In Mourning

I was so sure that this year's presidential election was going to signal big changes, a return to Constitutional values, and restoring of common sense in Washington.  So sure that I invited my family over for a patriotic party to watch the vote counts come in and celebrate a victory.  

 I made red, white, and blue food and bought a patriotic puzzle to work on while we waited.  We soon realized, however, that the night wasn't going to bring anything good.  We couldn't bring ourselves to eat the food or work on the puzzle.  Decorations went in the trash.  

 

Now we're in mourning, trying to remind ourselves that this path our nation is on was predicted centuries ago.  We know what the end will be, so I don't know why we were so saddened to see this step.  It's just that we felt we had a real shot with Mitt Romney at balancing a budget and making wise decisions for our nation.  He would have been a good leader, one I could have supported.  Oh well.  We'll make the best of it after we come out of mourning.  I'm so glad we have the gospel to help us keep things in perspective.

A Happy Halloween

As usual, we had lots of fun with our Halloween costumes.   Maren decided to go as Robin Hood and Emma was Little Orphan Annie.  The weather was so gorgeous that we didn't even need jackets!  It was perfect! 

 

We love going to the ward Trunk or Treat because it gives us a chance to see all of our friends in their awesome costumes.  Here Emma is with Rachel Brown, Jessica Tolman, and Laura Riley.

The Trunk-or-Treat also gives us a chance to get insane amounts of candy in less than an hour, which the kids love!  The drawback, of course, is that we have to buy about 15 lbs of candy for the hoards of cute little Trick-or-Treaters, instead of the 15 pieces we would go through if they came to our home!  

Del and I dressed up for our annual couple's book club at the Johnson's house.  We went as Mahana and Johnny Lingo, although I was only the 2 cow version, since that's all the cattle I could find at DI.  I love the awesome dress I found there, though, and I wish I could wear it to church!  Muumuus are so comfortable!  Much more comfortable than the wig I wore!

Our Mini-Vacation

When I almost won a car back in August, I got free tickets to Bear World as part of a consolation packet, so we decided to combine it with a work trip for Del in Driggs.  He had already been working there for a couple of weeks, so he met us at Bear World, which is about halfway.  Even though it is geared to smaller kids, we had a great time!

 It was fun to drive through the park with bears walking right up to your car for handouts.  Of course, you have to keep your windows rolled up for safety but even with a window separating us they still seemed a little too close at times.

A friend of ours went to Bear World a few years ago and a bear bit his tire!  It probably looked like a big, yummy, chocolate doughnut to the bear, since they throw old Hostess products to the bears from the bear truck to make them come up and beg! Poor bears.  What will they do now that Hostess has filed bankruptcy?

 After the park tour we had some fun on the little kid rides. Really, I made them ride the roller coaster and tree hopper just so I could have a picture.  They aren't very exciting rides if you are older than 6. 

The boys refused to join in the kiddie ride fun.  Party poopers!

 Next, we went on the nature walk tour.  Devin thought their measurements were a few inches off, but regardless, that grizzly bear is huge!

Emma's favorites were the playful little bear cubs.  

You could pet and feed a baby cub if you paid extra, but there was a line of preschoolers waiting for that, so she felt silly about standing with them to wait for a turn.  She didn't feel silly about this, though!

 

  

 We had fun feeding the ducks and the fish. 

  Our favorite animal on the tour was Stiltz, the moose. 

 Apparently, he is shy because they have this sign for him:

We didn't have a hard time spotting him, though.  He stood right next to us on the bridge.  

 

He even let us pet his head, although Del says you should never do that because he could gore you.  In fact, we think he may have been trying to gore us because he got his antlers stuck in the bridge!  Needless to say, Stiltz is not very shy!

 After playing with wild animals for a while we went to the gift shop, where we bought lots of yummy fudge and souveniers.

 Maren and Emma got to pet a real (sort of) bear!  

Del tried to pet a bear, too, but he picked one that wasn't as friendly!

