Home at last

I got home last night. When I left Reno, I was headed for Panaca. About half way there I realized that because of blowing snow and mountain passes, I needed to abort my plans and go home. Mike had already left for work so I emailed him that I was home. He called me this morning on the home phone just to make sure that I really was home.

I had a TPN order to put away this morning. I found a bag of TPN in my fridge in the garage that was frozen solid. I was sure that I would have to throw it away, but I was told that I could thaw it out and use it. I set it on the counter to thaw thinking that I would use it tonight. After several hours, I realized that it wouldn't thaw out tonight. I put it in the house fridge and will see how long I will have to set it out tomorrow. (And, yes, I did adjust my fridge temperature. I didn't even think about it being too cold in the garage.)

I already knew that I was old and very willing to admit it, but there is no doubt that I am too old for raising babies. Wheew! This is hard work. I will gladly let you young folks have that job. I plan to head home tomorrow, if the weather is not too bad.
New pictures will have to wait until I get home. I'm too tired to mess with them.
I knew that Nathan was on an IV in NICU and that there were vitamins in it, but I found out today that he was on TPN without lipids for a couple of days. I think that is enough of him trying to be like grandma.

Here's a little humor to share with you. Yesterday in church the guy saying the closing prayer said something like "we are thankful that we can remember the birth of................ and he paused for a few seconds. Isaac filled it in with ........baby Nathan. Lance was the only one that heard it, but he laughed. I think Isaac is darn smart to figure that out.

more pictures

Here's the weekend edition of the grandkids.

1st bath


This is the 2009 version of Lance and Molly's Christmas present. He's no more happy than either of the other boys were when they had to go through this same thing.

This is for you Amy. Sorry about the binkie. Guess I could have taken it out and had him screaming. I have all day to work on another one.

This is the picture currently on my desktop. Amy, sorry Nathan was looking up and smiling. He was kinda terrified.

Pictures

This was this morning as we were getting ready to go home.

Isaac officially welcoming Nathan to the family

Da Boyz

One happy family. Notice that the big brothers were introducing Nathan to Star Wars. It's never too early for a Star Wars lesson. I'm betting that we will have to have Nathan watch a Star Wars movie tomorrow.

Mark was fascinated by Nathan

Mark looks pretty small until he lays with Nathan

Thanks for all your concern and prayers.

I will miss being at the Petersen party tomorrow. I'm thinking that would be an easier gig to do that putting in time here. (Lance and Molly are going to be very busy for a couple of years. On second thought, maybe Julie and I shouldn't be partying again until after she is married. Have lots of fun and maybe I can make it next year.

He's Home!

Nathan got to come home today. Mark seems more interested in the new edition than Isaac is. Isaac wants to know how he got out of mom's tummy. I promise to post pictures, probably tonight.

More Nathan news

I got to see Nathan this morning. He is eating really good and if everything stays stable during the night, he will go home tomorrow. Hooray!!!
His color was lots better today.
They had a feeding tube in him yesterday, but he pulled it out. Way to go Nathan! (I knew Steph would enjoy reading that. She put up a BIG fight to not have a feeding tube a few yrs ago).
When we went in this morning, Nathan was in the incubator, sprawled out on his back with just his diaper on. He looked so kicked back and was just basking in the warmth of the incubator. I was so mad at myself for forgetting the camera. It would have been an awesome picture.
So anyway the report is that everything is going well and hopefully the Simmonses will all be under one roof tomorrow.

I plan to have pictures of all 3 boys on here tomorrow. You may not believe this, but I have not taken any pictures yet, but I will make up for it.

For those of you who read Lance and Molly's blog last month about their exciting eviction, I have an update on that. Lance and Molly went to feed Nathan this afternoon. I got to stay home with Isaac and Mark. That was quite the adventure. Grandma will need some R & R when she gets home. Anyway, I looked out the window and saw a police car outside. Soon after that there was a knock on the door. My first instinct was to not answer the door. But I did. I was relieved to see the repairman there instead of a policeman trying to kick us out.

Nathan Update

Poor Nathan is still in the hospital. Molly got to come home this afternoon. The big boys were glad to see mom. Isaac got on a kick a couple of times when he kept repeating, "I want my mom to come home", over and over and over and over. He is very head strong and hard to distract. He almost drove grandma crazy.

I got to hold Nathan last night and we had a little visit. After I left, he ate really, really good and they said that if he continued he would come home today. They even took out his IV. Well he had a couple of good feedings and then was more interested in sleeping than eating. They put a feeding tube in him today and he is a bit jaundaced so he has to stay in for a couple more days to be under the lights. I've been thinking that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have him born on Grandma Simmons' birthday. I'm sorry Nathan. Anyway, I'm sure he will get over this little set back quickly and be a healthy little guy. We are all anxious to get him home where he belongs. I'm interested to see how Mark and Isaac react to a baby in the house. It will be fun.

Quick update

Apparently Nathan is feeling a special bond to his cousin Kaden. He has a little fluid on his lung so he is taking up residency in the NICU. (Newborn ICU). Hopefully he will get out after 2 or 3 days. But that's what they said about Kaden and he ended up staying about a week and racing Christmas to get home last year. (Sorry Debbie, I know I don't have the details right, but it was something like that).

