Our Mountain Spot

All summer long you have heard me say "we're going to the mountain"...and off we go, just Ed and I to enjoy each other's company...no phone, no internet...just time away from the hectic lives we lead, enjoying the beautiful mountain retreat. I am not complaining about my life as I truly am spoiled but there are weeks that I am so stressed with constant going going going and running running running and doing doing doing that I NEED my down time to survive. We belong to a private campground in the mountains East of Boise. It is a camp ground literally built on the side of a mountain. We have a fun swimming pool to enjoy, a beautiful commons area covered in grass and surrounded by pine trees (mainly Ponderosa pines) and a club house with a big deck to have parties on. We love the people we have met up in Idaho... our only complaint is that it is so far away from home...5-6 hour drives, depending on whether or not we are hauling a trailer behind us.

This is what my flower garden looked like before I went to work on the weeds.
There are some pretty flowers planted long ago, but it is so inundated with weeds you can't appreciate them at all
I got me a pair of working gloves and a fantastic little hand shovel and went to work. This year I cleaned out the weeds and next year I plan on filling it with flowers! I think I enjoy this because here in Layton the yard has always been Eds - this flower garden in Idaho is mine!! YAY! Now I need to learn about plants that don't take too much water, although we do have access to all we want we don't want to waste it as there is a whole mountain full of people using the same spring!
Frank and Cat said that they have tried planting grass across the street from here several times...but it never took. I think that's because all the seed blew across the road and landed in the flower gardens. The normal weeds weren't hard to get out but the roots on the grass system was a bear. I got blisters on top of blisters this summer cleaning all the grass roots out of the beds.

The grass is going to be an ongoing problem along with the suckers from the wild roses and the various trees around, but if I can stay ahead of the game I can win!! It will just mean spending at least an hour or two every week pulling weeds.
This is a corner of our toy hauler when we went up to the mountain in 2007. We parked on someone else's lot and enjoyed their gorgeous view of the mountain. They had a nice deck overhanging the cliff. We won't be able to do that as we have road and fence right in front of lot - but we have great plans to beautify our little corner of bear mtn.
This is a view from atop the mountain across the canyon looking down on part of Bear Mtn. Mainly you can see the roads traversing the side of the mountain/ I believe the swimming pool is just to the left of the first tree - more than halfway up the 'tree' (the light blue spot). We are WAY across the canyon looking down.
This is a picture of the pool - they heat it with a combination of solar panels (thats the long black stuff you see above the pool) and propane. There is a nice grassy area at the top edge of the pool hidden by the pine trees. Although we have running water and electricity we do not have indoor plumbing (except in our individual trailers), thus the cute little biffy in the lower left hand corner of the picture.
Another view from across the canyon - quite a bit closer. Our trailer is the one to the right of the tree trunk. You can see Frank and Cat's trailer to the left of ours. There are a couple more trailers hidden in the trees - the road zigzags up the mountain side.
Here is our 'new' 2003 Wilderness trailer sitting on the lot. There is a lot of work for us to do to make our lot as pretty and refreshing as many of the older lots are. The open ground at the fore- front of the picture is 'common ground' between us and our neighbors, Frank and Cat. We are going to either plant grass to share, with a fire pit in the middle of it (so we can invite all our neighbors over for an open house and cook s'mores) or we are going to make a 'patio' of flat rocks - again with the fire pit. The hillside behind is going to be terraced so that we can plant flowers AND tomatoes and squash and strawberries...it has to be terraced because it is so steep - but by the end of next year I hope to post a before and after picture showing how pretty and green it turns out.
This picture was taken in August of our old trailer...Ed has been busy leveling out the area - I have one of the most sunny spots on the mountain and I am thankful for it. I love the warmth of the sun. It will be greener though!
This is looking to the East of our trailer - there are two trailer lots on the same level at the end of the road. You can see the outhouse for our level, then there is a beautiful lot next to it that has got so many flowers and bushes planted on the hillside right outside where the door of the trailer would sit. You can see the car and edge of the trailer for Don and Lucinda who live 'at the end of the lane'. The road up the hill takes you to Bobby Lee and Elizabeth's spot.
Another view of our barren hillside that will next year be blooming!



These pavers came out of the unused sand box in the back yard (the grandkids can play in the sand around the swingset now) We are going to use them to make steps up the side of our big hill so we can terrace it and put in a drip system to water the flowers and plants we are going to plant.
i took these pictures this weekend - the sumac in front of my door (across the road) is simply beautiful with the fall colors. The rest of the mountain is just starting to change - but this tree is so striking - and notice please, the absence of weeds!.

another view!



The sumac with the mountains above it

Some of the daisy's I found when I finally got all the weeds cleaned out of the flower gardens.
I think right now Ed and I are being very selfish with our time...but after years of raising kids and working, we are now at the point of our lives when we are ready to retire and boy WE ARE READY. Our little spot at Bear Mtn is OUR spot...just the two of us. We hope to do some more camping and four wheeling with our kids and grandkids with the ATV and the razor and the toy hauler too. The first few years of our retirement I don't know how often we will be home...one or two weeks out of the month maybe. Of course, some of these plans will depend on my dad's health. We hope to go to Germany next summer with Donald and Bonnie, and also head up into Oregon and Washington in our trailer. We figure that when we are sightseeing the North Western states we won't want to haul a four wheeler around so our new trailer will work perfectly. And at some point we want to go on a mission.... probably the fall of 2012.

