T-H-U-R-S-D-A-Y

This is what we woke up to this morning. Isn't it gorgeous?
When Darla needed to 'use the facilities', she had quite the surprise! We headed down to Provo early again so Shaun could get to his classes. In the meantime, we got the oil changed in the truck and went to Deseret Book to grab something I forgot on Tuesday.

The kids had an hour to spare all at the same time, so we took off to try a new restaurant that opened about 2 weeks ago in Orem. It is Five Guys and Fries. It's very similar to In 'N Out burger. It was pretty darn good, I have to say. In fact, we all agreed that the fries here are way better than In 'N Out. Duff had the cajun style and they were awesome.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Okay, here are the fries. The portion is so generous that none of us finished them.

And I just had to get a picture of this sign that was posted on the wall above all the sacks and sacks and sacks of potatoes that they make the fresh fries from! Thank you to our family, the Boices, who helped in the Rexburg Potato Harvest. (See Roberta's blog and sidebar for the links on the harvest, because I don't know how to do that link thingy. Can someone teach me?)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUBBY!

Happy Birthday, Duff!

You are the best and I love you very much. I'm so grateful for you in my life.

Have the bestest day ever!

Yup. It's Snowing!

Both Duff and I slept hard last night. There is something about that that feels so good when you wake up the next morning.

We got the upper garage all straightened out. We got Natalie and Robert's boxes ready to go down to the lower garage. All the winter/holiday trees, mantle, stairs, decorations are down, cleaned, packed, and put away. GOSH, it is so nice to have that done!

During the night, the wind came up and when the wind blows here it howls like the dickens. It woke us up around 3:30am. Once we realized it was just the wind we just went back to sleep. But it brought in the predicted storm and it has turned very cold, gray, and has drizzled off and on all day, but now it is snowing! Yesterday, beautiful sun and blue sky. Today, cold and wintry again. I can't lie: I love it! (But I'm sure it's because I don't live in it year round.)

We have a fire in the fireplace and I'm gonna make some Stephen's hot chocolate and settle in with my book.

Dad's Reading Log

Ever since the Twilight movie came out on dvd and he watched it with Christine and I, he has been interested in finding out just what this vampire love story is all about. So last week he started in on Twilight and read it straight through. Then on to New Moon. He just finished Eclipse this afternoon. Natalie is bringing Breaking Dawn to him tomorrow.

He says they're not too bad after all! What a great hubby/dad I've got! I'll see if I can get him to post a review when he's done!

Tuesday Review

Holy Cow! Such a warm day and it is hard to compute snow on the ground with warm air???? We were up and out by 8am headed to Provo. Shaun had classes from 9-1:30, which gave us time to do the things we needed to down the canyon.

Soon there will be a Wal-Mart super store here in Heber. I'm excited for that! But until it is finished, we still need to frequent the one in Orem. So we headed there but they didn't have the fabric/fleece I was looking for. I did however find the perfect gift for Duff's bday. It is a book/scrapbook all about BYU football 'from the vault'. He will LOVE it! I know that here in Utah stores like this carry a lot of LDS items, but every time I come across it I get a 'thrill' because it is so foreign to us living in soCal. So I did get a new MoTab CD as well.

Then we stopped at Mimi's Cafe for some breakfast. The restaurant was truly deserted. We had it all to ourselves, except for some men having a business breakfast. Christine called us to tell us all about being at Mount Vernon. She just couldn't get enough. She was fascinated by Washington's home and grounds. She said she was glad we had talked about 'feeling' things on this trip, because she could 'feel' the spirit of the history and the preparation of our country for the restoration of the gospel and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. That God's hand was in all that took place for this specific purpose. She was bummed because she had made sure to charge her camera last night and then forgot to put it in her backpack this morning, so she doesn't have any pictures of Mount Vernon.

After breakfast we went to the Distribution Center. Imagine my surprise when on the shelf were tons of YW Virtue sections for personal progress! I called a counselor in the YW program at home, and since they are 'no'charge', I got 50 to bring home for them. When they added the value, they only sent our ward 7 of the new sections. 7. And we have 40 girls in the program. And we were told we would have to wait for any additional that we might need. While I was in the center, there were many YW leaders, and moms, just casually getting their supplies and I couldn't help but think that there must be a better way to get these things out to other parts of the church in a more timely manner. I'm confident I don't have the first inkling about all that has to happen to do that kind of distribution, but oh! what a blessing to those for whom it is so convenient!

While Shaun had lunch and finished up his last class, Duff and I went to Macy's and got some case lots to add to our storage here. A little at a time and it slowly builds up. We felt really good about our purchases. They had one little section at the front end of the store with #10 cans of things. We got some of the Morning Moo regular and chocolate milk mix, and some cans of the shredded potatoes. After we checked out and were loading up the truck, I realized I would have liked to have gotten some of the canned pepperoni and bacon. Next time! I did get some SAF yeast to bring home.

