Monday, May 30, 2011 (Memorial Day—observed)

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow what a week.  Last Tuesday morning Cookie and I were still in Vallejo, California.  We packed up and left for Oakland and attended an Endowment session in the Oakland Temple.  That is a huge temple.  I think that I like the small ones better.  After that we headed for Utah.  We stopped in Tracy at the In-n-Out Burger place.  My brother, Dick, has always bragged on these hamburgers.  I’d only eaten one about 15 years ago and wasn’t impressed.  This time—I was impressed.  It was really good.  Then we kept on going to Winnemucca, NV.  Now that was an experience.  We didn’t know how far that we could make it that day so we didn’t make reservations ahead of time.  Big mistake.  We ended up staying in this little hole because everything else was full.  This place was clean, but I really felt insecure.  There was no way to lock the door so I pushed a recliner in front of the door so slow anyone down if they tried to get in.  Before doing that, we went to find something to eat.  We wanted a sit down dinner, but couldn’t find anything so we ended up getting Subway sandwiches.

Wednesday morning we woke up nice and rested.  We didn’t hear a single thing all night long so I guess it was ok.  We ate the other half of our Subways then hit the road again.  We had a nice drive.  When we got back to SLC, we went to the Distribution Center and to Jordan Landing for lunch at Kneaders and some other stores in there.  From there we went to Grandma’s house in South Jordan.  We were so tired!  We didn’t do much of anything the rest of the day. 

Thursday we started the day off right with a trip to Leatherby’s for ice cream.  We took Grandma with us.  That evening Cookie and I drove to Kaysville to the wedding dinner of Nathen Pope and Roxanne.   Pope was a missionary that lived with us a couple years ago.  It was a Texas BBQ held in a friend’s barn.  It was fantastic.  There must have been 200 people there.  The food was great and the company friendly.  Pope has a really nice family.

Friday morning we got up early and drove to the Bountiful Temple to witness Pope and Roxanne’s sealing.  Pictures were taken afterwards.  Then Cookie and I went to Kneaders again for lunch.  That evening we drove back to Bountiful for the reception.  It was well attended.  Two of my missionaries came—Spencer Montgomery and Erick Hebel.  There was another missionary that had been to our house, but hadn’t lived with us.  They had crepes for refreshments that we built ourselves.  Very good.  We packed when we got back to Grandma’s.  We were exhausted.

Saturday morning Grandma took us to IHOP for breakfast.  Later, Cookie took me to the airport.  I flew from SLC to LAX to El Paso and to DFW.  I was tired.  Bob picked me up.  When we got home, Dorias’ family, Stephenie’s family, Eric’s family, and Bonnie & Jarom were there along with Dan’s family, Michael’s family and Charles’ family.   We all visited and then Matthew went home with Charles and Seth stayed here for the night.

Yesterday was Dan’s 35^th birthday and Dan & Tonia’s 12^th anniversary.  That morning Robbie’s family, Dan’s family, Michael’s family, and Charles’ family met us all at Church.  All 40 of us were there.  We took up 3 ½ middle rows.  It was neat seeing all 8 of my kids, all 8 of my spouse kids, and all 22 of my grandkids there.  AND there are two more on the way—Eric & Angela and Charles & Amber.  Some of us went home after Sacrament Meeting and others stayed the whole three hours.  Those that went home early had to help prepare our meal and get the kitchen cleaned—again.   Robbie had brought 25 pounds of smoked brisket and I had made a potato salad with 10 pounds of potatoes.  I got in and made a triple batch of my hot rolls.  When Bob got home he cooked the corn-on-the-cob.  In the meantime, Dorias made a birthday cake for Dan.  It was sure noisy around here, but everyone had fun.  Thank goodness our house is big enough and the weather was good enough outside for the kids to play.  We took a break and most of us went to Brock to see the progress of Dan’s new home.  When we got back to the house, everyone was hungry again so I made waffles (8 x recipe) for everyone.  It was late before we all got to bed.  Matthew went home with Charles again and Seth & Madison spent the night here. 

