netflix, what would we all do without Netflix!? Well, I am tired, hope you all had a great day.

Cookies...It must be Christmas!

2010-12-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

I learned tonight as I had the music up as loud as I could and I was dancing around the kitchen making cookies, that I like making cookies. I am not sure if I knew that. I love cooking with my grandkids, so I guess I should have known that means I like it. I was making 4 different kinds at once. I still need to frost the sugar cookies and bake the Peppermint Sandwiches, but I am tired now, so it will be later or maybe tomorrow sometime. We are going to my parents early and coming home early afternoon. Probably won't blog before Christmas. So:

Have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas time is Here!

2010-12-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I got off to a late start, but just about the time I was done decorating, I had some things to do then got sick. :-( I have been sick for a little over a week. I thought I had kicked it and then it snuck up on me. I am tired of it, but that is life. I have gotten a few things done while I have been sick, mostly sitting things, but one day when I was starting to feel better I over did it and cleaned the downstairs. But at least the house is basically clean. That has been nice being sick, it makes me feel calmer.

I had a ball doing the lights in our front yard, the checker at Fred Meyer got to know me personally, 5 times in 2 days. She asked me if I knew what a list was, and I explained that I had one every time I came in, it was just that it was the first time I have ever done this yard so I didn't know for sure what I would need. I bought 8 boxes of lights in addition to the ones I already had! :-) it looks cool. Our yard looks like a fairy land. You can see it as soon as you drive into our neighborhood. Us and our neighbors to the east and north are the only ones that decorate. I have taken some pics but I think the one that will do it justice is the one from the car as we enter the neighborhood, and I am too sick to go take it, so later.

It was stressful decorating the inside of the house because I didn't know where to put things. I only knew where the tree was going, everything (and as you know there is a lot of everything) else was a mystery to me. Slowly but surely I got them all placed in their new little Christmas spot. I am very happy with it all. I wish I could do virtual tour, that would be way more fun, but these pics will have to do. Today while feeling sorry for myself, while Steve was at church, me doing gross cold things, I figured out what I want for Mother's Day or my B-day next year. I want everyone to get together and buy me a beautiful Nativity Scene picture for my mantle. I was enjoying my tree and living room, when it hit me that instead of a child in the snow walking home, it would be so wonderful to have a picture of the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I will start looking. I love my hearth this year ,
I was going to give everyone money because I major procrastinated Christmas presents, and I was too sick to think. Then Lizzie called and asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told her and then when the big box came in in the mail from the store that I wanted something from, I got so excited. I wondered what exactly she got. I then thought, no way am I going to give money to my girls. I know the guys like money so that is different. I am sure the girls like money too, but it's not as exciting as wondering what is in that package. So I started racking my brain and came up with a fun gift, that is all I will say for now. I hope they come in on time! I need to mail some tomorrow also.

Well, I am about to quit, so I better start posting pics. The tree during the day the tree at nightI love my snow people!! I especially love this new spot.the dining room turned out really nice with the pic Clay painted and my snowflakes hanging from the lights, a new look and my beautiful Santa Mom gave me years ago.
My entry way this year is really fun, because the wind isn't blowing it down every night! I love our other entry better, but when we go back I will miss the wind free environment!Because our entry is dark most of the time I have the lights on all day on the stairs.
Now one of the most time consuming thing I do is the stairs. I love it a lot, but it is very hard to do alone. I always struggle with what to tie the swags up with so they won't show. I put 4 ugly ties on when I came up with the most brilliant idea, yes ribbon tied into beautiful bows! Doesn't it look cute! I am so happy to finally have an easier and more attractive way to hang the swags!

The living room- I finally used this as an excuse to put the entertainment center together, it looks so nice-what a shock!and no those aren't real candles, Steve still thinks we will burn the house down if we light candles, those are those battery operated ones from Costco, I LOVE them. I cannot believe how many things I bought because Danielle talked me into them. In the end I am always grateful. This advent calendar we went round and round about, she won and I love it and have never regretted it!My only new addition this year, if you squeeze his left ear his nose lights up! I hope someday one of my grandkids gets to squeeze it!
This next picture doesn't do this justice, it actually looks really cool!The inside EntryI hope Mrs. Santa doesn't feel like she is a cast out! She has never been in such an isolated place!
This is another one of those pics that doesn't look as good in a picture. Although I will have to say I think he looked better in my kitchen on Idaho Street.The last thing I did was the kitchen, I was getting tired, so one spot is litterally half done, but most of it I like a lot.
the window sill
This part of the kitchen turned out really neat
This clock I bought last year but never put it up because we were still moving in and I didn't decorate for Christmas, Steve loves it! I am very happy about that!
Another advent calendar Danielle talked me into. Do you see a pattern here?
This last one of the kitchen is where I finally said I'm done. The snowman is up there all by himself, he looks kind of funny in real life all by himself, I didn't take a pic of he whole area, but I do love the greenery. Last but not least, my lights at night. This first one is for Danielle.Try as I may, this is as good as it gets from the house. I hope the one from the car will look better, otherwise you will just have to trust me it is really magical!Well, I am hoping to blog again before Christmas, but if I don't have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Family Reunion "are we having fun yet?"

2010-12-06T20:50:00.001-08:00

I couldn't resist putting that first, we were getting ready for our family pics. Isn't it crazy the faces we make when we aren't posing!? There are more fun ones below!

Wow! I think I say this alot, but it has been way too long since I blogged! I was so busy trying to get ready for the reunion, WW's new program and other things in my life that time just slipped away.

I had a blast at the reunion. I learned a few things, first just because it is warmer at Lizzie's, doesn't mean it is great traveling weather for the rest of us. We personally were very blessed, we missed all the bad weather. There was a little concern at Megan's, but we sailed out so early that we missed it and beat the weather heading south.

As I said we stopped first at Megan's. It was good to see Greg as we don't see him much. It's always good to see Scarlet, and Megan also. Meg did my hair, I feel like a human being again, and a much "younger one"! :-)

I also learned that cooking crafts need to be simpler. I did something very fun, but it took too long. I loved it and don't regret it. It gave me some one on one time but it took the better part of two days. Considering that the reunion was only 3 and a half days that wasn't such a good idea. But the kids loved them. Here are a few picks below. For some reason I didn't get Ruby. Oh I know why hers got wrapped up for traveling before I got out the camera. I didn't think about how if I focused on the person the cookies would be blurry! So some you are blurry, some you can see! Beautiful Aliese! Miles always has this crazy Pirate smile pose for the camera! I wonder when he will stop? Beautiful Anna!Making snow!Beautiful Gracie!Last but not least, handsome Tanner!

We went to Tangled, I LOVED IT!!! It is the best Disney Show in years. The lead girl was a girl, she didn't have size double "D" augmented breasts. She didn't show the little cleavage she had and it didn't have any adult inuendos! Did I say I LOVED IT!! I will buy it as soon as it comes out. All the girls and the kids went to it while the guys shot guns. It was so cool and cute to look down the row and see all 14 of us together! I bought 4 of the big popcorns. They told me they could give me boxes to divide them all up. Then after I paid they reminded me I could get free refills! I thought that was a little sneaky! So I immediately got two more refills and filled up the boxes more! Danielle, Amy and Alies and I went to save the seats, so when everyone got there, there was a box of popcorn on their seats, how fun was that!

The women all went to a spa. It was a blast and relaxing at the same time. A very old lady did water yoga/tai chi or something like that. It was really relaxing in some ways and in other ways I had a hard time not laughing. I was a good girl though and didn't laugh. We were actually good in the relaxation room. If it had been more private, I fear I wouldn't have been very relaxed. We then had a private room where we painted each other with healing muds. It was really fun. Mostly it was just great to have girl time with all my daughters and Lyndsey. I loved it.

Of course we ate, and ate and ate.

It wasn't as warm as usual so I didn't go swimming, plus I was rather occupied with cookies, but others went swimming.

Steve, Me, Amy, Mike, Clay and Danielle stayed at their friends house. It was huge! It was really nice to have our own bathroom and place to crash.

Rebecca's fiance Steve wrote a song with Anna. Amy begged them to sing it for the whole family. It was really beautiful. I was so impressed that Steve would do that for her and for us. We definitely gave him a taste of the family he is getting into! We all loved him and can't wait for Rebecca and him to get married. Plus it will be another excuse to get together!

Well, the last thing of course, family pics! I had to post them all it will bring great joy to you all! Well, we thought we were ready-maybe not!Checking the camera!
Still checking the cameraEveryone ready but me! Yea!
Last but not least my favorite
We had to include Greg who sadly couldn't be with us.Some Sibling pics!Maybe I'm predjudice, but that is one gool looking group!!I would swear I straightened this pic! Steve and I with the Grandkids!!! All 9 of them!
I didn't have time to touch up the family pics, I know everyone was anxious to see them, I will correct the color and then post them on Costco. Hope you are all well! Love you all!!!

My B-day and Scarlets Blessing Dress

2010-10-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I am 54 years old! For some reason that seems weird. It is the first time in a long time that I thought my age was weird. I feel like it doesn't feel like anything. For quite some time now I have felt great to be in the shape I am in for my age. I have never been embarrassed to talk about my age. I am still not embarrassed it just seems odd.

Anyway this is us at my favorite restaurant by far since New York. So now if any of you ever get to go there you will be disappointed because I have built it up. But it is how I feel. The chef is a woman and she with her husbands help grows all that they can in their greenhouses, use only good beef, and fish, makes all her food from scratch, its just great! I love it. We shared the dessert, because it is too rich to eat it by yourself. You can't tell but it is a chocolate silk torte. Very rich and nummy!

I woke up on my b-day and it was gorgeous outside, a rare thing for my b-day. It is usually raining. Steve said, "why don't you go out for a walk?" I thought yea, why not. It has not been walking weather for a few weeks now. I found a good bakery and Steve volunteered to get me two scones for my breakfast while I went on a walk. I walked to the jetty, I must not have walked my normal pace, because Steve said he was about to go out in his truck and drive down the beach to find me. You gotta love a man that would say that with all sincerity. I then ate my two very delicious scones. One was a savory one, Parmesan and spinach, the other was blueberry. I normally would never eat two scones, but it was my b-day! So one tasted like breakfast the other dessert. Did I say it was delicious?! I now know where to get a scone when I am dying for one.

Steve gave me two days off for my b-day, no cooking, no Beach House bookings, no work. It was great. I have to admit, it was kind of strange not doing anything, I basically didn't do much of anything on my b-day, but on Saturday I couldn't stand the kitchen so I did the dishes and swept the floor. I had to make cupcakes for our Halloween party at church, so I did that also. Steve brought home some chicken breasts, so we watched the last Bourne movie and ate our dinner. We had watched the other two the two days before. After that I went into the sewing room, put on Gilmore Girls and finished little Scarlets Blessing Dress. Theres nothing quite like sewing and watching Gilmore Girls. Ahhhhhhh...... I loved the way the dress turned out!The back

Well, it was a great two days.
I got phone calls from all my kids and my mom and dad. It was great. Steve also gave me some cute little things from Williams Sonoma that I wanted. Here are the pocket pie molds. I wanted these because Steve will only eat one piece of pie, so I eat the rest of the pie. This way there is more control, and they are cute on top of it all.Here are the pocket pies, aren't they cute!!!!Then I got some little cutouts for a big pie Church was great today. Steve bore his testimony. It was wonderful, it was mostly about the atonement, several people came up to me and told me how wonderful it was and that they needed it. I saw others thank him personally also. I love watching him bear his testimony, especially at times like that, I realize all over again what a spiritual giant he is. Well, love you all!