On the road again

Ed had meetings in Park City this week and I wasn't about to let him go without me. I told him even if I had to sit in our condo while he went to the fancy dinners without me I was still going. So even though I just got back from Montana on Friday, I was headed to Park City on Monday! Before we left Kecia and Emma and Makae stopped in to say hi and let me have some hugs and grins. That was fun. About 4:30 we headed over the mountains. When he went to his first dinner meeting Monday night at 6:30 he got there and called me to come over because I wasn't the only 'tag-a-long'. As always they give their directors a nice gift bag full of goodies - he got candies and trail mix and a really nice fleece jacket that I wore today to keep me warm :-) He also got a $50 gift card to use here at the canyons.

We are staying at the Sundial resort at the Canyons - just West of Park City proper. Evidently these are not time shares but condos totally owned by one person and they rent them out when they are not using them. Our room is the second floor DOWN from the top (it is on the third floor) on the left side of the archway. You can see the wooden logs that make our balcony with the yellow plaster around it .




There is a big outdoor pool and hottub on the property just behind the buildings you see in the picture. There are three other huge complexes right next to the Sundial all nestled close together, all part of the Canyons, but each under separate management. Just behind these buildings there are three more huge complexes being built.

While Ed was in meetings Tuesday I went walking and exploring and discovered that just down the hall from our room on the third floor was a plunge pool and hottub. It is nestled on top of the archway between the two buildings (where it says SUNDIAL on the previous picture) The little pool looks like a little hottub but its to cool down in after sitting in the big hottub!! NICE ! It was better than the big pool because it had a four foot stone ledge all around it that kept the canyon breezes off and it was a cloudy cool day - just perfect for sitting in a hot tub! I felt like I had my own private spa! We were visiting tonight in the hot tub with a young family from Chicago who have bought a condo here - they are one and two bedroom units - they spend several weeks each winter out here skiing and then come for a couple of weeks each summer to enjoy the biking and hiking. They said the kids are on the swim team. They have three young children and they won't ski anywhere else now - they love our Utah snow. They also like our lovely weather even in the middle of the winter. It is so much more warmer than Chicago with its humidity and winds and storms off of the Great Lakes!


Ed got out of his classes early today because they always have a big golf tournament that Ed doesn't take part in. So we hopped on the tram and rode up on top of the mtn - it was fun - I was thankful that it was enclosed - I wouldn't have been able to handle the ride if my legs had been swinging free! Ed mentioned how deep the canyon was at one point and I told him to be quiet...all the while thinking what would happen if it were to drop! But it was beautiful up on top and we walked a ways down one of the paths. This is a picture taken through the plastic windows of the tram - it looks pretty tame here.



This picture of Ed was taken on the top of the mountain out on the trail -



Then we headed into Park City for dinner. We drove up to main street and found a spot to park and walked almost all the way up that steep little street - and walking DOWN was harder in my sandals! We looked at all the pretties in the windows - I saw a onesey that would have worked for Emma the first six months of her life ... it said "I LOVE BIG DUMPS". We saw a cute animated Christmas Village piece that Ed had to find out the price of - he wanted to get it for Jamie and Kelly but it was $80 - sorry, guys, out of budget! It was a snow scene, with snowboarders going up and down the mountain - We finally found a restaurant that looked good and it was. We sat out on the balcony to eat until it started to rain on us and then we moved inside. FUN

So we are having a nice relaxing time up here on our mountains living the high life. We will be home in a couple of days! And then I will stay home for TWO WEEKS I promise!

A wonderful trip North!

Last week on Tuesday morning my dad picked me up and we headed North to Conrad Montana where my dear Aunt Betty Jean lives. Actually, Conrad is only about 70 miles from Canada so it was a really really long drive. Once we got past Brigham City the traffic cleared out and we had fantastic sailing all the way. I remember when Utah roads used to be that empty!

The weather was perfect for driving and drive it I did. Dad sat back and navigated - a real difficult job since we followed I-15 all the way north! The trip was 640 miles long from my house to Betty's house- with lunch and potty breaks we made it in a little over 9 hours.

Utah and Idaho are miles and miles of cactus and dessert but then as you go over the Montana border you run into lots of canyons and mountains and then you get to the green fields full of newly baled hay and yellow fields full of wheat that was ready for harvest. It is a huge and beautiful state. Even when we got into the flatter areas of the state towards the end of our trip is was still soooo beautiful. I can see how everyone dreams of buying a ranch in Montana!! At least in the summer. I would imagine the winter drives the softies back out really fast.

When we got to my Aunt Betty's she was dying of the heat...it had gotten all the way up to 90 degrees and she had fans out all over the house. The rest of our visit the temps hovered right at 80 degrees and was soooo comfortable. Blue skies, light light breeze and 80 degrees. Perfect.

While we were there we got to visit with Betty (who is grandma Wanda's only sister) and my aunt Shirley (who married moms brother Jim) and cousins Mark and Carrie and Brad and Angela at various times. What neat people.

Betty is my mom's only sister. Mama was 11 years older than her. Mom had two brothers, John who was five years older than mom and Jimmy who was five years younger than mom. It had to have been an interesting home growing up with the personalities of these siblings. Uncle John and Aunt Betty, though stubborn, were mild mannered, quiet and graceful. Mom and Uncle Jim both were characters who never thought before opening their mouths. I think that Mama and Jimmy took after the personality of their mother, Grandma Kate and John and Betty got their dad's soft mannerisms.

Due to the difference in the girls' ages they were not close as children...Betty was eight when mom got married but they became very close as adults even though Betty was way up North in Montana. Mom loved Betty so very much.

