EMPTY NESTERS???

Mike and I just realized we are home alone and it's not just for a day or two... John is staying with 'friends' closer to school and Al is out of state.  This is the first time since we were married, 40 years ago, we have no room mates. 

I'm going a bit crazy with so much quiet... I'm not complaining about the quiet, just so not used to it... I have had a nap, watched a tv program by myself with the remote... walked to the mailbox, dah... it's so odd...  I take Rusty with me to run errands.  hehehe

We have found, that when we are not stretched so far... we kinda like each other.  It's also been funny to sit and look at each other and wonder what to do next?? 

Now, we know this is a forever thing, with John still in school and Al not stable in his own place, but for now this is heaven.

We eat simply.  We have so few dishes, I have run the dishwasher 2x this week... not 2x today.  Our fridge is almost empty.  We are slowly going thru the food and stuff.  Our freezers are nearly empty.  Both of us want to get it whittled down and then clean it out before we get new things.  It helps we are putting all our money into bills and rent so we don't have much left over anyway. 

We haven't had to run to the store for anything.  Mike is the only one who drinks milk, but I use it to cook.  My yogurt is still ok and our fresh fruits and veggies are soon out... But until Monday, I think we are good to go. 

Sigh... if we had money to spare this would be more fun... More like a vacation, but it's not to be right now.  We are trying to get our bills in line to buy a house next June.  With a goal, I'm pretty good to stop the spending. 

Well.... so much for this entry.  No pictures... Unless you want to see the little girls of John's girlfriend... hehehe They really are cute, 3 yrs and 6 mos.  and both their names start with a K. 

Gramma's and Girls Camp

running and jumping into the water

OK... So Holly was assistant camp director... Davis is still in the Bishopric.  That leaves 5 children to go somewhere with someone. 

 

let's do it again

TaDa... I am the someone and my house is the somewhere.  Here I had the help from Al, John and of course Mike.  

We tried to keep them busy, but remember we have so many different age groups to deal with that Tanner kinda got the short end of the stick.

Let's get on the floating wood

We went to the cement pond mid week and took the whole shebang... the van was so full of stuff, I wasn't sure we'd have room for the kids.  The wagon was more for us than them to help us move things to and fro.  

The wind came up and blew the umbrella all the way down to the bathrooms.  We thought for a moment that our summer fun was going to be spoiled by torrential rain.  The weather man was able to hold off until we got home.  Yippee!!

putting his head in the water

Shaking off the water

Of all the things we brought, we didn't bring things to dig with... dah... it is a 'beach'.  The older 3 were fairly safe in the water, they had swim lessons all last year.  

But Mr. Bennett on the other hand is still only 2 and loves the water.  No he is not water safe.  I loved the shot of him getting his head in the water.  Matt told him to put his head in the water for a quick swim lesson.  So in his infinite wisdom, he bent over and put his hair in the water.  It worked for him...

fun floating wood

I was very appreiative for Al coming to fish and fill in the gaps as needed.  When one of us got tired, another would step in to give me a break.  I didn't get any naps, but I survived as well as did the kiddos...

gramma you cut off my head!

Warren is a pill, he cries if you leave him, if he is tired, if he is hungry, just bored even... It was 90 degrees f. at 10 am. and putting a baby in that sun is deadly... 

hey I like it out here

 

so he and I sat under the shade and just watched.  I don't know if he was praying, but I was praying continually that no one would need my help... sigh... I was very grateful that I did not need to go into the water in my jeans and t-shirt.  

Our Heavenly Father watches over us and blesses us all the time.  I am very grateful for that.  

Over all the week went by quickly... It was hard for me to do breakfast, lunch and dinner plus bottles and baby food... Oh Then it was keeping up with the dishes and laundry.. WOW... I know why we have our children when we are young... Cuz we can't keep it up when we get older.  My body just doesn't move like it used to.

