Merry Christmas

It was a very different Christmas this year, and I liked it.  I was up at 7:00, a decent hour, but not one that shows much enthusiasm.  I had time to read, bathe, get dressed, and get breakfast ready.  Then I had time to read the newspaper, put on Christmas music, and have a hot chocolate.  Terry joined me quite early.  Brent came in around 9:30, and we woke Ty up at 10:00.  We ate breakfast before we opened presents!  It didn't even bug me.  It was different, and relaxed.  The four of us had a great time.

 

Ty spent most of Christmas break rolling out his muscles.

Brent finishing breakfast before present opening.

Ty got up last and didn't have time to get dressed and do his hair.

Ty still rolling...Brent still sitting.

Terry finishing breakfast.  Notice unopened gifts and the computer going.

 Early in the afternoon, Terry and I ventured out to Meridian to see if Santa had visited the grandkids.  He had.

Amee with two little monkeys.


Early evening we ended up at Mom and Dad's with a lot of the rest of the family.  The ham that wasn't used Christmas Eve, was devoured, along with shrimp dip, pork and seeds, and lots of goodies.  It wasn't bunco, but we had a good visit.

 That evening a little snow storm left a skiff of white for Christmas.  It was a different Christmas this year, and I liked it.

Christmas Eve Day

So excited to pick Ty up from the airport at 9:00 AM.  He had to be at the Eugene airport 4:30 so he arrived in Boise looking rumpled, scruffy, tired, and good!  We took him straight to Blue Sky Bagels for breakfast.  Then we made the rounds dropping off gifts and shopping.  By 3:00 PM we had finished shopping, had taken care of some returns, seen grandparents, had shown Ty Stacey and Mike's new house, bought him new clothes and set him up with some big tubes to roll out his muscles on.  It was wonderful having him captive with us for 6 whole hours.  What fun!

Ty changed into some of his new clothes, and looked so good.  Then he was off to catch-up with friends.  You'd think families would want to be together on Christmas Eve, but he was out until about 2:00 in the morning with other families that love him.

This is the first Christmas Eve in many years that we didn't have the Cowley Bunco Christmas Party to attend.  We were really quite stunned by the cancelling of it due to everyone being sick.  Terry and I found ourselves alone in a quiet house on Christmas Eve.  We had thought about taking in a movie or going bowling.  We also considered going out for Chinese food.  In the end, we went to Hastings and rented White Christmas.  I love that movie and all the music.  It's long too.  We watched the movie with popcorn and hot chocolate.  Everything was wrapped and ready, so we retired to bed at about 10:00.  It turned out to be a happy Christmas Eve all day long.

Just What I Needed

Christmas is crazy.  All of December is crazy.  As much as I love all the music and lights and treats and giving and decorations, it's still crazy.  So yesterday when I still had a bunch of shopping, wrapping, and cleaning, and cooking to do, I called my friend and arranged to meet at Barnes and Noble for a treat and a little break.  It was late in the afternoon and I had only completed half of my errands, but it was soooo good to sit down with a good friend, a hot chocolate, and a scone.  I love being in a book store, and it's especially fun at Christmas time.  We sat near the gift wrap counter and watched everyone else bustle and hunt and shop and wait in line and spend their money.  We just relaxed, visited, laughed, and exchanged little gifts.  It's been my favorite holiday moment so far.  Thanks, Lydia, for spending a time-out with me.

Where Did My Free-Time Go?

I have to figure out some way to teach school, and still blog.  I think I'll try a Sunday afternoon post, or two or three.  If I can figure that out, maybe I'll be able to add more.  Right now, I'm going to have to do a September catch-up.

Looong Weekend

Even as a child I remember having the first Thursday and Friday of October off for Teacher Inservice Days.  As a teacher, you don't really have the days off, but you have a couple days to go to workshops, work in your rooms or on new stuff, or at least have some time away from kids so you can catch your breath and go out to lunch.  This is the second year when we actually do have a day off.  Because of budget cuts, Thursday is an Inservice Day, but Friday we're off. 

The first weekend in October is also always General Conference for church.  We don't have prepare anything for our callings, and we don't even have to get out of our pajamas for church.  It's on TV.  I'm going to have a day off from work and a weekend off from church.  It sounds like a long, relaxing weekend.  Just what I need.

Canning Peaches

I took my turn at the church cannery.  I have to leave work right away to make it to the 4 o'clock shift.  Terry came with me.  It was our first time going together.  He was on the line, weeding out the bad peaches, and I was running the chute where they come down and fill the cans.  Every job there is wet, sticky, and monotonous.  After about 20 minutes your back and feet hurt.  It's loud and you usually end up with a headache.  You're looking at the clock constantly. 

It is rewarding though.  You're there with a 50-100 people who volunteer their time.  The cans of peaches go to those in need all over the western United States.  It makes you appreciate your education, training, and jobs.  I know we're blessed for doing this.  Best of all, last night, we ran out of peaches right before 6:00.  We cleaned up and were out of there 2 hours early.....  I think we still get the blessing.

Campaign

I don't like politics.   I hate that education reform and teacher unions are the focus of elections and the Idaho legislature lately.  I've spent one Saturday morning going door to door with information about the referendum, another Saturday going door to door talking about a pro-education candidate running for representative in our district.  I've also spent two nights at the phone bank, talking to people all over the state.  I know how important it is, so I do it.  However, I don't understand how anyone gets into politics.  I have zero passion for it.  It's controversial, argumentative, drudgery.

