Lindalu's BTDT (Been There, Done That) Just the 2 of us

I am still around

2012-01-20T09:46:00.001-07:00

I have been doing a lot of thinking and pondering lately

visiting all my blogger friends each day and reading all their wonderful posts, leaving little snippets of messages to let them know I am stopping by, but the fact is…I haven’t taken any pictures in over a month!

Yep I am a totally a blank canvass even though it looks like I am thinking of meadows and butterfly’s,

I really am thinking of how tired I am and how good it would feel to just go to that meadow and take a nap!

I was alone for a week because Huh-honey had a job to do up North. I had plenty of time to clean-rearrange, you know the usual stuff, and I can’t tell you what I did! Oh…I filled 3 garbage bags of clothes from my closet and bought some nice non-slip hangers for all my clothes, (well almost all my clothes) 35 hangers were in a box and I use 2 1/2 boxes! yikes….I guess felt pretty organized and good about that accomplishment. I watch some TV…not much, but when I did start watching it was much later in the evening, then I would go to bed very late and read. I guess, bottom line is, I am not a very good “ALONE” person. I just went through the motions each day.

I keep telling myself that the famous blue sky's of the town will eventually come out…and the dark clouds will eventually go away so that I can feel that warm sunshine on my back and take so much needed walks.

Can you believe it…I had to take a prescription of vitamin D! YEAH I live in a part of the country where the sun always (99%) of the time shines and I was low on vitamin D! UNBELIEVABLE!

I think I need a vacation. A real vacation, not just travel 5 hours to see my sweet grandies for a day, but a real, get on a plane, train, or boat and go someplace I have never been to before!

Could someone please let my boss know that I need a paid vacation, and not have to use my vacation time to do it! You see…I get 2 weeks a year. It isn’t a whole lot of time to really do anything especially when there are 52 of those babies and if I use 2 of them right off….I will still have 50 that I have to be here for…has anyone seen Debbie Downer on SNL? LOL my goodness listen to me! I am so glad it is Friday! I have invited 2 of my grandies to have a sleep over tonight. Maybe popcorn and a movie and giggles and snuggles will help my slump…. I don’t think that I will have the littlest one sleep over, I am afraid that we would end up calling her parents when she actually would have to go to bed. I think the idea of sleeping in a different bed and watching a movie on a very old TV and VHS is something fun for these children of this generation. YEP I still have the ole VHS hooked up in the guest bedroom and lots of OLD VHS movies…

Kinlee will be 2 on Feb 8th

Now there is a face of sunshine! Brown eyes and snow white hair, not much of it either LOL wispy and very fine with a receding hairline like her daddy LOL. She sure loves her Papa though, probably because he looks like her daddy!

Well for not having anything to say…………..I think I have said enough!

Hope your all well and that you are all having tons of SUNSHINE in your life! love and hugs……meme

David Archuleta - I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus - VIP Beaver Creek

2012-01-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

such an inspiration and incredible voice, I admire this young man...

A SPECIAL WISH!

2011-12-22T16:56:00.001-07:00

My hopes and prayers are for all my family and friends to have a joyous and safe Christmas holiday season.

Many blessings to everyone and here is to a happy and healthy NEW YEAR for 2012!

BRING IT ON!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Linda

A short visit

2011-12-15T09:37:00.001-07:00

We left last Friday afternoon and headed up North for a short visit with the grandies. You know…take gifts for Christmas and all.

Of course we didn’t get there until after 7 pm Friday night. It is a 4 1/2 drive, longer if we stop to eat which we did.

The “little rascals” knew…we were there to deliver presents so……the second we arrived the “little rascals” were begging us to let them open the presents.

NOPE

Papa was tough on this one. LOL. He left the gifts in the trunk of the car and wouldn’t budge. He figured, once they were opened we might as well just get in the car and go home. So he held out until Saturday.

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It didn’t take long for each stack to be torn into. I made it very clear that they were getting mostly clothes (per request) and just one little toy.

I think they were ok with that. I hope they were ok with that. I think soon, because they are getting older, the toy part will end. I see pj’s in the future. You know kids, when they get older the clothes that Oma picks out really are not their choice of wear. I can get away with it for maybe another couple of years.

It has already ended with Madison, my 16 year old. A long, long, long time ago LOL.

We had dinner in downtown Salt Lake, went to Temple Square and saw all the beautiful lights. It was crowded.

And cold.

The Nativity on the reflective pond is always such a special beautiful scene.

There is a quiet reverence when walking around the Nativity. The Nativity is life size and sits in the center of a shallow pond of water with beautiful bubbles of lights that seem to float atop the water. You can see why it is called the reflective pond…it is amazing!

These pictures do nothing for what you eyes can see. It is hard to wrap your mind around it actually. Lights are discreetly started to be intertwined on every single branch beginning in August.

The organ pipes inside the famous Tabernacle on Temple Square are always a must to visit. The hall was decorated beautifully for Christmas.

This beautiful HUGE statue of Christ is a favorite visit for everyone. Ryan was so sweet. He just sat and starred. He has been to the visitors center many times. Even with all of the people shoulder to shoulder on a busy Saturday night, Ryan was so calm and I captured this pic of him. He was deep in thought my Ryan.

He wanted to make sure that I saw the nail marks in the feet of Jesus. Ryan actually leaned up and kissed his foot. It made me want to cry. I just love the innocence of children and their sincere heart. Wouldn’t we all love the chance to kiss the feet of our Savior!

After our visit seeing the lights we took the Trolley and walked over to a restaurant to enjoy a delicious desert. The day was done, the children were exhausted and so were the adults. It was late by the time we returned home and the “little rascals” were put to bed.

Up early and on the road again back home.

We are staying home for Christmas. I enjoy all my decorations.

What are you doing?

It is always hard to put the Christmas decorations away once you get them up. I still have to shop for Santa. It is hard to shop and get something that is a total surprise. He hates that I do that. I just can’t help myself. I wanted to get him some warm slippers, but he wants a specific kind and like always I have waited until the last minute. I hope to write again before Christmas with a special message. Good intentions….I always have them….:) Good thing I am not a drinker, I don’t think I have ever taken a picture of myself where my eyes were NOT bloodshot! ARGH, and NO I am not a photo shop person to erase those blurred red eyes. It is was it is lol! How did I ever raise my children without a cell phone???? that takes pictures too? Hope you are all getting your shopping done! Me…I love to wait until the last second! hahaha, I mean HO, HO, HO! or NO, NO, NO!

Jingle Bell Rock / Bobby Helms 1957

2011-12-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

OK I know you all are singing along! TURN IT UP! You just can't resist!

It’s the “little things in life”…

2011-12-01T13:04:00.001-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday! I know I did! It was busy from Wednesday night until Sunday at noon!

I didn’t go shopping. I leave that to all the crazy people, including my children.

Papa and I just hung out and enjoyed “the little things in life”

Taking 5 grandies to the movies. All of them with popcorn, candy and slushy in their little laps watching the “Muppets”.

Having pizza and hot dogs at Costco after the movie….(much cheaper than McDonalds).

Going to the park and riding the carousel (several times) and then letting them get soaking wet. Thank goodness the weather was warm! Even though the water was cold!

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Striping them down and piling them in the car to take them home, get dry clothes on them and feed them again.

Going for a walk in “the wash” (they love it, it is where we tell them dinosaurs and wild animals hang out, it is a dirt road behind the houses in a river bed) making sure they get plenty wore out.

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Getting them home again, bathed and on the floor watching a movie.

Papa and I laughed about the day we had and totally know why we had children in our 20’s.

That was only on Black Friday!

Owen and Lauren were exhausted and once the tv was shut off, so did they!

It’s all about the

“little things in life”

that brings me so much happiness.

I have no idea what I did with Thanksgiving dinner pictures, but I did take a few of the feast…believe me…we had an abundance.

It was busy, crazy, and so much fun to have everyone around.

This may not be EXACTLY our feast, but it was pretty close! That’s me right in the middle of things and Papa right behind me, I think all the kids are out playing in the dirt.

For this I am grateful…for this I am blessed!

Let the Christmas hoop-la begin!

Thankful

2011-11-23T13:05:00.001-07:00

6 of my 8 turkeys (grandies)are coming for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Parents are also invited! 4 of them…that makes 12 of us altogether!

For this I am grateful, well actually we will report on that after tomorrow LOL. I am sure it will be CRAZY. Since my home is an OPEN area, I will be setting up an extra TURKEYS table for the 6 adorable turkey’s in the great room LOL. It will be fun!

I am so grateful for my children, my husband, my friends, all of my extended family!

I am so grateful for a kind and lovingly Heavenly Father who watches over me each and every day and keeps us all safe in this crazy world.

Please say a special prayer for my granddaughter Madison. 2 of her close and I say VERY close friends, Makayla Kee Woods who has spent tons of sleepovers at Madi’s home was a victim of the shooting in Pleasant Garden’s NC. SO horrible. Madi is so distraught and needs your prayers.

And last but not least…I am grateful for my blogger village friends.

Have a SAFE Thanksgiving should you travel.

lot’s of love…..

Linda

VETERANS DAY NEVER FORGET-THANK A VETERAN!

2011-11-11T13:22:00.001-07:00

WAL-MART SENIOR GREETER
You just have to appreciate this one. Young people forget that we old people had a career before we retired......

this picture of Charley did not copy. It was from an e-mail that was circulating…

Charley, a new retiree-greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn't seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp-minded and a real credit to the company and obviously demonstrating their "Older Person Friendly" policies.
   One day the boss called him into the office for a talk.
   "Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang-up job when you finally get here; but your being late so often is quite bothersome."
   "Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it."
   "Well good, you are a team player. That's what I like to hear.
   “Yes sir, I understand your concern and I’ll try harder.
   Seeming puzzled, the manager went on to comment, It's odd though your coming in late. I know you're retired from the Armed Forces. What did they say to you there if you showed up in the morning so late and so often?"
   The old man looked down at the floor, then smiled.
   He chuckled quietly, then said with a grin, "They usually saluted and said, Good morning, Admiral, can I get your coffee, sir?”

PICTURE OF AN ADMIRAL DID NOT COPY (SORRY)

One of my favorite stories! I got this story through an e-mail and even if it is not true it seems like it should be!

sorry that the pictures did not copy!

AND MY FAVORITE VETERAN OF COURSE

THANK YOU BOB for your service to your country so that I could be safe. Thank you for coming home. I know that so many you fought with did not. Thank you for being so brave, even though you were a very young scared 18-19-20 year old boy.

I am PROUD to be your wife!

love forever and always…me

Anything but…..

2011-11-08T16:14:00.001-07:00

Yeah, anything but that monster face staring at you when you open up this post!

I didn’t receive any pictures except this one of the “little rascals” for Halloween, it shows their true characters LOL I love that Ryan was a hotdog!

I honestly don’t know what is on that plate and I forgot to ask…but whatever it is…it looks really gross!, I think the eye glasses were just a part of the party they attended and not part of their costumes…lol

1500 miles away Brooklyn dressed like this, a “bat princess”

where are the days of the “Little Mermaid”???????

then there was a cute little lady bug

a dragon

and a……I really don’t know what he was….I am just not into the “new stuff” I guess. Plus…Halloween is for kids right?

I didn’t mention I went to Palm Springs a couple of weekends ago. We went with some friends who has a son playing college football. He is very good and has had numerous offerings from colleges for full scholarship rides. Now he has to decided which one to take.

It was a very quick weekend, we drove. It was a 6 or 7 hour ride. We stayed in a nice resort timeshare place in Palm Springs.