Betty kept us pretty busy while we were in Conrad - we drove out to Cutbank to see the huge windfarm going up - they are in the process of building 50 huge windmills out there now with more to come. They were in all stages of development. We got to within about a mile of these and they look like a bunch of sticks in the ground.

But in actuality they were over 240 feet tall - with the propellers about 121 feet in length!! They have placed them on the Montana prairie where the winds are blowing almost constantly - down across Canada and then through this area of Montana. Betty says the wind does blow alot in Conrad but it seems to be alot more protected than Cutbank or Choteau where Shirley lives. They are beautiful to watch - so magnificant and stately. And they are a renewable energy source - the wind can be used over and over again!!This is a picture of the blades laying on the ground before they are raised up into place.

Dad and I had a wonderful time visiting with family and are so thankful to know and love these precious people. I didn't have to drive all the way back - dad took the wheel for a couple of hours!! We got home Friday night so tired but so glad we went. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures!! DUH!! I need pictures of PEOPLE!! But I always forget to take them!

Austin - San Antonio Temple

We got up Tuesday morning and kissed Grandma Bea good bye and headed to the city offices to pick out the grave sites we wanted. We then stopped at Kevin's station and gave him a check to go in and buy the sites. (It is only $300 per plot instead of $600 per plot for out of towners!!) We picked out some plots just about four or five rows East of Grandpa Cecil's spot.

We headed North and stopped for a fun quick visit with Emma and Kecia and got lunch which was a pleasant surprise. Nummy too. Then we headed on North to Lehi and stopped at Benji's house. Da told us that she was waiting for a call from Dirk and we might get to see him on the web cam. Sadly enough it didn't go through and we had to head on North to catch our plane. But we got to hug Da, play with Benji and cuddle Simon so it wasn't a total loss. We got to the airport just two hours prior to the flight and Ed dropped me off in front with all the luggage and then went and parked the car. We got into Austin about 9 pm Texas time and headed to our hotel.

Ed has us in a lovely Homewood Suites and it is so comfortable. The bed is about four feet off the ground and I wasn't sure that we could climb up into it but it hasn't been a problem.

Wednesday morning we decided that since it was supposed to rain it would be a good day to head to the temple. We had a marvelous day!!
This is the San Antonio temple. It was dedicated in 2005...when we lived in San Marcos they were just talking about the need for a temple in this area and President Hinckley even came down trying to locate and decide upon a spot. I remember sitting in a special meeting watching the prophet speak to all the saints through satellite download saying that they hadn't found the right location yet but they would and in the meantime the Saints in the area needed to get their lives in order to have a temple of God in their midst.

It is one of the smaller temples and is simply gorgeous. They have stained glass windows throughout the temple and have gorgeous wood that was imported from all over the world just for this temple.

We found a couple from San Marcos that we had known and learned some interesting facts about this temple. They said it was the second choice as far as location was but the first piece of property had a cavern under it and was deemed not safe to build such a large building on. Then as they started driving the pilons for this location they discovered it also sat on a cavern (this whole area is riddled with them, thus the caves and caverns advertised all over Central Texas ...and their aquifers are actually large caverns way under ground that collects the water and so as you are driving through the area you will see "such and such aquifer - do not pollute". So they had to drive pilons way deeper than they planned on - in fact they go as deep in the ground as the whole temple is above the ground.

We had called the temple for a reservation but were told that the day's sessions were already full. They explained however that there was usually a no show rate of 20% and if we were to be at the temple about 35 minutes prior to the session we could get on the waiting list and probably get to do a session. If not we could do sealings or initiatories with no problem. So we headed South to San Antonio with our Tom Tom telling us how to get there and I am glad we had it because we couldn't see it until we got within 1/2 mile of it. As we came over the final hill there it was - Angel Moroni and all. It was so beautiful. It is made out of a grey stone - I felt bad that it wasn't whiter but amazingly after I came back out I thought it was just perfect.

The temple had a wonderful spirit in it. I felt it before the session even started. Such a beautiful warm loving spirit. I can't understand how other religions think the temple is evil - you can feel the perfect love of God there and all it does it make you try harder to live righteously.

As we completed the session and entered the Celestial room I was in awe. Talk about gorgeous!! Three sides of it were 30 foot tall stained glass windows. The room was done in cream and golds and had wonderful pillars holding up the domed ceiling that looked to be decorated in cream paint and gold leafing.

I was shown the stained glass windows with the sheaves of wheat making a beautiful border. The wheat itself was of amber that was mined from below the temple itself. It ranged in color from a deep deep brown to almost white and each window started out with the bottom and lower sides in the deep brown and then getting lighter and lighter in color until it was almost a white amber across the top. I was told that when they found the mineral in the ground as they excavated the artist that designed the stained glass windows asked to be given the stone and he would incorporate it into the glass windows which he did.

Also, our friends from San Marcos told us of the local seminary teacher that painted the murals in the earth room - how he was painting one day and had brought his three year old daughter with him and she was busy with her toys. When he next looked to check on her, he found that she had taken one of his paintbrushes and had proceeded to paint some flowers on the wall!!! He cleaned up and painted over most of them but left three of the flowers as she painted them. SWEET!

We got to do a session in a new temple, we fell in love with the beauty and the spirit of the San Antonio temple, we ran into old friends and we got to hear fun stories about the building and decorating of the temple! What a marvelous day.

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.

Welcome Home

We landed in Salt Lake Thursday night about 11:10 and it was after midnight when we finally pulled into our driveway. The landing was one of the scariest I've ever been on even though the pilot did a fantastic job - the weather didn't cooperate.