Fundraising

The school year is just starting, but we're getting things going for EFT.  It's will cost the kids $200 each this year, which is a bargain for four days - food, lodging, classes, swimming, zip-lining, and entertainment. We're busy fundraising already.  Order forms went home for Spirit Cups.  You can get almost any college or professional team logos.  Some kids pay for their entire trip by selling BSU cups.  This year some moms have taught all the sixth graders how to make bracelets out of parachute cord.  We're trying to sell those for $5 each.  I have one student who's parents set-up a Facebook page and sold $200 worth to friends and family.  We also sold pizza, soda, and snacks at Bingo Night.  Now we just have the Monster Mash Dance to get through.  It's a lot of work, but it's good because it's all over with by the end of October.  After that it's up to each student to babysit, rake leaves, shovel snow, or save their birthday money.

Yipee!

Finally!  Ty came home for a visit.  He spent 3 days in Boise before he went with Frisbee friends to a tournament in Missoula, then a couple more days in Boise.  It was soooo good to see him.  I think he had a great time.  Mostly he just caught up with friends, but the wall bed worked.  He spent nights here.  I'm not sure what his hi-lights were, but here's my list:

• picking up bagels at Blue Sky (Terry doesn't like bagels, so Ty's my bagel buddy.)
• an afternoon off work and Moonrise Kingdom matinee
• lunch at Mickey Rays
• dinner at Westside with Ty and Dylan (I miss Ty's friends.  It was great seeing them.)
• doing his wash for him

I just miss him being around.  A week is a good visit.  I wouldn't want it to last much longer, but I hate sharing him while he's here.  It just makes me happy.

Art in the Park

This is always my favorite weekend in Boise.  I didn't take Friday off, like I have the past two years.  I just finished things on Friday as fast as I could, and then went with Terry to walk around and get some dinner.  It was a perfect night.  Besides dinner, we finished off a big bag of kettle corn.  I can't pass that up ever.

The next morning I called to see if my usual family members were up for a walk around.  Andrea was out of town, Nan was busy, Mom wasn't feeling well, but of course, Dad was up and ready to go.  It was just the two of us.  We started before the booths were open with our traditional cinnamon roll and hot chocolate.  We covered most of the park, bought a woodpecker made of metal scraps to put on top of Millie's scratching post, a silk scarf for Mom, and a crocheted scarf for me.  It was great spending 3 hours of my favorite weekend with Dad.

I bought a big oval mirror from IKEA this summer.  I want a mosaic frame.

I've never done a mosaic, but I'm wondering if I could do one like these.

Up the Road

I came home from work one day and found the fence at the end of our ally torn down.  The big lot that has been vacant for more than a decade, has become a lot full of activity.  I wish more little kids lived around us, because every day brings more tractors, big shovels, trenches, hills of dirt, and noise.  We actually went to a public hearing about the little subdivision that they plan to build...about five years ago.  Bad timing.  Because of the economy and the housing market, the developer just sat on the property and plans until things were looking up.  Now we're all looking up the road each day to see the new developments.

Labor Day Weekend

I was ready for a long weekend after the long first week of school.  Ty was suppose to come home to play in The Scorcher, an ultimate Frisbee tournament.  He called on Friday morning to let me know (and get a little support) that he was going to do the responsible thing and stay in Eugene to finish work and get ready for finals next week.  Terry and I drove over and watched the end of the championship game.  Ty's team ended up losing which I think was a shock to everyone.  I do love watching those games.  The whole ultimate culture is lay-back and a little different.  It fits Ty so perfectly, and he's good.  He can really throw. 

The tournament was at a park right around the corner from Bry and Amee's house.  We ended up dropping in on them, and also Stacey and Mike so that we could get a report on the first week of kindergarten from Tanner and Hudson.  They both showed me their take-home folders with four green circles for good behavior.  They're going to avoid getting any yellow or red circles this year.  They were both excited and neither of them know the names of any other kids.  They can find their way around the playground though.  I don't know how it all worked out, but they're in the same class with 18 boys and 3 girls.  Sounds a little crazy to me.

That's about the extent of what I accomplished this weekend.  I just refrained from laboring. 

His Project

For years we've checked out the booth at the home show.  We've talked about it.  We wanted one, and all of a sudden, my husband that is handy, but really doesn't own much in the way of tools, decided to build a wall bed.  He checked out plans on the internet, ordered the hardware, had Home Depot cut the boards, and it's done!  It only took a couple weeks.  Most of that was prep work and final painting.  It's really pretty cool.  Now we have an exercise room / guest room.  It easily pulls down to a comfy queen size bed.  It will be ready for Ty's visit in a couple days.  Maybe now he'll stay here when he comes to visit instead of crashing at friends' houses.

I think I'll hang a bulletin board on this with some motivational pictures and an exercise schedule.  The room is really bigger than it looks.

BSU - New Season - New Team

We went over and watched the game with Terry's parents.  We don't get over often enough to visit.  They have cable and a big TV, but they have to turn it up real loud.  I needed some sort of discreet ear plugs.  Felice also fixed dinner (including fish sticks) which was simple and good.  After the long first week of school, I couldn't even come up with game snacks.  I needed to weigh in at WW in the morning so it was all for the best.

Our Broncos didn't look the same.  I thought by third quarter they were okay, not good, not exciting, but okay.  For a little while I even thought they might hold on and win.  As it turns out, we were just fortunate that the Michigan State coach was classy enough not to tack on another touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter which would have made us feel worse.  The final score was 17-13.  This will be a rebuilding year.  We'll have a lot of fun games and no stress.  When you're Boise State, if you don't win the first game, your (BCS) season is over. 

