Super fun birthday week

We were so lucky to have Emily and the kids visit for a week this month because of her class reunion. She was busy with the reunion for a couple days so that gave us time to play with the kids, it was great. To make it even more fun, Jill, Joseph and Justin came down from Seattle for a few days. Here are a few favorite photos. Carly is really enjoying her piece of Grandpa's corn on the cob. It was slow coming this year but finally made it and was delicious. I can't say as much for the tomatoes though, they still aren't ripe except for the hanging plant tomatoes, they did great.

After a fun afternoon at SPLASH, we had a picnic with the Mitchells. Warner and I exchanged our gifts and they were great, as always. It was a very fun evening but the boys were exhausted and Easton got a sliver in his foot so it was bed time. Another fun thing about the week was the great weather and we were able to sit out every night and visit with Em and Jill while we watched for the plane.

Here is Joseph having a good time at BOUNCE, they ran and played for an hour and had so much fun. Jill, Em and I were anxious to leave as it smelled in there:)

The kids had such fun together, jumping on the tramp, watching movies, riding bikes, picking blueberries and most of all playing with Grandpa's train.

I love this picture of Em and Jill, look at her adorable baby tummy! Thanks girls for making my birthday extra special.

I almost forgot this picture of Carly, Em was at her reunion and we were watching the kids, it got real quiet so Dad went looking for her and found her IN the suitcase. Cutie Pie!

I'm grateful for another birthday and all the love shown by my family and friends. Life is so great!

HOT Topics

Our Summer vacation to celebrate retirement with those who couldn't attend our Oregon parties.
HOT Spot #1 UTAH !! Warning this blog is long, it should be three or four separate ones but there wasn't time on vacation to blog so here we go, stay with me if you can. We thought the weather was hot while visiting Jenni and Michael in Provo but looking back it was marvelous weather there and we should have appreciated it more even though we were sweating when we were walking at 7:00 am. This is a picture of their new home, a four plex and they live on the top right. It's adorable and they love it and we loved helping them get it whipped into shape.

Yes, finally the shelves are up! Several attempts have been made but Bruce the Builder was the one to succeed. Jenni was soooo happy.

Most of our down time was spent playing scrabble, they are sitting next to each other playing scrabble on line, silly huh? Fun though. We had a great time with them, Michael worked a lot put popped in and out and met us for meals and I failed to get even one photo of him.

Anne brought Ben and Bella down from SLC for the evening one night and we had a rip roaring game of Yahtzee and Grandpa took us out for ice cream. The days flew by and it was time to say good by and you know how I feel about that! It was such a joy to spend time with them and see them working and playing hard and loving their life in Provo.

On down the freeway to Beaver, my beloved home town. I do so love it there and had a wonderful time with my sisters, their families and mother. It is never long enough for me, I think it would make a wonderful retirement home. Emily and the kids like it there as well and joined us for a few days which was such a treat. Easton loves to be able to play outside in the yard, go for walks and play with Great Grandma's REALLY old toys.

Is this cute or what? We did a lot of sitting out in Beaver, the sky at night is amazing there.

We took a little trip to Cove Fort which was really interesting and fun for all, a must see if you are ever in the area.

This is Ponderosa Park and I had to get a picture of them on the rock because I used to sit on that rock and eat my watermelon after our many picnics as a kid. Lots of memories of this place.

HOTTER spot #2 (weather wise I mean:) Las Vegas

Celebrating Carly's first birthday in air conditioning at the Bellagio, it is such an amazing place and we never tire of visiting. She is such a living doll and she liked us, I was worried about that.

Here she is at the children's museum the next day, love this picture because it shows her cute little teeth. Em drove all over town determined to find Pawn Stars for Dad which she eventually did, we went in but they are to famous to come to work now days so everyone there was disappointed but it was fun for him. We love hanging out with Em and Steve and the kids and it was such a special treat to be there for Carly's birthday.