This morning everyone was back again for family pictures.  Marsha Norwood came over to take the pictures.   She is so good.  We used her camera along with Robbie’s, Karen’s, and Tonia’s.  We took them outside and they turned out nice.  After the pictures, we all went to Braum’s for ice cream.  After lunch, Dorias, Stephenie, and Bonnie packed up and headed home.  Later Charles, Robbie, Michael and Dan went home.  Eric stayed.  They will be here for about two weeks.  Later, Eric & Angela went out to dinner with Dan & Tonia.  We watched Aaron & Kaylee for Eric. 

Hope that you have a good week.

Dorias & Mark—Matthew, Rebecca, Richard & Robert

Robbie & Beth—Lauren, Landon, Emma & Eden

Stephenie & Evan—Taneal, Camie, Danielle, Spencer, Nathan, & Gavin

Dan & Tonia—Seth, Katie, Madison, & Reagan

Michael & Karen—Megan

Eric & Angela—Aaron & Kaylee (one due November 18)

Bonnie & Jarom

Charles & Amber—Sadie (one due November 27)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Here I am in Sunny California!

Last Monday afternoon I fixed a nice double batch of Cherry Chocolate Brownies for Empty Nester’s FHE.  The four missionaries were drooling for them, but they couldn’t try them until AFTER Empty Nester’s.  We ended up only having two show up for FHE so there were plenty of brownies and Blue Bell for the missionaries.

Tuesday morning we got a phone call from Charlene Pope telling us that Bill Tyree had passed away during the night.  I got up and went up to the Church to work on the May VT report.  From there I stopped by IHOP to see if Trish was there.  I just had a Diet Coke with her and then went over to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a lid for Cookie and to Miracle Nails to get my nails done.  I then drove to Fort Worth.  While there, I went to The Container Store, Hobby Lobby, and to Sam’s Club.  On the way home I stopped by at David’s Stove Shop to pick up a new pulley for our lawn tractor.  When I got home, Bob helped me put the stuff away.  That evening we went to Rosa’s Café for dinner and then Bob went to a meeting with the Stake President and I mended a pair of pants for Elder Stanworth and did some other sewing.  After that, I finished “Maze Runner” by James Dashner.  I found out that it is a series.  I decided to start another book rather than read the second in the series.  I’ll finish them some other time.  I chose “Among the Hidden” by Margaret Peterson Haddix to read next.  It is good so far.

Of course, last Wednesday was Temple Day.  Charlene Pope, Sharon Carter, and Marsha Norwood went with me.  We had a good day at the temple—busy.  We ate at Logan’s Steakhouse here in Weatherford when we got back to town.  Bob was up at the Church when I got home.  I then packed.  It was late before I got to bed.

Thursday morning I was not ready for the alarm to go off, but it did and I got up.  We left a little before 8 for DFW airport.  Bob dropped me off and then he went on to the Dallas Temple.  My plane left around 10 CDT and got to SLC at noon MDT.  Cookie picked me up.  We went to the SLC Distribution Center and then went to lunch at Kneader’s.  From there we went to Walmart at Jordan Landing and to Bon Worth in Draper.  Then we went to Grandma’s.  Soon after we got there, we took Grandma to PetsMart to pick up Lucy.  Later that evening we all went to Applebee’s for supper.  We went to bed shortly after we got home.

Friday morning Cookie and I loaded up her car and headed for Reno, Nevada.  We had a nice drive.  I’d never been in that neck of the woods.  Parts of the trip were boring, but most of it was interesting—the Great Salt Lake and all the salt fields.  When we got to Reno, we went to see the Reno Temple and then found a hotel.  When we got settled in our room, I reserved a room in the Sacramento area for Saturday night.   I then did the ward bulletin and got it sent off.  We went and got a hamburger at Burger King before going to bed.

Saturday morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast and then we went to the Reno Temple.  Cookie forgot to bring her temple clothes and her temple recommend!  They called her Bishop so she was able to go in and they loaned her clothes.  The people were so nice and friendly.  The Endowment session was full—which was nice.  Afterwards we left Reno and drove to Folsom, California where the Sacramento Temple is located.  Also, it is where the Folsom Prison is/was located that Johnny Cash sang about. The grounds of the temple were just beautiful.  It was like a large park.  The temple was beautiful.  We got in again and went on another Endowment session which was also full.  When we entered the Celestial Room, I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was.  It was unbelievable.  From there we drove to Woodland, CA where our hotel was located.  We went to eat at Subway and then went back to our hotel and crashed.

