Summer's Coming to an End

We have had a fun time these last few months with family coming and going. Now that a lot of my grandchildren are getting back to school, I guess things should get back to normal, meaning quieter around here. We've enjoyed having them over several times. Coleen atarted moving some of her things in this past week. She will be having surgery on her left foot on Monday morning and is going to recooperate here. On the 16th of September she will have her tonsils out, so that means more recooperating time. I hope she does well after her first surgery because we will be leaving on Saturday to go on another Temple trip. We will be going to the St. Louis, Nauvoo, and Winter Quarters Temples. We have never been to the St. Louis Temple before. Rob and Chris and 5 of their children will be going, as well as my sister Janice, and her husband Dave, and my brother Dave, and his wife Nita. It should be fun. We will be celebrating our 43rd wedding anniverary while we are on the trip. Hopefully I can get some good pictures and share them on this blog. Maybe that will give me a reason to post.

Where Has the Time Gone?

Wow, I can't believe that it has been almost 3 months since I have blogged. My life has changed since my husband retired and my time is not my own anymore. My husband and I have to share the computer time now and he seems to be on the computer when I think of going on. I'll admit I have been on a few times, but by the time I've read all my relatives blogs, I think I've been on the computer too long, so I don't write on my own blog. So today I decided to write before reading.
My last entry told about our trip to Hawaii, we were home for one week and then we left on one of Rob's Temple Trips. We flew to Kansas City and went to Liberty Jail and Independence, Missouri. We went to Branson for a few days and saw three shows. While in Branson, our son Scott from Arkansas came and stayed with us and spent the night. We went to Oklahoma City and attended the Oklahoma City Temple and on the same day drove to Dallas and attended the Dallas Temple. The next day we went to San Antonio and went to that temple and enjoyed the River Walk there. Eveything there was fantastic. The next day we went to Houston and enjoyed spending some time with my niece, Kim, and my nephew, Craig, and their families. We also went to the Houston Temple before returning home. We were home a few days and Bob and I left for a driving trip to California to see his sister, Sharon, his brother Johnny, and his step father. On the way we went to the Reno Temple and while in California we also went to the Sacramento Temple.
We were home for about 10 days, then we went to Park City for 3 weeks. The first week my sister Janice and her husband Dave went with us, the second week Rob and Chrissy and their family came for 2 days, then Rhonda and boys came for the rest of the week. On Saturday everyone that lives here in Utah came for a Bar-B-Que for Father's Day and stayed over night since we had two rooms that night. The third week Jen and her family stayed for 3 days and Julie and her family stayed the whole week.
We were home for 5 days when Scott flew in for a week visit from Arkansas. While he was here Todd and Rhonda and family came for a few days. While they were here, Tammy came from Germany for a visit. So you can see we have been busy, busy, busy. But it has been a fun time to have everyone here. Coleen, even though she only lives a few miles away, has spent some nights here just to be with everyone. Rob and his family have been out of town and has missed all the fun. They left the day after Scott got here, so they got to see him beofore they left. The plan is to see Tammy tonight before she leaves to go home on Thursday. I was hoping to have all 7 of my children in the same place at the same time, but that just didn't happen because of all the different schedules everyone had to keep.
Anyway, that is what has been going on at our house for the last few months. Hopefully things will slow up a bit and I can manage blogging more often.

We're Home from Maui!

We had a nice relaxing time in Maui for the last two weeks. My sister, Sharon and her husband Stan went with us. The first week went by fast even though we didn't do too much. I guess the highlight of the week was watching General Conference at 6 am and 10 am on Saturday and Sunday. We usually have to go over to the church to watch it, but this time I took my laptop and we were able to watch it on the internet. That worked out really well! The men had to go over to the church at 2 pm for the Priesthood session. Sharon and I went shopping!! April 7th was Sharon's birthday so we went out to dinner at Sharon's favorite place in Maui, Leilani's.
Coleen came and spent the last week with us. It is always fun to have someone come who has never been there before. She went snorkeling with Bob in the mornings at 7 am. I didn't think she would get up to go that early, but she did! I think she really enjoyed it because she was ready to go again the next morning and the next also. We took her up to the volcano and she enjoyed the ride on the steep windy road up through the clouds. It was nice and clear at the top of the volcano. We enjoyed going to a luau and also going on a whale watch before coming home. I got some crocheting done, some of my mother's journal typed, and read, read, read. I read the books Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. The next book in the series doesn't come out until August. I guess I'll just have to wait patiently to read it. So, Aloha, until next year -- I hope things work out so we can go again. Actually, we are going again at the end of October on a cruise of the islands.

