It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

So I don't do different themed trees every year. It's not my thing and you know it.

This is this year's ginger bread house. I try something new every year. I could have done more with it, but I didn't feel like making up more icing. I am old and cranky. I know, tell you something you don't know.

This is how much snow we had yesterday. But now it has sort of warmed up and the snow that was predicted was more like drizzly rain. But the roads are clearing up We still have some snow.

I am so excited to have my family home for Christmas. I think I am about ready for the big holiday season.

If you notice you can't see much except the lights. That's because I shot this at night. Duh.

Iowa is just two full states away

Do you have any idea how hard it
is to wrangle all five kids into one
candid shots? They are always
busy.

Rodney Kael likes to watch Japanese cartoon adventures. Gavan prefers U-Tube homemade Lego adventures. Groan. Art is Aspen's life. Her parents would do well to invest in a paper mill. Valencia doesn't let Grandpa out of her sight, except in this picture. (She was still asleep.) Jaiden's favorite activity was sleeping on Grandpa's shoulder.


The three girls can't wait to pose. The two youngest girls are blue eyed. Betcha couldn't tell that?

Don't ask me where Rodney Kael was when this was shot. Aspen has a dress that is a sister dress as well, but that thing came off from her the second she walked in the door from church.

Originally Dad thought we could take a truck to Iowa and do Thanksgiving at Sharon's as part of a run. As usual at the last possible moment it didn't work out, so we drove the little black car and had a normal vacation type visit. We had a lovely uneventful trip traveling. We made it through five audio books.

We had fun in Iowa! Every road leads to the mall so Sharon and I had no choice but to follow them.

Dad unscrambled Rodney Kael's Rubik's cube and spent his time with the kids. Dad and I were introduced to the boardgame Ticket to Ride. Sharon kicks butt unless her Dad plays.

Our Trip to South Carolina

I really enjoyed my time in South Carolina. It's another of those here's a tree, there's a tree states. In fact you can't see many sights because the trees get in the way.

I loved the Carolinas Coastal Fair. It was a lot like the EISF except they had a shortage of weirdos. Maybe we should import some for them??? There was this huge Brahma bull there that everyone was playing with. I found it peculiar that they'd have him where everyone could maul him. That's about the time Trevor pointed out he was missing some vital parts, and I took a second look and Trevor was right, it wasn't a Brahma bull after all. And he wasn't a cow either for the really dense people who read this. And who did we say was the Animal Scientist???

We had a nice family visit and played hard with the little girls. Thanks Trevor and Dorothy for letting us come. Dad only got a four day visit. I stayed 10 days.

Scarlett Rose

I thought you'd like to see the blessing photos.

And the Beets Go on and on and on and on. . .

I climbed the pile of beets to get these photos. It's 40 feet of unstable mountain to get up here. Before they started trucking them out the pile used to stretch nearly a mile long.

We can unload an entire truck in two minutes and we have no breaks in between. While one is unloading, another truck is backing in and preparing to go. This year we set a new grounds record. We unloaded 1349 trucks in one day. We averaged 1300 per day. Most trucks come in once every hour. And we have four different pilers running.

This is my home away from home. When we say it's a tare shack, we aren't kidding.

Dashing through the piling yard in a semi with bad brakes!

That was just the first line of one of the songs that Brianne Hillman and I tortured our guys with. It goes to the tune of Jingle Bells. The chorus is:

Beets smell

Beets smell

Beets taste really bad.

We don't think anyone should eat beets, but sugar's really rad.

We spent three weeks working 14 and half hour days. It was my seventh season and yeah, I'll go back next year.

The latest wedding cake

This is what they asked for.

Mom and Dad do Yellowstone Park

I didn't tell anyone we were going to Yellowstone because I didn't know we were going until 4 p.m. on Wednesday. I had just stepped out of Cody Jones' office. He took over Matsuura's biz as our eye doctor. Anyway here I am with dialated pupils and blind as a bat and Dad says, come on up to Idaho Falls and ride with me. Luckily the car knew it's way because I couldn't see to drive.