After the Storm

2010-10-26T22:07:00.001-07:00

We had the first big storm of the year. This morning I got up and the sky was awesome. I didn't catch it all, but if you look at the taller pic you can see the sun shining on the top of the clouds. It was so cool I had to take a pic of it. I love the storms if I don't have to go out in them. Sunday was the beginning and just as we got out of church the BIG hail/rain drops came down. It was hilarious, everyone started screaming and laughing and running to their cars.

By far one of the coolest things about living on the ocean is the moving postcard always out your window. I have so many pics I have never posted. I just can't resist.

I made Halloween cookies for the non gluten free grandkids today. I am hoping to get the gluten free ones made tomorrow. I decided a few years back that it didn't do me any good to have all those holiday cookie cutters if I don't use them. I bought them to do with my grandkids, but with them all living so far away I decided to just use them and the sprinkles myself and mail them.

Hope you all had a great day. Love you all!!

Hard Week, tomatoes, movie

2010-10-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it is a strange how you can have a week where everything is great, and then for some odd reason, (lack of good scripture study for one big reason) I feel like crying every other minute. Then because I am so blessed I get the added feeling of guilt. I have already gone through menopause (that is for you Amy) and I still felt hormonal all week. I mentioned this to one of my fellow menopausal friends and she said, "well we still have hormones" . Ugghhh I thought it would be all over! WRONG! I decided to stop taking my natural herb pills to see if I didn't need them, MISTAKE!!! I have been having hot flashes and night sweats galore. So I think that all of that along with too much running faster than I have strength caught up with me. One day this week I called Amy and said, "I'm tired of my thougths I need to talk to someone." She immediately asked me if I was okay and I said" I repeat, I don't want to think about me its boring". Well, enough of that boring stuff.

I had some extra tomatoes so I made some "Italian Stewed Tomatoes" aren't they pretty! It only made 5, but that is 5 less canned tomatoes I need to buy. All of the veggies in the mix came from my greenhouse except for the onion.

Steve and I went to the movie for the first time in more than a year or more. Steve hated the seats in our theater and all the talking people. Well, Secretariat came out and our theater has been remolded so I got him to go. It was a great movie, you all have got to go! Steve liked the theater so maybe we will start going to the movie again! Yea!!

Church was amazing today. I was so moved from the beginning to the end. It was our Primary Program today, it was so good, I cried. I wished I could go and see all my grandkids in theirs. Steve leaned over at one point and said the same thing I was thinking. Sunday School was one of the most spiritual class I have been to in years. RS was wonderful also. I am amazed how you can have a day like that, then come home and not want to be spiritual. I hate that.

I am so tired of remodeling. We have had more tearing out of doors, etc. After we paint the new wall, I think we will be done! I need to put up some pics and then I think we will be ready to put up the signs.

Well, it is late! Love you all!!

Great Day

2010-10-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been so wonderful. In fact it has just been a great week. First I spent the early part of the week cleaning my garage. Now I know this sounds boring, but if you are like me and like to be efficient, things like this give me a high! Crazy I know. I will post a pic, but only my family will appreciate it. I forgot to take a before pic.

Then I went to WW's on Thursday, that is always a great day. After went to the greenhouse, picked a bunch of veggies, put some stuff from the garage in our attic at the Idaho Street house and then went home.

Yesterday I went to Lincoln City. Now for those of you that don't know anything about the coast, this is like going to the BIG city for me. They have a Jo-Ann's there and Outlet mall and if you are into Cold Stone ice cream (which strangely enough I'm not) you get the picture. Big city life for me! The town probably has about 11,000 people in it, but it is a tourist town. Since I don't get to go to Jo-Ann's very often it feels like Christmas every time I go. I went to the outlet mall for unmentionables, I need some after losing some more weight. I bought some cool fabric that I will post later, some patterns for .99 each, dropped my friend off and then went to Freddies! Could this day get any better. I got a pair of Steve's cool pants (being sarcastic of course) which Freddies has been out of for a while-on sale! Oh I forgot to mention that I spent 58.0o at Jo-Ann's and saved are you ready...128.83!!! Is that crazy or what! Anyway, I got some really cute shoes from Freddies. I have been wearing the same pair of black pumps since Lizzie was in high school. Lizzie is 30 years old! Picked up some shrimp and bread. Came home and cooked up some of my yummy squash, cut up my yummy tomatoes and had strawberries for dessert. It was wonderful!

Today I talked to Rebecca for a couple of hours, which is always a treat. While I was talking to her I was getting my patterns ready for my fitting class on Monday. I am so psyched about that!! Then did odds and ends.

Somewhere in there I read Pres Monson's article in the Ensign and besides being very moved and spiritually filled I couldn't stop thinking about how grateful I am to live today with all the modern media we have. Not so many years ago, I wouldn't have been able to talk to Rebecca for basically free for two hours. I wouldn't have been able to download the Ensign from the Internet ( I accidentally let mine expire). I wouldn't have been able to watch conference in my home last week without the dish. I could go on and on. I am very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that sent me down at this time and inspired men to create these things for us. The media gets a bad rap. But like anything good in this world, Satan will use it. BUT we don't have to use it for bad things, especially when there is still plenty of good. Today Steve watched "Where the Red Fern Grows" on instant play Netflix on our TV with just a push on the the button on our remote control. How cool is that.

Will post some pics of my cool things later. Life is good!

Love you all!

Retirement age

2010-10-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Steve got two pieces of junk mail that I couldn't resist posting. I hope it gives you as big of a laugh as it did us!
Love you all!!

Tomatoes

2010-10-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

I have so many things to post, I have pics from a year ago. I might still post them because one of these days I will make one of those cool books from my blog, and I don't want those memories completely lost.

Loved, Loved, loved Conference. I am so excited now for the conf issue to come out. I want to study it.

For now, I am going to post my Spaghetti sauce! I had all these tomatoes so I wanted to do something with them. So I drove myself crazy trying to decide if I wanted to just can tomatoes or make Spaghetti sauce. I use my canned tomatoes for Italian type stir fry, or Spaghetti sauce. So the sauce won. If I get more tomatoes, which I assume I will, I will can some Italian style tomatoes! Well, here are my jars! I put my labels on two different ways, I think I like the ones on the front of the jars better. What do you think?About a week and a half ago, I went to my greenhouse and hit pay dirt! There were lots more peppers in the bottom of the basket. I think next year I will plant more tomatoes. But we will see. One of my plants died early becuase of the way I pruned and staked them. I'm trying one more new method next year. If it doesn't work I am going to try the kind that hang from the ceiling.

Well there are lots more things I want to blog, but I think I will try to do a little every day.
love you all!!

Good tools

2010-09-22T19:07:00.001-07:00

About 30 years ago give a year or two either way, Steve gave me some money for Mother's day. I decided to go buy kitchen stuff. I paid about 8 dollars or so for the above whisk. It has been faithful and wonderful tool all those years. It died 2 days ago. Over time I realized the importance of buying good tools if you want them to last. I decided it was worth it to save up or spend my whole gift money on good tools for the kitchen , garden, sewing or etc. If it wasn't important I would buy cheap things but if it was something I was going to use a lot or use for many years I would buy only the good quality. It has served me well.

Baby Scarlet!

2010-09-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

I had the great privilege of helping Megan during the first week of little Scarlets life. She is so sweet, smiles all the time, and is very easy to comfort. I was there until she was 9 days old and I never heard her cry more than a few minutes. I hope she stays that way! Here she is a few hours old! With Auntie Amy, with GrandmaMore at the hospital Then as the week went on it was hard not to snap a few.Last day I was there, we took some pics in a dress. She wasn't too excited to be unwrapped. She is a typical baby, loves to be swaddled. Isn't Megan beautiful!!I had to have a pic with her, but she was done as you can see below!
What an incredible experience it is to be a mom! I am so grateful I have the health and the privilege to help my daughter and be with that little celestial being.
Love you all!

I can't believe it has been 1 and a half months!

2010-08-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

That shows the state of my mind and life for the last few months! I have had lots to blog about, lets see... visits from my mom and dad-2 times, Danielle and her in-laws, Amy and Mike at least twice, Megan and Greg-twice, Jake and Lyndsey-once, and Rebecca and the girls. During some of these visits we were living in a house that is torn up, sheet rock dust up the wazoo, and men in my house before I was dressed some days. The outside air in our house and no way to change that. I lived in my bedroom with the door shut and the heater on when I could. It made me crazy. Then when it was time to paint all the places that now needed it, we were tired and wanting it done. But as the coast world is, no one wants to work, so we had to paint it ourselves. I did the upstairs kitchen and bath, Steve's office areas, the down stairs hallway,laundry area. Steve did some in the apartment. Then is was time to clean everything up. I finally hired someone to help me 2 days before Danielle and her in laws came. I feel like I have been running for several months and I am not done yet. Jake and Lyndsey went on a 10 year anniversary trip to Mexico. So we have Miles and Ruby for 10 days. Labor day weekend, Steve's sibs are coming, then Meg's baby is due. Our garage and shop still are a disaster. I want them done before the rain starts in October. I will have I think about 1 week in between all of that. Like Rebecca said I will probably crash and sleep for days after Ruby and Miles leave.

Now having said all that, I love my family and visits, it has just been hard because we were trying to do the remodel at the same time.

Tuna time has come again. I have a new Tuna hair style. I will post it tomorrow. It is very practical!

The bad thing about Tuna right now is that I can't do it during the day when the kids are here, it is too dangerous, so that means nights in the garage till 1:30am or tonight's will be around 3:00am. Oh well. We are grateful for the Tuna. I just wish Steve would go and get some Salmon. He gets so obsessed with the fact that he can get as many Tuna as he wants and only 2 Salmon a trip if he is lucky, that the Tuna win out. I personally would like some salmon. He has only caught one this year and I have already frozen about 100 bags of Tuna, and as of tonight will have canned about 230 half pint jars of Tuna.

I am getting groggy, what a shock! I forgot to get my camera before I came down to the garage, so the pics will have to come later. Well, hope all of you are doing well! love you all!