Sunday morning we left for Magalia, CA up in the mountains to see our Cousin Doug and his wife, Peggy.  When we got there, their son, Erick, was there.  Doug has Louis Gehrig’s Disease.  Bob and I had gone to visit them back in October.  At that time he could still feed himself and walk around.  When we saw him this time, he was on Hospice and not expected to make it through the week.  We were so glad that we decided to go see him.  We stayed about 45 minutes visiting with Peggy and Erick.  It was so sad to see Doug that way, but we were happy that he was going so fast.  It would be awful to drag such a horrible disease on.  Peggy is handling it pretty well.  Cookie and I headed to the San Francisco area after our short visit.  We had pre-reserved a hotel room in Vallejo.  We rested for a while and then went to eat at Olive Garden.  When we got back to the hotel, we watched some TV and then lights out.

This morning we headed for San Francisco.  We had planned on taking a five hour tour of San Francisco and Alcatraz, but they were all sold out.  Poor planning on our part!!  We decided to just look on our own.  When we went over the Bay Bridge it was just too crowded for us country girls.  And we couldn’t find any places to park so we just took pictures of China Town, the Piers, etc.  Then we headed for the Oakland Temple to see where it was.  On our way, we got a call from our Cousin Peggy.  Doug had died at 9am.  We were SO glad that we had gone to see him the day before.  While at the visitor’s center of the Oakland Temple, a lady told us about a really good fish restaurant down the road a little ways.  She gave us the address and I put it into my GPS.  It was in San Mateo.  Well, my GPS took us on a wild goose chase.  Instead of taking us over the San Mateo bridge, it took us way down around the bay and back up to San Mateo.  We did finally end up at the Fish Market and Café, but it took about two hours to get there and it should have only been minutes.  The food was really good.  I got wild salmon and Cookie got halibut.  We then headed back to Vallejo to our hotel, but didn’t go the way that the GPS wanted us to go and we made it back to the hotel MUCH faster.

Now we are sitting it the hotel watching a stupid animated sort of movie on TV about a fox family.  I can’t send this out because the internet doesn’t work in this hotel!  I’ll send it tomorrow when we get to our next destination. 

Sorry, but that internet didn’t work there either.  This is two days late!

P.S.  Bob had his surgery on Monday.  He found out on Tuesday that they got all the melanoma.  So he went back today for them to do his reconstructive surgery.  He will be ok.

Monday, May 16, 2011  (Kaylee’s 2^nd birthday)

Dear Friends and Family,

It rained all day last Monday in South Jordan, Utah.  Cookie and I still went out to do some last minute shopping.  We ate supper at Kneaders then came home and packed.  We watched TV until about 10:45 then left to go pick up Grandma at the Amtrak place in downtown Salt Lake City.  It was midnight before we got back and about 12:30 before we got to bed.  Grandma had a good time on her vacation and Lucy was sure glad for her to be home.

Our alarm went off at 5:45 Tuesday morning.  We were not ready to get up! Cookie and I loaded up the car and left.  She dropped me off at the airport and then she headed for Huntington where she lives.  The plane left at 8:10 MDT and touched down at DFW at 11:25 CDT.  Bob was waiting for me.  It was so good to be home.  We stopped at Posada’s Café for lunch and then headed back to Weatherford.  Sugar was glad to see me.  The missionaries had dyed her red and blue and left part of her white.  They said it was the TEXAS flag.  Michael had made be a huge plate of his Chocolate Chip Cookies.  There was a Mother’s Day card from Bonnie.  In it was her description of her Mom—the same form that she handed out in her Primary for the kids to fill out for their moms.  She did a good job.  I will always treasure it.  Also, there was the purse in the mail that Dorias had made me.  We got the pattern and fabric while we were at the Shop Hop in April.  It is red and black and really pretty.  She did a fantastic job.  After a while I laid down and took a nap.  I was really tired.  When I got up, I read a little on my Kindle “Maze Runner” and worked on the missionaries’ meal calendar.  We went to bed early that evening.

Wednesday was temple day.  I picked up Marsha.  We had a great day at the temple—I learned some new things.  Since it was pouring down rain when it was getting to be time to go home, they let us go a half hour early.  When we finally got back to Weatherford, we stopped at On the Boarder for dinner.  I went to bed shortly after I got home.  I was exhausted.