With a little bit of time to spare, we stopped at the Creamery on 9th for an ice cream cone. As we rounded the last switch back, we pulled into the lower garage and unloaded our caselot treasures to their shelves. Shaun got ready to go to his classes at the SLCenter and while he was gone, Duff and I had a little bit of dinner and hunkered down with some books inbetween watching who was leaving DWTStars.

Meredith is home safely from Thailand, and Mike and Adrianne are holding down the fort for us at home. A big THANKS, guys!

Ahhh....!

It always feels like having a 'day off' when we come here.

We slept in. We didn't eat until 11am. We puttered around. I did some laundry. Even here there is laundry to do. You know laundry--it is a living, breathing, growing thing. But here, it doesn't feel like a 'chore', you know? It's April and the Christmas tree is still up. But we don't care too much. (Although we will finally take it down this trip.) The new bathroom down stairs is amazing and so nice to not have to run up to the next floor when needed. The new heat cables for the deck in the winter did their job well, and we had no leaks this year at all! Oh the things you learn! So it's time to de-winter and get things ready for spring and summer. The trees look good and healthy. We have some scrub oak that needs to be trimmed back. I don't know if we'll get to that this time. But it's on the list. I took a nice, long, hot bubble bath today with a good book and it was mah-vel-ous!

Shaun is here with us. His schedule allows him to be a little more flexible than Natalie and Robert's. They are all up to their eyeballs with study groups, papers, presentations, homework. This is the last full week of school for everyone and then finals start. We'll probably connect up with N & R on Thursday for Duff's birthday.

The weather and scenery are gorgeous. The mountains are still full of snow, but the valleys are clear. The sky a piercing blue. It is that transition time when everything is not quite green and still grayish-brown, but ready to burst at any moment and then in a few days it will all be different. Our quakies are swollen with buds. The maples have little buds that will come a little later. We still have 30" snow drifts on the upper deck, but those will most likely melt by the end of the week. They are expecting rain tomorrow through Friday, and we will love every drop of it!

Darla moves from sunny spot to sunny spot all over the great room. It is so remarkable to me how she 'knows' exactly where we are when we get here. The first thing she does is run to the kitchen to get a drink from her dish, and then into our room where all of her toys are and has to drag them out.

Christine is having a f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c. time in D.C. She called us about 3 times today with a text or two inbetween so excited about all the things she is seeing and learning.

Off to bed....

Just The Two of Us

It was a nice, quiet day. It was the first time Duff and I have ever been alone together for general conference since we were first married! It was kinda fun, just the two of us. We did have our quiche though and it was delish as usual. We enjoyed conference. Then we packed up and Mike and Adrianne took us to the airport. While Christine is gone we are going to do some 'spring cleaning/repair work' at the cabin. They are taking care of the house, garden, and pots at home.

There is still snow on the ground around, and lots in the mountains. It's late and we get to work in the morning!

Lotsa Saturday!

Today was a lotsa busy day. We watched the morning session of conference in our comfy jammies. Then into the showers for clean-up and Christine had to be at the school for the group pictures for the spring play coming up at the end of the month. She is on the 'house crew'. They take the tickets, usher, pass out programs, man the doors, etc. Mike and Adrianne came over when the afternoon session was starting and we watched that together. Then Adrianne and I got sewing. Her sister, Alisa, is having a baby in June and Adrianne wanted to make her some gifts for the family shower next weekend. She hasn't sewn much, but picked it up quickly and did a great job.

Chris got home and finished packing to leave for her Washington D.C. trip with the 8th grade. She had to be back at the school at 6:45pm. Duff and Mike got ready for Priesthood session, gave Christine a blessing, and left. Adrianne and I took the 'Miss' to the school to board the busses for the airport. There is Mr. Orgeron on board the first bus. Chris was on this bus. He is one of our favorite teachers. He's been at this school from the beginning, and he was Shaun's teacher too. He does a lot for the students and the school. A good man. This trip is a lot of planning and work!

They weren't kidding when they said they were leaving at 7pm sharp. We got there at 6:50 and literally 10 minutes later they were g.o.n.e.! I dropped her and Adrianne off with the luggage to go and check in with her chaperone. I parked the car, walked over all ready to take some pictures and was there only long enough for her to run over, hug and kiss me, and get on the bus. I said hi to a couple of other moms that I've known over the school years and we briefly commented on where have the years gone, when the motors started and 1,2,3 busses were out-a-there!

Bye, bye Miss Chris. You'll have a great time and never forget this trip. So many things will come alive for you and you'll have a better perspective because you get to see them in person! (Update: The 'drama' has already started. She texted me from the airport and girls were fighting over where they wanted to sit on the plane and with whom. Oye vey! 14 year old girls are sooo fun! Hahaha! Fortunately the tour runs them ragged all day so there shouldn't be much opportunity for a large amount of drama. They will fall into bed at night!)

Adrianne's sewing projects. You can't do much without some good ole pins, and whoever thought of and invented the magnetic pin 'cushion' was a genius! No more losing pins all over the place, and if for some crazy reason they drop, just run the magnet over them and they jump back on. No more accidentally stepping on them!

