Thanksgiving minus the pictures

I wanted to post but was going to wait until Di or Amy send me the pictures we took over the weekend, but who knows when that will be- so I will just post them later.

We drove to St George Thursday morning, arriving about 12 noon. The drive was uneventful and nice and quiet (we all traveled in Ray's truck and everyone but Ryan and Ray slept most the way). We enjoyed appetizers and good visiting with Di, Rich, Lindsey and Seth while the kids played with Trinity and Lily. Faith loved being the big girl with 2 younger ones to follow her and play. Cameron was happy to play games on Amy's laptop. We took the kids to a park to feed the ducks because the weather was so nice and we wanted to get out for awhile.
We had a delicious turkey meal with all the trimmings when Adam got up about 400 PM (he had worked the night before and was going to work that night also). And, of course, we enjoyed pie and ice cream a little later. We were all quite satisfied. We talked about the black Friday sales and thought for a minute about getting up early to go, but that was quickly dismissed.

So, after sleeping in a little on Friday and another delicious meal (2 different crepes), we went on a trail down to the river and then up a mountain. The weather was brisk but sunny and beautiful. When we got home, we divided up and the guys went to look at RVs while the girls and kids went to the mall to see Santa and just window shop (no serious shopping for anyone). We also went to a neat new park in town and to Wal Mart. Lindsey, Seth and Lily had gone up to Provo to visit friends for the day and night.

That evening we went to a house in Berry's neighborhood (member of bishopric) who decorates his house to the fullest and does a lighting ceremony with cookies, hot chocolate, music, etc. It was beautiful and the kids loved it. Then we went to the temple to see the lights and visitor center. When we got home we played some cards and visited more.

Saturday morning we hit the road by 8:30 AM and headed home. But we made a stop in Las Vegas on the strip to just walk around and see the sites. I also wanted to check on a wedding chapel for Cami's upcoming wedding. It was a worthwhile stop. Cameron and Faith wanted to stay in Vegas to see the sites but there is too much to see... So after stopping for a lunch break & fuel, it was back on the road. We got home around 5:30 PM, early enough to unpack and relax.

I was able to finish one book I had been reading all week and then start and finish another short book on the way home. I highly recommend this one, "The Christmas List" by Richard Paul Evans. Perfect timing too, when I got home the library was on the answering machine telling me that the book I have been waiting to read for about 1 month was now ready for me to pick up.

We got to see Adam and his daughter Trinity and Danielle, Scott, their oldest daughter Jessica and youngest son Kyler. The rest of their kids were at their mom's house. But it is always fun seeing everyone.

As you all know, Di and Rich are the perfect host for anyone visiting and we sure enjoyed the food and the company (We love you guys) So, needless to say, this Thanksgiving was a perfect one and a nice intro to the Christmas holiday. Hope everyone had fun also.

Just catching up...

For those who don't check FB daily, last week I was able to take a trip to Washington to see my grandkids. Diona's close friend from Sacramento lost her husband to a sudden death and Diona needed to go to be with her and help her with funeral arrangements and all. Since Ric was out on the sub, Diona called me and asked if I could come babysit. Of course she had to twist my arm to get me to agree... So she took care of all the details and the next day I flew into Seattle, met her and kids at the airport, took the girls and keys to the car and she and Seven boarded their plane. Actually, we got to spend about 1 1/2 hour at the airport before they had to leave. And Seven was wide awake and very happy watching his sisters play around.

Diona, ever thoughtful, had put the directions to home in the Tom Tom for me, had made a delicious chicken cacciatore and had it cooking in the crock pot for us, and left me lots of notes with phone numbers, directions and such. The drive home was the worse. It is about 1 hour drive and it was raining cats and dogs. I had driven the Pilot before but was still nervous about it (trying to find the wipers, lights, etc while driving...) and the freeway was actually flooded in spots. I, of course, had dressed like I was still in Blythe, sandals, capri pants, no jacket. But we made it home and enjoyed our time together. The girls were so helpful and we did fine all week. Ric got home late Tues. night and worked Wed & Thurs, but had Friday off. The girls get out of school early on Thursdays so we all went for a nice drive to see some sights that day. Friday, Ric and I ran some errands and "shopped" for my dream 5th wheel and truck. I spent my days at Michaels, JoAnn's, Target and such since I don't have access to those places. And I read 2 books on the flights and there. Diona got in LATE Friday night so Ric picked her up alone.