I'm thinking that we can get mom and dad to spend some time at the hospital so Isaac and Mark and I can do some quality spoiling, I mean bonding.

We'll keep you posted on what is going on.

Lance's blog

I am sending you to Lance's blog for all the details. Mom and baby are both doing good. (If you didn't already know Lance's link is on the rt side of my blog.
I head to Reno tomorrow to lobby for the name change and start spoiling my little name sake. Molly said that Marlon is a fish not a baby. I'm going to try to get ahold of the birth certificate application.

Special Delivery

My very "special delivery" birthday present arrived this morning. I was concerned about delays in shipping but he arrived right on time. (Molly doesn't agree with the on time part, but she's just the mom, what does she know)? I don't have any vitals on him yet. He does have hair and I'm sure that he has good lungs. I will get you the details later.
Molly is mad at me because she is a week over her due date and now she is blaming me. I think she should be glad because the dr wasn't going to induce her until Wed. I saved her 2 days.
I'm lobbying to name him Marlon. I think they will stick with Nathan. I don't guess I can even get Nathan Marlon. Oh, well. That's ok.

I'm back

I know I have been slacking on my blog. I can explain. First I was busy. Then I got a stinkin cold that has kicked my butt and then we went away for Thanksgiving.

As I have documented, I slaughtered my (or is it Steph's) monster squash. 1st I had to get the dang thing washed. Since it was twice the size as my sink, this was a challenge.

Then it was time to cut it open. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The toughest part was hefting the monster around.

There were lots of seeds in it.

And lots of little pieces.

I bottled most of it. That will be easier for my kids to store.

I have been battling a cold and it almost kept us home for Thanksgiving. But the day before, my fever broke and I started to feel better. Mike and I went to Twin Falls and had Thanksgiving with Steph and Dan and Dan's parents. Steph did most of the cooking and did a very good job. No one went home hungry. Mike and I spent the night in Twin. Mike was able to go to the temple Fri morning while I went shopping????? No. I stayed in bed and it felt soooo goood.

That's about it for our homefront. I hope everyone else had as nice a Thanksgiving as we did.

And why is it that everybody is moving things to the 1st of the month so we can get done with them before things get crazy with Christmas. So I have a meeting, Tues night, Wed night, Thur night and Fri night. At 1st I thought I had 2 mtgs on Tues but one was Tues and the other Wed. Then I could have chosen one, but now I guess I get to go to both of them.

At it again

I see I have neglected my blog yet again. I don't have a picture but just imagine 58 mylar bags full of various food storage items ranging from rice, wheat, flax seed, flour, sugar, dried beans and probably a few other things in stacks on my kitchen floor. My next project is to get them put away. I have been over due on taking care of this stuff. I'm motivated to get this stuff done before winter hits and I really don't want to mess with it. Oh and my low last night was "0". That kinda sounds like winter to me. Tomorrow I hope to attack Steph's monster squash. I will can some and freeze the rest.

I know you would be disappointed without a grandkid moment. I skyped the boys. They are both too busy to talk on the phone any more. Isaac was even too distracted to talk on skype this time but Mark is just getting into talking a bit. When he see me he says, ma ma ma ma. Of course that is probably half a dozen other people also. I hope he doesn't call Lance ma ma ma. I don't think Lance would appreciate that. Anyway Lance was talking to the boys about grandma and Mark went and got the camera for the computer that they skype with. That made my day.

I have been teaching the boys 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. I think that is pretty essential for any child's development. Well last week Isaac said the whole thing by himself. And Mark is learning the actions. Good Job Boys!

Taking care of business

After working hard and getting the load of wood and recovering the chain saw, we got to play on Tuesday. We got up early to spend much of the day at the St George temple to do Pal's temple work and have Jessie sealed to him and Mike and JoLynn sealed to their parents.

We first went to the family file desk. Pal's card was all ready but they had to do the paperwork for the live sealing part. It took 20 minutes for the nice lady to get all the paperwork done. Let me just make this little note. If you give the right people with the right computer program your membership number, they can pull up all kinds of things on you. I think they even found that Mike talked in his primary class one time when he was 7 yrs old. (It's lucky for me that they didn't need my recommend for anything).

We then proceded to the baptismal font. There we were met by the Taylors. Brother Taylor was Mike's shadow for the morning and Sister Taylor was assigned to Jessie. Sister Taylor let Jessie know that she would take care of everything and Jessie would have nothing to worry about. The Taylors were very nice. (Bro Taylor is Ward Taylor's brother from Tremonton and Sis Taylor grew up in Logan so they had to be good people). The baptism and confirmation were awesome. I have waited 30 yrs to see my father in law get baptized. The others had waited lots longer. It was a great time.

Then Sis Taylor took us 3 ladies up to get changed for the session. She took us to the bridal dressing room. My only disappointment for the day was that no one was there to fix my hair and make up. Oh well. Jessie started to stress a bit if we would make it to our session on time, but Sis Taylor came through again and got us in plenty of time for the session. Everywhere that Jessie went, there were tons of people to talk with her. I felt like I was with a celebrity.

Once a month the Panaca ward relief society sisters go to a temple session. It just happened to work out that they scheduled the same time as Jessie had scheduled to do Pal's work. So the RS sisters came in for the sealing. It was an awesome day. I'm sure Pal was smiling that day. I am grateful to have the sealing powers on the earth today so families can be together forever.

