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.

Sweetness in Seattle

We hadn't seen Darren, Jill, Justin and Joseph since Christmas and that is just too long so we took a couple days off and went for a visit. Justin and Joseph have changed a lot in that time and it was so much fun to spend time with them again. The boys are so incredibly adorable and fun to play with. Justin is on the move at all times learning to walk and Joseph is such a good big brother, he just had his 4th birthday, loves to play outside and with his buddies on play days and is learning to read. He was a big help to Grandpa, Bruce the builder, when he helped Darren fix their gate and Grandpa helped him plant his very own tomato plant.We were able to go to their Stake Conference with them and Elder Ballard was their visiting General Authority so that was a plus. We had lots of delicious food thanks to Jill and enjoyed getting caught up. Darren was able to meet us for lunch and come home early on Monday and cook hamburgers and smores for us. Delicious!

Jill took us on the Water Taxi, to the pier where Darren joined us for lunch and then we had a great time shopping at the market. I think the only thing we really bought was ice cream but it was fun to look and smell all those huge fish! The water taxi was my favorite.

The time went by to fast, and we came home Tuesday morning after a wonderful time. Thanks Guys!

Recent fun times

Happy Spring! I think it is finally here and we are loving Dad's tulips, it feels like they are this great reward for the long winter. He is happy to be able to enjoy his passion of gardening and has planted, corn, onions, carrots as well as lots of pretty flowers. Today he plans to plant the tomatoes but right now he has the freezer torn apart, it hasn't been working right as of late. I'm grateful he is so handy.Speaking of passions, I need a new one so if you have any ideas send them my way. I thought it would be the piano but it isn't. I love learning to play and am so glad I am doing it but I don't feel passionate about it like I thought I would. I still love to scrapbook but soon we will need to build on a new room just to keep them in. I feel passionate about my grandchildren and really need them to live closer so I can take them places and buy them things and spoil them more.

Here are a few photos of some fun days.

We were able to visit Marc, Connie, Kellen and Caleb and go to one of Kellen's soccer games. Marc was the coach and he was so great with all those little kids, it was just a blast to watch. There were maybe three who actually played the game, one of those being Kellen. He was exhausted from chasing the ball and making, seriously, all the goals. The little girls just walked around holding hands and singing Christmas Carols. So fun! They are building a room on to their house and it was so fun to spend time there. Thanks guys!

Jenni and I took her new car on it's first road trip to Boise and stopped to visit Em, Steve and Easton who were visiting Steve's parents so that was a treat to spend time with them even though it was only 24 hours.

The day care kids have been pretty fun lately and we just celebrated Emma's 4th birthday. I love her and will miss her next Fall as she is going off to pre school as will my other cute 4 year old girls. I am counting the days until my Summer break but I really do love these girls.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! Be careful what you wish for though, I always wanted peace and quiet on Mother's day when all the kids were little and now that I have that, I'm not so sure it's all it's cracked up to be. I am really so grateful to be a mother and grandmother!!