From Today Forward

THIS SPRING...............

2009-07-08T11:49:00.002-06:00

So far we have found people with alot of fruit trees that are producing alot of fruit. We have done mulberry and cherry jams and jellies and bottled cherries. My daughter in law found some apricots the other day. They were just a little on the green side so I probably need to get them bottles today or tomorrow.

MATT..............

2009-07-08T11:47:00.003-06:00

Emilys husband will be home tomorrow night at 9:00 pm. She is so excited that she can hardly wait. It will be nice to have him home.

AGAIN...

2009-06-29T11:07:00.004-06:00

It has been a long time since my last blog. Since December of 2007. We married off our oldest son Matthew to a sweetheart named Michele Walround. They got married on Sept 20, 2008. Dad and I traveled to LA CA to be there when they got married.

We have had a number of people pass since then. My friend Karri Bennett passed in April of 2008, Shanes grandma Bromley passed in October, our friend Cindy Bach passed in November,
Shanes Step Grandma Knapp Died sometime this spring 2009, and his dad just passed on June 12, 2009, my Great Uncle Jimmy Johnson died the same day.

Phillip And Britt had Liam James Walker on Jan 14, 2008. He is Nana's little man. They also had Jude on March 26, 2009, on his daddys birthday. They are both cute little boys. I am loving this.

I worked at EDS a hewlett packard call center up until December 08. They laid me off and I am really enjoying not having to go to work every day. Phillip decided to join the National Guard this last winter so that he could have the money necessary to finish his education. That started the ball rolling for Matt Emilys husband. He has wanted to join the military and Em didn't want him to. So to make a long story short, they decided to let him join also. Matt left on March 12 for Basic and his schooling. Matt is at Fort Knox, Kentucky Phillip is leaving for his basic and schooling on July 14. He will go to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for his basic and he will be going to Fort Eustice, Va for his schooling. Shane and I are just playing old married couple. We dont really have much alone time because Phillip and Britt live just 2 doors down from us so they are at our place alot. More later

I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN MY BLOG FOR A LONG TIME...................

2007-12-02T00:45:00.000-07:00

So much has happened in the last year
1 I started working again in February
2Phillip and Britt are going to be parents in January.
3 Emily got married in June
4 Matthew and Michele came and lived here for a while.
they couldn't find jobs that paid them anywhere near what
they needed to live on so they moved
5 Phillip and Britt both lost their jobs so they are staying with us until they can
get back on their feet.
6 Shane & I spent a weekend with Matthew
and Michele a while back. This is the first (mini) vacation that we
have taken in a long time. It felt really good to get away just the
2 of us.
7Brian & Becca good friends of ours got Married. She won the wedding with all the
trimmings in a contest sponsored on one of the radio stations.

I HAD THE WEIRDEST DREAM LAST NIGHT.............

2007-01-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

I have thought very seriously about going back to work lately. We have a daughters wedding to help pay for in 6 months so I have been very concerned about money. She and Matt keep saying
Mom we are going to pay for most of it. Well she isn't working yet and he just started a new job and money is very scarce right now. So how are we going to put on a wedding? Well that leaves Mom and Dad and dad is the only one bring home a paycheck.

So this morning I was dreaming that I went to work in a small retail establishment. Everything that could possibly be wrong was wrong with this place. I woke up in an absolute PANICK! I think that I have decided that going back to work is not an option for me..... YaY!

I hate working outside of the home. I hate retail, I hate supervisors, co workers are usually pretty awesome, retail customers are the very worst. I have worked for some of the worst management people that ever existed. The thoughts of going to work literally makes me sick to my stomach.

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS COME AND GONE............

2006-12-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well we did it again. Another Christmas over with. We had such a fun day. We all got spoiled rotten. We had all of the kids except for the ones in Seattle spend the night here. We got up around 6:30 am and opened gifts. I should say that they all got up around 6:30 am. I didn't sleep more than about an hour last night. I am not sure what it is about this time of the year but I just don't sleep well. Usually starting about December until summer.

You should have seen all of the gifts around the tree and the living room.

We don't just rip into presents and not pay attention to what is going on. We open each gift individually and everyone watches while one person opens a gift then we go on to the next. It took us over an hour for 6 people to open all of the gifts that were here. My family spoiled me rotten this year, and naturally I did the same for them.

Well I am really beat. I am going to try to go to bed. I'll write more later.

IT HAS BEEN A WHILE...........

2006-11-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

I had to let the phone bill go for a couple of months because of expenses incurred because of the wedding. We are back however. My youngest and my oldest are both engaged and are planning on marrying in the next year or so. We spent last weekend in IF with family. We had a small open house for the newly weds with family and friends there. We stayed in one of dads apartments while we were there instead of staying with friends and family this time. Since there was 6 of us instead of just 3. It worked out great. Dad manages apartments and they had some that were empty so we just blew up our air mattresses and threw out our blankets and pillows on top. Walla instant place to stay. It was great.

IT HAS BEEN A BUSY................................

2006-09-28T11:28:00.000-06:00

few weeks. Our middle child Phillip got married on Sept 16,06. He married a really cute girl named Brittany. They are a perfect match. The wedding was sweet and spiritual and the reception was just alot of fun. Most of my family were here. They all came from Idaho Falls as well as some of mom and dads good friends, John and Cindy. I Love my family so much they are so supportive. Now my youngest is dating a young man and they are thinking seriously about marriage. My oldest is dating a cute young lady and hopefully they will get to that point also.

AS OF THE 5:00 NEWS TONIGHT..............................

2006-09-07T00:32:00.000-06:00

Idaho has 16 forest fires burning. The worst one is just about 60 miles from Boise. Up where we were camping this last weekend. It is so smokey here today that my eyes are really irritated and it chokes you to have to be outside. Tonight the wind kicked up for a while and the smoke got really bad at that time. Pray for rain for the northwestern states we have a total of 50 fires throughout the northwest. The fire fighters are getting worn out and we are losing alot of timber etc. Rain is the only thing that can really help them at this time.

WENT CAMPING OVER THE WEEKEND..................

2006-09-04T10:27:00.000-06:00

Em and I, my nephew and a friend went out the Garden Valley for the Labor Day weekend to camp. We had a great time. We ate really good, We laughed alot, played games, they played in the water, and I read a good book, and slept. We however were only about 8 miles away from a forest fire and it was really smokey. We decided to come home yesterday instead of today because they were getting ready to evacuate everyone in that area within 12 to 24 hours anyway. All in all it was a great time but, it was nice to come home.

PEOPLE REALLY SUCK....................

2006-08-27T19:43:00.000-06:00

THAT SAYES IT ALL.....

SINCE MY LAST BLOG......................................

2006-07-09T01:26:00.000-06:00

We went over to Idaho Falls the last week of June. Katie our niece got married on June 27th, 2006. I wish that I had a picture to post. Unfortunately my hubbies camera had something screw up on it and I can't download the pics.

Monday: We spent the first evening with C & B some good friends of ours. We don't get to spend much time with them when we go over so we made it a point to spend one evenong with them.

Tuesday: Was Katie and Jims wedding they had the wedding up near Fall Creek just below Swan Valley. We took Shane's dad with us. He has Alzheimers and is getting a little confused about things. He isn't as bad as I had thought that he might be. It is rather interesting dealing with him however.

Wednesday: We drove up to Palisades Resevoir. Shanes dad and mom built a little cabin up there several years ago. My sister Janece wanted to drive up to the cabin and see it. She and her husbnd have friends that have a cabin just on the next road up from the Walkers cabin. We spent about a half an hour at the family cabin then went over to the cabin of Janeces friends. We played a couple games of pool and visited then went back to IF. Nancy my good friend over there had a BBQ for everybody at her house that night.

Thursday: I had to get up and get going first thing in the morning. We were trying to get our camp trailer ready to travel over here. It has been in Idaho Falls since we moved away from there 8 years ago. There really wasn't alot that had to be done but, as is typical of us it took all day. That evening we drove up to Rexburg to BYU Idaho to see a good friend and her family perform there. Sherry plays the piano and the kids (seven of them and one ion the way) ages 15 to 4 play, violins, violas, bass, mandolin, guitar, and sing. The program was really cute. We saw her mom and step dad before the show and then got to see Sherry and her husband aftereward. I was so thrilled to get to talk to her for a few minutes. I haven't seen her since the night that she got married. It was really great.

Friday: We got up early and left so that we could take our time coming home. We have tires on the trailer that are 20 years old and have been just sitting for 8 of those years. We didn't want to over do it. We had breakfast in Arco on the way home. The drive between Arco and Mountain Home is a beautiful drive. There is alot of farm land and hills. It is a shorter drive than taking the interstate but, takes longer because of the towns that you hit and the slower speed limit. I still prefer that drive to the interstate.

THERE HAS BEEN ALOT GOING ON...............

2006-06-20T13:37:00.000-06:00

this last couple of weeks. I just can't really remember what.

Since Em graduated. We have gone down to B & C's to help in the garden. Friends of ours asked us if we wanted to do a community garden with them. I jumped at the opportunity. I really should go and get some pictures it looks really good. I have run arond like a fool preparing for
Emily's birthday, then enjoying the evening with her and her friends. We bought a 2001 ford F150 this weekend. It is really nice. It is Forest Green, a 4X4, super cab, probably top of the line pickup with only 36,000 miles on it. WOW! It is really fun to drive. We also purchased a 4 year extended warranty on it. My Trooper was a good car except that we had it in 3 times for transmission problems in 2 1/2 years and the extended Warr expired. We can't have that!
It costs to darn much for repairs without a warranty. I am now trying to get my insurance lady to get things done. She is a darling person. Just kinda slow.

PICS FROM EM'S GRADUATION...........................

2006-06-06T23:38:00.000-06:00

EMILY GRADUATED........................................................

2006-06-06T23:27:00.000-06:00

from High School on June 3, 2006. We were beginning to wonder if this day would actually happen. She had a real struggle getting there. The days started off kinda weird. Shane ended up having to work the day. I was so mad at the other guy that was supposed to take it that I wanted to rip his head off.

Then that morning my wonderful friend Carolyn called and offered to have the family BBQ at her house. I was so relieved that I just cried. Mom and dad got here around noon and mom helped me get the things together that I needed to prepare for the dinner. Carolyn provided everything else. Matthew was here with his girl friend Michele, she helped Emily with her hair and Matthew and Michele helped Em pick out something to wear. She looked so cute that afternoon. The graduation started at 3:00PM and was over with by 5:30PM. I was amazed! They told the speakers no more than 3 to 5 minutes each, so that kept it short and sweet.

At the BBQ we had
Emily and Kat, our 2 graduates
Brian and Becca
Braden,
Karla,
Gina and Steve,
Grandma and Grandpa R,
Shane and I,
Phillip and Britt,
Matthew and Michele,
Carolyn and Bruce,
Josh and Laura,
Monte,
Noel, Melanie, and Mackenzie

Quite a crowd. Em and all the graduates had an all night party at the SUB on the BSU campus that night. It sounds as if they all had a really good time. I am just glad to have it all over with.

MOM'S DAY 2006..................

