Memories

Memories

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Do we have to come home??

This is a picture of the camping area - or at least it shows the steps up and down the mtn side - they lead up to the club house and swimming pool area. We had a wonderful week there.

Ed and I finally drug in on Sunday afternoon about 3:00 after a week of fun and sun and four wheeling and visiting with fun people - laying around the pool and watching movies. We had a wonderful time and it was so very relaxing.

We went four wheeling almost every day - we discovered a beautiful little valley that we went back to a couple of times. It was just about 2o minutes from our camp and it was totally isolated. The first time we found it we ate our lunch and laid out in the sun and just enjoyed the green beauty. When we went back, we took a blanket and laid it out in the shade and ate our lunch and had a nice nap. And again, enjoyed the quiet serenity. I should have taken my camera but I didn't so I don't have pictures of it.

The day that we went to Placerville was another hot beautiful summer day - blue skies, not a cloud anywhere. We got up and got going early enough that most of the trip was completed before the heat of the afternoon sun got too uncomfortable. It was pretty easy riding most of the way - lots of gorgeous green mountains and tumbling rivers and streams. Alot of the country there have year round homes but it is ALL accessed by dirt roads... Placerville is a little mountain village that had its start in the 1869 gold rush of Idaho and now it is home to probably 150 people - nice village square and old museums that sadly enough were closed (they open for the tourists on weekends). We had lunch in the village square and wandered around looking in the windows. We followed the road signs up to the old cemetery. That is a favorite pasttime of ours - wandering through old cemeteries! They liked to build wrought iron fences around the family plots.


We met lots of new people at the campground this year and lots of old favorites. Some of these same people go to Quartzsite each winter and so we get to renew old acquaintences.This is a view out of my bedroom window of our trailer. I took it early one morning as the sun shone down on the flowers. The mountain is beautiful. You can see Larry's trailer just above where our trailer sat. They have terraced the side of the mountain to allow full access to it for all of the campers. Some of us are visitors, some lease their lots and some own their lots outright. But it is a pleasant and friendly group of people from Washington state, Idaho and Utah.

There are wild turkeys that claim the area as their own. I'm not sure if they can be considered wild anymore...I swear Ed carried on a conversation with one of them over the type of crackers he was tossing out to them. They really liked the whole wheat ritz crackers!! Weren't too impressed with either the popcorn or the cheddar cheese crackers! FUN!! I need to get Ed's pictures and download them onto my computer so I can add them to this post.

They play a movie each saturday night at the club house and both were fun. They set the screen out on the patio and everyone brings their popcorn, their jackets and own chairs. The first weekend was Young Frankenstein...what a hoot. The second week was "The Bucket List" and I would recommend that movie to anyone.

Its good to be back home - now that I have caught up on everything. Monday I did wash all day and cleaned my house. Tuesday I spent it running from Rocky Mtn to Grandpa's house and completing all sorts of things on my to do list. Today I cleaned the front part of the trailer till is shined. The bikes are still in there and so I will have to dust and mop the back out when Ed gets home this weekend and moves them.This is a picture of the view around our trailer. There is a nice redwood deck - the couple that own this individual campsite have built the deck to sit on and enjoy. After breakfast and after supper it is the nicest place to sit and relax and read a book.

It was a great week and I know we will go back again and again - our only complaint is that it is sooooo far away!

4th of July

To all my special blogger friends I want to wish you a Happy and Safe Fourth of July. Its a time of traditions and family, flags and parades, hot days, playing in the water, and lots of love and joy. With Dirk over in Afghanistan it is much more poignant than usual and I expect some tears will be shed along with the laughter and smiles. I love my country - I am so thankful to be an American. It has alot of problems but that is life. We have freedom and prosperity - we are so blessed to live in this great nation. I pray every day for the Lord to watch over and protect our soldiers - and also to help our leaders guide our nation - and most of all, for each an every American to reach out to his fellow man and help him along.

Its our nations birthday...let's celebrate!




Dad was 83 on Wednesday of last week - we had his annual birthday party down at Tonya's house and had a wonderful time. Her yard is big and cool and lovely!! Hey - let's have ALL the parties there!!