You can tell I was relaxing. The background was like a postcard honestly, and the weather was perfect.

You think of Palm Springs and you think of the 70’s and Bob Hope Classic golf tournament and all the movie stars because even though it was the desert that is where they hung out. It was the “Hot” place to be and be seen. Yes there are lots of palm trees. and lots of windmills out in the desert which pictures I took with my little camera and a moving pace of 80 MPH. When you are not the driver….it is hard to say “STOP” I want a picture of the windmills! Many people don’t understand my obsession with the camera.

These windmills are so big and they look like some kind of a space ship when you get real close. They are incredible.

This is my friend and her son.

This is the house that Elvis and Pricilla Presley had there honeymoon in! It says so right on this plaque in front of the house! I even walked right up to the front door..and took a picture. We didn’t knock because someone lives in the house and they are not anyone famous. It is just an ordinary house at the end of a cul-de-sac.

(cul-de-sac a street, lane, etc., closed at one end; blind alley; dead-end street.)

In it’s day…It must have been a very expensive and beautiful home! Just think…Elvis was here!

That was pretty much our tour of Palm Springs, we had to get home and our driver wasn’t into sight seeing….lol but like I said, there were lot’s of Palm Trees in Palm Springs! An Oasis in the middle of the desert in CA!

And on another note…Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of weeks! I look forward to the 4 day weekend. Not so much the cooking and clean-up of dinner but the 4 days off of my regular work routine!

I am sure I will do a little something on how thankful I am…because I really am…. Thankful

TRICK OR TREAT….

2011-10-31T16:56:00.001-06:00

I couldn’t resist……..

I wasn’t going to do it…but decided to at the last minute… the girls at the office also had fun…what am I

Well a Zombie Cowgirl of course!

You can never be too old to have a little fun. Princess Linda, ROZ from Monsters Inc., Dr. Feel Good from, and me….

ROZ was the best!!!!! Good Job Angie! She made her costume and it was awesome…

right down to the mole

Girls just wanna have fun…ohhh girls just wanna have fun…

My sweet Kinlee didn’t want to have a thing to do with me when she came to visit at work…I will post pics of what the kids send me tomorrow….hApPY hAlLOwEEn!

SO NOW YOU KNOW!

2011-10-27T09:47:00.001-06:00

LOL ok, so for the few (and I am talking FEW) (2) to be exact that read my last post…sorry I have NO idea how computers work, remember I am an employee who plugs along….not really having a clue that if you are on a computer and try to log into your WORK blog and add a post, that realtors in the industry, (don’t even look at) but I am suppose to do it anyway…

OH never mind…it was a total goof. I just wanted to educate anyone who thought it might me interesting…which it is NOT about what I do……LOL

This world of realtors….anyone who is one; is dying because I didn’t cap the name realtors…and put the copyright mark at the end YADA YADA YADA (you can tell I really care right?)

SO.. we did a quick trip up North to see “the little rascals”, papa and I took them to the park…of course stopped at the store to buy them late birthday presents, (it is all about the presents) then went to the park, they played for an hour or so…(we missed Lauren’s BD in Sept and Owen’s Oct. 3rd.

You actually need a masters degree in order to un-box a toy now-a-days. Lauren was soooo patient but it was worth it to her..and of course I forgot to put my scissors in my purse, so nail clippers worked and so did a screw driver.

the smiles were so worth it!

this was the fun part…I wish I was a “great” photographer and actually knew what I was doing. What I did know is that it was the wrong time of day to be taking pictures…the sun was just NOT in the right spot, but as you can see…it doesn’t matter…it is all about the subject and you can NEVER get the perfect family picture…even though the family is PERFECT.

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as you can see the sun was not in the right place, too many shadows..on both sides of the yard..

there is going to be a day of do-overs for sure and it will not be a rush hurry up before papa and I have to leave and go home! This is an adorable family no matter if the lighting was wrong. Oh by the way Owen received a very nice award from his school. He is in kindergarten now and his teacher tells his mom that he is such a big helper and so nice to others and works so hard in school.

Owen is very proud of this award that gets to stay posted in his yard for the month! Pretty cool they recognize the children this way.

Well that’s the story…so now you know….. :) it is Thursday! hooray!

Does anyone get excited for the weekend when you don’t have to worry about the alarm going off and having to get out of bed?

A touch of home

2011-10-13T16:07:00.001-06:00

Everyone and every creature deserves a place to call home don’t you think?

So I had Huh-honey think out of the box….literally…. and this is what he came up with.

He gave these beauties away for prizes to 3 lucky Realtors when he was a sponsor at a meeting here at my the office. I think they were happy, but sadly not one of them thanked him for their bird house after the meeting. There were about 80 agents there and he made it fun when he drew their names. He and 2 other sponsors provided a continental breakfast as well, hoping to promote business for themselves. BuilderBob is a handyman, that’s what he does now and then, now that he is retired.

It made me sad….because I work here….and he put so much effort into these because I asked him to. I will never ask him to be a sponsor for a meeting again.

They started like this….

and have turned into beautiful creations that any bird of a feather would be happy to call home…

I plan on keeping a couple myself and then hopefully selling some for Christmas presents to make a little extra cash. His ideas are endless… I prefer a chimney on my house don’t you? I am hoping to get some orders for him to start making more….

on a lighter note: Does anyone recall the episode of Seinfeld where George makes himself a little sleeping place under his desk?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W__qCFWi1KA

well…………………….shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh don’t tell the boss but apparently I have way too much time on my hands…well today I did hehehehe (the boss was gone today)…good thing he doesn’t know I have a blog!

A little ambiance goes a long way don’t you think? yes..that is a lamp, my kindle, 2 pillows, a blanket, (there is NOT someone under that blanket (!) a picture of me and my honey, and a tiny T.V. that only gets one channel. Clearly I am missing a bag of popcorn and a large coke.

And yes…work as usual…

If anyone is wondering…next time I tell the office gals I am taking a Costanza break…they will know where to find me!

PS it is not dark enough in my office with 10,oo0,000 watts of light to even take a nap, unless I actually turn off the lights and close the door, but then, I wouldn’t be here, thank goodness!

just sayin’

Hello everyone!

2011-09-14T16:28:00.001-06:00

Yeah yeah I know. I don’t want any lectures…the honest truth is, I haven’t felt like adding anything to my blog. Kind of went into a slump of ideas. Nothing new, just nothing basically. I took some adorable pics of who else????? grandkids when I went up North a few weeks ago. It was still warm outside. Owen and Lauren were total models for me. Lauren was hilarious…..and holy cow, I got some cute shots…..

It was hard to get anything out of Ryan. He lets me take a picture or 2 then….when he is thinks its enough…well then it is enough. It makes every picture I get of Ryan that much more precious.

So bare with me….or don’t…but here we go!!!!!!!!!!!

Is this the cutest pics of the little rascals helping their mom bake cookies? They ate globs of cookie dough…it was so good! When ever they help Camille bake…they put their hats on. It is great!

Ryan is a great egg cracker…it is his specialty when baking.

it was hard not to just EAT the whole bowl of cookie dough!

Here Ryan was showing me his hurry up Oma take my picture face.

I was able to capture this adorable pic before he became bored with all my “snaps”

Owen on the other hand was totally into the posing for me!

Owen was pretty good at taking care of any leftovers on the mixer..

Then there came Lauren….what more can I say?

My little goofball……

and my little poser…. she had fun and would say “like this Oma?”

Yeah…..just like that Lauren…..

I took a ton of pics. Normally 1 out of 10 turn out the way I like them and then I don’t have a problem putting them in frames… but not this time. I need a bigger wall…….lol

I took some pics of the 3 that live here in town but…it was such a hot day….and I need some do-overs….aren’t you glad!

After a LOT of posing………she was done and off she skipped to go chase some chickens!

YESTERDAY was my DIL’s BD Sorry this is so late putting up Camille. Thanks so much for being our sweet daughter. Thank you for giving us such beautiful grandies….We sure love you!

Camille told me that she got a bicycle for her birthday. Of course the night before her birthday Mike was talking…the kids were right there and he was saying, “geesh it sure is too bad that we didn’t get you anything for your birthday” and RYAN piped up and said “yeah we did dad, we got mom a bicycle”! Ya gotta love it. Never…Never…Never think you can pull one over on Ryan!

Then night before last Lauren asked her mom, (sorry I don’t remember the exact words) “mommy can you ask daddy to come and lay down with me” (this is at bedtime, Mike sometimes lays down with the kids) and then she said: “and if he says no, just ask him again, and if he says no again, just ask him again”. I can just see her saying it as a matter of fact and shrugging her shoulders…. lol…OK would YOU SAY NO TO THAT? just sayin……

Hope you are all having a wonderful week….I know I am…..

I am very blessed

2011-08-02T15:28:00.001-06:00

I am not sure what to say or where to begin. I guess it really doesn’t matter.

Yes, I am bragging…I have every right to.

I am pretty sure that a lot of my generation didn’t “hang” in there.

But we did….

Huh-Huney said something to me the other night while we were watching “reality” tv (hehehe) or maybe it was my other favorite shows “Pickers” where two guys go around the country and find other peoples junk that ends up being their treasures…

besides the point…he said I said 25 years ago…in a letter to him…(I can’t believe he remembered this…he has a really good memory lol) but anyway he told me I said:

“If ever you find yourself at the end of your rope…just tie a knot, it is much easier to hang on”.

Well we have hung on…for 41 years and it has been a crazy fun, exciting, roller coaster, scary at times but totally worth the RIDE.

The knot seems to be working…..even if your hanging by a thread sometimes…

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” Thomas Jefferson

I swear I did not copy Thomas Jefferson 25 years ago. I didn’t even have the internet 25 years ago… and I certainly was not versed in what the famous Tomas Jefferson said.

It is just ironic that I wrote that in a letter to my husband during some difficult times in our young married life.

Remember last year when I wrote: “He sends me Roses”

Well he still does….and probably will for another 41 years, if I am that blessed….

I love roses. There are a lot of beautiful flowers with fancy names and vibrant colors…but a red rose…ahhhh there is just something about it….

41 years…that’s a really long time…

I was just a baby….he looks like he is going to burst into an “Elvis” song or something…LOL I love this guy.

sorry honey I know this pic is a couple of years ago…but it was a fun day….bike riding in the rain…I know, your eyes aren’t even all the way open…but I couldn’t find a recent picture..we need to take one tonight..hehehe

Happy Anniversary to us…

Star gazing and fish tales…

2011-07-29T14:43:00.001-06:00

July 24th in Utah is a holiday. It is a big deal. As a little girl I looked forward to the huge parade down Main Street downtown SLC and you either had to camp out to get a good spot, or your dad worked for someone that had a stand and seats set up for there employees and family (which my dad did) anyway…it is a big deal with Days of 47 Parade and Rodeo’s happening and events galore. But since I have moved to Southern Utah, I only get the benefit of getting an extra day off of work because it is a state holiday! yipee! You can go to this web site to read up on it if you like: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/pioneer-day

Anyway…the point is…I had an extra day off on Monday the 25th. We decided to make a weekend of just goofing off since huh-honey had worked his fanny off during the week pouring footings for my son in his yard so he can build a brick wall.

Well Bob and I decided to go to the desert on Saturday after a relaxing day, seeing a movie, (Harry Potter) thank goodness they are done…hehehe

We got out into the desert around 9:30ish, I missed the sunset but did find some color in the red sand.

we were alone…and surprised there was not more activity and cars and off road bikes buzzing by…

we wanted to be as far away from city lights as possible to get a good show of the stars…

I even put a Native Trilogy flute CD in for special effects….hehehe

we got comfortable…even had some binoculars so we could see satellites zooming by in the pitch black sky. It was amazing…we only saw 2 shooting stars, but lots of satellites and millions of stars!

