Road Trip!

Ms. A and I are going on a little road trip. We will be gone for the next two days visiting my sister, who's attending Law School, and her two children. We are so excited. Ms. A has been anxiously awaiting a drive to see her aunt and cousins. We are so PROUD of Aunt Sara and her wonderful adventure. Aunt Sara, Mr. P and Ms. E, Here we Come!!

We'll see you soon!

Home Improvements

We are in the midst of doing a few upgrades to our tv watching. Reed has been looking for at the HDTV products and 'patiently' waiting for them to have the features and the price that he would be comfortable to purchase it. I love the fact that he puts so much time and effort in all his purchases and projects!! Typically he will research what he is interested in for a month or so. Once he finds something, I'll get a link to what he likes. Then we make the trip to the store to 'look' at it in person and we usually leave with it. This time things have become more involved.
Find a HDTV that will fit in our entertainment center (tv is too small new plan: sell the old entertainment center with tons of storage and purchase an awesome tv console from Costco, which we love). We had two entertainment centers for a week and a half, just sold the old one today!!! Hurray for Craigslist! Hurray we have our livingroom back!! Now we need to figure out how to store Ms. A's toys and our books. Any suggestions?

HDTV is still in transit - coming by covered wagon (joking) and will arrive next month.

Since we are getting a new HDTV we need to upgrade the theater system ie: install in-wall speakers nine holes in our livingroom for the five speakers!
With the new theater system we need a new receiver, sell the old one with the speakers on Craigslist (still there! we have two sets of receivers and speakers).

With all these repaired holes, Reed asked me of I wanted to paint the walls!! Hurray I've been trying to prepare him for that idea since we got married. The white walls are the original paint color from when he purchased the home in 2000. I have color samples on the wall to see how they look. I asked Reed's opinion and he said: "Pick which color you like and then come to me." My response: "But if you don't like it, I'll have to start over." His other suggestion was to ask Sara for her opinion since she's lived in the house longer than us this past year. She didn't like that idea either. We'll see how this one plays out.

There's a few other upgrades that we are doing, but they are still in the works. I had to laugh a bit when this first started, a tv upgrade has snowballed into a major home improvement. It will be great once we are situated and can enjoy a nice Friday movie. I'll enclose pictures when we're done.

I WANT CANDY!!!

Ms. A and I went downstairs this morning to discover our candy dish on Reed's desk. Ms. A exclaimed rather excitedly, "I want candy!" Much to her dismay, it was peanuts, not daddy's candy. I forgot something upstairs. As I was going, Ms. A started to do one of the things children are known for doing - whining. I reminded her that it was my birthday, so she had to be nice and she immediately stopped. (I'll have to remember that trick.) When I came back downstairs, the first thing out of her mouth was "I want candy," then she ran to the cupboard where that candy is stored. I called Reed at work to tell him about his little candy monster, when Ms. A stated that I had moved the candy. I gave the phone to her to talk to daddy while I checked out the cupboard. Apparently the candy had been eaten. When I told Ms. A she said to Reed, "Look at my sad face, daddy." We said goodbye to Reed and I explained to her that candy is not a something to eat when we first wake up. She was finally happy when I offered her some Dibs Ice Cream.

On another note, I've been kicked out of Ms. A's presence. She was eating breakfast this morning and had a cup of with a little bit of water. She loves to play in water and knows that I'm not a big fan of her watery messes. At least water dries and doesn't leave a sticky residue. Apparently, she wants to play with the water so she told me to, "Go, go, go!" Whenever I check on her I hear that same response. :)

A Few Random Events

It's been a busy week full of changes. Friday, August 8th, Ms. A and I joined Aunt Sara at the Portland Zoo. They have a new exhibit, DINOSAURS, which will be leaving the first part of September. Sara and I had a fun time watching Ms. A's reaction to the the dinosaurs. It varied from excitement to sheer terror (momma T-Rex roars). They had a dinosaur that spit water, which she didn't like. I had to run past it with her in my arms. :) We also visited the elephants, Ms. A's favorite part and the Polar Bears, my favorite part. We rode the train as well. Ms. A had a fabulous time sitting to Aunt Sara.