Happy Birthday to Me

I left early for school today because I needed to stop and buy birthday treats to share with the class.  Some years I've made my own cupcakes, but it didn't happen this year.  Fred Meyer baked instead.  This was our first full day of school.  I always have my class go the computer lab and fill out a resume and apply to work at Swain Inc.  I take a resume picture of everyone on the first day of school and send them to Walgreens so that I can pick them up after school and have them on the bulletin board before Back-to-School Night.  That's tonight. 

Walgreens had the pictures ready, the bulletin board looked great, I had my presentation ready and copies of everything on their desks just in time.  I had left just after 7:00 that morning (Ty had called which put me behind), and got home at 8:00, to an empty house.  Thanks to my friends, there was a little cake on the table, and gifts from my parents, Terry, and Brent.  I had a little private celebration.  I opened gifts, read cards, and ate cake.  Then I went upstairs to get ready for bed.  It really was a great day....just not what you have in mind for your birthday.

179 to go...

The first day of school is always exciting, frantic, boring (too many rules and procedures to cover), and fun.  We dismiss at 1:15, so the time flies by, but everyone has been so wound up, it's exhausting.  I have the smallest class ever!  Twenty three students in a sixth grade class?!  This is heaven!  And so far, they're all angels - great kids.  I came home happy and tired.  I took a nap from 6:00 'til 7:30.  The beginning of everything new takes some getting use to.

'Twas the Night Before....

I taught the RS lesson the day before school starts and everything went smoothly.  Usually I like to have the weekend before school starts completely to myself.  I want to savor the last days without any demands put on me.  I tell Terry that he can wait on me, or take me to dinner, but other than that, I just want to be ignored by everyone.  Some years I'm a little frantic getting last minute things done, and beg for help.  This year I was ready, except for what to wear, and that's a big thing.

Smoky

The fires in the Idaho mountains have been making national news.  They've also been making the air in Boise very smoky.  Many days we haven't been able to see the foothills.  Some days the smoke gets trapped close to the ground and it's like driving through fog in the morning.  The fires aren't close to being contained and never will be.  They'll be put out when the snow flies.  It's been about three weeks of red air alerts and the smell of something burning.  We're praying for the fire fighters, some rain in the mountains, and wind here in the valley. 

You should be able to see the foothills down the street.

Working the Phone

It's back to school and sorry to say, back to the conflict between educators and our state superintendent of schools and the legislature.  I volunteered to work a shift at the phone bank, asking for NO votes on the referendum of the education bills that will be on the ballot this November.  Terry was a good sport and came along with me.  He has a great phone voice. 

We were actually just calling people who had signed the referendum petitions.  It was shocking how many of the phone numbers were no good.  In three hours, I only talked to 23 people, and some of those were wrong numbers.  About half of the numbers are no longer in service.  Cell phones have brought a lot of instability and change.  We can have one by our side at all times, but getting a hold of people with cell phones is tough.

People I did talk to were supportive or confused.  I long for the days when I was a teacher, not a political activist.  I'm back to school tomorrow, and counting the days until November. 

August Birthday Bash

Terry's family has an abundance of August birthdays, so one of his sisters decided to host a family party for just the siblings, their spouses, and his parents.  There were 12 of us in attendance, including a surprise appearance by Reed and Carolyn who just drove up from Salt Lake after their stake conference.  Of the twelve, five of us have August birthdays.  We got to celebrate with good food, good company, good pumpkin cake and ice cream, and as always....a good old sing-along.  I think it was fun for all!

I didn't do a very good job with the camera.  There really were 12 people there, and we really did have fun.

He's Going to Chicago

My nephew is going to Provo to learn Spanish, and then onto Chicago to learn how to be a missionary.  He spoke in church today and gave an excellent talk.  He's a great kid and well-prepared.  He and his brother also sang, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives".  That's pretty scary.  Our family is not known for any musical talent.  They did a great job.  Eagle High's choir program has prepared him in that department.

I only got this fuzzy picture of my nephews.

After church the extended family met over at their house for lunch and visiting, but we had to wait for the guest of honor to show up.  His friend also had a farewell that day and Tate sang at that one too - a different song.

Driving Legal

I had to get my driver's license renewed before the end of the month.  I had thought about it at the beginning of the summer and then it promptly left my mind.  Today it popped in my mind and since my days of leisure and freedom are soon gone, I decided to drive across town and take care of it.  I was pleasantly surprised by what a nice experience it was.  There was a parking place right by the door.  I didn't have to take the test.  I didn't have to wait.  I could clearly pass the eye test without my glasses, and my picture turned out pretty good.  Now I'm all legal until 2020.

Back to School Lunch

Those of us that are heading back to school this week took advantage of our last week of freedom and went out for a five hour lunch adventure.  We started at Red Robin where all of us cleaned our plates.  Tanner even had a second helping of apple slices and Hudson downed two root beers.

Our next stop was at Office Depot where we bought school supplies.  The boys have new notebooks and pens with shark tops.  When you squeeze their heads, their eyes pop out.  They were so cool, we bought a fish one for Hadley and a monkey one for Bryan. (It was Tanner's idea to get Bry one, because he likes monkeys.)

Next door to Office Depot is Cabellas, so Tanner took us over to show us around.  We checked out the big fish aquariums and all the "stuffed" animals, but the biggest draw were the guns.  Hudson said, "I want a gun.  I don't have a gun.  Can I get a gun."  We were passing through the real gun department on our way to see some more animals that were back by the shoes.  When we wandered through the toy section, the boys played with every gun they could find.  They didn't even notice the toy trucks or plush animals.

