Phone or Zone?

 The first thing Friday morning I reminded Steve that Heather, Hilary and I would have an opportunity to be together that afternoon for a couple of hours.  There were lots of things I wanted to do with that precious time, but all of our phones were on the fritz and I had been procrastinating checking out various services and making any kind of a decision about a new cell phone.  Technology changes are challenging for me and I just felt I hadn't been able to deal with such an additional major change.  Steve and I went to check out phone services.  One of the deciding factors about the service we chose was that we could bundle our internet service at the CV home for $30.  We thought that was great. After we had picked out phones, we found out the service doesn't include our street. Bummer!
When Heather's family arrived, we had a bratwurst lunch together and then headed back to the phone store while the kids played.  I ended up with a real "big" phone-almost a brick.  However, it is like a mini-mini tablet too.  I am currently working very hard to learn to use it.  The sad part of Friday was that instead of getting a footzone from Heather, we spent our time getting phones.  I prefer zones to phones. Darn!

 My new "big" phone next to my old phone and Steve's phone.  When I hold it up to my ear, it is half as big as my face.  Looks weird but who cares?

 I love our finished basement with its kitchenette.  It's a great place to gather for a family meal and the kids can play nearby.  They love the new hat wall and a few additional new dress-ups I've added to the chest.

 Here Jameson and Elsie dance to the old time record player tunes.  Jameson has rhythm and loves dancing.

 Saturday, the sprinkler people were working on our yard sprinkler system.  We were glad we were around to make sure a few things were included for our future garden and orchard. 

 Hilary took 2nd place in her age group in her first triathalon on Saturday morning.  Congrats, Hilary.  That's quite an accomplishment.  She thinks its fun!

 After that Korinne stayed around awhile and helped me sort and put away music that has been packed away for about 6 years and then she helped me wash the very dusty front door.  It looks much better now.

 Steve assembled and hung a cabinet for my sewing room.  It was a frustrating project so I really appreciate his hard work.
As soon as Britton returned from his scout camp, we loaded up and headed south.  The M family was patiently waiting at our condo so we could celebrate Elsie's 6th birthday.  Hooray for Elsie!

 Our 2 bedroom condo is cozy, but we managed to sleep 11 people there last night.  I should have taken pictures of the all the kids sleeping on the floor.  Oh well. Maybe next time.  Aaron was able to take the kids swimming while they waited for us to arrive.  It was a good thing they went early as it started to rain.  It was raining very hard so Steve went to the Army Navy store and purchased a tarp to make our next activity more comfortable.  I had purchased tickets to take the older grandkids to Glenn Beck's Man In The Moon event.  It poured for several hours before the event and didn't seem to be letting up much.  When we got to the ampitheater, it continued to rain but a bit more lightly.
Glenn came out on stage and said that they had asked for everyone's prayers a half hour ago.  He left it in God's hands and said that the show would go on.  Within about 5-10 min., it started clearing and we had a double rainbow.  There were a few times when it sprinkled, but indeed the show went on.  It was quite an experience to have together.  I'm glad we went.

 We planned and executed a very quick exit after the program and were home in about 20 minutes.  That was amazing too.  Everyone went right to bed.  We had to get up early and pack. I'm going to Alaska with Steve on his business trip this week. I guess it's a typically busy weekend for us.  Elsie and Heather were the only people up when we left for the airport.  Here Elsie gives me a goodby hug in her new nightgown. 

HOORAY FOR THE 4TH OF JULY

 I love this country, and I love celebrating its founding and Independence Day! The popping and boom sounds have finally ceased as it's getting late, but we enjoyed several fireworks displays from our deck.
We started our work early this morning so we could attend the local parade with Hilary and Adam's  family.  It was delightful and quite hot since it starts at noon.  The kids had a ball chasing after candy. One young man sitting next to us started Jameson on his first freeze pop.  That was the beginning of a freeze pop frenzy.  Let's just say that in the heat, Jameson thought the freeze pop was a terrific way to cool down.