It was so quiet and peaceful. The desert night air even cooled off. You never know what may appear out there in the middle of the desert so you have to be on your guard at all times…

actually the “Desert Bush Man” is very harmless, he is friends with “Big Foot”

As you can see….we had fun being silly…

scary right???? LOL

It is amazing what can entertain you when you are in the desert…at night….around 11 pm!

so…on Monday…(Utah State Holiday) I know your all confused right? anyway we took the day and went fishin’

I was so excited…the weather was perfect…most everyone had packed up and was heading out…as we were heading “in”.

The reservoir was so full! There was a gentle breeze and it was picture perfect

I had fun playing with my camera….

got myself all comfy with my pole in the water…watched a family of ducks swim by…just kickin back and enjoying the beautiful day. The sun was shinning down on my bare shoulders and legs…

I got the good fishin ‘ chair, Huh-huney got the old padded chair cushions we take along just for days like today…

Actually he was very comfy…

THEN IT HAPPENED…MY FISH STORY BEGAN….

LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME…

I THOUGHT I HAD CAUGHT THE MOTHER-LOAD!

BUT THERE IS A CATCH….

SEE WHERE IT SAYS: IMMEDIATELY RELEASE ALL TROUT 15-22 INCHES! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

THE INSIDE OF MY ARM FROM MY ELBOW TO THE TIP OF MY FINGERS IS 15”

No matter what we did to pinch his tail….and stretch the truth…HE came in at 21”. Yep….had to toss him back….well we didn’t toss him…he was a little stressed….KIND OF LIKE ME! It just wasn’t worth trying to fudge….for an inch and take the chance of having fish and game come around and check….possibly get fined and loose our fishing license.

Hey……………IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I was ready to put the ole spawnner (I know not a real word) back into the cold waters and try and hook his “BIGGER” brother.

I know there are a lot of people out there that will think we were crazy to toss these crawdad’s back…truth is…they are plentiful and love to tease your line….making you think you have the “Big Daddy” when you don’t! Just not as mouth watering on the BBQ to me, and not worth all the work involved. I would need 50 of these to wet my appetite!

Well all was not lost…even though we did not take home any fish, the day was beautiful…..peaceful, relaxing and so much fun. Lot’s of laughs and even sweet silence just taking in the beauty around us. I feel so blessed to live in such spectacular surroundings.

IT IS JUST A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN IN MY BOOK! Until next week…….be safe my friends.

Until we meet again….

2011-07-18T15:10:00.001-06:00

That sounds like an awful title doesn’t it? It isn’t meant to be by any means! Honestly if you had any idea of how many pictures I have taken over the past 3 weeks you would be saying the exact same words. It seems like I have sifted through a million pictures all of which I became attached to…but know in my heart of hearts that only…maybe…20 out of a 100 are worth keeping. I think my camera downloaded over 700 (GEESH).

So on FB I posted like a hundred.

All of which I have become attached to and it will take me a minute maybe two to delete, delete, delete all of the ones not worth keeping.

Yes the girls came and went. The pool got used A LOT. We ate out a lot of the time only because we were OUT a lot of the time, doing this and that. But I feel like I really didn’t do a whole lot either!

Time fly’s when your having fun as the saying goes.

I did….take some awesome pics of the grandies….and because my subjects are…well……………..BEAUTIFUL, I can say I think I did a pretty good job since I don’t have a clue how to photo shop. All of these are yes, straight out of the camera with no extra whatever’s. Oh and if you haven’t seen the hundred that I posted on FB, if you have an account, feel free to check the many new albums out. hehehehe but here for your view pleasure or not so viewing pleasure are my beautiful grandies…

I love the color contrast on this pic

Uncle Mike’s house had plenty to keep the kids busy. Brook loved visiting Uncle Mike’s farm.

Moon walking at the Planetarium downtown SLC.

Lauren and Brooklyn had some fun little colorful extensions clipped into their hair. I love how the sunlight shines around her.

The trampoline was a lot of fun and water balloons seemed to be a big splash hit!

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There were bugs….and play time in the canyon

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There was toe painting and the 4th of July parade to attend and snatch up as much candy as you could possibly think of…

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Heads were dunked in icy cold water in the canyon….it was AWESOME!

but I think the most fun of all was had on the slip ~ slide. NO ONE has a slip ~n~slide like the Higgins have…. Thanks to Mike ,squeals and giggles were on going… If only I were 20 years younger…ahh I just felt like I would have been one huge blue bruise if I had done what the kids did…

PREPARATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART

LOTS of water and most important GARBAGE BAGS. Yep..GARGABE bags with slippers soap and baby oil…give you the UTIMATE SLIDE~!

I just love this one of Owen…he is having so much fun and on the run to start again!

see the big puddle at the end of the slide…that is what you want to aim for. Mike was the ultimate pusher. He is running to give Ryan a shove…into the puddle, and boy did he take off!

there were some wild and crazy moves…Mike must have played on that slide for an hour while I took pic after pic trying to get the ultimate shot…hehehe

the water was cold, so they tell me but that didn’t stop the kids. The bags actually helped keep them warm!

Madi, Lauren and Brooklyn all had a good time.

With just a gentle push…

then when all was said and done Ryan got to blast his dad with the hose….see the little pool it is full of soapy water, they kids still needed a bath in nice warm water to warm up…

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to America and the amazing cake was cut. Camille makes amazing cakes…check this one out!

It looks like the flag…

Can you believe this? and I watched Camille make it….still it just didn’t make sense to me. But then again, I am ok with that hehehe.

the grandies enjoyed a few fireworks in the back yard then they were put in the back of the truck (honestly they were very safe) and we headed down the road a bit for the big display which didn’t last very long….but, that’s ok too. It was a fun packed day and they didn’t mind coming home and jumping in bed.

So that has been the month of July for me.

It is quiet at my house right now. I have nothing planned even for Labor Day, which I will NOT be laboring on. I think I will stay home and let all the other crazies be out on the road. I will be in my pool soaking up the sun and sipping a cool tall something….

“GREASE”

2011-07-07T15:52:00.001-06:00

uhh not the kind of grease that you can’t get out of the laundry but the fun and exciting “GREASE” version of the movie…you know the exciting John Travolta kind of stuff…whoa baby!

My kids watched this show over and over and over a hundred times, it will be fun to go with the girls tonight…. http://www.tuacahn.org/grease.php

I don’t want anyone to kick me out of the performance tonight if I try and take a picture…but hey I am going to try anyway….hehehe

yeah, I am a little bit of a trouble maker….

maybe I can download the 4th pics tomorrow, Mikes slip~n~slide was awesome! although I didn’t participate….I just took pictures..I think I would have been one huge bruise from head to toe if I had!

oh this is cool…my son Brad took Bob and I on a little canyon drive with his 3 children a couple of weeks ago, this is what we hiked to see, it was very interesting…

can you guess what it is?

standing inside…

we didn’t stay long…too many bugs buzzing around our head…

This pic makes the kiln look small…but in fact it was very large….

This is Bob and Kinlee inside where they melted stuff, like silver. The kiln produced charcoal..you can read below if you want…or not, guys find this stuff interesting lol.

This is Kyler outside the kiln, it gives you a better idea of the size…

History 101

there were dozens of these dead beetles all over the ground, it was yucky…I am not a bug fan at all…

Thanks Brad…for the history lesson…we will have to go back when the bugs are not so……active……..

there hhhhheeeerrrrrrr…

2011-06-28T16:50:00.001-06:00

well…the girls arrived last week Tuesday. I can’t believe it has been a whole week already. So far….they have been in the pool….been in the pool…and been in the pool.

Well not really, I am boring but not that boring. I took 3 days off of work and because my son is moving into another home that needed some much need work…Bob the builder has been helping to get it ready. That meant that we had his 3 children for a couple of those days. We did hit the “Outlets” 2 times…, of course Wal-Mart a couple of times..

There were 3 escalators I impatiently waited at for them to come down on…and they ended up coming down on a 4th one on the entire other side of the luggage pick-up.

Madison is way too grown up….Brooklyn is 7 now and has shot up about 4 inches since last year.

she is a miniature of her mother it is really scary…but her personality is TOTALLY different.

(my daughter was not as spoiled..)

Like I said, the kids have been swimming a lot. This is Kyler and Brooklyn. When Kyler is not around she plays with a little girl in our neighborhood same age. It has been a blessing………hehehe

the pool has been a blessing on hot days of 107!

I would like to get comfy like Kinlee….but…

It’s not happening… thank goodness…

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We took a picnic to the mountains, just 30 minutes away. The run-off was so loud and thunderous and FREEZing cold!

I would love to have this girls legs….holy cow they are long and gorgeous!..

I have no idea why blogger is cutting my pictures in half…but it is pretty awesome don’t you think?

We went to the famous Tuacahn Theater last night to see the performance of the Disney “Little Mermaid”. The special effects were incredible. I snuck in a couple of pics before I would get in trouble….

You can go here to read all about this fabulous place here http://www.tuacahn.org/ in the desert where I live. I won’t miss the performances all year long! We will be seeing “Grease” in a couple weeks. This performing art center is only 1 of about 3 that were given the “Disney” rights to perform this play. sooooooooooooamazing!

the stage was flooded with water….and it actually looked like you were under the sea because when it got dark…the stage rained and the lighting was so awesome…

yeah these are my awesome girls…we have to do this..with each performance we go to..

this was so amazing

this was all I could get without getting in trouble….Madi…got in asked to put her phone away…

and the lady was not nice about it..I even called to file a complaint. She was a little over the top…

I love this picture I took of Madi girl….this is just one of my favorites. She wears too much eye make-up. I keep telling her she doesn’t need to, she is beautiful without it, but you know teenagers…she will grow out of it like her mom did, someday..

well time to go make some more memories…I will be going up North with the crew for a few days…see you next week with lots more pics.

hugs…me

thought i would splurge with a couple photos since my latest post didn’t have any….

2011-06-21T13:30:00.001-06:00

Miss Lauren is such a doll….I forgot to post her dance recital pictures…and this one my son took of her on the trampoline….

Owen also graduated from Pre-school so he is so excited about going into kindergarten next Fall.

Owen is such a little man, notice he is wearing his dress cowboy boots. This kid is TOTAL cowboy and you don’t find a “real” cowboy around much these days. He actually helps out on his grandpa “B’s” ranch with the cattle. He can put in as many hours as his daddy and never complain. It is in his blood…

She was born to dance….just like her Oma. Maybe it is in her blood….she has done this since she was the ripe ole age of 2. I was bursting during her performance, my mouth hurt from smiling so much…..Lauren MELTS me. Of course that is Lauren on the very far right side.

Love

being

Oma!

so enough bragging…….for a day or so anyway….

My girls are coming today! We are picking them up at the Vegas airport around 5:15! I am so excited to see them. I will have lots to write about after they are here a few days! but until then….this was sent to me from a friend. I laughed out loud because I can see myself doing “some” of these things….well maybe all but the last one…..hehehe hugs to you all….

2011-06-21T12:15:00.001-06:00

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity
1.. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice!
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Robusto.
5. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Marijuana.
6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.
7.. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
8. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.
9. Sing Along At The Opera.
10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.
11. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'
12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'
13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity
14. PICK UP A BOX OF CONDOMS AT THE PHARMACY, GO TO THE COUNTER AND ASK WHERE THE FITTING ROOM IS.

