My February Fun

On January 28th Hillary and her boys met the Redhead Express at the Living Planet Aquarium in Draper, Utah, where we all enjoyed this wonderful living museum of the seas, rivers and lakes of Utah and the world, and where I was dropped off to spend the next several weeks helping Hillary and Jake and the boys.

  

I had not seen J.J. in several months, but he was happy to see Grandma and Grandpa (.. and this frog). 

Cody, Alisa and Rachel had a grand ole' time with the plastic Orca!

  

J.J. was rather fond of the baby Orca.

J.J., Rachel, Hyram and G~ having a great time!

 

The next 21 days Darryl spent in Sandpoint, Idaho with Cody and the Walker family where he remodeled a small bus into a mini- motor home. My days were a flurry of helping Hillary, Z-man, G~, and J.J. with therapy, pre-school, Dentist and Dr. appointments and so much more.

 

Z-man was my morning buddy!

Hillary was very sick for part of this time... poor Mama. 

But she got lots of loving to make her feel better.

Look, She feels better already!

We took the boys shopping one Saturday. They love to eat the samples..

 

And for a treat Daddy buys them a corn dog and french fries!

The last week of February found me up in Idaho staying with Cali and Jesse and playing with the Grandkids. To celebrate her 100th day of school, Parker had to dress up like she was 100 yrs. old. 

We put powder in her hair to make it look gray, gave her a cane, purse, shawl and glasses. I think she had fun! 

I also went to the Cub Scout Blue and God banquet with Gideon, Cali and Parker. It love Cub Scouts!

It was February in Idaho, so of course it snowed. Tyree was showing me how high the snow drifts used to be. Looks plenty high to me right now!

I felt bad that Jesse had to get the snow blower out to clear the drive before she could leave. To her it's no big deal, just something she does. It was very, very cold when I was there.

I sure do miss these kids when I am not with them, but I must confess that after a month of cold weather and snow I was more than happy to be going to Plant City, Florida to be with Darryl and enjoy the Strawberry Festival with Cody, Alisa, Rachel and the Walker Family.

The Perils of Falling Behind

My mom told us to never use the word 'hate'. It is such a, negative word and does nothing to engender feelings of hope, but today I am going to use that word to describe what I am feeling. 

I HATE TO FALL BEHIND! 

Yes, there is it, I said it, and I must say I do feel very strongly about this. It used to be a simple dislike when I was a young mother and the things I seemed to fall behind the most in were laundry and dishes. In a matter of a few days you would run out of clean dishes to use or clean clothes to wear and you came to a point where you knew it couldn't get worse, or that you couldn't fall further behind, so you bit the bullet and spent the day doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen, then pulled an all-nighter getting the 20+ loads of Laundry washed, dried, folded and put away. The things I 'Hate' to fall behind on now are different. They seem to be more important things that have no end and keep piling on more and more. 

For instance:

1. Birthdays, Graduations, weddings and other Greetings: Am I the only person that buys cards and even gift cards with every intention of mailing them off, then fall behind and never get it done? The other day while cleaning out a computer bag I found a graduation card for my nephew that I remembered purchasing for his High School Graduation. I'm a little late - He graduated from college 2 yrs. ago. ;-/ I have done the same thing with weddings, even finding a wedding gift card in my desk and three wedding invitations and not remembering who didn't get their gift card. *sigh*

2. Scripture Study: In January of 2016 I set a goal to read the entire Old Testament in Chronological Order in one year along with keeping up with my regular Sunday School and personal study. In April of 2016 I got off track. I  kept my personal study up, but floundered trying to catch up with my Old Testament and Sunday School. Finally, sometime in June I gave up on the Old Testament. There is a silver lining to this one - My 1 year mark of quitting is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I decided to start where I left off and finish it for 2017. Wish me luck. 

3. Fitness: I love to feel good and healthy. I even love walking, jogging and doing some work outs, but when I get behind and skip a few exercises, .... Okay, a week or so of exercises, it is so easy just to give in and eat away my disgust in myself with that half a pan of bread pudding or have that second cup of decadent homemade hot cocoa and not exercise for several weeks/months. When I finally do get on the scale I am up 10, 15, okay.... 27 pounds! UGH! Then I realize the work that is ahead of me to get in shape and realize I HATE this part and trying to lose the weight and start the whole exercise, eat right, fitness routine over again, a little slower, a little older, but I fear not a whole lot wiser. 

4. My Blog: Here it is, May 15th and I am just beginning to put up posts from February and March. It was ever so much simpler when I would post once a week and keep everything up to date, but now I have over 100 photos to go through and try to decide what is most important to share so I can get caught up. 

