Silent Night

I was looking out at my backyard this evening with the light snow falling and it seemed so calm and peacful. It made me think that is how our life is right now very silent and especially in the evening. Today we went to church came home had dinner and we both our on our laptop then I wander to go read and then Scott goes down stairs to rummage through the channels on the TV.

Life is very quiet here at the Nielson's. Yesterday it got down to -9. We stayed in all day cleaning, and working on projects. Checking every so often to see what the other one was doing. We decided to go get something to eat around 6:30 and all our favorite spots had a 30 to 40 min wait. Wound up at the Firehouse Grill and then over to Best Buy, looking at a laptop to maybe get for me at office, to a TV to replace in the exercise room, to a new cell phone. I won't let on which one we walked out of the store with. It seems every year we go shopping one day and pick out something for each other or something that the whole family would enjoy.

3 days before Christmas and the gifts are all wrapped, treats for neighbors and friends are ready. No I didn't do any baking, I bought see's candy through the office. I just need to get some groceries for the cabin. Make the crepes and some bread and thats it. Christmas eve we have about decided to go to a movie and out to eat.

Friday we celebrated our 39th Anniversary. I didn't remember it till noon and called Scott and reminded him. We had an office party at Mountain River Ranch. It was cold for a sleigh ride but was dressed warm. Last weekend we had two more nights at our timeshare so we went to Sun Valley. There was no snow until the day we left and the ski hill was all manmade and only a few runs opened. We decided not to spend the money so didn't ski. Walked around town, ate out saw the movie "Austrailia" and hung out at the condo. Scott did work and I started the "Twilight Series". Yep I liked the movie so I borrowed my nieces books. This is why I don't read as I will stay up all night to read. I started them on Friday and read the first three books by Tuesday at 6 am. I am going slower in the last book and am half way through.

I am looking forward to Christmas Day and 4 out of 6 kids will be here and were going up to a cabin in Island Park till Sunday. So snowmobiling, cross country skiing, sled riding, playing games and eating lots of food with the kids should fill my cup up for a few weeks.

Trying desperately to get into the spirit

Usually I am one who is so excited about Christmas. But this year I am struggling. I am not sure if its my age, no snow or maybe because no kids will be here. Oh let me rephrase that, 2/3 of my children will be here sometime on Christmas day. I have always made a big deal about Christmas Eve. So this will be the first year that we won't be doing anything. No basket, no last minute gift buying, no running treats to neighbors, no candy or cookie making, no hoagies, no movie. I knew that this tradition would come to end, but maybe I wasn't ready for it.

We did rent a cabin in Island Park for 3 nights from Thursday till Sunday morning. We will snowmobile, cross country ski, eat, play games and just enjoy each others company. I had to do something to keep them coming. I know they will all say move to Utah. I don't think so, I love Idaho.

So the debate was why decorate? I think maybe so my neighbors won't think I am scrouge. Oh yes we have Geoff still at home but he is leaving on the 9th till the 25th to visit Clint and besides he has other interests. Geoff did get the lights on the roof up before Thanksgiving. I did put a few things up outside, but haven't even pluged in the tree and snowman. The reindeers are not up and haven't decided if they are going to get put up. This is the first year the cheerleaders didn't come selling a fresh wreath.

Yesterday I thought I need to get in the spirit no matter what. So I put on Christmas music, lit Christmas candles to get the aroma and started wrapping gifts. Ok that got me to thinking how much harder it is to decide what to give. Money is sure easy but as my son in law Justin says thats no fun. I was thinking on how I have given everyone Christmas ornaments for years now, even the grandchildren. Do they really like what I choose and do they feel obligated to put it on their trees. Then I really got thinking about the grandchildren and their future spouses and maybe they want a theme tree or don't want to put those old ornaments on (if they even still have them). So I am going to throw it out to my kids and see if that tradition can be broken. I always buy them after Christmas for the next year at 75% off.

I am a sucker for those after Christmas sales on Christmas items. Save them all year and then forgot what I had bought. I have so much wrapping paper that I am good for at least 3 more years. I notice that I don't think about what paper I have and buy ribbon that doesn't even go with the paper that I have. Then there was paper I was using that was so cheap that it kept tearing. I then realized it was some of Grandma's that we found in her house. Sorry Jeralee, you might just have to rewrap. Growing up we would save the paper and ribbon and used it the next year if it didn't tear. So here I am skrimping and I think what for. So I threw out the cheap paper. This year I am not saving any ribbon. My kids can tell you how careful I am to save the ribbon.