Thursday morning I got up and went to breakfast with Trish, Judy, Dan & Tonia, and the kids at IHOP.  Soon after I got back home, Darryl & Cindy Cunningham dropped by to see us.  They were on their way from a job in Mississippi to home in Idaho.  I sure miss them.  They used to live down the street in what is now the Payne’s home.  After they left, we got ready to go to Charles’ graduation in Gainesville, TX up near the Oklahoma boarder.  Amber’s parents and Sadie sat with us.  Amber didn’t go—she was sick.  Charles actually gets pinned in August, but they don’t have a formal graduation then.  Afterwards we all drove to Decatur, TX for dinner at Casa Torres.  It was good.  We had an enjoyable evening.  Bob dropped me off at Trish’s house in Brock on the way home.  We had a slumber party.  Judy Sparks, Marilyn Gay and Corola Botzer were there also.  We watched the Twilight movies and talked until 2am when we finally went to bed.  Then Trish and I talked probably another hour before we went to sleep.

Friday morning we were all awake by 7:30.  Dan & Tonia and the kids came over after dropping the girls off at school.  Then we all got ready and went to breakfast at Mikey’s there in Brock.  Bob met us there.  Afterwards Bob went over to see Dan & Tonia’s new house.  They were sheet rocking it.   Judy, Corolla and I drove out to Baby’s Nursery in Lipan just past the Brazos River.  I bought enough flowers to fill the back of our truck—32 Blue Bells, 140 multi colored Penta (Star Flowers) and 40 scarlet Purslane (a type of Portulaca).  When I got home, Bob wasn’t home so I laid down and took a much needed nap.  I just couldn’t wake up the rest of the day—I moped around here.  Finally I went back to bed around 8:30 and slept the rest of the night.

Saturday morning we went up to the Church.  I worked on my April Visiting Teaching report while Bob did an interview.  Then we went to Walmart to do our weekly shopping.  It was a really beautiful day.  When we got home, I worked on my May Visiting Teaching and then took a nap.  When I got up, I read on “Maze Runner” until I went to bed for the night.

Sunday was a busy day.  After I got ready to go to Church, I got a spiral ham ready to cook at the Church for Linger Longer and then left.  When I got there, I put the ham in the oven and ran off the ward bulletin.  Our meetings and luncheon went well.  I went home for a little bit and then went and picked Bob up.  We drove to Mineral Wells to see Lauren’s Spring Concert—she plays the clarinet.  We sat with Dale & Joan Wendt—Lauren’s other grandparents.  Robbie & Beth didn’t go.  I dropped Bob back off at the Church when it was over and then went home and read on “Maze Runner” until I went to bed.

This morning I got up and helped Bob place where we wanted all the flowers planted.  Jorge got there just as I was leaving to go have breakfast with the gang at IHOP.  After we ate, I went to Bed Bath & Beyond, Michael’s, the bank, and the license plate place to get Bob’s truck license renewed (it expired in March).  When I got home, Jorge almost had all my plants planted.  They sure look nice and will look even nicer when they really start blooming.  I talked to Dorias and Cookie.  Earlier I talked to Bonnie.  She was getting fingerprinted for her new job in the ER at a hospital about 30 minutes from their townhouse.  This is her dream job. 

Well, I must close.  I have tons to do before I leave for Utah on Thursday morning.  Hope that you have a good week.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Today would have been my mom & dad’s 69^th anniversary.

We had a busy day last Monday.  After Grandma’s missionaries had their inspection, we left to go town.  We went to lunch at the China Gourmet, but it was hardly any Chinese and it wasn’t Gourmet.  The price was right though.  From there we went to the LDS Distribution Center, REI, DSW Shoes, VF Factory Outlet, Bon Worth, and finally ended up at the IKEA store.  We stayed there for a while.  On the way home, we decided to drive by Angela’s parents’ home to see what it looked like.  We went there last December, but it was dark and foggy.  Just as we were driving by, we saw her Dad and waved at him.  I doubt if it clicked who we were.  They have such a beautiful view of the Utah Valley.  They live way up on the back side of the Point of the Mountain.  From there we stopped at JCPennys and then home.  It was almost dark.  While I was working on my computer, one of the missionaries got Lucy and took her down stairs.  When she came back up again, she was blue. 

