DECEMBER 21, 2008 Let's Play Catch-Up

November 13-22

You are all too young to remember the TV game show "I've Got A Secret", but I am ready for a sequel, in which I am the star. It's called "I Can Keep a Secret". This is unique, becuase this is rarely something I can do. But I did. Majorly.

In August I started planning a trip for Bob and I, without his knowledge, and told everyone I was going to kidnap him. I got plane reservations, hotel and car rental reservations, planned activities and events, and bought tickets for a broadway show. I got him out of work for a week, out of barbershop quartet rehersals, out of church resposibilies, and even got a government security clearance application signed - all without him knowing it. I packed and took the luggage to Karen's in SLC ahead of time.

So, we went to SLC to celebrate the November birthdays on Thurs. Nov 13. He knew we were staying overnight at Karen's and that I had something planned for the next day. Thursday night Jeffrey asked if we could give him a ride to the airport, and Bob said "I don't know. You'll have to ask Bev. I have no idea what her plans are." I said, yes, we could start our day that early. So, next morning Jeffrey shaved and finished packing his luggage, and put it in the back of our car - into which I had already packed our luggage and covered it with my coat. At the airport we all got out. I handed Bob Jeffrey's jacket, then his bag. Jeffrey was fiddling around in the backseat (get the camera turned on). I took my coat out and slung it over my shoulder, and took out our luggage. Bob looked at the luggage, then at me, then at Jeffrey, who snapped his picture. He smiled. "I'm guessing I need to put Jeffrey's luggage back into the car". It was perfect.

We flew to Baltimore, Maryland, where we spent 5 days with Anne and Mike and our three grandkids. While there we drove into Amish country, toured Gettysburg, got a personal tour of Camp David, went to church, took Anne to her treatment (more later), Bob took an all day hike, and had an impromtu family birthday party for all three kids.

Then Bob and I drove to Philladelphia, toured Valley Forge, Independance Hall, and saw the Liberty Bell. We drove to New York, turned the car in at JFK, and took the subway to downtown Manhattan. Our hotel (old, very small, and shared a bathroom with 4 other rooms), was 5 blocks from Times Square.

We spent Thursday walking around, eating and having fun, and then saw 'Mamma Mia" that night. Friday we spent all morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then went to see "Twilight". (We went to the 4:15 showing open day - right after school let out. 85% of the audiance was composed of twittery, giddy girls between 12-16 years old. There were a few college kids, and Bob and I were clearly the oldest of the 8-10 adults present. It was delightful bedlam!!! Saturday we flew home. Nine days of fun.

FAMILY MATTERS

Thanksgiving

We had James, Cami and Hudson, Jeffrey and Karen, David, Rebekah and Pete, and Granny for Thanksgiving Dinner on Saturday after Thanksgiving. The night before was Manti City's Light Parade. The Girl Scouts were in the parade (elves and dancing cookies - with the help of borrowed Girl Scout Cookie costumes), and then sold bake goods at the high school afterwards. There were others selling soups and breads, drinks and treats, and Santa was there. Bob sang three songs with a barbershop quartet ( he sings "statusphere"- high tenor) It was lots of fun.

Mary and Aaron moved to Provo to be closer to BYU where Aaron is attending. He will apply for the animation program soon. Check out his blog in the right column. Mary is 14 weeks along, and Bob did an ultrasound for them to watch the little one wiggle and squirm and suck it's thumb. They are due the 18th of June. That will make 5 grandbabies for us!!

James and Cami are the greatest parents, and Hudson is doing soo well. They had this picture taken when he was just a week old, but he has grown into quite a little chubby cherub. He looks so much like James when he was new.

Jeffrey and Karen have a large, chocolate colored dog named Jane. She is very "bouncey". They have her in obedience school, where Jeffrey says she is the best and the worst pupil. She learns very quickly, obeys instantly, and hates every minute of it, as is evidenced by her barking, whining and complaining.

Ned and Kim are in SLC. Kim is starting school again next month, to work toward her teaching degree. She is currently working part time at a school for the deaf and blind. Ned is going through a hard spell, after one of the handicapped kids/men where he worked attacked him and he quit work there. He is working on his music, though, and has some new songs.