Someday I am sure I will learn my lesson and be more timely in all that I do. Until then, I hope you enjoy your late greetings and I will work to enjoy my study, fitness and blogging as best I can. Take care all and take a lesson from this old gal. It pays in all kinds of personal ways to be timely in all you do. 

On the Road With The Redheads!

The weather in the Keys was almost perfect while we were there, I have the photos to prove it. 

The sun was shining, the temps were in the low 80's with a light breeze. ..

We enjoyed every minute of it. Of course, it only took it about 30 minutes one afternoon to go from almost cloudless and sunny to this...

Strong winds and thunderstorms blowing in.  It was still wonderful!

On Sunday after church the girls had a jam session with some friends from another band, The Doerfels. They were working on a new song Kendra wrote, and the finished product is beautiful!

After that we hit the road for real.

I just want all the baby-boomers out there to know that "Shirley Partridge" (Jones) lied to us back in the early 70's family show "The Partridge Family". They made going on the road and singing look like a walk in the park. All fun, no real labor or work. No hours of rehearsal, singing at the top venues, never hauling any heavy equipment, enjoying riding all day in a school bus that wasn't even converted, and audiences that adore you (well, that last part seems to be true), no late nights loading equipment and then trying to get some sleep in a crowded bus / motorhome as it moves down the highway. 

Darryl and I set out with the Redhead Express, Walker boys and family on the 9th of January. This show business world is a lot more  work than you would know. First stop was Tampa where we dropped off my mini-van, did some much needed grocery shopping and took a break for a little fun.  We went to the skate park for the guys to work off some energy and Darryl took the opportunity to help little Rachel learn to use a skateboard.

The next afternoon found us at Destin Beach, Florida where we enjoyed the sun, sand and sound of the waves. It was a little too windy and the water a little chilly for me to swim.

Little Rachel's best buddy is "Dah-woh" as she calls her Grandpa Darryl, and they are pretty much inseparable.

The enjoyed hunting for shells on the beach..

I just enjoyed the sun and the view. Rachel and her Mama thought they would test the water, but after one cold splash changed their minds.

We left and drove for the next 24 hours to our next gig. Back to their roots and the RV Park where it all started 10 yrs ago for the Walker Family and the Redhead Express.

An RV park musicians, specifically "Pickers" where the girls and their brothers learned some timeless skills on playing their instruments.

A potluck dinner then a concert by the Redheads and Walker boys followed by a couple of hours of "Pickin' and singing" with these wonderful and very talented people!

I've gotta get me one of these shirts, .....   Right Cody?

We spent the night in Houston, and while we were there we went to the temple. A little peace amid the sometimes chaos of the world that tries to engulf us.

After that things got really busy, and interesting... They bought a new, bigger trailer to haul all of their equipment in so the small white trailer could be used for costume and personal items. 

We picked the shiny black trailer up on Saturday and the very next day, while traveling to South Texas, this happened.

 Yes, while traveling to south Texas we were rear ended on the interstate while driving more than 70 mph. We were hit so hard that it knocked the trailer off the hitch and into the Mini-bus that was pulling it.

 No one was hurt, thank the Lord, but my Ruckus and Darryl's motorcycle, which were in the back of the trailer were totaled, and all of the personal items and costumes had to be moved to the new trailer. It was such a great blessing that all the sound equipment and instruments were in the new trailer and we were able to soldier on to the next concert. You know the saying:

"The show must go on!"

And go on it did. We did several sold out concerts at RV parks and retirement communities in central and south Texas and in Arizona, but we were so busy I neglected to take any photos.

The travel/ performance schedule is something like this. -

7- 9 a.m. - Everyone one is up, showered and has breakfast. Last minute laundry is finished.

5 hours before showtime - Load in all equipment and set up stage, sound equipment and video screens, tune all instruments.

( During this time the girls are taking care of children, put away laundry, fixing food, putting on make-up and deciding on wardrobe for the day.)

1 1/2 hours before show time - Sound check. Set up merchandise. 

Showtime - Girls onstage with lots of energy, Boys ready to go onstage. 

 (Those not on stage performing are running sound and merchandise, helping to watch children, fixing dinner, cleaning, running last minute errands, and anything else that is needing to be done.)

Rest for a couple of hours between shows.

Second Show - Keep the energy up and put on a great show again!

20 minutes after showtime - start packing up instruments, video screens, sound equipment and the miles of cords. Pack up Merchandise when the crowd is gone. Average time - 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Pack up and head back to the RV park (if you're lucky to have your next show in the same area) or hit the road for an all night drive to your next performance. 

 Darryl and I enjoying the sunset on our walk in lovely Surprise, Arizona.

For 7 weeks Darryl and I travel with the band and I don't think I have ever been so tired. This experience was fun, exhausting, exhilarating and I would do it again in a heartbeat (after I get a month or two to rest!).