Flipped

 

I have learned over the years that if one of my children is very interested in something I have to investigate, read or watch it.  Now it has moved to a new generation- my grand-kids.  I noticed my mom is like this also :-)  Aliese, Anna and Gracie were so in love with the movie Flipped, I had to see what all the fuss was about.  Now I will probably have to read the book also.  I purposely watched the movie first, because they are never as good as the book.  I loved the movie!  It was so cute and if you were looking, insightful.  Mom, you and dad would LOVE it if you haven't seen it, I saw it on Amazon, so I bet it is on Netflix.
Today was a good day as all Sundays are, this week was more relaxing than last week. Last week  was our program

 It turned out really well, we got lots of meaningful comments.  I don't know if that is because it really was exceptional, or if it's because we have older people who are more thoughtful, but anyway it was a wonderful experience.  We had every child participate, one of the blessings of a branch.  All of our seniors gave talks and our juniors said a sentence.  Even our two autistic boys read a sentence.  It was great!
One day in Primary I found out at the last second our nursery leader wasn't' going to be there, I looked at Steve and said I need you, find another man to help you.  Is this not about the cutest thing you have ever seen!?

 I'm excited for tomorrow and the next day, I am hoping to read a lot.  I am going to buy some fun magazines, and read my library book, the "Happiness Project".  So far I am loving it.

 I am also going to take a novel I bought from Deseret Book.  Dean Hughes latest. I just got done reading a book about Cambodia. If you need to get a grip on reality and how blessed we are read it. It's called the Rent Collector.   It is not the easiest read (it is sad, not recommended for Amy or Rebecca) but is very thought provoking, eye opening and again, makes you put life in its true perspective.  I am trying to read more again.  I am excited for "Time Out for Women"!!  I am going with my Mom, Judy, my cousin and a friend of moms.  There is nothing like going to "Time Out"  with family and loved ones. I am very excited!!  Well, hope you are all well.  If you haven't been reading my blog, I have recommitted, there are 3 blogs below this one, they aren't very long.  Love you all!!

Summer

 

I basically skipped the summer, so occasionally I am going to go backwards.  The Greenhouse was kind of a disappointment this summer.  The sun didn't shine as much as it should, I was gone a lot and so I didn't work in it as much.  It was still a wonderful place, but most of the summer I ended up forgetting or not being able to find my music that I play in there.  So on those dreary days I would basically walk in do what was absolutely necessary and walk out.  My peppers were full of aphids and that is one of my great joys-big sweet wonderfully crunchy peppers.  They grow abundantly in the green house until about the end of November.  One by one I pulled them up and got maybe one pepper.  Sad!  I used a new compost this year, big mistake.  Going back to my expensive one.  My cucumbers which are usually unbelievably productive got some wire worms that attacked the main root and they died early. (I think from the compost!) The moral of the story?  Not be gone as much in the summer, go back to growing all my plants from seed with my awesome plant stand that Mike made me, and lastly go back to my wonderful compost that I usually buy.  Mike made me this wonderful plant stand for growing starts from seed.  He finished it just before we moved.  Not really knowing what I was going to do greenhouse wise, I left it in the greenhouse, which would be great if we lived there.  Sooooo this year I am going to bring it up here, put it in our garage and grow me some amazing tomato, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and I 'm sure something else, oh and herb plants.  The best year and best plants I have had so far since doing the greenhouse was the year I grew my own starts, they are stronger and healthier.  They don't get stressed in the mail or sitting in a nursery until someone buys them.  I am excited!

Well, have a busy and fun day planned.  Monday is my 56th b-day and  my favorite restaurant is closed on Mondays, so we are going there tonight- Aprils.....ahhhhhh.  I am going to sew on my youngest grandsons quilt  and a few other things that are more boring. :-) Oh and I have 2 blogs below also!

love you all!

Wind at my Back

I did my DVD's today for the first time in about a month.  That means Sunday I will be hardly able to walk.  The second day always fools you into thinking you are in good shape, the third day is when you know what kind of shape you are in.  I can feel my gluts though.  It was a lower body routine.  They say that, but you also use hand weights so my back will be sore too!  I'm thinking even my stomach.  About half way through I am looking at the minutes left  of the video and I think, you have got to be kidding me, I am only half way through.  Then when we are doing a killer exercise she will say "I love this one, I do it every day, that's why I include it."  I want to reach through the screen and strangle her.  But by the time I'm done, I feel so empowered, and buff.  I put on my sweatshirt and grab my phone (its my timer and camera) and out the door I go.  I love it, I feel like someone has just cleaned out my brain and I love my Heavenly Father and the Savoir  soooo much.  It is a great feeling.  Well today it was windy and I knew it could start raining, but I am "macho woman" so I can handle it!  I go down my street to the beach access, the one with the stairs and I  hit the beach.  The wind is blowing at my back.  "Wind at my back" takes on a whole new meaning.  I am literally being pushed down the beach.  Now having been raised in Oregon and have been on the beach as far back as I can remember, I know that when I turn around to go back home it is not going to be easy.  But I'm tough, I can do it.  Well my phone goes off and tells me it's time to turn around.  I turn around and MAN!!! I have now gone from a moderate walk to an intensive walk.  I have to pass our path to get down to where I started and it is all I can do to not go up the path.  But I finally make it to the steps, up the small hill and finally relief, hardly any wind and a nice gentle up and down street to my house.  1st pic the moving sand, second the wind behind me, the last one, facing the wind.  My hair is not wet, the wind is just making it look that way.  My face is very accurate as to how I am feeling.