Random Things

2010-06-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

When Steve and I went to New York a few years back, we went on a walking tasting history tour of Greenwich Village. It was pouring down rain but fun and tasty. One of my favorite places was a little Olive oil store named O&CO. They had delicious bread and different kinds of olive oil to dip it in. I thought they were to die for, even just the regular olive oil. Steve thought it was in my head. They told us because we went on the tour we got a discount on the oil and they would ship it for free whether we bought the oil that day or after we got home. It was spendy so I had to think about it. Towards the end of our trip I just couldn't stand it. I went back on the subway all by myself and bought some and they shipped it to our home. I bought the lemon and the basil. I fell in love with the lemon, and when it ran out I didn't know what I was going to do. About that time Lizzie was going to New York with Shad, so she went and bought some and they gave her the discount. About a month ago I ran out of what Lizzie had bought me. I found the card for the store and the number called it and the number had been discontinued. I was a very sad girl. I went on line to the main company's website and found out that they had a few stores in the US, but the closest one to me is Seattle. So I ordered it online with no discount of course. :-( Well, you know what happens next, I start getting ads from the online store. And then a big sale ad comes across my email. I wasn't going to look at it and then couldn't resit. I bought some small cans that still were way to expensive, but I thought what the hay, life is too short not to have some fun. Here are my fun new oils. I haven't tasted them yet, but I want to experiment with using them not only with bread but my fish , salad and who knows what else. I am excited.

Oatmeal

I love my oatmeal, just have to say it! It is so good for me and tastes so good. I use Old Fashioned Oats now and they are sooooo tasty. I use soy milk instead of water, add flax seed oil, flax seed ground, wheat germ, and lots of berries. MMMMmmmmmm!I can't remember if I blogged about this before, but if I did, it deserves two blogs! I bought this at Fred Meyer on a whim. When we moved from Idaho Street to here, there was a rust spot on our light blue carpet in the master bedroom. It was from things spilling under the love seat. So I went to Freddies and found the above. I thought the worst it could do was not much. It worked and didn't change the color of the carpet or do any damage to it! I was amazed. I took it back home with me and tried it on my porcelain cups that had rust from canning lids in my dishwasher. Voila! It worked. I love this stuff, a great addition to any home!!!!

We have a painter in our house today!!!! I have never been so happy to have a worker in our home. For the last 2 and half months we have had noise, dust, dirt, men going in and out from 8:00am -sometimes 5:30pm. Chaos has reigned. I have mopped my floor once since we have moved in, there was just no point. Then when the construction had stopped and the elevator was in (which is awesome by the way) all that was left was the painting. We tried and tried to find someone and gave up. We started to paint (I should say "I" started to paint) and someone finally called back! Wahooooo! When the paint is done we can as Steve put it, "finally move in." We are moved in obviously, but knowing we were going to put in an elevator caused us to not bring certain things in because we would just have to take them out again. I almost have my sewing room back. It became a storage room for some of the things that were in the way. There is finally light at the end of the tunnel!!!

The elevator. When Steve puts the flooring down in it I will take a pic of it. We put the elevator in because Steve was having problems with his knees, and if we ever sell this home the people that buy it will be our age or older, so it will be a huge selling point. Our main living area is upstairs, so going up and down the stairs is an ongoing thing all day. The first time we went in it together we just giggled all the way up and down. For me personally I go up and down the stairs still, BUT when I go to the store especially Costco/TJ's trips in the valley it is awesome!! One Sunday when I had scary heels on, down the elevator I went! When we have to vacuum downstairs you guessed it we put it in the elevator instead of dragging it down the stairs. I love it!

Steve was watching the BYU channel the other day and came across this great talk about being perfect, everyone should read it I cried and was greatly moved by it. Read it!!!! http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/2002/ss_reynolds.htm

Well, the day is marching on, love you all!!!

Experiment

2010-06-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I got an email that said Microwave ovens were evil showed an experiment with water boiled on the stove, and water boiled in the microwave used to water plants. The one watered with the microwave water started to die within 5 days by nine days was dead. The other one with water boiled on the stove thrived. I decided to see for myself if this was true. I got 4 plants to make sure that one wasn't sick and therefore died.

When my granddaughters came they were pretty excited about it. Aliese asked me to post them. Well, they all did wonderfully, they all flowered after 2 weeks or more. I didn't take a pic, but put them out in the harsh coastal air. I went out today to take a pic of them. Remember they have been outside on there sides for a week. But it proves once and for all at least with water, that there was no difference in the way it affected plants. I'm sorry I didn't do a before pic, but you have to trust me.

Road Trip!

2010-06-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I am so far behind, that I will have to catch up a little at a time. I am going to go backwards-the most recent!

I didn't know what to get my mom for Mother's Day and her b-day and mom had mentioned she wanted to go on a trip with me to Carin's (my cousin). I thought great present! I called mom and said do you want to go on a Road Trip for mother's day and your birthday, my treat? She didn't hesitate.

So on June 16, I got up at 6:00am, exercised, showered, got dressed, grabbed my shake and was out the door at 8:15am. Drove to Creswell and picked up my mom. Then off down the freeway we went. It was great! We did what we wanted when we wanted, we didn't hurry at all. We drove first to Megan's. We had lunch then got dressed to go to the temple.There is nothing quite like being in the temple with family, especially your mom and a daughter. It was great! Then when we got home Meg wanted some pregnant pics. Although, I thought the temple ones showed her tummy the best!
After dinner, we went to Megan's salon which was very cute. It was old fashioned and hip at the same time. Then Megan did my hair! Yeah for me!! After that we went home and went to bed-ahhhhh.

Next morning I took a 5 mile walk in Megs neighborhood. It is so nice, it's a great place to live. I figured out a loop that is one mile exactly without going out of her neighborhood or going on a main street.

After I got back they got up and we had a very leisurely morning, it felt so good. We talked laughed, ate and just enjoyed each other. Then we went to Jacksonville. It was sooooo cute and fun. It's an old cowboy type town. We ate gelato, shopped and then went out to dinner. We found this divine place to eat. We got there plenty early and it was a good thing, because it took almost 2 and a half hours!!!! But the food was to die for, so we didn't complain. Then for the first time we booked it, not time for leisure, to Ashland to the Shakespeare Festival. We went to Pride and Prejudice. It was so much fun and very funny. The mother and Mr. Collins were the best! Then home again, home again, jiggety jig. Thank goodness Megan lives a half hour from Ashland, as we had had a big day and were ready for bed.

Up the next day, Megan had to go to work, we went on our way to Carin's. She lives in Eureka, CA. Eureka is on the ocean, so it felt like I was going home. We went through part of the redwoods. We ate at a bagel shop for lunch, I had an organic salad, and mom had a yummy looking bagel san. We split a very good scone. Carin has 8 kids, one is on a mission. To blow your mind even more, 7 of them are BOYS! I can't even begin to imagine that. They were so cute and sweet and spiritual and fun. Mom and I had a great time. We stayed way later than we planned. Drove to the motel and crashed. The next morning we met Carin at a restaurant for breakfast, just us girls. It was delicious and great to be with Carin and kind of catch up. Carin is like Lynette Lewis for those of you who know her. She's here for her kids, she's next to perfect.

After that we drove to Eugene, went to Costco, Trader Joes and then said our good byes. It was a great, fun and relaxing trip. It was good to visit and just be together. I loved every minute of it!!!

Cool thoughts

2010-05-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

I love the Conference issue. It always makes me think, comforts me and guides me. I love the cover this time, isn't it great!!

Anyway, this week I was reading Sis Becks talk and something jumped out at me, "A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence." I am always trying to find a way to have more leisure. People try to tell me all the time that I need to say no to my kids more often. I thought about how when I have been out of town and serving someone, I am constantly thanking Heavenly Father for the energy and strength I have. Then I get home, and of course am tired. My gratitude stops and I want "leisure" time. So I will waste a whole afternoon watching stupid TV shows or some movie I don't really need to watch. Now I truly believe that we need rest and recreation, but "leisure"? I really thought about that. Good rest or hobbies, or recreation is fulfilling, and makes us feel buoyed up and invigorated. The scriptures talk about not being a sloth, about being diligent, not running faster than we have strength, but being diligent. I realized I have been looking at life all wrong. I always want to help my kids and I am going to turn a deaf ear to those that would make me think I should do more for myself. I am a mom, I love it, and I love helping my kids!! If I quit thinking in terms of leisure, but start thinking about being productive, I will get more done, feel better about my life, and I will quit feeling cheated. Again, I truly believe in rest, recreation and hobbies. I know I won't change over night, but I am sure going to work on it!

Today we had a RS Visiting meeting for all the sisters during RS time. It was fabulous. I was reminded of how important it is to be a visiting teacher. Quote after quote was about how being a VT was the most important calling we will ever have at church. Today I truly believed that more than I have in the past. I have always had a testimony of it, but because of coming to this ward, and because of one of the ladies I have been assigned to I really believe it in the core of my being. I want to strive to be a better VT. I made a cool little book for the sisters, I will post it later. I am tired right now.

The sheet rock work is done! Yea!!, Next is paint and tile, then cleaning!!! then the elevator. Love you all!!

Tired of Chaos

2010-05-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

I was reading Megan's blog and she said it was so nice to have things be normal. I thought, maybe it is possible. I have felt total upside down for a year now. I keep wondering if life will ever be like it used to be... get up exercise, eat and read scriptures with Steve, family prayer, read my own scriptures, pick up the house, do a little laundry, then whatever for that day. It literally has been more than a year since that has happened on a consistent basis. I have wondered if it is my imagination that it ever was that way, but I know it must have been because Steve and I read the whole Book of Mormon together, and almost all of the Doctrine and Covenants. We have been in the same spot in the Doctrine and Covenants for about 6 or 8 months now. Between family stuff, moving and remodeling, life has been crazy.

Remodeling is the most chaotic crazy thing on earth. We have had a hole starting at the garage floor up to the top of our ceiling in the kitchen for about 4-5 weeks or more now. We have had no back door from the house to the garage now for two days, it will be a week by the time we get a door. We have had men running around our house for the last 5 weeks. It seems pointless to vacuum, dust or sweep. There is sawdust, sheet rock dust and etc. everywhere. I could go on, but that is enough. It is making me crazy. For the last 8 weeks I have eaten really healthy and lost all the weight I had gained over the last 8 months. Over the last 3 days I think I gained at least a few pounds of that back. I just have lost it. I did almost nothing today but eat crap to put it bluntly.

I know it will be great when it is done, its just that we started moving in the first of November and the house has been a mess since we started moving in. I am ready for some order. One thing it has done for me is that I am so ready to get rid of excess stuff! I haven't been able to back my car up and even find the stuff because there is construction stuff in the way or trucks in the way. Oh well, I know waaa, waaa, poor me. I know I have TONS to be grateful for, its just getting to me.

love you all!!!

If Heaven was a store....

2010-05-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

I used to always think that if Heaven was a store it would be the Container Store. The other day after working at Jakes's for 5 days, I was exhausted and decided to treat myself to a visit at Bob's Red Mill. I needed some Kamut berries. I walked in and was immediately surrounded by this feeling of warmth. I felt like I was in heaven. I walked around the store picking up the occasional cooking gadget that I didn't need but wanted. I found a cool cookbook, then went on to get my wonderful grains. All the while feeling this incredible feeling of peace. I then decided to order a wonderful sandwich from their bakery to eat on my way home. As I stood there and called Jake to tell him that I had now decided if Heaven was a store, it would be Bob's Red Mill. He laughed and said, "you're preaching to the choir mom". I have decided everyone should go there sometime. It was a wonderful moment!