Anyway - we were home sweet home and as we walked through the door - ugghh - Ed said - didn't we empty the trash before we left and I said I thought we did but as I got closer to the trash can the worse the smell was.

So I grabbed it and took it outside and dumped. The house was cooollllldddd - we had turned the thermostat down to 50 and it felt like it through and through. But the house was still smelly so Ed propped the back door open to hopefully air it out some. I grabbed a cooking pot and filled it halfway with water and put it on to boil and added cinnamon to help things out. I also got out the aerosole spray and sprayed everything down. We got the luggage inside and turned up the heat and brushed out teeth and went to bed hoping the house would smell better in the morning.

It didn't. Ed opened the fridge (that is only six years old) Friday morning and said - eeewwww - you're going to have to throw out some leftovers.... and then he said - OH NO! EVERYTHING is bad!! The power is off - no, the power isn't off but the fridge is warm.....and so is the freezer.

THAT WAS WHAT SMELLED - I bet the fridge had died a day or so after we left and everything in it sat and 'cooked' for a week. Gross!! I hauled four garbage cans full of rotten food scrubbing as I went. I pulled every shelf and drawer out of the fridge and the freezer - of course all the staples, like mayo, mustard and salad dressings got tossed. Even the pickles were bad! The left over chili and beans from the family party that I had put in the freezer - gone. Chicken, pork, hamburger (I had a pound of the pre-packaged hamburger in the freezer - it had literally ballooned out to TWICE the normal size!!)

I called and got a repairman over - Ed and I decided that we would have them give us a bid and if it was $400 or more we would go buy a new refrigerator. I called the place at 9:30 and she said she could get someone there today but wasn't sure how soon . I said give me a half an hour at least so I can run to Wal Mart's and get a gallon of milk so I can eat breakfast. That is exactly what they gave me - the guy was at my door at 10:05!! But I had my milk!! He walked through the door, took one look at my fridge from ACROSS the room and said I know exactly what is wrong with your refrigerator. It is a relay switch in the compressor that has gone bad. Whirlpool had been using the same switch for over 25 years with no problem but all of a sudden about 1999 or 2000 they switched to a different one and that one has given them all sorts of headaches. He told me that he has changed out over 2000 of those himself in the past few years!!! It makes me so angry that Whirlpool would do that and not notify the customers or do a recall ...instead we get the dead appliance and rotten food. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had been home - we wouldn't have lost everything - we would have noticed a problem within 24 hours or so.

About the time the ice cubes started defrosting.

So that was our welcome home. And I can still smell the smell slightly when I open the refrigerator door. I've tried baking soda but it still smells - any ideas out there?

One fun side note - Ed got to bed before I did last night and when I walked into the cold bedroom he's laying there without any covers on. I said "Are you hot? How come you haven't pulled the blankets up over you in this cold house?" He said "Cause the bed is COLD!!!!! This way only ONE side of me is cold - I'm not about to pull those icy blankets over me!!"

I don't think we'll turn the heat down so much next time we leave!!

New York

WE are in Oneonta, New York this week. That is upstate New York!! However, for those of you who know New York, you also know that anyplace that isn't NEW YORK CITY, is considered upstate New York. Oneonta is North and East of the New York Pennsylvania border. It is a lovely little town of about 13000 according to Google and of course it has a .Job Corps Center here - Ed is here to do a records audit. Last time I joined Ed in Oneonta it was 18 degrees - so I figured that at 37 degrees they were having a heat wave this time around. We arrived here late Monday - it made me appreciate Ed's traveling days for what they really are, bless his heart. We left home about 6:30 am, with our flight leaving about 8:50 am and arriving in Cincinnatti Ohio at noon Utah time or 2 pm, Eastern time. Then at 3:25 we took off on another plane to Scranton Wilkesbury Pennsylvania. Landing at 5 pm we picked up the car and headed North for an hour and then East for another hour. We got to our hotel at about 7:30 pm - that makes for a lonnnnggggg day! Tuesday morning I slept through breakfast (Ed got up and headed off to work leaving me sawing logs. I have it really rough when I go on these trips with Ed. I lay around the hotel all day, reading and doing indexing, swimming and hot tubbing. And going out to eat for lunch and dinner - no house work, no cooking, no laundry. Just plain hate it. :-)

So Tuesday was rainy. They kept telling us we were going to get a freezing rain but it never happened. Wednesday was cold - as in COLD - they said it was 34 with a feelslike temp of 10 and I agreed! When I woke up this morning (Thursday) at 8 am it was wet - not icy or snowy - when I looked out the window again at 10 am everything was covered with snow. It snowed all day long - we probably have 8 inches of snow outside now - these pictures were taken through our hotel room window - according to the tv lots and lots of school districts closed school today which is amazing because even though they got alot of snow - driving wasn't that bad. Ed told the people at the job corps that too - seems awfully wimpy to me, and as much snow as the Eastern Seaboard has gotten this year the kids will be going to school until July to make up for missing school days!




One thing I love about Oneonta are the beautiful old homes. Lots and lots of what in Utah we would call pioneer homes - Two and three story homes with porches and turrets and personality. Of course they are probably about the same age as our oldest homes in Utah but that makes them youngsters in New York. It would be so fun to have a beautiful old home like this

We are supposed to be heading North West to Palmyra New York tomorrow morning. The weather is supposed to have cleared and we shouldn't have any trouble getting there. I am worried about Sunday, however, as we head all the way across the state again coming back and driving to Middletown New York which is farther South, but still upstate.