HOTTER spot #3 California - On the road again. It was great having a few days to rest and visit with family in between our hours in the car. The trip to Yosemite was very interesting, miles of desolation and miles of beauty I guess is the best way I can describe it. We loved it there! We spent the night in a cute little town, June Lake, and drove through the park the next day. It would be fun to spend more time there some day, not in July though, too many people.

These two pictures are out of order but they are Ben at horse camp here in Eugene, which Ben is crazy about, and Bella showing just how much she enjoys going to horse camp. We brought them home from California with us to spend a few days and we had a great time.

FUN days with the Sorensens in California. Nick is as tall as Grandpa now!

They have NINE puppies!

California State Fair, it was so HOT! I talked Grandpa into going on the tilt a whirl with Ben and I felt terrible because it made him pretty sick but other than that we all had such a fun day.

Yep, he rang the bell and won a toy. He is one strong boy. We went swimming, played games, ate great food and just enjoyed being together and soon it was time to move on one more time.


HOTTEST spot #4 Springfield MO

It's been too long since we visited Jason in Missouri so we took this opportunity to celebrate with them too and it was so fun. They were all there to meet us at midnight at the airport and we spent five fun filled days with them. This is Jason's new office at Missouri State.

A fun picnic and swim at a state park, Megan and Kevin are off in the lake, those two love to be in the water. Jason and Lu have a pool in their complex so we took advantage of that several times.

Super Saturday fun with Andrea and Megan at the church. We went to lots of yummy restaurants and tried to get into Lambert's Cafe but it was a two hour wait, maybe next time.

Adorable family photo and yes, Sammy is a member of the family.

Andrea has a friend who owns a house on the lake and let us spend the night there on our way to Branson, it was a beautiful home and spectacular view!

Toy Museum in Branson, I loved this place, it was filled with wall to wall toys, old and new. I found a toy coke machine that I played with as a kid and my Bonnie Braids doll. FUN! We had a very fun but hot day in Branson and the highlight was the Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner attraction, it was amazing! So much delicious food and great entertainment.

Jason and Lu cooked a delicious breakfast just before it was time to leave.

Central High School's most adorable cheer leader. We hope she has a wonderful freshman year.

Well, thats it in a nutshell, there are a lot more pictures and lots more to say but mostly I just want to say what a great trip we had visiting people we love. Thanks to everyone for having us and for taking SUCH GOOD care of us. We love you and are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

So far so good

Everyone knows by now that Brucie retired in June after 48 1/2 years with the railroad. He planned for several months and felt it was time and the he was ready for the change. I on the other hand, was in denial. I didn't take him seriously for a long time and then when I could see it coming closer and that it was really going to happen I began to panic at the thought of change in our lives. What would I do with him around the house all day? Would he be happy not working at the job that he has truly loved since long before I met him? Can we afford this? What will we do about insurance? On and on I went with my skepticism while he seemed positive and happy.

It's been a month already and so far so good, we have pretty much celebrated all month with family and friends and he has worked hard in the yard and hardly bothered me at all!! As a matter of fact, I have really enjoyed having him around!

Here are a few highlights.

Mt. Hood train ride with the family was so much fun.

Party with friends, check out this exceptional gift from Ken Splinter. If you haven't seen the video Warner made for the occasion, check it out on his blog

Kellen, Joseph, Justin along with Caleb (not in the photo) were so excited and hung their heads out the window watching the train go most of the way and never took their hats off. So Cute!

We're off soon to celebrate with the rest of the family who couldn't be here. PARTY ON!!

Who wouldn't like retirement if this is how it's going to be? We'll see.

OKAY, OOPS!!!!

These recipes were supposed to be on the Dinner on Janus Court Blog, I don't know how I did that but I'm not typing them again :)

A couple new recipes I've tried

I got this recipe from the Schwan Man and tried it tonight and we liked it. You have probably made some variation of it many times. It looks like the one in the picture on the blog.

