My Poor Eyes...and Head

I stayed in bed until 8:30 this morning.  I finished The Well and the Mine, the book I needed to read for book club tonight.  I also worked on family history stuff on the computer, blogged, uploaded pictures, updated a family website, and crocheted.  I'm getting through a lot of things on my summer "To Do" list, but it gave me a headache.

Fathers Day 2012

      It was Terry's big day, again.  We had all the kids and grandkids over for dinner and pie.  We had Hawaiian haystacks, so it was easy to fix and there was something chopped to please everyone.  The pies were blueberry and lemon cream.  They were all together just last night, but there was still plenty of visiting.  Dinner was early, everyone left early, and we had a quiet evening.  The only part of the day that wasn't so good, was the third game of the NBA finals.  Terry's team won, but it was too intense and stressful.  It was a quiet evening though.

     This was Bry's first Fathers Day.  It's pretty fun watching him be Isaac's dad.  He has almost a month of experience under his belt.

     I didn't get a picture of Mike, the other dad present, but here's his family.  You can't see Maycee very well in the car seat, but she's just as cute as the other two.

Progressive Dinner for Dad

     It's not quite Fathers Day, but we celebrated a day early.  It's actually Terry's birthday, and he didn't come along.  He had a better offer.  I did think it was funny that he wanted to do something relaxing and chose to go bowling with the kids and grandkids.  They had a great time and Cafe Rio was included.

     We were a little small in number (10), mostly because the salmon are running and some were fishing, Tad's fam is in Italy, and I was the only one from my fam, but I like to think the best of the family was represented.  

     Our celebration started at Andrea's for fruit and cheese appetizers.  There were even fresh raspberries!  We could have filled up on everything there, but the big events were in Nampa, so we had to move on.

(Somebody needs to help me manipulate these pictures.  I don't think I can make collages with blogspot.)

Our next stop was for salad, and a tour of Cole and Santanna's new house.  Everything was darling.  They had to do a lot of painting and work when they moved in.  The decor is a mix of them both - Cabela Elegance.  
 

It was funny that their neighbors were having a garage sale.  That's one of my dad's favorite things.  He didn't have time to shop though.

Cole and Santanna in their little kitchen.  We didn't get just salad, Santanna had prepared a whole salad bar.  It was fresh!  There were lots of "comps" on the tossed salad.  I've always been the salad/relish tray maker in the fam.  I now have competition.

We met up with Matt and Kierra who had been to a wedding.  They looked nice (especially Kierra's shoes), but it wasn't for us.  We're all still getting use to the idea that these two brothers married sisters.  I think it's going to make for a fun life, especially for the future little cousins.

The main course was at Nan's.  We had hamburgers, turkey burgers, baked beans, chips and sodas.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  I don't think it got up to 80, and there was just a nice little breeze once in while.

Our last stop was at Matt and Kierra's for dessert.  There house is older and they also had a lot of work to do.  They've redone almost everything in the kitchen, and are working on bathroom redos. Their decor is darling too.  It's a casual elegance with a lot of BSU accents.  It has to be so fun for these young couples to fix up their first homes.   

 I didn't get a pic of the dessert, but it was the best - mud pie, with an Oreo cookie crust, vanilla ice cream, and fudge topping.  Kierra had also dipped Oreos and Nutter Butter cookies in chocolate.  In my book you can't go wrong with any kind of Oreo.


     
 
Ava was our only little kid for the day, but at every house there were four-legged friends.  These two black ones are best buddies, Harry and Cain.  We saw Hank at Cole's house.  I can't remember any of the cat's names.

     It was a fabulous day.  Somehow I think it was calmer and more relaxing than Terry's celebration.

Summer Plans - Part 3

My Weight Watchers meeting today was about setting summer goals.  Here are some thoughts from the first page of our weekly pamphlet:

 Scott said that it was years before he realized that his goals weren't realistic, so he couldn't stick with them.  He recommended breaking down a goal until it's small and something he'll actually do.  He also said to incorporate one new thing at a time.  Once that's secure (or at least not "wobbly"), add another.  Finally, he said to get through today.  It's easy to feel overwhelmed if you think about the future too much.  Today is what you have to work with.  When you get enough "todays" in place, you'll have changed your life.

It all makes sense.  It makes me think of all my summer plans, and I think I'm doing everything wrong.  I guess I'll just work with each day this summer.  I should easily meet small parts of several of my goals, but then again, it might be a wobbly summer.

Summer Plans - Part 2

At church yesterday I was thinking about my post on summer plans.  I definitely have too many, but still, I neglected to list any spiritual goals or church plans.  I do have some.  Part of me doesn't want to list things because it's too personal.  I also think it will be pretty lame to list just 10 things I want to do this summer that are "good".  In truth I want to do something to grow spiritually and serve everyday, but mostly I think I'm just doing the normal things that everyone else is doing, and any effort or growth seems so miniscule.  It's pretty humbling to look at a short list for the summer and think how ridiculous it is that it's all I can fit into a summer.  It's sad that it's a stretch.  That being said, here's some of the things (not the real personal ones)  I'm thinking about : 

1. Catch-up (get ahead) on the Sunday School reading assignments.
2. Read the Daughters of My Kingdom book for Relief Society.
3. Renew my temple recommend and go. (Spend a day in Twin Falls.)
4. Go to Education Days at BYU Idaho.
5. Feed the missionaries.
6. Feed others that are in need.
7. Index.
8. Print my fan chart, check names in New Family Search, and maybe learn how to start researching.
9.  In person visits for to everyone I visit teach all three months.
10. Sew Conker pillowcases for the humanitarian center.

Family Home Evening Extended Style

Now that 3 out 4 of the kids live in town (Well, some are in Meridian), and now that we have 5 grandkids (How did that happen so fast?), we've been having extended family home evenings.  Tonight was only our second one, but so far they're a big success.

We met at Stacey and Mike's.  They have a big new sectional, and the whole family fits on it.  We have a potluck dinner first, a lesson, then dessert.  It usually takes us 4 hours, because we  have a lot of family talk time.  Terry has done the lesson both times, but we're now rotating that.  Brent has brought dessert both times.  That's not going to change.  He's the dessert man.

Terry's lesson was a Slide Rocket presentation on their TV, about what we need to do to return to our heavenly Father.

A lot of kids.  A lot of action.  A lot of energy.

Maycee shows off her crawling skills.  She only crawls if there is a cell phone for her to get.  Only nine months old and she want a cell phone.  What's to become of this generation?

Isaac's first FHE.  He's not quite 3 weeks.

We all love him to pieces.

Lakewood Garage Sale

I've been looking forward to the second big garage sale of the season.  I planned an early start, but woke up to pouring rain.  We ventured across the street at 9:00.  It was cold and raining all morning.  It was still fun, but we didn't want to buy any lemonade.  Terry bought a laser printer with a new ink cartridge included for 10 dollars.  It's better than the one we're using, and half the size.  It will work better in my new loft/office plans.  My best deal was a hanging plate shelf unit.  They wanted $10, but took $5.  I'm going to paint it and hang it on the patio with plants, and pictures, and stuff.