We took just the tractor, or the semi cab. Brent's boss had forgotten he had to have a van (semi trailer) out of the park by the next morning, so Dad saved his bacon.

It is illegal to take a semi into Yellowstone Park. There are signs everywhere telling you that. But they had to get the building materials up there for the new remodeling jobs they just finished and the van we were going after had had insulation in it.

We didn't have to pay to get into the park either. I liked that part. We are illegal plus we were dead beats. My type of trip.

We didn't miss out on anything much with the usual experience except there weren't all that many license plates from exotic spots. Dang. I loved being up high in the truck and being able to look way out over the scenery.

Yes we saw mangy buffalo and retarded elk. We didn't stick around for any of the gorings from the tourists who were all trying to touch them. I know, those were the pictures you were hoping to see.

Getting High on the Fragrance

Does our street have a name or just numbers?

We have discovered the way to have a fabulous hanging basket for the entire summer. All I had to do was pull out this little piece of paper and write an obscene number on it and I got this plant.

The Flowers of Tanner Lane

Your Dad has a green thumb. So do you like this year's cat food supplier?

This is so sad???

Deuce's favorite color is officially lilac

Furniture Shopping

Dad has got his newest toy all set up in the basement. It has satellite capabilities, surround sound, DVD, VHS and whatever else makes your Dad's heart sing. The only problem is that it is sitting on a card table I got super cheap and I'm freaking out. Trevor gave us a great television stand, but it's way too big for it.

Any way I decided to check out furniture stores today. Especially after your Dad spent the weekend on a folding chair watching Camelot. He has moved the pool table and stuff so he has an entire room that's empty except for his one little folding chair.

First of all I checked out television stands. The one I liked best and was most affordable was reduced 50 percent to $400 at Blackfoot Appliance. Then I decided to check out something to sit on. Deseret Industries did have couches for $20. However they'd need fumigated. I don't think so. My couch is 12 years old so I decided I could maybe get a new one (compliments of the little blue card I keep in special zipped pocket in my purse) and move the old one downstairs.

There are only three choices for couches in the four furnitures stores I checked out today. First of all there is the ever popular cheap special. These look weird and you can't quite decide what's wrong with them. Most of them are only $200 to $350. All I can say is Huh? (I know I could have probably haggled them to go lower with the screaming yellow one.) Next there is leather. I found today that I tend to slip when sitting on leather and before long and I'm sliding towards the edge. The more expensive the leather, the faster I slide. The third choice is a new one to me. It is the micro fiber that looks like textured leather. The jury is still out on whether I like this stuff of not. The real problem with it is that the two recliner type couches all come in this fabric. I did run into a totally breath takingly beautiful couch. I sat on it and I had to keep sitting back to try and find a back rest and when I did, my feet came off the floor about a foot and this couch doesn't even recline. Oh well.

I have no clue what we are going to sit on. We did the sofa mart in Idaho Falls after I did Blackers, Blackfoot Appliance, and O'Dell's.

When Dad got home I found out he had found a television stand he really liked in Wal Mart in Idaho Falls. They are getting ready to remodel the Blackfoot Wal Mart so it is really the outhouse at the moment.

We decided to go shopping for Family Home Evening. We finally found a television stand we could agree on. It's a Sauder's box model. It was $200 off at Shopko. It's black. I don't really like black, but you Dad does. It has a post thing that holds the television above the stand. Dad thinks it's cool.

Standing just a few feet away was this fantastic storage closet thing that I could stick all my craft crap in that's stacked in the guest bedroom. It was reduced down from $148 to $38. Dad's putting it together now as I type because it's easier to assemble than his television stand.

Any way I am open to ideas about what to sit on in the basement. I thought the new couch thing had merit, but I'm baffled where to shop for something I'd like in the livingroom. The Victorian couches I love must not be in style any more. Oh well they were not at all comfy. There are great sectionals, but one won't fit in the livingroom and it's only fair I get a new upstairs couch. Right?

