Thomas's Eagle Court

One whole year after the Eagle project was completed and almost 6 months after his Eagle was actually awarded, we finally held the Eagle Court! Tom and I are SO proud of our great son! The Eagle Court was Thanksgiving weekend to maximize the number of family members present.

The picture below is Thomas with his two sisters and two of his cousins.

Much as I hate to see pictures of myself (the view from the inside looking out is dramatically different than what shows up in photographs!), this is a photo of Thomas with Tom and me.

Thomas with Grandma and Grandpa Taylor.


Thomas with my Grandma.

This is Halli Stone who was Thomas's Cub Scout leader and the only speaker at his Eagle Court. On the other side of Thomas is Shane Ackerschott, who served as the Master of Ceremonies. They both did a great job, many thanks to both of you!

New York Part 3

My sweet Grandpa died in October of 1987, I was living in Mexico that year and remember vividly the early morning phone call from my dad to tell me that Grandpa had been killed in a car accident. I wasn't able to go to New York for the funeral and had never been to his grave either. So on this visit with Grandma we made sure to go.

Below is the church next to the cemetary.

Grandma's friend, Mrs. Dragan, is buried in the same cemetary, this is Grandma at her tombstone.

Isn't this a beautiful place to be buried?

This is Grandma & Grandpa's headstone. Grandma has never put Grandpa's death date on, she thinks it's more practical to wait until she dies and do both at once...I'm sure she never thought she'd live this much longer than Grandpa!



For several years the community of Saugerties has had a kayak race in October named after Grandma, they didn't have it this year, but they had a little get together at the town beach and a belated 100th birthday party for Gram. These are some pictures of Grandma kayaking with her friend Kelly.

New York part 2 (Palmyra)

When I decided to go to New York with Grandma, I started thinking about how close to Palmyra we would be...I thought it was about a four hour drive, which didn't seem too terrible to me. So I decided that would be the one thing that I would make sure we did. Grandma wasn't very excited about it until I mentioned that there is a temple there now. She did want to go to the temple. I thought if we left early in the morning we could squeeze it all in. WELL...the day before we were scheduled to go Grandma decided she was too tired. I suggested that she might feel differently in the morning and we would decide then. In the morning she felt like she could manage it, however, she was PAINFULLY slow getting ready and we didn't leave Saugerties until 9:30 am...she complained the whole way and got grumpier and grumpier as we went along...we stopped MANY times to stretch and eat and go potty (one of those stops just happened to be the boxing hall of fame, Grandma hated it). We finally arrived at the Sacred Grove at about 3 pm that day. There was no way there would be time to go to the temple and get back to Saugerties at a reasonable hour. We couldn't stay the night in Palmyra because Grandma was going to be the guest of honor the following day at 11 am at a party in Saugerties.

So, we got out of the car at the Sacred Grove visitor center and went in. They were just starting a tour so we sat down in the front row to hear the presentation. Grandma immediately interrupted by loudly asking the tour guide if she could go to the temple. I explained that we would not have time. So, we listened to the tour guide give her speech and then headed for the door to go walk the grounds. HURRAY! They had a motorized scooter they loaned to Grandma. She jumped on it and took off at high speed! I had a hard time keeping up while trying to look around a little! I would stop and take a picture, then RUN to catch up to Grandma before she noticed I was gone. She was still grumpy when we stopped at the Smith family log cabin, and slightly less grumpy when we stopped at the frame home. By the time we got into the grove itself, she had settled down quite a bit, but I was still running to keep up (even after I turned down the speed on the scooter). She didn't have much patience for my desire to stop and look.

Here's a picture of Grandma on the scooter in the Sacred Grove. We were short on time and because of the scooter we took the shortest route, so didn't go very far in, but it was beautiful and peaceful.

This is at the edge of the grove as you approach it from the frame house and barn.

This is on the path on the way to the grove.

This is the view from the pathway between the log cabin and the frame home looking left.

This is the view on the same path, but looking to the right, if I had turned a little more to the right I would have had a photo of the Sacred Grove. The orange tree in the middle of this photo is the same tree shown in one of the previous photos.