Tired of being Sick!!

2010-05-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

I am almost never sick. This dang cold is the toughest cold I have ever had. Just when I think I am getting better it gets worse again. I don't know if it's because I am doing too much or if it is just the kind of virus it is. I hate it!! I cough every time I laugh. So you know what that means, I am coughing way too much.

I was at Jake and Lyndseys packing and unpacking their old house and new house. It was hard, but all I kept thinking was how grateful I am that Heavenly Father helped me to lose my weight and that I work out. I was able to work hard and long. I literally would thank Heavenly Father several times of the day. I did their kitchen mostly and played with Miles. He is so cute. I played with Miles while Jake would sleep. He works so late and then has to get up early cause Lyndsey has to go teach school. I was glad to give him a few mornings off. Steve told Miles over the phone that he was going to take him for a ride in his boat, and boy was he one excited boy! He told Jake all about it in his little two year old voice.

I'm tired of being tired. Alright I will quit complaining.

love you all!!

Ellen

2010-04-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Well, even though Ellen has done some things that tick me off, I still think she is one of the funniest people around and I love her show. I don't think about watching it and I am trying to not let my afternoon or life become just one TV show after the other. So I accidentally discovered something neat. The other day I sat down for a moment to take a break and Ellen was on. One of the American Idol cast offs (Tim Urban), which I liked a lot was on, but it was the very end, so I went to Ellen's website and lo and behold what was there, the clip of the day-Tim Urban! It was great. I have this yuccky cold still so am not doing much. I thought I would eat some popcorn and take a break and watch a little TV, it was in the middle of Ellen again, and remember I live on the coast, there is a storm outside and so the satellite wasn't working very good. She had this kid imitating a commercial it was so funny, so up I went to the computer and guess what the clip of the day was? You guessed it this kid. You should check it out, it was really funny. Hope all are well! I hope Rebecca posts about her good news, she got test scores back for her girls! They are amazing! Love you All!

Beam me up Scotti!

2010-04-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

I know I have no right to feel sorry for myself, but I am having a pity party and that is just the way it is. The other day I was watching a bio of Philo Farnsworth, the creator of the TV. I came upstairs and starting talking to Steve about something I saw once on TV about how many of the things we have in the technology world were first only in the science fiction world. I want a "beam me up Scotti" machine. I want to be able to beam over to my kids, grand kids, parents, siblings, friends, and of course Costco and trader joes. I know it's silly, but I am as I said feeling sorry for myself today. I would tell a friend that we all feel that way some days and it's okay, so I guess it's okay.

So much to post

2010-04-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

First boring, I have a cold. Not fun!

I have been reading the Book of Mormon because our Stake Pres. challenged us. I started late so am reading a lot of pages every day. I am reminded how much I love the Book of Mormon. Today the thing that hit me in a new way was how strong traditions are. The Lord excuses the Lamanites a lot because of the traditions of their fathers. Wellll, I got to thinking, what kind of traditions are we creating? If it takes something like the scriptures to break a tradition, then traditions are pretty powerful. So just like a bad one can ruin someones life, a good one could make all the difference. Just a thought!

I spent three days this week working on Jake and Lyndsey's house helping them to clean it so they can move in. Miles and I spent the whole time I was cleaning together. It was so fun, I would hear this sweet little voice say "Ama where are you?" It was so sweet. Once I had to call Steve and all I got was the answering machine. Miles LOVES Steve, so he said "Umpa, I want to talk to Umpa". So I called Steves cell phone and while Steve talked, Miles just smiled and laughed, occasionally pulling the phone away to see if he could see Steve. It was sweet. I was grateful for the energy and ability to help. I don't think I have been on my hands and knees that long in a loooonnnnngggg time. Here are some pics of their new house!I picked my first batch of lettuce yesterday! I haven't made a salad yet because I don't feel good.:-(. But maybe tonight. My carrots are up, they are tiny but you can tell they are carrots! I spent my first day at the greenhouse with people in our old house. It was strange. I had to go to the bathroom and that was uncomfortable. I told Steve that I was going to have to make a port-a-potty for my greenhouse, he said "just go at Weight Watchers before you go." I said "it's hot in there, I get thirsty!!!" Steve, "Oh." I was setting up a new watering system for the umpteenth time. It drives me crazy! I put up a sign Lizzie gave me. She gave it to me for my b-day, and we were getting ready to move. She said she could take it back, but in the back of my mind I wasn't sure if I wanted to give up my greenhouse, so I said I wanted to keep it. I am so glad I did, I love it!!! Lizzie gave me this watering can years ago, I wondered if I would use it much, and it has been worth it's weight in gold. Who would have thought!

I love that the days are longer!!!

Well, I am tired. Hope you enjoyed the pics and info, love you all!! Oh I added the annoying type in thing because I was getting anonymous comments.

Gospel Principles

2010-04-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love this manual. The lessons are short, sweet and to the point. I am moved every time I read it! I hope you are all taking advantage of it. No matter how busy your life, the lessons are short enough for anyone to read before they attend their lesson. You will get so much more out of your meeting if you read it ahead of time. If you are in Primary or Young Women's, all the more reason to read it!!! Love you all!!!

Oxy Clean, Book of Mormon, and Hair Dresser, Greenhouse

2010-04-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I have decided if you have a lot of girls try to get one of them to be a hair dresser. Send them to a great school and you will be happy for life. Megan and Greg came this weekend and my hair was long over due. She said, "I was thinking about a few layers", I got very excited, so was I. I have also learned to totally trust her. She has never since she has graduated steered me wrong. If it weren't for Megan, I wonder if I would be gray today! I about died the first time she begged me to add just a few strands red highlights in my hair. I was scared to death. After it was done, I loved it and I was hooked. I wanted more the next time. I had a friend who was so upset, she said, "you ruined your virgin hair!" (Nan Davis) I said "don't you like it," she says "yes, but I loved the color of your hair, now it will never be the same :-(. I tried hard not to laugh, she was so serious. I knew she loved the color of my hair becuase she had told me many times that she wished her hair was the color of mine. Anyway I look all beautified because of my Megan!! Thanks Megan!

Oxy Clean! There is nothing quite like it. I have stories I could tell... but one in particular my girls are sworn to secrecy about. We almost ruined a borrowed item and I saved it with oxy clean! I was a believer after that. We borrowwed an item and Amy left it in her trunk for a long time. One day she opened up her trunk and we all went into shock, it had mildewed. We all about died. I thought, well its ruined now, so why not take a chance. I took the item, soaked it in very hot water and oxy clean for 8 hours. I took it out and voila! it looked like new. One of my daughters figured out that if she soaked her girls laundry in oxy clean for several hours she didn't have to spot them. Sounded good to me, so I put my light colors in the washer with oxy clean let it sit over night w/o spotting them and voila! they come out clean and spotless! Now if you know our family, we can't eat w/o getting food on us, so this is very important! Well, about 6 months or so ago, I got my new front loader. I racked my brain how I was going to do this because it doesn't fill up with water and then start. I thought my oxy days were over, I was a very sad girl. Then I thought, my machine has a soak cycle, so I tried it with oxy, left it over night and voila! It worked. Then I just put my soap in like normal, added a second rinse and I have my heavenly spotless world back!!! :-) Don't you think oxy clean should pay me to do commercials!? :-)

Book of Mormon: Well our Stake Pres. challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon (last Sept at Stake Conf.) by June like the Seminary kids. I had full intentions of doing it, procrastinated, forgot and then the other day thought, "if our Stake Pres. asked us to do this, then I will be blessed if I do it". So I sat down and did the math, 8 PAGES PER DAY!!!! Well, I was right, I have already been so blessed. I feel like I am truly feasting in the scriptures. I am always amazed how the Book of Mormon brings you closer to Christ than any other book of scripture. I love it!!! I am so grateful to our Stake Pres. for asking us to do this. I hadn't been reading it because I was focusing on reading our Sunday School scripture assignments and the Priesthood, RS lessons. I was reminded of why Pres. Romney (member of first pres. when I was a girl and first married) and Pres. Benson said we should read it every day. Try it you'll like it!

My Greenhouse. I know, I know, how many times can I write about my greenhouse. Well, today is greenhouse day and I had Steve come down to help me put in a new watering timer. After we get it all put together, we try it out to make sure it works. Water started going everywhere. Two of our faucets in the beds were spraying water everywhere. This winter it got colder for a few days than I can ever remember on the coast. Remember the icsicle post? Well, it cracked the pipes on two of my faucets, and two of my hoses. Poor Steve has to go and fix them for me tomorrow. He is such a good husband!!! He was going to work on his boat,but instead is going to fix my watering system! I had teeny tiny carrots coming up! :-)

Well, its late, love you all!!!

Letting Go, Ruby and Miles, Easter and other things

2010-04-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks I have let go of so many things. It has been hard, but I think I am "rounding the bend" as they say. The first thing I gave up was gum. I know you are all laughing. But, I was chewing 3 pieces at a time about 5 or 6 times a day. I was starting to feel like my body was filling up with chemicals. I also was starting to get my head together in the weight dept. and I felt like the gum was just prolonging me facing why I need sugar after I eat a meal or whenever I am stressed. I realized how much I was chewing and how addicted I was when all I could think about was wanting gum for several weeks.

About a week later I decided it was time I gave up Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and the Office. I couldn't sleep one night and I was mad that I couldn't sleep. I had just finished an episode of Greys Anatomy, and was tossing and turning in bed. It was about 12:30 am. I decided to turn on the light and read a conference talk since I hadn't read my scriptures that day. As I read I started pondering on the direction my life had been going. I decided it was time to give up the things that were taking up so much of my time and thoughts. I realized, I hadn't done my visiting teaching, hadn't worked on my calling at all, and that I still had lots of things to unpack. On top of that as we all know those aren't the best shows on earth. I turned on the TV and deleted my DVR schedule for those shows, then the next day deleted off of the TV upstairs also. On one hand I felt relieved, on the other hand I could feel the withdrawals big time. It took me probably about 2 weeks to be really glad and not miss them. Today when we were turning on the TV to watch conference Greys was on the channel that the TV was on and I have to tell you it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach it was weird. I felt like I had to hurry and put something else in my mind quickly. I was glad it was conference time.

Then last but not least, I had been pondering seriously the fact that I reached my goal weight 5 and a half years ago, but have never been able to maintain it. I asked myself some serious questions about how I felt about it and really prayed about it. I realized that for me Heavenly Father really cares. I don't know why for sure, I just know I am supposed to be as healthy as I can and weigh 5 pounds below my goal weight and learn to maintain it. I think it is a combination of feeling good about myself emotionally, and being at an optimum healthy weight, and being able to speak from experience to my WW members. The other thing that has become very clear to me recently is that Heavenly Father really wants me to teach WW's. I realized that I am good at being a WW leader and that I help people regain their health back. At Conference today I was greatly impressed by how much Heavenly Father loves ALL of us, therefore if I can help people be healthy and be a light in a very dark place, it is very important.