I got an email from Amber on Monday telling me that they have finally started a blog.  Their address is www.charlesambersadie.blogspot.com.  When I got up Tuesday morning I decided to check it out.  To my delighted surprise, they announced that they are pregnant.  She is due on December 3.  That will make 23 grandbabies for Bob and me.  We are so excited for them.  We had a busy, but fun day on Tuesday.  We got ready and went to Lehi to pick up Cookie’s daughter, Amber.  From there we drove to the IKEA store and had breakfast—only 99¢ for a small breakfast and $1.99 for a large breakfast.  Then we went to see Cookie’s son, Don, in Provo.  They are in the process of remodeling their home.  Then we went to the Art Museum of Springville to pick up Cookie’s granddaughter, Savannah’s picture that had been displayed.  We really enjoyed looking at all the pictures—except for the abstract ones.  From there we went to BYU.  I got Bob two surprises.  Next we stopped in Orem at Stacy’s work to drop off a Thumb Drive of all the pictures that I’d put on it of Stacy. Then we went to Rod Works.  That is a really nice store.  Beth would die in there—she’d break the bank.  Then we went to Winco to get some stuff for Cookie’s daughter, Andrea; dropped Amber back off in Lehi; went to Sonic for a hamburger and then went home.  We were exhausted.

Wednesday was temple day and Robbie & Beth’s 15^th anniversary.  We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and did 14 initiatories and two endowments.  Then we went to the Draper Temple and did two endowments.  From there we went to eat at Guadalahonky’s, a Mexican restaurant.  It was good!  Last we went to the Jordan River Temple and did six sealings.  It was a long day.   It took nine hours to do all that.  And again we were exhausted when we got home.

Thursday was Emma’s and Lucy’s 9^th birthday and Cinco de Mayo.  Grandma wanted us to do something special for Lucy, but….   Cookie’s Amber was going to come and hang out on Thursday, but she called and cancelled.  Cookie and I went to Lindon to the Shelf Reliance Company to order shelves for our food storage, but were told it would be cheaper to order them through a consultant.  One just happened to be there.  She asked us to come to her house that evening and she would demonstrate their shelves and food items.  We went back to South Jordan, went to Target, stopped and ate supper at Kneader’s, and went by the house to let Lucy out.  Then we drove back to Lindon and went to the lady’s house.  The food was freeze dried and VERY delicious—a lot better than dehydrated.  I ordered some food and shelves for our storage room to rotate our #10 cans of food storage on.  Cookie and I were really impressed.  The missionaries got home a little after we did.  We visited with them and then they went downstairs and Cookie & I went to bed and watched TV until we fell asleep.

Friday was Sadie’s 9^th birthday.  I worked on Visiting Teaching and I did the Ward Bulletin in the morning.  In the afternoon we went to see a matinee in Jordan Landing.  We saw the movie “Something Barrowed”.  A total disappointment.  Then we came home and watched TV and Cookie fixed a nice Cod dinner and I supervised.  We watched TV afterwards until time to go to bed.

Saturday we cleaned out a bunch more on Grandma’s cupboards and freezers.  Then that evening we met Nathen Pope and his fiancée, Roxanne, at the Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  It was soo good to see Elder Pope again and to meet his girl.  I love them both.  We stayed and visited for two hours.  It was hard to tell them good-bye, but I’ll see them again in a couple weeks for their wedding.  Cookie and I went to bed shortly after we got home.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day.  Dorias, Bonnie and Eric called me.  Robbie got me a beautiful corsage with 8 white rose buds, Stephenie and Eric each got me a new book on my Kindle, and Charles got me a really nice card.  Dan facebooked me since he’s out in the oilfields again.  And Michael made me something special that is sitting on my table when I get home tomorrow.   We went to Church at Cookie’s Amber’s ward in Lehi.  Amber’s new husband was speaking.  He did a great job.  When we got back here to Grandma’s, we ate and then I took a nice long nap.  When I got up, it was raining which was causing the blossoms to fall off the trees so it looked like it was snowing again.  We watched TV until we went to bed. 

This morning we washed sheets and cloths and then went to the Distribution Center to pick up some stuff for Bob.  From there we stopped at Leatherby’s for ice cream, got a map of Utah, and went to Walmart.  It rained all morning.  When we got home, we put a big pot of soup on to cook and are now fixin to watch TV.

I’ll be home to the Great State of Texas and to my lover tomorrow!  Hope that you have a good week.