2006-05-14T23:06:00.000-06:00

I got spoiled this year. My #2 son and his girl bought me a really cute ring. My sweetheart and my daughter bought me a bracelet, a watch, and an oil burner (essential oils). The fragerance that they got to go with it is an awesome citrus. WoW! It smells good.

My darling daughter had to talk in Sacrament meeting today. She gave such a great talk. Practically the whole ward commented on it to me. I am now helping Shane teach his primary class. A bunch of wild 11 year olds. Yikes. I am not sure how long I will last doing this. They are just to much. They are amazingly smart, They know their scriptures, but what a NOISY bunch. It is just to much confusion for me.

I TOLD YOU...............

2006-05-04T12:39:00.000-06:00

In my last post that I would fill you in on Em's Prom.

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the beauty school getting nails, hair color and hair do done. Thursday was nails. I had mine done also. I ended up having a reaction to the chemicals in the gel nails. The skin on my fingers dried out and split. My nails however were beautiful. Em's nails didn't turn out as good as she had hoped. The girl that did her nails was a really new student. This was only her second set of nails.

Friday we went back in and had Emily's hair colored. It turned out really dark! Almost black! She was so upset when all was said and done but, she actually accepted it with the grace of and an adult and realized that she would just have to work with it. She made up her mind that noting would ruin the weekend. The biggest problem was that the hair color made her skin look washed out. She just knew that she would have to work with makeup to make herself have a little more color.

Saturday we went in and had the up do done. When all was said and done she was amazing! a picture is worth a thousand words.

Em and I have spent the last three days ..................

2006-04-15T21:41:00.000-06:00

trying to get her ready to go to the prom tonight. Everything that could go wrong went wrong but in spite of all the interesting things, nothing could dampen her spirits. I will fill in later. Right now I am totally done for and I am going to die for a few hours.

ON THURSDAY LAST WEEK..............

2006-04-10T20:57:00.000-06:00

Em, Britt, and I stopped in at the Bridal Couture. We got a really nice Tax Refund this year so I put the dress that Britt wants on lay away for her. It looks so cute on her. She loves the tiny satin buttons that go down the backs of alot of wedding dresses. This one has a train that trails out 4 or 5 feet from the hem of the dress. The buttons go all the way down the back of the train.

Shane and I went to a mattress shop the other day to check out their mattresses. They actually carry an insert that can be put into a water bed frame. The mattress is really comfortable. Emily and I stopped back in there today and ordered one. I can hardly wait. This if about the first time in my life that I have had a new mattress. This one is supposed to be especially good for a persons back. I also ordered a pillow top cover and some pillows.

Em and I also stopped at the bridal shop and picked up her prom dress. It is so cute. A good friend Carolyn let her borrow some bracelets and a necklace to wear with it. They are simulated pearls they look really nice for just beads.

A WHILE BACK........................

2006-04-07T02:23:00.000-06:00

Em's Prom Dress

I went to a bridal shop here in town with Em and Britt so that Britt could show me the 2 wedding dresses that she really liked. While we were there Em tried on a couple of prom dresses that she really liked. She looked absolutely STUNNING in a dress that is a really hot pink or a really rich coral, or a cross between pink and red. It is BEAUTIFUL on her. It makes her glow. So I put it on Lay away for her. She seems to think that she needs Pearls to wear with it.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END.......

2006-04-07T01:32:00.000-06:00

The tow trucks light bar and my dash board!

Emily pretending to Hitch a ride.
What a fun trip! after all of the frustration of trying to figure out where the girls and I were going to go if we couldn't all ride home with the truck driver.
Some where between Fairfield and Hill City.

Just before Leaving town we were talking about the fact that we were headed to Craters of the Moon and hopefully Shoshone Falls near Twin falls. I told the girls that the week was all about adventure and that the adventure wasn't quite over. Oh How True!

Sunday was time for goodbye's to be said. We had a couple of things that I needed to do before leaving town. So it was 2:30 or 3:00 pm before we left town. We had decided to take the old hiway to come home because Britt had never seen the Craters of the Moon before. The trip across the desert was uneventful. The excitement started the instant we stepped out of the car at Craters. Immediately we were surrounded by smoke coming from MY CAR! I got down on my hands and knees and looked under the car. Red liquid was dripping from the back of the engine. Looks like Transmission fluid to me. Come to find out I was right. I couldn't get ahold of Shane, Phillip, My nephew Jake, my parents, my brother, or my sister. Fortunately for us we had purchased a thing similar to AAA, with a loan that we got a while back. This service paid for us to be towed all the way to Boise. The wrecker had to come from Idaho Falls, I can't begin to imagine what that would have cost us. It took 2 hours for him to get to us. To begin with we were of the understanding that only 2 people could ride with the driver. I hated to have the girls go with the driver without me but I just couldn't see any other option. Then just about 1/2 hour before he got there. I was getting nervous because he hadn't showed up so I called the service and let them know that we were still stranded. She called the dispatcher for Classic and found that the driver was only about 1/2 hour out, and that he could accomodate all three of us.
Come to find out the driver was someone that I knew from home. This guy had worked for Classis for years. The owners of Classis Auto Body had been in our ward in lincoln.
By this time my sister and her husband was coming out to pick up the girls and I. So I called her and told her to turn around and go home. That we would be ok. I couldn't get the pay phone there to make a long distance call out so I had to call the Sheriff's department in that county and have them call Shane and Phillip to let them know not to come to twin to meet us. J and D were planning to drive us that far. Phillip called me back on the pay phone and I explained what was going on. The driver got there just minutes after that. He loaded that car up onto the flatbed of his truck with the three of us in it. We got to ride in our car all the way to Boise. I really was kinda fun. I only used a quarter of a tank of gas coming home. That was nice. We got to see some beautiful country all covered in snow. What a trip.

Saturday

2006-04-07T01:23:00.000-06:00

Emily, Lexa and Britt
The Teton Peaks

The Lundblade Ranch

We drove up to Teton Valley to see J and C. Some close family Friends. C had baked a turkey and everybody contributed something. Her daughter M and her husband Picked my brother Dean up from where he lives. We had a really great meal and alot of fun conversation.
The cabin above is the homestead of a family that lived in our ward when we lived in IF. We spend many a summer night camping here. Our Ward campouts were usually there and we would impose occasionally at other times. Emily was so excited to drive past the ranch and when she saw the swings it brought back fond memories of swinging on warm summer days.

I didn't get any pics of any of the adults at the gathering just the kids.

On the way home from Teton Valley. We hit a show storm that was a total white out. You couldn't see a car length ahead of you and you couldn't tell which lane you were in. That lasted for 10 to 15 miles. I am sure glad that dad had to drive through that one.

While we were still there. The date was April 1st. Janece my sister had run into Driggs go get some milk so that gravy could be made. All day it had been either raining or snowing and there were clouds so thick that you couldn't even see the Tetons. Janece got back and was all excited she told Britt to come outside you could finally see the Tetons. Britt got so excited, she pulled on her coat and ran out of the house. Janece then hit her with April Fools. We all laughed. Poor Britt was really embarrased that she had fallen for an April Fools Joke. Thankfully by the time that Janece and the girls left the clouds had lifted and Britt got the beautiful shot of the Tetons that is above

Friday.

2006-04-07T01:16:00.000-06:00

Spent the morning waiting for the girls again. Dad took mom and I to breakfast. North Highway Cafe has been the place for all of the old timers to hang out ever since I can remember. We got there and I saw my friend Linda's mom and step dad, Ford and Betty. I haven't seen them in forever. Then we hadn't been there very long when 6 of the retired firefighters showed up.
Beetle, Duane, Lester, RC, and a couple of others that I never got to know. It was really fun seeing these guys. That afternoon I drove down to Blackfoot to see my friend Ann and her parents. I spent about 3 or 4 hours with them then went over to see Natalie, Shanes Aunt. I spent a couple of hours there. That was probably the hilight of my trip because I haven't seen any of them since before we left IF.

Thursday

2006-04-07T01:13:00.000-06:00

The girls and I drove around that afternoon and saw some of the sights. It was cold and raining so we didn't get out to explore anything. We went out and had dinner with my friend Nancy another friend Leah came and had dinner with us. After dinner they got ou the games and we sat and played phase 10 and Uno Attack. And again a good time was had by all.

WEDNESDAY..............................

2006-04-07T01:08:00.000-06:00

I spent most of the day waiting for the girls. I had planned on going out to see Shanes Brother Kelly's at about 1:00 PM We finally got there sometime after 3:00 PM. We still Had a fun visit. It is always fun to spend time with Kelly and Deb and the kids. We had hamburgers for dinner and visited and laughed at Deb and the kids acting out Ray Stevens Songs. We finally got out of there around 9:00 pm. And a good time was had by all!

Kelly and Debi's fam

TUESDAY......................

2006-04-07T00:55:00.000-06:00

I really don't remember what we did on Tuesday. Except for the visit to Eric, and Gran and Pa.
Eric is Phillips best friend over there. He wanted Eric and his grandparents to meet Britt. We spent nearly an hour at their house then Em, Britt and Eric went to the movies that night.
I do remember what I did that morning. I went out and spent the morning with my Aunt Doris and Uncle Tom. What great people. Just before we went to see Eric and his grandparents we stopped to see Shanes grandma Beth. She had been in a nursing home there for over a year now. She really looked rough compared to what she looked like a few years ago. This is Grandma, Emily and Britt.

Really didn't do much that night. Watched TV with my dad.

MONDAY...........................

2006-04-07T00:39:00.000-06:00

We took our time getting ready for our day. Mom and I had a thing or 2 that we needed to do. I stopped at Walmart to pick up a computer monitor power cable and an outlet strip. My uncle works in the Electronics Department. He was so funny he came out from behind the desk and asked mom and I how are you today. Then he realized who he was talking to. He gave me a big hug and asked me what I was doing in Idaho Falls. I answered that I had come over there just to see him. He just grinned. I loved it. He helped me find the things that I needed then we were on our way. We went home and fixed lunch and after lunch we went out to see Linda Packer. Mom and Linda both do alterations on clothing for people and mom had some dresses that she just wasn't sure about how to fix the problems. I've known Linda for a long time 1 she is one of my best friends aunt. and 2 her husband worked on the fire department over there with Shane.

After leaving linda we went to Harts Tux and Gowns and Looked at wedding dresses. Britt tried on 2 or 3 of them they were really pretty but, she had found one over here that she really liked so she didn't pick out anything that she really liked over there.

My dad was having trouble with his computer. so he asked me if I could help. Well I was able to do just that, Help that is. Someone had downloaded 3 toolbars onto his computer that aren't necessary. They are just spyware. Don't download, Google, msn, yahoo, or any other extra toolbars that claim that they will improve you ability to search or that they will improve that performance of your computer. It is a total lie. All I did was delete those things from his computer and it ran alot better. They later that evening my sister and he husband was there at mom and dads and dad called me into the kitchen. My brother in law was having the same problem. He had the same problem as dad. So I just deleted the toolbars and Voila, better performance. Boy am I good!
We really didn't do much after that. Fixed dinner and visited the rest of the evening.

I WAS GIVING JISR A BAD TIME ABOUT NOT BLOGGING EARLIER TONIGHT.......

2006-04-07T00:14:00.000-06:00

I really don't have room to talk!