 After our fun at Bear World we headed to Driggs.  The girls had fun taking pictures from the car.  They saw an ice cream truck...

  some nice, new tractors.... 

a leaning barn...

 the Rexburg temple...

 

and Del's van in front of us.

 Finally, we arrived in Driggs!  It's heaven for skiers and outdoorsy people (of which I am neither).  The mountains are beautiful, although this picture through the windshield doesn't do it justice.

 The Cameron's condo is really nice and surrounded by a beautiful little lake and fun places to walk.

They have been remodeling it since they bought it over a year ago. Del was working on bathrooms, tiling floors and showers and building cupboards in the bathrooms.  The floor in one of the bathrooms was the tile that looks like hardwood, and Del put in a pedestal tub with old-fashioned fixtures after we left.

Trissa wanted farm-style open front cabinets in the bathrooms to keep things neat and easy.

Most of the bedrooms are finished but haven't been decorated yet.  I can't wait to see it when it's finished!

 Trissa has great taste and I love the way she designed the open kitchen (done last year, not by Del).  The subway tile, glass-front cabinets, and barnwood accents look great.  

They'll be renting the condo when they're finished to recoup their investment, and we loved being some of the first guests.  After a short stay, we headed back home and left Del behind to work.  A short but sweet mini-vacation!

Celebrating Friends

It's so fun to celebrate the birthdays of good friends.  We have an unofficial birthday lunch club, started by my good friend, Farhana Hibbert, and we love to get together on birthdays, eat good food and talk.  Farhana is an amazing person who cares deeply about her friends and is willing to do anything for them.  She is happy, kind, and generous, and she is also (drum roll)........41!  Happy birthday!

 I feel blessed to be her friend, and so do many other people.  Here are just a few of her friends: 

 Back row: Sally, Myndee Wells        Middle row: Anita Vallaidolid, Dawn Christiansen, Beena Rahim
 Front row:  Pearl Myers, Ronna Dueling, Farhana, Priscilla Hensley, Tammy Scardino, Uma Rahim

Glenna Smith is another good friend who celebrated a birthday this week.  She turned 89 (and looks 70!), so we made her a Boston Cream Cake and sang on her doorstep.  She has had an amazing life and 89 great years.  She told me it's all due to good living.  Since Glenna loves sweets, I'm assuming that good living includes good chocolate, so I figure I should be good for at least 90 years! 

Photo Mishap

What a bummer!  A big, big bummer!  What a big, fat, awful bummer!

I was downloading pictures from three different cameras, hundreds of pictures, months worth, when I accidentally deleted all of the pictures from one of the memory cards before downloading it.  I sat there stunned, thinking "Did I just do what I think I just did?" Yep. I did.  I tried to think of what might have been on that particular camera, but I couldn't think of anything that was missing, so I thought I was OK.  I reassured myself that it was probably just a few pictures that Emma took of the dog, or something like that, and I'd never miss a few pictures of Olive, right?  Just now, though, when I started to blog some things that happened in July, my sluggish memory started to return and I realized that I had deleted some good stuff, stuff I'll be sad to never see again. 

I wanted to blog about how much fun Del had on his birthday and show some pictures of him opening his favorite gift, four seasons of Jag (he loves that show and has become addicted to his dvds).  Nope. Can't do that.  I deleted all of the pictures.

I wanted to blog about how I almost won a Nissan Cube in July.  There were 250 people chosen through radio entries and each of the finalists came to the Nissan lot for a big party.  There were so many yummy things to eat, catered by several restaurants!    The drawing was in reverse: the last person's name to be drawn was the winner.  I was number 242!  There were only 7 left after me!  I almost got it!  Instead, I got a prize package for a trip to Bear World, free golfing in Ashton, a free car wash, and a free pizza.  Not bad, and the day was lots of fun.  We were able to catch up with several old friends, including Neal and Esther Larsen.  Neal does the morning show on the radio station that I called in to, and they used to be in our ward.  We also saw Amy and Jeff Mansfield, Cheryl and Brandon Quinn, who also used to be in our ward.  They were in the running to win, too, and I took pictures of them all.  Del took a picture of me as one of the 10 finalists with my hand on the car.  I was excited to post all of the pictures of my exciting almost-win.  Nope.  Can't do that.  I deleted all of the pictures.