While we were at the zoo, my mom called to tell us our grandmother passed away earlier that day. We were so grateful we were able to see her on our trip to Utah. It was such a blessing to say our farewells. She is now at peace and can be with my grandfather again.

Saturday was a hard day for Ms. A. Aunt Sara packed up the moving van, thanks for the assistance everyone who helped, and moved to Springfield. She will be attending Law School and we could not be more happy for her and her children. They will be desperately missed. (Every morning Ms. A asks if her cousins and Aunt Sara are here!) Back to the move: I drove Sara's car down loaded with plants and other things. There were members from her new ward there waiting to until the van. It took two hours and they had to take the door off for the fridge and piano. Sara was SO EXCITED to have her piano!

Sunday was nice and relaxing. Sara went to church with us, then loaded up her car and children to go back to Springfield. Ms. A said goodbye only after the promise of going down to visit.

Monday, Ms. A and I went on a shopping spree. When Ms. A was younger, I checked out this great book by Nancy Tafuri called "Silly Little Goose" from our library. It tells the story of a goose looking for a place to build a nest. Ms. A loved the parts that read Silly Little Goose whenever the area was the home for another animal. I thought it would be a good addition to Ms. A's books, so we went to Powell's to see if they had it. Another store did, so they sent it over and we purchased it on Monday. Ms. A was so excited to pay for her book and then carry it in her own little bag. She 'read' it the whole way home. We did some other shopping and priced out a new tv console.

Later that evening, Reed joined us for another shopping run to look for consoles. We found what we wanted at Costco, thanks for the tip Mara.

Tuesday, I went berry picking in our backyard and found huge, (at least twice the normal size we have) sweet, juicy raspberries. They were delicious and were eaten before I could take a picture. :) After dinner, we borrowed our friends' truck, thanks Bells and purchased our new console. We had to recruit a couple of neighbors to get it out of the truck and into our home. It is now in it's new home along with the old entertainment center, speakers and receiver which we are trying to sell. The tv was sold within 24 hours of listing it on Craigslist! WOO HOO! I'll have to figure out how to watch the Olympics. :)

Visiting Grandma Valerie aka Mom

Sara and her kids drove out a few days earlier than us to go to Yellowstone Park. We joined them and my mom the following Monday. Something about driving in a car for that length of time vs an hour flight and 3 three hour drive sounded so much better to me.

We went through the Twin Falls Temple Open House. I was born in Twin Falls, so I wanted to see the new temple. Ms. A did such a great job with her inside voice. She even wanted to use it on the temple grounds.

Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Utah. Thursday was left for mom. She planned an Un-birthday Party to celebrate everyone's birthdays. Rachel and Bin stayed up past midnight to decorate. They did a great job. We opened presents once everyone woke up, then after breakfast we started our day. We went to Tautphaus Zoo where the kids young and old had fun looking at the animals and playing in the children's area. Ms. A loved chicken/egg toys. She curled right up to pretend to be an egg in the nest. Afterwards, she kept asking where her daddy chicken was. I think she missed Reed.

Pizza was next on the list, then a short drive up to Rigby and the Riot Zone. They had go-carts and bumper boats for kids and adults. Mr. P, Ms. E and Mr. N, a neighbor boy, drove their own cars! Ms. A got to be a passenger with me and Grandma. She loved the go-carts. The boats were fun. We enjoyed splashing each other. We played an abbreviated version of Miniature Golf. I loved watching the positions Ms. A would get into to putt. She'd move the ball 3-7 inches from the hole, hit it in and jump for joy at her success. She also liked putting on the hills. I didn't get much playing in, but I loved watching her. The last place we visited within the Riot Zone was the Inflatables. Ms. A loved the jumping and playing. She had to try every Inflatable out and then went back to her favorites, the castle and obstacle course.