However, Em, Britt, my future daughter in law and I all traveled over to IF Almost 2 weeks ago.
We pulled out of boise just about 5:30 PM And made it to Jerome in just barely over any hour.
It had taken all day to get out of Boise.
#1 Phillip had to talk in church. Church doesn't start until 11:00. Ok I can deal with getting out of town by about 12:30PM, no such luck.
#2 Britt had to teach primary and she didn't get out of church until 2:30. Ok I can deal with that also. leaving town between 3 and 3:30 still isn't bad timing. I just wanted to get out by 10:00 AM for a change, but 10 to 3 ok, I really can deal with that.
#3 I ran out to jism's to pick up my new computer, I should have been home by 2:30 easy. I got to JISM'S house and was visiting out in the yard when I looked down to see a huge nail head in my tire. I was so stupified that I asked, "Is that a nail in my tire?" I couldn't believe the luck very typical of the luck that we have had trying to travel over there the last several times that we have gone over there. Do you realize that there isn't a tire store open anywhere on a Sunday! Sears automotive and Walmart Automotive are the only games in town on a Sunday.
I couldn't even get the Sears person to talk to me. So I left to go home, Phillip called and told me to go over to Walmart that they had called and were told that it would be a 1 hour wait. Well that was better than nothing. By the time that I got there however the lady behind the desk told me that It would be a 2 hour wait. SHIT! We will never get out of town by that time. So I just went out to the car sat behind the wheel and cried. About that time a really great mechanic came to ask how he could help me. I explained that I had the nail in the tire and that my original plan was to leave town by 10:00AM and as you can see that didn't happen. I didn't tell him that there had been other extenuating circumsances. He got me right in and the tire done in about 20 minutes. I got home by 4:15 PM Brit and Phillip got there not to long after that, so we got the car loaded and on the road. I let Brit drive. I was really tired by this time and needed to just relax for a while.

We stopped at B & L's for about 1\2 hour or 45 minutes. I had to drop some computer stuff off to him and I needed to get some stuff from him. Then off to IF. We made it into town at 10:36pm. That really wasn't bad timing.

We sat up and talked with my mom until the wee small hours all in alll not a bad day.

SPEAKING OF DENIM FOR QUILTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-03-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

I called one of the thrift stores in the area a while back because I had been told that they would hold onto jeans that couldn't be sold out on the floor for people like me that want to make quilts or rugs with the denim. One of the ladies called me last week and saud that they had a shopping cart full of jeans etc for me. Emily and I went out to pick them up and they had 84 pounds, at 6cents a pound that only came to a little over 5.00. I was so excited. I brought them home and started going through them and I was absolutely amazed at what good condition that they were in. There was some wear on all of them but most of them were worn very little. I let the family go through them while they were here this weekend and they took several pairs home with them, and I still have alot of denim to cut up, I mean ALOT! I added some to the quilt top that I am fringing before the weekend hit and that is about as far as I have gotten. I can't wait to get back to it.

WHAT A FUN WEEKEND.............................

2006-03-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

My Niece Jessica got married early in January. They had planned to wait until March 4, but she didn't have any insurance and needed diabetic supplies. So they got married so that she would have the necessary insurance coverage and waited until this weekend to have their reception.
My parents and sister, and my brother and his family all came over on Friday. We all pitched in about 10.00 per family and bought Chinese take out. Wow did we have food. It was so good. I think that when we get together like this in the future that we'll do this instead of fixing a big meal together. It is alot easier. We had the reception on Saturday. She works at a pizza place here in town, so she had made arrangements to use one of the banquet rooms for the reception. Her wedding dress was a Oriental Style dress that they had actually ordered from the Orient so their decorations were Oriental parasols, hats, fans, etc. It was so cute. There was alot of pictures taken, alot of pizza eaten and alot of fun for everyone. I think that the poor grooms family were just a little overwhelmed by this loud crazy bunch of ours.

That evening mom, dad and my sister and her 2 little ones came out and we just visited. We were all to full from pizza and salad to even want to think about eating.

My sisters kids are some of the cutest that I have ever seen. The little girl is 5 and smart and precocious. She loves her mommy and grandma and grandpa. At one point she was up on grandpas lap and he was reading nursery rhymes to her out of a book that we have here. It was so fun. If there were any of the rhymes that had been set to music then we would sing them to her. The baby is a boy, he will be 5 months old in just a few days. He is one of the cutest little guys that I have ever seen. He has a really round face and head, and he smiles and laughs, and coos at you constantly. Even when he is tired he really doesn't fuss much. I hope that we didn't spoil him to bad this weekend. He was constantly being held and passed around from family member to family member. After this he is going to want to be held all of the time.

After a weekend like this it is so hard to let them all go. I hate being this far from our families, but I wouldn't trade living here and the experiences that we have all had for anything in the world.

I AM SO EXCITED.......................................

2006-02-21T00:52:00.000-07:00

My mom called today. She bought 12 pairs of jeans for 1.oo each. Cool. The only problem is that she has to bring them over in March when they come over. I can't work on anything tomorrow.
I called one of the St Vincents thrift stores today. They will hold onto jeans that have holes in them for people. I can buy jeans for .06 cents a pound. After they have saved up enough for me to buy. There again. Nothing for me to work on tomorrow. Also Phillip's girlfriend said that she has a bunch of old jeans etc that she can bring over sometime. Again nothing to keep me occupied tomorrow. NUTS!

ACTUALLY COME TO THINK OF IT......................

2006-02-20T02:51:00.000-07:00

I am rather proud of the accomplishments that I have made lately. I gathered up old jeans from here and there and made a quilt top for my husband and I. I just need to get a quilt bat so that I can finish the quilt. I already have fabric for the back. This silly thing is so HEAVY! it is going to be so great to climb into bed with. I also have started 2 more tops. One is strips of denim 9 inches wide and 21 inches long and I have sewed the strips together so that the seams are on top of the quilt top and I have fringed the seams. It is going to be so cool when I get it done. I only have 2 rows so far. My mom called last night and said that one of the thrift stores that she frequents had a basket of jeans for 1.00 a pair and she wanted to know how many that I wanted. I told her all that she can get. If she can get 20 pairs at 1.00 each that is alot better than going to the DI or
St Vincents and paying 5.00 or more per pair. YAY! The only problem is that I won't get the jeans until the first weekend in March when they come over here for my neices wedding reception.
The other top I started today. It is a shame how much fabric that you have to waste by cutting up jeans, skirts, or shirts to do these quilts. So I have kept any scraps that are big enough to even think about doing any thing with. I started just sewing together random sized pieces of denim today. I think that this top will be alot of fun.

I REALLY HAVE NO LIFE LATELY, THUS NO BLOGGING....

2006-02-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

STILL LOOKING FOR THAT RICH UNCLE OR FAIRY GODMOTHER.....

2006-02-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Things really got worse. Em let us know that the choir trip to be taken this week was going to cost 165.00 just for the trip. Then she needed another 100.00 for meals etc. Yikes. Anybody up for a 600.oo boost.
Not only did we have to do that but there were things that she needed for the trip and for the dance on the 18th that she plans to go to. Jeeze! It seems to be never ending.

I WISH TONIGHT THAT I HAD A RICH UNCLE OR A FAIRY GODMOTHER......

2006-01-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

Yikes

Everything has hit this paycheck. I don't have enough money to pay everything that needs to be paid. Next paycheck things look a little bit better, and the one after that looks really good, the one after that lookes even better. I wish I could pull some of the excess I have got figured in March to tomorrow.

I HAD A BIG SURPRISE WHEN I WALKER THROUGH THE DOOR TONIGHT.........

2006-01-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

I had been at an appointment with my herbalist late thisafternoon so I got home about 5:00pm. There was a white car parked in front of the house that I didn't recognise. Then as I was walking up to the front door a little black VW pulled in behind the Geo. When I walked in the house there in the living room with Shane was his brother Jim. Jim and his 2 kids just returned home in November from Iraq. They were there with the 116th National Guard unit from here in Idaho.
The person behind me was Ashley, Emily's Friend. She already had Kara here working on a School project. A little bit later here came Phillip home from work. Shortly there after, Cody Phillips friend showed up, then not to long after that Jake, my nephew showed up. What a crazy household.

We sat and talked to Jim until almost 9:00pm he kept saying that he really needed to get going, his step daughter lives out in Nampa and she was supposed to fix dinner for him. He just couldn't quit talking! Jim holds a really special place in my heart. So it was so great having him here for just a little while. Charlotte his step daughter called shortly after he left wanting to know if he was here. She was worried about him Getting lost in the big city! I just had to laugh.

Phillip bought us some sandwiches for dinner. Since we hadn't had a chance to eat and just talked all evening. I just couldn't tear myself away and be isolated in the kitchen fixing dinner while Shane and Jim were visiting. The thing that I miss the most about being here in the Boise area and not back home is the evenings, holidays, Sunday afternoons etc spent with family. I wish that I could get the families all to move over here with us.

I TALKED TO A FRIEND ON THE PHONE A LITTLE WHILE AGO......

2006-01-13T14:26:00.001-07:00

She told me that her step daughter and step grand daughter were sexually molested recently by a boyfriend of her husbands ex_wife. Why do people have to be such asses? The man just recently was released from prison for being a sexual offender. Why did the mother/grandmother bring this idiot anywhere near her child and grandchild? Why did he do this knowing full well that he will probably go back to prison? I am sure that the answer to that question is that he doesn't know how to live on the outside. Some people are just better off in an institutional type of setting. My heart aches for these 2 beautiful young ladies.

WELL, IT IS A WEEK SINCE MATTHEW CAME FOR A VISIT..............

2006-01-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

He left thisafternoon. We spent most of the week in front of the TV. We watched the boxed set from the series Firefly. Not bad. We watched the boxed set of Battlestar Galactica season one, then I bought Matthew season 2 and we watched that. Or he did. I caught most of it. I really enjoyed Battlestar Galactica. He left season 4 of Alias for me to watch. Can't wait to get started.

Last night as a Family we went to see THE PRODUCERS. Funny show but, there were alot of sexual inuendios. My niece and her new husband went with us. Unfortunately by the time that we got into the theather we had to seperate. Matthew and Phillip sat in one row, Shane, Em and I in another and Jess and Chad in another. Bummer.

JIZR and Tron came over with the kids today and had lunch with us before Matthew had to leave. We did Hamburgers and JIZ brought Rice Pilaf. It was a really fun time and good food. We always enjoy the time together.

MATTHEW....................

2006-01-01T19:55:00.001-07:00

Our oldest flew in thismorning for a week visit. I am so excited about having him here. He brought dad and I a book for Christmas. He had entered a poem in a poetry contest and his poem is the first one in the book. He works at Armani Exchange in Seattle so he brought his brother and sister each some shirts. They were really excited about the cloths. Dad and the boys watched football all afternoon and watched a movie and Em and I took a nap.

After my nap it was time to fix dinner. Shane helped me make Enchiladas. Matthew wanted Enchiladas for dinner so that was what he got. Since then we have either watched movies or played on the puter.

Typical New Years Day. Not alot of excitement around this house. However with Matthew here that is exciting. Jake my nephew showed up and then Curt one of Matthews good friends showed up. So we had a house full.

ANOTHER STORY TO TELL ABOUT .......................