After I came to this realization I also realized that I could only handle treats twice a week. So that was hard too.

When I got to the point that I was really serious, Lizzie called me up and asked me if I would like to check in with each other every night, I said ABSOLUTELY. It has been an answer to my prayers. I am amazed at how much of a difference it is to check in with Lizzie. We give each other encouragement, ideas and pep talks. We remind each other that we are doing good, and not to beat up on ourselves. I just can't say enough how good it has been for me. Then coincidentally, if you believe in coincidences the topic for this week that I was to use in WW's was on the importance of WW buddies. I was able to really tell them what a difference a buddy can make. It was great.

Well, onto the next subject, I had a meeting in Portland last weekend and Jake and Lyndsey are getting ready to move, so I took Ruby and Miles home with me for 3 nights. We had a good time. We cooked, sewed, and played games. We made pancakes of course, Ruby's favorite food, and bug cupcakes. I wanted to do Bunny cupcakes,but I lost the vote. Ruby's "fuzzy" a blanket that is fuzzy and silky, is getting so small, so I said lets make a new one. She sits on my lap and sews with me. I actually let her do a little on her own. I told her when she turns 6 I will let her sew all by her self, with me at her side of course. I will put the pedal on a box , put the machine on slow speed and let her truly learn to sew. If I know Ruby, when she turns 6 she will be calling me or telling her parents its time to go on a date. A date to Ruby means that she comes to our house or her other grandparents.

The Greenhouse. Every Thursday after WW's, I go to our old house on Idaho Street and work in my greenhouse. It has been a wonderful thing. It is a cell phone free zone. It is me and my music, or a book on tape, and my plants. I have beans coming up, lettuce coming upbefore and after, and garlic. Of course my herbs that are always growing. It really has been a wonderful escape. I am hoping this summer it works to only go out once a week, if not I will just go another day also. I will really miss going out right before dinner and picking fresh produce, but at least I can go once or twice a week.

The Elevator. Welllll.....the carpenters came and ripped up part of Steve's office and the broom closet and framed in a bathroom. The old bathroom is where our elevator is going to go. It will stop on 3 floors, the garage, downstairs, and the top floor. Poor Steve's office got smaller It will be great. They also framed in a spot for my extra fridge where the dumb waiter used to be in my pantry. As soon as the plans come in the carpenters will come back and make the elevator shaft. The plumbers were here for two days making a huge mess plumbing in the new bathroom. Right now we don't have a bathroom upstairs, but hopefully in a month or so we will have an elevator, and new bathroom, my fridge in the pantry and our two freezers in the garage! Yea! Right now my extra fridge and one freezer is in the shop. Remember where we live, it rains, not fun to go get food out in the dark rainy night. But I feel blessed to have them.

This weekend I decided to get flowers for Easter, I have loved them. I also decided to try some new recipes that Lizzie told me about. She found this cool site where a girl that has lost her weight on WW's has posted a ton of recipes with all the points values. I tried 3 of her recipes and they were a huge hit with everyone. Now keep in mind I had Amy and Mike, Megan and Greg, and my husband. These are not dieters, they loved all the food. She uses real food and Steve's reaction was "this is like the salads in restaurants!" Pretty cool! I also made a very tasty low cal potato salad, again with real food. It was so fun. We put the salad plates on top of the regular plates and served the salad and freshly made bread first, then took those plates away and served the rest of the meal. It was delicious and fun. I didn't take pics though, I am kind of sad about that. Oh well, next time.

Here is my wall of pics! The one pic you can't see is Lizzie's Family pic, eventually I will get that cool lens that Lizzie has and hopefully I won't have the flash problem!!Here are a few close upsI will post the visit of Ruby and Miles pics later, I am tired.
Love you all!!!!

Thoughts, New TV

2010-03-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

I laid in bed last night and wrote the coolest blogs in my head, I couldn't sleep. Now I'm up and I don't remember them all.

First I decided the way to get people to read your blog is to put the word Secret in your title. I got more comments on that blog than any I have ever written. Pretty funny.

Big news we are now on the cutting edge of technology. We have a 55" HD LED LCD TV with Apps that can connect to our wireless Internet. It is very cool, we can download Netflix right on our TV w/o doing anything but clicking the buttons on our remote. I have to say it is the most amazing picture I have ever seen, and I have it hooked up as the least desirable way to hook it up.

Well, I had decided I couldn't keep watching 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy every day, so I deleted Greys from my DVR Schedule. I was feeling really good about it. Yesterday I went to the greenhouse and worked there for a few hours so didn't miss them too much. Although they were in my head way too much. Today I was telling myself to be strong, because I was going to be home all day. I have sooooo much to do. I also had decided that I can't eat treats except on Friday night and Sunday, and it has to be measured and accounted for. Needless to say since I have been eating way more cadbury mini eggs than I will admit too, I was craving sugar and chocolate something fierce. It finally got to me and I sat down with some popcorn and fruit, (totally a good choice in my mind) and thought I would watch TV for the time it took me to eat my snack. It is the time that Greys is on, but I thought I have missed 4 episodes now so I told myself not to watch it. Well, I click on the guide and what do I see?!! I had dvr'd Greys upstairs and forgotten that I had done that. I always watched it downstairs. Between not eating chocolate and not having watched any Greys for almost 48 hours, Greys won. I watched 6 EPISODES, poor Steve had to make his own dinner. Instead of beating up on myself, I decided to tell myself I chose the lesser of two evils, for the treats would have caused me to gain weight, and I can't gain any more weight!!! I'm pitiful! Oh well, there are worse things.

Yesterday we started on our elevator remodel!!! It is turning out so much better than we thought it would. Plus they took out our dumbwaiter, put a floor in it and I can bring up my extra fridge from the shop and put it in my pantry!!! How cool is that! It will take about two months before it is all done, but it will be great when it is.

We have had great sunny weather, so I took a walk today, it was great!!! I discovered that this is a sand dollar beach down closer to the jetty. I am going to research when they are dead, because I could have picked up some pretty cool looking ones, but I was worried that they weren't dead yet. I found some cool shells also.

Well, I know there was cooler things I wanted to say, but alas, I can't remember them.

Love you all!!

Secrets and sick day without being sick

2010-03-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

I have a habit of reading books my daughters like, movies they like, and TV shows they like. Some I have thought beneath me and so wouldn't begin to watch them. The first was Dirty Housewives as Steve calls it (desperate housewives) Amy watched it and liked it. I thought I would give it a try even though I swore I'd never watch it. I liked it, so much so I have watched all the episodes more than once. I was reminded, don't judge a book by its cover. A while back I was watching TV and flipping through channels. The Slutty Doctor show was on (Greys Anatomy) I thought, Danielle and Lizzie watch this, maybe I'll see what it's all about. I liked it, but still thought, this is beneath me. Time went on and I watched another episode (these were all old ones), I liked it. It happened again one day, finally I thought I would DVR them and watch them when I exercised or had nothing to do. Now I'm hooked, Steve will say, what are you watching, I'll say with a smile "the slutty doctor show", and he will smile. I now love it and can't wait till it comes on and I can watch it. It makes me feel warm and cozy, can that be bad? I decided I don't care!

Last night I had kind of a breakdown, and Steve said he would get all his own meals, answer the phone and do all the beach house business. It was like having a day in bed without being sick. It was great. All I did was get my own food, read a great book on Excuses, the scriptures, watch TV and sleep in until 10:00 am. It was great! I can't remember a day like this ever.

Love you all!

Surprises

2010-03-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

One of the neat things about moving is surprises. About a week or so ago, I woke up to find daffodils and these purple flowers. Fun! Below is the whole bed, and then the cute purple ones.About 3 weeks ago I planted some garlic in my greenhouse. Some of them were already sprouting so I planted them about 1" be above the soil. I went back the next week (I only go to the greenhouse once a week after Weight Watchers) and this is what I found. Cool huh! Here are some close ups. These are my herbs at least what is left of them since I pruned them. I need to probably keep them smaller so I don't have to do such a severe pruning job. It's just when the summer comes, everything just goes crazy. Well, love you all!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

2010-03-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been meaning to blog for so long now. I have been home since the 16th of February. I had a great time at Lizzie's even though I got almost no sleep and was running most of the time. I played more games than I can count of "Go Fish" and Chutes and Ladders. We only played candyland a few times. We baked, chased each other, read books, walked to the store, and I am sure things I forgot. Elle was a dream, I hope she still is good for Lizzie.

I know I couldn't have done any of those things if I hadn't been in good shape. I am grateful a gillion years ago in high school that I ran "Cross Country" and became a believer in exercise. I am also grateful to the woman in Wyoming that gave me my first Nutrition book, and that we were poor students when we got married, so that I made everything from scratch. By the time we could afford boxed food, I was converted to scratch cooking. I am grateful for the Public Library, one of the good things our government spends money on. I started going to the library when Rebecca was a baby. I would put her in the stroller and off we would go for about two miles and I started on my road to craving knowledge. I have learned more things from the library than I can count. It was in Wyoming that I got my first gardening book from the library. Boy did that start something way bigger than I would have imagined back then! Anyway, all those things have contributed to my health, I am soooo grateful!

I came home and crashed.

Amy and Mike came out the following Monday and we had the joy of having them out here for a week. Amy and I mostly vegged for the first few days, and then she couldn't stand looking at my DVD's and we organized those. I am sooo grateful for that. Then I asked her to help me decorate my living room. It was so funny, you know those shows where they go around the house and grab things from other rooms and not "spend any money" and make a cool new decor? Well, that is what we did and voilahere are some close ups, the glass hurricanes have some of my shells I have found on the beach as well as some I have purchased. It was great fun! Then we moved on to start painting my family picture frames red! They look so cool with the pics, way cuter than we even imagined. But they aren't all here (I still need to order some). So sad to say can't blog those yet. Then I have been collecting sand dollars for years, I have always wanted to find a way to display them. I had these frames I bought years ago, (the TV show thing again :-) ) and they were laying on the floor and Amy said why don't we mount the sand dollars in those. The cool thing also is that the cardboard thing that holds the pics in turned out to be a great background, so we didn''t have to do anything but Velcro them on, that's right we Velcroed them with sticky Velcro. Cool huh? Some close-ups.
They hang in the living room by a wall just to the right of the fireplace. By the time we were done with all that (two days worth of decorating) we were pretty done in and Amy and Mike had to leave. I couldn't have done it without Amy. I kept saying to Polly that I needed Amy and then I would start getting things on the walls. THANK YOU AMY!!!!!

Well, the day is getting on, I need to get some more things done. One last thing, any Lost watchers, I am digging it!!!

Love you all!

