I'm doing it!

It's a first- we went snowshoeing today and had so much fun! It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it - I kept stepping on my own shoe. It is a beautiful "warm" sunny day! I'd better watch it - I might be turning into a nature girl... did I mention no makeup either...

I just received my book in the mail (my blog from last year to book using Blurb). I love it!

It's how Boy Scouts do it.

Dan decided to get out the tall ladder and get on the roof to fix the furnace exhaust pipe that was putting too much steam under the eve of the house. So he got out a long rope and threw one end over the roof and tied it to the suburban and then he climbed up and put the other end around his waist. As you can see in the pictures he IS sawing the pipe on top of his leg. Don't worry he's a Boy Scout.

Walking On Sunshine

We decided to take a hike yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny - blue skies - fresh air - kind of day so we decided to leave our laziness indoors and head out. The sun was so nice that soon we lost our coats. It was nice being out in nature. We took pictures and walked through the snow up the mountain. We kept falling in snow up to our knees and I laughed until I couldn't get up. Next time we'll try snowshoes.

I ran across this old photo yesterday. I haven't seen it in years, in fact I don't remember it at all. I'm 3-4 and my brother Jon is 2-3 and we are with a playmate Rhonda Crossman along with my Grandparents John Calvin Stewart & Thea Mae Butler. I had such wonderful Grandparents! I have lots of memories of them and was lucky to live by them when I was little and then again when I was newly married! They lived to the ripe old ages of 92 & 95. In this picture I have my "baby" with me. I never went anywhere without at least 1 baby. I remember living by my grandparents and I would take my baby over to Grandma's so she could baby sit while I ran an errand, but once I got there I couldn't leave her for more than a few minutes :) I do remember making "cookies" out of green clay (made by Grandma) only to be eaten by their dog Skipper! He enjoyed my cooking so much. I also remember another time when I a little younger. My mom & Grandma went to town and left me and Jon who was a baby, with dad & Grandpa. When they came home I had changed Jon so many times (cloth diapers & pins!) that there were no diapers left and I had taken everything out of the refrigerator and all the pans out of the cupboard. I was in making "dinner"! I was the little Mommy in charge. No idea where dad & Grandpa were all this time...
I also remember Grandma telling me stories - she was the best story teller in the whole world! Grandpa always smelled of mint gum but when I asked him what he had he would say "nothing, you just chew your tongue and it makes gum!" He was always a prankster and loved playing jokes on everyone.

There's a lot of horse play at our house!

half way to 100

This Birthday card was from Grace, Caroline & Lila for Papa. In it they proudly write that he is halfway to 100 years old!

Happy 50th Birthday Dan!!!

The kids came up and we celebrated Dans Birthday. It was good times! Now Dan is never seen without these (earphone) from his new iPod which he loves both day and night!!! now he can't complain that my clicking (Kindle turning page) keeps him awake. We watched movies (loved the Fantastic Mr. Fox!) ate Birthday cake, played games and peed in jars (see previous post - CUSS); it was good times by all :)

$1500 later...

we've just had a week that we never want to repeat. We've had problems with our sewer backing up the past 2 weeks; and you know we're city people and if a plunger can't take care of it then we can't fix it. We called our plumber (who is also our neighbor) and he came and got under the house; took up boards from the deck; opened up the septic; looked at all the pipes; tried to unclog the kitchen sink from underneath making a terrible mess; crawled in the crawl space from 2 different places in the house; and finally decided that he would run a snake from our bathroom. He removed the toilet and ran a 50 ft snake. He did get the clog and we were back in business! or were we? The next morning the toilets wouldn't flush and started to backup in the tubs - GROSS! So the plumber came back with a 75 ft snake and again got through the clog. Fixed finally! But sadly no - the next morning - same story - all backed up again! To make matters worse we had all our kids and grandkids here to celebrate Dan's Birthday since it was a 3 day weekend. Yup - going potty in buckets & jars! Then at night we went to swim & take showers. We decided to call one of Tyler's Plumber friends who we had used in Boise who works for Roto- Rooter. He was in Sandy, UT but after talking to him for an hour he thought he knew what the problem was and would come up the next day after he got home. He came up and went swimming in the septic tank and found the baffle was stuck shut with a huge grease ball - GROSS - thanks to Chris and....


It was worth every penny. I spent all day cleaning everything with bleach and tomorrow the carpets are getting cleaned. We're back in business.

I had a crafty day today. I went visiting teaching, My visiting teaching partner is Marla Patterson who we knew in the Foothills East ward 20 years ago. Small world! I had arranged to meet her at one of our sisters house. I got totally lost. It seems there is a Scrivers Creek, a Scrivers Bluff and also a Scrivers Woods. I had the Garmond with me but there were 3 different addresses it could be so that didn't help much. I only had part of her address. Luckily I had my cell phone with me and called home to ask Dan to look up her address. I was completely out of battery but it miraculously worked! Dan said the ladies had called the house and left directions if I called so it all worked out in the end. We had a nice visit with Eva Bailey. Before I left for visiting teaching I had decided to make a duvet cover for my humongous down comforter that I found on the internet. I wanted something really warm, fluffy and BIG! I found a 750 power fill - 100 thread ct. on sale (one of those $800 ones that I got for $100) and it is 116 X 100 inches! Its so LOVELY!!! but the downside to this is that there are no duvet covers to fit it unless I custom order one for like $500. After weeks of trying to keep a sheet tucked over the top of it as we slept (to keep it clean) I decided I had to try & make one. So I got crafty and pieced together 3 sheets. I laid everything on my bedroom floor and still not all the sides lined up when I went to sew them but it worked! So now I have a really expensive down comforter in a cheap crafty homemade duvet cover.

using the floor as a table :)

now I just need to make it up cute with some pillows!