2005-12-31T00:49:00.000-07:00

"SPICKS". Halloween night 2005, just 2 months ago. I had had to run to the store for just a few minutes. I had left Emily here alone. Joey across the street had a friends at his house. The friend, Mike, had brought 2 "SPICKS" with Him. Joey didn't even know the "SPICKS" come to find out. I left and as soon as I did the "SPICK" boys came over and started not just knocking on the door but really pounding on the door, and on the windows. Em Said that she could hear them out in the drive way the whole time. They just kept pounding on the door and harrassing her. She should have called the cops after the first time. Thank goodness she is one to keep the doors locked when she is alone. My niece J. showed up just a few minutes later as one of the "SPICK" boys was headed toward my house. When she showed up he turned and went the other direction. J. is 6 feet tall and will open a can of Whoop Ass on any one that she feels deserves it. She was alot taller than either of the "SPICK" boys. J was a little surprised by the "SPICK" boys behavior. Once J. got inside Em started telling her what had happened. Then they heard a hard Thud at the door as if someone had kicked the door. There was a big scrape on the door where someone kicked it and the door has stuck really bad ever since.

When I got a chance to ask Joey's mom about who these kids were a few days later. She said that they hadn't known the 2 "SPICK" boys that they were 2 of Mikes friends from Emmet where Mike lives. Joey came over later and apologized to Em. He felt so bad. It wasn't his fault. Joey was inside while they were over here, He didn't have a clue that these "SPICK" boys were giving her a bad time.

WELL HERE WE GO AGAIN.......................

2005-12-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

We can't seem to win for loosing. The kids were out with my car tonight. A car approached them that didn't have lights on. Being good citizens they tried to signal to the inhabitants of the car that they needed to turn on their lights. The other car had 2 "SPICKS" in it. Yes I said "SPICKS". people like these two do not deserve the respect of being called hispanic. I have known Hispanic people that were the cream of the earth. These two are "SPICKS", did you hear me you two "SPICKS, SPICKS, SPICKS, SPICKS"! The "SPICK" car was next to ours at a stop light. The kids tried to let them know that they didn't have lights on and the passenger "SPICK" being the one closest to our car climbed out and kicked my car just above the tire on the drivers side front quarter panel. You wouldn't believe the dent the "IDIOT SPICK" left, and it caused a great big chip of paint to pop off. Then they, "the SPICKS" took off as soon as the light changed. Thank goodness the kids got a licence plate number. Hopefully it is a good one. "SPICKS" aren't always honest about such things. My poor kids spent the rest of their evening, well at least a couple of hours at the Meridian Police Department filling out statements.

I AM GETTING TO THE POINT THAT I REALLY HATE PEOPLE.

We went through 3 years nearly trying to get a settlement and get tools back that were stolen from us right after we moved in here. We didn't get back most of the tools that we were told were in the police evidence room. A number of the items that were supposed to be there weren't. We got about a 300.00 settlement from the boys and their parents, but that didn't cover the cost of the items that were stolen, plus those that were supposed to have been in the evidence room that we didn't get back. One of the boys was supposed to have helped do some painting as part of his pay back. He came one time and painted for about an hour and that was all that was done. It was a crappy paint job at that. So we were out money there also.

THIS REALLY PISSES ME OFF.

Another time Matthew and 2 friends, Steven and Taylor, were getting gas to come home after being out one night. To make a long story short. Matthew got hit with the heavy end of a pool stick in the eye, and went down to the ground, the guy that hit him was poised over him to hit him in the back of the head and Steven probably saved his life. Steve had run into the store to tell the clerk to call the cops, he grabbed 2 bottles of Root Beer and broke the bottles by hitting them together, and stabbed the guy, that was about to hit Matthew again, in the back. If he had been about 1/4 inch closer to the kids spine he would have killed the kid. We spent the next couple of hours in the hospital with the boys and then we spent the rest of the night, literally, in a police office where they take juveniles to question them and fill out statements. Not the regular police station. We finally left there around 7:30 AM. i had to work that day after having no sleep the previous night. That was fun!
We did get a fairly good settlement from that one.

Another time because of Matthew and Steven we had a gang of 13 Juvenile HOODLUMS and HOODLUMS that were masquerading as adults show up here on New Years night.

Very stupidly and innocently Matthew and Steve had heard that there was a "CAR CLUB" that they ought to check out. So on New Years Eve they went to talk to these guys about their "CLUB". When they got there, there was alot of drinking and weird stuff going on. The "CLUB" members didn't want to talk cars, so the boys said that they tried to leave. Well this didn't sit well with the "CLUB" members either. The guys tried to leave and the "CLUB" surrounded Matthews pickup and all had either guns, baseball bats, or pipes to come at the boys with. So Matthew hit the gas and knocked a couple of the guys out of the way.

Back to the next night. All of these HOODLUMS show up at our door. ROCKY the ring leader was carrying on about how Matthew had hit him with his pickup and that he had spent the night in the hospital and his mother was going to sue us. Shane stayed calm and asked if they could take THIS outside. I called the cops. I went outside in my stocking feet, as I recall that night the temperature outside was about 15 degrees, I took the phone out with me and continued to talk to the dispatcher and let her know just exactly what was going on. When the "CLUB" saw me come out with the phone knowing that I was probably on the phone with the cops one car full left. We got a really good response time from the cops this time. Officer Weinegar and a female cop named Helen showed up here really quick. Officer Weinegar was a great guy, Helen was a BITCH. We had to deal with her more than once and she is a nightmare in officers clothing. It took a good half hour to 45 minutes before everything was said and done and the "CLUB" finally left,

How did they find us? I hear you ask! Earlier in the fall Steven had taken out a girl named AMY. She was a doll. He brought her here one night and we had dinner and played games all evening. We really had a good time with her. She was at the "CLUB" meeting the evening before. She lead these IDIOTS RIGHT TO US!!! Thanks Amy. Nice way to repay our hospitality. AMY just happened to be one of the 3 that left in the first car. The other 2 were the HOODLUMS that were masquerading as adults. CHICKEN SHITS!

Well the nice thing about this confrontation was that when ROCK SHIT and his mother went before a judge to try to file a complaint. The Judge had dealt with them before and he laughed them out of his court room. THANK YOU JUDGE who ever you may be.

Now that I have ranted some I think that I feel better. I just do not look forward to going through another 3 years of court hearings, dealing with prosecutors that change monthly, Having court dates change, etc, etc, etc.

DECEMBER 25, 2005................

2005-12-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

Christmas day. Well another Christmas come and gone. We had a really nice day though. Em got us up just after 6:00 AM to open gifts. We all got some really nice gifts. I got a new pair of jeans and a pair of Sapphire Earrings from Shane. A Chronicles of Narnia Book from Phillip, a Soap making kit from Em. and a brass bell from Em.

I got Shane a Bob Ross painting kit, brushes, canvases and an easle, He also got socks, hankies, a razor, a shaving soap cake,
and a bottle of Hot mixed Vegetables. He loves that crazy stuff.

Em got a hooded nylon vest, a pen set, and I don't remember all.

We went to Sacrament Meeting today. It is always nice to have Christmas fall so that we can attend church on Christmas day.

JUST A COUPLE OF HOURS.....

2005-12-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

until December 23. Wow I can't believe that Christmas is this close. It doesn't really feel like Christmas to me this year. I got alot done early in the season so I haven't had to do alot of shopping and running around this year. I am going to go grocery shopping tonight as soon as Shane and Em return from shopping for mommy. I decided that I would much rather shop late tonight than fight crowds tomorrow during the day.

The stores were still quite busy.

EM, PHILLIP AND I FINISHED UP THE SHOPPING........

2005-12-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

that Em and I needed to do for Christmas. With the exception of shopping for groceries. That will have to wait until Friday morning. My nephew called while we were out and about and asked if we would like to meet him at Hooters and have lunch. He had a 20.00 coupon that they had won at Trivia there one evening recently. So off to Hooters we went. I wanted wings so bad that I just about ordered them. I decided that after feeling as poorly as I had over the weekend that I had better settle with a salad or something lite. So a salad it was. We drove across the street to the Mall. What a MAD HOUSE! I hate the Mall at Christmas time. I HATE the TRAFFIC here at Christmas time, especially around the Mall. The City Fathers really screwed up a few years ago when they allowed that stupid mall to be built where it is and not to plan for future traffic problems. The traffic around that mall is rediculous! All year round and especially at Christmas time. I refuse to shop at the mall this time of the year. Because I don't want to have to fight traffic. Well we went into the mall because we had to replace a phone charger for Phillip. Em's dog had chewed the cord on his charger and ruined it. This dog is a real pain in the rear about chewing things. Usually my shoes.

I was so glad to get out of the Mall.

OH BOY WAS I SICK.............

2005-12-19T02:21:00.000-07:00

this weekend. Yesterday I slept in until 9:00 AM because I hadn't slept good through the night. When I got up it was all that I could do to put one foot in front of the other to accomplish anything. I had to run my neighbor to the post office, I felt OK, just extremely tired. When I got home I layed back down and went right to sleep. That just isn't like me. After I woke up I hurt from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. Especially anywhere that my back is presently out. I hurt so bad that I couldn't sleep more that a few minutes at a time because the pain would wake me up. I ran a fever of 102.9 for 2 to 3 hours. My head ached, my eyes burned, my stomach hurt, and was upset. My Butt even hurt. Tonight my headache has finally gone away and I feel more like myself than I have for a couple of days. Hopefully this is the last of it. I have to much to do tomorrow and the rest of the week.

TONIGHT WAS THE EAGLE HIGH SCHOOL CHOIR'S CHRISTMAS CONCERT...............

2005-12-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

These kids are so talented. I wish that I had taken a video recorder with us so that I could show these kids off to the entire world. I am sure that there are better choirs in this country but, I am really proud of this bunch of kids.

The last portion of the concert was Handels Messiah. The solo's left a little to be desired, but the choruses were really good.

YA KNOW.............................

2005-12-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the night last night and had some awesome thoughts about what I was going to blog about the next time that I got on the computer. I should have gotten out of bed right that moment, because, I can't remember what the heck I was going to write. GO FIGURE!

IT HAS BEEN A COUPLE OF WEEKS...............

2005-12-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

since my last entry. I have been busy making Christmas gifts. I am not going to say what because I might give things away. Emily just insisted on getting Christmas decorations out and putting just a few lights up the day after Thanksgiving. So that is just what we did. We put up the tree last night and put the lights and tinsel on it. I need to get out to the shed and get the ornaments out now so that we can finish decorating.

This Christmas is really unusual for us. We have most of our Christmas shopping done! It has been done since before Thanksgiving with the exception of just a few things. Wow!

Em is home from school today with a somach flu. The poor kid has slept since she got home at about 10:30 am.

THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING........

2005-12-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Em has a friend at school whose family had a Welsh Corgi. She has wanted on of these dogs for a long time. Garrett, the friend, talked to the family and they decided that Em could have "Buddy"! We drove over to their house at about 11:00 AM to see the dog and Em immediatly fell in love. The crazy dog was covered in mud and manure because he had been out chasing cows when we got there. I was really glad that I had a blanket in the car that we use when missy is in the car with us. We were able to put him in the back cargo area of the trooper and not get dirty dog all over the fabric seats. We then went to look at used cars, we were thinking about buying a car for Em to drive but it didn't pan out. Phillip would liked to have bought a car also but between payment and insurance I would never make in on what he makes at his job just working part time while going to school. So we left there and went and had lunch, then the kids and I came home.

