Changes on the patio.

Neal and I have been thinking for a long time about creating a little more patio.  He has so many pots that he plants every year and displays them on the patio.  They are beautiful but do take up a lot of space.  When we have all the children here it gets a little crowded, thus, the extended patio.  I think we have gone as far as we can go and have created all the space we possible can in the limited area that we have. 

You can see that the bushes are gone.  Neal got up early in the morning and dug and pulled them all out.  The cement guys came and closed off all the sprinkler heads and laid the cement.  They did a beautiful job!  And, no more varmints going underneath our patio area.  I’ll take more pictures when the pots are planted and arranged on the patio and the patio furniture is also out. 

A sad day for the Tucker Maxfield Family

I remember so clearly the first time that I lost my dog.  His name was Cubby.  He was a stray that I had picked up some where, brought home and I’m sure with reservations from my mother, adopted him into our family.  Cubby waited for me every day to come home from school.  Played with me and kept my warm during the winter months by sleep on my bed in the cold upstairs, unheated bedroom.  Animals become a part of your life.  Whenever the time comes that we have to part with them it is like losing a part of ourselves. 

The pictures below are ones that were sent to me and I wanted to post them in memory of Belle and with great sadness to my three little granddaughters.  Gam and Pa are very sad.

These are the words from Jamie: “It was a very rough 24 hrs.  Lots of crying in the last few weeks as we saw Belle going downhill.  But once the decision was made, it was a painful life lesson for the girls.  They don’t know life without Belle!  But the waves of peace have started to come.” 

“Tucker did a great job getting a memorial tree and we had a little funeral.” 

Tucker, you are a very thoughtful and tender Father. 

A sure sign that Spring is in the air!

Even thought every other day we have snow and rain and wind and artic temperatures, we know that Spring is on it’s way!  As I was driving out of the condos on my way to work I spotted two mallards and watching over a hen bathing in the puddle of water.  We have lots of ducks who take up residence here, even thought we don’t have a pond.

Our first granddaughter at her first Prom!

Where oh where does the time go.  Can’t believe that Emmi is old enough to be going to her first prom.  She sent me these pictures and I thought you would all enjoy seeing her with her hair curled!  I may not happen often so it needs to be recorded.  Emmi, you look absolutely beautiful!

An unexpected surprise!

I came home from working out and Neal said, “There is a package for you.”  I couldn’t imagine what it was. It was a small red box with Chinese writing or figures on it.  I opened it and there inside was a strand of green pearls!  I was thrilled beyond expression.  They are absolutely beautiful and exactly what I wanted to get when we were in China.  Of course, they came from Derek.  He remembered and bought them for me.  They are the best Mother’s Day, birthday and Christmas present all rolled into one.  Thank you Derek, for going the extra mile of not only buying them but figuring a way to get them safely to the States.  I LOVE THEM AND I LOVE YOU!!!

The pictures don’t do them justice but I had to put them on my blog.

Our annual Stake Women’s Conference

We had the Diamond Dance Company come and perform for our conference.  Young mother’s who tell of impactful experiences of trials in their lives that strengthened their testimonies and brought them closer to the Savior.  All the daughters of God are being transformed through the refiner’s fire into diamonds.  After each testimony they would then tell their story/experience through dance.  It ended up being one of the best conferences we’ve had so far.  I would highly recommend them.  We had over 200 sisters attend.  Some pictures of the decorations.  The picture on the bottom is of Vicki Parry – my secretary.

A mom moment that I had to share!

This is the text that went between Lyndsy and I tonight.  I’m still laughing so hard at myself that I can hardly see to write this:

Lyndsy:  “Mom, they have Easter eggs at Walmart for .15 cents for 12.  Do u want me to get u some for next year??

My text back:  “No but thanks anyway!!!”

Lyndsy:  “Well, I bought a 46 pack for 30 cents anyway just in case, it was a steal!!!”

My text back:  “Oh my gosh!!  I was thinking real eggs and wondered why you would think I would want that many eggs now.  Still laughing hard.  Thanks for offering to buy the PLASTIC eggs.  I already bought a bunch for next year.”

Lyndsy:  “You made me laugh out loud!  Well I’ve got some more for u.  Can’t hurt to stock up for only 30 cents!!

What can I say – never a dull moment when working with my brain!!  **tee hee**  Glad my children love me anyway.

Wow, what happened to the Gertsons!

This is Lynda Ann’s eye with full blown scleritis.  She had to have IV’s for three mornings in a row and will be on steroids and prednizone for 6 weeks.  The doctor told her that if she had another episode like this she could lose her eye sight.  She was in horrible pain until they got the swelling down.   

Then to top things off, Andrew was at Derek’s (Emmi’s boyfriend) house and Andrew and Derek’s little brother were running on the tread mill.  They got the brilliant idea to turn the tread mill to high speed and shot objects off it.  Then they decided to jump on it them selves!  Obviously, Andrew when flying!  He was miserable for a number of days.

A cute picture of River

I tended River last Saturday.  Lyndsy dropped him off about 9:30 and look what he is having for breakfast!  Humm, looks suspiciously like McDonalds.  I didn’t buy it for him.  He came with it. 

My next stitching project

You know, I always have to have a project in the works.  I saw this particular project all finished and hanging on the wall at the stitching station.  I could have bought it for a couple hundred dollars but the challenge of doing it myself kept me from buying it.  This is the American Flag with all the states in the order that they came into the Union.  The beginning of a huge project.  I shall update my progress each month! 

How good is your food processor?

All of you children know that dad likes to make fruit drinks all the time.  He combines everything from A to Z if it is a fruit.  Whips it all together in his very special and expensive food processor, puts it in the frig and then each morning he churns it up, pours some in a cup and drinks it on his way to school.  Well, here is the rest of the story.  I came home from work and saw that dad had mixed up a fruit smoothie and had more than would fit in the processor.  So he poured the extra into two cups and set them in the frig (without a lid I might add).  When I saw them sitting there, the first thing that went through my mind was that the glasses could easily get knocked over or tipped causing a mess in the frig that I cared not to have to clean up.  So, thinking ahead to avoid a future mess,  I remembered that I had a large container that had a wire ball in it.  The wire ball used to mix things up in the container.  For example, flour and water for non lumpy gravy, slim fast for a smooth chocolate drink, etc.  I thought it would be great for Neal’s mixture because he could just grab it in the morning and shake it up really good and then drink it.  He wouldn’t even have to get the processer out!  What a great idea (I thought).  That evening, Judy and Ron dropped by for dessert and to play some bridge.  Neal asked Ron if he would like to try his recent mixture.  So Neal got out the processor, found the drink in the container and poured it in the processor.  He turned on the machine and it made a horrible noise which got nosier by the second.  He finally turned it off, figuring that the machine was broken.  He poured out the drink and there on the bottom he found this gob of heavy wire all wrapped around the blades!  I knew immediately what it was.  Neal was not happy with me but I thought it was kind of funny.  We got some pliers and with a lot of work and effort Neal was able to untangle the wire and pull it out of the processor.  Amazingly enough, the processor works perfectly!  I guess you get what you pay for!  This is pictures of before and after.  By the way, we bought the processer at Costco.