We want to do a temple session in Palmyra and then tour the visitors center at Hill Cumorah. We stopped there in 2005 but had so little time we missed out on both of those spots.

Ed will spend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Delaware Valley Job Corps Center doing a records audit there and then we will fly back home to Utah. Some day I want to come out here when the weather is good...hey wait a minute...I did, last April and spent five days in the hospital. I will be happy with the snow!!

Day Five at WDW

I'm getting farther and farther behind but once I get back home life will be dull and boring and I won't have much to add. Things are still going great here in Florida.

After breakfast on Wednesday morning I went out and took the pictures of the hotel and swimming pool area that I posted yesterday and today. It was overcast and looked like it might rain but it was still warm outside and surprisingly enough not too humid. So I boogied back up to our room and got my swimming suit on and grabbed a towel and went back out to lounge on teh gorgeous white sandy beach for an hour. I relaxed and read and enjoyed the peace and quiet. All the kids are at Disney World in the middle of the day...very peaceful!

Ed was supposed to get out of his meetings at noon so I headed back up to the room and he was there but had to go back to a Central Region meeting with JoAnn and the other ROD's and CD's.
He said that it would be a quick meeting. I should have gotten on my blog right then and caught it up to date but I kept thinking - its gonna just be a couple more minutes and then he will be here and we can head to Epcot. I finally fell asleep on the bed waiting for him and we made it to Epcot at 3pm!!! We had just barely enough time to go back to the Biergarten for another round of that good German food and music. If we could have gotten to the park about 12:30 we would have gone for lunch and then back over to Future World to go ride Soarin which is a ride that makes you think you are parasailing - you are in a big IMEX theatre and its supposed to be really fun. Instead we had a nice visit while we ate with a couple from Maryland and another family from Mexico City. They had a little boy about 6 years old and a little girl aged 3. He is a lawyer in Mexico City and spoke really good English. I think his wife understood our conversation but her speaking wasn't as good. It made for another fun memory.

After that we headed back to the water taxi to go back to the Dolphin to get ready for the big Awards Dinner held that night for all the MTC directors and guests. It was the most amazing meal - I've sat down at a meal with four forks and three knives and two spoons before but never three goblets!! Come to find out one was for water, one for red wine and one for white!! (Did I tell you about the little jackets on the lemon slices at Tuesday night's dinner? Tooo fancy- we can't have a seed squirt out when you squeeze the lemons!!) We had a really fun lady sitting next to us - she is single and she invited her mom to come with her for the week at Disney. I thought her mom was going to have a hissie fit everytime they brought out another plate of food - the 'presentation' again was fantastic.

I think seven of Ed's eight centers received top awards last night - the only one that didn't was Delaware Valley which is the newest center and hasn't had time to learn how to do what they are supposed to. I could see last night why MTC has such a wonderful history with the Department of Labor. It is amazing how good a job each center does in teaching their students and finding them jobs afterwards. It was a really positive evening.

It has been fun to see the reaction of my weight loss as most of these people only see me at these bi-annual meetings. So I weigh at least 45 pounds less than I did last time I saw them. The guys will just say hi and hey - you look good. The ladies will look at me and tell me how cute my hair is!! WEIRD!!! I don't think they really realize what the difference is but they know I look different and my face is alot thinner....thus they think I have a cute haircut!

Tomorrow I will post our day six activities at Animal Kingdom. I am sure you just can't wait. Anywho - it is a good way to make myself write it out so I can remember the remembries!!

Tuesday Evening

Tuesday evening Ed and I walked around the outside of the Swan and Dolphin - the swimming pool area of the Dolphin is really gorgeous. We had about 20 minutes before we needed to meet with Ed's boss JoAnn and her husband Red, and Tom and Chris Adams for dinner at the Italian Restaurant over at the swan. You can see the big shell on the front of the columns and at the end of each building is the Dolphin. We decided that the designers of the hotel came up with a cute fish design and then looked something to name it. The smaller hotel is definitely The Swan but we haven't ever seen a dolphin that looks like that. First of all - Dolphins are not scaly fish and secondly don't dolphins have a dorsal fin like the shark? You decide!

We wandered across the bridge between the two hotels and then followed the shore line down past the single pool at the Swan and over to the white sandy beach lined with chaise lounges. The swimming pool at the Dolphin is actually one long pool with two small bridges going over the top of them, four hot tubs, one kiddie pool and one other small round pool! There are palm trees and fountains and waterfalls galore. You can walk under the main waterfall - or behind it really. There is also a waterslide that starts at the back of the area and shoots round and down into the water. There is one sandy play area that has a cute statue of a seal in the center of the sandy circle and it shoots water out of its mouth all day - the little kids were loving it - the can make sand castles in the damp sand under the spray area or just run and jump through the water like a shower bath.

About five minutes to 7 we headed back over to the swan to meet our dinner partners. Scott Marquardt was there there, plus Mel Gaines and John Petersen and his wife. Good friends all and they added to the party. We again were fed some beautiful and delicious food. I had shrimp that had been rolled in batter and steamed with a lemon butter sauce . It was served with spinach also cooked in the same sauce and it was so nummy. Beautiful presentation!! Someone has definitely gone to special chef school! We sat and talked and talked and visited and ate and simply had a wonderful evening, when the maitre'D came in and apologized to everyone for the computer glitch that made them so slow with the meals. He offered the group another bottle of wine but since only half of us were drinking Scott suggested dessert instead!! After he left the room we all burst out laughing - we had been so busy talking and enjoying ourselves we didn't notice there was a delay! Then they came in with a long rectangular elegant plate about 18" x 5" with all sorts of nummy desserts. There was also a goblet with fresh raspberries and blackberries in cream - so we just passed it around and around the table until we all got to taste a little bit of everything. Its still a toss up in my mind as to whether the berries and cream were best or the piece of chocolate...it looked and jiggled like a deeep dark brown thick jello....but it tasted just like a really really rich brownie. YUMM - Scott Marquardt (President and CEO of MTC) picked up the tab so I have no idea what our share of it was - but with the number of bottles of wine the other half of the group went through I'm sure it wasn't cheap.

