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!

Girls Camp 2009

I love girls camp! This year I spent a day and a half with our young women and loved it as I always do!
A little game during a break from certification.

These are the teddy bears we stuffed for the church's humanitarian program. These will be handed out to children in need around the world.

This is Lilly starting off on the compass course.

A little guidance for one of our first year girls...

Lilly is off and running!

Here are some of the rewards of successfully completing the course!

Next was the Relay for Life, where the girls practiced their first aid skills on various "victims"

Looks to me like Lora had heat exhaustion, or was it heat stroke? I can't remember which is which.

Poor Allie fell in the fire...she screamed bloody murder when the girls tried to pull her out of the fire pit!

Kylee got bit by a snake, thankfully a group of girls came along and saved her.

Unfortunately, Kortni experienced a puncture wound to her neck, Lilly thought a tourniquet around her neck would solve the problem!

Sister Memmott was in shock and rather giggly about it too!

Our fearless Young Women president braved the drive and the cold for testimony meeting, and not long after surgery.

Here is our Bishopric all dressed up for their skit....pretty interesting guys aren't they?

Erin is ready to go home with all her goodies...

The feathers are from a devotional about gossip...gossip is like feathers, when they are spread around they are very difficult to gather back up again. Each girl received a white handkerchief with their name embroidered on it (in the white box). Under the white box is a paperbag journal the girls made the first day to record their thoughts and experiences during the week.

And this is the whole group on the final day of camp- thank goodness I can't include the smell!

underwater handstands!

I went swimming with my two girls and two neighbor girls tonight. It was lovely to get in the water and swim! The high school swim teams were practicing so I didn't get a lane, but the "public" part of the pool was pretty empty so we were free to do as we pleased. I participated in an underwater handstand competition and am pleased to say that I held my own with the 10-14 year old girls!

One of the swim teams had several inspirational quotes on a whiteboard and one really popped out at me. It said, "To have what you have never had, you must do what you have never done.". I keep wondering what I can do that I have never done...hmmm...something to think about!

My deep dark secrets...musical ones anyway!

1. I can't carry a tune
2. I can't lead music (I'm always offbeat)
3. My musical taste is very eclectic, I like a little of everything. Classical, rock, religious, gospel, country, but I don't like rap.
4. I played the flute for about 3 months in the sixth grade
5. I used to be able to play one hymn on the piano, now I can slowly pick out the right hand line
6. I love to sing! My kids always beg me to stop. But my grandma loves to hear me sing!
7. Thomas plays the saxophone, piano, and guitar. He can sing too, but he won't.
8. Lilly plays the guitar and sings like an angel, and she's starting piano lessons in the fall when she'll take guitar at school.
9. I'm jealous
10. Erin took piano briefly, but hated it and made it so miserable for all of us that I let her quit.
11. You know how the crowd will clap in rythm at a concert or sometimes at sporting events? I am the one in a million person who can't do it. I'm always off. I truly march to the beat of a different drummer. :)