The cook was masterful and everyone brought yummy salads for the meal. We visited and talked and visited somemore. It seems that in the months of June and July, family parties are all we do with Cade, Jace and Jace's birthdays, then Father's Day, and then dad's birthday and then the 4th of July celebration and finally the 24th a few weeks later. We got some cute pictures of the activities:



Here we have the girls playing on the tramp! Oh dear, someone needs to get off - too many people on the trampoline at one time. We're breaking the rules!










Looks like the Willdens are really paying attention to the rules!!! tch tch tch!!











Looks like Maizie is having a great time!




Here's a good picture of grandpa Bruce

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

Four Wheeling

Saturday morning we headed up to Monte Cristo to take them four wheeling. It was a hot beautiful morning and the sky was so blue. Dave and Alecia were thrilled with the gorgeous scenery as we drove over Trapper's Loop and up to Monte Cristo. After flat old Texas they were impressed with our mountains!

When we got to the top of the mountain we started unloading our bikes. We had borrowed grandpa's bike too, and had given Dave a quick lesson in how to drive a four wheeler in the church parking lot the night before. As we unloaded all three bikes a couple of guys headed past on their ATV's and stopped to ask us how far the road went. We told them you could go all the way to Randolph on this road - it went for miles and miles and miles. So off they headed. Within five minutes they were back and said - not today ... they were headed back to their truck to get a chain to pull a Toyota pickup out of a snowbank.

So we headed out ourselves with Ilvia and I on my bike, Jeff, Ed and Eric (Parker's five year old grandson) on Ed's bike and the Guenthers on dad's bike. We only got about 2 miles down the road when we ran into a snowbank about 50 yards wide. So we had our picnic right there!! We still had a wonderful view of the mountains and valleys and we finished off our meal with a rousing snow ball fight!! FUN

On the way back to the truck we stopped and helped another truck get out of another snowbank. I bet the snow is all gone this weekend because it was practically water under the top layer of ice - We had a marvelous time even though we only got to go half as far as we had planned. This is a picture of Ed's mighty truck to the rescue. They tried pulling it out with four wheelers but it took more power than that.

The skies were blue, the weather was warm, we had some wonderful friends and a marvelous time. What more could we ask for!! On the way back down the canyon Dave told Alecia that they were going to get some ATV's....fun!

Where did June go??

By the way Jamie - how do you like my layout???

Its amazing - here today, gone tomorrow. Life is soooo busy and Ed and I've had a wonderfully fun month. We started with a trip to Texas at the first of the month. Father's Day came along quickly and then our good friends the Guenthers came into town FROM texas!! While we were down there visiting them we found out they were headed to Utah later on in the month and so we invited them to save a day in their schedule while here and we would take them Four wheeling. We met Dave and Alecia in San Marcos when we lived there in 2001/2002. They were one of the four couples that got together to go out to eat or to do something fun together at least once a month. They are the ones that drove us all to Mexico for a fun weekend back in 2001. They are a dear couple and we love them very much. The Parkers (Jeff and Ilvia) were part of that same group and the Templetons were the other couple. Jeff and Ilvia were members of the LDS church (though inactive) and the Templetons and the Guenthers were Catholic. We had some marvelous times and they are all the reason why we loved our time in San Marcos so much.

The Guenthers showed up about the 19th of June, and we met them at the Parkers home, in Farmington, for dinner that night. Then on Friday Ed had to work but the Parkers and Guenthers took me along with them on their sightseeing trip - fun fun day!First off we headed to Kennecott Copper Mine - I haven't been out there for decades - it is huge. The whole operation is huge - from the hole in the ground to the trucks to the tires. This is a picture of the Guenthers on the left and the Parkers on the right. Special friends from our time in Texas.

The off we went to eat at a really great Mexican restaurant on North Temple - Shawn has probably been there. Both Ilvia (Parker) and Alecia (Guenther) are from the Guadalajara area of Mexico and I think this cuisine is the closest to their native foods. Then we headed up to the Capitol. It is so beautiful - the restoration work is all done and it simply shines.



After we left the capitol we headed to Temple Square - Dave and Alecia are not members but they wanted to tour it, and Jeff and Ilvia are not active so it was fun for them too. It was so beautiful and refreshing - we had two real cute sister missionaries lead our tour and one of them spoke fluent Spanish so Alecia and Ilvia had fun visiting with her.