Em and I proceeded to try to bath this dirty little dog. What a pain.

1. He has probably had very few bathes in his life.
2. He was fine as long as the water was not running but when we turned on the water He started to bark and have a fit.
3. He is about 50 pounds of pure muscle! It was all we could do to keep him in the tub once we would start the water. I was as wet as he was by the time that we were done.
He is really a cute dog when he is clean. The Cats hate him, and Missy lets him know who is the boss. He is only about a year and a half old so the last couple of days since he has really gotten settled in he has started chewing on MY shoes. We can't get him to play with the toys that we have here for him. He just loves my shoes.

NOT SURE WHERE TO START, WHAT TO SAY.......

2005-12-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Etc. I guess that I'll start with Thanksgiving. I got totally Lazy this year. I bought pies, they were terrible. I usually make them myself. I wanted to just go out to dinner but, my sweet daughter would have nothing to do with it. I bought dinner rolls, well they were ok. I didn't make frog eye salad, this is a first in alot of years. I cooked the turkey, it was great, man I am a good cook. I made stove top stuffing instead of home made, I did cook whole yams for candied yams and I did real potatoes for mashed potatoes. I hate instant potatoes. I love home made gravy for my potatos but, I have discovered a really easy way to make it. I use the broth left from the turkey. Then I use a turkey gravy mix that I buy at the Wonder Bread store to mix with it. It turns out awesome. So all in all dinner was relatively easy.

I got up at about 9:45 that morning because some lady called and seemed to know me, I was pretty sure that it was a wrong number but I really wasn't sure. She also sounded like my aunt but, I couldn't imagine this particular aunt calling me on Thanksgiving morning. I was trying to find one of the other phones to check the caller ID when she called me Kim! I said this is Suz Anne we don't have a Kim here. She then asked me "then where is Kim?" to which I said again, "we don't have a Kim in our house hold." She finally realized that she had called the wrong number. Boy was she embarrased. I was just talking to her to make absolutely sure that it wasn't someone that I knew. The Macy's parade started just a few minutes later so we sat down and watched that. This is probably the first time ever that I have actually watched the parade from start to almost the finish. That is a 3 hour parade. That is just nuts!

We didn't have dinner until 5:00 PM. We usually do it around 2:00 pm but my neice and her boyfriend wanted to be here at dinner time and they had to be with his family at 2:00. They showed up just shortly after we started eating. They had a plate with us and we talked and had a really good time. Everybody was fighting over the bottles of Martinelli' sparkling ciders that we had bought, note to self, more Martinelli's for Christmas! After dinner we moaned and groaned because we had all eaten so much, and watched a couple of movies so that we could relax.

I HAVE BEEN TOTALLY LAZY ABOUT UPDATING......

2005-11-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Not sure what my problem has been. We have had alot going on and alot to tell about. I just haven't been able to get myself to settle down and write. I am always on the computer, I just haven't had it in me to talk about me.

Starting with Halloween Weekend. We had JIZR and TRON over on Sunday night for dinner. I made meatloaf which is one of my hubby's favorites. My niece and nephew both showed up that evening also. I am sure glad that I made a double batch. I had enough to feed everybody.

Halloween night my niece showed up again we watched "THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL" an old black and white sci fi flick. We had ALOT of trick or treaters this year. The past 4 years we have had mostly teenagers and very few of those. This year we had alot of little kids with their parents. It was alot of fun.

Friday last week my next door neighbor called and told me that if I wanted some apples from her trees that I was welcome to come and get some. They were almost over ripe but, they made some really good Apple Butter and Apple Sauce. I spent 6 hours on Friday nignt and 10 hours on Saturday cutting, cooking, smashing, and bottling apples. It was worth every minute of it however. I even bottled the juice that was on the apples as I cooked them so that I can now go back and use the juice to make Apple Jelly. I like to make this jelly at christmas time. You put red food coloring in it to make it a really pretty color then just before you take the jelly off of the stove you add a few drops of cinnamon oil. YUMMY. I probably ought to get that done today. I am hoping to drive over to Idaho Falls on Thursday and I could take this over to IF to leave as Christmas Gifts.

After cooking all day we sat down to watch Star Wars III. I think that I may have gotten in on about 30 to 45 minutes of it. I fell promptly to sleep. I fought it to.

ROSA PARKS

2005-10-25T14:49:00.000-06:00

Rosa Parks visited Mesa College in 1994, site of an offshoot branch of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.

Rosa Parks and Corretta Scott King

I have seen Mrs King on TV several times. She and Mrs Parks are two ladies who are great examples of what a true lady should be. I wish that the young people of today would look to people like Mrs King and Mrs Parks and emulate their courage, their elegance, their gentleness and use these people as examples to follow.

The Following Newspaper Article comes from CNN

(CNN) -- Rosa Parks was remembered Tuesday as the mother of the civil rights movement, a powerful but quiet voice for equality and as a humble woman who did not seek the limelight. Parks died Monday night in Detroit, Michigan, friends told CNN. ... Rosa Parks was a legend with a quiet manner

I admire Mrs Parks for her courage in a time when the colored people of this country were treated so poorly. She is a person to be admired. The country will be a lonlier place without her.

MY FIRST BLOG ENTRY......................

2005-10-25T14:33:00.000-06:00

was a year ago October 1. I can hardly believe that I have actually written down all that I have.
This is really out of character for me. I have loved every minute of it however. I have a good friend back in Idaho Falls that is an avid journal keeper. She did a presentation in our Relief Society several years ago, when we were still in Idaho Falls, about the importance of keeping a personal journal. I kept thinking that I really needed to get started but, never did it. Until a year ago. Now I can have these thoughts for future generations to read and get to know me. This Is So Fun.

THE END OF AN ERA.......................................

2005-10-25T12:49:00.000-06:00

My great uncle Jim Johnson is the last of his generation. Hi is now 87 years old. He is my grandmother Heileson's youngest brother. Grandma died back in the early 90's. Uncle Jim has lived on his own for all of these years. Well at least since Aunt Millie died about 4 years ago. He has taken very good care of himself so he looks 10 or 15 years younger than he really is. He was in a rather bad car accident about a month and a half ago and was injured quit badly. He can no longer be allowed to live on his own so his former son-in-law Al is going to come and get him and take him back to California. Al was married to Jims daughter Marilyn. She died a few years ago from Cancer. I wanted so badly to get over to Idaho Falls before Uncle Jim left so that I could spend a few hours with him. I feel so badly that I couldn't. I may never see him again.

LOOK AT THIS BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-10-25T12:42:00.000-06:00

JIZR you are awesome! This looks like something special now. Not just another blog.
Thanks.

LAST NIGHT........

2005-10-17T22:50:00.000-06:00

JIZR and TRON and her son came and had dinner with us. Her little guy D is one of the cutest kids. Her Daughter spent the evening with her cousin. We always enjoy the time that we spend with this family. Dinner wasn't half bad either. I made Chicken Parmasean and Green Olive Spagetti. YUMMY! They brought dinner rolls and Rice Pilaf. One of our favorite side dishes.
I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen. I made Banana Bread. A neighbor gave me this recipe for Banana Bread. It is so good. It is really moist. Then I just worked on getting little things done so that I wouldn't get caught at the last minute scurrying to get things done.

Shane took the day off today. Last week was a really big week for him so he decided to take the day and just rest. We got alot done around here. Then I went and got my hair cut. I was beyond desperation again. The hair was totally out of control. I made a batch of Chili for dinner. It was probably the best chili that I have ever made. I am still so full that I hurt. I gotta quit doin that.

SOME OTHER FRIENDS AND I............

2005-10-15T00:11:00.000-06:00

met at the home of one of the sisters in my ward yesterday for what I was told was a service project. I didn't know for sure what the service project was but I had a pretty good guess. I was right. She and her husband are getting a divorce and she and the girls are moving. I am so saddened at this. She has been a very good friend to me and one of the sweetest ladies that I have ever met. It is so hard to see a friend have to go through this type of situation.

By the time that I got there they had boxed up most of the things in the house. They still had to load things up and move them to the new house. The elders quorum helped her with that last night. I pretty much boxed up everything in her garage and had them organized to get loaded.

She is a dynamic person and I know that she will get through this. She will find strength beyond anything that she has ever known that she could ever possess. We are taught that our Heavenly Father won't give us trials beyond anything that we can endure.

MY MOM TOLD ME.......................

2005-10-14T23:53:00.000-06:00

earlier in the week that a good friend of the family died on Saturday. Verla and her family was as much family to us as any family that we have. My mom knew their family from the time that she was a kid. Her dad and Verla's father in law were best friends.

Any way, it wasn't a surprise, because she has been ill for quite a few years. The last time that I saw her she was barely getting around with a cane. Her funeral was on Wednesday morning. I longed to be there but, to no avail. Verla you will be greatly missed through out the remainder of this life but, what a sweet reunion to come in the next.

AT ABOUT 4:30PM MST...............

2005-10-08T03:46:00.000-06:00

my younges sister gave birth to a 7lb 11oz baby boy. I talked to mom and she said that he is a beautiful baby. He has all of his fingers and his toes and he lookes like his daddy. I can hardly wait the month that I have to wait to see him.

Tonight we had B and C some of our best friends come over and have dinner with us. We didn't have any of the teenagers with us this time so we were able to have a really nice time visiting and just enjoying each others company. I had made Asparagus, and a couple of salads and Shane barbequed some really yummy rib steaks. I think that these steaks were some of the best that we have ever bought. They stayed around until about midnight it was so nice not being interupted by kids wanting to go home because they were bored, or having to get kids home at a particular time because they needed to go hang out with friends or what ever excuse that they can come up with.
It was just the 4 of us. Well big day ahead of me tomorrow so I had better try to get some sleep.
I slept for about an hour between 12:15 and 1:15 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I think that I'll try again.....

Good night

I COMPLETELY FORGOT........

2005-10-07T00:43:00.000-06:00

to mention Emily and the homecoming dance a couple of weekends ago. We really had alot of fun getting her ready. We took her to get her hair done, we bought the bootineer, we bought decorations for her hair, we even bought beads and made custom jewelry for her that matched her dress. Aparently the date started out good but, pretty much ended in disaster. One of the girls didn't want to stay at the dance so they didn't even get to have pictures taken. She was so crushed. Then her boyfriend dumped her the next day. He changed his mind a few days later so all is well in that department.

I may be just a little bit prejuciced but I thought that she was beautiful that night.

HERE IT IS THE FIRST PART OF OCTOBER.....

2005-10-07T00:37:00.000-06:00

and I've decided that I need to get busy and start making something for extended families for christmas. I have been canning, beading, crocheting, & sewing in recent weeks trying to get a head start on things. I like to give useful things to people. Things that just sit on a shelf are a waste of money and space. I just wish that there was more money to do things with. I am really tired of being so strapped. I know that I really should go out and get a job. I am just really tired of working for assholes. Excuse the french.