So if this is the year for change I thought how can I do my trees different with what I have. Yes I put both of them up. The one downstairs I put in a different location. The one upstairs I put ivy, pinecones and red berries on it. Downstairs who knows what I am going to do.

We are getting rid of all of our old VCR tapes except the disney movies. Just in case we have a grandchild come and visit us. I know we still have a VCR to the big screen. We don't watch them and I have alot of CD's and their only taking up space. I hope no one will be offended if I get rid of something you gave me in the past. I just hope you all are not hanging on to things I gave you that you don't like. I can assure you if I haven't forgotten that I gave it to you I really don't care.

My Baby is 22

On November 10 my youngest son Geoff turned 22. He can tell you that there is some good and bad being the youngest of 6 kids. Good is that you get spoiled. Bad no family living close to celebrate your birthday except mom and dad. Its been 3 years since Geoff has been home for a birthday. Well his birthday landed on a Monday and what better thing to do for FHE then to have a birthday party.

We had a FHE group come in and I made cupcakes and had hats, favors and a goodie bag for all 21 of them. We played a game and had a good time.








Can you pick out the girl Geoff is interested in?

Gratitude

This goes along with my last blog. Avry had a list of 20 things she was grateful for and tagged anyone who reads her blog to do it also. I thought hers was awesome and so it hard when you want to copy alot of hers. But here goes.

1. Christ and Heavenly Father

2. Prayers

3. Scott

4. Heated mattress pad and car seat

5. Blogs of my kids

6. Idaho Sunset and Sunrise

7. Walking anywhere

8. Laughter

9. Travel to new places

10. Smiling at everyone

11. Being a MOM

12. Debt Free

13. 3 roses

14. Holidays

15. A son out of Iraq

16. Learning new things

17. Family & Friends

18. Eating whatever I want

19. Serving Others

20. Home with a hot tub on cold winter nights.

Thankful

Love this time of year as we head into the holidays. With Thanksgiving in less then two weeks I am so thankful for so many things. First I have to say THANKS to Tiffany for updating the look of my blog. She said it was easy, but I know it would take some time for me to figure it out. It makes me more excited for the Holidays. I started boobing when I noticed the picture of all of us and she had put "Family is Everything". It is so true, my favorite saying to the kids when they were growing up is friends may come and go but family will always be there. I am eternal grateful for each one of my children and what they continually teach me. I just wish they lived closer. Wait, I still have Geoff when he is not running up to Rexburg to see a certain girl.

I have been trying to catch up on the conference talks in the November Ensign. This morning I read the one by David Bednar on "Pray Always". It was interesting that he said to just pray and thank HF and not ask for anything. So I tried it with my morning prayers and do you know how hard that is. I kept wanting to ask him to bless someone. I read two other talks also that were good. Jeffrey R. Holland "The Ministry of Angels" and he testified of both heavenly and mortal angels that minister to each one of us. The other one was by Joseph B. Wirthlin "Come What May and Love it" I had to laugh at this whatever comes our way in life we need to love it. I was thinking of my children who have had some things come their way and how much they are trying to LOVE IT. Just reading these made my day at home fantastic.

Veterans Day

Yesterday was Veterans Day and I was touched by several things. It was raining and so I didn't go to the HS track and walk but instead walked on the treadmill. When I exercise at home I wait till at least 8 so I can watch part of the today show. They had a segment on mothers who had lost sons in the Iraq/Afghanistan war in the last year and were buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It was so touching to learn of the hopes and dreams of these men through their moms eyes and how they met at the cemetery.

There are over 300,000 soldiers buried there. Go here for some interesting facts about Arlington.


Of course I was crying by the end and thinking of my own son who has been a solider in Iraq and has only one more day before he is reunited with his wife Lia and two girls Nadia and Bianca. How I wish I could be their to see that reunion and to know he is out of harms way.