Friday was the Idaho International Dance Festival. It has been a long standing family tradition to attend the show. We love the dances, costumes and the wonderful entertainment. The kids did a great job especially considering the show started at 7:30pm. Mom purchased front row seats and all were entranced by the spinning, jumping and dancing. Ms. A wanted to dance with them, so I promised her we could do that at the end of the show. She was tickled to get out there and 'groove'. It was quite upsetting when we had to leave, she kept asking if we could return so she could dance some more.

Saturday was the I. Horace and Freda Kearsley Family Reunion, my dad's parents. As a child, we used to get together once a month with the family members for Family Home Evening. It was wonderful to be able to rekindle those family ties. My grandmother past away two years ago, so it's been hard for my grandfather. It was wonderful to see him again. He and his family homesteaded in Driggs Idaho, hence the brand logo on the shirts and the pose of my cousin 'branding' her dad. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren had a great time playing games from grandpa's childhood. We all enjoyed seeing his and grandma's belonging and remembering the memories that they brought back.

After the reunion we came home to grandma's and everyone but mom and I had a waterfight. Ms. A backed out once she got wet. She loves the water, but not having someone else get her wet.

We had a wonderful time visiting my mom. She has done so much for us! She's an AMAZING lady whose has influenced me in many ways. We love you mom!

Sunday, we drove home. We stopped off for a short visit with my dad. He's some health issues which makes it difficult to remember us or to communicate with us. I'm glad we stopped by to see him. He recognized us after a few minutes. I had to reintroduce him to Ms. A. She was one year old the last time he saw her. We also stopped off to visit with my sister, Marika, and her husband, Tim. We had a good visit. Sara wanted to visit a family in LaGrande, so we stopped off and had a lovely time visiting with them. They fed us a delicious dinner and the kids got their wiggles out on their play structure, trampoline (which Ms. A loved) and the toys. Thank you Huntsman family!

We drove into our driveway at 1am, grateful to be home and excited to fall into our own beds for a good night sleep.

Trip to Utah

Sara, her children, Ms. A and I visited Utah last week. We were able to get a lot of visiting in with a short amount of time. Great Job Sara! She also took 90% of the pictures.

While we were there, we were able to visit our maternal grandmother. It was wonderful/sad to visit her. Her health has gone downhill quite a bit since our last visit two years ago. Afterwards, we stopped by our aunt and uncle's home to visit Rosalyn (cousin) and Aunt Patti. It was fantastic to catch up to them and to meet Rosalyn's children. Then we jetted up to South Salt Lake to have dinner with my friends from my childhood and high school. We had a great time. It's been a couple of years since our last visit, so there was a lot of talking as well as eating the yummy Olive Garden dinner.

We spent the night at my friend, Shanna's, home. We've been friends since we were Ms. A's age, so it was fun to talk to Ms. A about that. Shanna, Sara and I stayed up way past our bedtime reliving experiences and memories. Thanks Shanna for the wonderful visit and a place to sleep!

The next morning after more visiting, we headed to This is the Place Heritage Park. I visited the monument while I took a Utah History course in college. It has grown considerably since then. We enjoyed looking at original and replicas of Pioneer homes, farms and buildings. The kids were tickled to go on a horse ride and quite disappointed when it was time for them to take a break (right when we arrived, but we came back later). The train ride was fun, but the covered wagon wasn't. I am so grateful for cars that make the ride cool, dust/dirt-free with comfortable seats. I never would have made it as a pioneer. The houses were interesting. we enjoyed learning about the schools, carding wool, doing laundry by hand (another thing I'm grateful for) and other household chores and games. Mr. P was excited about his FIRST shave. We loved the misters (pressured water coming out of pipes to keep people cool).

After a few hours there, we feed the kids and ourselves and drove to the Salt Lake Temple Grounds. I met with a friend, Jamie, while Sara and her kids toured the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was fun catching up with Jamie while Ms. A and Ms. E played together.
We met up with Sara and visited Temple Square. We took the last tour at the Conference Center, which was AMAZING. Our tour guide was a lot of fun and was great with the kids. The tour was fabulous. We were able to go to the gardens on the roof as the sun was setting. BEAUTIFUL! I love the spirit that resides within the temple grounds and the Conference Center.

We arrived back in Idaho at 2am, tired, but grateful that we were able to go.