I flew out Sat at 1:00, so we got up to a sunshine day and took the ferry over to Seattle. The girls and Seven enjoyed that. We had about 1 hour at the airport together also. It was a nice way to end the trip. My flights were all good (4 planes all total and always managed to have an empty middle seat). I was picked up at airport by Ray, Ryan and Cameron and Faith and that was a treat also. Faith dressed up to come get me and she made me a darling welcome home card declaring her love for me and stressing how much she missed me.

I forgot to mention that the Sunday I was in Silverdale, it was stake conference. We were lucky to have from the Presidency of the Seventy, L. Whitney Clayton. The conference was great and went with the theme of eternal families just carrying on the primary theme. The speakers were great and I was so lifted and inspired by this meeting. The stake primary had put together a packet with puzzles, word searches and questions to answer and the girls enjoyed that. I had looked online intended to attend a 9:00 meeting at that building so I was surprised when I got there at that time, there was already a string of cars in the parking lot, attendants packing in the cars like sardines. I found out it was stake conference at 10:00. I have to admit I had forgotten that stake conferences could be that big. So, here we were an hour early and we couldn't find seats in the chapel. And the girls were looking forward to going to their classes and didn't quite understand why we were sitting for so long.

But now that I am home, it is back to reality. I have not only driven the bus again, I have also helped out in the office since the driver trainer is out for awhile with surgery. It was good to be back in Faith's classroom, her teacher was grateful to have me back too since I like to take home papers to grade or cut out stuff for her. The kids in Faith's class are a fun group too. Tomorrow I am a chaperone on Cameron's class trip. We are going to Oak Glen (about 3 hours away) to hike and learn about nature. Oak Glen is famous for apples and has lots of little shops that sell yummy goodies. We used to take the kids there when they were little.

We are going to St George to have Thanksgiving with the Berrys. We are anxious to meet Danielle's baby boy Kyler. Adam will have Trinity there and Seth, Lindsey and Lily will also be there. We are looking forward to see the fall colors and the temple lighting ceremony. Amy and kids are going with us.

I forgot to mention what went on at home while I was gone. Ray had been named driver of the month of March 2009 and so he was up for nomination for driver of the year for Southern California. He and Ryan attended a nice banquet, he got an embroidered jacket and a plaque but did not get the driver of the year (there are at least 20 trucking companies with 12 drivers each in the competition). And then the very next week, Ray got to be part of the Conway pit crew at the Phoenix Int'l Raceway Truck Nascar Race. He got a racing shirt and all kinds of comp stuff and really enjoyed the experience. He had done this before for winning a contest and now he won another contest and got to do it again. Ryan also got to go to the races but didn't get the pit experience. I'm sure there are pictures somewhere which I will post when I figure out where they are.

That about wraps it up. Until the next time....

I miss them

My car still automatically drives down Murphy without me thinking about it. I miss Mom and Dad being so close. The house still looks the same on the outside but the backyard is dead- they've let it go completely and I assume they will be taking out those dried up citrus trees. But the front of the house still looks the same except their chairs are gone from the front porch and so are they...

I miss my GRANDKIDS

It is so hard not to live close to all the grandkids. I love the ones I see often (and daily) but I miss the others who are so far away.