Feel free to comment.

Golf Whatever We Are???

To celebrate our anniversary weekend, Dad and I went golfing. We have been really frugal this summer so this was our first time out in 2009. It's up to $22 bucks for 18 and $17 for nine.

I want to thank everyone who is responsible for me looking fabulous. I may not be the world's greatest golfer, but I look like I might be? For those keeping track I had on a pretty yellow and blue golf shirt, compliments of Sharon, my year old comfortable sparkling white golf shoes and glove from your Dad, a wonderful year old golf cart from Ryan and Santa came through with my new pink and black golf bag. The inside seams of the Dockers I had on have seen better days, but no one looks at me that close. My year old putter and I were having issues, but it is way gorgeous. Looks are everything, right?

Brent hit every tree on the front nine. All he had to do was pull back to swing and all the trees would jump right in front of his golf ball. I thought one tree had actually eaten his ball, but it eventually rolled out of the giant pine tree. The back nine trees stayed in place. They must have used different varieties on the latter addition to the course.

I played a really good game of golf. I even had one hole that I boogied completely honestly. Otherwise I only cheated on 17 holes. Mostly I played best ball. If they are going to insist on selling golf balls in packages of three they must mean for me to use all of them as often as possible. Right? I have found using the really long tees help, but they are history after one use. Dad has no clue I go through so many tees. He uses one for an entire round.

Dad was remarkable on the back nine. He shot a 44. I was impressed. Espeicially considering how many trees he hit on the ninth hole. It was a new personal best record for him.

With my unique and totally honest scoring method it turned out that I had 101 on 18 holes and Dad shot a 94. I only used my foot wedge once. I know. You are so proud of your mother's integrity. If your Dad decides to change career he is promising as a hockey goalie. He's really good at snagging my wayward putts and saving my bacon.

I know all of you want to be with us playing golf, so being bored silly by dear old Mom is the next best thing.

Happy 34th Anniversary

Weeks ago I dropped off my wedding rings to have some repairs done. I patiently waited and called at intervals to check on the progress of the work. Yesterday I called and asked about setting up a visitation schedule since I would be celebrating my anniversary without my rings. Twenty-four hours later the repairs are complete and the ring is on my finger.

The Bridges of Palisades Creek

We each grabbed a 1.77 pint bottle of water and some chocolate bars and went looking for adventure. Dad really wanted to make it all the way to the first Palisades Lake. I thought we should hike for about two hours and turn back. As it turned out we did the three bridges and called it a day after an hour and a half. There were several reasons for this decision. 1. I didn't want to do the final steep climb up to the lake because I am a wuz. 2. The trail was mucky in places and after the final bridge it became a swamp. 3. I didn't want to recover from climbing up, then coming down from the hard part.

The highlight of our trip off the mountain were the two boys aged about 12 or 13. They had on 20 pound packs and couldn't figure out why they couldn't manage to keep ahead of the fat woman, carrying an empty water bottle. It only took an hour and 10 minutes to get off the mountain.

Mom and Dad Do Palisades

We went camping. We had fun. I'm not kidding.We took the boat up to join Hawkes and Dwayne Bell at Palisades Creek Camp Ground. The weather has been HOT for weeks. This weekend it decided it was tired of being hot and did the cool and drizzly thing. Dad and I did manage to sleep rather warm, our only problem was that we were on a slant and I kept rolling into Dad and trying to push him off the mattress. Smart parents would have got up in the middle of the night and moved the mattress to the middle of our huge empty tent. We didn't. We were warm and didn't want to get cold. I'd worry about the genes all of you inherited.It was too mucky to take the boat out. John wanted to do the Cheese Factory. Everyone else wanted to go fishing. Dwayne needed to go home and went. Dad and I decided to hike.