I wanted to blog about my fun dinner with Samee and Jeremy Beck and Martie and Jason Hill.  It's always so fun to see friends from high school, and we don't get to see the Hills very often.  They brought their beautiful new baby, and we all had a fun time catching up at Chilis.  When we were leaving, we had a man outside take a group picture of us.  I was really excited to post it so Becky could see how much fun we had without her and be jealous!  (We invited her but she was on trek with their ward, roughing it in the woods!)  Nope.  Can't do that.  I deleted all of the pictures.


What a bummer!  A big, big bummer!  What a big, fat, awful bummer! But what a good lesson.  I think I'll double-check the memory cards next time!  I wonder what else I'll remember that was on that memory card?

Summer Fun

When the school year winds to a close I always get so excited for the relaxed schedule of summer.  There's time to play and have lots of fun.  We bought a season pass to Seven Peaks and Trafalga, and even though we only made it there twice, we had a great time.  Here are some pictures of our first trip there in July.

Chris missed out on this trip because he worked all summer at Island Park Scout Camp.  He had a great time and earned some money for school, but he was sad to miss swimming.  We promised him we would go again after his work ended.

In August, Maren decided to enter things in the fair again this year, even though we only remembered about it the night before entries were due.   She made whole wheat bread, pumpkin bread, and gingersnaps and entered a quilted bag she sewed and a few items in antiques and photography.  She was a good sister and also picked out some books and antiques to enter for Emma since she was visiting cousins in Boise, and she surprised her later with a couple of blue and red ribbons and prize money.  Emma thought that was pretty great!   

Maren's entries did terrific!  For the set of New York Times magazines from 1935, she got the rosette for best overall book entry!  She has reminded me repeatedly that she wants to inherit it someday, so she was really proud.

We also talked Layla into entering items at the fair, and she was glad she did!  Layla's corn won the rosette for best vegetable in her age group. Her grandpa was so proud of it since it was grown in his garden with a little of her help.  He offered to pay her $15 in exchange for the rosette, and she thought that was a great deal!  She also won blue ribbons for herbs and a red ribbon for snickerdoodles.  She was feeling quite rich when she added up her winnings.

Each of Maren's baked goods got the blue ribbon for her age group, 15-18, and her gingersnap cookies took the rosette for best cookies overall!  We sent some of her cookies to Trevor and Megan in Afghanistan in a care package, so we hoped they appreciated getting the official best cookies!  Maren was really excited to do so well, especially since she is saving every dollar so she can go to EFY in Provo next year. 

At the end of the summer we helped Katherine move in to her dorm at BYU and then went to Trafalga and Seven Peaks in Provo.  Maren was excited to see what the dorm rooms were like since she wants to be there in a few years.

 We had a great time riding go-carts and playing miniature golf, although none of us were particularly good!

Even in go-carts people drive the way you expect they would.  Megan was a crazy terror and Maren was careful and cautious.  The boys were all somewhere in the middle.  Becky and Dave have decided that Megan will have to wait a few more years before they let her take driver's training.  Boise's streets are just not ready for her, yet.

After playing at Trafalga we headed over to Seven Peaks and spent the rest of the day swimming.  Great day!

Mindy's the one in red.  Anna is the one with the attitude and goofy expression!

To top off our fun day, as I was leaving to bring my car up front, I passed a cute, petite, blonde and thought, "That looks like Mindy Gledhill!"  She is one of our favorite singers, and we saw her in concert last December at the Performing Arts Center and then met her after the show.  When I came back with the van to load the kids up, Emma started shouting, "You're never going to guess who we just saw!"  I said, "Hmmm. Let me guess. Was it Mindy Gledhill?"  Becky had noticed her, too, and with her quick thinking, arranged a group photo that included an unknowing Mindy!  Thanks for photobombing our family picture, Mindy!  We love your music!