IF IT ISN'T ONE THING, IT IS A MILLION OTHERS......................

2005-10-04T18:08:00.000-06:00

We got the car back a couple of weeks ago but, with the understanding that the brakes needed to be done on the back end asap. The pads are pretty worn down. the front will need to be done in the near future. Em got home from school yesterday and said that the CHECK ENIGNE LIGHT HAD COME BACK ON. OH GREAT. What now?

I really hate cars

THE WEEKEND OF THE WEDDING WAS APROACHING....

2005-09-23T00:32:00.000-06:00

I got the car all loaded the on Wednesday night. We were ready to pull out of town the next day as soon as Emily got home from school. Well on Thursday morning she decided that she would just take the whole day off. We were supposed to have just taken her out the last period of the day.
I thought "Great." We'll be able to get out of town early in the day. Then Shane decided that because she decided to take the day off so would he. I thought, "even Greater." With him home we should be able to get out of town by Noon. That way we would be sure to get to Idaho Falls before 6:00 pm, which was the time that my sister Janece had planned a Baby Shower just so that Em and I could be there. She is expecting a baby on Oct. 5. This would be just perfect. I could NOT get Shane and Emily out of bed. We left here at about 1:00pm, still not bad timing. We didn't even get into Boise and the CHECK TRANSMISSION light came on in the car. Well that blew a trip to IF right out of the water. Check My Spiritual Blog for the details. To make a very long story short. They have had my car for 8 days. The lady from the service department called me just before 5:00 tonight and said that they would be done with the car tomorrow some time. Earlier in the day she didn't expect to have it done until Monday because they needed to order a part. They ended up finding a part here in town and they will get done sooner. The Extended Warranty that we bought will cover all of the time and repairs. We will just owe the 200.00 for the deductible.

DIDN'T DO MUCH TODAY.......

2005-09-06T22:51:00.000-06:00

I have had a bad time sleeping again. I actually slept really good last night. Probably because I did alot of walking yesterday. So Shane and I went out and walked again tonight. I am actually ready to sleep I just wanted to blog first.

We have had a cat disappear this weekend. Em is really upset about her being gone. We went out today and passed out fliers to neighbors hoping to find her. A couple of girls about middle school age said that they had seen her last night. I just hope that she comes home one of these days.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2005 THE LAST DAY.......

2005-09-05T23:27:00.000-06:00

of the Labor Day Weekend. Em, some of her friends Eric Smart a friend of Phillips and I went to Merrill Park thisafternoon and spent about an hour taking pictures of the kids. We just can't afford to have a professional photographer come and take pictures of Em outdoors so Eric and I took pictures. Then thisevening at about 5:00 pm JIZR and TRON came along and we went to a local park and took more pictures. Mostly of Em this time but there were some of her boyfriend Mike and some of them together. We were gone the better part of 3 hours doing this. We got some really great pictures of her though. Brian really has an eye for taking photos. We also chose a couple of locations down town with interesting landmarks and got pics. All in all we probably took
250 pictures between Eric, Brian, and I. WOW!

LABOR DAY WEEKEND....................

2005-09-04T02:58:00.000-06:00

and no where to go and no money to do anything. Bummer. We just sat around and watched a movie thisafternoon. Then ran to the grocery store tonight.... Woopie. Oh well we are back to Eastern Idaho in a couple of weeks for a nephews wedding. This ought to be interesting at the price of gas these days. In an SUV. We really need to rethink the SUV thing in the future I suppose. Maybe some day when we can afford to purchase another vehicle. Not right now.

THIS IS ME MOST DAYS!

2005-09-04T02:46:00.000-06:00

I KNOW THAT I SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING, I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO GET MOTIVATED.

BLOGS..................

2005-08-29T13:21:00.000-06:00

are so much more fun when you can add pictures!

This is Boise from the Bogus Basin Road

I ALMOST FORGOT.......

2005-08-29T02:20:00.000-06:00

JIZR and Blogotron moved over here while we were over there! It is so fun having him back and having a chance to get acquainted with her. She has 2 of the cutest kids that I have ever met.
His brother is staying with them also as he and his wife recently split up. I could say a few nasty things about her also but I'll be nice. Brae is such a sweet young man he deserves better. Somewhere there is a sweet young thing just waiting for him. She will be better than the first.

THIS PICTURE FITS ME TO A T!

2005-08-29T02:02:00.000-06:00

August has been another busy month. I have spent alot of time with Phillip as he has prepared himself for the next step of his life. College. He has worked hard to get himself to this point and I am so proud of him. Best of all he doesn't have to try to find another job. They are going to work with his school hours at Kelley Moore. Em has been babysitting for a friend for the summer so she has had her own money to spend on school cloths. She starts school tomorrow or should I say today as it is 2:00 am at the present time. This is her senior year. Boy I am having a time accepting that my baby is a senior in high school.
Phillip's girl friend Andrea left for a semester of college in Ireland a week ago today. Poor kid he is having a bad time with being lonesome. He wants to be with the family and to go do things with the family. So Wednesday night he and I and a friend of his went and played trivia and had a little to eat at Hooters. We have befriended alot of the staff there the last few months because we got caught up in a trivia competition and went every week for about 12 weeks. It was fun.
Then on Friday night he wanted a Pronto Pup. So we went out to the mall and had Pronto Pups and fries. That was about it. Then we came home.

As kind of the last Hurrah of the summer Shane, Phillip, Em, Em's boyfriend Mike, My nephew Jake, and I all went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair tonight. We just looked around for a while and then bought something to eat and came home. It wasn't much but it was a nice time to spend with the family. I just miss having Matthew around when we do this kind of thing.

MORE ABOUT VACATION

2005-08-29T01:38:00.000-06:00

Sunday

Drove back to IF and got a little rest and a shower. Then we drove out to Shane's brothers house and spent the evening. We had a number of the family show up. Including his dad and step mom. We were just a little surprised at that. She doesn't usually allow him to associate with his kids. This lady is one person that I can honestly say that I don't like! She is a backstabbing, 2 faced, I won't say it. Now I am stooping to her level. We really enjoyed the time there. Kelly and Deb are some of our best friends as well as being family. I probably miss Debi more than most over there.

Monday

Right now I can't honestly remember what we did. I think that we just mostly spent time with my family.

Tuesday

We went to a hearing having to do with custody for Shanes dad. He has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers. This just breaks my heart. His dad and my dad are the same age and dad Walker is looking so much older. He and I have occasionally clashed but I absolutely adore the man. After the hearing we spent about an hour with Kelly and Deb, then went out to Nancy's and got the dog, picked up luggage etc from mom's and my brothers house because Em had spent most nights there, then we headed back to Boise.

AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

SATURDAY.................

2005-08-25T13:13:00.000-06:00

The weather was just perfect. We got up and fixed breakfast for those of us that had stayed up.I called the relatives that had gone back to Idaho Falls the night before and asked them to try to come back up and spend the afternoon but, naturally they didn't. We had some reallly cute activities for the kids, some of the adults joined in. The guys helped J haul some hay over from a neighbors place for the horses then they played a couple rounds of horseshoes. We had filled some water balloons the day before, and we had brought water guns up with us. Some of the cousins had brought their guns also. The gang had a ball throwing water around for an hour or so. I tried to stay inside and stay dry. I didn't get that lucky. I went out after it was over. My brother and brother in law soaked me. Thanks guys! We just mostly visited and said our good bys to family as they left. We spent the night again and headed back to IF the next day.

FRIDAY................

2005-08-25T13:01:00.000-06:00

The day of reconing! Well today is the day to find out who does and doesn't show up. We had my Aunt Jackie and Uncle George and their son Mark show up. They traveled out from North Carolina. I really didn't expect that! I had only given them 2 months notice. Chris their daughter that is my age also came out but didn't get there in time to come to the reunion. Tom and Doris and most of their kids Chick and Gloria and most of their kids. Dad and mom and most of us. We had nearly 40 people show up. I was really pleased. We got everything done and we were just ready to have dinner when the weather turned to CRAP!The wind blew and it rained. We had taken some eze up canopies with us that a friend had let me borrow. Thank goodness they are the heavier commercial type they aren't quite as likely to blow away in a storm. But! This storm was the exception. We had everyone hanging on for dear life trying to keep these silly things on the ground. Just envision about 20 people hanging onto METAL legs of these canopies in a Lightening storm and the rain is blowing sideways. YIKES!When we finally got a bit of a break we started carrying food into J & C's house and getting the canopies all down so that we could all go inside. About the time that we got the break in the storm my last uncle and his family all showed up. We tried and succeeded in getting about 40 people into the kitchen and living room of a single wide mobile home. It really was alot of fun. The storm really slowed down at about dusk. Alot of the family were not able to stay in teton valley with us so they were saying good bys and getting into cars. We had a beautiful sunset and double rainbows above the Teton Peaks. What an incredible end to a fun day......Needless to say Shane and I decided not to try to sleep in the tent that night. We crammed about 6 of us onto air mattresses and the couch in J & C's house. It continued to rain most of the night.

WEDNESDAY...............

2005-08-20T12:24:00.000-06:00

Wednesday.... We drove up to Tetonia where the family reunion was to be held. J & C are really good friends of my parents. They live on 40 acres there in the valley and were sweet enough to let us intrude on them for the week. Janece and Derick came up and brought the 5th wheel then Derick drove back to town so that he could work the rest of the week. I had such a good time with my little sister. We haven't spent time alone for a really long time. Then there is her little one Alexa. What a doll baby. She is so much fun. We also took Tiera and Miranda, my sister in laws two girls up with us to kind of keep Emily company and so that she wasn't saddled with Alexa the entire time that we were up there. We shared meals while up there and helped each other cook and clean up. I loved it. Each evening J would start a big bonfire so we told stories and reminised alot.

Thursday... We drove up to Jackson Hole, WY and spent the afternoon just messing around. Janece and the girls went up a little early so that they could go swimming. C works for the City of Jackson and was able to get free passes for the 5 of them. They got done soon enough that we could wander around and then be where we needed to so that we could watch the Shoot Out. I've seen the shoot out a number of times in my life but, none of the kids had ever seen it. They loved every minute of it. Shane J, and I drove up a little later. We stopped and found my brother Dean. He lives in a group home up there. We took him with us up to Jackson. When we got back my Uncle Tom and Aunt Doris had shown up with their Daughter Stephanie and her husband Pat. We had a real enjoyable evening getting caught up.

TUESDAY..............

2005-08-16T23:00:00.000-06:00

I went out and spent some time with my Great Uncle, Jimmy Johnson. We went through pictures hoping to find something of his family but unfortunately I only found 1 Which is pretty awsome in itself. It is a picture of my Great Great Grandfather Johnson and his 4 children. My Great Grandfather was probably only about 7 or 8 in the pic. That was cool. I took the few pictures that he let me borrow in to Office Max and had them copy these and some other stuff that I had borrowed from Jeanette Foster.Tuesday...I went out and spent some time with my Great Uncle, Jimmy Johnson. We went through pictures hoping to find something of his family but unfortunately I only found 1 Which is pretty awsome in itself. It is a picture of my Great Great Grandfather Johnson and his 4 children. My Great Grandfather was probably only about 7 or 8 in the pic. That was cool. I took the few pictures that he let me borrow in to Office Max and had them copy these and some other stuff that I had borrowed from Jeanette Foster.