Pete and Rebekah are in Draper, and both are working and both have church callings. They

are happy and are enjoying being back in Utah.

David is living in SLC, plays drums in the band with Ned. ( I say drums, but, although he does have a drum set, he also plays "juice bottle full of beans" and bongos). He is playing Ultimate indoors during the winter months, but can't wait for spring.

Mike, Anne and kids are doing well. The good news is that 5 months of chemo have begun to shrink the desmoid tumor in her hip, and she is completely off the narcotic pain pills and can even drive a short way. They have reduced her chemo to every other week, but will continue until June. Kids are growing and learning and keeping them busy!!

Looking forward to hearing from all of you!!

FACEBOOK

Okay. So I put all my kid's blog links on this page, and only Ned and Kim and Rebekah and Pete and Aaron were ever updating them. When I asked why, they said they put all their stuff on Facebook. I said,"Well, that doesn't help all your relatives keep in touch with you." "Mom", Mary said,"They're all on Facebook, too." So, today, they hooked me up with Facebook, and I probably will hear more from you there than here. I will continue to log stuff here, so don't forget about me, but I will probably see you there more often. So. There you go.

Falling Leaves

I haven't written for so long. The crises items have passed, and we have passed on the Christmas Home Show - we just won't be ready. But in the middle of all the busyness, life happened.

James and Cami were joined by Hudson Kevin Armstrong on Oct.23. He was 7lb. 3oz. and 20 " long. He has lots of dark hair, and looks a lot like James when he was a baby. He is sooo beautiful. All went well and they are adjusting to no sleep, lots of work, and so much love.

Then just after midnight on Tuesday we got a phone call that Bob's mom passed away in the care center in St. George, where she has been for two years. She was 97 1/2. She was alert and fun to talk to until the last, but phyically getting weaker every day and not eating much. Monday she had her breakfast and took a morning nap, slept all day, and slipped away during the night.


If you know me at all, you know I hate funerals.(I don't plan on going to mine!) But Bob is the only one in Manti, where the funeral was to be, so I had to help him with arrangements, casket, obituary, program, printing, etc. Bob's siblings, Nedra,Karl and Judy, arrived Friday, and the funeral was Saturday. All my kids, including Anne and little Miriam from Maryland, were there, and most of their spouses. I think there were only three grandchildren missing out of 19. There were also some of Bob's cousins. We had a photographer come the the luncheon afterwards to take group and family pictures. I did ok. And, as funerals go, it was beautiful.

So, autumn has come. It has given, and it has taken. So goes life.

From Crisis to Crisis

Most of you are too young to remember, but a popular act on many of the variety TV shows during the 60's or 70's was this guy who had a long stand into which he stuck several - a dozen or so - thin bamboo sticks. He would take a china plate and start it spinning atop the thin pole, then he would start a second one, and a third, hurrying back periodically to grab and rotate a pole to speed up the spinning of a previously started plate that was starting to slow down and drop to the floor. This craziness continued until all twelve were spinning.