Baby Elle, and Cars

2010-02-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love to do with my grandkids is cook. Williams Sonoma has made plenty of money on me since I became a grandma. I have cup cake pans, miniature petifours, a trackter cake pan, barn waffle iron and lots of cookie cutters, and pancake molds. Tanner I learned to my sadness doesn't like to actually help make the cup cakes, he just wants to decorate them. In some ways its less stressful , but I do like the whole process. It was so fun to decorate them. I was walking around the grocery store and found these cookies that looked just like tires. Then as I was going through the store I thought about fruit snacks and then thought how fun it would be to use them as people. It was a BIG hit. Anyway, here are the cupcake cars.

Scones

2010-02-13T14:47:00.001-08:00

Well, once again I regret not bringing my own camera. I am a camera girl and should not leave home w/o it. Since I have been at Lizzie's I have been making scones for Tanner everyday. Lizzie made bread and put it in the dough state in the freezer. So first I put some frozen bread dough in the fridge overnight, the next day made him scones (fried bread) that looked like bread sticks with cinnamon sugar on them. With the left over dough I made a small loaf of bread. Well, fresh bread... who can ever get tired of that. Well, next day Tanner says he wants scones again, I take the frozen loaf out put it in the microwave for a very short period of time, cut off some of the dough and put the rest back in the fridge. Well, this went on, fresh baked bread, scones until the dough ran out. I laid in bed, who knows why I was awake! but thinking about scones. I decided the next day to make bread dough, divide part of it up into balls the size of the amount for scones, put them in plastic wrap and then split up the rest of the dough into loaf size wrapped them in plastic wrap and put all 3 loaves in a zip lock thinking the saran wrap would keep them separate...WRONG! I had to pound them on the counter then pry them apart with a knife. Next day I take out the dough ball, pop in the microwave for a minute and a half on 30% power and presto, dough thawed and ready for scones. When we need bread, I just put dough in the fridge the night before, (you can put it in the microwave also, but trickier) next morning shape into a loaf, set out on the counter and then later let it finish rising in a warm oven and bake it! Fresh bread instead of frozen thawed bread. It has been great. I think because it kind of has two raising periods it is even better than normal. Anyway, I have decided to do my bread this way in the future, and when I know I am having grand kids come, I will have some balls of dough for scones!!! Fun! Plus it will be so easy to take some dough out early in the day when we have company and have fresh bread w/o the mess!! Very cool!

Well, I am exhausted, but in a good way. I miss my hubby, and my life, but I wouldn't do it any other way. I am grateful I am healthy enough to help my kids with the new babies. Plus I feel so privileged to be with these perfect spirits as soon as they get here. I feel very blessed!

Love you all!!

Baby Elle!!

2010-02-06T20:23:00.000-08:00

Baby Elle, was born on Feb. 4th in the evening. These pics are all when she was less than a day old. I will do more tomorrow.

My Walk

2010-01-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

Today was my aerobic and strength training day. One of my goals this week was to add 20 minutes to my exercise routine. I wanted that to be walking on the beach. BUtttttt it has been very stormy with very high waves. Today it was mild weatherwise. Still mostly cloudy and cool, but the wind was hardly there and the tide was a little ways out for a change. I was a little concerned about sneaker waves but not too much since it was just going to be a 20 minute walk. As I was walking I found myself doing what I usually do and that was look for interesting things on the beach. I saw a small clam shell and thought it looked different, so I bent down and it was a fossil. I thought, that was interesting. I put it in my pocket. Then I walked a little further and you guessed it, another fossil. I thought hmmm.... maybe this is a fossil beach. Then I found some petrified wood. I started to think about how every beach we have lived on is a little different. In bayshore it was the whole sand dollar beach, with the dunes to hide in and sea lions to watch. Then we moved to Idaho Street and in the winter with the storms came the agates. I think I found maybe 2 sand dollars in 6 years while we lived there. We had easy beach access, roaring waves in our face and yet wide long sandy beach to play on. Here in South Beach, I am still discovering. Here it's like a mini 4th year hike without a back pack when I go down to the beach. The path is full of nature and shrubs and trees with little peeks of the ocean and occasional scenic view spots as you go down. I can't wait for Clay and Danielle to come so Clay can give me a geology lesson about the banks here. I don't think it is unique or special, but it is definitely different than our last 2 beaches. Now would be the time for me to be philosophical. But I'm not going to be. I just love how Heavenly Father has given us lots of beauty and adventures. Well, I'm glad I got up earlier than I have lately, the rain just started pouring down. With all the skylights we have here, you can really hear the wind and rain. Kind of cool! Love you all and hope your day is great!

Way Behind

2010-01-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

We had Jake, Lyndsey, Ruby and Miles over last weekend. It was fast but fun. Since they were only one day really (two nights) we did things from morning till late. I made pancakes with Ruby first thing in the morning. Lyndsey told me she has been looking forward to that for some time. She had told everyone that she was going to her grandmas and we were going to make PANCAKES!!! That was so funny to me. I knew she liked pancakes and that she liked to make them with me, but I didn't realize it was that big of a deal to her.

Then we started to get things ready for a tea party. By the time we got everything ready it was close to lunch time, so we had a lunch/dessert tea party. Lyndsey and Miles joined us. Miles didn't last as long as the rest of us, but way longer than I thought he would. I bought these cute top hats for the boys, but I didn't know where they were since our move. So he wore my red hat.Miles is a kick in the pants. He loves being funny. He is quite advanced in the humor area for his age in my opinion. He saw this pic of him that everyone loves where he is laughing, and later in the day when I was getting ready to take pictures of him, he tried really hard to make that face. He loves to fake laugh, it's pretty funny.

Then we went to the aquarium. Needless to say I was exhausted. BUT we needed to eat and it is our ritual to feed people fish, so that meant I had to fix dinner. Jake offered to help, but he looked tired. Sunday we went to church and they went home, I crashed after church.

We didn't go outside because it has been non-stop rain!!!! I love and appreciate the rain. BUT one of the things I love about the coast is because of the wind, we usually get some sun on a regular basis, but no such luck, it has been one storm after the next.

I think everyone knows by now, but I have been called to be the Education counselor. I am so grateful. I was starting to hide in my house and just watch TV instead of finishing the unpacking. Since it was Christmas when they called me and the Pres. is in a play right now. So between those two things it has been a gradual assigning of things. I am so grateful, my mind is still fuzzy at times. When I was set apart the Bishop said something very interesting. He said that the Lord would cause small miracles so that I could fulfill my family commitments, and then I was to share those small miracles with my family. Sooooo I need to be paying attention, not procrastinate blogging and share those things.

I have gone and worked in my greenhouse one day. My goal is to go after weight watchers every week. I think it will work.

Right now instead of New Years goals I can only think about getting off the 14 pounds I have gained over the last 8 months, and unpacking the rest of my house. I lost 2.2lbs last week and am hopeful about this week.

I made some yummy brownies that were made with half Kamut and some applesauce in place of some of the butter. Steve never knew! They turned out to be 5 points for a 3x3 piece. They had lots of nuts in them, so if they didn't they would be even less.

I finally set up my tea party stuff, it looks so cool. I am going to put some pics of the kids at tea parties with me in black and white or sepia tone (Jake's idea). I am really excited about that. I am excited to get some pics up. That will come later this week. I have loved our bathroom. It is the first time since we have been married that we actually have a place for everything, nothing is on the counters! Yea!! The bathroom always looks so clean. It's amazing how easy it is to put things away when there is actually a place to put it!

24 starts tonight. I am excited. I hope it is good this year. I liked it last year, but it was a little to political in the annoying way last year. Keiffer Sutherland is involved in the producing now, and so in comes the liberal stuff.

I can't wait for Lost. It will be when I am at Lizzie's for the baby. I will probably have to wait until I get home to watch it. We'll see. I am usually too tired to do anything but take care of the kids and Lizzie. If there is free time I am unusually sleeping.

Well, I have babbled on long enough. Love and miss you all!!!

More of Christmas

2009-12-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

We always have our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, so that was out of this world! I wish I would have taken pics of it. We all had assignments so it wasn't a burden on any one person. We didn't have quite as many treats as when my mom always came, but we still had way more than we needed. My mom would have been proud of her granddaughters dipping ability of the chocolates. They were beautiful and delicious. Rebecca whipped out some Almond Roca at the last minute also-yuuuuuummmmmmmy!!!! I made 3 pies, and Patty brought some yummy treats also. Christmas morning was fun. The girls were cute as kids always are.

Christmas night we all went to look at lights. Talk about amazing, there was this one house that had their lights timed to music on a radio station they rented. I felt like I was at Disneyland looking at the fireworks, but instead it was Christmas lights. We stayed and watched for about 20-3o minutes. We then went around and looked at other inspiring lights. I am ready for next year!!!! I was kind of bumbed about our new home when it came to Christmas lights-not now!!! I'm not going to do the music thing, but there were all kinds of neat ideas at the other houses. Well, here are some pics.Rebecca hired Amy to make these cute hats that had matching skirts for them and their American Girl Dolls, the girls loved them and they were very cute! Anna wanted a Ball Gown and before Christmas Greg had taught Anna to Waltz, Ballroom Style. So Christmas morning when she opened her ball gown, she said, "Now I can dance with Greg!" It was so sweet. What a great uncle Greg is.Aliese is growing up. Her favorite presents were her Clinique, shown here in the box and the bag, and her memory foam mattress and pillow. All in all it was a great trip! We were so grateful to be able to go and be with so much of our family at this special time of year! Love you all!!!

Last Chemo Party, and Christmas Eve

2009-12-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

Amy had her last chemo party. All of us in Oregon were there. It was wonderful. We had it at Nate and Brooks, Mikes Brother and Sister-in-laws house. Amy was very happy and looked beautiful. She took time to thank each of us all for all we had done for her, it was very touching.Miles is all boy. If you will let him he will jump on you, run into you and etc. He kept jumping on Greg. Greg is a good sport. Miles in creative mode.Megan and Greg came for a couple of days. Then we took Megan, Greg, Amy, and Mike with us to Idaho for Christmas. We stayed for 3 nights and 4 days at Danielle's and Rebecca's. We had a great time. I was thoroughly exhausted before I left and so got even more tired while I was there and got a sore throat. We did some great family stuff and just hung out. Christmas Eve was spent with all of us and Clay's family. It was great! We did the Christmas story. I think because I wasn't feeling well, I didn't take very many pics, so there aren't any of Danielle and Clay or Rebecca, strange.Mike was Joseph, Gracie was Mary, Anna the angel, Steve the Narrator(in my rhinestone glasses), Greg the Donkey, Clay the innkeeper, the rest of us Angels or shepherds. We sang a lot and it was great fun. I'm afraid we weren't as reverent as we probably should have been, but I am sure the girls still felt the spirit, and I am sure Gracie felt really special. We were going to go sledding on Wednesday, but there wasn't enough snow. We went to the new Disney movie. It was really good, the older girls were very affected by how evil the bad guy was. I think he was a typical villian. Most of the adults fell asleep off and on, not because it was boring, but we were tuckered out from traveling and staying up too late.

2009-12-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

More of Disneyland

These were all up and down main street, Aliese wanted a pic of them. I was glad it turned out nice. It was so beautiful.