Another day gone - another how many pounds gained ??? However I only really ate one meal today. Breakfast was Zone bars and water and lunch was a salad I took back to my room but by the time I had showered I was too tired to eat.

What a DAY!!!!

WOW!! It was a day of first's for me!! First time ever getting to watch the space shuttle take off - first time ever swimming in the Atlantic Ocean!!! First time meeting some new friends.

Day #4 started early....really early. I set my alarm to go off at 4:30 am, EDT!! UGH. I met a bunch of cute fun ladies downstairs by the dolphin fountain. Some I knew, some I didn't. We took off about 5:05 am to head to Cape Canaveral. The ladies driving had gotten online to find the best route to Jetty Park Beach where we were headed. Then just a few minutes before it was time to leave they talked to someone at the Hotel and he said - no - go this way!! So the first half hour we went the scenic route (in the dark) trying to follow the fellows directions - finally the two cars got together in a parking lot and decided to go back to the mapquest directions as they were more complete.

It was a fun ride with some fun ladies - one of whom is Shawn and Kris's neighbor Laurie Sorenson. We arrived at the park about 6:15 am - it was just starting to get light outside but we found a great place to park and there were still park benches available. (We got there plenty early - afterwards we discussed the fact that we COULD have slept in till 6:30 and still had a good view. We visited and walked all the way out to the end of the jetty to watch the fishermen who were not happy about the shuttle take off because all the people ruined the fishing!! He told one of our group that if she would jump in the water and thrash about it would help him catch a shark!! Actually - he did catch a small one later on!!

As soon as the sun was totally up it started to get warm. About 9 am some of us headed over to the beach side of the park and went swimming in the ocean. Not a really clean place but we kept our mouths closed!! The waves were fun to float in!!

There was a little store there so we bought water and later on some pop and fresh danish rolls - that was breakfast.

Everyone kept saying that the launch would most likely be postponed due to the clouds. We commented to some park officials that we couldn't see how a few clouds would stop a shuttle!! And they explained that the problem was not how powerful the shuttle was but that they needed the eyes of the satellites to film the launch for safety sake - so then we watched as the clouds moved in and out wondering, wondering.

We did not go to the Cape Canaveral site itself because they now charge $38 a person and you never know whether or not the launch is really going to work. The school teacher in our group had contacted NASA and they had suggested this park - it only allowed 600 people in there to watch so we didn't have crowds and crowds. We also didn't have a real good view - we couldn't see the launch pad and were probably about ten miles from the site - but when it took off we could see it go!!

By 11:30 everyone was waiting with their fingers crossed. Then right at 11:38 someone said - there it goes!! We could barely see the rocket itself but the stream of flame behind it was awesome. We were all busy trying to take pictures of it going and then all of a sudden I felt such an overwhelming awe come over me...I put the camera aside and just watched. There were men on that - Americans, being flung into space. It went up and up and then seemed to make an almost 45 degree turn and moved South. The picture shows the flame above the cloud line - the only way you can see it is by enlarging the picture. We watched it go up - then it went behind the clouds you see here and then we watched it go above the clouds and on up. It seemed like it was at least a minute or a minute and a half into the flight before we heard the noise of the lift off. Then there was this huge rumble. The spectators who had been there before told us that the water right in front of us would wave from the sound waves but we didn't see that happen.

After it was over we hopped in the car and boogied right out of there hoping to beat the crush of cars and we did. By the time we got back to the hotel at Disney world we were ready to drop...we talked about stopping and shopping at the outlet mall but we were all sticky and sweaty from both the humidity and swimming in the ocean. We decided a shower and a nap sounded much much better. I remember Ed coming in from his meetings at 2 pm but I kept sleeping...I finally woke up about 5 pm - I had been sooo tired.

When you hear something like that called awesome it truly is...'Awe'some. We were almost giddy on the way home as we talked about how amazing that sight had been. Most of us were from Utah, but one of the group was from Michigan and another one from Iowa. It was a most amazing experience!

Day Three of WDW

Its late Monday night and I am supposed to be asleep but as often happens I can't sleep. I have lain awake for over two hours - resting!!! But not sleeping. So I will get up and turn on the trusty computer and update my blog. I figure while we are on our cruise we won't have internet but I will write daily anyway and save it all to add when I get home.

Kecia said I left off prices of breakfast and lunch...do you know we could have eaten for more than two weeks on what we spent on those three meals!! Breakfast buffet was only :-) ...$17.95 per person (plus tip and tax!) We are used to staying at a Hampton Inn where we have wonderful continental breakfasts for free!! Lunch at the Biergarten was $19.95 per plate - Thank Heavens MTC is paying for it all!! I feel sorry for those attending that are on a per diem basis - I don't know where they will find breakfast for only $9 each!!