The bad side of Facebook

I am a little depressed right now. Two things happened on my Facebook which I found hard to take. First, let me say, I am fairly new to FB and I'm not even sure of its' capabilities or if I even "do it right". So today while looking at my friends list, I was shown an option "search for classmates from Millikan High class of 1972". Wow, that sounded pretty good to me. I have not been to ANY class reunion (nor have I had a desire to go) but was still curious enough to go look. So it showed me 176 classmates and I only knew 1! I swear to you, I did not recognize the name or face of any of the other 175 classmates. Did I sleep through 4 years of my life? How could I not know anyone? I will be the first to admit that I didn't like high school, I don't have fond memories of it or of teachers or friends (except one teacher who was killed the year after I graduated). I had a steady boyfriend all 4 years and I know that I tended to hang out with my sister's church friends (a year younger) but, come on, shouldn't I know someone from a class? I think it is just freaky.

The second thing is simply this: I thought I would ask to be a friend to just about anyone I know, so when a young niece confirmed me as a friend, I was happy to think I could keep in touch with her once in awhile. WRONG! Instead, I am going to her wall and reading texts between her and her young and just as crazy friends and finding out more than I want to know about her and her life. Things I didn't know about her and don't want to know. I feel bad, I never meant to "spy" on her but obviously she is using FB as her social calendar and probably most of her "friends" are just that and not fudy-dudy old relatives. I can just stop going to her wall and then I won't have to know what she is up to, but, can you also drop friends, take her off my list? Like I said, TMI for me. It shouldn't bother me so much, but it does.

Sleepless in Blythe

I have seriously been bothered by the lack of ability to "just put it to rest" and stop thinking about it. It being whatever is so heavy on my mind that day (which these days is my campaign).

My body is aging and therefore will have me waking up at least once during the night or early morning hours which wouldn't be bad if I could just go back to bed and go back to sleep. But I cannot stop my mind from going over every detail of every thought that I have ever had. It is frustrating! I try to force myself into a dream of some sort but I always seem to get turned back to the issue on hand. Any suggestions?

UNCLE RYAN

Ryan and some of his friends at his annual conference dance.

I've been looking back at some old posts and realize I don't mention too much about Ryan and some of you may wonder what's up with him. So, here's the update on Ryan. Not much new with him. He still attends the Sheltering Wings workshop daily. He likes seeing his friends and spending his free time "hanging out". But he also attends some college classes, this semester he has Life Skills Math, Reading, Computer, Music and Crafts and PE twice a week. He still works at ACE Hardware (for 8 years now) in the nursery dept. He loves getting a paycheck and having spending money in his wallet. He continues to do chores around the house without being asked. He has taken the sole responsibility of trash, taking it out of the house, taking the dumpsters to the curb every week, and sorting the recycling. He also sweeps outside- the driveway, the neighbors' gutters, the sidewalk from here to Amy's, etc. He unloads the dishwasher ( a few times before the dishes have been washed!). He empties his laundry basket daily and is awesome about getting his clothes ready for the next day every night before he goes to bed. He looks forward to attending Institute class every Wed. night and church every Sunday. He loves to sing in the church choir. His church callings include "chairs set-up" and a home teaching companion to Ray and he takes those very seriously. Ryan seems to miss having the kids and his sisters at home anymore, but he loves being Uncle Ryan when any come around. I have to admit, I love the way all of his nieces and nephews respect him and his space. He is a good uncle. He takes care of Amy too. He looks for any mail for her that comes to our house and will take it to her house. He will take his broom over there also and keeps her carport clean. Ryan "reads" his scriptures daily and has even "written" a book about them. I found pages and pages and pages of written lettering which he had copied from the scriptures daily. I tried to ask him about it but he seemed embarassed and soon stopped doing it.

Ryan is a great kid who is now a man to be proud of and I love him very much.

I forgot what I wanted to post!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lSliucgygc

Now see if I did this right because I wanted to share this video which is so me!

Drive thru Redwood tree

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The story of our roadtrip

Because I posted pictures in the 2 previous posts, I couldn't write the story to go along with the pics. So here it is in nutshell.

Ric and Diona moved their family from Virginia to Washington (state) over the summer. Unfortunately for them, it took 2 trips since Ric's orders came before Diona's. But very fortunate for us because we got to keep the 2 younger girls for about 2 1/2 weeks. After they had driven across the country twice, Amy and I volunteered to drive the girls home once they got back to WA the second time.