This was never intended to offend any of my friends. My friends would never be offended because they know I am never very serious except when it comes to laughter, so if you are offended, you are really not my friend. Please reconsider…..your friend…..linda

Where have I been?

2011-06-08T10:30:00.001-06:00

Right here…I haven’t gone anywhere! To work, home, walking, maybe a bike ride, then in front of the tv….I am a “reality” show junkie! I love those darn “reality” shows. Thank goodness that “Dancing With the Stars” is over! Was I happy with the ending….YEAH, but I wanted all 3 to win. I loved them all in each one’s special way. “AHHH and “American Idol” what can I say? If you are not a “reality” junkie like me then you probably don’t care who wins. Now…just because it is sooo stupid and I am hooked when I watch the first STUPID episode of the STUPID “Bachelorette” (I honestly can’t believe I watch that DUMB show, I am hooked, only because I sit and laugh and shake my head during the whole thing and throw my arms in the air and talk out loud (Bob listens of course to my rantings and shakes his head) and sits with me through the whole DUMB STUPID episodes. I have several shows I watch, I won’t even tell you what they all are or you would think I was TOTALLY WEIRD.

So here is a list…hehehehe

Nay I won’t bore you. Only because I want you all to think that I am a total outdoors nut and full of energy and that I am so totally in shape.

When in reality….like most reality shows….I am not.

So there you have it…did I burst anyone’s bubble of me?

I hope not…LOL anyway, I can’t wait for summer’s show of that really silly, dumb, crazy show….where a bunch of people of all ages are held hostage in a house….and have to go through all kinds of ridicule from one another and get booted out….you know the reality show…”Big Brother” (begins on July 7th) I know you all wanted to know that…hehehe

Gosh what have I been doing for the past 4 weeks of not posting…well ONE THING I HAVE BEEN DOING IS READING EVERYONE ELSES POST, and commenting and trying to keep in touch. I just haven’t felt like I had much to say that would be…..well…important enough for anyone to read about.

I copied these pics off of my son Mike’s FB…Lauren was having an “electric” trampoline jump, Owen was all dressed up for his graduation from pre-school (he will be going into kindergarten in the Fall…

I was able to take some random fun shot of the grandies at an Easter egg hunt. There were a lot to choose from, you know me and the grandies, they all tell a story….

Kinlee is really a daddy’s girl and always wants to be held, she gets her way too.

Kyler is never around for me to get all 3 of the siblings in a picture at one time..this was just before Kinlee bolted…I got lucky.

When Owen and Ryan came to visit of course we went and fed the ducks and geese at the golf course pond.

So those are just a few of the happenings in the past couple of months that I happened to forget about posting about.

It totally is awful to get so tired and pre-occupied doing a little bit of everything and neglecting posting….for memory sake….and sharing with you all. I will try and be better.

OH DEAR! MY GIRLS WILL BE HERE IN 13 DAYS from North Carolina! I will be busy….it has been a whole year since we have seen each other…there will be LOTS of PICTURES and lots of memories to be made…I am really looking forward to it!

Did I just say I would try and be better at posting…..?

I am a mom

2011-05-09T14:54:00.001-06:00

I thought about a lot of things yesterday. I even thought about writing a post just about my mother. But I didn’t get round to it. I wondered if that made me a bad daughter. Hmm, I think I was a good daughter. I wasn’t perfect. I made mistakes. I made a lot of mistakes and wish at times I could take them back. But I am pretty sure my mom loved me anyway.

I thought about when I became a mom for the first time. How much I loved holding my little baby girl. I was only 18. I was a baby myself. But I didn’t think so. I loved being a mom.

Ahhhhh then I became a mom 2 more times. Well I guess I never stopped being a mom after my first baby….

I was still very young. 24 when my 3rd baby was born.

I made mistakes. I made plenty of mistakes. Yeah, I would like some do-overs.

I think my children turned out to be pretty darn good. So I guess I didn’t do to bad as a mom when they were still at home.

I tried to protect them from life’s bad stuff, I kissed their boo-boo’s and sang them lullaby’s and played games with them. Of course we didn’t have a lot of money so they didn’t get lots and lots of toys or video games or i-pads and electronic things, because those things were not invented yet. Even cell phones were not invented. I survived getting stuck on the side of the road because I didn’t put gas in the car…and I had to walk to a pay phone to get Bob to bring me some gas in a can. He was not happy.

I think I was a good mom. I still get hugs and kisses from my grown up kids and they tell me they love me.

Bob tells me I was a good mom.

It is hard to convince yourself sometimes when you think, maybe if I had done this or that differently.

But I think the birthday cake I made for Natalie when she was 11 out of a Jiffy cake mix that cost a dollar….and then frosting the cake with another cake mix because I thought it was a frosting box…well, that’s being a good mom isn’t it? At least we went to the ice skating rink afterwards. I will always remember that cake. Good think we can laugh about it.

I do know that raising children when you are young has a lot to do with energy, because I could never do it if I was well, older-ish. Being a grandma is fun, it is like being a really cool mom except you don’t have to be mean, you can always be really nice. Most of the time. 99.9% of the time.

I like being a mom. 99.9% of the time.

I loved my mom. I wish I had told her more often that I loved her. She was one special lady. I didn’t realize how special until she wasn’t around anymore. We sort of fought a lot. Even when I became a mom myself (I was sooo young) I thought I knew it all and knew how to raise 3 kids… when my mom raised 7. Boy I didn’t have a clue. (sigh) But I am sure she knows how much I still love her, and miss her. For some reason this Mother’s Day I have really missed her. Maybe because I am finally understanding……finally…….after all these years…..how hard it can be sometimes to be a mom.

Never wanting to change a minute of it.

And those are my thoughts on me being a mom.

For a great laugh! Love this lady!

2011-04-28T16:48:00.001-06:00

I just have to share….my SIL sent me this in an e-mail. It is the end of a busy work day and I needed this to end it. I hope you all enjoy it and please please listen to the end. This woman is truly funny and CLEAN spoken, which is hard to find in a stand-up comedian now-a-days. To ALL my friends of many faiths this is NOT intended for anything but a good laugh. HUGS everyone!

River rafting with the Baptists

Thank goodness God enjoys a good laugh too . . .

( For those who have never heard her, Left Brain is her nickname for her husband.) Very funny lady.
Click on the website below to view this hilarious video. Its funny and clean!

http://jeannerobertson.com/VideoBaptist.htm

have a fabulous weekend!

only in St. George…

2011-04-22T16:50:00.001-06:00

The other day I decided to go over to my favorite place for my lunch hour. It is a place I can go and sit and just relax and the day was so beautiful…

I went to the convenient store and got my lunch…

yeah I know, very nutritious. Well it is better than fattening ice cream! Every other day they change the flavors, this day it was strawberry and vanilla. (frozen yogurt)

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS

I was minding my own business, enjoying the music on the radio with my windows open, eating my lunch and I had planned on taking a walk afterwards when all of a sudden…..

A dove appeared on the hood of my car….

we started to have a staring contest…

I rolled up my windows.

This bird didn’t budge

Even when I put my finger on the windshield and tapped….

WHAT! this bird was not alone….it had a friend and they both decided they were going to just park themselves on the hood of my car…

Then the friend decided that he or she wanted to say something…I didn’t think it was very nice, but I laughed in spite of myself…

then there was one, because the other jumped to the roof of my car…at that point I decided to start up the engine and move to another spot, bird poop is hard to get off of your car…..and I felt like maybe I had offended them because I was laughing….anyway…I started up and moved to the play area…

and then much to my delight I came across a school field trip!

I just pretended that I was a part of the trip…and got my camera out. There were a lot of people taking pictures so I didn’t look out of place LOL

Park Rangers were there and had probably been teaching the children about park “stuff” and then I saw it….

I have NO IDEA what it was…maybe an antelope, or a deer or something…but the kids were loving it! and so were the adults…I was smiling…

Because the teacher were smiling and the children were smiling and I thought is was funny no one questioned the strange lady taking pictures. Maybe they thought I was just a grandma or with the local paper or something…that was making me laugh to myself.

The adults waved the children goodbye…and so did the animal with the antlers…LOL

Then….the animal jumped into the parks little park truck and off they went to where ever you go to take your head and fur off…

I decided at that point since my yummy frozen yogurt was eaten and I had my fill of the field trip I would get out and walk over to the river bank. This is the one that was raging with flood water in January.

The waters were low but still enough of a flow and not a trickle like it normally is. The river is still flowing…

The flood has left the banks with a lot of sand

like the beach….

YES LIKE A BEACH….this made my day….a family decided it was warm enough to pitch an umbrella and let there kiddies play in the water.

We live in the desert. A community well known for it’s beautiful green golf courses and there are MANY of them…..

Only in St. George can you go to the beach on a sunny day, and have it all to yourself…and enjoy the sunshine and beautiful red rocks and green grass. It might catch on..as long as the river is flowing…I just couldn’t help but smile.

Hope you all have a weekend that makes you smile. I didn’t have to go far and I wasn’t even looking for anything to take pictures of.

I guess that is just the beauty of it. Right?

This is for all who have raised children and those who are still raising them….. :) keep smiling

2011-04-14T15:49:00.001-06:00

GOD CREATED CHILDREN (AND IN THE PROCESS GRANDCHILDREN)

To those of us who have children in our lives,
whether they are our own,
grandchildren,
nieces,
nephews,
or students...
here is something to make you chuckle.
Whenever your children are out of control,
you can take comfort from the thought that
even God's omnipotence did not extend
to His own children.
After creating heaven and earth,
God created Adam and Eve.
And the first thing he said was
' DON'T !'
'Don’t what ? '
Adam replied.
'Don't eat the forbidden fruit.'
God said.
'Forbidden fruit ?
We have forbidden fruit ?
Hey Eve..we have forbidden fruit ! '
' No Way ! '
'Yes way ! '
'Do NOT eat the fruit ! '
said God.
'Why ? '
'Because I am your Father and I said so ! '
God replied,
wondering why He hadn't stopped
creation after making the elephants
A few minutes later,
God saw His children having an apple break
and He was ticked !
'Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit ? '
God asked..
'Uh huh,'
Adam replied.
'Then why did you ? '
said the Father.
'I don't know,'
said Eve.
'She started it! '
Adam said.
'Did not ! '
'Did too ! '
'DID NOT ! '
Having had it with the two of them,
God's punishment was that Adam and Eve
should have children of their own.

(Natalie and Family 2 yrs ago Easter)

(Owen, Ryan, Lauren Jan 2011, Mike and Camille’s kiddies)

(Brad and Family 2010)

Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven't taken it,
don't be hard on yourself.
If God had trouble raising children,
what makes you think it would be
a piece of cake for you ?
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT !
1. You spend the first two years of their life
teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend
the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.
2. Grandchildren are God's reward
for not killing your own children.
3. Mothers of teens now know why
some animals eat their young.
4. Children seldom misquote you.
In fact,
they usually repeat word for word
what you shouldn't have said
5. The main purpose of holding children's parties
is to remind yourself that there are children
more awful than your own

Ryan , Kyler, Owen and Lauren

(except these cuties they are PERFECT hehehe)

6. We childproofed our homes,

but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY:
Be nice to your kids.
They will choose your
nursing home one day

(Mike playing with kids at Potters Pond 2010)

AND FINALLY:
IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TENSION
AND YOU GET A HEADACHE,
DO WHAT IT SAYS
ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE:
'TAKE TWO ASPIRIN'
AND 'KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN'!!!!!

PS a note to my children: when I am old and don’t remember who you are…just put me on a cruise ship! make sure I have a name tag and a cell phone with pre-programmed phone numbers and I promise I will call!

