Spring Break

Andrea has spring break one week, Karissa the next--so we planned Levi's baby blessing for in between and met in the middle. Andrea headed out first--then I flew into LA and Alysha picked me up. I was on my way to Boise when I realized that my phone was back in Baker City. I didn't think the plane would wait for me, so I had Darren call her and leave a message that I would met her outside when the plane landed. How on earth did we pull all of this off prior to cell phones??? I didn't panic to badly. Had only carry on luggage and headed for the sidewalk--but which one??? Limos? Taxi's? I asked a man on the sidewalk....just then I heard a voice yelling MOM, MOM--turned, and there was my favorite youngest daughter. It was awesome. :)

They had all tried Salad Pizza the night before and judged it fantastic, so... we did it again--WOW, that is one incredible pizza. We were pigs!!
The next day Alysha went to work--so did her roommate Sam, and her mother; Jake and his girlfriend went house hunting, Denise went to work, her mother went sight-seeing. Andrea, Kayleigh, Koy, and I went to the Long
Beach aquarium. We spent almost the whole day there...

You'll have to check Andrea's blog for those
pictures. Then we met Alysha and headed
out to have our toes done. Anyway, Alysha,
Kayleigh, and I did. The boys were disgusted.
However, they waited semi-patiently as we were headed to the beach for a bonfire next. We did our normal park by the beach road, to cheap to pay the parking fee to park by the beach, then walked down with all supplies for our party. It was pretty fun, too. Then we hauled ourselves back up again. It is soooo fun.




We arrived home and then Lysh and Andrea insisted that I had to try Toppings...with ice cream underneath. I had a Kiwi sorbet, with blueberries, blackberries, strawberries. It was incredible.

















No pictures for that. Next am Alysha went to work again. We were VERY quiet when we got up so we wouldn't bother any of the other people that were staying/sleeping. Come to find out they were already gone. We walked the mile down to Trader Joe's and bought breakfast and other very important items. I picked up a 6" pot of basil and a shopping bag, along with chipolte chocolate hazelnuts, etc. When Alysha got home she took Lucy to the sitters, then off we went for the 4 1/2 hour trip to Logandale. ONLY there was a bit of Friday afternoon traffic headed for Vegas, so it took us 7 1/2 hrs. I watched Princess Bride (while I read a JD Robb book), then Radio, then 50 First Dates. They were all great. My education has been sadly lacking. When we arrived at Tami's, we found Karissa, Matt, Sara, Brielle, Xave, Dax and Lissa already there. They had driven Grandma and Grandpa Cox from SLC and left them at the hotel. Now the real party started!
Since I am entirely at the mercy of my family for pictures, I have no Valley of Fire pictures..and no pictures of the whole crew at Tami's. However, Alysha did copy these pictures for me. THANKS, honey :)
The star, of course, is Levi. He is sweet and handsome and we love him. He is laying on the white blessing afagan that I crocheted for him. Now I have two more days with Tami, Lonny, and Dillon, Garrett, Wyatt, and Levi. Love to all, Mom/Missy

Wonderful Holidays, Beautiful Family!!

Luke made it home and we all gathered at Lacey's on Christmas Eve to celebrate. We had a great time--that's Jesse next to Luke, and Mike, his son in front of him. I'll bet that Stephanie is right close to him, and Emma is close by, too. I cried when I called to tell him goodbye and hurry back home. Uncle Aaron cried when he saw the picture of Matt with his haircut. Guess we all love each other a LOT!! and miss Aunt LaVonne and the great love she gave to all of us. Heavenly Father definitely has blessed us all! The kids had so many fun things to do. Aunt Lysha helped them play muscial pipes. We are FANTASTIC musicians :)


















The dogs were delightful...






Phoebe, who is 104, came for dinner. She had fun--Jingle Bells was her favorite song. She sang it with Caitlyn.

Sara came and brought Brendie, Andrea and Koy, Kayleigh, and Kyler brought Hank, Uncle Jim and Aunt Louise came and brought Zoe--she and Mayme and Hank and Brendie were an interesting combination...























Matt got a haircut....




And then he shaved. Whooooee, who is that young man? Alysha was going to send him to Primary cuz he looked so young!

















And, then there was Payton...