Then on Jay Leno last night he had John McCain on. He was so funny and very gracious about his defeat and so supportive of Obama. He said no one wants to see a sore looser and that he had this incredible journey of seeing places and meeting people he would of never known. He is looking forward to going back to the senate and working for this country. The audience was mostly made up of military people and the last thing Jay asked he was what he would want to say to these people and veterans. He told the story which I have heard before of when he was in the prison camp. I have copied the full story that he gave last night.
Sen. John McCain: "Just about every day, but especially on Veterans Day, I think of a guy I was in prison with a long time ago. For a few years we were in Hanoi and prison camps in North Vietnam. They kept us in solitary confinement, two or three to a cell.

"They finally moved us into large cells, 20 or 25 prisoners in each cell. The guy that moved in with me was a guy named Mike Christian. Mike was from a small town near Selma, Ala.

"Very poor family. Enlisted in the Navy at age 17. Later became an A6 bombardier/navigator. Was shot down and captured.

"He loved this country. I moved in the same room with him. The uniform we wore in prison was blue, like, short-sleeved shirt, like, pajama trousers, and shoes -- sandals that were cut out of automobile tires.

"I recommend them highly. One pair lasted me five and a half years.

(Laughter.)

"Part of this change in treatment, they let us have some packages from home in which were small items -- some of us -- like a handkerchief or a scarf. He took his blue shirt, fashioned himself a bamboo needle, got a piece of white cloth, piece of red cloth, and sewed the American flag on the inside of his shirt.

"Every evening before we would have our bowl of soup, we would put his flag -- his shirt -- on the wall of the cell and pledge our allegiance to the country.

"It was an important part of our day.

"One day the Vietnamese came, searched the cell, found his shirt, removed it, came back that night -- and I'm telling it fast -- opened the door of the cell, called for him to come out, closed the door of the cell, and beat him very badly for a couple hours.

"Then they threw him back into the cell. The cell in which we slept had a concrete slab, light bulbs in all four corners, naked light bulbs. We cleaned Mike up as well as we could.

"I went over to lie down on the concrete and go to sleep. And I happened to look over in the corner of the cell, and underneath the lightbulb, with a piece of white cloth and a piece of red cloth and his bamboo needle, was Mike, with his eyes almost shut from the beating that he had received, sewing another American flag.

"He wasn't doing that for us. He was doing it for his country. He wasn't doing it for himself. He was doing it for his country and our ability to pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

"I'll never forget Mike Christian."


Of course I was crying and realizing how blessed I am to live in this country and how I take my freedom for granted sometimes. I am grateful to all who serve and have served in the military to protect our freedom.

House Cleaning

I started out saying I had been home all day and then I realized that is not right. I drove to the high school and walked at 6:30 am and then this evening I walked down to Tamera's and got a costume for bowling tommorrow. My team wanted to do something really easy. So we are all going as graduates of Teton Lanes. Just a graduation gown with a sign on our backs. I am even using my 1967 tassle.

I had a girl from the college come and work for 4 hours cleaning out my cupboards in the kitchen. I was definately in the cleaning mood. I am good to help other people clean and dejunk but when it comes to my home I struggle deciding what to get rid of. I started thinking about my kids and the fun they will have going through everything and thinking why did she keep this.

I went through my receipe books and sent a few to DI as I never use them. I have one I don't like but it was a gift. So how long do you keep something you don't like but it was given to you as a gift and especially from a memeber of you family? It is interesting how many diet books I had. Fit or Fat System, Protein Power, The Carbohydrate addict's, Fat Burning Food, Body for Life. I tried to call my daughter to see which ones she would recommend to toss. Glancing through the Carbohydrate Adict's I had hylighted a lot. There were 11 things that said within two hours after eating a full meal do you have these signs. Well I thought in Hawaii I had almost all of them for reactive hypoglycemia.

My bedroom I had an extra curling iron I don't remember where I got it and haven't used for who knows how long. So into the DI box. Why do I save things that I have replaced.

Here it is Saturday a nice day. Continued the cleaning. Got all of Geoff's stuff out of boxes and organized it in his room. Have a huge box for DI. It feels so good to have empty spaces. It fact it is so nice to have some days at home to clean. Dad gave his shelves and bench on the west wall to Mark Cook. He is making a smaller one. He said when they took it over he had forgotten how much stuff we have given them. We are glad they can use it.