I have often compared my life to this spinning plate act. Running from near disaster to near disaster, crisis to crisis, trying to keep so many things going at once. Well, I'm doing it again.
Plate #1) I, as an assistant council chairman for our Boy Scout Council, am in charge of a Sector leadership meeting tomorrow night, which is no biggy, except it is 45 minutes away.
Plate #2) I am supposed to be in Delta (1 1/2 hours away) on Thursday to visit their RoundTable since they won't be to Wednesday's meeting. I have to leave immediately after Girl Scouts at 5:00.
Plate #3) I am also in charge of a Sector wide District Committee Training Workshop on the 27th, that, although I've known about for 2 weeks, have only now began scrambling for instructors from council - members of the committees on finance, membership, program, advancement, health and safety, etc. Plus I need a really good opening ceremony (I can solicite such from my meeting tomorrow), and lunch.
Plate #4)Girl Scout Awards Ceremony and Bridging (some of my girls to Cadettes and some of Deb's Brownies to mine) Thursday, the 25. (Which is also the evening that I am supposed to be on a computer/telephone training to be a delegate for the Girl Scout Service Unit - Hey, everyone else has has two turns since I did it last). So, when I go to SLC to do genealogy on the 24th, I will go pick up the awards, etc.
Plate #5) Mandatory GS Leader training here in Manti from 5:30-8:30 (00ps, I'm supposed to call and reserve the building. Just a sec.)
Plate #6) September 30 is Cami's baby shower!! Right after Cub Scouts, at 4:40,Granny and I will drive to SL area and have fun. Home late, but looking forward to it.
Plate #7) A dear friend called to ask if I would take her place on a committee for Cub Scout Leader PowWow in our district, being in charge of finding teachers, making sure they are informed on budget, classroom location, time limits, etc, and that they show up. About half of this has been done. The PowWow is the end of October.
Plate #8) Oct.3 - SLC for GS Events Training (I do Day Camp) 6-9 pm, leave at 3:30.
Plate #9) Oct 7, Orem, for first official duty as GS Delegate, 7-9, leave at 5:30. One hour after Cub Scouts.
Plate #10) Primary Program. I play the piano. I have played for years, love to play, but never have played really accurately. Okay for just me, family and the Primary kids, but better get some practice in before this is done for Sacrament Meeting.
Plate #11)I want all my bedrooms done, and my house clean, for the home show the first part of December. I have actually hired a gal in my ward who is a champion de-clutterer. I would invite all applicable children to come home soon and clean out your various boxes, drawers and closets before we get to them.
Plate #12) Next room - the largest bedroom is getting hardwood floor,(we're doing-it-ourselves laminate), a nice radio desk for Bob, the TV (huge!) that James gave us, a daybed/couch, and ALL of our hobby stuff - yarn, crochet, quilting, paints, fabric, scrapbooks, etc, and Bob's radios and electonic projects -from all over the house is going in there. Then the room his stuff was in, Karen's old room, will be made over in 1930's pink and roses and dolls. The computer room, where most of my mess is, will just have genealogy and Scout stuff, and my closet will be cleaned out enough to actually have clothes in it!

So, there are my spinning plates. Hope you enjoyed the show.

***FAMILY REUNION BEAR LAKE*** *****AUGUST 5-8 2009*****

WE HAVE RESERVATIONS. The only thing available was a tent only group area, but they said there was no problem with sleeping in a regular vehicle if it had a bed in it (ie. Bill's van), but motorhomes aren't allowed. I know that messes with Ruth's back. Maybe Bill could drive his van up, but sleep in a tent and let Ruth and Craig sleep in the van? So now, we need committment in the form of a $16 deposit (to offset the charge to my credit card) from each family planning on attending. I will keep a list somewhere on this blog and the family reunion blog (see bottom of right column) of who has committed to come. IF EVERY FAMILY COMES IT WOULD ONLY BE $16 PER FAMILY FOR THE WHOLE 3 DAYS. Then the only other expense would be your gas to get there, food, and if you wanted to rent fun water equipment while you are there. If some don't come, we will distribute the additional cost to those who sign up.

If you want to check it out, it is the Big Creek group area of Rendezvous Beach Campground at Bear Lake, Utah. There is a pavillion, firepits, two cooking thingys and hot showers/restrooms, and it is near the beach. Sounds like a blast!

Family Reunion

If you are one of the kids who checks out this site, please spread the word. I am sorry to say that we are unable to get the condo/camping combo that Kim was trying to arrange. Have to be direct family to use it. But there is a nice campground called Rendezvous Beach with hot showers and such, and several group sites. But it's like one of those "call at 7:00 am on a certain day" to reserve. I am going to do that, but I really need some kind of committment. I know it's early, and no one knows what they will be doing 11 1/2 months from now, but if you are willing to make THIS a priority, and put it on your calendars now, THIS is what you will be doing 11 1/2 months from now!

We are trying for either August 5-8, or 12-15, Please talk about it and let me know if you plan to attend. The exact date will depend on when I can get the reservation for. I'll send a piece for your circus tent as soon as we have a date.

Thanks, and let's have the best, largest reunion yet!! I'll do everything I can to make it worth it!! Bev

My Landscape Quilt

I wanted to show everyone the quilt I made from one of Bob's pictures. It is hand appliqued and hand quilted. It took some time finding just the right fabrics to make the picture work, but the process was lots more fun than cutting squares and matching corners!!!