Fun, Fun, and more Fun

Isn't my home beautiful? And after these guys get done, I'm warm, too!




Here's a few pictures of the boys doing wood for me--Darren's truck got a dent in it--so Matt leaned on it whenever he could so Darren couldn't see it. They are sooo funny, and I am nice and warm--thanks to all of you who take such good care of me. I love you :)

Matt and Sara and I went to Uncle Jim and Aunt Louise's--Matt and Jamie helped clean and haul stuff from the Shayville cabin to the new "Bennett" ranch home.












Of course, Mayme loves everyone and everybody, especially if she's outside . . .

















Blue skies, family, work, good health, isn't life
grand?








And then, Thanksgiving !

We had lots of fun. Thank you to my brother Jim, his wife Louise, and each of you for all the fun and food, more fun and food, way toooooo much food, actually, but never too much love!!

So, now we have more :)

And more ....

Catch Up

This weekend I had a date with Bob...We went to the Hells Canyon Mule Days--first the parade. These bulls weighed 3200 #'s and were taller than me--the owner said she left the big guy at home, he's a foot taller. She can't touch the top of him!! They were beautiful and seemed very gentle....





Then the quilt show. I need to get online and see if they listed the winner's of the People's Choice. I'm sure the ones I choose were the best!! This was a fun one for the theme quilt.







You have heard me talk about my 104 year old cutie--Miss Phoebe at Anthony Lake. She says she's not old--she only looks that way.



This is a picture of a kitten that was wandering blind on the road when I was walking. I walked around it and on for about 10', then went back and carried the goeey, puss-filled, mattered up, goopey eyed thing home. He would follow Mayme around and make Mayme jump and leave. It was funny. He died....but was clean and warm and loved for a little while.

Love to all, Mom/Missy

Hot Happenings

Darn, I get a big hot under the collar when I do this. Start at the bottom :)

Who are these people in my house? They came, they dressed, and dressed, and then redressed--they would look slightly familiar, they sounded like someone I should know, and then they would speak and sound like my grandchildren!!

Caitlyn had her 9th birday. That means those 4 2 year olds that were sooooo bloomin' cute 7 years ago are all now 9--Dillon, Koy, Brielle and Caitlyn. We love you all very, very much! I can still see them at our home in Cambride, walking 2x2 out through the grass in the field--with only their heads showing above the grass, and putting their pop-cycle sticks through the cracks in the deck while their mothers yelled--and the kids said, "Grammy told us to do it!"

Anyway, Caitlyn received a hula hoop--cause the kids LOVE them!!

And, her Dad and Uncle Dean, riding the saddle....glad that all of us can stay young.

I love you all, Mom, Grammy, Missy

Birthday 09

There is a wonderful :), rocky, rough, non-vehicle road (except 4-wheelers, of course), up to Pine Creek Reservoir. Darren and Caitlyn came over and we went up and had a picnic here. Then Caitlyn and I walked around the thing. At the far end there is still snow--we're right at timber line. She was disappointed because the water and bog was right where we wanted to go. You should have seen her eyes when I started to take off my shoes and socks and roll up my pants. We made it around--over the rock slide and all. She was pretty proud of herself. I had a great time, too!

We partied the week before, and Tami & Lonny gave me a fantastic chair to set on my deck and recline and read..., Karissa a fun star for the study, and Alysha a California shirt. Today, I also received a Weber barbque. Whohooo. Now I get to learn a few new cooking skills :)
And... we went to the Prospector and had dinner and brought home a piece of lemon cheesecake--and shared it. YUMMMMMM!
Then Matt called. He had heard from the MD that the mole he had removed on Monday was benign. Nice birthday :) Love to all, Mom/Missy

Green Canyon 09

We had a great time at Green Canyon. Here's Lonny with Dutch Oven Cobbler. YMMMM. And the towels and swimsuits hanging remind me that we have been hanging towels and camping for over 20 years!! Since I am too impatient to take the time to move these pictures around and type...you will just have to peruse them as is :). There's Karissa and kids on horses, and my broken dishwasher--nice child to repair it--and more pictures of loved ones! Tami, Andrea, Karissa and Alysha played badminton and laughed until they rolled on the ground and cried. Love to all, Mom/Missy PS, alysha fixed the camera, now it will be focused again. Sorry!