It Happened in Sun Valley

I still love Sun Valley in the Fall. We have been coming over for over 30 years. The leaves are just barely starting to turn. Dad and I were thinking when we went to the SV golf course for the first time and saw it cost $27 a piece, we wondered if we could ever aford to golf it. Monday we paid $135 a piece. It still is one of our favorite courses. They have a new club house it is east of the old one and they have added a nine hole course accross the street where the gun club was. It goes up the hill. Chuck and Sue Hunter and Bonnie and Mike Peterson had come over Sunday night and stayed at the lodge. The guys golfed together and the girls followed. We had dinner at Smokey Mountain Pizza and then Bonnie and Mike headed for home and Chuck and Sue stayed over at our condo.

This time of year is quiet. We take our bikes over and rode about 17 miles toward Hailey on Tuesday. I did pretty good always the last, but I didn't get off my bike going up any incline. Dad left on Wednesday and so I walked around town looking at all the shops and gasping at the prices of things. $50 for bubble bath. Nordstrom is looking better in prices. I saw small quilted cosmetic bags for $24. I could make them (I know I need to make the time). Maybe I could become a Vera Wang and have Tiffany market them for me. (Time again). I did wander into the Gold Mine (for those of you who don't remember its the thrift store). I did buy a Mary Higgins Clark and read it last night and today.

I brought over unfinished projects to work on as I knew Scott had to go back to IF on Wednesday and Thursday. I finished an apron, about finished Maeli's hanging quilt and cut material for Jason's quilt. I also went for an 8 mile bike ride and then this evening dad and I rode our bikes up to Sun Valley. They have a new outdoor amphitheater. They give free concerts in the summer. Go on line to see it. Tommorrow we are going to ride up to Stanley and do some hiking in the Sawtooths. I bought a book on easy hikes. Its been a while since we have been up that way. Saturday we may head to Twin Falls and go golfing as it is cheaper and then head home.

Table Rock

How many of you have hiked Table Rock? What are your memories? I hiked it for the fourth time in my life on August 27. The first time I hiked it with Mary Jones and two of her friends. We went up the face came down Huckleberry Canyon. Half an hour into the hike I started getting sick. I sat down and put my head between my knees and tried to clear my head. I started feeling better and decided to keep going. I finally figured it was the cigarette smoke from Mary's friend that was making me sick. How can you hike and smoke at the same time? Every time she would light up I would get way ahead of her. I out hiked her in the end.

The second time was with Scott and the kids. We went up the face and came down Huckleberry also. Geoff was only 3 years old and he walked all of it except half an hour on his dads shoulder. People would stop and were amazed and how well he was doing. It was on this hike that we knew we could take Geoff back packing.

The third time was with Geoff, Tiffany, Jed, Jorelle and myself. We went up the face and back down the Canyon. If you go the face up and down its 9 miles. If you go the canyon its 12 miles round trip. The excitement on this hike is Geoff had his dads fanny pack and of course it was too big for him, so he hung on his shoulder. Just as we got out of the trees on the ridge, we walk over to the edge to look into the canyon. The fanny pack slides off his shoulder and goes over the edge. Geoff wants to go down and get it as it is on a ledge. It had his jacket and half our lunch. I told Geoff that there is only about $30 worth of stuff and it wasn't worth the attempt to get it if he couldn't get back up. Knowing that Geoff is a climber now maybe he could climb down and see if he can find it. Ha Ha!

Ok this about my latest trip up to Table Rock. I met with 3 friends at the Teton church, Allison, Cammi, and Cindy. We started hiking about 8:20 am. Cammi said it was better to go up Huckleberry then the face. What I know now to cut an extra mile off, I would go up the face. As we started up we were moving at a fast pace and I thought oh no is this going to be like another Lower Palisades Lake hike with the college kids. I was thinking how am I going to do this at this pace and within in 10 minutes Allison had to stop as her heart was racing. Whew! Thanks Allison. She had to stop every 10 to 15 minutes. Her heart was on her left side and you could see it beating and put your hand on it. It was weird, she said she had scoliosis when she was a child and had surgergy and her rib cage never grew and so most of her organs are scrunched. There is nothing flat about this hike it is all up hill. Reminded me of the Inca Trail. Cindy said her husband who hikes all over the world said if you can hike Table Rock twice in a summer you can hike anything. Well before long Cindy and Cammi left Allison and I in the dust. The mountain goats got way ahead of us. As we started up the switch back my ankle was giving me some trouble so I stopped and wrapped it. Allison said she was grateful for me being in the front as I would take a few steps and then stop. I am slow going up but I get there. It was cool and windy and once on the ridge it got colder.