Things I don't comprehend

Your Dad got a few dollars of inheritance. I told him he could spend it any way he wanted to. So today he brought home something I can't for the life of me understand. It is sitting in an unfinished basement. It is a 52 inch LCD whatever, as if I care. To use it will require ripping out the satellite receiver from our bedroom. It is so comfortable to lie on the bed and watch television. Why would anyone want to sit on a folding chair on cold cement to watch television? He thinks he will motivate me to finish the walls in the basement. It took me a month to do each of the bedrooms. I break out crying every time I think of the sanding involved.

I guess he got a spectacular buy on his toy????

Your kids have a new second cousin

Congratulations to Amy on providing another second cousin for your children. I find that to be very thoughtful. You can never have too many second cousins. Amy and Phil named number three after Dad and Ryan. Yes, the baby's name is Ellis. If you want to know how the baby is related to you, she is a first cousin once removed. Much easier to refer to her as your children's second cousin.

Tammy checks out Blackfoot

Tammy (Elison) Sikora and her two children, Kenny and Adrienne got to spend the day with us on Thursday. They live in Florida and flew out to visit Layne and Rosalinda.

Her children are Rodney Kael and Gavan's ages and I kept thinking how much fun they would have together.

We had lunch at Rupe's and ran to Idaho Falls to do a little shopping.

Mom and Dad do Arizona

Dad called me at noon and asked me if I could be ready by four to go to Phoenix. My friend Connie took my primary class. I think she is still talking to me? We had a lovely uneventful time traveling. Okay, so the roads were full of deer on our way home between Kanab and the junction to I 15. We didn't pick up any hood ornaments. Whew.

Greg is driving this really hot fully loaded SUV while his car is in the shop. We were chauffuered in style.

We had a lovely 24 hours with Greg, Allie and LoraLee. Well worth the drive and swollen ankles.

Now to get loads to DesMoines and Charlotte????

Our first pay to get in baseball game

What is a Chukar? When we lived in Oregon it was this really noisy little bird that had about 20 babies at a time and they’d all go down to the water to drink in Hell’s Canyon about the time the fish were biting. Some of the mighty hunters loved to brag about shooting them even though it’s much neater and sweeter and cheaper just to pick up a nice fresh chicken at the grocery store. With WalMart chickens, one of Bill Clinton’s Arkansas relatives would have killed it, plucked, and cleaned it for you. Most of all it would taste like chicken, as that’s exactly what Chukar tastes like. And you wouldn’t break off any teeth on the buckshot that a legally hunted Chukar would be full of. Like I talk from experience or anything.

Chukars is the name of the Idaho Falls sort of semi-pro baseball team. Dad and I got invited to have dinner and watch a game last night with one of Andrus’s big customer’s annual shindig for their employees. We got there early and both got FREE incredibly cool Chukar baseball hats. I love mine. It is so cool and the little picture of the little annoyingly noisy bird isn’t overwhelming. In fact when you see my great hat you will be asking what in the *#!!@! Is that a picture of on your hat? If you say *#!!@! To my face I will be forced to wash out your mouth with soap. As we all know only Mom is allowed to say naughty words with no consequences. And don’t you forget it.

The hardest part of watching the game from the best seats in the house was the three oversized ADHD minority brats that kept blocking my view. (Please note I didn’t say barn sized Mexicans.) Dad and I got there before they did as if that helped. They were incapable of staying seated. I spent most of the night leaning against the wall watching the game. Okay, so we only stayed until the top of the fifth. The massive siblings weren’t there for anything but the food and to make me hate them.

I was disappointed that the Chukars or the other team didn’t play any better than Trevor’s pony league baseball team. In fact Trevor’s team would have beaten either team. These guys were not very good. The high light of the night was a guy breaking his baseball bat. No one was hurt. I don’t think he even got on base with his hit. The high school girl who sang the national anthem was pretty good as well. The field ump was blinder than I was. Dad wouldn't let me lend him my glasses. He needed them.

I have now been to a professional-ish game. I suspect Potandon who were our hosts doesn’t feed it’s help very well because I’ve never seen a group eat so much as these folks did. I will now have nightmare about the stuffed chicken mascot who chased little kids around and made them cry. Our group getting him to ourselves must have been part of the package.

