State Champs!!

I just want to take a quick minute and say how fun it was to watch the Skyhawks claim the Oregon 6A Football title. It was a beautiful evening at Reser Stadium in Corvallis so we were grateful for that as rain had been in the forcast. We were very proud of Marc and happy for his team, they were awesome. Way to go Coach and Happy Birthday! I bet your family will be glad to have you home more.

I am glad for many things

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, ours was just great, I love it so much! We had the same group as last year and it was so good to spend time with them. Jenni was here for a week from Rexburg, Brad and Kristy came from Roseburg and Darren, Jill, Joseph and Justin from Seattle. That's a lot of traveling and we really appreciated all of them for doing that. Warner, LeAnn, Joe, and Andrew were here, (we missed you Stephanie) and we had a new friend from the YSA Branch, Jenny Laederich who adds spice to any gathering:) We love her.
Fourteen of us so that is a good group.

No one reminded me not to make too many pies and so, like last year, I am finishing them. Hey, that reminds me, I wrote about that last year, it's my blogging anniversary! One year ago I started with Thanksgiving.

We are grateful for our many blessing, including all of you.Jill and I took the boys on a nice walk to the park to get the wiggles out before the Duck game. They seemed to know it was important and played quietly during the whole game. Dad looked forward to watching it with Darren and got called out, of course.

Jen had a lot of fun with the boys except for when we went to feed the ducks, she was a little wimpy. That nutria was really ugly though and all those birds swooping down on us and pooping on her pants didn't help.

Dad and Darren traveled to Portland to watch Marc's team win over Beaverton in the semi finals( they are in the championship game this Saturday, Congrats to Marc) , Jenni and I went to see Twilight and loved it, some serious Christmas shopping was accomplished, and lots special time with family and friends.

All Aboard

This time of year comes around and I just can't resist getting on the train and going to see the Sorensen's in California. I am always leery about my train rides because you never know how it is going to turn out, Emily and Jennifer can attest to that fact. One morning I woke up and expected to be in Sacramento and we were stuck in the Mountains not even to Klamath Falls yet! This time all went well, better than well, excellent! We left on time and arrived on time at both ends and on the way home I had my own sleeper car, it was deluxe indeed. They wait on you and you have a private parlor car to eat in away from the coach travelers. I don't know if I can go back to being a coach traveler. I'll have to.

The time with Mel's family was wonderful, we packed as much as we could in the time we had. Saturday after they practiced for the Primary program, Andy drove us to Reno to go shopping at Cabala's and we all loved that. Sunday I was able to see the kids do their parts in the Primary program and they were great, Ben and Mel played a duet on the piano, Nick and Bella both did a great job on their talks. Nick and I went on a nice walk together while Bethany took her very long Sunday afternoon nap. That evening we celebrated Joshua's (their little Foster boy) first birthday, he loved the chocolate cup cake while eating it but later...not so much. He's a cutie and they all love him.

Monday we went to the park, played our annual $ Store game, went to see HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 ( Jenni, we agree with you all the way!!!) ate lots of good food and played games right up to time to get on the train and head home.

Thanks for having me, I loved being there!

Ya gotta love Rexburg

I've been looking forward to Mother's weekend for months and now it's over but it was all I had hoped for and more. As Jenni was driving Em and I around town, I was thinking how much I love it there and asking myself why, (it was miserably cold at the moment). Here are a few reasons I came up with:

1. It has been home to four of our children off and on for 20 years now. Unreal!

2. Darren met Jill there.

3. Emily met Steve there.

4. Jenni met Michael there.

5. They have all gained an excellent education and grown into exceptional adults.

6. They all strengthened testimony.

7. They have met lasting friends.

8. Dad and I have had some amazing times visiting them there including; Mother's weekends, graduations, moving them in and out numerous times.