It was a great day.

Challenge

I was reading Danielle's blog and she put a challenge to post a pic a day.  She is going to learn her camera better.  I would love to do that also, but I'm not ready to learn my camera, but I do want to learn everything my i pad can do, sooooo I will blog a pic a day, and spend 5 minutes doing the tutorial for my i pad.  I have a hard time not taking a pic and blogging it everyday. I feel like everyone would say, "how many sunsets can you blog, another ocean scene! But I am excited about blogging a pic a day.  That will get me blogging again!!! And that is something I really want to do!! I think of all kinds of things I want to blog, but don't because I think I have to catch up!! I have soooo many pics and videos to post. Maybe I should just blog one pic a day and that would be WAY better than none!

I loved conference this year.  I loved Pres Monson and Pres Uctdorf's talk.  I have started asking myself if I will "regret it" if I don't do "this"?  I wish I could tell you that I succeeded every time that I think that question, but at least I'm starting to think about it.

I took a pic of me in front of my laptop, I hate to say it but it sure makes me look old!! Oh well, I am almost 56!  I actually feel very young for that age.

 

A week ago my visiting teaching partner go married.  It was a sweet wedding out by the beach.  It was small and quaint like the church recommends if you aren't getting married in the temple.  I fixed the color on these pics in Picasso but it didn't show up when I transferred them over!? I blogged these because Danielle knows both of these people and it shows my hair.  I haven't blogged my hair yet.  I am liking it and have gotten lots of compliments on it.

 
We  had a realtors open house today.  Four realtors showed up, so that is 4 more that have seen our house.  Hopefully Romney will win and then people won't be afraid to buy house.  Our realtor said that her clients are waiting to buy until after the election.  So who knows maybe we might get someone to see our house  in a couple of weeks.

Been working on Brightons quilt.  I am so excited about it.  will blog it when I get done with it.

We had our Primary program this last week.  It went really well.  We got some really wonderful comments from people.  Because our primary is so small, everyone got to speak.  All of our seniors and one junior got to give a talk.  Even our autistic boys said a line.  It was great.

Well, Steve and I are going on a small trip for my b-day.  We are driving down to Yachats and staying down at our house on Idaho street!  I know that sounds dorky, but we are going to leave our work at home, watch movies, walk on the beach, get me a present at the little kitchen store and maybe go to Florence.  We are going to stay two nights.

Had a great time babysitting Lizzie's kids, spending time with with Rebecca and her girls when they came to Lizzie's, seeing Amy's new house and helping her to organize her kitchen (Amy, and my weird obsession that gives a high :-) ). great time at Megans after Brighton was born, my sister visiting, the reunion, Rebecca and Steves sealing. playing with Miles and Ruby when Jacob and Steve went fishing. A busy and wild summer.  I am sure I forgot something, but it was a very busy and fun filled summer.

  Well, love you all!!

Visit to the Arnolds

Back in June, I went to Jake and Lyndsey's for a couple of days.  We went to the Japanese gardens in Portland by the zoo.  It was really beautiful.  I had never been there before.  It is amazing how old you can get, living in the same place basically all your life and never see something like that!

They had this fun thing where you could hunt for different things and get a bookmark if you found them all.  Ruby and Miles got one. :-)  Miles is all boy, I love it.  We built a house or structure out of these cool Styrofoam blocks.

                   Ruby is growing up, watching Music videos on the computer!

Jake has chickens and built his own coup.  He grew a patch of different greens for them that he grew for 6 weeks or so, and I guess the chickens ate it up in a few days. 
We also ate out at a fun organic restaurant.   All in all a great and fun trip!

It's been so long...