We should of stopped at the trees and ate but we got past the rock shale and met Cammi and Cindy coming down. We stopped and ate and they said it was cold on top and they would wait in the trees for us. Well I have been to the top several times and this was Allison's first time and it was up to her. It had taken us 5 1/2 hours to get to that point and I knew it would probably take us another hour. She said it was ok and we basically didn't want them to wait for us. So we headed down and this picture was taken on the way down. Before we knew it they were ahead of us again. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get down and they beat us down by half an hour. Allison didn't have any problems going down. It was all I could do to keep up with her long legs.

I was trying out my new camel pack and love it. Allison will probaly never hike it again. I was glad I did it and who knows when I will do it again. There was an older couple who said they had hiked the grand 30 years ago. I wanted to see it as Geoff had just climbed it the week before and it is the closest I will ever get to it.



Allison is on my bowling team and she is the director for our ski bus. I help her with decisions and raffle on the ski bus.

36 Bobbypins & 6 Elastics

Your all thinking where is this blog title going. I was thinking how often does everyone pull their bed away from the wall to vacuum and clean. I am lucky if it happens twice a year. I try to reach the vacuum hose clear under but it just doesn't do the trick like pulling the bed completely out. And when you do what surprises do you find. Besides lots of dust bunnies, there may be a stray sock, shoes you wonder what happen to, magazines, a book you forgot you were reading, things you forgot you were storing. Like the primary quilt the kidsin our ward did for Scott when he was Bishop. I looked and looked and several months later cleaning the queen room I pulled the the bed out and their it was in one of those vacuum bags with all the air sucked out. Or you can find yourself the proud owner of 36 bobbypins and 6 elastics that I found under the bed Tiffany and Marshall was using while staying with us. I couldn't believe how many there were so I counted them. So Tiffany you don't have to buy anymore bobbypins or elastics when you can't find any. Just pull your bed out.

Warm Fuzzy's

I had gone to Utah to spend a day with the grandkids. As I was driving back this morning I was trying to return calls. For some reason I don't hear my phone ring or I have forgotten that it is on silent. I am thinking is my hearing going? Tiffany made me feel better as she said the rings are not very loud on the blackberry's. Geoff calls me and ask if I had listen to the message he had sent. Of course I hadn't noticed that I had missed a call from him and said no. So he proceeds to say I have done something and maybe I should butter you up. Well of course my mind starts working over time and the first thing I think of. He isn't moving home. Duh! where did that come from. I said just tell me.

His friend Daniel from Russia sent his books that he didn't think he was going to get. So he decided to call and thank him. Well, he assumed that it would only be
$.50 a minute and he would only talk a few minutes. This where your thinking why should he be telling me. Well, he is on my cell phone plan so we share minutes and I pay the bill. He proceeds to tell me that he called to check and see how much it would be. He said he wound up talking over 30 minutes and it was $1.60 a minute. You can do the math. He says I owe you big and will do yard work. Found out he had come down the night before and helped mow the lawn with dad. I thank him for telling me and not waiting till I got the bill and said "what the ". I assured him I would be delighted for him to do yard work. I am still behind.

As I was driving along I was just thinking about the situation and being really greatful for him telling me and then I thought I haven't told him I loved him. I then thought how much I love Scott and each of my children. So I text messaged each one of them (except Clint, because he is in Iraq so consider this your text) in between Tremonton and Malad. What made me feel really good is that I got instant replies. Definately a warm fuzzy moment. The only thing I can figure is that they must have their phones right there and look at them when ever it rings or I just got plain lucky.

Wear it out, Make it do or Do without

Forgot I had started this post on June 29, 2008 So I decided to finish it.

Ok this has been my philosphy since I was a young girl and we grew up on welfare. Its interesting that you carry this mind set for years even when you finally Don't have to wear it out and you Don't have to make it do or Don't have to do without.