We were escorted back to the bridal room so we could change our clothes. I sneaked out to go to the bathroom and was found by the "posse". Sister Taylor had gone home and she must have reported how hard we were to control so we now had 2 ladies. They even offered to bring us water. We told them that we could go to the fountain if we needed a drink. They said, "No. We want to take good care of you today". (Julie if they don't take good enough care of you in January, you will have to report to them how you would have been treated at St. George).

Here is the happy family on a beautiful, warm fall day.


And of course we went to eat at Red Lobster. That was one of Pal's favorite places to eat.

Wood cutting adventure

We were on the road again. We left Sunday after church and went to Panaca. Mike and I drove in separate cars. He took his mom's truck back and left it there. I was so sleepy driving down. I knew that was NOT a good way to be starting a busy few days.

I rested good Sunday night and Monday morning Mike and I went out and got a load of wood. It was a nice day. We only filled one truck this time. It really wasn't too bad. Then we drove home. It was an hour or hour and a half before dark and the deer were moving down to the hay fields. There was lots of them. Mike commented that if you came back in an hour, there would be lots more. (Remember that comment). We got home and I took our left over lunch in to the fridge and went back out to help unload the truck. I was tired and wanted to hurry and get it unloaded; get something to eat; and get cleaned up so I could sprawl out somewhere and relax. When I got out there, Mike said to me, "I think I lost the chain saw." (How can you think you lost the saw)? Anyway he asked me to take the car and go back out and see if I can find the saw. Mike's mom and I went for a ride on gravel roads, and more gravel roads and some pavement. No saw. But when we got to the fields with the deer, there were probably 100 times more deer now. There was hundreds of them!! I back tracked about 35 miles and turned around when I got on a very rough, dirt road. I knew we would not see that saw again. I was less than 5 miles from where we got the load of wood. Just to give you a little prospective. It took us an hour to drive from home to where we got the wood. So I had ridden home from getting the wood (1 hr). Then turned around and drove back out there and home again. (2 more hours). The good news was that I didn't have to help unload the truck. Mike had it all done by the time we got back. We ate and Mike took the truck and went out looking for the saw. Shock of all shock; he called and said that he found the saw. It was 2-3 miles further up the dirt road from where I turned around. Mike was very happy. We all slept good that night.

Grumbles

I don't know why it is that when I'm at den meeting my stomach has to make lots of loud gurgles. The cub scouts are getting used to it (sort of), but they always comment about it. Today one of them said that my stomach was angry and making lots of noise. I said, "No it's happy when it makes lots of noise like that." I will always remember drs and nurses listening with a stethescope for any inkling of a bowel sound. I prayed for the day that I would have loud grumbles. And, yes, it's even ok that it happens during den meeting.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little..................

Spiders. We have found 2 black widows under the house and 3 of them in the garage. At least they are not in the house.

Kids say the darndest things

Some unnamed person had the nerve to reprimand me for neglecting my blog during my canning season. I just have this to say, "Whoever you are, MELONIE, if I'm not blogging, it might mean that I am so busy and tired with projects and I sure could use some help!" Just kidding. It is fun to know that people actually read this and it challenges me to try to make it interesting.

Molly called me Sat and asked me to call her back (it's cheaper for them that way). So I called and my sweet little Isaac answered. We started talking and he said, "It's Grandma Simmons." He doesn't talk for very long any more but we had our visit and I got my grandma fix. Then I talked to Molly and she told me that she had been making lots of phone calls and Isaac wanted some time on the phone also. She asked him which grandma he wanted to talk to and he chose me.

The story continues....... The next day was Isaac's birthday. I called to wish him a happy birthday. I started talking and the little brat said, "Mom, who is it?" She said, "It is Grandma Simmons" (I have a big smile on my face). Here's where the brat part comes in. He has the nerve to say, "I no want talk Grandma Simmons. I want talk Grandma Maxwell." (Exit smile on my face). I said, "Those presents sitting there for Isaac...............well take them away until he can repent and be nice." Actually I laughed and skyped them later. I'm glad he has 2 grandmas to love and spoil him (grandpa's also).

The thrill of accomplishment

I'm exhausted! The weather was so nice today that I had to get some outside chores done before it gets cold. I finished painting the dog house. My motivation there was I didn't want 1/2 a can of paint sitting around all winter going bad. And, yes, the dog house does look better.

Then I decided to haul all my canned goods under the house. I ran out of daylight so they are not organized under there, but at least they are out of the house and the hard part is done.

I got thinking that if we still had our old house, today would have been the day that I climb on the roof and winterize my roof. I would also be winterizing my deck about now too. NO, I didn't miss doing those chores this year.

My motivation to get some stuff done was that I get to have lunch with my friends tomorrow. And we all know the rule; you have to get your chores done before you can play. I am stiff and sore and tired but won't feel one ache when I am enjoying lunch tomorrow.

Grand Total

This is my pile of canning for the year. Now I need to haul it all under my house. But at least I got it this far.
Here is my grand total. I hesitate to post this because then my favorite vultures will know what I have, but of course I don't mind sharing.