Wish they could stay little forever!

2011-04-07T17:09:00.001-06:00

lot’s has been going on again. I thought I had a boring life. But I don’t.

Last trip up North was Ryan BD party. Of course Camille made an amazing cake for Ryan…

Ryan loved it!

He couldn’t wait to blow out the crazy candles…

He huffedand puffedand

blew

them

all out!

can you believe how grown up Owen and Lauren look! ARGH!

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I was challenged….but stuck to my project…that took me well much longer to assemble than I would like to admit. Lauren helped me…

It was not an easy task…but we finished. I hate to admit defeat, especially when it comes to a silly little project like building something a child can put together in minutes….but takes me …well a long time…let’s say longer than an hour hehehe

Ryan was happy to just to kick back and play some games on his moms computer…he is extremely and I am not saying that lightly…extremely brilliant on the computer…

Saturday morning new life began…this calf was only an hour or so old, still had the cord attached..and wobbly on its little legs…

See all the bunnies….LOL oh yeah…spring has sprung on the Higgins farm…farmer Mike had to pull some babies out of a hole! It was a fun visit…quick, but fun…

This past week, my lilacs FINALLY BLOOMED! I filled my office and kitchen with their wonderful fragrance. I feel sorry for allergy sufferers….one of which is my sweet hubby… but that doesn’t stop him from being outside and doing what he loves to do most….

and that is play in the dirt. Just this weekend we finally got some tomato plants in the ground…

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remember the back wall project….Huh-honey poured a retaining wall, about 6 feet at a time…then filled it with dirt, not just any dirt, dirt that he sifted through his home made sifter and free from any little rocks and things, and mixed it with his magical formula of other “stuff” and..

Ta………Da……….. it actually looks better even today! The flowers are filling in so nicely….this truly doesn’t show off all the colors there are along this wall. The face of the wall will be stoned. That will be another project. But he will finish the rest of the planting along the far upper part of the pool. This has been a huge project, but it will be so beautiful… the improvement is so amazing.

There are 3 very large windows that look out to the back yard, and 3 windows in the kitchen looking into the back, it will nice when the plants grow bushy and tall and cover the ugly red wall. There is no getting away from having neighbors RIGHT behind me…and to the side of me, it is what we traded our country rural life for. This city is small enough so we don’t have the inversion of the Salt Lake Valley hoovering over us. Our sky’s in Southern Utah are usually blue and clear. Well most of the time anyway.

Our lawn is so green right now and lush and thick like carpet.

We filled several pots with lots of colorful flowers, hearty pansies and merigolds and uh, oh dear having a senior moment….you know, those other flowers…lol

Huh-honey had a birthday on Monday the 4th, as you can see by the smoke…lol, I put some of those candles on the cake that DON’T blow out…and they created a huge smoke bomb! I was surprised the alarm didn’t go off! It is all about the kids you know. The cake was for them. Koltyn must have said happy bird-day to papa a dozen times and sang his heart out over and over again. It is all about the kids….well the cake was pretty good I have to admit! and no, I didn’t make it…I bought it just minutes before the kids came over, on the way home from going out to dinner LOL. Hey, I am a working girl ya know….it was a MONDAY for crying out loud! We normally DON’T like store bought cake but this chocolate cake and fluffy dreamwhippy icing was DELICIOUS! LOL

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this little stinker sure enjoyed it, Bob couldn’t shove it into her mouth fast enough….and NO BRAIN FREEZE! We had to actually STOP and say ENOUGH….thinking she would be sick! Kinlee has started to laugh like the “Muppets” Cookie Monster, it is so funny to hear a low growl come from this tiny petite little thing who is just barely taking her first steps…at14 months…she looks like she is still maybe 10 or 11 months she is so tiny….

on April 7th…7 years ago this precious little stinker entered the world. My daughter 2nd daughter.

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I miss not being there for her school programs or soccer games or little gym classes or cheer classes. The girls visit every summer and I look forward to that time. Lately the cost of taking those spontaneous trips to NC 3 or 4 times a year has stopped. If my boat ever comes in…well in this life time anyway…before the girls graduate from high school or college…

Being so far from my girls has been very hard for me. She is a mini of her mother. Today doesn’t make it any easier, going through pictures of her…

We call her Brookie Cookie…because it rhymes…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU BROOKIE COOKIE

THIS COST THE TOOTH FAIRY $5 A TOOTH WITHIN JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS OF EACH OTHER. MY HOW TIME HAS CHANGED!

Well………until next week….I am heading UP NORTH tomorrow to snow covered valley’s I am told. Hopefully not into a storm. The “Little Rascal’s are expecting us, so off we will go. Wish us luck! Hope the roads stay clean and we don’t hit the storm coming in!

To a “special” BLOG-HER

2011-03-30T16:18:00.001-06:00

TODAY IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY! I AM SO HAPPY THAT I JUST HAPPENED TO CATCH UP ON A FEW BLOGS TODAY!

This is such a beautiful “Blog-her” I cannot express how much I love going to her blog (Wanda)

~ Moments of Mine ~

Just want you to know Wanda that I admire you sooo much and the moments that you share so often add to my day when I need it the most!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY MARCH 30TH! (giggle) it doesn’t matter which one it is…

(ps) Alivia has grown sooo much over the last year! can I come live with you so you can teach me how to cook???????hehehe

lucky me!

2011-03-17T15:53:00.001-06:00

Today is a very special day, not only is it St. Patrick’s Day and Bob still very much around (you see he is a Leprechaun, and at the stroke of midnight when it become March 17th, St. Patrick Day, Papa turns into his Leprechaun self and has until sunrise to keep his pot of gold safe! It happens every year, or every year since our children were old enough to remember the story! I never get to see it happen…everyone he loves gets sprinkled with some kind of magic Leprechaun dust to keep us safe and asleep, while he is busy keeping his pot of gold hidden and safe, it is quite a chore….once in a while a shiny gold coin from the pot gets dropped but it isn’t enough to cause any trouble.

The kiddies were always wide-eyed and had a hundred questions every year when this happened and he told his tales to them.

Now the grandies get to hear it all. Madison was always a very firm believer in her Papa being a Leprechaun. It got her into trouble at school at the tender age of 5 or 6. Her teacher didn’t like her “making up” stories of her Papa being a Leprechaun. (hehehehe) but it was all straightened out later that day when (daughter) called and told him to straighten it out once and for all! So he did. Madison got on the phone with her Papa and he told her the truth once and for all and not to confuse whatever her moma said or her teacher said, he was a Leprechaun and he would send her a piece of his gold to prove it and if her teacher wanted to talk to him she could call him. That’s how he straightened it out…..LOL

But…today……..yes today is a very special day because 2 of our grandies were born on this day!

Ryan Elliott Higgins turned 8 today! WHOOOO HOOOO !

I think he was a couple of months old when he went on his first camping trip…such a sweet pea!

I can’t even begin to tell you what a special blessing this little guy has been in our lives… he absolutely melts your heart…

I think there have been thousands of pictures taken of Ryan….this is one of my all time favorites….his very first “Fathers and Son’s” church outing….

We enjoy his imagination so much. I think some of his story telling is inherited from his Papa and well his daddy too!

He loves his mommy so much and always has a smile for Oma’s camera

Ryan has always been a deep thinker…very serious….and very funny and has such a beautiful smile….hugs and smooches all the time…

Ryan LOVES animals and has a special gift…we call him the chicken whisperer….I wish I had a picture of him and his chickens….I am sure I have one somewhere!

He loves to swim, and splish splash and he LOVES his brother and sister and cousins. Ryan has lot’s of friends….

Ryan is so smart…he understand and knows a lot more than most children…

You can’t get anything past this child…

WE LOVE YOU RYAN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY 8 YEAR OLD!

We can’t wait to see you tomorrow!

**********************************************

KYLER BRYCEN HIGGINS

We are blessed to have Kyler in our lives, he is such a happy little boy. Kyler always has such a sweet smile for you and always gives out hugs so freely! I don’t have any baby pictures of Kyler, but what I do have makes anyone who see’s his eyelashes ask WHY???

WHY do sweet little boys get to have such beautiful eyelashes?

there isn’t a picture that I have taken where Kyler isn’t smiling!

Kyler doesn’t mind that he and his cousin Ryan have the same Birthday…

He is such a happy little boy…and such a good big brother!

look at this sweet smile!

Kyler loves to do things all little boys love to do….he climbs, chases lizards and rides his bike and plays real hard. He gets dirty like all little boys do and doesn’t care one bit….

and he loves to swim in Oma’s pool, he even try’s to pull silly faces when you ask him to sit still for a picture.

Things that silly little boys like to do..

But most of all, Kyler will light up your life with his smile and big heart….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLER!

You light up our life!

to my 2 favorite 8 year olds!

love Oma and Papa…..

It is happening…

2011-03-11T11:33:00.001-07:00

It is happening all around me. Blossoms, buds, finally the sunshine FINALLY!

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I don’t know if Hunny Bunny is related to Lucinda…could be (hehehe) you know how everyone is related somehow somewhere, but Hunny Bunny has been at it again. Hiding those delicious wonderful Cadbury Carmel Chocolate EGGS throughout the house.

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It happens as soon as the stores decide to put out the Easter candy, you know, before Valentines is over…the shelves start doing there transformation before you even get use to the idea that Christmas was just over with before you even put the turkey on the table for Thanksgiving! Anyway, I always have a good time, putting out the eggs….I mean Hunny Bunny has fun putting out the eggs. I have to be careful and not do a lot all at once because my honey has a good sniffer…he can sniff those eggs out LOL and every once in a while….he forgets a place they might have been hidden in the year before…Nah, they are always found…except last night, I couldn’t believe that this one was not spotted for over a week. I felt sorry for him cause he just had a hankerin for a chocolate caramel egg, told me he hadn’t had one in a day or so and wondered if Hunny Bunny had forgotten about him…so, I actually gave in….and had to POINT IT OUT! OH DEAR……how obvious was this one? Do you see it, the golden egg just sitting beneath the lamp shade? I need to get more creative I guess. LOL I am not done…I have until EASTER to keep a stash always on hand, and then he will be CUT OFF for another year because these only are sold once a year. LOL

This made me smile, my sweet Ryan got off the school bus (it drops him off right in front of his house, he still had his back pack on!) and my son Mike had a kite….ready to go! Ryan was thrilled…..the condor landed on the roof once but eventually soared, along with his little sweet spirit!

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Camille my DIL made another beautiful cake, this time for a friends little girls BD party. She is incredible and so amazingly talented!

this time last year we already had started planting in our garden. I know because I took pictures of it. Not this year. I think we will wait another month. I just don’t trust the weatherman just yet. We have had so much rain the dirt is still pretty heavy and muddy. Not to mention that Huh-honey is working hard on another project he started….”the wall”. It really will be nice when it is finished. There is still a lot of work to be done. He is pouring “the wall” a little at a time. Then there will come the dirt. Not just any dirt. He will find some really nice dirt, then put it through is home made sifter, to make sure there are not any large rocks in it, then add his own little secret ingredients to the dirt to make it just right for planting and producing beautiful plants and foliage…..

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when the wall is poured and the dirt is in, and the plants planted he will finish the outside by adding some nice stone. It will be beautiful and will make that ugly plain boring red brick wall so much nicer to look at by the pool. We did not put this red brick wall in…the builders of the planned community put the walls in all around to divide the lots….they did a very poor job….not one wall has rebar or cement in them to stabilize them, they are just shallow empty bricks, pretty scary for such a big wall…it is hard to find good quality workmanship now a days….or that the builder got away with it (probably not inspected).

