A Big Work Week!

This past week turned out to be a big work week for both Steve and me.  Steve spent his time in Phoenix for regional meetings with his CNH group.  I spent my time in a flurry of appointments, showings, etc.  These two photos show one of my listings that we had staged.  It really turned out nice.  Here come the offers--we hope!  I also spent a lot of time helping my cousin, Liz, get a condo she loves under contract and helping her get her house ready to sell.  She is downsizing to move closer to her father, my uncle Bill, so she can help him.  He is about 90 years old now.

Friday afternoon, after showing houses to some of my buyers, Steve and I drove up to a ski resort NE of CV where our neighbor hosts an annual ski night and dinner.  They have been doing this for about 30 years.  Carrie took over the tradition from her parents.  Everyone brings potluck food to share and then those that like to ski get the reduced night ski passes so it is more affordable for families.  This year we were able to watch Jameson so both Hilary and Adam could ski.  Korinne stayed pretty close to one of her parents but quickly managed to become a ski racer.  Jenna and Britton were confident to ski with friends and do their own thing.  Steve and I brought our share of food,  a big crockpot of minestrone soup and a huge pan of carmel krispy treats that proved to be a big hit.

It was chilly but beautiful.  I was very content to sit by the fire with Jameson when he wasn't outside on the deck looking for his daddy and mommy.  He could spot them when they were barely specs in the distance and he was never wrong.  We left about 7:30 to head back home to put Jameson in bed for the night.  The skiers stayed until closing at 9.

Steve is chatting with our neighbors.  The gal on the far right is the hostess for this annual neighborhood event.

 While Steve was in Phoenix, his boss surprised him by honoring him at a retirement party one evening.  They had a decorated cake wishing him well and gave him gift cards to purchase tools for his shop.  Of course, the cake was served after the steak dinner.  When we arrived in CV, there was a box for Steve.  It was another gift from the training department of his company.  It included some really nice, quality tools branded by Case.  His fellow workers have been very generous and very complementary of his service.  He is finally being appreciated for  all of his hard work and his contributions.

 This is what his countdown calendar looked like tonight.  He has less than six days left as an employee of CNH.

 Another thing that happened this week, was that the young mother of one of our former Sunday school students, passed away very unexpectedly.  Our hearts have been aching for this family.  The mother,  Debbie, was Heather's age and was the captain of the swim team and water polo teams at Murray.  It has been a sad time.  Her funeral was lovely and her husband shared many spiritual entries from her journal.  What a wonderful gift this will be to her four daughters and husband as there was no doubt about how much she loved them.  I came to realize how significant a journal can be for grieving family members. At difficult times like these, I am so grateful for the gospel and the Savior's atonement.  It is so comforting to know about God's plan of happiness and how this life is just a segment of His plan.

On a happier note, I am laughing tonight at a pattern we have developed over the past several weeks.  A grocery store clear across town from us features a daily special throughout the week.  For the past month of so, they have been featuring our favorite, creamy, delicious ice cream, Tillamook, on Saturdays.  It is so funny because we have gone for months and months without purchasing any ice cream.  We don't eat that much and it goes stale, so if we really wanted ice cream, we just go out for an ice cream cone  Well since the Tillamook ice cream has been featured for less than regular, not so great ice cream, we have found ourselves driving across town and stopping along the way to do any errands we have.  We usually stop at Lowe's which is nearby this particular grocery store, to pick up any supplies we need--ie furnace filters, etc.  Today I needed to get some duplicate keys made so of course, I stopped by and picked up some ice cream.  I knew we had at least one carton left in the freezer.  When I went to put away the ice cream, I realized I had a total of 5 unopened cartons.  Too bad you aren't nearby so you can join us for an ice cream social.  Ha! Ha!  It is so cold that when we eat some, we have to follow it with a hot chocolate chaser.

We also want to acknowledge and say "Happy Birthday" to our second lovely daughter, Heather.  We are so honored to have her as our daughter.  We are extremely grateful that my grandmother, Annie, was in tune with the Spirit and acted promptly to arrive in Minnesota early to tend Tiffany.  She literally saved Kristen's life which allowed us to raise our children together.  We have so many blessings to be thankful for during January!

Birthday Boys!

 We have two of the cutest January birthday boys among our grandchildren.  Don't they just melt your heart?  Libbie shared this adorable photo of Xander on his second birthday, Jan. 10th.

 Since Jameson's birthday was in the middle of the week, Jan 6, we celebrated his 3rd birthday on the weekend prior and the weekend after.  Hilary took care of his real celebration.