Green Beans 36 pints; plus 5 pints dilly beans
Peaches 54 pints
Swiss Chard 3 pints (it's a trial to see if we like it)
Pears 77 pints
Salsa 27 pints; 11 --- 1/2 pints (That's the one that I will have to keep hidden)
Tomatoes 20 quarts; 28 pints
Tomato Juice 10 quarts; 6 pints
Grape Juice 17 quarts
Applesauce 10 pints
Apple Jelly 3 pints; 7 -- 1/2 pints
Grape Jelly 9 pints; 6 -- 1/2 pints
Strawberry Jam and Peach Jam. These went into the freezer before they got counted but there were several batches.

I need to can some dried beans. I have 2 ---- 25 lb bags sitting here looking at me. But I need to get some pint jars emptied to put them in.

I'm done.................

I think. I finished my canning today. I think I am done at least for now. Wheew!

I was surprised that it has been so long since I have blogged. I had appts in SLC last Tues with my GI dr. and my nutrition support friends. I went to Steph's Monday night for a short visit. Then Tues morning it was off to Salt Lake. I had no idea that it would take 5 hrs with my medical people. Guess they were all glad to see me. Everything went well. It's kinda scary to hear the nutrition support team tell me how shocked they are that I have been on TPN for so long w/o complications. Yep!. I have been blessed.

The Dr ordered a test for bacterial overgrowth (too much bacteria in my gut). I did that Thur. I was told that it would take 2- 2 1/2 hrs. I had to breath into a bag. They put my air in a machine that did it's magic. I was to repeat this every 15 min for a couple of hrs. After 15 min, the nice lady came in and said, "Oh! Your numbers really shot up. We don't need to do any more. You have bacterial overgrowth. So I got to head for home 2 hrs quicker than I expected. That was nice.

And now I am on an antibiotic for 10 days. I'm not convinced that it will make a big difference, but we will see.

I brought peaches, pears, apples and grapes home with me. I made grape juice and jelly last week. This week I canned pears, made fruit leather from the pears and peaches. I was so ready to clean things up. But then realized that I need to finish my apples before I clean up. So today I made applesauce and apple jelly. And now I'm pretty sure that I am done........... at least until I bottle some dried beans. But there is no rush on that.

Here's my funny story for the day. Someone called and asked if they could talk to Michael Simmons. Well we all know how obvious this call was. I said that he wasn't home. So she asked if there would be a better time to talk to him. Well I thought that was quite obvious. I told her it would probably be best sometime when he was home. She said OK and hung up. Maybe I'm smarter than I thought I was.

Stay tuned for my totals for this years canning.

Oh and I need to report the winner for the weight of the hubbard contest. Steph won. She guessed 50 lbs and it weighed 50.5 lbs. And yes, she will eat her share of it.

More construction AGAIN

My original contractor friends showed up again. They are going to pour my front steps and fix my crawl space. I didn't get a picture before but the dirt was the height of both sides all the way across here and we had a metal window well thing in front of the crawl space so we could get in. We also had a huge pile of dirt left over from digging a hole for the garage and driveway.

See I do have a little food storage.
This is the pile of dirt from digging out the space for the crawl space. Oh and the contractors left their bobcat in my yard for the weekend and a pile of dirt and a space that needs dirt. And the keys were in the bobcat. The temptation was too much. I had lots of fun playing. Clint did give me permission and even showed me how to make it run.

Here's my first load. You can see how much dirt I needed to bring in. It was a whole lot more fun using the bobcat than using the wheel barrow.

This is when I was done. Yah. I think I over did it a bit but it will settle some and there are some spaces that need filled in. The only thing is that I want some good mulch on top so I will probably have to take some dirt out by hand. Hey, it was fun filling it in. You can see how interested Mike was in my landscaping venture.

This is where someone did doughnuts in my heretofore smooth yard. And they left tire marks on the sidewalk. I know my contractors will laugh Monday when they come see my damage. I will work tomorrow to smooth it out a bit. By the time I got done, I had several spots like this and the guys really did have it nice and smooth. What you can't see is all the rocks in the dirt. It might take me forever to get all them out. I must admit that it took several runs to start to figure out how to get the bobcat to do what I wanted it to. Sometimes it didn't do what I wanted it to. My project was a success when I quit and I still had a fence standing and I didn't hit my house or break any windows. Wheew!!! I knew Mike would probably never speak to me again if I had hit the house.

We need to take some more dirt out in front of the crawl space. I tried to dig some of that out but it was beyond my beginner skills.

More pictures tomorrow? I still have one more day to play.

Another contest

Here is what was hiding under all the leaves of my pumpkin and squash leaves. The giant pumpkins did not mature so they didn't get to be in the picture. (They were about the size of the medium squash in this picture, but their skins were not hard enough to survive the frost.) I have a total of 20 lbs of pumpkin. The small pumpkins will make yummy pumpkin pies.
The orange hubbard squash total weight was 31 lbs. The total weight of the green hubbard squash was 103 lbs. . Anybody want some? Here's the contest of the week. Guess how much this big squash weighs. I did help you by giving you the total weights. I would award the winner with the squash, but I don't want to pay to ship it. I guess the winner could come collect their prize.
I hope dinner tomorrow is a family favorite when I was growing up. Baked potato with baked squash and meat loaf. YUM!

Wood Pile

Steph wanted evidence that we really did get wood. This is Grandma collecting wood.
This is a mistake but it is easier for me to leave it here than take it out. There will be NO more pictures like this this year. We had a good frost last week while I was gone and I am told the tops were hit hard but underneath is ok, if I got the message correctly. The weather shows us to be in the mid 20's Wed night so I will go home tomorrow and pick tomatoes and whatever else I can salvage.