I snuck up on Mr. H when he was done for the day and he was just “thinking”. I love to catch him when he is just “thinking”. He usually has a smile on his face…I know how hard he works around our home to make it beautiful. He always puts in a good days work whatever he does…he should be satisfied, he deserves to smile. He makes me smile……

Know that is why Hunny Bunny puts those delicious caramel chocolate eggs around for him to find…..

10 things I know for sure…..

2011-02-25T17:07:00.001-07:00

1. That another year has passed by so quickly I am afraid to blink or I will miss something.

2. I have green eyes, and I mean green eyes, not sort of green or hazel or blueish or brown but very green eyes….all the time.

3. I am a chameleon. I change my hair and looks like I change my clothes. Here are a few examples how I morphed over the year.

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4. I am another year older and so is everyone else around me. Kinlee’s BD is the day before mine, thank goodness for that, so I won’t ever forget it!

5. It has been a cold winter for me and I have hated every single minute of it, other than the smell of rain which I love. This I know for sure.

6. I managed to get through last year! It was a test, probably the toughest one I have ever taken, but I managed and I passed! I passed the year mark of that radiation treatment. That seems like yesterday…..but it was a whole year ago this month.

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7. Taking a pill for this and a pill for that really sucks. I mean, it really does, and this I know for sure, I will never get use to it.

8. Having a bladder infection is not fun, especially if you have had it for over a month and antibiotics are rough on the stomach (TMI???) sorry.

9. I am not usually lost for words. But lately, I have been…what’s up with that?

10. I love my family. I think…..that they think (shouldn’t think for others but I do) that I ramble too much, but if they haven’t figured out that that will probably never change…then “that’s too bad”, because I will always ramble, always talk to much, always smooch too much and always, always love too much. Nah, you just can’t love too much…..

11. I am a procrastinator and that will probably never change. I cheated and put down 11 things because some day's are like that and you just have to add a little.

So there you have it. I am not going to promise that I will post in 3 days, or next week. Hopefully I won’t procrastinate again and just do it. Post I mean. I don’t want to be a liar, so that is why.

And this I know for sure…………….I am so glad I got this post done! LOL have a wonderful weekend everyone! Thanks for the kick in the pants sweet Lucinda!

Hugs and smiles across the miles!

PHEW! that’s a whole lot of meme’s for not having much to say!

PS (for those of you who are kissin and huggin and smoochin on your grandies and cooking up a storm of food (you know who you are…..)this weekend, I am jealous. I better go visit Kinlee, Kolytn and Kyler….

“Stuff”

2011-02-03T15:39:00.001-07:00

Well here it is, another week has gone by and by golly I am going to do it, even if it means that I am just going to ramble.

A couple of weeks ago the moon was so bright and beautiful so I grabbed my little Nikon CoolPix and took a couple of pictures of the moon. For some reason this little camera takes better pics at night than my really expensive Nikon does (because I don’t know how to use the settings).

I thought it was so intriguing that the moon was stuck in the branches of the tree….

My son Mike found this little fella (hawk) in his chicken coop so he scooped him up and brought him in the house for the children to see…..

Then he let him “fly”. He was just a baby…probably thought he could either disguise himself as a chicken, or maybe wanted to see if he could have an egg or two for his dinner….

Koltyn (age 2 yrs 10 mo.) sits on his daddy’s lap and listens intently as he is told a story….the sucker(s) helps him to sit still and listen….well for a minute anyway…

Kinlee will be having a BD on Feb 8th and will be turning 1 yr. I think it will be a while before she gets any hair…but that’s ok because…

those kissy checks and her snugglyness makes up for any hair loss…. Kinlee is the most snuggly baby EVER

Kinlee takes it all in when she is in her Papa’s arms. She doesn’t mind his beard, and loves it when he kisses her neck. It is a great place to take a nap…in his arms…in his rocking chair….

Your asking why am I showing you a picture of 5 gallon buckets of rocks…well each bucket has certain rocks in it taken from certain places that are getting a make over

it is just NOT RIGHT to mix up the rocks… Huh-Honey has cut out some concrete so that we can plant shrubs or flowers along this ugly back wall, it will be green and lush and pretty this fall…

This ugly wall is the back wall next to our pool. We have always hated it, we have tried to put pots and plants on it but it is still ugly…so we are going to do something different…

It has been a huge project for Huh-Honey but he has busted out every brick and stacked them so that he can take them to our son to build a fire pit with them…

he tries not to waste anything…these bricks were expensive so now they can serve another purpose…

Huh-Honey has been busy…he built our neighbor a beautiful bookcase

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as for me…I decided to do something a little sassy, daring, edgy, something that is completely out of my comfort zone. Don’t know why I did it…just did it and it has been fun so see the reaction of “people” or I should say NO REACTION, and I see a LOT of people every day….so maybe it wasn’t something that compliments me…but…I don’t care….Huh-honey likes it and I do to….hehehehehe for a while anyway.

this is me before…

it was pretty much all one length, and boring

excluding the blood shot eyes from staring at the computer all day long, it is very layered..blunt, edgy and has some STRIPES in it LOL, maybe the gray will grow in more gracefully……

ah who am I kidding, gray NEVER grows in gracefully!…….it must look really bad or shocking to some, because you know how if you like something new on someone you will usually tell them you like it? Even if I don’t like it I will tell them I like it just to make them feel good even if they really look WEIRD, because I am a NICE person and want to make people feel GOOD…… Well….LOL not happening folks….so it really must look weird…….

OH WELL!

Hugs and smiles everyone….because I am SMILING! Even if I look WEIRD…

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Natalie

2011-01-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

I was in labor…in the hospital for 3 days. The doctor was trying to stop you from coming. But you wanted to be here.

General Hospital was on the tv in the room and I was hurting. I remember your daddy holding my hand….we were both so young.

Then they took me into the delivery room. I wanted to stay and watch General Hospital on the black and white tv but you wouldn’t let me. That’s ok…even though I was really scared, I was really excited too.

At 5 lbs. 2 oz and 18” you were so tiny and cute. I didn’t even get to go to my one and only and very first baby shower because you were born 5 weeks early, so the family put a shower together while we stayed in the hospital for 3 days. I was ok with that….I had a new baby girl, and back then…we didn’t know what we were getting until you were born!

You were your daddy’s princes from that very first day! and still are to this day…

I guess baby’s eyes were always blue, but yours….were bluer than the ocean…I’m glad they eventually turned green like mine…

Everyone always told me how beautiful you were and that you looked like Cindy Brady on the Brady Bunch! You took forever to grow any hair….I did what I could with it

Some days I couldn’t do a thing with it!…..

There were days when you wouldn’t let me do anything with it. You were very strong willed….and still are……

But those curls….oh how I loved those curls! Even though you hated them…

You went through lot’s of stages……….we all did…and still do…..

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Remember the “Glam” shots? No one could make you more beautiful than you already were, your skin has always been like a porcelain doll..

Sometimes I wanted to scream when you did your make-up and hair…but it was the 80’s and we got through it…

High school…ah the good ole days!

Just try and remember that when Madi puts a little toooooo much on….hehehe

I remember how you seemed to grow up overnight…and became my friend and not the alien from mars that I thought I had given birth to….with a teenager of your own, I think you know what I mean right?

It seems like forever since I have seen you. I look at your picture every single day. I look forward to our phone calls almost every single day. Last year’s visit seems like forever ago….yes…you are even more beautiful today…

Even though you will turn 40 tomorrow January 29th, you will always be your daddy’s princess……….and my baby girl….always have been, always will be. Thanks for the picture (above) that you sent me today….you look so happy….

Happy Birthday Natalie

I love you……..

We miss you……….

Can’t wait to see you………

Love always

Your mama…

Good morning sunshine!

2011-01-11T17:07:00.001-07:00

The “Little Rascals” came this past weekend while my son went to a “geek” electronics convention in Las Vegas. His friend had tickets so Mike, Camille and friend drove down to St. George on Thursday, dropped the “rascals” off on Thursday night and headed to Vegas.

My husband is such a good sport…either that or crazy, probably both, but he would never say no to me…so he watched the “rascals” on Friday, (while I was at work) then brought them to my office so we could have lunch together, after lunch I went back to work and Huh-honey took the “Little Rascals” to the playground at the park. This helped to take in some of the day and wear them out (a little)(actually he was the one worn out). When I got home it was dinner time, bath and jammies, it had been a busy day for them. It didn’t take them long to fall asleep.

We had a great couple of days together. It was short but sweet. Mike, Camille and family friend returned to our home Saturday evening. The “rascals” didn’t get in bed until after 9:30 …. they needed to leave our home by 8 am. Camille had a Sunday School class to teach and needed to be home before 1pm. It is normally a 4 1/2 drive so they needed an early start.

Lauren was up at right after 7 am and I was waiting for her on the sofa. She immediately announced she was “starving” so I quickly fixed her some cereal…

As we were sitting at the kitchen table the sun was starting to come up and the sky had a beautiful orange hue with blue background.

Lauren: “Look at the sunshine waking up this morning Oma! It’s like giving us a hug…..It’s like a breath and light”….

“Right Oma?”

(sigh…..BIG sigh)

Me: “Right princess”……….

From the mouth of babes….it keeps me in perspective….

This is why I miss them so much

Ryan

Owen

Lauren and Bob

she is still small enough to be held…

I am glad they live within driving distance…

My “Little Rascals”

New Year, New Memories

2011-01-04T16:50:00.001-07:00

I am so grateful for the fact that I know how to type. If I were to actually write words on paper with a pen or pencil I am afraid that years down the road it would be illegible. Maybe days down the road illegible! I usually start out all pretty and then my brain starts thinking faster than my hand can write, so..I am just grateful that my fingers over the key board can keep up! This is the way I journal. I am grateful that I have a camera that can capture some of my journaling. Did I say some? Yes, I know I am pretty much over the top when it comes to taking pictures and 99.9% will probably be trash. But that .1% will make memories come to life…..

I read a post by Claudia from Dipity Road I loved her post about being grateful. You can go to her beautiful blog, at this address: (http://www.dipityroad.com/) she said something that I think is so perfect and I would like to share it with you because it actually reflects my thoughts as well.

“I simply reply that my goal is to live in the moment. Find the joy, the passion and contentment in my life this moment and enjoy my Happiness. I am a firm believer that no matter our circumstance there is always something to be grateful for.”

How perfect is that! We spent most of the day last Saturday taking down all the Christmas “stuff”

It took a little extra to get this huge tree in the box and taped back up, I am so grateful for my little elf….he made my life pretty easy putting everything away…

I wasn’t sure it would ever get back to normal…whatever normal really is….this doesn’t even look bad! But it was a big mess…

My youngest son Brad had a birthday on Dec. 28th. Bob and I watched the kids while he and his wife went out to dinner. They were gone a whole 2 hours….they don’t get out much…??????they should….we don’t even charge to watch the grand kids!

I really need to do a little something about Brad. He really has been through a lot in his life. That’s a whole other post…

Kinlee was such a sweet baby, it was fun to have her all to ourselves for those 2 hours…

It snowed yesterday here in the desert….

My yard was covered in snow…now don’t laugh all my Eastern friends and ski friends….this happens only once every other year here and then it melts the very next day…snowmen don’t have a chance…

I even left my footprints in the snow, and it was cold…I had my high heel boots on..I could have hurt myself…I don’t like snow…it is only pretty to look at…(my friend Barb is laughing right now)

If you knew of my first experience skiing when I was 18 you would have a stomach ach laughing….it is a comic book story…I won’t bore you… I am sure people are still talking about it…so I don’t ski, even though I lived where the Winter Olympics were held.