He loved the presents, attention and the ice cream.  I'm not sure if he ate any of the cake or not.

What's Up?

 As I look back at the first 2 1/2 weeks of January, I wonder what we have been doing.  We spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing.  I finally got both offices decluttered--well for me that is.  Steve's work hasn't allowed him to travel so between trouble-shooting via the phone and meetings with the local dealers, he has been working on taxes, taxes, taxes.  The IRS keeps asking for more money and then they turn around and tell us they are sending a refund.  We are convinced they are the most confused group on the planet.
I have been working quite a bit.  I got a listing closed and another one under contract for the second time.  Today I worked with two buyer families and tomorrow after my regular tour meeting, I am working with another buyer prospect.  Our market is definitely picking up.
In between Steve and I have been getting checkups--skin, eyes, teeth, etc. We are using our medical benefits as much as we can this month.  I had another tooth extracted last wk.  The root was cracked and it had an abscess so it had to go.  Now my flipper has been rebuilt with 5 fake teeth.  We are both getting new glasses.
Tomorrow Steve travels to Phoenix for regional meetings.  It will be his last trip as an employee of CNH.  I think that he has enjoyed the travel ban and is a bit apprehensive about retirement.  I guess that is partly why he has agreed to consult part-time for the local dealer in Utah and Colorado.  They are still working out the details so we will see how it goes.

 Friday, on our way to CV, we stopped in Liberty to check out a vacation rental for our family reunion.  It is a very large house with 7 bedrooms and 5 baths.  The view from the huge deck is pretty pristine.

 I think that we will eat most of our meals on this huge deck.  However, the kitchen is pretty large also with an 11 foot granite island.  We are excited about this location.  It is beautiful and there will be a lot of options for activities.

 We have also been busy gathering entries for the ward history we are in charge of, interviewing the new move-ins for the ward newsletter.  Steve is busy as scout committee chairman and I am the ward music chairman.  We are pretty busy for part-timers.
Sunday's dinner looked so nice on the plate, I had to take a picture.  I love a nice home cooked meal.
The girls loved the mac and cheese and the guys loved the ribs.  Jameson loved the strawberries in the salad and I loved the green beans and tomatoes.

I am hoping to get organized enough to spend some time on family history work and gathering stories about our ancestors and organizing our photos, etc.  I never seem to run out of projects I want to work on.  I guess that is the beauty of ADHD.

White Christmas & Then Some

 We spent Christmas Eve with Hilary's family feasting on our usual Reuben sandwiches, baked beans, potato chips and wassail.  Britton has joined the ranks of Reuben fans but I'm not sure about the girls yet.  Jameson was totally "wired" as you can see.  He ran around like a banshee.  It was exhausting to watch him and I didn't even provide any sugar items.

 Britton, Jenna, Korinne and Jameson posed briefly on the sofa before opening their one Christmas Eve gift.  No pajamas this year.  They got those bed bags that you heat up and put in your bed or around your neck.  Everyone was excited about getting those.  Their old ones didn't hold much heat anymore.  We headed home and retired fairly early.  I am not sure about Hilary and Adam.  I figured it took awhile to get Jameson in bed and asleep.    They texted us the next morning about 6:30.  We were dressed and on our way by about 6:45 and everyone was excited to see what Santa brought.

 Jameson and his daddy assembled a race track for his cars and trucks.  He loved that one and of course anything else that was Thomas related.  Our traditional breakfast ring disappeared in about 2 minutes.

 It snowed all day long on Christmas.  We cleaned our driveway three times and measured the snow in the afternoon at about 11" but it continued to snow after that.  We postponed our plans to drive to Idaho to the next morning.  Our tires on the truck aren't very good so we didn't want to risk snowy travel.

 Since we decided not to drive in the snow, we went back to Hilary and Adam's for a nice dinner as Adam made rolls and Hilary made cheesy potatoes and chicken.  We lucked out there.

 We got up the next morning and cleared the snow one more time before leaving for ID.

 They had plenty of snow the day before Christmas at Heather and Aaron's but the roads were pretty clear until we got within 30 minutes of their place.  Then we experienced snow packed roads.

 It was cold but the kids were prepared with their snow gear and they went outside to dig tunnels and build forts in the snow several times throughout the day.  We really had to bundle up for our walks around the neighborhood.