Mike took these 2 pictures to show my crazy pumpkin plants. After the frost, I will be able to see how many pumpkins I actually have hidden in there. I know there is a huge squash that I can't wait to show off.

Now back to getting wood. See Jessie did work. She did lots of work. You won't see me doing anything.

So I lost that picture. It is so easy to delete a photo when you don't want to. I will add her picture later.

Mike cutting down a tree.

The unpiled stuff is the 1st load we got.

This pile is the 2nd load. Just the bare, white wood. The barky cedar was already there.

And this was to show her entire wood pile but there is the cedar and load of pine that we got in the back that you can't see. I think she will be able to get by this winter. We are hoping to make one more trip out there. We will see.

A pretty shiner

Mike's mom, Jessie, went to take some papers to her neighbor. She visited on their porch for a few minutes and as she started to leave, she crashed down the stairs right onto the concrete. She got scraped up and bruised but really came out of it in pretty good shape. Her glasses didn't break, but it scratched the lenses real bad. I wasn't going to take her picture until she woke up with this pretty shiner today. I thought it shouldn't go without some recognition. I don't think I would want to take her on in a bar fight!

Church laughs

I leave home for a week and now I have so much to share with everyone. I will split it up and maybe not even do it all today.

As long as I have been going to church, not much new and exciting happens there. OK, maybe not much new and exciting ever happens in church but I got a kick out of this. It certainly is no where near as funny as something my friend Amy shared but we won't go into that right now.

So we were in SS class and a returned missionary was sharing the church's involvement in Oklahoma a few years ago following a horrible tornado. Of course the elders donned the famous t-shirts with lettering saying the were with the LDS church. After things were somewhat in order, the local officials released an article to the press. In it they expressed gratitude for all who helped and said that they specifically wanted to single out 2 organizations who were especially helpful. The 1st was the Mormons and the other was the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. Yep. I got quite a good laugh out of that.

And the other was that a baby was to be blessed. The men started gathering in the front of the chapel. And then one of them says, "Oh, the baby." He goes back to his wife and gets the baby. I know I entertain easily but I got a laugh out of it. And then later he bore his testimony that he really does love his daughter.

Preparing for Winter

Mike and I are in Panaca getting fire wood for his mom for the winter. We got 2 truck loads on Tues and today (Thur). We still need to make one more trip out for wood but it will have to wait until next month when we come down again. I took a few pictures of us getting the wood and meant to take a picture of our loads, but by the time it was all loaded up, we got to eat and then we were anxious to get home and be done. If I remember I will take a picture of the wood piles tomorrow. Meanwhile, you will just have to take my word for it since I am too lazy to mess with posting any pictures tonight.

The fruits of my labors

This is my old way of getting an extra pan going for canning.
This is my new and improved way of canning. Don't be surprised if you see me on a camp chef commercial. I am very impresssed with how quickly the camp chef heated my water. I should have been canning on a camp chef for years. I really was impressed with it's efficiancy. (As long as I remember to refill the propane tank.)

Here is my final product. Not too bad for 4 days work. I will post my final tally after I get them all cleaned up and boxed up.

And yes, that is Mike's side of the garage. I have pretty much taken over all of the garage with my canning.

Contest

OK. I think we should have a poll to see which "Norman" everybody chooses for Julie. Do you like my Norman picture or Julie's Norman pictures?

DEX and me

I have heard that Julie is dating someone. I have been waiting for her to send me a picture but she hasn't so I had to take care of things on my own. I asked "DEX" what I should do and he said 1-800-ISEEYOU. This number connected me with a paparazzi who promised me quick results, cheap; very cheap. I couldn't resist. This is what their extensive search came up with.

Their business card also had a web page. It was www.eternalmatch.com. Some of you may be interested in checking it out.

Don't worry Julie. You can't hide from my new paparazzi friend.

Maybe it could be a lesson for the rest of you too.

Mom is home

I've been busy harvesting and canning. Not very much of anything but a little here and there will add up. Just wanted to let everyone know that mom went home from the hospital today. She sounds good.

Harvest

Mom is doing well. I talked to her today and she sounded good. She doesn't have to have rehab and should go home in 3-4 days. She even put weight on her leg today.

My job for today was to pick beans and corn and can them and pick swiss chard and do something with it. I completed most of it. While I was picking the beans, there seemed to be less than the last 2 pickings but when I got canning I had 8 pints. The other 2 pickings I got 6 pints. So I am up to 20 pints. That's almost 2 pints a month for us to eat. I didn't get to the corn. Hopefully tomorrow. It won't take long. I picked 1/2 a ton of swiss chard. It was in need of a good picking. I canned 4 pints to see how I like it. Then I gave the rest away. There is a family in the ward with something like 9 kids and most of them are boys. The boys helped till my garden this spring and get it ready to plant. So this is the 2nd time I have dumped swiss chard on them. The kids all say that they like it. I'm glad they will take it. I guess the rest of you can be glad that you are far enough away that I won't leave it on your doorstep.