I should have taken a picture of Uncle Jim while I was there so I could post it but I didn't. Darn. However my cousin did get a picture of his garden that will have to do.

IT HAS TAKEN A WHILE TO GET BACK TO THE BLOG......

2005-08-16T22:38:00.000-06:00

Vacation....
We got to I.F. on Thursday night. We can't leave the dog with anyone except my friend Nancy.
So we have to drive out to UCON to drop the dog off after visiting with my parents for a while, then on to K & B's house. The reason that we cant take the dog with us there is that they have
2 huge dogs that would eat her in one bite. It is so nice to finally reach their house after traveling
all that way, it means that a good nights rest is ahead. MAYBE! I usually don't sleep well the first night out. This time I slept like a log.

Friday...
Shane and I just did a few things that we needed to do. Friday was kind of a leisurely day.

Saturday...
was the Walker Family Reunion. One of Shanes brothers and his wife showed up.
Shanes uncle was the person in charge this year so most of his kids were there. I haven't seen any of them for a long time. His cousin M showed up and D, K & J all showed up from Utah and California. We haven't seen them since their parents died about10 years ago now. I've known
D for alot of years she and her husband used to live in IONA.

Sunday.... I spent the morning with JIZR and Blogotron having JIZR try to help me to put Photoshop onto my husbands laptop computer. I had to run over to Walmart to try to find a jump drive so that we can transfer the program over because we were having trouble doing it any other way. I knew that my uncle had started working at that store when they opened and he jus happened to work in the electronics so I was hoping to see him. I got lucky he was there. He and my aunt weren't able to come to the reunion so I was really glad to see him. He told me that my aunt and uncle and cousins from North Carolina were coming so that they could attend the reunion also. I was really surprised and pleased. I had only given them 2 months notice and they changed their vacation plans so that they could come and be with us.

We spent the rest of the day getting ready for the Barbeque at Nancy's. When we go over there we try to get together with family and friends that are available and we have a BBQ. This is so much easier than trying to go to everyones homes. We had several families show up and we had do it yourself foil dinners. We put the hamburger and everything else out in dishes. People put into the dinners what they wanted and wrote their names on the foil in marker, and threw them onto the BBQ grill. That way no one could complain about what was in their dinners.

Monday....
Nancy and I drove to Blackfoot to get some Eze Up canopies that a good friend has and was willing to let us borrow for the family reunion that was coming up on Saturday. These canopies are really incredible. They are commercial grade so they are alot heavier than anything that you can buy at Walmart etc. It was all Nancy and I could do to lift them. We took them back to her house and left them because I had somewhere that I had to be that afternoon. I can't remember now where. I think that we just needed to get back into my parents apartment. Mom had planned dinner for us and I needed to help. We had everybody there except for Phillip, Matthew, Julie, Jake and Jessica. We had a nice dinner and my dad and brother in law
were acting like a couple of kids. They had me laughing like I didn't know any better. After dinner we all went out and sat in front of the apartment in lawn chairs and talked. It was so great.

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ANY OF THE OTHER.......

2005-07-28T01:17:00.000-06:00

three blogs that I write check out the My Spiritual blog. That will bring you up to speed on the
end of June.

After all of the emotions and dealing with Em concerning Kenny's death. I still had to finalize plans for vacation and the upcoming Ritchie family reunion. The first couple weeks of July I just tried to keep the house in some semblence of order and as I thought of things that I needed to do or things that I needed to pack I would grab things and put them in a box or write down the things that I needed to grab just before leaving. I started actually loading things on the weekend before leaving.

We left for Idaho Falls on July 14. Early afternoon I went out to Emmett and picked up my nephew Robert. He was going over to spend the vacation time with my brother, and his mom and brother and sisters. We were supposed to leave town at about 4:30. I got into Shanes office Just a few minutes before we were supposed to leave. He wasn't quite done with things that he needed to finish up. So Robert and I went and got a drink for each of us and by the time we got back to the office Shane was ready to go. Em was riding with friends to Pocatello and was to spend the next couple of days with them. Just before we were all ready to go Gina called and said that they had a minor repair that needed to be done on their car so she and the girls would just travel alone.

Shane, Robert and I were just about ready to leave town when Shane asked me were the dog was. I had forgotten to bring her with me, NUTS! So we had to turn around, during 5:00 rush hour, and go clear home to pick up the dog. Well that really wasn't so bad because that way we were able to get back with Gina and the girls and caravan across the state.

STAY TUNED FOR THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE WALKER VACATION 2005.

WOW!

2005-06-19T00:32:00.000-06:00

This past couple of weeks have been crazy. I feel like I have been running in high gear for decades.
It has only been 2 weeks. Emily's 2 friend had their birthdays on the 8th so I went to a movie and to lunch then just out running around with the kids. Then this week Em celebrated her 18th birhtday on the 16th. I again ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off! Monday, Tuesday, Wendsday and Thursday. All 4 days.

Friday I just wanted to sit in my rocking chair and do nothing. Easier said than done! Em has had a cough for about 6 weeks. Just a cough. No fever, no soar throat, just a little nausea but that is not unusual for her. Yesterday the fever hit, so I took her up to the ER at St Lukes. She had the beginnings of Pneumonia. Great! Thank goodness It was just starting and not a full blown case of it. So the doc perscribed a tussin syrup, YUK, and an antibiotic. She slept most of the day today which was a really good thing.

I had to fix a meal to take to a young couple in the ward that just had a baby. So I spent the afternoon cooking. There again, no rest for the weary. I am kind of glad that Em isn't able to go out for a few days I have an excuse not to go to church. I AM POOPED!

WITH ALL OF THE RAIN THAT WE HAVE HAD...

2005-06-11T00:45:00.000-06:00

My flowers around the yard have been incredibly beautiful. I wish that you could see them.
I have had purple and white Irises, Pink Sweet Williams, I have a Syringa that has the prettiest white blossoms and they have the sweetest scent that any one could ever possibly imagine.
We have a really pretty purple Clemetis, A red rose and a yellow and pink Peace rose, as well as a couple others. Eventually I want to fill the flower bed in the front yard with all kinds of roses.
I am hoping to put a new rose or two in every spring of different varieties. Most of the flowers that we have here are spring varieties. The Syringa only lasts a couple of weeks, The Clemetis usually lasts about a month, The Sweet Williams appear to only last about a month. Eventually I would like this yard to look like pictures that you see of English Gardens. I want flowers everywhere. Have you ever seen a Giant Hibiscus? I have to get me one of those! My crazy neighbor had some in her front yard, as I recall she had 3 different colors of Hibiscus. She had someone dig them up for her last year. She decided that she didn't like them any more. The blossom is about the size of a Dinner Plate. They are incredible.

FAMILY.....................................................

2005-06-11T00:36:00.000-06:00

I have had alot of fun this last couple of weeks. My Cousin and I have decided to try to pull together a Ritchie family reunion for the end of July. This is our fathers family. Our grandparents both passed away in the early 90's and we haven't gotten together as a family since. I have called family all over the country talking to relatives and thoroughly enjoyed getting reacquainted.

I had other things to call cousins about on my mom's side of the family and in talking to cousins on that side we have decided to have a reunion in July next year for the Lindholms. I am looking forward to that one also.

I have spent alot of time with Em this week. She is out of school for the summer and is planning to start babysitting for a friend later this month. We have also spent Phillips days off just playing. I love my kids and love the time that we have together.

IT IS NOW 11:38 pm ON TUESDAY MAY 31ST...

2005-05-31T23:38:00.000-06:00

Is it as hard for you, as it is for me, to realize that tomorrow is the beginning of the 6th month of this year! My how time flies when we are having fun. Em's last day of school is tomorrow.
WOW!

We had a nice Memorial Weekend. JIZR & Tron came over for the weekend. They are going to try to find a house over here and get moved over as soon as humanly possible. They stayed with her sister so I didn't have to find a place for them to sleep, which would not have been a problem at all. I really didn't have to do alot to get the house ready for company. Shane & I worked out in the yard some.

Friday night I fixed a light dinner then we watched National Treasure. We just enjoyed the day Saturday then we had a nice dinner on Saturday night. We then watched National Treasure again because JIZR & Tron hadn't seen it yet. On Sunday we put on a big feed. We were planning on having 6 more people than actually showed up so I had alot of left overs. We had JIZR & Tron and JIZR'S 2 brothers and sister in law joined us. It was just like old times being with them.

Yesterday Shane got an early morning call to investigate a fire. The kids planned on having an all day movie marathon but most of the people didn't show. I got up just after 8:00 AM and messed around on the computer for a couple of hours. I had a bad headache so I finally layed back down around 11:00 AM and tried to sleep it off. It didn't work! So I broke down and took a couple of Advil Migraine and drank a half of a can of cola and it killed it. We just sat around and enjoyed each others company the rest of the evening. Some of us watched National Treasure again. Three times in a weekend was just to much for me. I just did other stuff.

LIFE HAS SLOWED DOWN A BIT FOR NOW....

2005-05-17T10:57:00.000-06:00

Since the dance festival I haven't had to be anywhere at any time except to be to church on Sunday's. Do you know how good that feels? I didn't feel good at all last week so being home and not having anywhere to be or any deadlines to meet was a good thing.

Saturday Shane, Em and I got out in the yard and pulled weeds, planted plants, mowed the lawn, and sprayed weeds, just to have it rain all night Saturday night and all day Sunday and yesterday. Alot of good it did us to spray! But for the most part this yard looks 100% better. In the front anyway. We still need to get busy in the back. I planted Strawberries 2 years ago and this year they are just covered with little tiny berries, so far. Hopefull these little tiny things will grow into nice sized berries that I can actually do something with. I just love homemade Strawberry jam so I am hoping to be able to get some made this year. We worked hard all day so we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the drive in movie. We saw Miss Congeniality 2 and Guess Who. They were both really cute movies.

Sunday was a bit of a busy day. Our really good friends B and C had their 18 year old ordained an Elder. That was something I didn't think we would ever see. This young man has been a bit of a hand full in the past couple of years. We went to our church after leaving his ordination, then after church I talked to CC and she asked us to come over to the house for dinner to celebrate the ordination which we did and had quite a good time. Their older son is being married soon so we will have more celebrating to do.

IT'S IMPORTANT THAT SOMEONE CELEBRATE OUR EXISTANCE...

2005-05-12T02:02:00.000-06:00

People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people.: Lois McMaster Bujold, "Mirror Dance", 1994

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM

2005-05-09T02:05:00.000-06:00

I wish that everyone could know my mom. She loves us kids and the grandkids, as does my dad,
but this is Mothers Day and I want to tell you about my mom.

My mom grew up with a father that was an alcoholic. He wasn't a bad man by any means from what I have been told, but he had a problem. Living with this hanging over their heads wasn't easy for any of the kids, or for my grandmother I am sure. My grand dad died the day after I was born. The death was alcohol related. The funeral was a few days later. Mom was still in the hospital with me, they kept them in the hospital longer in those days, the day of the funeral. She didn't get to attend. Then on the way to the cemetary the funeral procession had to drive past the hospital on the way to the cemetary. Mom could see the procession from her hospital room.