I'm tempted to just blog pics.  I'm kind of brain dead right now.  When I went to Lizzie's in June I bought a new cupcake pan (I know shock that there is one I don't have!!) It was Snow White and the 7 dawrfs.  I also took my Avengers one that Lizzie gave me for Christmas or some holiday.  While I was at William Sonoma, we saw these cool decorating things.  It showed pics of 3 year olds using it and Lizzie and I read the reviews and it said that they were great.  So we bought some anc boy were they great!!!! Worth every penny.  A pain in the rear to clean up, but so worth it!  It is so much easier for the kids to decorate those detailed cupcakes. These are before we bought the cool things to put the frosting in.   Tanner and Kate 

                      Aliese and Anna after the new tools for frosting

 

Gracie

 Tanner

 Kate

 We decided that it would look better if Snow White and the Dwarfs were made from white or yellow batter, but the kids wanted chocolate!  I will post the frosting things tomorrow.  Well, I am tired, more tomorrow.

It's that time of year....

Steve went tuna fishing today.  His goal was to bring home 10.  Heavenly Father knew better, I could only handle 5.  I am trying to get the house ready and clean for the realtor to come on Saturday morning. I have been a little stressed to put it mildly.  So here I am sitting in the garage at 11:34 minding the pressure canner.  I am actually very grateful.  I love having a ton of canned tuna in my pantry.  It makes me feel very secure. I love sharing it with my family also.  i have a few close friends that get it also.  There is also a good 2 1/2 hours of set up and prep time to get the tuna in the jars.  It is much nicer at our other house because I can go back and forth from the house to the kitchen and do a few things in the early stages.  I have to admit, it is nice to not be able to leave the canner also.  I watched almost a whole season of a tv series one year.  It's one of those what I call guilt free zones.  You can't do anything else so you sit mind the canner and watch a movie or as I am doing now catching up on my blog.  Now if I weren't so tired I would probably do WW work or Beach house work, but a girl has to take a break once in a while!

Well, the last month has been a very busy one.  Almost one month to the day ago, Rebecca and Steve were sealed in the LA Temple.  It was very special.  The Lord blessed them with a wonderful sealer.  He was soft spoken and taught us some wonderful things. I had a hard time picking pics so enjoy... this is after the sealing.  They look so happy!!

 Here is Elle... too cool for school!We got to see Amy, Mike, Rebecca and Steve of course, the Leslie girls, Lizzie and Shad, and their kids.  It was wonderful. Lizzie's kids made their bed and put all their animals on there bed! Elle with Grandpa (Steve)Then I stayed for another week with Lizzie's fam and Rebecca and the girls came out for a couple of days also.  It was so fun.  Hours in the pool with me being the monster.  We made cupcakes -cool ones- Spider-man and the avengers and Snow White and the dwarfs.  Altogether we did them 3 times.  I bought the coolest decorating things.  If you decorating with frosting with kids you have to have these, they are the best.  The 4 year olds could use them.  One day later in the day Lizzie and I went shopping.  It was soooooo much fun!!!  I got some new clothes that I loved for the first time in 3 years or more!  I have felt so cute lately! The best part was that they were almost all on clearance or dramatically on sale.  I also got some cute wedges!  I wore them to WW's today and got lots of fun comments. WW's does alot for my ego.  Then when Rebecca was there the three of us went to get our nails and toes done.  That was heavenly.  Afterwards we went to dinner.  It was great!  Then home again home again jiggety jig.

After I got home I had 4 days to get everything ready for the family reunion.  It was my turn this year.  I figured out that because I traded with Megan, Steve and I won't be in charge again for 20 years!!! Is that too crazy or what!!!  I will be 75 years old.  That is just too crazy and hard to think about!!!!

The reunion was really fun.  There were 24 people counting Maddie.  Unless someone hid it from me, we had no fights or disagreements, it was wonderful.  We tried it a different way this year, we went much more simple with the food and it made all the difference. Plus we didn't do as many activities.  And most of the activities didn't start until after lunch.  It was so much more relaxing.  We had way more time to visit and hang on the beach.

We had a sandcastle contest.  That was really fun.  Way more fun than I thought it would be. We went to the spit and watched fireworks.  Had a bonfire, roasted hotdogs and made smores.  We then went further out on the beach and did our own fireworks.  We went to Strawberry hill to look at tide pools, but decided after the fact that it was a family activity, not a reunion activity..to dangerous.  But we did have fun there.We  had a fun craft for the kids one afternoon.  Someone had built a cool fort before we got there, I wish it would be there every year.  The kids had so much fun with it. Steve took all the grandkids out on his boat out into the ocean to pull up crab cages.  They all got a turn driving the boat. It was a great time.

Then they all came to our house for another night.  Sunday they all left except for Amy and Mike and Danielle and Clay.  They left on Sunday afternoon and late afternoon.

Then it was wash,wash, clean and try to put my house together and clean it so we can put it up for sale.  I have been hurrying because Megs baby is due any day now.  Pretty busy summer. But all good stuff!

I'm losing one of my counselors in Primary. That is always hard in a little branch like ours.  There are so few people that can do a calling like that.  But I'm sure the Lord will provide.

Well it is very late and I think my canner is cooled down.  So I will post more pics later.  Love you all!