<---This is the original picture. It was taken while Bob was hiking Coyote Gulch. This is the Coyote Creek near where it empties into the Escalante River in southern Utah. I liked the contrasts, the rugged rocks and the water. In my version I added an eagle, because it I thought your eyes just kind of went up the cliffs then drifted out of the picture to the right. I needed a barricade.

I entered in the Sanpete County fair and it got a Sweepstakes ribbon, so I am taking it to the State Fair tomorrow. I think I have found a new passion- as if I needed anything new to do in my life, right? (Click on picture to enlarge)

Hope all of you are finding that you had a wonderful summer. What were your highlights? Would love to hear your memories and adventures.

Anne's Progress

I just talked to Anne. She had an evaluation appointment at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore with her Desmoid team. The MRI taken last Thursday was compared to the one in December, but not the one taken in April, when they decided to do the chemo. It is slightly larger than December, but her pain symptoms are so much relieved, that they are going to look at April's. The thought is that it might have grown significantly larger between Dec and April, and that the tumor is SMALLER now than in April, but larger than it was in December. They will call her Monday. They are very happy with her outcome so far.

The good news is that she is feeling a little less pain, and she is completely off narcotics. She still takes other pain meds, tho. She will resume chemo weekly for 8 weeks, then another MRI. They said it will be a 52 week plan. At 23 weeks, or when there is significant improvement, they may cut back to every other week. She is encouraged, and courageous. Keep her in your prayers.

A HUMDINGER?

We have had two humming bird feeders up most of the summer, but haven't seen very many little hummers. This morning when I went out to do some yard work I noticed that one of the feeding bottles was unexpectedly empty. I made up some hummer food by putting sugar in hot water. When I went out to fill the bottle I was suddenly surrounded. As I stood on the deck table with the feeder still in my hand, humming birds buzzed all around me, some only inches from my head and hands. There were several kinds; some with white thoats and rust colored breasts, some with shiny dark green necks, and some with bright red tail feathers. I stood and watched, fascinated, as they stuck their long soda-straw beaks into the feeders and stuck out their tiny tongues to lap up sticky stuff just inches from my eyes. I carefully filled the empty bottle with fresh food. One bird immediately stuck his beak in the mixture, then suddenly withdrew and shook his head. The water was still hot! I backed away and let the feeder hang for a few minutes, but as the birds came and went I began to worry about what would happen if the birdies burned their tongues, so rushed to put the feeder in the refridgerator until it cooled. Had I killed them with (intended) kindness? When the sun was fully up, the birds all disappeared and I worried until the day began to cool and they returned like a squadron of tiny attack helicopters. It appears all is well, but a hummer with a burned tongue must certainly be as awful as an elephant with a runny nose.

BTW: A lady at the office told me about a little boy who was learning to read. He kept talking about a freakin' elephant. Shocked, the teacher hurried to check the book. Sure enough, it WAS about African elephants.

Sincerely,

Bob

Odds and Ends

Ends first:

* I finished my landscape quilt, done from a photo Bob took while hiking Coyote Canyon. I took it, along with two other quilts, to the county fair building yesterday. I'll get pictures on here after the fair.

* Today is Anne's last chemo treatment, for now anyway. She has an MRI on Thursday, and an appointment with the team at Johns Hopkins next Tuesday to review the results. Anne has a desmoid blog, which I have added to the links here. She hasn't felt well enough to keep it up, but said she is updating it this week.

* Ned and Kim ended their stay in Richfield and have moved to Salt Lake City. That means all my kids except Mike and Anne (and Pete and Rebekah) are in the Salt Lake area now. Check out his and Mary's music sites to see all the concerts and "gigs" they have lined up!!

* Pete and Rebekah have decided to move to SLC area after their summer job in Chicago. They had planned to stay a year or two, but have decided against it. It'll be good to see them again soon.

* School started here today, signaling the end of summer vacation, which also means Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts are in the afternoons again instead of mornings, like they were during the summer. Somehow it makes those days seem longer to have mornings free again.