It is getting easier to get rid of things even if I have had them only a few months. Recently I have been going to the DI on a weekly bases with different things to donate. I have even gone to getting receipts and keeping track to see if I donate more then the $500 allowed on your tax return. Recently my nieces had a garage sale so I looked for more stuff to get rid of. All the effort netted me a whopping $21. Ok to me that wasn't worth it. I didn't have any big ticket items but my friend had 3 bed sets brand new and just dropped them off for me to sell. They all sold and she made $140. I give alot of things away to different family members or nieces. One mans junk is another mans treasure as the saying goes.

This last Tuesday we moved Tiffany and family to Lehi, Utah a 2 month stay with us turned into a 4 month. I think they were as happy to get into their own place as I was to get my home back. It is plain hard to move back in with your parents and try to please them. All in all they did really good. Tiffany and I didn't get on each others nerves as I thought we would. They really watched and took very good care of Chandler. My only regret is that I never could get Chandler to warm up to me. Maybe it will be better being a long distance Grandma instead of a live in.

Well back to what I was writing about. It was interesting to go through my refergerator and see what was really in their and instead of throwing out I started combing several duplicates. Heavens don't want to waste anything. So what do I do with a perfectly good package of toufu. Tiffany's family loves the chinese hot sour soup. Hmmm I not especially fond of it. Tiffany said to look up receipes with toufu in it. I don't think so. So it sits in the refrigerator till it expires or hey wait till Tiffany comes up for the 4th and send it home with her. (Note I did throw a few weeks later. I just threw out the left over buttermilk that Marshall uses for his famous pancakes today) The freezer was just as interesting with things I didn't know I had. 3 packages of chicken breasts or tenders opened. Fed that to the college kids for FHE.

But I am getting better at throwing things out. I need Justin who throws out the left overs.

Reflection

Time definately flies by for me. There just isn't enough time in a day for me to get everything done I need to do and want to do. Even starting at 5:30 am. Here it is 10:30 pm and stopped to check everyone's blog. I didn't exercise today. I started on thank you notes this morning, laundry and cleaning up. Then off to work at 9:30 am. Worked till 5 finally got all my invoices done and caught up until the next time in 3 weeks. Did go to the chiropractor. Got home ate left overs and then went and mowed the back pasture, trimmed and started mowing the ditch bank. I was greatful for Marshall to mow around the house today. Came in cleaned kitchen, laundry did some sewing and general cleaning.

It has been an experience to sit and watch my mother in law die. From the time the hospice nurse told me her body was shutting down until she passed away was 6 days. In that time I felt I needed to be by her side. It was hard for me to focus on anything for very long. My children said it would teach me to slow down. For that week I did slow down and put everything on hold. But I am back to running fast again. You ask why am I that way. My parents were not busy people but my Grandparents were. So maybe I got it from them. Who knows. We each have our own little personalities and quirks.

Forgetfulness

As I drive in my silver sporty Maxima, oh wait a minute maybe it was dads green ford pickup as I was getting flowers for my yard this last week and drove it two days.  There is something about driving a truck or the Yukon that you feel elevated in stature.   Or maybe its I feel a little safer in bigger vehicles, love my yukon for road trips.Ok where was I going with this. Oh yeah forgetfulness.  As I am driving I have so many thoughts and ideas come into my mind of what I could write or what would be worthy or unique to me for this blog.  But alas when I get home and think about it, I have forgotten.  I guess I was thinking of a discussion I had with one of my children this last week and they were telling me something and I acted surprised and they said "MOM I TOLD YOU IN JANUARY WITH DAD".   Ok, at that point my brain try's to rewind the video of my life and think ok where was I.   I try to search my memory,  and then I think I start to vaguely remember.   My children will say that I don't listen, but I think I listen I think I just forget.  There dad will attest to that.  It seems lately I will ask a question and he will say "Its the same answer when you asked last time"  Ok, so I forgot tell me again.  It absolutely makes me feel good when someone younger then me forgets something.I guess I have to attribute it to that this life of mine is going by so fast and there is so much I want to see, do and say.  One thing (of many) that drives Scott up a wall is not completing my sentences.   My brain goes faster then my mouth and everyone has to complete in their mind what I am trying to say.  Except Scott always stops me and makes me think and go slower.   My friends look at me like what are you trying to say.  When they get that deer in the headlight look I know that I am not making any sense to them.  So back up.  I did this in a meeting for Miss IF and I felt really stupid everyone was so confused as it didn't make sense.    So my advice to my self SLOW DOWN and think.   I even try after someone has told me something that they told me before I go over it in my mind several times to see if the computer chip in my mind will keep it there.    Oh what can I say, its the AGE.  NOT, thats just me.  Maybe I can google memor losss and find something to take. Ah ha, another blog what interesting things I have googles. 