Mom's surgery and my rant

Most of you who care will already know this before you read it here but I just wanted to let everyone know that Mom had surgery to repair the surgery that she had several months ago to fix her broken leg. They were hoping to put a rod in but didn't think they would be able to. Well they got the rod in. Now I just hope her recovery goes well.

I also have to sound-off on the new family search program. I believe my worthiness to hold a temple recommend may be in jeopardy if I go on there very often. People go on there and do the stupidest things so others have to go on and correct them. I am not saying that I am above doing stupid things on a computer but that is why I have stayed away from new family search and now I am the one trying to correct their errors. I will get over it but here is my caution. Please make sure you know what you are doing, BEFORE you start doing a bunch of stuff in family search. Thanks.

nuttin happenin here

I have no kids here so I am back to my boring life. I am happy to report that I picked 3 tomatoes today. And it seems that everytime I go out to my garden, I pick a small bucketfull of green beans. It is fun to watch the produce come on. And I have more corn than I can eat. I will either have to freeze some or give it away.

My garden

I forgot to mention that while Lance was here, we had an early birthday party for him. We were able to continue a family tradition of having corn on the cob from my garden. I was afraid I wouldn't have any ripe yet and we needed it a couple of days early anyway. I was happy to be able to find 4 ears for us to eat. Molly didn't think Isaac would eat any (it is a vegetable). I gave him part of a cob and he chomped the corn off from it. In fact, I had to take the cob away so he would stop eating the cob. Mark liked his piece of corn also. It may be a sad year for pumpkins. Maybe we can carve a winter squash this year. That should win an award for unique pumpkin.

Where's the camera?

I'm anxiously awaiting everyone's pictures and commentary on the 1st day of school. I hope the moms survive(d) ok.

The funniest thing happened to me yesterday at Wal-Mart. I was in the express line with just a few items and some lady who was even older than me, tells me that she is on a bus tour and she needs to go ahead of me in line. (I already have all my stuff unloaded from my cart). This lady only has 1 item. My answer was to be "no way, you can wait a minute behind me". But somewhere someone says, "sure go on ahead". I'd sure like to find whoever said that. I wasn't in a big hurry so it would be ok to let her go even though I don't understand why she had to "butt in".........there were 30 other people from her bus all over the store. Everything is ok until she decides to pay her $1.58 in pennies and did I mention that she can't count? OK, it wasn't pennies, but it was all change and she couldn't figure out how to count it. For a minute, I wondered if I was on some TV show. And if that wasn't enough, she decides to "cash in" the rest of her change too. It took her 5 minutes to check out. Then as she is leaving she asks the checker which door would be closest for her to go out. (We are in the middle of the store). The girls says, that all depends on where you are going. The lady says, "to my bus." By now I am trying my hardest to not roll on the floor laughing. Can this really be happening. This has to be some kind of set up. It was just strange. I kept looking for a hidden camera but never saw one.

What's that noise?

I can't believe that it has been a week since I have posted. So much has happened.

1st: Lance, Molly, Isaac and Mark went home Sat. After they left I sat on the couch and heard a strange noise. It was a noise that was vaguely familiar but I had not heard it for some time. I strained and listened and thought and then realized what the sound was. It was silence! It was great having everyone here but there is not much quiet with Lance, Isaac and Mark all in the house.

With this visit we became acquainted with Mark. Up until this time he has been very attached to his mom and only got upset when others tried to interfere. So I was very concerned about what I was getting myself in to by taking him away from his parents for several days. He did great. Not even one melt down. Wheew! And Mike and I got acquainted with his little personality.

1st he loves to pull funny faces. And he knows that he will get a laugh from them. And he knows how to pose for the camera.

He loves his brother and they frequently like to play together.

He does NOT like swiss chard. I was feeding him lunch and Molly told me to have him try the swiss chard. He pulled some faces and stuck his tongue out as far as he could get it, trying to get that ucky stuff off of it. It was very entertaining for the rest of us to watch.

He is a smart little guy and he is starting to figure things out. I said, "Mark your dinner is ready" and then I was surprised that he was at the table. He wanders around acting oblivious to everything, but he knows what is going on.

A 2nd example of this was when he was helping me put the silver ware away from in the dishwasher. Molly told Isaac to come give Mark a hug because Mark was going to bed. Mark took off toward Isaac and gave him a hug (still carrying the fork that he was supposed to be giving me).

We are so blessed to have good children who are trying to do what is right and everyone is healthy. And the little boys are learning and growing and developing and good kids.

A quick trip to home depot

I know I have been putting lots of pictures of the boys on here. I also know that at least the other grandparents will appreciate them and so will Steph and Dan and anybody else doesn't need to look if they don't want to see two cute little guys.

This was this morning when the boys were wide awake and wanting breakfast and the adults were still pretending it wasn't morning yet.
Mark in jail under grandma's table.

Isaac was conducting the Star Wars choir with shishkabob skewers. Mom, Dad and Grandma were the choir. And I must mention that the shiskabobs were awesome.

This morning Isaac and I went to Home Depot to get a bottle of spray to take all the manufacture-er's (so you braino people how do you spell that?) stickers off the windows. It should take 5 minutes in the store and we are off. Well.............not quite. We got to the spray and Isaac was dancing his little jig and told me he needed to go potty. Of course the restroom is totally on the other side of the store. So we go take care of Isaac's business and then go back and get the spray and then walk almost to the other side of the store again to check out. It all worked out. And my windows sure look nice with no stickers on them thanks to Lance and Molly.