I am glad that 2010 is behind us…and I can put a silly wreath on my face and look forward to 2011. I have a lot of memories. Some really great ones and some really bad ones. I am glad I can be silly….and Huh-honey is around and be silly with me…

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE, I look forward to posting more often….LOL ok, ok. maybe shorter post more often LOL

hugs and smiles across the miles

PHEW!

2010-12-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

What can I say? Twas the season…and when the day comes and goes, so does my energy level. The ride on the shuttle up North took an hour longer…stupid road crews filling pot holes held up traffic for a solid hour. Oh well, I made it to SLC (Midvale) and to the kids by 9:30ish Thursday night. The “Little Rascals” were all soundly asleep.

Mike and Camille had last minute shopping to do on Friday so we watched the “Little Rascals”.

Camille of course made sure there was plenty to eat, all the time. I didn’t do a thing…again. Just played with the kids.

The beds…oh the BEDS. They turned out soooo darn cute. Bob and Mike put them together on Thursday so that Friday morning the kids could be surprised and sleep in them on Christmas Eve.

With a little detail work to be done around the edges…..I think these turned out sooo darn cute!

Lauren didn’t waste a minute climbing into the bunk…she decided she wanted the bed on top…

What little girl wouldn’t just absolutely be thrilled to have a dream cottage in their bedroom!

Lauren immediately wanted to fill the shelves with “stuff”. The bottom where the bed could go…will be used for play area…she already has bumped her head…but they learn to duck once they do it a few times LOL.

There are a few touch ups to do….but that will come once Christmas excitement is over…

Owen and Ryan were very excited to see their Bunk House…so darn cute…

Owen claimed the top bunk and that is ok with Ryan…he isn’t much of a climber anyway, the next day they decided to moved the bunk to the other wall…to open up the window…Owen loves his new bunk house…

Christmas Day it didn’t take long to stash his goods up on the top bunk..and fill the shelves will all his cowboy stuff. I am waiting for the house to be adorned with his bull horns…Ryan is ok with whatever, he is more into the Wii than into a bunk bed LOL

Oh except maybe dropping toys out of the window of the top bunk, that is always exciting to see how or who it will land on LOL

Even the inside of the top bunk left nothing out, it is beautifully made! This is the “empty” bunk..Owen hadn’t stashed his “stuff” yet…

It didn’t take long to figure out that even little feet could make me smile

There were plenty of smiles ….

Christmas Eve the children opened presents from each other..Lauren loved her purple horse…

Owen was excited for Lauren

Hugs were plentiful and spontaneous!

They really love each other and honestly it is fun to see how much! Brothers can be the best of friends…

Christmas morning was insane….there was a remote controlled monkey on Ryan’s shoulder (Ryan loves anything that is remote controlled and he can mimic, or better yet will talk back to him by command… along with a giant “big foot” that he memorized the commands within an hour or less.

This child is amazing…

There was plenty of excitement, I was a bit overwhelmed….I didn’t know what I wanted to play with…

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There was coloring to do….babies to be fed and cowboy belt buckles to be worn proudly!

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silly games to be played (what a good sport)(put dark candy wrapper on the top of your teeth to make it look like you have no teeth) I about laughed myself to death..EGGS to be gathered…lips to be glistened with sparkly gloss…in 5 different flavors of course on top of each other..

Bunnies to be taken care of and baby bunnies to find hidden in holes, chickens to be fed….work doesn’t stop just because it is Christmas on a farm…

Goodbyes are never easy to say to the “Little Rascals”. But we needed to get home so that we could hand out more presents to the other Higgins clan…and I could get ready to go to work on Monday…I was not very excited about that at all.

Kinlee loved playing with the paper…

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Koltyn and Kyler had a wonderful Christmas just like all the other children. Being a grandmother of 8 is a blessing…and a curse at Christmas, so we have made things simple….I know why my mother just handed out checks! There were 14 of us with our spouses and 23 grandchildren! Where have the days gone of grandmas giving out PJ’s? I like that idea….I think I better bring that one up for next year……

Well another year gone……….I look forward to 2011….new adventures with my sweetheart….better health….NO SURPRISES and I AM NOT GIVING ANOTHER DOCTOR ANOTHER PENNY!

I hope and pray that is……….

on that note….PHEW sure am happy this one is over…..

HAPPY NEWER YEAR EVERYONE!

Countdown!

2010-12-23T11:41:00.001-07:00

ok ok here I am again, and it is just 2 days before Christmas. Incredible isn’t it? That I am posting another one? Well that is what happens when I am totally bored out of my mind at work! Good thing the boss doesn’t read this! I just wanted to post what my Mr. Higgins(es) have been doing. You know… the “Little Rascals” up North in Erda where I am headed this afternoon on a Shuttle. Never done this before and I know it will be full. The Shuttle I mean. Full of people I don’t know. A 5 hour drive. I hope I don’t get stuck in the very back…I am afraid to eat anything. I have never sat in the back of a vehicle for a long time…hope it is comfortable. I wonder it they thought I was weird if I started taking pictures LOL. Anyway, my son Mike e-mailed me these pictures last week

A cute bed with a loft on top for Lauren to put her toys and princess “stuff”

A bunk bed for Owen and Ryan, pretty cute huh

so Mike sad, “hey dad can you come up a week early and let’s make these beds for the kids for Christmas…

So Huh-honey went up last Saturday. Mike went to the furniture store and indiscreetly took measurements and with the photo he had, within hours this is what they came up with… I am telling you that husband and son of mine are incredible! Owen wanted to be a part of the making of whatever they were doing in the garage. Now this was suppose to be a secret. Owen could help measure and do things that little guys can do…but had no idea what the end result would be. When Bob and Mike needed to put it all together to see if it was going to work Owen was very upset because he had to go in the house. I am talking VERY UPSET. He just wants to be in the garage with dad and papa…doing…whatever they are doing. Then the next day he overheard Mike telling a friend that the beds were coming along…so Owen told Camille my DIL that he knew dad’s secret but please don’t tell dad that he knows he doesn’t want dad to be sad that he knows the secret…Owen is playing along know…and Mike knows…..LOL

So the next day after un assembling the bed which will be painted and other finish work added…Owen was in his element once again.

They gave him a real drill and put him to work…

And part of making a lot of dust and mess you have to clean up too. Ryan is the one all bundled up and Owen is the one with gloves on and no coat. Papa and Dad were not wearing coats so Owen didn’t need to wear one either. The pieces are a puzzle right now. That’s all…a giant puzzle. The kids even got to help paint the puzzle…

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While Camille (she is amazing!) got into the router-ing part of the finish work…

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Yes this is my DIL…there isn’t anything this young lady won’t do or try…and she is good at it…then the night before last she had another brain storm……to add a few more embellishments to Lauren’s bed….Bob doesn’t look too thrilled in this picture and Mike looks real thrilled LOL but believe me…Bob was happy with the results…thank goodness it is done…

This is a picture that needs to be framed to remind Bob how much fun he was having LOL. I love you honey and I know the kids really appreciate your hard work! It is going to be amazing when they are all done and put together….

The count down begins! And I will be there tonight to rub your feet and sore back….. (kiss, kiss)!

Thank you Mikie for putting me on the shuttle……(I think)! I can’t wait to spend Christmas with your little family again!

I am missing these 2 girls really badly this Christmas….

Madison and Brooklyn and of course their mommy Natalie (which I don’t have a picture of except an old one)

And I will be home on Sunday to see these cuties

Our sweet Kinlee who loves to rip off ornaments from Oma’s tree and try and eat them

Don’t you just LOVE those cheeks!

Kolytn, our little stinker who is so much like his daddy….OH BOY did that kid (Brad) keep me on my toes… and I say “what goes around, comes around”

Kyler our little man…who is growing so fast into all of his almost 8 years!

Where does the time go?

I will be looking forward to the New Year and all that it may bring. All the happiness these sweet children bring into my life…I am so blessed.

I need to keep this guy healthy so we can continue to enjoy all of the above….

PS I am so glad I am off all those steroids….my poor triple chin and chunky face has not made for pretty pictures….slowly getting back to double chin instead of triple! of which a turtle neck doesn’t even hide it! LOL

OK..this is my last post until after Christmas…have a wonderful weekend everyone!

The desert can be wet….

2010-12-21T15:39:00.001-07:00

It hasn’t stopped raining for 4 days now. On the way home from work last night I stopped and took some pictures of the Virgin River, which on a daily basis is just a tiny little stream…but not anymore.

this has become news worthy in this town and also across the state of Utah…

large, very large branches and trees flow down the Virgin River

the bike and walking trail is closed because it is covered by the river now

the deer that usually live in the brush will have to find another home, probably in someone’s yard…

The rain did not stop….so I skipped out of work and took some more pictures of the Virgin River from another point. The water is coming from Zions National Park. 5 years ago 13 homes were lost along the bank of the river… Millions of dollars was spent supporting the banks with lava rock which is holding it together….for now….there is usually just a teeny tiny stream in here. But not today…and it hasn’t peaked yet.

there is a lot of debris floating along…

A helicopter overhead is taking pictures of a bridge that crumbled into the flow…

THIS WATER IS VERY POWERFUL….I hope and pray that people are smart enough to stay far away…

It hasn’t yet peaked to the top of this bridge, if it does I will have to find another way home…

I will go back to this spot after work to see if there is a park left on the other side of the river…

Coming to work this morning, even this critter….stopped traffic, I thought it looked like a HUGE RAT, so I called it a river rat….I have NO idea what it was…but no one wanted to run it over…it was UGLY.

where the river is flowing…use to be a golf course. The city decided this would be a GREAT place to build an entrance onto the I-15 freeway. The city has been working on this entrance for 6 months now and it was to open in January. YA THINK they may have to change their mind now and just BAG the new freeway entrance? DUH. I wonder how much the city engineers got paid for thinking this one up? In the path of the RIVER????

On a brighter note. I thought I would end this post with a more uplifting image and verse that I wrote several years ago. I posted this last year but it is worth reading once again.