Mexican Chicken Salad

Prep time: 20 minutes
Servings: 6

1 - 2.8oz fried onions (optional)
4 cups romaine lettuce, rinsed and torn
2 cups corn
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch green onions
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 - 15 oz black beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups diced chicken breast meat
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
3/4 cup ranch dressing
3/4 cup BBQ sauce

1. Mix ranch dressing and BBQ sauce. Set aside

2. Mix prepared corn and chicken with all remaining ingredients except Fried Onions

3. Pour prepared ranch and BBQ dressing over salad mixture and toss.

4. Top with French fried onions before serving.

I've wanted a plain white scratch cake recipe for a long time and found this one in my mother's recipes that I'm supposed to be typing for everyone. I was very happy with it especially the next day.

Plain Cake
3 cups sifted flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup shortening
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
vanilla (It didn't say how much, I used 2 tsp)
Sift flour first then put flour, sugar, salt, baking powder in the sifter and sift into a bowl.
Add the milk, eggs shortening and vanilla. Mix all together and bake in moderate oven. I'm assuming that means about 350 degrees.

Highlights from Seattle

Justin and I had a fun time playing outside while Joseph was at school, we went on a walk, played baseball, had a picnic and wrote notes to Mom and Dad with sidewalk chalk which the rain washed away before they got to see them.

Joseph in front of his school. He is in kindergarten and it was so fun to see his classroom and meet his teacher. His favorite subject right now is PE, which he informed me is short for physical education.

One of our walks around the block. Justin keeps right up on his scooter but likes to make a lot of stops to look at bugs, pet the bunny (made of porcelain) and pick up trash. So cute! Joseph was quite patient about it though.

Joseph taking flowers to his teacher on teacher appreciation day.

Darren needed to make a business trip to NYC and it was my good fortune to be ask to watch the boys while he and Jill made the trip. I enjoyed the drive last Saturday, the traffic wasn't as bad as I had expected and I listened to a story on CD that LeAnn let me borrow so that made it fun.

Joseph and Justin were so good and easy to care for, we had a great time together and Jill had made great notes to help me get where I needed to be with them, school, church, etc. so we had things to keep us busy. They have such huge imaginations, it was fun to watch and listen to the things they came up with. Joseph and I played school while Justin took naps, we went to the library, McDonalds, played games, cars, baseball and read lots of stories.

It was quite a shock Saturday evening when I turned on the TV after the boys were in bed and saw the story about the failed car bomb in Time Square. Jill had just sent a photo of her standing in that spot a few hours earlier so I was a little stressed when they didn't answer my text. They were there to see it all happen but were tucked in bed safe in sound by the time I heard about it. Thankfully it failed!

I love those boys!

Bruce is good to support my little jaunts and I appreciate that so much and love to get home to him especially this time since it was our 34th anniversary which is unbelievable to me.

April has been good!

As usual, my pictures aren't moving where I want them to so I'll just be happy with this. Bruce had a good birthday and loved hearing from all his friends and family. It is a big birthday month for us with seven family members celebrating and we loved talking to all of them. Happy birthday, Dad, Jason, Bethany, Connie, Jill, Kevin, and Melanie. We love you! We had a great time in Roseburg with Brad watching Shayanna participate in the Miss Douglas County Outstanding Teen Pageant. She was the youngest of 18 contestants and we were so proud of her. She choreographed her own dance for her talent and it was amazing!

The question she was asked was, "who is your hero and why." She answered, "I'd have to say my hero is my MOM because she has been through a lot in her young life and has worked hard to over come those trials." I loved that.

I've enjoyed the tulips so much, these purple ones are my favorite and look so great next to the lilacs but I have to remind myself to go out in the back yard to see them.

The red ones are amazing again this year.

These cream colored ones were a surprise for me from Bruce this year and I love them so much and appreciate all his hard work to make the yard beautiful for me to enjoy.

Can't wait to see what is next, life is good on Janus Court.