Spring Break and other fun days

I told you March is great, even though it is still cold outside, I smiled every time I looked at the daffodils, every time I realized it was 7:00 pm and still light outside and having time off for Spring Break.

I had a very relaxing three days at home doing things like going to the store when ever I wanted all by myself, watching a few movies and doing a little cleaning but I am conditioned to being gone for Spring Break so I was anxious to get on the move. Bruce started a project in the bathroom which is coming along nicely and that kept him busy while I was gone.

Thursday I took the commuter train from Eugene to Seattle which is an improvement on the coastal starlight FOR SURE ( the guy sitting behind me said, "for sure" a million times all the way to Tacoma.) Annoying!!! It was fun to sit and read my book and not have to deal with traffic. Bruce drove up on Saturday and we came home together on Sunday, I talked on the phone and let him deal with traffic. It was so fun to spend time with Darren, Jill, Joseph and Justin. Those boys are so fun and cute, you'll see from the photos below, it's hard to leave them.

Sunday was a special day as Bruce had the priviledge of ordaining Darren a High Priest and he was sustained and set apart as 2nd counselor in their bishopric.

I got to play legos with both sets of grandsons this month. They mostly want to build towers.

It was so fun to go with Joseph to swimming lessons and pre school. He liked the hot tub better than the actual pool and his pre school is adorable, I truly would love to hand out there. I had a flash back of when I took Bethany to her pre school which feels like yesterday and she will be 14 in ten days. Scary thought!

Earlier in the month we got to spend a night with Marc, Connie, Kellen and Caleb. Kellen played his little heart out at his soccer game which they won 4-0, Dad was the only one keeping score.

We were blessed to be with Stephanie and Andrew when the went to the temple together on March 7th. He is leaving next week for his mission to Hungry and she will marry Jarom Lance on April 17.

"Sugar and spice and all that's nice; that's what little girls are made of."

Yes!! It's March!

I was so happy when I woke up this morning and realized it was March! I am not a winter fan or a cold weather fan at all. I wouldn't have made a very good pioneer as Bruce loves to point out to me, he loves all seasons and is happy rain or shine, I envy that. It's not that I am unhappy really, I have a great life and feel very blessed, everything just looks and feels better to me in the Spring. I bet I'm not alone in this. What is your favorite season?

February had some real fun days and here are a few photos.

Marc, Connie, Kellen and Caleb were here for Valentine's Day. Grandma Ruecker was also in town and we took the boys to Build a Bear. Check out their finished product. SO cute!! You can't see that Kellen's bear had roller skates, that was all he really cared about.

The girls were adorable at our party and Kellen and Caleb joined right in the fun.HAPPY SPRING!!

First adventure of the new year

We were excited about attending Isabella's baptism and Nick's ordination to the Priesthood this month and I wanted to visit my mother who has been very ill recently so I just combined the two and was gone for nine days. It was a little long and Bruce said I can only go for three days from now on but I enjoyed it so much and was able to visit with a lot of family and amazingly enough the weather was good the whole way. There was snow on the ground in Beaver and it was very cold but it didn't snow while I was driving so that was all I cared about. Sacramento and Las Vegas were beautiful and warm. A huge thanks to Em and Steve for letting me borrow their car the whole week!

It was good to spend time with my mom and see for myself how she is doing and also see her new home, the Long Term Care facility. Any ideas on a better name for that place would be appreciated. I hope she will be able to gain strength again and enjoy her days there.

I think Bella liked her comforter I made for her, isn't she adorable in her new glasses?
The whole gang. Bella was the only one being baptized that day since she waited for Nick to be ordained but the room was filled with family and friends. Grandpa Bob made her adorable dress and jacket. I love spending time with Beth and Britt, they are best friends as well as cousins. I just can't believe they are going to be 14 and that means Stake Dances!! They always manage to get us in the swimming pool at the motel.The guys; John, Andy, Wayne, Grandpa Bob, Nick and Grandpa Brucie. I'm excited that next time I visit I will get to see Nick passing the Sacrament. We were so proud of Nick and Bella and so glad we could be there to share in the occasion.I told Ila she was going to make the blog so maybe she will actually read it this time. They are so much fun to spend time with and they took such good care of me, I slept and ate at their house for five days. We stayed up until after midnight every night visiting and slept in every morning, it was great. They make retirement look inviting.Added bonus! I love that the Las Vegas airport is pretty close to Beaver, it makes for extra chances to see Em, Steve and Easton. It was a short visit but very fun.Well, it was a great time and I'm so glad I got to go. I appreciate the day care parents being understand and I'm glad to be home with the girls and Brucie, he was lonesome and running out of food.

Finally I'm blogging Christmas. I loved every minute!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season we sure did and I have a hard time letting go. You put so much effort into it, you have such a great time with family and friends, some of us get a vacation from work and then it's over just like that. Our family is all gone and I finally took the tree down, that makes me feel sad, I put all my grandson's favorite toys away and that made me sad so I decided to leave a few winter decorations up for awhile and that perked me right up.

It's quiet here now and even though I wasn't ready to start those early morning walks, I need to get rid of those extra calories and I was glad to see my little girls come back on Monday morning. Bruce is working all manor of crazy hours the past couple weeks so I haven't even seen much of him.

The big news here is that we got a new bed! Yep, after 26 1/2 years we thought it was time, it did dip in the middle pretty bad and we could feel the springs coming through so we went shopping and just as I thought would happen, we bought the first bed we saw so Bruce could get home in time for the Oregon game. I can be a good thing that he shops that way, if it were up to me, we would still have several stores to check out and then it would take a long time for me to choose. We got lucky though, it's very comfortable and we think we are going to love it, the only draw back is that you have to have a step ladder to get in it. It wasn't that high in the store, what's the deal with that?

Happy January to all and Happy Birthday to: Megan, Nicholas, Michael, Caleb and Kellen!!!

Bella gets baptized on January 17 and Nicholas will be ordained a deacon on the 18th. They are growing up so fast!!

I'm so slow that a lot of our pictures have been posted but here are a few favorites:

1. Cookies for Santa

2. We actually have snow

3. The favorite toy

4. One of many SERIOUS scrabble games

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!