I took the morning off!

Ed and I made a quick dash to Boise on Friday, coming home on Sunday afternoon. As you know we have gone up to the mtns outside of Boise the last couple of summers with friends and have thoroughly enjoyed the private campground there on Robie Creek. We plan on going again in July but this weekend they were 'opening up the mountain' and so we went up and helped. We didn't camp thank goodness - too far to drag our trailer for two nights. Ed just traded in his Hilton Honors points from all his traveling with MTC and we camped out at a nice Hampton Inn on the East side of Boise near the airport. (The soft beds and nice bathtub really felt good after a day of hard work Saturday night!) From the hotel it was about a 30 minute drive up the mtn to the campground. So I spent about four hours on Saturday and about two hours on Sunday raking pine needles off the mtn side behind the clubhouse. It was hard work but what was nice was that I could do it without feeling like I was being stabbed by my mesh insides!! I guess where I was moving in several directions it kept it from hurting me - just good hard sweat and sore muscles. I can see why the insurance companies like mtn homes to be cleared of burnables ... the pine needles were 9 inches deep in most of the area that I was raking!! It hadn't been raked that well before - That would make fantastic fuel for any forest fire!

There were a couple dozen people there clearing mountain sides and brush and old pine needles and burning all the trash. Ed cut down dead trees near where I was working and then went up and helped with the swimming pool - they have a nice solar panel system set up to warm up the water that comes right out of the mtn - good COLD spring water. They also had a propane heating system donated to the club to help warm it up even more. Ed and Gary and Larry worked for hours on that system.

We all broke for potluck lunch and then went back to work until about 2 - and then we all went out and layed out around the pool just visiting with one another. It was a lot of fun and Saturday was a beautiful warm day. We all dared each other to jump in the water but the propane system wasn't hooked up yet and they had just barely got the solar panels set up so it was pretty cold water - bunch of sissies - no one took the dare!

That night we walked across the street from the hotel to a brand new Applebees and had a nummy dinner.

Sunday we got up there and I went back to finish my mtn side while Ed went to help the guys with some other chores. We had talked about staying longer so we could enjoy the poolside with the others (we were going to call Jamie and Kelly and offer them 'big bucks' to babysit at South Weber) but it was a cooler day and a storm was moving in, so we headed for home about 1:30. It was the same cold front that hit here in the middle of the night last night.

So I spent my mother's day hard at work with a rake in hand but it was a nice day anyway. I got home and dumped out the dirty clothes and repacked my suitcase, took a quick bath. I got a beautiful Mother's Day card from Ed and one in the mail from Melinda. I told Ed we had a break in cause there was a card from Kelly and Jamie sitting on the table along with my movie "Enchanted" that I had loaned to Jamie. Then I headed up to Shawn and Kris's house. Kris had sent me a Mother's Day card earlier in the month with some $$ that I used to buy me some comfy "Mushrooms" (sandals) at Mervyns with. When I got to their house there sits a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for ME!! from Shawn and Kris and kids!! Bless you Kristanne!

I love those kids - they are all such cuties. Cade and Makae met me at the door telling me that their mom didn't care at all if they stayed up till 9:30 each night since it was still light outside. I told them grandma wasn't born yesterday and that sounded like a tall tale to me!! Then Makae and Cade and I had a fun time just talking to each other while Ethan and Jace played outside till almost bedtime. Of course they headed off to bed at 8:30 and I didn't hear another peep out of any of them until the next morning. I tried to go to be at 11 - then 12 and I think I finally fell asleep about 1 am waking up with itchy achy feet at 2 - that lasted till three am and I dreaded 6 am. I woke up at 6:45 and there wasn't any movement going on in the house at all! I woke up all four kids!!!! They actually slept in. Cade and Mickey immediately got dressed, Ethan took a bath and Jace burrowed back under the covers and went back to sleep.

Makae and Cade fixed their breakfast and Ethan came downstairs and gave me a big hug and we talked about his fun field trip on Wednesday. I found out that he DOESN"T like to have his feet tickled...I thought all Willden's did! But he says his Crittendon roots are showing there. All three of them warned me that I would have to drag Jace out of bed and he would really be ornery... when all of a sudden, about 7:15 here he comes, all dressed with his hair combed and a big grin on his face.

So at 8:30 am Jace and Ethan head out the door to catch their bus and Grandma goes BACK TO BED!!! I slept for a couple of hours, read my book and took a bath and another nap!! I took the morning off!!

Jace just came in the door from school and said that he 'forgot his homework' - I am going to go through his backpack and see if there is a book for him to practice reading.

I am looking forward to this week - I've had all my fun visits with Melinda to get to know Benji, now it is time to enjoy Cade, Makae, Ethan and Jace.

Mauri - when are you and Ira going to go on a trip and let me come play with your kids.

By the way Marz, We would love to have cousins over this week - several times if you want, while you sleep. Wednesday for example you could bring the boys over early, and then Adrie and Jerod later that day. Jace will be home (no school for him due to testing week) on Tuesday and Wednesday...Thursday morning he has his test at 8:30 am....but after that we would enjoy the twins. Friday is out, it will be my day to go get my nails done and do some errands as Jace is going on a field trip all day on Friday - but mid week lets get together. I'll call you tonight and we will figure best times out.