When I finally dragged them out of Cabellas, we made a stop at Cost Plus for red Chinese take-out boxes for their teacher gifts.  We also bought Pez dispensers and a package of Fruit Stripe Gum to share.

We started to make our way home, but stopped at Tully's park to run around for a while.  Goofing off all afternoon is something that is coming to an end.  We're going to make this an annual event.  I can't believe I have grandkids heading off to school!  It's going to be an exciting day. 

Out to Lunch

I don't know what it is, but as summer vacation winds down, I frantically book up my calendar with lunch dates.  I love long lunches with friends (and relatives).  Since teachers have short lunch hours, sometimes spent with naughty kids, often spent working alone in your room, it's such a luxury to sit down at a restaurant and not worry about the clock.  This past week I've had lunch at Olive Garden, Big City Coffee, and Red Robin (twice).  In another week and a half, I'll be back to bagging it.

Day 1

I've been going back to school as a teacher for 33 years.  When I walked in my room for the first time this school year, I was paralyzed.  It was as if I'd never done this before.  I didn't know where to begin.  I didn't know what to do the first day.  I couldn't really remember my rules or procedures.  The amount of work it takes to get ready for the first day of school can be overwhelming.  I finally spent the afternoon unpiling desks, and arranging furniture.  I felt a lot better when I left.

Farewell Olympics

I'm sad that the Olympics are over.  They probably last just the right amount of time, but I love watching the events and hearing the stories.  Here are some of my favorites from London:

• The Olympic rings on Tower Bridge
• David Beckham driving the speed boat up the Thames with the torch
• Mr. Bean playing Chariots of Fire with the orchestra
• Our own gold medal cyclist, Kristen Armstrong
• Missy Franklin's great smile, great swimming, and enthusiasm
• Michael Phelps!
• Pistorious running on the South Africa team with his blades
• Gabby Douglas and the fab five gymnists
• The US Women's Soccer team and their gold medal
• Anyone running the hurdles
• Usain Bolt - What a runner! - What a perfect name!
• Kirani James' 400 meter dash, the first gold medal for Grenada
• May and Walsh getting their 3rd gold medal in women's beach volleyball
• The royals showing up to events - Loved every outfit of Kate's

 What I didn't like:

•  Our basketball dream team and all the professional tennis players - That's not what the  Olympics is all about!

The Olympic rings make their way down the River Thames toward Tower Bridge.

Good to Be Back

It's always good to get home from camping.  The long soak in the tub, the clean sheets and good mattress are the best.  This trip we came home to more smoke.  The wild fires are so bad and so close that the air quality in Boise is worse than it was around the campfire, but it's still good to be back.

Some of the crew stayed another night, but we wanted to get back and go to church.  I'm glad we did because it was one of my former YW, Melissa W.'s, missionary farewell.  I'm so proud of her and her decision to go on a mission.  She gave a great talk (and had on a darling navy blue dress).  Two other women in the ward spoke with her (her visiting teachers) and they also gave very impressive talks.  Rachel spoke on what makes a prophet and how blessed we are to have revelation.  Her talk helped me get it together on my RS lesson that I've been struggling with.  She bore a touching testimony.  Melissa N. did some powerful preaching!  She was funny and touching and strong - and in her kiwi accent too.  I would have liked to hear more.

Bad Bear Camp 2012

Bad Bear Campground is about eleven miles beyond Idaho City.  We don't know where to go, but we figure if we just keep trying new places, we'll eventually hit upon a family favorite.  We didn't want to travel too far because of the kids.  Add that to the fact that we were late reserving places and we needed to avoid three forest fires, that cut our selections down.

Terry and I and Brent were the first to arrive at camp.  We had so much stuff, Brent had to drive separately.  He was carrying our water jugs and somehow one of the spouts opened and emptied the entire contents into his trunk.  Before we set up tents, he and Terry had to bale out the water down by his spare tire.

Bry and family arrived while Terry and Brent went to Idaho City on a water run.  I got the foil dinners ready even though it seemed too hot for a fire.  Stacey and family arrived and everyone was set up by the time our dinner was ready.  Brent's not big on sweets or anything unhealthy, so it's ironic that he's always in charge of desserts.  As it turns out, Friday was National S'mores Day.  We had a deluxe s'more bar.  I tried sliced strawberries on the s'more, a waffle cone with chocolate chips, bananas, peanut butter, and marshmallows cooked in foil, and a Rolo stuck in a marshmallow and roasted.  It was sickening good.

This campsite offered a babbling brook to cool us down during the day, a mountain trail that we couldn't conquer with kids in shorts, and a few wild raspberries.  We had a visit from a forest ranger who handed out Smokey the Bear information and gave us a fire report.  (The smoke was actually less up there than it was in Boise.)  We set up a treasure hunt for the three big kids, and brought plenty of games to keep everyone entertained. 

This year we had three new campers - Brent, Maycee, and Isaac.  Brent was okay, but I was worried about the two little ones (and their parents).  Isaac ended up being the cleanest camper, and Maycee just followed her normal routine and hung out with everyone.  Now I'm thinking next year is the one that we have to worry about.  They'll both be running around by then.

We ate good food and treats all day long.  When Terry and Brent and I left to come home Saturday evening, we weren't even tempted to stop and get ice cream in Idaho City.  The other two families stayed another night.  The kids wanted to stay 100 days and cried when they had to leave.  When we saw them on Sunday afternoon, they were dirty, smelly, tired, and running out of food. We on the other hand, had enjoyed baths, showers, the Olympics, clean clothes and sheets, soft mattresses, and a good night's sleep.  It was a success for all.  We've made a list of improvements for next year.  Plans are already underway.