 Of course, Heather graciously gave us foot zones and we cooked Reuben sandwiches which were a hit there.  The 4-wheeler they use to plow their driveway stopped in the middle of plowing the previous day.  Steve and Aaron worked on it for awhile and determined that it wasn't a dead battery.  With help from the boys, they were able to load it on the trailer and get it to the repair shop.

 Saturday was Brinley's 15th birthday which called for a LOT of CELEBRATING!  It started with french toast in bed, but whoops, she was already up and beautiful for the day.  She graciously ate her breakfast from the tray.

 The other kids spent a lot of time in the new, snuggly warm pajamas--at least until they decided to bundle up and go outside to play in the snow.

 Heather had arranged for us to take a tour of the amazing student housing facility that her friend has spearheaded the construction of on the corner where my Grandmother Annie's house used to be.

 Here Brinley and Anna pose just inside of the secret room behind a bookcase.  That was just the beginning of the adventure.  This facility which can house over 300 students is amazing.

 The kitchens feature granite counters and two refrigerators.  Every apartment has it's own washer and dryer and TVs.

 There is a theatre room, several gathering rooms which have televisions and some have fireplaces.  There are study rooms, practice rooms, exercise rooms with equipment and exercise rooms for classes without equipment. There were also game rooms, balconies with BBQ grills,  rooms for playing wii and video games.  It seemed very luxurious to us.

 It is literally across the street from the campus so the location is extremely convenient.  I think that both my Grandma Annie and my dad would be pleased that students will be occupying that wonderful facility but I also believe that they would think the facility was a little extravagant and that the students are being spoiled.  It was beautiful and I do think the students who live there will be spoiled.  They will have to step down when they get married.

 Steve and I are standing in front the main door to the girls' building.  Heather and I are standing approximately where my Grandparent's house was located.

 After our tour, we stopped and picked up Chinese food for lunch.  This was Brinley's request for her birthday celebration.  Here she displayed a beautiful new homemade quilted bedspread that Heather had made for her room.  She traded zoning to a lady who is an expert at making quilts.  The results were marvelous.  Hope you treasure it, Brinley.  It is not only beautiful and one of a kind, it is snuggly warm too.

 We left for Utah on Saturday afternoon to beat the next snow storm.  Along with us in our truck rode Tanner, Jantzen and Anna.  They decided to spend Sunday with us for a little get away.  Monday, Heather, Aaron, Brinley, Elsie and Quinn joined us in CV.  Our holiday fun continued.

 The kids enjoyed a game of charades.  Everyone got along very well together.

 When another inch or so of snow fell, Steve got out the blower and took care of that.  It worked superbly well.  That afternoon we met the rest of the ID bunch at a jump place Adam was able to get free tickets for.  The kids had a ball there.  We really enjoyed watching them jump.  Heather even joined in for a quick flip.

 Brinley was very helpful with the little ones.  She spent a lot of time helping Jameson and Quinn especially to maximize their experience.  They were scared at first but couldn't get enough once they gained a little confidence.

 After the jumping fun, some of the group decided to try the indoor skating rink.  It was a little crowded so some chose to head back to our house.

 Back at the house, we had a nice ham dinner which I had dragged the fixings up to ID for and then dragged them back again so we could all enjoy them together.  It was yummy.

 After a quick family home evening where I told the story of one of our ancestors, the kids settled in for a movie.

 We managed to get the M family together for a photo.  Front row L-R is Anna, Jantzen, Heather and Aaron.  Back row is Tanner, Brinley, Elsie and Quinn.  It's hard to catch them in one room at one time and get everyone to hold still.  Mission accomplished this time.

 Steve and I spent New Year's Eve day cleaning and rearranging our basement.  We thoroughly cleaned behind all the furniture and then decided to rearrange the room.  We really like it and feel that it is very inviting this way.  Hope when you visit, you will agree.

 The sunset was beautiful on New Year's Eve.  Most nights we enjoy looking over the valley as the sun sets.  It is usually quite picturesque but we aren't good photographers so you will have to take our word for it.

 New Years Day we took down all of our Christmas decorations and finished cleaning the main floor and upstairs.  Everything feels so fresh and clean.  We love it.  The next day, I tackled two of my most challenging areas--my desk and office area and my sewing room.  It took all day, but I finally finished the job.

 Voila!  Mission accomplished.  I am starting out 2015 with at least one household clean and organized.

 I did quite a bit of mending on items that were piled on the floor of the sewing room.  I'm not finished with the mending yet, but I do have a new/old skirt to wear and several other items have been mended and put away.  It feels so good to have my project room clean and somewhat organized.  Yahoo!