Two main supplies--the machine and a good pair of scissors!

Here are some of the fruits of her labors. Alisa is having a girl after two boys, and she loves everything hawaiian. So Adrianne made her a little onesie dress, (she still has to put the flower applique on the front of the pink tshirt and a satin bow), and some burp clothes. She took pre-folded cloth diapers, folded and ironed the sides in, and stitched really cute ribbon down the seam side. They are really NICE burp cloths!

And last, but not least, I continue to work on the vhs2dvd project. Here is a picture of just a part of what I have done so far. What a difference, huh? At least 1/2 the volume. I was surprised how the color and sharpness was deteriorating on the vhs. But some of them are 20 years old after all!

Duff and Mike were going to try and rush over to the school right after priesthood to wave good-bye to Christine, but like I said, they were very prompt in leaving, so instead of just the 2 of them going to grab a bite to eat, they ordered out from Wood Ranch and we all ate together at home. It was nice not to have to warm up the leftovers! (They weren't too thrilled about having leftovers....) And we had a nice time hanging out with them.

Clintamous Birthday

Happy Birthday, Clint!

Have a wonderful day enjoying the things and people you love and that love you.

Miscellaneous Friday

Darla baby, had a Dr. visit first thing this morning. She was due for a couple of her shots and since she has gotten a wee bit older (10 years old this June), she is allergic. This means that it is a minimum of 1/2 day at the vet for her. Exam first, benadryl, the shots, and then close observation to make sure she is okay. Who knew? But this is the process now for her. Gone are the days of the 10 minute drop in, shots, and back out the door. She is getting a little arthritis in her left knee. No big deal right now, but something to watch.

Dr. Earl has his own practice now and Norm is back. With the economy, all the sponsors for pro bass fishing have pulled, so he is back to his practice. It was good to see him again and catch up although after all these years I will miss Dr. Earl and wish him the best in his own practice now!

I'm almost done with the movies. What a trip down memory lane!

I met Adrianne at Joann's right after she got off of work. She works near there. We got the things she needed for the baby gifts she is making for her sister. They will be really cute. Back to the house, pick up Christine and went to Target. She needed to get pre-folded diapers and onsies for her gift, and Christine needed a couple pairs of jeans for the trip. You gotta love Target! Home, where the guys took care of dinner for us, and more of trip and sewing preparations. The men-folk had a sweet tooth, so Adriannie and I set about to making some oatmeal cookies. It goes really fast when one is doing the dry ingredients and the other the wet ones!

But I'm tired, so off to bed for me now!

Conference tomorrow. Yeah.

...plugging along

I can't move on until I get these movies done. I'm on a 'roll'! I should finish in the next couple of days. I have the 'system' down and I only want to have to unhook it all and clean it up once. It is pretty easy, now that I've figured it out, but it is a process. Now I have to learn how to make those dvd labels on the computer. I got the program for it and the labels now I just have to load it on and figure it out. I've learned a lot of new things in this process. It is a good thing to be doing while I'm still being cautious with my back, even though it seems to be back to normal. I just don't want to take any chances. I have too much coming up in the next several months.

Christine leaves for her national history trip on Saturday. There has been a lot to do to get her ready. I'm seeing her grow up and into an almost high-schooler. Not that I'm complaining. It's exactly what she should be doing. We went from last semester of no extra curriculars (which is not necessarily a bad thing, down time is good) to this semester of lacrosse, private violin, house crew for drama, history trip, youth conference, orchestra trip, and more. We are constantly on the 'GO'.

Whoever said you have more time when your kids grow up didn't know what they were saying. I am just as busy and sometimes busier now than when I had babies and toddlers--just a different kind of busy!

Movie Making: vhs 2 dvd

When my back finally cooperated and I was able to get out of bed and move downstairs last week, I needed something to do while I sat. So I borrowed a friend's machine and have been dubbing all our 'home' vhs videos to dvd's. Not that we have a plethora of vhs home movies, but you know all the ones from the kids school plays, sports, piano recitals, etc.

OH! What fun to go back in time! (You have to play them while you are dubbing, so I get to see them all over again.) I have had the best time the last week reliving these events. Josh singing in the 3rd grade Christmas program and for some reason he was in the front row next to Vauri Neal who was the shortest in the class and he was the tallest???? Natalie banging that tambourine as hard as she could during the kindergarten songs on stage. Mike as the ball monitor for K-2 and helping with the luau. Shaun playing the piano, then the clarinet, and during golf camp at Dove. He was soooo young! Road shows, youth conferences, graduation music videos at the after party. Capo's basketball victory over Mater Dei at the Bren Center 1998. Every game from Natalie's one and only season of playing soccer (I feel another post is worthy of that family history story...)

I've been making labels on my P-Touch, and jacket covers for the dvd cases. Hmmmm. Maybe some 'gifts' for that big holiday during the last month of the year?????

The peas are UP and the spinach is growing more each day. The beans are about ready to pop. New growth on the tomato plants. No squash yet. I think we might have planted the seeds too deep. But, it is still a tad bit early.