Camping Prep

My dad knows how to camp, but other than girls camp, I think I've been camping less than 10 times in my life.  Terry has camped and backpacked with his boys, but he's not an expert.  Somehow last year we decided to be a camping family.  We got together with all the kids and 3 tents for our first annual camping trip.  This weekend will be our second annual trip.

It's not easy when a bunch of amateurs try to round up enough food and equipment to rough it for a few days.  It's an unorganized mess.  I hope we survive.

Start the piles.

Lunch Date

I met a friend for a three hour lunch at Willow Creek.  The food was great.  I had a blackened salmon wrap.  I don't know what happened for three hours.  I watched the medal ceremony for women's soccer (gold for USA) over my friend's head on the big screen.  I learned that "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is an excellent movie, but hard to explain - sad, but with an ending that might be good.  That's all I remember.  It was the best way to spend a summer afternoon.  I need a few more afternoons like that before school starts.

Getting Better

Today I had more ambition.  I still didn't get dressed until after noon, but I went on an early brisk walk with Terry, attacked weeds outside, shampooed the living room carpets, and colored my hair before getting cleaned up.  That afternoon I made some phone calls, did the wash, finished crocheting the baby blanket, cleaned the bathroom, went shopping with coupons (which takes forever!) and read for a couple hours.  I feel so much better when I'm productive.  I just have to figure out how to do that more than every other day.

Slug

This is the second day in a week where I've accomplished nothing.  I went for a good walk this morning, but then never really got dressed until after noon.  I've snacked all day long, some healthy, and some not.  I've blogged, e-mailed, and pinned things, but I haven't:

• cleaned my house
• ironed
• sewed (4 projects pending)
• taken my online machine quilting course
• gone to the library
• helped Amee
• read books (I've started 6 books)
• finished the last two rows on Isaac's blanket
• finished the two pairs of booties I started
• done yard work
• made phone calls

Tomorrow needs to be a better day.  School is starting soon.  I can't waste my time.  I can't be a slug.  Besides, it gives me a headache.

Sunday

I had a lovely Sunday.  Testimony meeting was very good.  Everyone impressed and helped me.  I helped in Nursery again.  That's a great gig.  I feel bad missing RS, but nursery is relaxing and pretty entertaining.

It's a little scary at church because more and more families are moving out.  There are two more families and two single sisters that are moving in the next couple weeks.  We're not going to have enough people to cover all the callings.  Our bishop has been gone all summer and the RS president has been gone for three weeks.  Hopefully when they get back and school starts, things will settle down.

I fixed a good dinner, read the paper, and spent the rest of the day watching Olympic athletes.   

Saturday

We delivered a birthday gift to Amee on Saturday.  Her birthday was Wednesday and I was in Utah.  We stayed for several hours and painted leaves on the jungle tree and covered another pink wall with primer. 

When we finished we delivered a birthday gift to Stacey.  Today was her big day.  Bry and Stacey's mom was coming to babysit all four kids while the guys took the birthday girls out to dinner.  The grandkids were a lot of fun, but I was glad we didn't get that call.  We dragged ourselves through Winco and collapsed in front of the Olympics again.

SLC

Tabernacle where I graduated from Seminary.

I'm hitting all the hotspots this summer.  This was a three day trip to Utah for some family history research.  Leaving at 8:00 put us in Brigham City at just about lunch time.  We drove through town so I could see the new temple on main street.  The open house starts in a couple weeks.  I'll wait and see the inside, but right now, I still think the tabernacle across the street is prettier.  It sure makes an impressive center of town.

Right across the street

The best part was that it was lunch time and we were down the street from Maddox's!  I had what I always have, turkey steak, salad, and fruit instead of a potato.  The rolls with raspberry butter cannot be beat.  I savored every bite and enjoyed the fresh well water.

It's been remodeled.  Just make sure you never pass up that Maddox reddish, orangish crown thing.

After lunch we drove straight to IKEA.  I hadn't ever been to the one in Salt Lake.  It was a pretty fun shopping experience.  I bought some little dishes, scrub brushes, a mirror, and the best cheese grater ever!  I never buy cheese already grated, so I really appreciated the whole clever thing.  The little bowl that you grate in is rubber and grabs the counter.  It has a lid so you can store it in the fridge.  I want to order more for all my favorite people.

 

 After the big shop we went to check out everything downtown.  We found the Family History Center and parking, wandered through Temple Square, did a walk through of the new City Creek Center, and grabbed a little bit to eat before checking into our hotel.  We were out by the airport because every place was full of Outdoor Recreation Convention goers.

The next morning we made it to the Family History Center by 8:00 and stayed until 6:30.  My friend who is going to Ireland next month wanted to check out her husband's Irish ancestors.  She doesn't want to be in a little village and not know that she should be taking a picture of the church.  We had great help from everyone.  If you don't know which way is up, there's at least four people ready to head you in the right direction.  

We found a lot of the information we were looking for, and a few surprises.  My friend found an ancestor on the New York 1930 census, and realized that he was in Sing Sing Prison (mob connection after coming over from southern Italy).  I found an entry about James Livingston joining Porter Rockwell in sabotaging Johnson's army as they entered Utah.  They did such a good job that Brigham Young changed his orders and told them to help the army with food and supplies so that they would be able to survive the winter.  We also found great pictures and images of documents like marriage certificates.  The whole day was fascinating and fun.