One of the fun things we did a lot of was meet characters. I am always amazed at how animated the characters are. They are so fun and take all the time you need or want with them. At Goofy's Breakfast Kate and Gracie got to dance with Goofy for a long time! It was awesome. Breakfast had everything from child size cinnamon rolls, eggs, waffles, sweet breads, you name it they had it. Goofy came and sat at our table and signed all the kids books he was great!Check out how big their hands are, and yet their signatures are really cool looking. Snow White came by and look at Tanner, that is how he looked when the characters were there. These were some pics I liked that were just during the breakfast.Baloo came by and was as cute as the rest! I caught Aliese in a very funny way and it made her hair look red, strange huh?More tomorrow, I am tired. Love you all!

Julie and Julia and Disneyland

2009-12-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

Saturday Steve and I saw Julie and Julia for the first time. It was sooooo wonderful!!! We loved it. Of course we love anything with Meryl Streep, but besides her it was a great and wonderful story, I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. It is such a wonderful example how you can do anything if you set your mind to it. I want to go out and buy the cookbook even though I probably would never make anything from it because it would be way to fattening. But I would really like to cook like that. I always think I don't really like to cook, but that isn't true. I love food and love to cook it. I just don't like figuring out what to cook, and it is time to cook when I am at my lowest energy time of the day.

Disneyland at night! Cool huh! They had an icicle look for Christmas.

Well, as I already said the other day I went to Disneyland with Rebecca, Lizzie, Aliese, Anna, Tanner, Gracie, and Kate. It was great. For the first three days Lizzie and the kids under 4 were with us. It was great, we did all the great kids stuff and some of the big kid stuff. It was the perfect amount of time with the little kids, it is fun to see the world through there eyes. The last two days we got to do the "big girl" stuff. It was just Rebecca, Me, Aliese, and Anna. A whole different experience. I sat in the front of the log at splash mountain 2 times!!!!! A first for me, I felt very impowered. I bought the pics of it because you could see each one of us and it was hilarous to see the total fear on our faces, it was great! I rode all the scary rides except for the Tower of Terror. The girls weren't interested, it didn't hurt my feelings. We saw lots of characters, had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen (it had everything!!!) Did just about everything I think. I ran to get the fast passes until the last day. My feet still hurt and I have been home a week now. But I was really happy at how well I weathered everything. If I hadn't been a firm believer in exercise before we moved and I went to Disneyland, I would really be a believer now. I kept up with everyone and actually had more energy than all of them. Considering I am 53, that makes me feel good about that part of my life. I am grateful for my health, I feel truly blessed. As I said I took 333 pics, so obviously I won't be able to post them all, so I will try to put some of my favorites as well as a taste of everything.

Gracie with Snow White! Can it get cuter than that!

Santa and Mrs. Claus were there how lucky was that! Mrs Clause was a riot. Santa walked past her after his break and she asked how many cookies he had. She had her hands on her hips and shook her head. It was very cute! Tanner was to shy to stand talk to her.Santa was really cute also, he just grabbed Tanner and so it was the first time that Tanner has sat on Santa's lap. He really took his time with each child.I thought this was a cute pic
One of the few times Kate and Tanner wanted to walk. Lucky me, I was there!

Alice's Tea cups, the only kids ride that borders on making me nauseous. I always debate whether I will do it, but I can't turn down my grandkids. Gracie and Rebecca went alone because Gracie didn't want to spin and neither did Rebecca. It is fun that we were all in most all the pics.Who knows what I was talking about, but I had to put it in! I think Rebecca looks like Joe Cool!
After the ride we ran into Alice and theTea Party guy. They were great! Alice was very proper and the tea party guy was hilarious, he acted just like the guy in the movie. After he got done signing Gracie's book he yelled GRRRAAAAAACIE! It was great!By far Gracies favorite ride is Dumbo, I think we all love it! I love how relaxed and happy Rebecca is on it!I love this pic of Rebecca, it is a classic look for her the whole time we are there! The pics on the merry go round were awesome! I loved them!There is a new princess movie coming out this week. We got to see her before it came out! She was so pretty and sweet, she has a southern drawl. Boy could she sing!Well,it is late so I will post more tomorrow! Love you all!

Icicles on the beach!!!

2009-12-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

We got up this morning and it was soooo cold. But it was beautiful, so I decided to take my first walk on our new beach. It has been so busy and rainy that I haven't ventured down our trail. So today was the day and boy what a find! These icicles are anywhere from 3-4 feet long. Crazy huh!

This is all ice. The water skim on the beach also froze. I walked almost to the jetty. I walked for almost an hour. What a great treat!

2009-12-08T00:40:00.000-08:00

I had the great blessing of being with 5 of my grandchildren and two of my daughters for 5 days in Disneyland!! It truly is a magical place. I will never cease to be amazed at the feeling there. Everyone is happy, there is no smoking, the workers are nice and there is always good music playing. It was wonderful. I ended up with 333 pictures. You know what that means, who knows how many pics I took. I have been working on them for several hours now. How to pick my favorites? I don't know. I will have to post them over the next few days. For now, enjoy my collage! love you all!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T15:41:00.000-08:00

Well, this is by far the smallest Thanksgiving group I have ever had at my house! It was just my mom and dad and Steve and I. I had a little "teary" as Steve calls them yesterday before my parents came. It was the first time we didn't have any of our kids with us or us being at their house. It was a nice day today. We got a lot of it ready last night. My mom can do quite a lot with her little walker chair.

We are thinking about putting an elevator in our home, I wish we had it this time my parents came. She had to climb up the stairs in her cast, it scares me.

I got a very beautiful pie plate from Williams Sonoma for my B-day. I made an apple pie in it. What do you think!? I love it.

Well, I am going out of town on Saturday for a week. Between trying to get the rental ready and continuing to get into our home, and live life, I am exhausted. I don't feel ready to go at all. I am excited, just still doing laundry and figuring out what I am doing. I am excited to not have to think about real life for a week. Will be posting pics hopefully as the week goes by.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Love you all!

Catching Up sort of

2009-11-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been so long since I've blogged. Life has been crazy. About a month and a half ago Steve decided he wanted a fiberglass boat. If he bought one it would mean he would have to moor it (keep it in the water at the docks fulltime). That conversation then led to the idea we had explored many times about moving into our Newport Vacation Rental. Every time we considered it we would get close to deciding we would move and then change our minds. This time I really started to consider it more seriously than I ever had. I started to get excited about the idea of having all my kitchen stuff in the house and in the amazing pantry inside my house instead of in my garage. The idea of living closer to Newport-10 minutes to Walmart and Fred Meyer instead of 35-40 minutes, a larger living room. So I took Amy with me when she was out here and asked her what she thought. She said" I don't understand why you aren't already living here. " That pretty much did it for me. I had a struggle with the difference in the beach access between our Idaho Street house and this house, also the bedroom layout is better at Idaho Street. But with reassurance from my kids that I was making much ado about nothing, I felt like I not only could move, but wanted to.

Starting about the last week in October we have been working almost non-stop to get everything out of our Idaho Street house and get it ready to rent. We had just a little under 3 weeks. Add to that 2 extra Weight Watcher meetings (an hour away) I did during that time because I had to sub for a co-worker, driving to Portland to take Danielle to the airport, going to Eugene to pick up Amy, the list goes on. We still have a few things to get out of the other house, and a gillion boxes to unload and put away here.

One of the first things I did was to put up a few of my fall decorations, I couldn't live in utter chaos w/o some fun and seasonal things around me.We had Megan, Greg, Mike , Danielle and even Amy, helping us a few days. Greg painted my sewing room, and the others helped move stuff. Our living room and kitchen are livable, but thats about it. I am anxious to have it all done. I have to say, working in my new kitchen is a dream. I can't wait for my grandkids to see the sprinkle drawer. It is so great to actually have all my dishes in my kitchen and space to spare. Well, as we move forward I will post more pics.The Pantry is almost done, it has about 4 feet between these two sets of shelves, it is so cool to have room for all the food and some room to spare!

Amy and Mike are living with Mikes brother and sister-in-law and Mikes brother has a cold, so Amy is with us now. Mike was here on her b-day also, it was a fun day! Amy was cute as always, she is such a joy to have around. Steve and I feel blessed to have her in our life.Well, hope all of you are well! Love you all!

Tanner and Kate

2009-09-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am at Lizzie and Shad's right now. I got here Sept. 1. I spent the first 3 days I was here with the family and then on Friday night they drove to LA so they could fly out early on Sat. So it has been me and the kids since Friday evening. They are so cute and as Lizzie says at a good age. They love to play together and can do it literally for hours. I thought I would easily get my steps in and I seem to get more at home! Go figure!?

We went to the Library for story hour on Tues. It was awesome, I never took advantage of that when my kids were home. I highly recommend it! They read stories, sings songs dance

and then do craftsOf course we checked out books and DVDs

It was great fun!

We swim almost 2 times a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon or evening. Kate always says she doesn't want to but loves it once we are in. She doesn't last as long as Tanner, I think he is part fish. It is amazing to watch him. I would take pics but then Kate might drown because she thinks she is an expert swimmer. She's amazing for a 2 year old, but far from an expert.

Art is a big deal in Tanner's life, so there is always art going on at some point in the day, sometimes several times. This doesn't do it justice, but it is the gist of how it is. He is really into filling things in completely, so this obviously is the beginning of one and the finished project of another.They both live in the world of pretend, but Kate is there a lot! This is her reading the scriptures to her dog Stu. Kate has many moods, she can get very silly, but can be very serious it is fun watching the many faces of Kate! Her and Tanner both fell in love with my water bottle! We made cookies as you can tell, and a tractor cake. The cake is on Lizzie's camera, so hopefully I can get that later.Tanner enjoying a very small amount of ice cream on a yummy cone. He loves ice cream, but then who doesn't!Its been a great week so far! I hope I will be able to have the good health and energy to take care of all my grandkids.

Anna's Baptism and Birthday

2009-09-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last June Anna was baptized, we also celebrated her birthday!

Later that day we had the baptism, I made her Baptism Dress. She actually got Baptized in a jumpsuit, but in Idaho they wear a pretty dress when they get confirmed and then wear it the rest of the year. What is better than twirling!Amy and Mike!

