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!