9. It has a friendly, small town goodness about it.

On the other hand, some things I don't like about Rexburg :

1. Freezing cold weather Fall, Winter, Spring.

2. It's in the middle of nowhere!

3. It's expensive to get there and back no matter how you travel.

4. It has taken my kids too far from home.

I enjoyed my time with Jennifer and Emily so much and we were able to hang out with Steph which was so great. We met a lot Jen's friends, her room mates, and her boss, Brother Tippetts, they were all awesome, I swear she knows everyone there. The temple is just so beautiful and I was grateful to be able to go with Emily. We went to one of the seminars which was excellent but mostly did our own thing and that involved a lot of eating. Em had her favorite spots she wanted to visit and Jenni and Steph have their favorites so we had to hurry to fit them all in. I think I'd have to say the pumpkin shake was my favorite, I don't know, it was all delicious.

Thanks to all who made this possible, especially Jen for inviting us. I'm worried about that being my last Mother's weekend. Bethany could you arrange to go to BYUI and invite me?

WE LOVE REXBURG!

It was a beautiful day for a flight into Portland and I took this photo of Mt. Hood. Cool huh?

Up and coming

I just wanted to share these adorable pictures, a couple you have seen on other blogs but aren't they so cute? What about basketball though? I thought with the five little boys we were going to have our own basketball team.

Go Team!!

Keeping us young

YSA'S know how to have a good time and we tag along and enjoy the ride. Saturday we went to the coast and helped with the Oregon Beach Clean Up. It was a beautiful day to walk along the beach even though we didn't find all that much trash to pick up. We had delicious food, a water slide down the sand dunes at Honeyman State Park and the most fun of all was building our own boat out of cardboard. Dad was on the winning team and he was very proud and excited.

I really love Sunday

I remember when I couldn't say that I really loved Sunday, it didn't really seem like a day of rest when the children were little and I was trying to keep them quiet in church while Bruce sat on the stand. When we got home, they were starving and I couldn't get dinner on the table fast enough then we all fell asleep. Those were good and happy times and I remember them fondly but one thing I like about my life now is that I can actually listen in church.

Today the talks were all about adversity, what it is and why we have it and what we can learn from it, etc. They were all excellent talks and I guess I needed to hear them. I love the gospel so much and am so grateful for the help it gives me.

I had more to say on the subject of Sunday and why I love it but Dad woke from his little nap, he's been up since 4:00, and wants to sit outside so I can't miss out on that.

Today was an especially fun Sunday as our nephew, Clay and his wife Shirley, spent the week end with us and went to church with me. Shirley is studying to be a surgical tech had a conference in Eugene and we were happy for the chance to have them visit us. Clay watched the Duck game with Dad and helped me on the computer while Shirley was gone yesterday then we went out to pizza. Sad to say the Papas Pizza isn't as good as it used to be :(

I hope you have a great Sunday! I'm going to sit out while the sitting is good.

Happy Birthday to me!

Bruce complains that we are never home for my birthday so he could make the day nice for me the way he would like to, I looked back in my journal and sure enough it's true we are either camping, visiting in Beaver, driving a child to or from Rexburg, etc. It doesn't bother me though, in fact it makes things a little more exciting this way.

This year was super great as we went to Beaver and celebrated with my mom and family there, then on to Las Vegas and celebrated with Em, Steve and Easton, then home where Jenni had fixed my favorite taco dinner and fruit pizza. I spent the rest of the day on the phone with my children and grand children which was the best. I love birthdays and being remembered even at 57! (I actually thought I was 57 most of last year so it is like getting a bonus year:)

Thanks to all for making my day great!! I love you. Most of you know that Warner's birthday is the same day as mine so we finished out the day by sharing our desserts and gifts over there.Check out this awesome apron LeAnn made me out of a table cloth. I love it!

There are so many delicious ice cream places in Las Vegas, I think we still have a couple to try. This one is all low fat frozen yogart with tons of topping choices.

We ate a lot, tons, and visited a lot and just had a great, relaxing time with family. Dad spent any spare time doing chores around the house for Grandma and watching the olympics.

The is a lot of beautiful scenery between Las Vegas and Southern Utah that I had forgotten about, it's been awhile since I made this drive. It made me want to visit so many other places again... Bryce Canyon, Zions, The Grand Canyon, Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Guess we will just have to go back next year about August 24th. It did my heart good to go back to my home town, I love BEAVER!!