So, Sat. Aug 15, Amy & I with Cameron(10), Faith(8), Alainna(7) and Isabel(5) loaded up Ray's truck and headed north. Ric had booked us a hotel in Redding and we got there about 7:30 PM. The kids had been fine in the truck all day but knowing we would be doing it again the next day, we decided to let them get some energy out that evening. We walked down a few blocks for dinner and attempted to go swimming but water was too cold for them. After a good night's sleep, we started off early the next morning, letting them sleep in comfortable clothes so they could just jump in the truck in the AM. We stopped at a rest stop in Oregon with the Klamath River running by and the poor kids were freezing (see pic below of kids wrapped in blankets). We made it to their house about 5:30 PM. What a joyous reunion for those little girls to see mom and dad and 3 mo. old baby brother.

We enjoyed our stay in Washington (Silverdale) with a trip to a drive-through safari (pics) and scenic beach at low tide to see the bald eagles. I also got to go with Diona and girls to get them registered for school. We left there early Wed. morning with hotel reservations in Vallejo waiting for us. We chose to take a more scenic route home by way of the northern California coast. It was absolutely beautiful and well worth the "detour" time. We drove through the giant Redwoods and stopped a few times along the way. We pulled out at a river access stop, an elk viewing stop, a "drive-through" redwood tree, and a beach (freezing cold but beautiful spot for lunch). We were sailing along through the hills and valleys and coastline when we encountered a horrible engine sound. We were lucky, because we hadn't seen many CHP cars but had just passed one with someone pulled over about 5 min. before. So, sure enough, he came by and assisted us (which was good since phone reception was very limited). He called AAA and looked under the hood and diagnosed the problem as a "thrown sparkplug". Again we were lucky because Ukiah was only about 30 miles away and they had a Ford dealership.

To make a long story short (too late for that, huh?) we were towed into Ukiah and let off with the truck at a closed business at about 10:00 PM. Luck was still with us because it happened to have a few motels within 1 block of dealership. And then the good people of Ukiah helped us out and had our truck repaired and ready to go by 11:00 AM when we had to check out of motel. After a good lunch we were back on the road.

Next stop San Francisco. Across the bridge, down Lombard street and to fisherman's wharf and then back on road home. We stopped in San Jose for a quick visit to Winchester House (house of mystery). I stayed in the truck and took a nap while Amy and kids took the tour. I will mention that this trip home with all the stops was paid for by our "quarter jar" that kids and I have saved for 2 summers. It started as our "save for Legoland" trip last summer but we never made it and continued to add to it this summer, not sure how we would spend it. Since we were driving south through Morgan Hill, I took Amy down memory lane, going by our old house and Ric's first school, our ward and then over to San Martin to visit her old babysitter and our dear friends Conchie and Julio, but they weren't home and we were bummed.

We planned to keep driving since that was the end of our "fun things to do", but we just couldn't do it. So we got a room in Gilroy for the night. We finally made it home Fri. evening, exhausted but happy to be home.

The 2 previous have lots of pictures of this trip.

Roadtrip to Washington

So I still can't figure out formatting with pictures, but this post and one before are full of pictures from the summer and our roadtrip

See previous posts for more pictures

summer of cousins

Nothing but fun for Cameron and Faith this summer...lots of cousins, lots of places to see and so much fun!

I haven't figure out the formatting yet, so I can't put names and places with pictures but it was all summer long and lots of fun.

Testing

Testing

Random photos

Ryan's first ride of the day @Knott's Berry Farm and he said he didn't want to ride ANYMORE! (and it was just the roller coaster in Camp Snoopy) My arm still has fingernail imprints!