I cooked some swiss chard for dinner tonight. Molly told me to give some to Mark; he likes everything. I gave him some and turned away to do something else and Molly started laughing. Mark was pulling the funniest faces. He did not like the swiss chard at all. He had it on the end of his tongue and his tongue stuck out. It was so funny that Molly had to take pictures while I gave him another bite of swiss chard. Same reaction. After the adults were done with their fun, I tried to feed Mark some rice. He was spitting it out. He wasn't sure that he wanted to eat anything else from grandma. Don't worry, he did finish all his rice.

Elko Weather

Our crazy Elko weather is at it again. It was chilly when we woke up this morning and I found out just how chilly it was when I went out to water the garden. The tops of several plants were frost bitten. It got down to 33 degrees. No watermelon or cantalope this year.

This is the update on our Lamoille hike. I got through Saturday ok. I had plenty of things that had to be done so I kept busy. A sign of old age must be slower responses to soreness; I started to get a little sore last night but when I FINALLY woke up this morning and tried to move, I hurt all over. So I just layed back down. It is a good thing that church didn't start until 11. And if church had started at 1, I'm sure I would have been having a nap.

Mark was kicked back reading a book before church. Then he had Daddy read him the comics.

Grandpa got Mark ready for church

Daddy got Isaac ready. And Grandma was working at getting herself up and ready.

I did get a couple of pictures of the boys before church. And lots of "out takes".

And Grandma taught Isaac how to slurp worms.

I'm sure I have more stories to tell but I'm too tired to think about it now. Maybe tomorrow.

I will say that we are having a good time. Steph had to go home Saturday and we miss her.

Some help that I have

So I have all my reinforcements today and they tried to KILL me!! Molly has never gone on a hike up Lamoille Canyon (for those of you who don't know it is probably the only lush, green canyon in the state of Nevada) and Steph has to go home tomorrow. So we decided to go on a hike. There is a trail that leads to many lakes. The entire trail goes something like 45 miles. We didn't quite make it that far today, however, I am extremely proud to say that we made it to Lamoille Lake. There was Lance, Molly, Steph, me, Isaac, Mark and one kid backpack..... oh and a backpack with 10 bottles of water and some of our lunch and a jacket and a small blanket (it gets chilly up there). We also had a camera, camera bag and small insulated bag with the sandwiches. There was plenty of things for everyone to carry.

We headed out on our adventure with everyone smiling. Lamoille Lake is 10 miles up and 2 miles back. Yes, I am positive that those numbers are correct. Lance carried at least one boy the whole way. He started out with Mark; Isaac was walking. Isaac made it close to a 1/2 mile before his legs gave out. We put Isaac in the backpack and took turns carrying Mark. I will admit that along the way, I seriously wondered if we could make it to the lake. But I knew Lance was determined enough and stubborn enough that he would make it, but I could wait along the way with Isaac. About 1/2 way up, the trail levels out somewhat. We made several stops along the way, but we made a long stop about 2 hrs into the hike. The boys were hungry (OK, we were all hungry, but the boys needed food). I noticed that it was 2:00. I lobbied to eat where we were. The other people wanted to eat at the lake, so our compromise was that the boys got to have a snack. I had noticed that Mark's hands and feet were pretty cold. When we stopped to rest, I put the jacket on him. His legs were still cool but I was no longer worried about frost bite. The rest and more level trail, worked wonders on me; I got my 2nd wind. I had hope again that we could make it.

There are a couple of small lakes before we got to Lamoille Lake. They qualified as a lake to me, but we pushed on. About 5 - 10 minutes away from the lake, Mark had had enough fun. He was tired and hungry. I was carrying Mark on my shoulders and he was NOT happy. We were all relieved to see the lake. It was 2:30 and 2 1/2 hrs since we'd left the parking lot. WE DID IT!!!!! We ate lunch and hung out for almost an hour. I sat and didn't move the whole time. Lance did a little walking around and took some pictures.

For the trip down, we started with Mark in the backpack. It wasn't too long before he was asleep. Isaac was invigorated and walked most of the way down the trail. He walked 2 1/2 - 3 miles today. What a guy. I can't believe that he did it. I honestly don't know how we would have made it down the trail if Isaac had not walked. The girls were all too tired to do much packing of kids.

It ended up taking us 5 hrs to go round trip. I think we did awesome. Lance was a real stud. He had a boy on his back the entire hike and had 2 boys for part of the time. Molly carried the heavy backpack the whole way up along with the baby that she always packs around. Steph was there to help out where ever needed and carried Mark for quite a while. And me, I got me to the top. Watch for pictures tomorrow. None of us plan to do much of anything tomorrow.

Day 5 The party's over

We all survived another day. These silly boys wanted to talk to mom and dad on the computer this morning so I skyped them. When it started ringing, Mark came running saying mama. It's crazy the technology that a one yr old knows.

Steph was off playing with her friend this afternoon and Mike was tired and needed a nap so I took both boys to cub scouts with me. We were playing in the gym so I thought the boys would enjoy running around and playing. Mark started crying when we got out of the car and he saw other people. (Why is it that Mark is so brave when it comes to climbing on things and jumping off things and Isaac is so afraid but Mark is afraid of strangers and Isaac has always been a little social butterfly.) So I had to stand and hold Mark for most of den meeting. Isaac was playing with one of the boys and having a great time. As we were leaving the church and walking to get the car, then Mark decides that he wants to play instead of getting in the car. I can't wait until he turns 2.