Okay - Monday morning Edward got up and dressed and left for his 8 am meeting - I slept!! My alarm got me up at 9:15 ...rough life eh? I was almost ready to head downstairs and across the way to the Swan for our 'partners' breakfast when I got a call from Ed saying bring your camera and when I got there Ed was waiting for me so we could take a picture with our famous guest. It turned out blurry - but here's the proof - we are in Walt Disney World! Kecia - you won't find your dad nor I in mickey or minnie ears - this is as close as we get. Funny though - I never realized that Mickey was so short!! The directors all left us to our breakfast (they had gotten fed at 8 am). We had an interesting slide show telling us all about the job corps program in the very beginning. It was totally learn as you go - and they did learn. We also learned that our 2009 Directors meeting will be at the Maui Westin - where it was held in 2001(actually january of 2002, as it was originally scheduled for the Saturday after 911!) That is a marvelous resort - gorgeous - you don't know whether to swim in one of its fantastic swimming pools or lay in the sand and let the ocean lap at your feet. And they said that it will have been completely remodeled just prior to our arrival!! We are excited as Maui is our favorite spot in Hawaii!!

I casually mentioned to the ladies I was sitting with that it was too bad we didn't have a way to go see the shuttle lift off Tuesday and they all turned to me and said - we're going - come with us!! So I am getting up at 4:30 am and meeting a bunch of ladies down at the fountain in the entrance to go see the shuttle launch. I am sooo excited. I never thought I would be anywhere near something like this. You need to realize that 4:30 am is 2:30 am Utah time! It should only take us about an hour to get there but evidently with all the traffic you have to get there early!!

Now - On to MGM Studios

Ed got out of his meetings at 2 today - they had fed then box lunches so I grabbed a zone bar for my lunch and out the door we went. Again - we got to ride the boat over to MGM - it was a much better day...not nearly so much walking - it is a small park!! I know that I recognized several things there that were there in 1995 but yet they were saying that MGM Park was not created until about 1997. Finally talking to a disney worker we learned that this was just a small extra section of Epcot until 1997. Until then it was the working studios for Disney. When Universal Studios started building their competetion, then Disney got busy and turned their backlot into a separate park. As soon as we got in the park today we could tell that people were massing for a parade so we sat down on Hollywood Boulevard and waited for it to happen. My camera was back at the hotel because my battery recharger hadn't recharged them like they needed to be so Ed was the one behind the camera. I will have to wait for his pictures to see what he took. It was a fun fun parade - all the gorgeous Disney stars in fantastic old automobiles. It was so fun watching the children sitting by us get all big eyed when chip and dale walked by and shook their hand or Pluto gave them a hi five. It brought back memories of taking Kecia and Kelly to WDW in 1995 when they were 14 - even at that age they got a blast out of hugging Goofy!! Of course now adays there are a lot more disney characters ...the parade started with a big rat...from Ratatouile!

From there we headed to The Great Movie Ride - there was only about a half an hour wait and then we got to travel through classic film scenes and Hollywood moments - it was a 22 minute tour and really well done.

From there we headed back past Mickey's giant magicians hat to The Muppet Vision 3D program. We picked up 3 D glasses on our way into the theatre and thoroughly enjoyed the humor of those wonderful muppets but with a 3d twist. So much of the action WAS right in your face (plus an added spray of water at one point to add to the effect!)

After that we walked back over to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular which was a 30 minute live show featuring edge of your seat stunts and adventure. That was especially fun as they picked a friend from MTC to be one of the extras and Ed got some goooooood pictures of him that he is going to slip to the corporate photographer for future blurbs!! They should have fun with them. There are so many many people here and you don't ever see anyone you actually know so that will make it a real surprise for James!!

After that was over we found the bathrooms and headed over to see what kind of lines there were for the Rock n Roller Coaster - over an hour wait so we said - no thanks - we stopped for a couple of soda's and a bag of chips - $7 but it filled the hole in our bellies. and then we walked on over to the Fantasmic Theatre - They suggested getting there 90 minutes early but fi9ured with the smaller park attendance 60 minutes would be sufficient time to get good seats and it was. We got there in plenty of time to pick out great seats and we drank our drinks and ate our chips and watched the whole place fill up. of course they were hawking all sorts of princess ears and sparkly ears and sparkly wands - we bought a couple of fun things to share with the grandkids - the first thing is called :STRING THING" and the grandkids will love it . It is a battery operated hand held 'wand' that shoots a plastic string around and around in a circle with a black light glowing to illuminate the string. You will have to wait to see it - its fun!!

The other thing that I just had to have was the wicked meanies beach towel. I just gave my three granddaughters (Adrie, Mickey and ...ahem....Emma) three Disney Princess towels. But this one is going on the wall downstairs for all the kids to enjoy in grandma's toy room. It has all the Walt Disney meanies on it!!! Made for Halloween!! FUN!! I will need the help of my grandkids to let me know who all of them are....but I will probably use it on our cruise first!!

The show was awesome - With fireworks and waterworks - fountains and sprays of water they used to show scenes on!! They had kabooms and the whole lagoon filled with fire...they had the Sleeping Beauty dragon and he was gorgeous, they had boats full of dancing princesses and canoes filled with indians. Between the fireworks and the music it got intense and stayed that way but of course good (Mickey Mouse) won out over evil (all the meanies) in the end.

By the time the show was over the park was closing and so we walked quickly back to catch the boat back to the swan and the dolphin. Then Ed and I walked back over to Broadway and found a wonderful pub with great food - I had a cheeseburger to die for and Ed had mahi mahi - I think that bill came to about $60.


WOW !!! What a fun day. I hope you are having as much fun at home!