TheDoor Closes for the Last Time

We finished! We're Done! It only took us 6 1/2 months, but last night we finished cleaning my Mom and Dad's condo. It was a hard, long, drawn out process, but it is done. It was hard driving away last night knowing it was the last time I would be in there condo. I told my husband as we drove away I wished we could have kept the condo just to have a place to meet with my siblings and reminise together. We did have a good time going through my parents things, hoping we weren't throwing anything away that really meant something to them. Some things we just couldn't throw away, knowing we would never use them, but sentimental value won out. Sharon took home my mother's wedding dress and veil, Janice couldn't bear to throw out my Grandma Astle's worn out throw rug, so she took it home. I don't use my own china, but I took home my mother's china to gather dust at my house. At the present Dave and Nita have 2 huge punch bowls that they will share with anyone who needs it. One is a crystal one that was my Great Grandma George's and the other is the silver one that my parents bought while Dave was on his mission in Canada. We all have boxes and boxes and boxes of their things. Thank goodness some of my children have seen some of the things I got and have taken them to their homes, but there is still a lot left. Who would have thought they could have so much stuff in one small place. Now that that part is done, it is sad to know the door is finally closed on that part of my life!

We're home from Puerto Vallarta

We had a nice relaxing time in Puerto Vallarta last week The weather was nice and warm and we we enjoyed sitting around the pool area. I took some pictures to share with all of you since you couldn't be there with us.

This is the Club Regina where we own a timeshare. You need sunglasses just to look at the bright building!

I love the tropical vegetation that is here.

You can get relax around the pool, under a cabana, or a hut on the beach.

It was so nice to get away from the snow and cold weather. Mexico was the perfect get-away place for us. Bob retires in three weeks, so this was kind of a retirement get-away for us.

January is going by fast!

Well, Coleen finally did a post so I figured it was time I did too. This month has been a stay at home time for me because I don't like to go out in the snow. I go to church on Sunday and go to clean out my parents home every Monday and Saturday and that has been my life this month. I haven't been in a store of any kind since Germany. Oops, I forgot I did go buy new fabric for baby blankets. So far this month I have crocheted around 6 baby blankets and 6 burp cloths and have crocheted 4baby blankets. Rhonda wants me to crochet an afghan for her, but that would mean I would have to go to the store and buy some yarn. Maybe one of these days I'll get brave and go to the store. I'm glad my husband likes to do the grocery shopping so we can at least eat. We are making good progress on my parents home. I think we have cleaned out every cupboard and closet there. Tomorrow I think we are going to try and tackle the garage. The worst part about all this cleaning is there is so much, we (my siblings) can't seem to throw away, so we take it to our homes. I'm getting quite a build up of extra things. I hope my family can use some of our little treasures.

I'm Home!!!

It has been a month since I added anything to my blog so I thought I better let you all know I am alive and well. Coleen and I had a fabulous trip to visit with Tammie. She was a fantastic hostess. She took us all over and made some good German meals for us. She made sure we had the full bakery experience while there. I know I ate more things from the fresh bakery there in three weeks than I have here in the last ten years. The autobon (I don't know how to spell it) was an experience I don't think I'll ever forget. I always thought Bob was a fast driver on the freeways, but his daughter, Tammie, can outdo him. We went 180 kilometers in a tiny car that I didn't think could go that fast. I think Tammie told me that is like 110 miles an hour. We stayed in a hostle in Frankfurt, which I had never done before. Coleen has written much more and has good pictures, so be sure and check out her blog. The countryside was just beautiful. We saw castles, a walled city. the biggest Christmas tree in the world, and many many Christmas Markets. I will not miss the cobblestone roads. Now that I am home, I will miss Tammie and my five grandchildren who live so far away. Gardner was so nice because he took Thursdays and Fridays off work so he could watch the kids while Tammie, Coleen and I played. Jet lag has really set in. I wake up at 3-4 am every morning ready to get up and go. However by 10 -11 am I'm ready for a nap. So far I haven't been able to take one yet. Just in case it takes me a while to get back to this blog, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.