Isaac knows all about Grandma's garden. He really likes the peas.
Oh and did I mention that the MOM and DAD came to see us tonight. 2 little boys were very excited. And it was a whole hour until Isaac was in BIG trouble with mom. I had to remind Isaac that we have to be good now the big bad wolf is here.

Isaac and Mark were finishing dinner when mom and dad came. Isaac was saying something and we were trying to guess what he was saying. Then we realized he said it's Thursday. He was told that mom and dad would come on Thur. We were impressed.

I really have had a good time with the boys. I have been very busy, but nap time is wonderful. I can't believe that I never napped when my kids were little. I think age is beginning to catch up with me. I do know that I am getting OAO. Old and Ornery.

Day 4 Reinforcements

Steph showed up last night. I'm not sure if her main intent was to rescue the boys or to rescue Grandma but it really doesn't matter. Actually I think that it was an opportunity for her to play with the boys and she never passes up a chance at that.

I think the big news for today started with a phone call a couple of days ago. I have been in the new house for 3 months and waiting for someone to come make some final repairs. They called and wanted to make those repairs Wed. Of course they would. I have 2 extra little boys, my house is a total mess and things are chaos, sure come work on my house. To top things off, the guy shows up at my house just as breakfast was ready and I needed to feed the boys. The repair man wanted me to show him the needed repairs. I'm very glad that Steph was here to feed the boys.

The repairman spent the whole day fixing things and did a good job. He has just a couple of things to finish up tomorrow then he will be done. And I got my garage door fixed this morning so I can drive my car.

The boys had a good day. Mark woke up from his afternoon nap after only an hour. He was still tired but didn't want to sleep and I didn't want him to wake up Isaac. We played a fun little game. I would throw the ball and he would get it and bring it back to me. Mike's dogs never did figure out that game. Isaac slept for almost 3 hours. At 4:00 Mark was really having a hard time so I decided to let him nap for a bit. I was concerned with how grumpy he would be when I woke him up, but he was ok.

Both boys were tired at dinner time and dinner started off with both of them crying. The big difference between today and yesterday is that when the 2 yr old didn't want to eat dinner, I just said "fine, I don't care what you eat." I honestly don't know what he ate but he did like the fish and he did ok. Mark was so sleepy that he didn't eat very much. Now that is tired! He will be hungry in the morning, but I'm pretty sure that he won't starve to death over night.

Both boys were crying by the time they got out of the tub so it was time to skype mom and dad. The boys quickly calmed down. Grandma got yelled out for Mark being up too later. Sometimes mom's just doesn't understand.

So both boys got dressed, ate 3 meals, played outside a couple of times, had naps, had a bath and went to bed. Guess it was another successful day.

Day 3 Grandma VS the 2 year old

Isaac woke up totally dry this morning. Yipee. But we did have a potty run at 3:30 AM but that was ok. Isaac was grumpy this morning and crying just because. I can do naughty little boys but I don’t do crying just cuz I want to. I was ready to send him away but he left the kitchen. I went to check on him and he had put himself in the naughty corner without me saying anything. After he got things under control, he came back out and everything was ok. Good job mom and dad. We are going to bed close to on time and getting our naps, but there is lots to do at grandma’s so we are both kinda tired. The boys are both taking long naps.

Isaac had a little run-in with Mark and I had to discipline him. Life for a grandma can be tough. But we got it all worked out and Isaac promised to be nice to Mark for the rest of his life so that problem is solved.

We got waffles with syrup today. Anything tastes good with syrup on it. This is Isaac being strong.
This is Mark being strong. When I said the blessing this morning I blessed the food to make us strong. I heard Mark grunt. I had to peek. Yep, he was doing his STRONG pose and he pulls this funny face. At least I know that he was listening.

What a bod.

2 cute boys

Today's ice cream cone. He decided to eat the bottom first so I had to spoon feed him the ice cream first.

Isaac didn't need any help

Both boys were happy with this bike arrangement

We did good today but I am NOT the model granny that I may be portraying. They are here. I feed them, I bath them, I fight with the 2 yr old because I want to be a control freak and he wants to be a 2 yr old. In the end he does what he wants and I am learning that that is ok.

We had a bit of an episode this morning. I fell asleep on the couch this morning. I was so tired but I thought I had an idea of what was going on, until I opened my eyes and Isaac said that he needed to go poo and the 30 min TV show that was just starting was over and another one was on. I got a glimpse of Isaac as he walks by and he is naked from the waist down AND there is poop on his bum. Great! What kind of a mess do I have. He takes me to my bathroom where he had taken his stool and he had taken care of business in the potty all by himself without his potty "booster seat". I can't believe that he was that brave. He had wiped his bum or at least put TP in the toilet. I'm glad that the roll was almost empty I don't know how much he would have used. Wheeew! I got out of a mess and he is working on his independence. Oh and then I asked him where his underwear was. He took me to the garbage. I'm not sure if he thought it was the dirty clothes hamper.

One more tidbit. My garage door is broken and it is shut and my car is in the garage. I get to try to find someone to work on it tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more adventures.