Joyous July part two

Shayanna wasn't able to attend the reunion because of Dontea's baseball tournament in Portland but she and a friend spent the night with us the week end before and we had a great time at the mall and Amazon pool. Isn't she just so pretty?
I love Summer so much if for no other reason than sitting out waiting for "the plane" with Mitchell's and who ever else will join us. This night it happened to be Steph's boy friend. He thought we were a little strange but we like him anyway.
The day after the family reunion it was off to girls camp for a fun filled week with the girls from our stake and all my old buddies. Here we are building our kitchen, sorry I don't have a picture of the finished product because it was awesome. I love the spirit there, I slept well every night and just had so much fun.

Jenni is home with us for seven weeks and that just tops it all off. I feel really blessed as I recount the past month. Hope you are having a great Summer too!!

Joyous July!

First off, proof of the rafting trip I told you about earlier. This is Dad starting a water fight the minute he got in the boat. He is the one in the hat with the bucket!!
Beautiful scenery all the way.
Of course the picture of me is on the calm part of the trip.

Next up: Jolley Reunion

What a joy it was to spend time with our family at Horseshoe Bend campground, a place so dear to our hearts. It flew by and the days were filled from start to finish with all the things we love about spending time there. I was a little bummed when I realized I didn't play even one hand of 500, (as I remember it, I did beat Bethany in a game of phase 10, right Beth?) and I only got one ice cream snickers and visit to Dry Creek Store and that was on our way out of town the last day. I stayed busy spending time with the kids and what fun that was, they are too adorable for words. Thanks to all for supporting us in this. We love you!!!

#1. I think Jill was resting when we let Justin play in the dirt:)

#2. Getting ready for our hike

#3. I love this photo, Kellen was so tired he could hardly keep his eyes open but was determined to have a smore before bed.

#4. Last day photo

#5. We aren't used to catching this many huge fish, thanks Brad and Kristy!

Facing fear

I wish I had a photo to prove this and hopefully will have soon but we floated down the Rogue River yesterday with the young single adults and I am just so happy and proud that I actually did it that I had to blog.

I am not comfortable in the water and am afraid of it. I did take swimming lessons as a child but wasn't good at it and remember all too well those belly flops. I've always wanted to float down the river though. With a lot, really a lot, of coaxing, I decided this was my chance.

I was blessed with an experienced guide and went in the so called "dry" boat and that was a good thing. Bruce on the other hand, took a bucket and was involved in and instigated full blown water fights the entire day.

The scenery was gorgeous and I had so much fun! Because of the skills of my guide, the rapids were a blast instead of frightening and I felt very safe. Rafts did overturn and people were thrown out so I learned that I wouldn't go down the river with just any one. This was the perfect river for my first experience, I'm so glad I went.

We love visitors!

We were so glad to have Marc, Connie, Kellen and Caleb visit us on Father's Day! Melanie noticed right off when she called that the house wasn't dead quiet like it was on Mother's Day. I'm not complaining about Mother's Day, it was great, just quiet. I don't see Connie or I in any of the pictures, no surprise there, but we were there and we had a good time visiting and watching the boys play, aren't they just adorable. Thanks to all of you who remembered Dad, he loves you and it meant so much to him.I could hardly believe that I got to spend time with my sister, Janet, today! She called last night and ask me to meet her in Florence so I drove over and we spent four hours together in Old Town and The Sea Lion Caves and just had a great time, it was the best weather I have seen there in a long time, beautiful and warm. She is on the end of a vacation with her friends Karen and JB Jones, they went on a cruise to Alaska. WOW! Lucky! I may have to get brave and do that some day. Ila and Val went and now Warner and LeAnn are going in the fall. I love her and we always have fun together, it is just few and far between that we get to spent time together so what a blessing. It's going to be hard to top my first two days of my Summer vacation. Yesterday was just so nice to be able to go to the store at 10:00 in the morning.