We got them home safe and sound.  There house was trashed after 5 minutes of being home, and our house was trashed due to having 5 more people and those people being kids. 

Dinner in the Mtns.

Our first open air dinner and we didn't get any photos of the food... Dah!!  It was yummy tho. 

 We met Holly and Davis and Mike and Mindy up at Affleck Park in Mnt. Dell area.  A gated campground.  This is our 2nd annual get together with them for dinner.  It's kinda hard on Mike and I to camp in a tent... So we just join them for dinner.

 Dinner is over and we are all in cars going to the fishing hole.  Up the road and tight corners, otherwise called 'hairpins' and finally a few goofy kids later... We were there.



This year we had Al, he is the fish whisperer.  He is so very good to help others catch their fish on his line.  We had the luck of the game warden to visit us and Davis left his license in the Suburban, which had just left to take a potty break with Ady and Holly.

The way down had a few steep places.  The adults went another way.  The kids on the other hand didn't.  Hm

 Matt was having a blast picking on Poppie. He did it well to...

 We brought our own snakes as Bennett called them, he wouldn't have anything to do with them either.  I finally got him to say wurms... but still no touchie...

 Matt was alot of fun on this trip.  Tanner wasn't here, he had scout camp for Friday and Saturday.  He stayed with the Huntsman's.  It gave the other kids a chance to do things they might not do with the older sibling around. 

 

Al, Matt and Mike had a great spot to fish.  It was tough to get to them and tough to get away from them... But the stay was great!!

Mr. Warren was having dinner before fishing to keep him a happy camper.  It didn't work, but it gave him a moment or two of peace.

Mike and his son going down the hill to get to their fishing spot.  Once you got there it was pretty nice. 

Fun Group Shot... I should have been behind Ady, but moving was touch and go.  If you moved to much you would go ... down the hill into the water... no break!

 Mindy and Luke having a good moment.  Babies and camping do not always make for ease or comfort.  Always a new trick up a mom's sleeve to help things go smoothly, and Mindy is learning them all...










The weather was really nice.  It was a mild 82 degrees while the valley floor boasted 100 degrees f.  When the sun went down... 60 was the temp.  I loved it.  Not to cold for me!! 

We had never gone up to that area before.  The fishing was pretty good in the area we were at.  The sitting and kids were not so great due to the depth of the water... but no one fell in. 

I think Bennett was a bit afraid of heights.  He started down and panicked so I went to his side and offered my behind pockets for him to hold onto to get down.  We repeated the motion on the way up and out too..  He wasn't in shoes, they were wet and left at camp to dry out.  He had on clogs and they do not hold well to rocks and sliding dirt.

It was fun.  We got home just about midnight to our lovely beds.... sigh...  and I showered in the morn... was just to tired to function ... sleep wasn't hard to find.

Family Easter Dinner 2011

Since Gramma and Poppie have moved to Spanish Fork it's harder to get all the grand-kids together.  

This is really our first attempt.  

I am very grateful for 

Holly and Davis letting us gather at their home.

We were able to invite all but Dylan who lives in Tempe, AZ.   We were very lucky to get most of them to come.  Seth was brought to the valley by Mike his step-dad.  Belle went skiing with her Grandma Lael.  Alexis didn't make it, but she was going to try.  All in all we have a fun time.  The kids were crazy... we had a few spills... No real blowups... Good decisions seemed to have been made... Hurrah a success...  

Most of the pictures didn't turn out, but thought I'd post a few just to keep me grounded and in brilliant form... (hahaha)

 

 

Life is good...

Spring is here...

Snow is still falling...

my Garden is on hold..

hoping to get it going soon...

 

We missed so many family and friends ... Usually our Easter Dinners are big events with friends and family gather from all around and meet up in our big back yard for a really great hunt and some great food and company with fun visits... I guess that is the hard part of 'down sizing' ... cuz it's just not the same.  

Matt, Seth, Bennett, Tanner, Audree, Adylin

 We will have to come up with another option... Oh well... another day!!

