Nashville 2012 1/2 Marathon

So, I was in Nashville for the race, but not as a participant. I was the child overseer. We hiked and cheered on the racers- Ron, Grace, and Macc. Here are a few pictures of the 35,000 racers.

Bragging Rights

I have to brag about my wonderful son, Macc. Here he is in the P&G corporate jet, working on a 1.2 billion dollar deal. He is amazing and enjoying the ride.

New Do

Rob shaved his head. Why you ask? 1. Head lice 2. Lost a bet 3. Solidarity for a sweet sister-in-law who has cancer?
The comments have been interesting. People do not recognize him. He says that he will not keep it shaved- he doesn't want to offend the hair he actually still has.

Donnie and Marie

I finally got to go see Donnie and Marie . My sweet husband drove us and our dear friends the Marlers to Las Vegas. We had tried twice to go. The last time the show cancelled the night before my flight to Vegas--with Rob already there on business.
Anyway, the show was great. We had good seats, but the show room was not huge.
Marie really has a wonderful, mature voice that is amazing. They put on a great show.
I now know more trivia than I need to know about Donnie and Marie, but it was really fun and well worth the trip.

Belgium

We just had a great trip to Brussels to visit Jacque. I won't bore you with all the trip details, but I had to post one picture. Jacque gave us the tour of Brussels which included a very nice park. Yesterday when I watched the amazing race, I was surprised to see that this very park in Brussels was the pit stop for the race.
Yes, I am obsessed with the show, but I thought it was kinda cool that we had just been there.

IF YOU BUY IT THEY WILL COME

This is our new motto.

So in keeping with our motto, we purchased a fun new Ranger. Unfortunately, with the cold and snow of Idaho, we have only taken one ride so far. But we hope it's great fun.
(We heard that there are missions where the couples get to ride around in their Rangers. I think we may put- Have Ranger- on our mission papers)

Screeching Eels

We just returned from a trip to Hawaii. We stayed in a wonderful place where we had our own lagoon with volcanically warmed water. There were lots of fish in the lagoon, including several very large Coi that we fed everyday.




After several leisurely swims in the lagoon, my friend Kathy decided to snorkel. She was on the far side of the lagoon looking at the rock wall formations when a very scary eel poked it's head out of a hole in the rock, mouth open and teeth glaring. After discovering the "screeching eel", dips in the lagoon were less frequent and limited to the other end. Do you think the eel left his rock cave? I don't even want to know.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Skirt

I was with friends one week-end and saw this skirt in a second hand store. I am always looking for white temple clothing so it caught my eye. It had a stain, but I decided to take a chance and buy it, at an even more reduced rate. My friends were envious, but I thought--it's just a white skirt.

The stain washed out, so I wore it to the temple with just a plain white (but nice) T-shirt. I work at the temple on Thursday mornings when it is not very busy and there are not many people around. But that first time I wore it I got 6 compliments (raves) over my skirt. I was a little surprised. Then the second time, I got 5 compliments. Strangers were going out of their way to tell me what a darling skirt I had. I have worn it now 4 or 5 times and every time I wear it I get compliments on my skirt.

Then one of my friends had a daughter who was getting married. She wanted to wear the skirt. So I mailed it to her to wear on the special occasion, and she mailed it back. So it is officially a traveling skirt. I just want to laugh every time someone raves about the skirt, and if they ask where I got it --I love to tell them about my about my second hand, stained skirt that everyone loves.

Bubonic Plague

This post if only for those who can stand to hear something really awful and disgusting. Here goes.
We have macadamia nut trees. So we have rats. And the rats decided to build nests in the macadamia nut trees. I felt it was my duty to get rid of the nests. So I took the saw, clippers, ladder, etc out to the grove and started cutting back the branches. At first it wasn't too bad, but when I got to the high branches, I had to stand underneath them and saw away, while all the dirt, decaying nuts, and bubonic-plague-infested rat poop fell on my head. It was so disgusting.
So, if I die suddenly, it will be because of the plague I contracted while dealing with rats nests. I will try not to infect others.
PS. Did I mention the horrible smell?

The Amazing Race

I love the amazing race. It is a great show that is fun, original and just plain amazing. I have always wanted to be on the race-it would be so amazing (there's that word again). However, there are a few things you must be able to do before going on the race:
1. Drive a stick shift car
2. Read (you have to read the clue)
3. Be willing to eat or drink something weird
4. Be comfortable in water
5. Be willing to go somewhere high
6. Be physically fit- in other wards- its a race you have to be able to run.