Odds:

* We have resumed work on the the Hobbit bedroom. I took one of the old bifold closet doors and painted it the light yellow/gold we painted the walls, then stained over it. After two coats of stain it matches the woodwork in the room. So last night Bob and I painted the shutters (covers the 4x6 window, with a large circle cut out of the center to make is appear like a round window), the inside of the door, and the four closet doors. Today I stained them - first coat now, second coat later.

* Granny and I canned beef (cut up roasts) in her pressure canner yesterday. It turned out really nice. Protien is so hard to store! Tuna, chili and other beans...canned salmon, chicken, etc is soooo expensive. These roasts were on sale for 2.29/lb, and we got 16 pints out of 18 lbs, plus enough small scraps to make two pots of vegetable beef soup. I am going to do some turkey later, as well. Then you use it in stews and casseroles.

* Living the letter of the law, we planted two tomatoe plants, some lettuce and radishes in two containers. We are eating the first of the tomatoes. Gardeners we are not.

* Granny is flying to Wisconsin to Kevin's wedding in September. Everyone remember to send them a card!!

"Saturday, In the Park;;;"

I went with Bob on Friday to Provo, and worked on the landscape quilt while he precepted in the Family Practice residency program. I ran a few errands, but mostly just hung out. We ate Panda for lunch and Fazoli's for dinner, spent a little time at the new mall in south Provo, then went to our motel. ( Bob had called the residency to make reservations for us - turns out they paid for it, too!) We watched the last part of the Olympics opening cereony( My repeated comment throughout was -"wow, did you see that?").

In the morning - early- I drove Bob to Lindon (north of Orem) to a testing center where Bob had to take his Family Practice Board Exams - renewed every 5 years. It is an all day thing, so I had planned with Karen to go spend the day with her. It was Midvale's Harvest Day celebration. She had run the 5k earlier (it was her third race, and she came in 5th in her age group at 30 minutes 32 seconds ). Jeffrey was MCing the parade. We called Mary and Aaron, who had morning plans, but said they would join us at the park later. We watched the parade across the street from where Jeffrey was announcing. He had prizes he gave away during the parade - like a lint roller to the guy with the longest hair. I won for having the most children - my prize was a pregnancy test!

Ned and Kim are moving to SLC on Wednesday, and because they wanted to bring a UHaul up then they needed to bring their car full of stuff up ahead of time, and we agreed to drive them back to Richfield from SL if they did it Saturday.

So Karen and I went to the park (Jeffrey had a book signing at a sporting goods retailers convention) and watched Greek dancers and listened to Greek music, and looked at the booths, etc. Pretty soon Ned and Kim came.They called David, and he came over. Mary and Aaron showed up a little later, and I had fun just watching my kids interact, discussing their latest concert venues and upcoming "gigs", talking about moving and apartments and work and plans. I sat there thinking how cool it is that my kids are friends.

After a couple of hours the kids went to Karen's to hang out while Karen and I went to get my hair cut and she grocery shopped. When Bob called to say he was finished, we went to Karen's, and I picked up Ned and Kim and drove to Lindon to get Bob. We drove about 30 minutes to Spanish Fork for Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Ned was talking about all the movies Bob HAD to see, one being "Ironman". We had noticed it the night before at the dollar movies in Provo, so after a little discussion, we drove BACK to Provo and went the the movies. We got Ned and Kim home about 11:00 and we got home about midnight.

But it was fun to touch bases and visit with the kids. I envy Bill's weekly and sometimes daily contact with his kids. I hear from the 'far away' girls at least weekly, sometimes more often. James calls and updates us on Cami's dr appts and his travels with work. I am loving this time in my life.

On Spiritual Growth

I play the piano in Primary every Sunday. That probably says everything I could add right there.

Flowers grow. A little water, a little dirt, a little sunshine, and almost everything you can plant will somehow survive. Okay, if they are outside and either get a fair amount of rain or are planted in my yard where there is an automatic sprinkler system. My house plants are another matter.

Children grow. Unless we are talking major physical impairment or neglect, kids just sprout up and out of their shoes and jeans and winter coats. Too fast. I look at pictures or video of my children when they were little, and I wonder where those kids went, for Pete's sake. I have adult friends with the same names and the same memories - well, their memories are sometimes different or much better on some things than mine, but the KIDS are gone.