We loved City Creek and had enough time to do a little shopping and enjoy lunch there.  It happened to be Wednesday, when people were rallying to show support to Chic-fil-A.  We didn't know what was going on, but we didn't want to have anything to do with the long line that wound all around the food court.

Each evening we gathered Pepsi and some junk food to eat in bed while we watched the Olympics.  On Wednesday we had to stay up until almost 1:00 so that we could see coverage of Kristen Armstrong's gold medal ride.  We're proud of our Boise girl.

The ride home was fast and plenty entertaining.  After stopping at Maddox's on the way down, I had to share the Garden of Eden truck stop with my friend on our way back.  We didn't buy any souvenirs there, but did get one last Pepsi and a Krispy Kreme doughnut.  Now I need to get back into Weight Watchers mode.  It will be good to have Terry's healthy influence.

Inbetween Vacations

*I've had a little technical difficulties.  I loaded pictures from Rexburg and our FHE on the computer, deleted them from the camera, and lost them.  I have nothing but boring print for the next several posts.

We got back from Rexburg at 6:00 and I immediately started the wash and went grocery shopping.  I had the RS lesson to teach in the morning, and we had planned an extended FHE and potluck dinner on Sunday.  We had brought Hadley a stuffed bear from Yellowstone, and the two boys got long stuffed snakes.  We also had found Yellowstone animal cookies for each of them.  They were all pretty excited about it their gifts, but the next day Stacey said that Huds had had a dream about snakes.  Snake dreams are never good. 

Monday we went over to do more painting at Bry and Amee's.  It was fun seeing their new fridge, using their new washer and dryer, and setting up Isaac's crib.  We still haven't finished the jungle.  There's a tree, but no leaves.

I had to get home and pack for my next trip.  I leave at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning.

Education Week

They call it a week, but it's really only three days.  Terry and I have gone three times, and I went once with my sister.  It's the best-kept secret.  Unlike Education Week at BYU, it's not crowded and hectic, where you have to skip some classes so that you can get a seat in others.  The presenters are just as good, the campus is beautiful, and it takes place during the summer so I don't have to take personal days to get off work.

We went to classes on Abraham Lincoln, health and diet, physical balance, spiritual balance, mental health, repentance and forgiveness.  Our favorite was a 3 session class on the sacrament by David
Christensen.  He describes himself as bombastic, which is accurate.  He's also very funny.  He's probably the only 75 year old that teaches the youth.  They don't always know what he's talking about, but they love him and pack his classes.  David is my mom's cousin.  He's coming to Boise in September and I'll be taking my parents to a special EFY so they can be entertained, and visit.  As crazy as he is, his lessons on the sacrament changed how I'll approach sacrament meeting every week.  It was powerful. 

We spent all week trying to figure out how we could get our kids to Education Week next year.  On the last day we heard rumors that this is the last year it will be held in Rexburg.  The people who organize it have jobs in new departments and their old jobs aren't being filled.  We're putting in an appeal to President Clark.  This would be sad for us, and bad for the hotel business in Rexburg.  I hope they reconsider.  

Modern Hotel

We checked into the best hotel in Rexburg for a few days while we attended Education Days at BYU-I.  There aren't many hotels in town, and speaking from experience, many of them are not very nice.  We stayed at the Marriot Springhill Suites which was very modern and sort of European.  The person at the desk asked if we wanted a room with a view and Terry almost started laughing.  He didn't think Rexburg offered any sort of view, but come to find out, our window looked out over fields and up the hill to the temple.  At night the temple is lit and the view is beautiful.

I loved the carpet down the halls - my favorite green.  I want the sectional in my living room.  They had a desk with sliding window panels that you could close and not disturb any who might be sleeping.  It had USB outlets in the base of the lamp, and Terry had to figure out the i-home so set the alarm.  The bathroom was divided in two with sliding doors - toilet and sink, shower and sink.  My favorite part was the bathroom mirror.  The circle in the middle was magnified.  I need that at home too.

It was a great room to come back to after a long day of classes.  We would sprawl out on the sectional and fire-up our laptops or Kindles or i-pods.  There's not a lot going on in Rexburg at night, so the Olympics Opening Ceremony was our highlight.  We could pretend like we were staying in a modern hotel in London.

Stop & Break In (for old times sake)

In 1958 my dad and grandpa bought a beautiful piece of land in Island Park and started building a little one room cabin.  It turned out amazing.  I grew up spending many vacations, long weekends, and spring breaks at "the cabin".  I have hundreds, maybe thousands of memories, and all of them are good.  In the late 80s, Dad sold the cabin to my cousins.  I've only been back once.  As we passed through Island Park this time, we stopped to look around.  The key is still in the hanging pot on the front porch, so we didn't really have to break in.

The pump house always had a good stack of wood ready for the fireplace.  The red pump brought up the best tasting, ice cold water.  We had a great playground with a teepee, wooden horses, a sand pile (full of pine needles), a crazy rope swing, and the surviving teeter-totter.  I went out to look at the old clothesline, and noticed something new - a satellite dish!  We use to have a TV with a channel or two.  I only remember watching Lawrence Welk, Jack Lalaine, Mission Impossible, and Mannixs.

With all the upgrades, some things never change.  The fireplace, the ladder that is attached to a rafter beam, but swings down when you're ready to sleep in the loft, the tractor seat bar stools, the cookie jar, the enormous claw foot bathtub, the coffee table and the fridge.  It's the same fridge!  It must be 60 years old.  The shelves swing around so you can reach everything in the back.  There's duct tape on the door, and the outside of it has been painted, but other than that, it's the same fridge.