This isn't a very long list, but you would be surprised at how many people are lacking in several of these areas. Unfortunately, that probably includes me. Heights are a problem. We just drove up to Sawtelle Peak in Idaho, and I was freaked out that we would go over the edge of the winding, narrow road. But the view along with the race, is worth it.

Saved by the Wall

My husband likes to do woodworking. He was sawing a round board when it went whizzing (is that a word?) off of the saw, through his shop, through the shop wall, through a crawl space, and through the bathroom wall on the other side. Can you image the force of that wood if it would have hit a body---like my body or any other unsuspecting body that might be helping with a project in the shop? I don't even want to imagine it. My poor bathroom wall. I may never fix it-- as a reminder of how careful you need to be with tools.

Cupcake Craze

California is finally joining the cupcake craze. I have always hated cupcakes, but thought I should give the new ones a try. I looked for a cupcake place near me and couldn't find one. Downtown San Diego is too far to go even for a cupcake. So today I found a coupon for cupcakes only a few miles down the road.
Let me recommend, the German chocolate, lemon with raspberry filling and chocolate cake pops. Now, I did have several, but they were mini-cupcakes. I'm sure that I will find reasons to go back (visiting teaching gifts, etc). It's a fun craze while it lasts.

Support BYU

We are BYU fans. Everyone is our family graduated from BYU. We all have great memories. So to support BYU, we like to shop at the bookstore whenever we are in Provo. We were too poor to buy anything when we were students. We were lucky if we had money to share an ice cream cone at the cougar eat (which basically is no longer, but that's another story).
My latest purchase (after my cute trailer hitch cover and license plate holder) is a BYU drinking cup. It was time to give up the water bottles, help save the environment, and purchase one more item at the bookstore.

My Ultimate Quilt

I like to watch a cooking show called America's test kitchen. My daughter-in-law Lisa told me about it. They test everything and come up with the ultimate recipes. Now everytime I try a new recipe, I tell my husband that it's the ultimate. So, I am now into making the ultimate of whatever I do.
So here is my ultimate quilt. The ultimate because of all the hand work. I probably won't do that much embroidery ever again.

Retirement Job in DC

I found the perfect retirement job for my husband in DC. There is a beautiful piano in the lobby of the White House. Someone was playing it on my visit there. My husband could do that. He just needs to brush up on a few show tunes, and we are in at the White House.

White and White House

I got to go to the White House for the Christmas tour. It was fabulous, but cold. Here are pictures of us going in and coming out.

The decorations were fabulous. I kept asking "Why doesn't my house look like this?" Oh, yeah, I'm not a professional decorator. Any way, I especially loved the white chocolate white house. The main Christmas tree, along with all the others, was gorgeous(as long as you didn't look too close at what was displayed on some of the ornaments- Does Brittney Spears represent California?)
Then the white (snow) started, my flight home got canceled, my re-booked flight home three days later got canceled, and finally my re-re-booked flight got me home two days before Christmas. DC really shuts down when it snows. This is the view from Jacque's balcony.

So my quick jet-setting trip to DC turned into a White House delight and white-out delay.

Blue Ridge Mountains

I recently took a family history trip through the State of Virginia. It is beautiful in the fall. I loved the Blue Ridge mountains. The picture is overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. So gorgeous.

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

For the past 20 years, we have enjoyed great trips to Lake Powell. It is a magical place. It is gorgeous, and we have many wonderful family memories. And now after 20 years I have learned something new. I can wake board. Yes, at my advanced age I did it and enjoyed it. The picture (proof) of me wake boarding was disappointing at first because you can barely see me. But now I realize that it is the perfect picture. I look great (small) and I have majestic scenery behind me. It doesn't get any better than this.

Copy Cat

Yes, I am a copy cat. Adriann bought a darling black seatbelt purse several years ago. I have always thought it was great. So recently, I researched the bags and found a Harvey's store in Orange County. I bought a red one, and my friend Irene bought a yellow one. I love it.



So then, I go to Utah and Adriann is making darling accessory flowers for your hair, purse, belt, etc. So she made me a gorgeous flower for my purse and many for my hair. Yes, again I copied her. What a great daughter. When I was young, I hated it when my sisters would copy me. Just ask them (not some of my better days). So thank you Adriann. Isn't my purse darling?-- and yes that is a very cute flower in my hair--not something growing out of my head like my husband suggested.

Man with Black

As the previous post states, my husband has just purchased a new car (performance vehicle). Since he seems to have a thing with black, he wanted a picture with all his black toys. So here we have it--except for the boat that is only partially black so I decided that it didn't count.