Aunt Amy meeting Seven






Grandma enjoying the pool and kids

Grandpa and some of his girls

The family crib still in use

For anyone who doesn't know about it, we have a very small baby crib that has been in our (Parkins) family for 58 years. My dad had it made for our oldest sister and then each of the 5 girls slept in it. My sisters and I started having our children sleep in it also (for tradition) but I don't thnk that they all did because we all lived scattered around when the kids were born. But all of my children did. And now, with Seven doing his part, all of my grandkids have now slept in the crib also. The poor crib is not as steady as it used to be but it will still hold a small infant for awhile. I am just documenting some famliy history here, 3 generations have shared the same bed, even if for a short little while. Thanks mom and dad for starting and sharing this piece of the past with us.

My good husband

Ray is such a good man. He works too many hours a day. His shift should be 8:00-4:30 but if he gets home before 7:00, we consider it a gift. He is a driver/sales rep and he takes the whole title very seriously, never wanting to disappoint a customer who is expecting a delivery or needs a pick up. If he were allowed, he would probably load his truck also (done by night crew) so that it would be in the order that he would like it, but he has to deal with the way they load it and work with that. In the evenings, he gets a phone call and goes to give someone a blessing or just goes to check on someone who has not had a home teacher visit for awhile. And then Sundays are one meeting after another and then he and Ryan go home teaching one of their 10 families. Saturdays start early for him with yard/pool work and then we usually can get him to take off a few hours and just "play". He is finally (after 9 years) enjoying the pool and goes in with the kids often. And he does seem to enjoy the river days with the sea-doo. He doesn't seem to be slowing down yet but at least he is now contemplating retirement in the next few years. It will be nice to have him around the house more. But, in the meantime, he is a hard-working man who also magnifies his calling and respects his priesthood like no one else. I love and respect him so much.

A great week of fun and family

We went to Lakewood for the 4th of July. The Middoughs always have a block party and invite us each year to join them but we haven't made it in years past. But this year we did and we were glad we did. Their whole family was there and we had Amy with kids and Ray and Brandie with kids with Ray, Ryan and I. We enjoyed the cool weather especially but we had great food and with all the play areas for the kids (water slides, jumpers and dunk tank) on a blocked off street and extra cousins around to play with, WOW. And then there were the fireworks. About an hour show kept them all captivated. We had "booked" the extra apt. at mom and dad's home for us to spend the night. There are 2 beds and then we had a air mattress also, so it was perfect for our family to spend the night and not have to wake up mom and dad to get in late. When we got up the next morning we spent about a hour and 1/2 visiting them and then we headed home.

Tuesday evening, Ric, Diona and kids arrived in Blythe. We swam and barbecued and just visited and passed around the baby. After a good night's sleep and we all enjoyed some more time to just visit for awhile before they headed off to visit Grandma and Grandpa and see their new home. They then went to their hotel in Long Beach and Amy & her kids headed back to Lakewood to spend the night with Ray and Brandie. Ray, Ryan and I got up at 4 AM the next day and we all met up at Knotts Berry Farm. Kathy, Angie and 5 kids also joined us there. The weather was perfect and because it was a Thursday, it wasn't too crowded. We had plenty of adults to take the different age groups on whatever rides they wanted to go on. There were the daredevils, the camp snoopy group and the in-betweens. Amy and Brandie had packed us a great lunch, so we went out to the parking lot and found some nice shade trees and had a great picnic together. Then back for more fun. We all left about 6:00 PM and met back at Ray's for a barbecue and birthday cake for Ray (Jr) 40th birthday.

Friday morning the Ric Bolton family left for more traveling and the rest of us went to the beach for the day. The kids had a ball trying out new boogie boards and playing in the sand. The waves were pretty good and everyone had good times. After quick showers and changing clothes, the group from Blythe got in our cars to head home with a couple extras (Anthony, Robert and Alisa- Josh had summer school and couldn't make this visit) We stopped for pizza on the way home and then got home about 8:00 PM. So, it was a busy week but lots of fun and so good to see so much family. But 2 days of sun really wore me out. Better get to bed now....