When we went to leave, we couldn't figure out how to lock the front door.  It took us about 5 minutes, but the place was secured when we left.  I'm so glad Terry got to see everything.  The cabin has been such a huge part of my life.  I guess we should have signed the guest book.

Short Jaunt

When Terry travels he likes to go straight to his destination - no detours, no side trips.  Heading from Big Sky to Rexburg, I talked him into just a little scenic sightseeing.  We veered off the main highway to Mesa Falls.  It's a beautiful place. 

Terry was impressed.  He couldn't believe that he was in Idaho.  (He needs to get out in the mountains more.)  I've visited these falls many, many times.  It's now a state park with walkways, fences, and guard rails.  When we visited in the 60s and 70s, it was a different story.  I remember running down paths and standing on lava rocks right at the top of the falls.  The mist makes things wet and slippery.  It must have given my mom a heart attack.  (Probably not Dad.  He's always about kids having adventures, without thought of danger.)

The visitor center was built in 1906.  It was used as part of the power company, a place for locals to have social events, and a boy scout lodge.  When we use to visit, it was abandoned and rickety.  We took an eight year old nephew into it and he fell through the floor in a closet.  Someone skinny had to climb down and rescue him.  Now it's a solid and beautiful interpretive center. 

My dad has done a lot of fishing just below the falls.  It's a nice float trip down to the Ashton Bridge.  Terry and I just drove down, following the river.  There were amazing vistas of the Tetons.  Even Terry thought it was well worth the detour. 

Good Bye to Big Sky

We had to leave Big Sky country today, but before we left we had one more meal at the Blue Moon Bakery.  Next year we're planning to go to the top of Lone Peak, and take in a movie at their new theater.  I love the moose out front.  We'll also spend time finding just the right place to live when we make our move north.

Late Lunch

After our hike we went to a little place that we found last year for lunch, the Blue Moon Bakery.  The bakery treats are amazing, but we decided to save those for another day.  Last year we had great pizza.  This year we both had sandwiches on their 7 grain bread.  Terry had a BLT and I had the Healthy Nut.  I wish I would have taken a picture.  They were too big to attack just biting into them.  I didn't know how to begin.  I saved half of my sandwich for tomorrow.  Another big meal in Big Sky.  It's also the second time in a row that I've ordered something healthier than Terry.  That never happens!

 Of course afterwards we went next door to a video store that also sells soft serve ice cream.  The ice cream was Wilcoxsons, which is a 100 year old ice cream company in Livingston, Montana.  Terry thought it was good, but not as good as the BYU Creamery.  We both had something like a blizzard.  Terry used peanuts and strawberry sauce.  Mine was swirled with caramel and Heath bars.  I think if he had tasted mine, it might have been better than a BYU one.  I just gobbled mine up without offering to share.

Hike

Just down in the Meadow we found a trail head leading to Ousel Falls.  It was only .8 miles, but we knew that hiking down would mean hiking back up.  It ended up being more than .8 miles - just more fun and beauty to enjoy.  There were grizzly warnings posted and moose territory signs.  When I move here I'll have to carry around bear spray.  My hundreds of visits to Yellowstone instilled in me a love of bears, but they are SCARY - especially grizzlies.

This area is a community treasure.  Everything is very well maintained.  The switchbacks lead down to the west fork of the south fork of the Gallatin River.  When we arrived at the mini-falls above, we thought we had been hiking for at least .8 miles.  It was pretty, but I'm glad we kept going to the real falls.

 These are the real Ousel Falls.  There were paths to the top and the bottom.  The funny kid about to dive in is standing at the same place Terry was at the top.  It was so cool in the mist.  Every thing you looked out was beautiful.  We wished we had brought our lunch.  There was a little picnic table in an alcove at the base of the falls.  Great hike!  And it was easy hiking back up too. 

Big Sky Branch

We planned our trip specifically so that we would be able to attend the Big Sky Branch on Sunday.  They have a nice little building, but construction at the resort went bust with the economy and most of the members have left.  They keep things going because there are a lot of visitors year round.  The branch presidency drives about an hour from Bozeman every Sunday.  They announced that two more members were moving out which brought their numbers down to 17 members.  I think a lot of them are less active.  Besides the branch presidency and the high counselor who spoke, I only saw four people who were probably from Big Sky.

This week was an exciting week for them.  There were two family reunions in the area that came and Terry and I.  They probably had close to 60 in attendance.  They meet for two hours, sacrament and gospel doctrine.  They had made arrangements for a primary class, and someone in the branch presidency took the YM/YW and came up with a lesson.

We've only been twice, but both times the sacrament speakers and gospel doctrine teachers have been excellent.  Today, Brother Anderson, who is a convert from England, and has lived all over the world, and has his PHD in something, spoke on recognizing anti-Christs or faith shakers, and how to keep the faith.  It was really good.   I think that Brother Anderson is a professor at Montana State.  He also taught the Sunday School lesson. 

This little branch needs people to move in.  Terry and I want to be among them.  It might take a decade before we can move there full time, but I know we can make it happen.
 

We're Off!

Took this picture for Hadley,  her motel in West Yellowstone.

Our long awaited return trip to Big Sky, Montana is finally here.  It's an 8 hour drive from Boise, and it's only exciting from Ashton on (about 2 1/2 hours), but with just the two of us, it's relaxing and can be interesting.  For some reason on this trip we didn't have a lot to say, so it was quiet and relaxing.  I worked on crocheting a baby blanket.