Change

Change happens all the time. Do you know where this picture was taken.

May 9 our beloved willow tree went under major surgery and like all surgeries now a day it was expensive. $575, but it was needed and even tho Geoff tried to tackle it when we were in Palm Springs it would of been bad if he had fallen. Especially since he was doing a SS lesson on Jacob 5 today in Sunday School on the olive tree and comparing it to our willow tree and how he was reaching out to saw a limb. A big truck with a bucket and 4 workers worked on it for about 2 hours. We still wanted some shade so they didn't top it. This tree has been through a lot. It started from a branch from Grandma and Grandpa Nielson's willow tree in Ririe (which is no longer there). We put it in a bucket of water till it rooted. It has been hit by lighting, split by a micro burst, last fall an early snow took down some big branches. Its been home to several birds, squirrls and our Owl Albert. It has had a swing, ropes grown into it, tree house, ladders, and platforms and aphids. It is the messiest tree around but has provided shade for our deck for the last several years. It would get a hair cut at least 3 times during the year. The tree house has to be torn down as it is not safe. I am sure each one of the kids could tell stories about that tree. It was raining when they were trimming it. Almost like it was crying "Why are you doing this to me" and yes it turned into snow. I would never recommend anyone to plant a weeping willow as they are a very messy tree.

I am a BLOGGER now!

I finally decided to hop on the band wagon. I thought if I was going to do this I needed to do it while Tiffany was still living with me and help me set this up. Yes I know I could of done it myself. It would of taken a few hours and maybe days and maybe weeks. But hey that is why I had six children.



I have had so many thoughts and funny things that I have wanted to share with my family and if you don't write them down they are soon forgotten and also my son in Iraq said he wanted to read a blog of mine. So here I am Clint. And So Many Thanks for Tiffany's help. I know I need to enjoy her while she is here as it won't be too long before they will be living far away. Here are good reason for having them living with us.

1. Tiffany cooks most of the evening meals and buys most of the groceries
2. Marshall has racked up most of the lawn and mowed it for the first time plus trimming shrubs
3. Living in the basement they heard the water running from our broken water line to the refrigerator. If they had not heard it we would of woke up 5 hours later to a worse disaster then what it was.
4. Have someone to talk to besides your spouse.
5. Watching the cute things your grandkids do.
6. Learning from them to be more laid back.

On that last note I have to tell you the experience we had last night. Tiffany had to go do mock interviews up to Rexburg at 7. She had planned to have hamburgers and store boughten potatoe salad for dinner. I told her at 6 I would go do it. I had the hamburgers done and got Chandler up to the counter top with his hamburger and potatoe salad and opened the refrigerator and proceed to pull out the condiments for the hamburger. I had to move the new gallon orange juice and put it on the counter next to Chandler. Got everything out and put it by the stove and turned around just in time to see Chandler pushing the gallon to the edge of the counter. I lunged forward to try and catch it and yep didn't make it. Splattered half of it all over the floor and walls and it was the kind with lots of pulp. I am thinking oh there's $2.50 down the drain. Tiffany comes in and very calmly says thats ok don't worry about it. I take Chandler into the dinning room to finish his dinner while I try to clean up. Tiffany has told me several times you need to sit with him in the dinning room. I am trying to clean up the orange juice and I go into check on Chandler. Now remember its be maybe 2 minutes. He has taken most of his potatoe salad and flipped with his spoon all around the room. So I sit down with him till his dad comes in and sits with him so I can finish cleaning up the orange juice and potato salad. I guess if I didn't have these fun episodes with Chandler I think my life would be totally boring.