Getting off the roller coaster so I can enjoy RETIREMENT

WOW...talk about the emotional roller coaster. For over a month now I have gone up and down on that darn roller coaster. A month ago I had that great retirement party thrown by my bus drivers (post with pictures is forthcoming) I loved it and realized I was going to miss many friends that I had seen everyday for 12 years. Then it was back to reality, trying to rush and finish off all the requests at work that I was asked to gather to help the new guy get started in my place. Back to work like that reminded me why I was retiring. It always seems to be "urgent" to get someone a report only to have it "put on the back burner until next year" and not take care of it immediately. So my last 3 weeks of work were miserable. Then before that all came to an end, I left for my quick trip to Virginia to meet my new grandson and see my sweet granddaughters. What I forgot was that I would be seeing Cami again after a year apart and what emotions surfaced for me when I saw her at the airport. Even Ric and Diona had been home at Christmas, but Cami didn't make it home. So the entire trip was full of raw emotions. Holding Seven and playing with the girls just reminded me of how much I miss in their lives. And to top it off, Cami and I went "bride dress shopping" which is an off -the -wall emotional time anyway. And then saying good bye again. Back to work and frustration for 6 more days. And finally on the last day, just turning in my keys and looking around my stuffy little office that served as my "home away from home" for 12 years brought on a few tears. But before I could even get on with retirement, I had to say goodbye to my sister who was a reason for me to move to Blythe to begin with. I knew they were leaving, I just didn't expect it to be so soon. But it was probably just as well, why prolong the inevitable? So I cried again.

But now I am fully retired (it's Monday and I didn't go anywhere!) and I will soon get to work doing what I want to do. So, off the roller coaster and on with my future...

ISABEL ROSE BOLTON

My cute and funny bunny Issa. Today she is 5 years old. When I talk to or even think of Isabel, I have to smile. She is a lively little girl with lots of energy. But she is also (so I hear) enjoying being a big sister for the first time. She is the jokester of the family. She loves to tease, especially if she is bored. As a little girl she was the daredevil with no fear. But she is growing into a beautiful young girl, getting ready for kindergarten and we love her 2 pieces.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISABEL!

ALAINNA MARIE BOLTON

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET, SWEET ALAINNA. Even though I am a day late (again) I did mail the card on time. She turned 7 and is growing up so quickly. Alainna is the most sensitive and emotional of all of my grandkids. She can and does tear up every time we have to say good-bye. She is cuddly and still gives hugs and kisses spontaneously. She has a reverence about her also. She is intuitive to the needs of others. I miss her and her siblings so much and can't wait to see them all soon, but glad to hear her birthday was great!

SIDE NOTE: Funny that I should pick this picture of her to talk about her sweet and sensitive character.

A new grandson

Well, the feelings never change. The words "he's here" still brought tears to my eyes as I shared the news of a new baby with my family. Those words conjure up lots of emotions and memories of my own child's birth so many years ago and now he is welcoming his first son into the world. Babies do that to all of us but I believe a grandparent has a special place in the heart for these little ones.

What a special day it was since I was visiting with my parents that evening and we counted all the great-grandchildren they have and my own 15th grandchild, little Seven, is #55 for them. They feel, as we all do, that they have been truly blessed.

Welcome to our family Seven David Robert Bolton- we love you!

And thanks Diona for your endurance- lol!

I DIDN'T MISS AMY'S BIRTHDAY, I JUST COULDN'T FIND A PICTURE TO PUT WITH IT. HOPE YOUR #30 WAS A GREAT BIRTHDAY (AND I KNOW IT WAS!) WE LOVE YOU AND ARE EXTREMELY PROUD OF YOU. AMY RENEE BOLTON

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CAMERON TAYLOR BOLTON- 10 YEARS OLD! MOVING FROM BEARS TO WEBELOS AND GETS TO CARRY A POCKETKNIFE NOW! WE LOVE YOU CAM!

Lazy days...