The last leg of the trip, as we follow the Gallatin River, is beautiful and everything around Big Sky is breathtaking - mountain peaks, rivers, meadows, and forests.  It did not disappoint.

We hadn't stopped for lunch, so right after we checked in we went to eat at the closest place, a pub in the mall right at the base of the ski lifts.  Terry was not very excited about the place.  He was expecting a noisy, crowded bar with basic burgers and nachos.  It was not at all crowded, or loud, and the food was fabulous!  Terry never orders burgers, but he did this time because it had an avocado on it.  It was gigantic with a big pile of fries.  I don't usually eat fries, but I ate a lot of his.  They were skinny crisp ones without any grease.  I had a fajita salad which was also gigantic.  I saved half of my meal and we're going to share it tomorrow for lunch.  We saw someone order nachos and they really would feed a family of four.  I think we're in for big meals in Big Sky.  Terry was wondering if this place (a bar) served breakfast.  I would never have thought that a pub like Whiskey Jacks would end up being one of his favorites.

This is right outside of Whiskey Jacks.  We might bring our Kindles and use that hammock tomorrow.  I could sit on one of the chairs and crochet.  Yeah, we really know how to vacation.  Everyone around us will be zip lining, mountain biking, horseback riding, fly fishing, golfing and rafting.  We'll be hanging out (literally) in a hammock.

Projects at N. Lolo Pass Way

Finally....we got our hands on a key to Bry and Amee's house.  We loaded the car with tools, vacuums, ladders, paint, and cleaning supplies.  Amee met us each day, along with Isaac and sometimes Tanner.  (That kid's a good worker!)  Bry kept in touch by text, and lined-up all kinds of help that we needed to let in and hand checks to.  He also showed up after work with something for us eat. 

Tuesday - We cleared out what use to be a front flower bed and raked haystacks from the grass left on the ground after the realtor mowed.  This was the hardest work of the week.  It was hot and my hands ended up with blisters.  Inside we vacuumed carpets and baseboards, wiped down window ledges, and started cleaning kitchen cupboards.  Port of Subs for dinner

Wednesday - Terry did more yard work and made repairs to switches, shelves, and knobs.  I did a lot of painting and touch-up.  Brent came over to help with a minor disaster that occurred when we painted speaker covers to match the wall and all the holes were covered up.  We couldn't get the paint in a spray can to match, so finally we used diluted paint in a spray bottle, a dry brush to stipple with, and a lot of patience.  I think Brent went to four or five stores looking for supplies.  Papa Murphys for dinner.

Thursday -  More painting.  More cleaning.  The kitchen is finished!  Nothing else is done.  Fred Meyer chicken for dinner.

Friday - We had to take our car in and get ready for our vacation so this was a short day.  We left at 11:30.  The painting downstairs is done.  I tried a new technique so that paint wouldn't bleed under the tape.  I don't know how it turned out.  We left before it dried.  Terry got the garage swept.

We met two of their neighbors, two Molly Maids, the locksmith, two guys who cleaned the dryer vent, and a garage door repair man.  Next week while we're gone we'll miss the washer, dryer, and fridge deliverymen, the carpet cleaners, the sprinkler repair guy, and the Cross Town movers.  This house was not left move-in ready.

I don't know why I was so excited to do all of this, but I was.  If was fun every day.  Some nights I couldn't sleep very well because I was thinking of paint colors and decor ideas.  It worked out well that this all happened during summer vacation.  I'm so excited for this family to move into a clean and cute house. 


*Post to be continued when I get back from vacation and finish painting.

Til Next Year

We had to say goodbye to Big Sky today.  We had one last meal at the Blue Moon Bakery.  Next year we're going to the top of Lone Peak, and to the movies at the new Theater.  I love the moose out front.  We'll also continue looking for our future home. 

It's Always Something

I cleared this week so we can help Bry and Amee, but they didn't get the key to their house until after work today (Monday).  Did we get to kick back?  Of course not.  The toilet in the downstairs bathroom sprung a leak yesterday.  It became Terry's project.  He checked the internet, made two trips to Home Depot, and fixed it!  I'm so proud of him.

The hole.  The moved toilet. Terry muscling it back in place.

I've decided that it's a great blessing for Terry to live down the hill from Home Depot (and for me to live down the hill from JoAnns).

Quick Family Time

Bad grandparents.  I had in my mind that Hadley's birthday was the 16th.  Terry didn't have anything in his mind.  We didn't check until this morning, and it was Thursday!  I won't forget again.  Hadley's is the 12th; Hudson's is the 16th.  I'll forget someone else's, but not Hadley's.

We wanted to run her gift over to her, but the McClures were at Mike's work party all afternoon.  They thought they would be back at 6:30.  We decided to get together with Bry and Amee and the boys for something to eat, and check out the house that is almost theirs.  We wanted to talk with them about how we could help.  We met at Souper Salad which worked out well for the kids, the health conscience, and me, the dieter.

We then went to deliver the gift, but even though we were an hour and 1/2 late, the McClures were still partying.  We got caught in a big downpour, huddled under their porch.

We decided to go over and check-out Bry and Amee's list of house projects.  It's going to be nice having these two families in bordering subdivisions.  The kids will go to the same school, but they live in two different stakes.  They're all close, but not too close.

We finally got our belated gift over to Hadley, our pinkalicious girl.  She got an outfit with a pink shirt, and a Dora doll with pink pajamas on.  (We'll have to make her some clothes to wear during the day.)

It's great having so much family close.  We can squeeze in good times without any plans.