(2004) I woke up in the middle of the night. A melody kept going over and over in my head. I am not musical. I don’t play an instrument, I can’t read music, but a melody kept playing in my head. I tried to ignore it. I tried to sleep, but it wouldn’t stop. I remember looking at my clock illuminating in the dark, it was after 3 am. I closed my eyes and tried to stop the music. Then lyrics came to my mind. Over and over again, lyrics kept coming to my mind. It wouldn’t stop. OK, ENOUGH I said. I will get up and go to my computer. Ever so quietly, not to wake my Huhoney I crept into the office, and opened up a new screen. I was so tired and I didn’t think to grab my glasses. It didn’t matter, the words were coming so quickly now that I couldn’t stop typing. The music kept on and on and on. The words just spilled from me. I closed my eyes while I was typing because the screen was so bright. That’s ok, I can type very quickly and I don’t need to see what I am typing. I was done. I sighed a huge sigh. I will look at it in the morning I thought to myself. I left my desk and went to my bed, it was after 4 am. I laid my head on my pillow and slept a dreamless sleep. When I awoke in the morning I jumped out of bed and RAN to my computer….to see what I had written. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I began to cry. What had I done? I was typing to frantically last night my fingers were one key over to the left. Yes, every word was a total scramble. There was nothing to my words smf o vpi;frmy frvogrt smuyjomh. This is what every line looked like. Huhoney came to me and asked what had happened and I told him of my night. “Don’t worry” he said, “you will remember, I know you will remember, the spirit will let you remember”. He hugged me. I was so sad. I couldn’t stop thinking, I didn’t want to do anything until I had remembered. Then I prayed. Yep, I prayed. I am not a renowned poet or anything but this was special, the melody was special and I knew I needed to write it down. Even if it is just for myself and my children. Late in the same evening after the day’s events, it all came back to me. This is what I wrote. I wish I could sing you the melody, it is so pretty. But I can’t. I don’t know how to sing! lol

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep; sleep my baby sang Mary’s lullaby

A cloudless night, the stars shone bright

A warm wind blew throughout the manger

The beautiful voice of a mother’s song

The son of God born in a stable

A cry rang out so soft and gentle

A mother’s kiss and this babe lay still

As she cradled the infant Christ child

She so sweetly sang this verse

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep; sleep my baby, begotten son,

The chosen one, to reign on high

The night was endless dark but bright

As stars glistened through out the night

And one alone shone over head

To lead the way to a manger bed

Mary held her infant son

As tears of joy washed her face so pure

And Joseph smiled as he watched them both

So sweet a sound her voice was heard

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep, sleep my baby, sang Mary’s lullaby

All those who came and knelt in awe,

Knew that they saw the son of God;

And though the heavens praised his birth,

Just one voice whispered in the night

So gentle a sound, so soft, so light

Her lullaby touched all who heard

God’s promise had come to earth

Sleep; sleep my angel, our Prince of Peace,

The son of God, please don’t you cry;

Sleep; sleep my baby, King of Kings

Our Lord and Savoir, the chosen one.

12/14/2004 Linda Higgins

Merry Christmas all my Village Friends…and a Happy, Joyful and SAFE New Year. I will be up North visiting the “little rascals” this Christmas. I may find time to post more pics of the flood if I get any new ones….

hugs and smiles across the miles

I can’t wait to celebrate a New Year with all of you!

This time of year….

2010-12-08T09:39:00.001-07:00

Ok ok I know, it has been a couple of weeks again, it either is all at once and I have a huge brain spurt of ideas or just blank space which has been happening a lot lately….blank space. This time of year is always so beautiful for me. Because I am excited to see children excited. I use to get excited….not yet though…but will be soon when it gets a little closer to “the day”.

I am just grateful to have a roof over my head and my health.

Did I say my health? Oh excuse me…I must have been thinking of..oh forget it, I wasn’t thinking at all LOL.

No really I do feel blessed. Very blessed. This year has been ONE HECK OF A YEAR (screaming) and I CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO BE OVER ALREADY (still screaming).

I am sure many of you feel the same way. Then I read a beautiful blog with such beautiful inspiration from Heather T (found on my side bar) or Wanda or Barb and remember the beauty in this world and my Savior and (getting inspired here) my funny friend Diane and so many blogger friends (all on my side bar) that I visit and forget all my Woe’s and I am ok again.

Yes I am rambling, because I haven’t blogged in 2 weeks again.

Ah my LADY at the top, she is such an icon! This is me some day, all glammed out (not the grey hair though, I have tried and I just look….old) (no offense to women who have beautiful silver hair!) it just isn’t me…. my dad had the most BEAUTIFUL hair and loads of it, I have 3 brothers with beautiful silver hair too, and if I hadn’t started coloring my locks at age 20 I probably would be completely silver, but I will have the diamonds and pearls and a list for Santa…hehehe. I might just have to keep her out all year round to remind me of how beautiful life is….

It took me 4 days to get all my Christmas decor out and spread out all over my great room.

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Tree up, lights on the house, (Huh-honey) just finished them the other night…

I have my office filled with a few ornaments here and there since I spend my daylight hours here (sigh). I am just a sparkly kind of gal that loves the lights and prettiness of the season. It just brings a smile to my face. Don’t get me wrong …I know the true meaning of the season. I never forget the true meaning but I love Christmas music and usually play it much earlier than most people would like to hear it. I have it on my i-tunes on my computer so….you get the picture. “Is that Christmas music I hear?” (co-workers) “uh huh” (me laughing) so if your a scrooge please don’t walk into my office and complain of having to listen to softly playing Christmas music!

My sweet Huh-honey and I went and picked pine cones off of the ground (at a park), we picked the very best and biggest we could find and shhhh don’t tell anyone, we plucked a few off of the branches. I love how they cluster together, I took a few pictures of the pine trees and then Huh-honey sprayed and put glitter on those big ole cones and we added them to my tree. It just made the tree look…well fuller. hehehe

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Do you see the Robin resting on the branch? They like plucking the nuts out of the opened pine cones…

Looks like I have rambled on long enough….tomorrow I will ramble some more….I took some pics of my adorable grandbaby Kinlee. I haven’t posted very many pics of the grandkids lately…so I had better get to it…of course for journaling sake that is!…..

hugs and smiles across the miles

A “Veterans” many faces

2010-11-11T16:24:00.001-07:00

He has many faces….

The role of a husband

Builder

Gardener

Maintenance Man

Outdoorsman

Fisherman

Survivor, Good Sport

Marksman, Self picture taker

Story Teller, Helper

Biker Dude, Proud Papa

Handsome, Santa

Never a complainer

Be silly and have fun…

Never afraid to get his hands dirty…..Daredevil

Food Connoisseur

and ok with wearing a bib…

Helper

Partier…..Care Taker

Thinker…..

Outdoorsman

Innovator, Creator

Daredevil

Good listener

Friend to many

Son and proud father

Adventurer

Rain dancer……

Grandfather and teacher….

Proud father to Natalie

Proud father to Micheal

Proud father to Brad

and much much more….last but certainly not least

he stepped off the bus at Camp Pendleton to enter Boot Camp on his 18th birthday…

Age 18

United States Marine

April 4th 1967-December 11th 1969

Viet Nam Veteran

standing in line at the grocery store, Bob was at the check out counter, I was standing behind looking at all the gossip magazines, a gentleman behind me nodded to me and said, “Tell him thank you” I said, “ok” with a question on my face and the man pointed to his head. Bob was wearing a ball cap. A Viet Nam Marine Corp ball cap. I smiled and said “thank you I will tell him”

It made Bob proud…

It made me proud….

Thank you Bob, for serving our country and for being my husband who I love, adore, and am so proud of.

Red Rock Sunday

2010-11-11T10:45:00.001-07:00

We live in a very beautiful part of the country. Southern Utah has so much to offer with it’s beautiful canyons and National Parks. Right here under our very own nose, it never ceases to amaze me how pretty the red rocks are. It is just a different kind of beauty. Now mind you…..we moved here from the totally different Wasatch Front where Huh-Honey and I grew up with all the snow, huge gigantor mountains and cold, cold winters, 7 1/2 years ago and never once have we been to this wonderful little area although driven by it probably hundreds of times! Just never stopped to take in the total beauty and actually get our fanny out of the car and hike around! So…on a lazy Sunday afternoon and beautiful cool finally FALL weather, we did just that!

I said “Hmm, let’s take the walk”…you see at the top of this rock, yes I said at the top VERY TOP you can actually climb up the rock and stand on top to view the city… so we did…

First we had to climb up to this bridge…

after walking on these sorts of fun trails before I actually stood under…

THIS…. this climb onto the actual rock took a little effort on my part, I didn’t realize how much strength you need in your legs…which I don’t have anymore but I am working on getting back by walking and biking, ahh I forgot to take a pic of the rock stairs which were steep…

Climbing the rock stairs, we stood at the top and turned around to see THIS

And THIS parking lot below us and then in front of us…..I looked to see what I was going to cross over…

It was a little intimidating….but I just had to do it. I am a scaredy-cat. Spell check does not like this word but I promise you it is a word I use often when close to the edge of ANY height! I mean, I can start to panic….but I always try and conquer this fear…even if I panic or cry like a baby…I just do….

Ah the beautiful valley below. We finally made it to the top!

LOL I made him, well he actually volunteered to carry the tri-pod, even my camera bag..LOL what a guy! CRAZY me because we didn’t use the pod until we were almost back to the car!

It really is a pretty view from the top. This is such a nice town, clean and pretty and…growing. St. George was ranked one of the top 10 places to retire to in the country.

Young and old(er) people are populating this beautiful part of our nation because of the warmth and scenery. It is what drew us here.

see this crack…see the road below at the top of the picture…well should we have a really big quake here in St. George…which could possible happen since we live in “quake” land this big rock….boulder…will be coming down. I do NOT want to be on the road when that happens!

there were MANY COOL holes in the rocks, too many to snap photos of, but I gave it a good try anyway…

of course Huh-Honey said, “this is the way back to the car” of course I didn’t think so, I didn’t remember walking past…..these..

or through this tiny little gulley….

HA HA, I was right when we came to the edge of a steep drop off at the end of this little trail….hehehehe, I am so glad I had my camera Huh-Honey was a good sport…I think he did it on purpose though just to see my reaction…

Ah Ha! we finally made it almost to the bottom again…this is what he carried the tri-pod for LOL just so I could take our picture….

I think I got some amazing photos don’t you?

I love the contrast of the red rock and the green…fern. The pavilion is so beautiful, ready for a great family party with a fire pit and B B Q grates in place.

The “D” stands for Dixie State College and of course St. George is know as Dixie. The first settlers (Pioneers) came here and grew cotton believe it or not! go to this site for some great history on this beautiful city, http://www.utahsdixie.com/saint_george.html

This is a beautiful city and even though it is getting a little crowded…by my standards, I have to welcome the growth, because almost 8 years ago I was one of them (the outsider moving in). I don’t think I will be moving up North into the COLD anytime soon. I live somewhere in the middle top of this picture. About 7 or 8 miles from where I was standing. You would love visiting here, there is lots to see! I can’t believe I waited this long to visit this park at the top of St. George!

Hugs and smiles across the many miles my friends!

“Big Boy” Erector Sets

2010-10-29T16:47:00.001-06:00

I know that you know what I am talking about. (hopefully) It was the rage when I was just a little girl, my brother’s just had to have them! I just didn’t get it back then…..thought they were stupid….thought it was a waste of time….and knew it was just a matter of time before pieces were all over the house and my mother would go crazy and throw them away, or they would get built and just sit on my brother’s shelves and look really dumb, never to be torn apart and erected into anything other than the first piece because there were SOOOO MANY PIECES. UNTIL…..I became fascinated recently with the “big boys” version. Like I am with fences popping out of NO WHERE and EVERYWHERE, miles and miles of them! You will see what I mean….be patient with me for just a few minutes ok…..

To me….it is amazing to say the least….

the “old” ERECTOR SETS

My version as seen through my eyes

needless to say, I was obsessed with this! silly I know! but that is who I am…an obsessed woman who is amazed with how these get here…just think about it…have you ever seen one put into place or established? NOPE I bet you haven’t. They just pop up over night…by weird aliens…probably. Huh-Honey said he has witnessed them being erected, by helicopter. WHAT? NO way..no way a helicopter can lift that….”OH YES THEY CAN” he says. The WHOLE dang thing all at once..PHEW! I would love to see that!

even a telephone pole is exciting to me…

and I can’t tell you how a stupid fence makes me feel! Just the lines are exciting….but I didn’t take pics of any fences this trip.

even this drew me in…

and the back road we travelled home on. OH the wonderful things I saw and didn’t take pics of….hopefully next trip!

I definitely need a new lens so that I can take closer pictures…I love the windmills they are like giant aliens from outer space.

Have a wonderful fun filled Halloween, and in case you are wondering how pumpkin pies are made in restaurants…

Happy Ending..

Hugs and warm smiles across the many miles to you all!