And the Family

Belated blog: It started with a cherry tomato

2009-08-23T15:26:00.001-07:00

Wouldn't you know, the thing that would get me blogging again after over a month would be breaking the Sabbath! I went out to the greenhouse to eat some cherry tomatoes, and quite frankly because Lizzie had said that my greenhouse was beautiful (no one says that but me in the condition it is in). Quite an innocent thing, the Lord gathered food on the Sabbath. As I was picking and eating these beautiful cherry tomatoes, I noticed that the pepper plant that is dying for some reason is really dying. So I decide I better pick them all. Well to do this if you have never picked peppers, it is easier to do with some pruning shears. Can you tell where this is going. Well, I am done with my peppers and I can't help but notice that the other peppers are all inundated with overgrown lettuce, volunteer parsley, and a marigold. I couldn't let those pepper plants die also could I? Pepper plants in the greenhouse don't like to be crowded. I don't think that would be wise, so I proceed to pull out all the offending plants. I then think well I maybe should prune a few tomato vines that are really getting out of hand. Now this is the way my greenhouse looks right now! Do you really think a few vines is all that is needed???!!!! Well I start in on a few, then I start pulling away some leaves that have died from a cabbage plant. And what do I find but the most amazing display of composting at its finest! Underneath the leaves was some of the most beautiful dark black fine soil you have seen in a long time. I was shocked and amazed. It was truly beautiful. I had to run into the house grab my camera and document this. I am sure that this is not so fascinating to all of you, but to me it was one of the more joyful experiences I have had in a while!! As Steve pointed out, the top pic the soil is damp and the bottom section of the garden was dry, but, if you look at it closely you can see that there are less big pieces and more finer soil in the top pic. I was reminded of how much I love my greenhouse and how it needs to be one of my daily haunts. (it isn't right now) The pic below is my Sabbath breaking pile of pruning! I then quit breaking the sabbath, and then just harvested some more food for dinner.

By the way we finished the tuna canning, we ended up with more jars filled than last year and about as many tuna steaks in the freezer. Steve still wants to go out, but I told him if he does, he has to give it all away, because my canner is clean and put away, and the freezer says NO MORE TUNA!!!!!

I love you all!

Surprise and pics of Amy in the Hospital and her Incision!

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

Today when I was running out the door to go to Weight Watchers, Steve noticed a young Deer out by our woodshed. He or she didn't seem to be one bit afraid of us, so I ran into the house and got my camera and snapped a few pics! Fun huh?! Its about time for a little fun, don't you think?

For those of you that haven't seen her spleen, here it is, all 8lbs. of it! Amazing huh! The other pic is her incision. They cut right through her belly button, that will be interesting when it is healed!
When Amy was in the hospital we decided to take pics of her and the luxurious room she was in. They had wood mouldings, fancy tile, and private rooms and an amazing view!Below is more pics of Amy's room and her red teeth, she could only have clear liquids before and after the surgery for a couple of days. She liked the cherry Popsicles. Mike was working on a survival book while he was there. Amy had a hard time breathing after the surgery for a few days, so she had oxygen.

Her lungs started to fill up with water, so she had to blow in that thing every hour 10 times to cause her lungs to fill up with air instead! For about two days this was Amy, pushing this button for more drugs from her epidural !Amy teaches the 7-8 years olds, they sent her these pics they drew!

The people at the hospital were very nice and accommodating. The couch Mike was laying on turned into a twin bed, they offered sheets and blankets if someone wanted to sleep there. Mike slept there on the weekend, and I stayed there during the week. It was a tough experience, she was there 9 days. I was having a hard time not getting discouraged, they told us starting with the 6th day that we would be going home, and then it would be one more day, etc. I realized the necessity of it by the time we left, but it was hard. I was very glad to take her home that last day. I am so grateful for modern medicine and that we live today. Amy will have 12 chemo treatments all together, she has had one, so 11 more to go! She did well with the first one. She will have one treatment every two weeks. It will take just a little under 6 months. They have come so far with chemo, she will have the one that is called AVBD. It is more mild and the long term effects are minimal. A few years ago it would have been cancer free for about 10 years and then she would get leukemia. I am so grateful they have continued to study and figured out how to make it take away her cancer and then have a long and full life with the ability to bear children. Her life will be so much better after she has recovered from her chemo treatments. I am so happy and excited for her to have a healthy body, something she has not had for 4 or more years. Thank you all for your prayers and support. It has touched me greatly. I love you all!

Amy

2009-07-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well, a couple of days ago Amy called me in great pain and asked me to come over. I said I would. She was having great pain in her shoulder, and that added to the wait of 2 weeks for surgery was just a little too much for her. They prescribed vikadon for her, but it is a narcotic so 2 weeks? no way. Any way they said if the pain didn't go away the next day to come in. The pain was still there so much so she could hardly move and talk. We went to Dr's appt. and met with the Surgeon on call. He tried to talk to her, but she couldn't really talk or talk coherently, so I talked for her, I think that was the cincher, he said, "I don't see any purpose in waiting two weeks, so lets check her in at the inn, and do the surgery tomorrow." My first thought was, "there was a purpose?" Anyway overshadowing that was my desire to jump up and down and shout YES!!!! Amy was so happy the pain was a little less for a while and then came rapidly back.

It was so hard to see my little baby, (it is weird how they become babies in your eyes when it is so serious) so weak and sick. I don't think she or Mike could see how sick she had really become. I hadn't seen her in about 2 1/2 weeks. She looked pregnant and so small and fragile.

I could hardly stop thinking about how wonderful her life will be once this is all over and she is healed up. She will have energy, no night sweats, no nausea, a desire to eat, regular sleep habits, (or at least the ability to have them) and the list goes on. I was elated, mixed with of course the normal anxiety of surgery.

Well, she got out of surgery at 2:00pm or so, a little under an hour and a half. I think Mike and I heaved a big sigh of relief! It was a very happy moment. Mike is asleep right now, I think this has all done him in. I am so grateful for my health. I am so grateful I can be here and help with things. I am so grateful for Fasting and the power of the Priesthood.

At this point they think it is Lymphoma. They don't know for sure and won't know until they get the results back from the lab. If it is they said she would have 3 months of chemo. They act like this is a good thing that it is lymphoma. I saw the doctor in the elevator after the surgery and he said everything went great and she looked good, all her organs were healthy. He said with a look of relief on his face, there were no signs of that nasty intestinal cancer. So again even if she has to have something that results in Chemo, they seemed happy and relieved that it looks still like what they thought it was. I am grateful for that. I am just happy she is going to have a full life with energy and the ability to have lots of little kids running around her house singing and dancing with her.

Will keep you updated as things go along.

We love you all and from our whole family we so appreciate your prayers and love!

Speeding Tickets

2009-06-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

I am a law abiding citizen. I don't steal, I don't drink, so therefore don't drive drunk, I don't do drugs, I pay my taxes (unlike Obama's cabinet members), I am kind, strive to do my best in this life. So today when I am driving home from Subway, thinking about Amy having surgery, for the first time in years, I was speeding in town. There wasn't a sole in town, it was 8:00pm which in Waldport means the stores are closed, no one is on the streets and there was me and one other car on the road. I realize I am speeding so I slow down, and all of the sudden I see a police car following me at a closer than legal distance I might add, he follows me for a good mile or more too close to my bumper, and finally pulls me over. He appears to be younger than half my kids. Now as a side note, we don't even have police support the majority of the week. If we were to need the police we would literally be up the creek! Anyway this young police officer asks me why I was speeding, I say it was probably because my daughter just got diagnosed with something. He then goes back to his car and is gone so long (by the way I haven't had a ticket in so long I can't remember when it was) I know he is going to give me a ticket. The longer I sit there the madder I get. I am thinking, is this the best use of our police force and my tax dollars! In the city of Springfiield, if you are a drug dealer you might spend one night in jail and then you are free the next day. If you want to kick them out of your apartment you have to jump throught a gillion hoops. But if I go over the speed limit on a deserted street I get pulled over and have to pay 145.00 so this new young cop can get a ticket on his record.

I remember one time about 30 years ago we had some tenants steal a bunch of our furniture, the police basically sad too bad so sad. I am normally not this way. But the longer I sat there thinking about all the real law breaking people that not only don't pay for a ticket, but use my tax dollars for the police to arrest them, feed them, house them for a night and then let them go. To think about Clinton lying to the grand jury and still getting to serve as president of the United States, I got more and more mad. Then that pip squeak of a policeman comes back with my ticket in his hand and tells me how worried he is that I will hurt myself or some other person for my little amount over the speed limit. He is concerned for my welfare. RIGHT!!! he just wanted to collect more money for the govenment to pay for all the stupid things they do with my hard earned money! Well, I know some of you are going to say well you broke the law, and yes I did, but it still ticks me off!

Beautiful Ruby

2009-06-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

When Jake and the kids were here, Ruby wanted to be buried as usual. We tried a different way and it made for a fun look. I love having my grandkids here!

Steve and Jacob

2009-05-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

I love candid shots. It is always fun to me to watch Fathers with their sons, Steve and Jake have so many mannerisms that are the same.

Miles

2009-05-27T10:49:00.001-07:00

Miles is a kick in the pants! He is always happy. He is the kind of person that will probably not be able to stay mad at you. If you look at him and smile he busts out into a huge smile! He loves to eat, he ate about 6-8 pancakes, I am not kidding. When Jake woke up he said they didn't normally give him syrup-oops! So after that we had to put some peanut butter on some of them. He wasn't too wild about the beach, but he tolerated it when his dad was with him.I am soooooo grateful to be a grandma, and to have wonderful children that share their kids with me!!!

Visit from the Arnolds!

2009-05-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Lyndsey needed some time out and time to do Art, so we got to have the remaining 3 Arnold's . Jake and Lyndsey stayed at the Newport Beach house for one night, then Lyndsey went home and Jake came down with us. The kids know us now so they were fine all by themselves here. Actually they are like all kids, better with us than their own parents. I don't know why that is, but it was true for my own kids with my parents.

We had a ball. We had our first tea party in the greenhouse! Yea my dream came true. We learned that I need to have traditional tea time, either at mid morning, or late afternoon. When the sun is high in the sky, it is toooooo bright in there. But we had a ball anyway.
Getting ready for the tea partyYes those are Ruby's toes and fingernails.
Then of course there's the bakingRuby decorated these all by herself!I had to take a pic of one of these cookies close up, they were very detailed!Making the rest of the menu and putting it together!And the finished product, the party!

When we got done, Ruby said, "that was fun grandma, thank you". That's what makes a grandma's day! More to come!

Temple Workers!

2009-05-20T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well, today we had an interview with one of the Temple Pres. members. He called us to be Temple workers! We are excited. Pres. Child (the Temple Pres. Counselor) was really funny. I don't know that he was trying to be but he was. Steve asked him if he was a salesman before he started working in the Temple. He laughed and said he was never a car salesman. He first told us that they liked people to serve once a week , then he said considering where we lived they could allow us to work 2 to 3 times a month. It was funny because then he started trying to convince us that we would really like to come every week. It was pretty funny to be me and watch Steve and him talk about it. Steve had lots of questions first and then said we would like to serve on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. Pres. Child said with a great big grin on his face that would be great and that after we had served a while we would change it to once a week.

Steve will help with the one Spanish speaking session they have on Saturday, and the rest of the time if he is needed for Spanish they will use him, otherwise he will be like me and work all over the Temple. When you are set apart as an Ordinence worker you can do everything but sealings. They rotate you around all day doing different things. First they will train us and when we pass everything off we will be let loose.

Don't you love those shoes!!! Steve tried to remind me that we would be working all day, and I told him that they fit better than the others, and they were just too cute to pass up!! I am going to make my own dress. We get half price for our clothes, but I couldn't find a dress that I liked that fit comfortably.

Well, love you all!!!!