 After the parade, the C family took Jameson home for a nap and we headed back to our house for more projects.  Later in the afternoon, we got together again for good old fashioned brats.  Ok so we cooked a couple of American hamburgers too and ate potato chips and watermelon.  After eating we tried out our old but new music entertainment center.  It is a record player, plus CD, plus cassette, plus radio.  I purchased this music marvel a few years ago and it has been stored away in its original box until today.  We located it in the barn along with a box of old records.  Boy did we have fun watching Jameson dance.

 In the early evening before the real fireworks started, Adam lit sparklers for the kids and neighbor kids.  All real fireworks were banned in this community because of the high risk of fires.

 Last Saturday we drove north to visit Heather and Aaron's family.  Jantzen celebrated his birthday yesterday.  Congratulations, Mr. Eleven year old.

 Sunday evening prior to our departure, we were invited to dinner at the in-laws.  It is so nice of the M family to include us when we are in town.

 It was totally delightful to see one of my mother's dear friends, Ruth M.  She has had a rough couple of months with her health so it was wonderful to see her again.

 On Saturday we attend the community theater's performance of Aladdin!  It was just toe tapping, smile grinning fun!  Elsie, Anna and Brinley all had singing and dancing parts and they did so amazingly well.  We were very proud of them.  We were also quite impressed with those who directed these 100+ plus children in this marvelous performance.  We took Quinn with us and he loved it.  In fact he liked it so well, that he insisted on going again that evening with Heather & Aaron.

 The kids loved the doughnuts we purchased for them during the intermission.  Ah! there's nothing like a good old fashioned blueberry doughnut!

It was a great Independence Day.  We had fun celebrating and got quite a bit of work done too.
Now that's a successful day!

Memory Room!

 Yesterday we worked on putting together and organizing our trophies.  At first I called this accumulation of symbols of our efforts and hard work in the professional world the trophy room, but as we added other items representing our heritage and other important things in our lives beyond the professional work, I decided that a better title would be "The Memory Room".  Our memorabilia now make the exercise room more inviting and homey for us.  Maybe it will motivate us to use it more.  Here's hoping.

 After we finished with that, I came up with this idea to create a "hat wall" for the kids.  We hung a bunch of hooks for the kids to hang their hats on.  I have a lot more hats so we will add more hooks when we get them.  I'm hoping that this will be fun for them when they play dress up.  At least I know that Quinn will love it.  Hopefully others will too.

 Here are some pictures of the work the landscapers did this week.  They put in the base for the road to the barn.  This next week, they will pave it.  They started putting in some of the sprinkler lines in the areas directly around the house.  The electrician put in the base for our yard lights and some electricity to the barn.  Steve is excited about that.

 These two photos show the rock wall on the south side of our home which separates Taylor's lot.  The last photo is the rock wall on the north side of the house next to the road.  We will have another rock wall along the back of our lot where we will plant our fruit trees.  We have lots of rock walls.

Remembering Fathers

 Last Sunday was Father's Day.  I have so many fathers who do so much to make our lives happy and safe and who teach so many things to improve our lives.
My sister Jackie, put this remembrance together about our earthly father.  Thanks Jackie for sharing.  I'm borrowing it for this post.
I'm so deeply grateful for Steve, the father of our wonderful, amazing children.  Every year that passes, I realize more and more just how much he does for all of us.  His entire live is centered on helping his family.  How lucky we are!!!  I love you Steve.
I'm also deeply grateful for my sons and sons-in-law.  You are all such dedicated fathers.  I thank you for your examples and for all you do for our family and grandchildren.  I'm thankful for the way you honor your wives.  You are a blessing to us.
I'm thankful to my Heavenly Father for His love and many blessings each day.  I'm so grateful He was willing to sacrifice His Only Begotten Son to pay for my sins and enable us all to be resurrected and hopefully live with Him again someday.
Fathers are awesome!