I had forgotten how lovely the pipes for the organ in the Assembly Hall were. We see the Tabernacle set up all the time but these pipes are gorgeous in their own right.

Before leaving Temple square I took them over to the reflection pond so Alecia could get some good pictures of the Temple and then finally we walked over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I explained that it was built in the late 1800's as a hotel and the architecture and interior is something they had to see. Dave loved it - there was a lady playing all sorts of easy listening music on the grand piano - he walked over to her and visited with her and came back all amazed because she wasn't paid to play - she donated her time! We probably sat there in the old hotel for a good 30 minutes just listening to the music.

We had a fun day - lots of talking and catching up on each other's lives. We dropped the Parkers off at home and headed back to Layton (did I mention they stayed in the Willden Hotel for three nights!!)

This blog is long enough. I will continue it next month!!

A Son At War

I mailed the letter and the package to Dirk today. I was almost in tears when I left the post office. It was so weird. I have known Dirk was clear on the other side of the world but somehow sending him that box of goodies that we all put together and mailing it just brought it all home!! (By the way Dirk - that package was put together with love from our whole family. Most of us contributed junk food (who's gonna fight with that?? But I was impressed that Mauri got online to see what soldiers needed over in Iraq and Afghanistan - so the interesting items are from Mauri!! Way to go Mauri!)

My son is in harms way. They have taken him and put him on a plane and sent him halfway around the world to a country we know so very little about. Not only has he left behind a beautiful wife and two darling boys, but they have totally disrupted his daily activities and the comforts around him. He is probably sleeping in a sleeping bag on a cot in a cement bunker. He is told when he can eat and he can't enjoy Da's good home cooking. Hopefully they have plenty of Dew over there - I don't think the army can exist without Mtn Dew! He has been thrust into a country with little water, lots of dirt and dust, lots of poverty and lots of angst. And he is told to adapt!! It's gotta be tough on all our soldiers!

I totally believe in what he is doing...I just wish he had a soft bed and a nice air conditioned office and room to enjoy it in with all the tv, internet and normal every day activities. That's a mom's wish - and I guess a mom's real wish is that there was no war - any where - that man could learn to live and work together towards peace each and every day. But like that is NOT gonna happen.

Dirk - I know that you are able to get online enough to read the blogs - I pray that you will read this one. I love you so much and want so much for the year to go quickly and that in that time you can accomplish what you have gone over there to do. - protect our country from those who would harm it and help the people of Afghanistan to know that we are normal people that live and laugh and love and try our best to help our fellow man. There are good and bad people wherever you go, but for the most part we are a God fearing nation - we have a long way to go to be perfect but we try.

In USA Weekend - a little circular that comes in our Sunday paper had the neatest story about a dad serving overseas. I have copied and pasted it below (in italics) -

The red balloon comes home
Chief Petty Officer Dain Anderson, Navy
My husband, Dain, said goodbye to our four kids in 2005, heading to Iraq. Our son Daimon, then 2, felt lethargic. He had an E. coli infection and was critically ill. Our son Dawson, just 11 months old, also came down with the same disease. Thank God they survived! Dain was distraught at being away and dealing with possibly losing his two boys.

After they both got better, Daimon received a red balloon at a birthday party. As he left with his Grandma Bev, the balloon flew into the sky. He was upset, but she said, "Do you think the balloon is going to Iraq to give Daddy joy?" That made Daimon feel better. We told Dain about this. Two weeks later, he e-mailed us a beautiful picture of him holding a red balloon, telling us how happy he was to receive what his son sent. When Dain returned home just before Christmas 2006, he came off the plane carrying a red balloon. I've never seen such joy in a child as I saw in Daimon that day. Kristi Anderson

Maybe sometime during the next year Benji can get a red balloon - and let it go up up into the air so his daddy can get it. Who knows.

I love you son - your whole family is so proud of you and we are all praying for you - I pray that your Grandpa Cec and Grandma Nielson are up there watching out for you. I am sure that Merrilee is too! Lots of guardian angels! Take care of yourself -

love,

mom

What Personality Are YOU?

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISFP)

Your personality type is caring, peaceful, artistic, and calm. Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 8% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?