It was a long day, but I think the spirit of the Grove carried us home! Gram was much happier on the way home and began to sing hymns, I joined in and we sang all the way back to Saugerties. We stopped less often and Gram was so happy she complained very little and was surprised at how fast the time passed. We arrived in Saugerties at about 10 pm that night.

New York part 1

In October I went to New York with my 100 year old grandma to visit family and friends. I haven't been there for more than 20 years. We stayed with my Aunt Cheri and Uncle Pete who live in the old family home. When Grandpa died in 1987 Grandma had an apartment built onto the side of the main house and Pete and Cheri moved into the main home. Grandma lived in the apartment until about 3 years ago when it became too difficult for her to live alone. Pete and Cheri both work full time so she was alone all day. As you can see, there aren't very many neighbors!

Pete and Cheri live a quieter life than I'm used to! They don't have a tv, and they use the woodburning stove in the photo below for heat. They spend their evenings preparing and enjoying gourmet meals, listening to music, and visiting around the kitchen table or sitting in front of the fire in the living room. It was a lovely change of pace from my crazy busy life! I didn't miss tv at all.

Uncle Pete wears gloves while cooking and sometimes he's a little silly...

The house was built before bathrooms, well indoor ones anyway. This is the original bathroom.

Pete uses this old school bus for storage...I just liked the colors.

Here's another photo of the bus.

Gram was so happy to be home again! I love this photo of her, I think her inner child shows through here.

This is the road in front of the house.

This is Seamon Park in Saugerties New York. It's so different from the parks out west! The caretaker lives in the house in the middle of the park.

There were several groups of teenagers hanging out in the park that day, but I managed to hide them behind a clump of mums in this picture.

California hodgepodge

Thomas at Hogan Dam. The drought there has lowered the level enough that you can see the old dam, I haven't seen it that low in years.

Thomas III and Tom Senior at Hogan.


Lilly posing with the lilys at Ironstone.

Thomas at Ironstone.



Is it just me, or does that look like a leaf in the trunk?

Lilly and Erin thought Thomas had a good idea, but I'm not sure they actually looked at the statue before they posed!

Ironstone has many cats, Erin pulled this one our of a catnap on a chair, doesn't he look happy?

I stitched together some tree photos, just for fun.

California Vacation, part 1

We moved to Idaho seven years ago and every year we talk about going home for a visit and every year decide we just can't afford it. So finally this year I put my foot down and went! It was lovely.

The kids and me in a log at Calaveras Big Trees, one of my favorite places!

I love that in this picture Thomas is admiring the height of the tree while the girls are posing for the camera...classic!


This is my father-in-law, Tom Sr with the kids in a tree. The opening was cut into the tree in the 1920's or 30's for entertainment purposes. It's a small opening, but at the time a car could drive through it.

Thomas loved body surfing! We had a hard time dragging him out of the water to eat dinner...for a teenage boy that's true love!

We brought home sea water and sand for Lindsay who's never been to the ocean.

Can you feel the love in this photo?

Erin found two sand dollars on the beach at Santa Cruz, I'm told that's pretty much unheard of.

Thomas was also very impressed with the 44 lb gold piece at Ironstone Winery.

and here's the gold piece

wine barrels in a cave...the cave was so cool it was lovely! The temperature outside was 104 that day. I think they said it was 65 or 70 in the cave.

There were many antiques in the winery and the kids felt like challenging a knight in shining armor...well OK, it was just the armor.

Then we went to Columbia State Park and paid for gold panning lessons.

Erin came home with the most in her little vial, mostly tiny gems, but a little gold too.

Funny how gold draws them in!

They all inspected their pans very closely seeking gold and gems.

It was also more than 100 degrees this day so we rested with water and ice cream, Lilly was the only one who still cared enough to smile for the camera!

On our last day I went to my 20 year high school reunion with my dearest friend! May and I have been friends for 25 years, it was lovely to have a chance to catch up in person.

Our senior year May, Tammy, and I were pretty much inseparable, here we are together again!