Hillary's Birthday

On Friday August 18th, Hillary and Jake piled their boys and Miss Slippers into the car and headed north to Idaho (along with an estimated 80,000 other Utah residents) to watch the Great American Solar Eclipse! On Saturday the 19th we celebrated her 29th birthday with a little party at Jesse and Kelly's.

I can't believe that my baby girl is  29 already? Wow, where does the time go?

She had lot's of help blowing out candles on her carrot cake.

Everybody smile!

"Grandpa! Hurry up and cut the cake!"

It suddenly got very quiet ... Hmmmm.

Zman had no problem feeding himself some of the delicious birthday cake.

Cali got Hillary some great J.R.R. Tolkien presents and Jesse made her this adorable fairy garden.

Darryl and I bought her a rice cooker, but the best gift we gave her was this blue tub that she packed up with treasures close 20 years ago! We found it deep in the storage room and decided to return it to her. Oh, the treasures she found! School papers, books, a doll, a Polly Pocket watch and even some Christmas Chocolates!

We found this sweet picture of baby Hillary in the tub. This was when she was about 5 months old.

Little Zman sure looks a lot like his mommy! 

Jman disappeared for a short while. We went to look for him and found him watching TV with Slippers. 

It was a fun birthday and the weather was beautiful for playing.

We even played a couple exciting games of Corn Hole before the day was over! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HILLARY BOO BEAR!

Utah and Idaho Travels and Happenings

On Satruday August 12th we drove from Denver to Utah and spent the night with Hillary, Jake and the boys. 

When we got to Cheyenne they had Interstate 80 closed between Cheyenne and Laramie so we had to take Highway 210 through the Medicine Bow National Forest. What a breathtaking and beautiful drive this was. After driving this interstate for the last 20 years I can't believe I had never taken this route and enjoyed these beautiful vistas! I was really grateful we had this detour.

Next time I want to take time to stop and stay for a while!

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Darryl met Jman's PTSD and Therapy Service dog for the first time and was stunned at how big she is. He had fun playing with her though.

There was a bonus for us in our visit as our granddaughter Emily Guffey was visiting Utah with her Aunt Heather, Grandma Dru and Cousin Caitlin and she had come by to spend the night. After the little boys had gone to bed I took a little time to hold my first grandchild. 

We went to church with the family Sunday morning before leaving for Idaho in the evening.

Grandma was sure happy to see her little boys! They love to take selfies with me.

Well, maybe not Zman, but the J-Man and G-Man love it! 

Hillary has been having fun playing with hair colors. First she bleached out her hair and used a beautiful blue temporary color and then she went red. Well, maybe a magenta/red mix. It looks cute on her!

J-man didn't want me to go, but he gave me some sweet goodbye kisses anyway.

We stayed at Jesse and Kelly's in Blackfoot when we arrived in Idaho. Tyree and Clancy and I played all week. We would ride bikes and take wagon rides.

While we were back in Idaho, Darryl and I took the opportunity to clean out and organize a couple of our storage units. As we travel around the world for work people will ask us where our home is and we always tell them in 4 storage units in Idaho. 😉

This summer I've had an ailment I've never experienced before, and I'm not sure what brings it on, but it started in July. I have bursitis in my left ankle, and when it flares up I can't stand or walk on it! 

It flared up last week and left me nearly useless for 24 hours. When a flare up happens I ice it, take some pain relievers and keep it elevated as much as possible and after 24 - 48 hours I can walk on it again... with little limp. It's usually 2 or three day until the pain is completely gone. Back in  February of 2011 I broke my left fibula just above the ankle and it didn't hurt nearly as bad as the bursitis does.

Well, this time after the flare up and me taking it easy, next day the pain in my ankle was gone but there was an unexplained bruise and swelling on the top of my foot and it was a little tender. Go figure.  

We are going to be here in Idaho for the next week or so as Darryl has meetings at Dome Technology and we get our next work assignment. Until then I will play with my grandchildren, visit friends, do some mending and sewing and try to make myself useful!