But my spirit.

I love Primary. The kids are priceless. Their little testimonies and talks and their voices when they sing are magical. But I'm not being nourished.

I used to be more like the garden. I relied on the natural surroundings to nourish me - Sacrament meeting, Sunday School and Relief society. These things came to me and fed me and I was content. Bob and I would talk about class, about the latest insights he or I had discovered. Conference was a blessing and a whole season of rain.

I admit, except for the family scripture time that we had when the kids were all home, I've never been one to just sit and study the scriptures - in spite of all the admonitions to do so. I read the Ensign, usually, but mostly the stories and short stuff. I live 7 blocks from the temple, but don't go often enough. So, spiritually, I am malnourished. My spirit is not starving, just really hungry. I'm afraid if my spirit were a child, the Department of Family Services would be paying a visit. I have neglected it.

So. "Today is the first day of the rest of my life".

1. I will take my RS manual in my music bag and read the lesson during Sharing Time.

2. I will read my scriptures every morning while I eat breakfast, instead of the paper.

3. I will have Bob give me the SS lesson during dinner (our church is 1:30-4:30).

That's a start. So, here's to sunshine and soil and rain!!!

"Read it and Sweep"

Bob and I have learned a very important and perhaps life-changing piece of information.

First of all, as you probably already know, when we travel together I read aloud to Bob while he drives. We have shared countless novels in this way - Tony Hillerman, the Father Cadfield books, FableHaven, Louis L'Amour, and the list goes on.

Secondly, you ALL know my level of commitment to cleaning house. There are always so many other interesting things to be doing!

So. Midnight Friday night I got Bob out of bed and we drove to Walmart and bought the last of the Twilight series, along with LOTS of other romance crazed females, but I was too tired to start it right then. So, first thing in the morning I began. I had MADE Bob listen to me read the other three aloud, after I had read them -first time all three in 4 days, and several partial readings after that - and he was ....tolerant. A good sport. About breakfast time he asked what had happened so far, so I gave him an update and started reading aloud. He fussed around the kitchen, did the dishes and sat at the computer, then asked me to come outside and read, which I did, dragging a chair around as he fixed a couple of sprinkler heads and cleaned out all the aspen suckers and weeds from in front of the house and in the Japanese garden. He fixed lunch, then started working on the computer room. Of course 90% of the stuff in there is my mess. So, he suggested He read while I clean. And three hours later, it was 1/2 done, and drawers were sorted and the begining was very noticable.

After dinner we finished the book, but Bob has decided to find another book right away, and we will "work together" to get some of the projects done niether of us wants to do alone. So, maybe we have found a new way to be together, get unpleasant jobs done, and share the written word.

I've Gone Buggy

Today I took a few of my Girl Scouts, along with 3 other troops and leaders, and we drove (forever) to Delta and beyond to capture Tamerisk beetles. This is done by taking a 5 gallon bucket with a large white poly bag duct taped to the cut-out bottom, and having a couple of small girls hold the bucket while an older girl or adult grabs a branch of tamerisk bush full of beetles, stuff it into the bucket and shake the beetles off into the bag, then repeat. To the tune of 20,000 beetles or so. Then we ate lunch at McDonalds (thanks in part to the owner/operator and the Dept of Wildlife Resources), and drove 2 hours away, where we released them into a huge area choked with tamerisk. It was fun, but hot. Tamerisk is taking over the water ways, creeks, lakes etc, all over Utah. They choke out plants and trees favorable to birds and wildlife, nothing will grow beneath them, birds won't nest in them, and they use tons more water than native species. They are everywhere. Some projects are underway to poison, dig up ( hard and usually not effective) or burn (dangerous) them out. This is a bio-friendly solution, as the Tamerisk beetle will eat nothing but tamerisk brush. I was glad to be a part of it.

Web Swinger - That's me!

Okay, so this is definately a new begining. I hope to be able to use this blog to keep my family informed and connected. I hope to use this blog to record events and memories, thoughts and dreams, plans and reports. I would love it if my children and grandchildren can find things recorded here that will bind us closer together, as I ramble, rant and rave about my days. So, on to the next horizon. Just Mom