My mom could have turned out like so many people that are raised in that type of environment,
an alcoholic herself, or just plain and simply a basket case. But! She didn't. She is a very caring, loving, person, and she is a very strong person. She has had health issues for alot of years now but, she takes very good care of herself and never complains, people don't realize that she has any problems. She was able, about a year ago, to have a lazer surgery on her heart that alleviated alot of the problems that she was having. I am so grateful that the issues that she faced as a child growing up didn't effect the way that she raised us kids. We always went to church. I believe that a basic belief in a diety, and some religious background where principles and morals are taught are essential to a healthy life for a kid. I am so grateful for those things in my life.

My mom is a seamstress extraordinair! She has sewn for other people all of my life. Lately she has had to cut back alot. She just turned 69 this winter. You would never know that she was that old to look at her. Thanks mom I owe you alot. I just hope that I am half the mom that you are.

MOTHERS DAY

2005-05-09T01:51:00.000-06:00

First off I want to say Happy Mothers Day to those ladies out there that I know read this blog.
You all know who you are. I Love each of you dearly.

My darling daughter woke me up at 9:05 AM. I hadn't gone to sleep until about 3:00 AM, this time because I was reading, not because I couldn't sleep. Any way! I asked her what she was doing she told me just waking you up. This is a kid that on the weekends is impossible to get out of bed before 11:00 or Noon. She disappeared right after kissing me on the cheek and waking me up. I fell back to sleep for just an instant then she was turning the lights on in my eyes. I couldn't figure this kid out. She had made me Oatmeal and sausage for breakfast and brought it into my bedroom so I could eat breakfast in bed. Then after I started eating all she could do was stand by the side of the bed and giggle! She thought that she was so clever, and she was right.

Jizr was the first to call thismorning. Then my oldest son tried to call but I was at church. He never called back! Then tonight I tried to call my mom and she wasn't home, she called me later after they returned from visiting friends. Then my daughter's friend B F called. Thanks B! Then my bestest friend in the world called. My other son got me a card and chocolate covered cherries and my sweetheart helped to fix a really yummy dinner. He barbequed bacon wrapped fillets on the charcoal grill. Yummy! I made a green and a potatoe salad.

We just sat around and watched TV and ate goodies the rest of the evening.

DEAR ANONYMOUS

2005-05-09T01:46:00.000-06:00

If you don't like my blog and the things there in please don't read it! If you read it and don't like what I CHOOSE to write or place here in. Please keep your comments to yourself, after all this is my life and my blog. I don't criticise anyone that chooses to express themselves publically.

COMPUTER GAMES..............................

2005-05-07T00:56:00.000-06:00

BAH!

I am not a video game freak,unlike so may people these days. Jizr on his last visit loaded a game called Bejeweled onto our computer. That is one of the most frustrating wastes of time. One of the first games I played I got to 42,000 points. Tonight I couldn't get past a couple of thousand and I played for about an hour. I swear that the computer can think through these stupid games and learn my weaknesses and make the games harder and harder to win!

TODAY.....

2005-05-07T00:41:00.000-06:00

I spent most of the day with my 20 year old son. We watched The Phantom again, and I did a little house work and laundry. He left for the evening, his sister got home from school, then a little while later, she left with friends to go meet up with big brother and friends to see Reel Big Fish in concert! Who ever they are! Mom is really behind the times when it concerns their music. I was behind the times with my music! Why should I be any different with theirs?

While they were gone, I went to the grocery store and got me a steak for dinner and a couple of other things. I cooked the dinner, then I watched What Dreams May Come. If you have never been deeply, totally in love with someone this movie may not touch you as it did me. My other half and I have to date enjoyed 24 years of practically shear fantasy. I would never have dreamed, in my younger years, that I could find a man so perfect for me. We just fit together. He has been in Coeur D'Alene, ID this week at a seminar for the Fire Dept. I hate going to bed when he isn't here. It just seems so empty and cold. The house seems so quiet after 5:30 or 6:00 pm when he should be here. I don't have any one to cuddle up to on the couch while watching TV. He is my soulmate, my sweetheart, my eternal companion and I will cherish him for eternity.

2005-05-06T00:22:00.000-06:00

The Phantom of the Opera 4

2005-05-06T00:12:00.001-06:00

The Phantom of the Opera 3

2005-05-06T00:12:00.000-06:00

The Phantom of the Opera 2

2005-05-06T00:11:00.000-06:00

The Phantom of the Opera 1

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

2005-05-05T01:13:00.000-06:00

The movie version was released on video on Tuesday this week. My Beautiful Daughter has seen this movie I think 8 times in the theater now. She just had to have the DVD so we went out tonight and she paid half and I paid the other half. So we watched it again. This is 3 times for me now. Phillip I think has seen it 3 times in the theater and Shane once. Matthew I am not sure if he has seen it more than once.

There is something about this music that touches me on a level that is not often reached. I cry at tenderness and beauty, especially beautiful music, that must be the key there. The music is haunting as is the entire movie. Once I saw this movie for the first time I could not get the music out of my head. I couldn't sleep because the songs were going round and round in my brain.

Everything about this movie was exquisite. The costuming, the theater within the movie was lavish, the phantoms lair, everything was done so beautifully.

2005-05-03T01:31:00.000-06:00

Eagle Idaho Stake Young Women and Young Men dancing a West Coast Swing.

ANOTHER BIG WEEKEND

2005-05-03T01:15:00.000-06:00

This weekend was the culmination of several months of learning, and teaching, the 14 to 18 year olds at church several dances. We had a dance festival consisting of 6 Eagle and Meridian Idaho
stakes. 1480 kids participated. Each Stake had to learn 2 dances that the entire 1400 kids performed for the opening and closing dances and then each stake had to teach their kids 2 dances that only their stake performed. We had Swing, Samba's, Waltzes, Fox Trot, Mambo, New York Hustle, and Jazz pieces. They weren't competition quality dancers but they sure had a good time.

We started at 6:00 am getting set up. The kids started arriving at 6:30 am. We had prayer and an orientation at 7:00 am, then right into rehearsals. They rehearsed the rest of the day. When one group had the floor the others were working on humanitarian aid projects. They finished 100 fleece blankets, 90 tied quilts, and 35 A B C books to help children to learn their ABC's.

The actual program started at 7:30 pm and we were done at about 9:15. Once we got the kids out of costumes and costumes turned into the proper person it was nearly 10:00 pm.

My parents and their friends John and Cindy came over to see the festival. They were quite impressed. Mainly with the fact that we had boys equal to the girls involved. As a matter of fact the boys were working right along side the girls tying quilts! I was shocked.

These poor kids were done for by the end of the day. Especially the girls, they all had to wear their High Heals all day. Em could hardly walk by the end of the day, her feet were so soar.

Mom and dad showed up at about 10:15 am Sunday morning. I was still in bed. I tried to wake up earlier knowing that they were coming but, I looked at the clock and went right back to sleep. We fixed a Fritatta and sausages for breakfast. Yummy! The Fritatta recipe called for parmasean cheese in the Fritatta and instead of grating Chedder on top I put a couple of tablespoons full of nonfat cottage cheese in the eggs. It was so good, especially with a spoonful of salsa on top.

John and Cindy had gone to breakfast with John's son and Daughter in law. A & J have just recently moved to Star. The four of them showed up a little later and we had a nice visit. Mom and Dad, John and Cindy stayed about another hour and a half then left to go back home. I just lazed the rest of the day, except to do dishes last night.

A NEW FRIEND

2005-04-29T01:00:00.003-06:00

Thismorning I emailed my friend Todd's daughter A. Her mother in law gave me her email address last night. I was so surprised tonight when the phone rang and it was A. She called to thank me personally for the email. We talked and cried and had a nice visit. She seems like such a sweet young lady. She can't be her mother and father's daughter without being a sweetheart.
I am so glad that she decided to try to call instead of just email me. What a thoughtful young lady.
Thanks.

JAZZ UNLIMITED.....

2005-04-24T14:25:00.000-06:00

I just had the priviledge of traveling with my daughters high school choirs to Pasco, WA for a choir music festival held at the Columbia Basin College. We took around 100 students with us.
This is the 3rd year that our high school has competed at this festival.

The choirs competed in classical and Jazz catagories for Jazz Choir, Ac apella choir, and girls choir. Our girls brought home a 1st place award in the classical catagory, and a third in the jazz catarory, the Jazz Choir brought home a second place award in the jazz catagory, then the whole group got what is called the Waldo award! This award is probably the most sought after award of the whole competition. This is the sportsmanship, spirit award. Way to go Eagle High Choirs.

Last Year the girls choir was the only choir to bring home an award, so we were really jazzed about getting four awards this year. I was especially pleased for one senior in particular. I'll just call her J. She and I have become really good friends this year. She is such a sweetheart. J loves choir and always has. She was in the middle school choirs with Em and now is in the high school choirs also. She was so disapointed the first night of the competition that Jazz Choir didn't get an award. Being this was her senior year she wanted them to get an award so bad that she could almost taste it. I couldn't have been happier when our Jazz Choir got the award the second night and J was floating on cloud 9.

We had an unfortunate incident last night that impacted the whole festival. Gonzaga Prep in Spokane. Wa. was there with a conductor from Spokane High, I believe that is the school that he was from anyway. The conductor from Gonzaga had stayed home because he was fighting with cancer, last night around 7pm Pacific time he lost the fight. The kids from Gonzaga were a mess after that. I wanted to put my arms around the bunch of them. Our Choir teacher was telling me later that he was a tremendous teacher and a person with a heart of gold.

FRIENDS

2005-04-17T23:35:00.000-06:00

"When I find myself fading, I close my eyes and realize my friends are my energy."
Annonymous

I really liked this quote because it describes me to a T. I get rather lonesome here in the Boise area. We left all of our family and friends back in the eastern side of the state. I have not made a good friend over here. Someone that I could call and say, "Hey lets go out for a pop," or something like that. I have a dear friend here their family moved over here 2 years before we did. It just isn't a situation that we spend any time together. Occasionally we get together on a holiday or birthday but, it isn't a situation where I can call her and just drop everything and go out for a couple of hours.

I do love and appreciate friends and family. When I am feeling sorry for myself or just not feeling 100%. I do think about family and friends and how much I know they love me and I
start feeling better right away. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the people in my life. I am so grateful for the ability that I have of making friends, and for the love that he put in my heart for others.

WHAT IS LOVE

2005-04-11T00:49:00.000-06:00

I thought that this was so sweet.

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to
8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader
and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you
think..............

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint
her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even
when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca- age 8

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You
just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne
and they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French
fries without making them give you any of theirs."
Chrissy -age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip
before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of
kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy
are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening
presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend
who you hate,"
Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it
everyday."
Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still
friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked
atall the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was
the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody . You don't see anyone else
kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is
handsomer than Robert Redford."
Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone
all day."
Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old
clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little
stars come out of you." (what an imagination)
Karen - age 7

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you
mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked
about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to
find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next
door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's
yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked
what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I
just helped him cry"

Love Ya
Suz

Another Quote....

2005-04-11T00:46:00.000-06:00

i finally found my paper with the quotes on it!

Here is your second installment.
There is a very fine line between "Hobby" and "Mental Illness."