I think the warm weather has brought out some reminiscing in me. I am ready for summer vacations. Even if it is just a weekend here, a weekend there. Camping, traveling, just a change of pace, a change of scenery. I am bummed because our family reunion for this year has been cancelled because of Ric's new duty status back in Washington, but we were able to re-schedule for next year and I think it will be so fun with a 1 year old running around with all his older cousins. I will still be going to Virginia in June to see my grandson just after his birth, but the rest of the family will have to wait a little longer. Ric is hoping his family will come to California on their way to Washington. I am also anxious to see Cami- she moved in June last year, so it has been a year.

I'm so tired of spending every weekend re-arranging or cleaning up and organizing every room and closet in my house (and garage). I am ready to get down to some serious lazy days. I am looking forward to reading again, just for pleasure (no more reading every government website looking for school bus grant money!) And just hanging out with grandkids in the pool or at the river with no concerns about hurrying home to get ready for the next week at work.

Life is just too short to stress all the time. If I were a senior in high school we would call this senioriits, but what do you call it when you're a senior and it's for a lifetime? I can't wait.

Since Cami's not blogging...

I'll show you the picture she sent me...

Happy Birthday Ryan

Belated Happy Birthday to my Ry-guy.

#31 on the 16th but celebrated just yesterday. All smiles and good spirits.

spring cleaning

So this is what I have done with Amy's/ Cami's bedroom now that I have it back. This is my study, library, or quiet room. We will be turning the den into a gym/food storage/ playroom with the extra TV and an old- school Sega game system. We decided not to put up the extra queen bed we have because it is so big, but no fear for visitors, we have plenty of room and will make you comfortable. If needs be, in the future, I may resort back to a guest bedroom, but for now I wanted a room to "catch up" on projects (my sewing machine is in here also) and somewhere where I can escape and just read in peace. I think I will call it my "retirement room"

Why can't Blythe be like this for the next 7 months?

Looking forward to seeing Ray and his family this weekend. They are coming to help Amy with her move. Anthony and Josh are so grown now and really great workers (they have their dad's work ethic!). Both are active in scouts and enjoy the campouts.. Anthony was just called to be Teacher's Quorum president. We are very proud of them and their progress in church, school and scouts.

Blythe weather has been so great, hopefully it will stay for the weekend move. It is raining in LA area, but here it is sunny and warm. Perfect spring weather, doors and windows open kind of weather. We actually hit about 88 the other day and Cam and Faith played in the water on the trampoline that day. But now it is about 78-80 and perfect.

We enjoyed another fun ward campout last weekend. We are truly blessed in Blythe to have this beautiful location (church land) and cooperating weather which allows us 2 campouts a year. These are the ultimate ward activities because it brings everyone out of their element and into nature. Singing around the campfire, some spiritual and some silly songs, is a memorable moment. And I especially love that kids can be turned loose and everyone watches everyone, everyone plays with everyone and everybody shares their delicious campfire foods. What good, clean, family fun!

I am keeping extremely busy at work now since I realize that I need to leave here with "words of wisdom" to pass on to the next supervisor. I realize that too much information is only in my head and not written down anywhere. Maybe too small of a district, of a town, people know people, know all the streets, know all the special ed students and their needs, almost too personal because you can just "make it work" without having to figure out the formula. But chances are they will bring in someone from the outside or someone without transportation knowledge and then they will have to know where to go for answers. So I will try to formulate some sort of guide before I go (there was nothing here when I came and only an 18 yr old clerk to "teach me" everything.) So, while it will help the time to fly, it will also be tedious work and I'm not looking forward to doing it. But, I also don't want my ears to burn when I leave because the new person is talking about me and cursing at me for not giving them enough information. So, back to work I go...

What the future holds...

I guess it is official now- I am retiring June 25th (yes, 2009!) and I am walking with a lighter step, like a weight is off my shoulder. There were lots of determining factors, and I was on the fence for awhile, but I will just dwell on the positive- I am retiring to preserve my health (physical and mental). I'm not sure what I will do with the extra time on my hands, but I am sure I will find plenty to do, grandkids to visit and projects to keep me busy. I will probably address this subject more at a later date- but just wanted to let everyone know my good news!