Idaho in Spring... 2011

This being 2011... and me not being in Idaho since 2009... I decided it was time to return to homebase and play catch up...

So Patti, Jarrett and I set up a time that she could take off work, and still be late enough to not get caught in any real bad storms... (surprise)  and meet in Rupert.

Louise didn't get her voice mail from Patti or her email from me... and so we showed up at her doorstep ready to stay with her and take on Idaho...

It's a good thing that we are at least related... she was surprised to say the least... and sweet as always.  Hoping that she didn't need to change her plans to much, cuz she didn't know we were acomin' we all climbed into bed for a good nights sleep... and I slept... phew!!

We wanted to accomplish 2 things... visit with the Aunts and prepare our parents grave site for Memorial Day the end of May.  I hadn't been back to see if all Mark's info was carved into the headstone or that the info was even correct... and I was feeling really sad that I had not been up to see Aunt Mae since she had become ill.  tears all the way around...

 Friday we woke and went to the "Wayside Cafe" in Rupert just off the highway... the best biscuits and gravy in Idaho.  It's a truck stop and was very full of locals and truckers, always a good sign of good food inside.  We then set off to visit with Aunt Mae.  She lives in Burley at the best guest home I've seen... Mark would call it that and it sounds so much better than an assisted living center.  We interrupted Mae's pinochle group and glad to do so...  After they finished their 'hand' we took Mae off to visit in her room.  She is still the same feisty Aunt we grew up with... even in a lovely wheelchair that makes pretty good u-turns.  We then dropped in on Aunt Irma.  The visit was short, but we made plans to meet up again Saturday and go to Shoshone Falls and our cousin Vernal Sheen in and around Twin Falls, Idaho.

Saturday morn we got up and gathered Louise's garden things and headed out to Rupert Cemetery to clean things up and prep for Memorial Day.  It was pretty overgrown.  We couldn't get the things out to put flowers in... That still needs to be dealt with, but we will have to get the cemetery people to do it.

We then picked up Aunt Velola from a funeral service in Rupert and took off to meet up with Irma.  The drive was lovely.  Traffic at a minimum... the van was sweet, our little road trip let us visit with others and not take 2 cars... We all fit in the van.  Irma, Louise, Velola, Patti, Jarrett and me.

Our first stop was the falls.  I gave my opinion about seeing the falls before the party, cuz I thought we might all be to tired to stop and it was well worth the stop.


I can't say enough about Shoshone Falls.  It was amazing... brilliant... fantastic... WOW!!  The water was so high... running so fast, the mist was like Niagara Falls... Which I have been to in the past 10 years.  So I do a bit of a memory of it.  Our falls were not so wet nor so wide nor so deep... But we are out West, mostly high desert land with rocks... flowing down the Snake River.

Then the fun started... We got lost trying to find the party in Pillar, Idaho.  Knowing the Sheen's it was a farm/ranch.  Way out of any town.  Hahaha... Patti was driving and taking directions very well, the problem was no one knew where they were going.  It was rather funny.

Finally Irma got on the phone and someone talked us to the place.  Gorgeous area.  Green fields, cows and horses.  Yippee...   We would have never found it with the navigators we had reading the small set of instructions.

The company was great.  We got to meet cousins we played with 50 plus years ago... on the Hymas side.  I didn't even know who they belonged to other than us... I never thought to ask the connections.  Just wasn't important 50 yrs ago.  The bottom line is their Clara and our Zina were sisters.  Arfa is Clara's daughter, and Elro, my dad is Zina's son and Vernal is Arfa's son.  Not sure how many times our cousins are removed... but we are connected and that is all that really matters.  Yeah... I got confused to... oh well... the genealogy sheets have it all put together correctly. 

They had really great food and wonderful company.  After awhile we got ready for our nap... food + tired = a nap... then we visited again.  We hopped in the van and took off for home for the end of our road trip.