Taking a Travel break - Rachel and the Fishies

From August 5, 2017
I know this post is out of order, I should have put it in right before the wedding but I forgot about these pictures, so I'll put it in here to break up the travel tales.
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It wouldn't be a complete visit to Indiana if we didn't stop for a few minutes at Chuck's Koi pond and see the beautiful fish. All the little ones love to watch the fish and Uncle Chuck will let them throw fish food into the pond and watch them eat. 

On the day of Clint's wedding we took Rachel to see all the fishies! She counted them for her daddy. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5!..."

There were always 5 fishies even though there are about 30 in the pond!

"Look at that pretty one daddy! Orange!"

A relaxing moment with her daddy!

She told us some "Fish Stories",

and after her story she fed the fish by throwing them handfuls of fish food. 

She laughed at the fish fighting for the food.

It was only for a short while, but it was such a nice and peaceful break in a very busy day!

Leaving Tupelo -

I have to say that I fell in love with Northeast Mississippi and the city of Tupelo! It's a bright, beautiful, friendly place where I never had a concern for my safety. They pride themselves on the care they take with Downtown and Business Districts, the Natchez Trace and of course, the Birthplace of America's first Music Superstar, Elvis Presley. In Tupelo you have a real sense of community. So many activities going on all the time and everyone, even strangers, who smile and treat you like family. It was sad when we finally had to start packing to leave. 

*****

Things I will miss -

Riding bikes with Darryl on the Natchez Trace and around town.

My morning swim....

And reading by the pool.

Images of Elvis ....

I never really appreciated his great talent or the trails of his life after he skyrocketed to fame.

Walking the parks on Sundays.

My early morning, very warm walks.

And so many friends from church and our apartments.

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The missionaries came over on Monday the 7th and helped Darryl move all of the furniture into the trailer. I can't thank Elder Allen and Elder Stanford enough for all of their help!

Tuesday morning we hit the road. We took the long way back to Idaho via Louisiana and Texas. 

The first stop was late Tuesday afternoon in Deridder, Lousiana to visit our dear friends Jordan and Janet Evans and their family. I can't believe how much their children have grown since March of  2014. Janet fed us well and the whole visit was a delight!

We left Deridder Wednesday morning and drove over to Burleson, Texas to visit Darryl's brother Bill and his wife Linda in their new home. We were enjoying ourselves so much I didn't even think about taking a photo. I did snap these three pictures of Grandma Yoder's Cactus flower quilt which was on our bed. 

Her applique and needle work/stitches were impeccable.

Thursday Morning we decided to drive over to Weatherford, Texas to see some familiar sites and dear friends. We hardly recognized the East and South sides of town.

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We drove out to Harmony Circle and saw a For Sale sign on our old house. We decided to take a look. It was beautiful and Glenn Payne was trimming the shrubs. He invited us in an showed us around. They've done so much work!

The Happy memories I have of my children playing on this front porch.

The side yard on the west.

The finished shop building...

and the car port

 They added about a 1800 sq. foot addition onto the house that is plumbed for a kitchen. The house could really be a duplex. They tore out the old Plum Orchard and built a new brick home for their retirement.

They still use the wood stove.

And I love the new cabinets and tile in the kitchen and dining room. The atrium is gone and few other changes were made, but my memories of our first home we ever owned will never fade.

Bob and Su Bell were in Houston and we missed seeing them, but we drove on down the road to see if Jim and Marsha Norwood were home. Jim was a work but Marsha was there and two of her daughters were visiting!

  Rebecca and Missy Norwood (now Kramer and Bateman)! Missy (Melissa) was 8yrs old when I first met her and she carried the train to my wedding dress at the reception. Becca, Jesse and their friend Bonnie Bell were inseparable as little girls!

One of my dearest friends, Marsha Norwood.

We had a very nice visit with Marsha and the girls, but all too soon it was time to hit the road and head up to Burkburnett to spent the night with Sandy.

 We took Sandy out to dinner and Darryl helped her do a little tile work in her living room and fix a a couple of things before bed. We left early Friday morning for Denver where we spent the night at the Drury Inn. We were blessed with beautiful weather and not too hot temperatures for our drives. Once in Denver we found out that I-70 was a mess with lots of construction and delays, so we planned to go north through Cheyenne on Saturday morning.