Next time for $3 I can sit in the stands, get a sunburn and hopefully avoid those people who think they won’t get drunk drinking supersized cans of Lite beer.

Fourth of July Plans Bomb

Our original 4th of July plans were to stay home and do yard work. Dad came home on Wednesday and said we could go to Phoenix for the fourth because there was a load no one else wanted. He had even arranged a FAST reload? Like that ever happens. Everything is a go. Dad even calls me while I'm picking up his perscription in Wal Mart to tell me he's on his way to pick me up and it's only 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

I came home and sat on the porch waiting for him to pull up with the truck and he didn't come and he didn't come. Finally I checked the phone to see if he had tried to call me and there was a call for 2:06. Since he had left his cell phone home, (again) the only way to reach him was to call his direct number and I reached Bryce his boss instead. Bryce informed me we would only get as far as Layton this weekend. He had given our load to someone else.

We had only got out of the driveway when we got another call and we ended up going to Layton, Utah and back to Butte, Montana where we got to sleep for five hours before driving home. For those without a built in road map Layton Utah is 120 mile to the south and Butte is 220 miles to the north of Blackfoot.

Right now I'm making homemade potato salad before we run into Blackfoot to see about buying a steak to grill. I even have a brand new bottle of A 1. Futher plans for the day include laying on the trampoline and seeing if there is a good view of Blackfoot Fireworks.

Happy Fourth of July. When I was a little kid I was told that going to the parade in Victor and going to the fireworks in Driggs was really celebrating my birthday. Do I really look dumb enough to believe that?

My trip to Arizona

Arizona wasn't as hot as usual. It never reached 100 degrees while I was there. 98 degrees, yes. 100 degrees, no. I had a lovely visit. LoraLee doesn't act anything at all like her Daddy. Whew!

I did it again

Just when you think I can't get any dumber, I do the same ridiculous thing twice.

Dad and I fell in love with the perfect blooms on the hibiscus plants in Home Depot garden center. The price was right.

Two days later when I reach in the bag to replant the thing outside the blooms are still perfect. I am feeling so good about our choice. Then I find I can't get the paper with the information about the plant off from the flowers. The little critter is on there pretty tight and I am not pulling anything off from the blooming plant. Hark! It hits me. It's plastic.

The plant is real enough underneath, but they had stuck fake blooms on top of the leaves. Oh, well at least I'll have one perfect plant among my flowers.

For those of you who have forgotten, I watered the poinsetta my visiting teaching brought me for Christmas until March. That's when Ryan pointed out it was plastic.

Pictured are the couple and Moria, Cyrus's sister

Your cousin Desiree got married May 29.

The groom's name is Jake Twist.

Your cousin Travis reproduced. His daughter was born May 19 and her name is LeeAnna Brooke. Cute name if you ask me.

The twins turned 50 today. Since I am only 39 this is rather awkward. Mary is on the left and Marie is on your right.

Here we go again

This is a chocolate cake. It has about three inches of frosting on it. When I was doing the styro foam layer on the bottom I put pina colada flavoring in the icing so I could bear to lick my fingers. It turned out I had left over icing with the fruity flavoring so I stuck it between layers on the layer they are going to cut tonight. The rest of the cake has rum flavored icing. I'm curious to see if they comment on the yummy frosting. I am so awful. We left before they cut it.

Her colors were red, yellow and orange. Not my favorite combination.

Bobi didn't get a chance to lick the frosting on this cake. She did attempt to climb onto the top of the piano though. And she almost made it. Dang dog. She is the only one in the family that will eat decorating icing.

Mom and Dad

I thought since we had our own blog we had better put up a current photo. This photo is untouched. We really are adorable!

When Sharon sat up my blog she said I had to be careful about what kind of stuff I put on my blog. So the first thing I could think of, was I had to post a naked picture. So here for your viewing pleasure is a picture of naked Bobi. Note she isn't wearing her collar. She had just had a bath and was streaking through the house.

For Mom

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