Day two of Disney World

Day two here at Disney world found us eating breakfast at the FRESH Mediterranean Market which had a wonderful buffet of fresh fruits, juices, eggs, etc. Then we left the hotel and walked out to the boat dock to catch a boat to Epcot. We walked through the World Showcase first of all so we could make reservations at Germany's Biergarten Restaurant. Then we headed to Epcot. The Spaceship earth was closed ---they are making it bigger and better I guess. We wandered through innovations East and then headed over to go through Living With The Land. We also watched the film entitled The Circle of Life - with Simba, Pumbaa and Timone - talking about conservation and protecting our world.

We had a fun day but boy we felt our age - sore feet and sore backs!! We spent about 7 hours and mainly walked and looked and learned. It was fascinating. We ended up back at the Biergarten for lunch and that was fantastic!! I am such a stickler for staying in my comfort zone food wise but I decided I was going to try everything. It was a buffet and delicious. I ate cold sausages and cold meatballs and cold salads and warm sausages and warm meatballs and warm salads!! There wasn't anything to spicy or too vinegary or too any except GOOD!! Ed said everything was very authentic tasting except for the Spetzle (sp?) its pronounced spetz za la...he said usually it is a pasta more spagetti shaped ...but it was still good.

In Germany when one goes to a restaurant they seat you at whatever table still has room at it and they did the same here. So we sat across the table from a real sweet couple from South Carolina. He was 74 but she was younger than myself - they had met and married about four years ago. When we told them we were from Utah, he said, "No one is FROM Utah" and I said - well, yes, we were! Then he asked if we were Mormon! and we said yes. And he said "So are we!!" That place had room for hundreds of people and we run into another set of Mormons. They were both converts and so of course we had to compare kids and missions and stories - it was sooo fun. We talked for a good 45 minutes after we finished eating!!

Then we continued West and stopped for a 30 minute show called the American Adventure. It showcased the history of America with automatons of a lot of historical figures. It was really well done. When we went into the theatre it was sunny and bright - when we came out it was starting to sprinkle. We headed back to the International Gateway and caught a boat back to our hotel.

We got there in time for a half an hour nap and then back downstairs to a welcome to WDW social from MTC. It is always so fun to see the MTC directors and their spouses and significant others. Alot of the time we might see each other only at the Christmas party or at another Directors Retreat bi-annually like this trip. The food looked delicious but we were still full from all that good German food. We visited for a couple of hours and then headed back up to the hotel room - where I read and Ed watched baseball -While we were relaxing there was a knock on the door and when I opened it there was a hotel employee with an MTC bag in his hand - saying I come bearing gifts - gifts are good. I had figured that we wouldn't get gifts this trip because when Ed went to the corporate office this week he was given a really really nice suitcase - red and black with the MTC logo on it. But in the sack were two bright green shirts - Ping brand - plus lots and lots of goodies. It was like being turned loose in a candy store. We just don't buy candy anymore!!I grabbed the sack of Peanut M&M's to set aside to eat later because it was the time of day that would really send my blood sugar soaring just before I tested it... Ed enjoyed three or four of the treats while I glared at him but I guess there is still enough left to enjoy today. We finally turned off the tv at 11:45 when the score was 6 to 2 for the Red Sox and went to sleep - who knows how the game turned out. Who cares how the game turned out.

Long Day, fun day, blessed day.

Catching up with the Future

After spending the day at the Epcot Center at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort I decided to make a bold move and start my own blog spot. I mean we walked through Future World all day long and so I guess I can't stay in the dark ages forever. I also have five very wonderful kids, three of whom have a blog spot and I so much enjoy reading their thoughts I decided I needed to reach out with a few of my own. I am sure they are thinking....we had to listen to her the whole time we were growing up and now we have to read her blogs too!!??!! OH NO!
So Kecia and Jamie and Dirk - you asked for it!!

We flew to Orlando Saturday and grabbed a cab to the Dolphin Hotel (see the picture!) Actually I wasn't standing in a good spot to be able to snap a picture of the dolphins on top of the hotel - I will try and add it later on. Here is the other half of this hotel duo - the Swan...actually you can take a tour of the place by going to swananddolphin.com We arrived about 6 pm and checked in and unpacked and then decided it was time for dinner (breakfast at 7:30 am had been a long time ago!!) Ed and I got lost four times within the first 15 minutes but finally found our way to a wonderful steak house located in our hotel. It was called Shula's - you should always beware when they give you a menu that doesn't have prices on it!! We ordered the smallest steaks on the menu - Ed had a 12 oz filet mignon and I had a 16 oz New York sirloin steak. Ed ordered soup and I had a marvelous salad - we both just wanted ice water to drink...and we even decided to share a baked potato when the waiter said they were really big. I wanted to save room for the chocolate flambe dessert - yummm! By the time we finished our soup and salad and fresh hot bread, and then tucked into the steaks with a humungous baked potato there was no room for dessert. When the bill came it was $117.00 and that was before the tip!! No drinks, no vegetables, 1/2 potato and no deserts!!! But ohhh it was a good steak!

After that we wandered around the Dolphin some more trying to figure out what was where - then we walked along the boardwalk in WDW - it was so fun. There were magicians and mimes and pirate ships and marshmellow roasting!! There was even a giant tv (10x14 feet?) screen out on the sandy beach where people were watching Pirates of the Caribbean - it was the first one and we had both watched it several times so we just kept walking.

Finally we headed back to our hotel room and crashed for the night.

Watch for more updates to come.