PAY IT FORWARD and get something FREE from me

Pay it Forward
The Rules:
1. Be one of the three (3) bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. Winner, you must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay it Forward, creating a handmade gift for the fist 3 bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: it's the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!

Ray Anthony Bolton Jr.

Happy Birthday to our grandson Anthony!
Hope you have a great #15- we love you...

the eight babies born

Sorry, I don't know how to spell the "oct" word for the 8 babies that were born yesterday.

I just wanted to say that they were born at Kaiser, Bellflower, where all my kids were born and also that Brandie works there. She got to see the babies before they were"locked them away" from possible cameras. She also said that they (employees) had to park 5 miles away and take a shuttle bus to accommodate all the media camping out there. I just wanted to say something since Brandie doesn't get much chance to post these days, but I thought it was exciting.

posting just to post...

I cannot believe I can't think of anything to write about. This will probably be random. I actually have a lot to say but it was all sounding so negative (I've written and erased a few times). Things are crazy at work with a real budget crisis and everyone trying to help fix the problem. Unfortunately, the ideas are pretty much dog-eat-dog solutions. It is all pretty depressing and I am only hoping that they will come up with a decent early-retirement offer so I can just get out before the real crisis hits.
Home life is kind of boring right now also. I work the early shift and Ray seems to work the late shift, we don't see too much of each other. The kids keep me busy since Amy's days off are her school days and she isn't around. Faith is great at doing homework but Cameron is a tough cookie. He knows his subjects well, but he has a real hard time staying focused enough to do homework. It can take up to 2 hours (and that's with him at the table, in my sight, with no TV on and nothing close by to distract him) and then when he does do the work, he is so sloppy. I love working with him on other things, like projects (since it is hands-on, he enjoys it) but homework is a struggle every night (and Amy doesn't get home until after 7:30 which is too late to help). I keep hoping it will get better but right now... Amy and Cameron have a meeting at school on Friday and I am hoping between the teacher and principal they can come up with some solutions to his "easily distracted" behaviors. He is also very inconsistent in tests scores. So, even though I love him to pieces, I also find him an added stress in my already stressed out day. Any suggestions? It helps having lots of family in the educational field, maybe you can help me work this out better.
I miss mom and dad also and wish I could visit more often. I am so used to having them here and making almost daily visits. And even though I know they are happy where they are I know they also miss having family close by and having regular visitors.

Well, I was right, this is random and, I apologize, a bit negative. But it's how I am feeling today and I had time to blog, so here it is.

random Christmas photos

I wish I could figure this out, how to post pictures the way I want them and add comments as wanted, but this is all I could do. Some random pictures from the family holiday party and then some of the cousin shots we took. I tried to add more but either I hit the limit or it just stopped letting me do what I wanted, so I will leave it at this.

Fun day in Santa Barbara

Thursday, Jan 1st, Amy, the kids and I drove to Lakewood to spend the night at Kathy's house. Actually, Kathy had Jessica's 3 kids there and invited Ella and Robert and Alisa to come over also, so there were 8 cousins in all, sleeping on air mattresses in her living room. Amy decided to join Ray and Brandie at their quiet home for the night and I stayed at Kathy's. We got up early and headed for Santa Barbara. We had decided to go visit the Natural Museum there because Cameron has a report to do on a California Indian tribe and chose the Chumash Indians who are from that area and this museum has an entire exhibit on the tribe. We were also able to visit the Santa Barbara Mission while there, which will be the next project Cameron will have (to build a model California mission). Both the museum (and surrounding grounds) and the mission were beautiful and worth the trip, but we also went to the SB Zoo and enjoyed that too. The drive to SB is nice and we all enjoyed the day. We went back to Ray and Brandie's and spent the night in the Middoughs' empty home (they drove kids back to AZ). Then Saturday we stopped by to see grandpa and grandma. Amy had not been to their new home and she loved it. We had a 2 hour visit and then had to head home. We got home early enough to catch up with housework and laundry and get ready for church and, unfortunately, back to school and work tomorrow.