Gray-ma and Crap-pa

Preschool Again!

2011-09-06T20:29:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe this blog is even still alive....

Time for school and work to start again. It's fun to get back into the swing of things. The first week our preschoolers hadn't started yet so I was able to interpret each morning for our second grader. It was cool to be in the classroom that long and see if I will really like the profession I am learning to work in. (Yes, I do). Now that the preschool has started, I am a One-on-One aide for a new little girl. She is deafblind but can see and hear a little. She is so cute and sweet and says and signs very very few words. Like 4 maybe. I really enjoy working and learning with her. So far she really likes feeling the running water at the sink and she likes to lay on her tummy in the middle of Circle Time. Not very convenient... She likes clapping for the Days of the Week song and Wheels on the Bus movement - If I can keep her on my lap long enough. Every day will be a new experience figuring out what she likes to do and how to encourage her to learn and do. I have wonderful Vision support people who work with us. They give me such good ideas for tactile objects and helps for her learning. They brought into our class a cool machine that heats special paper and raises the print so our little student can feel it. And they brought a braille writer and taught me how to use it. I'm excited and am ready to start learning to read braille! With my eyes anyway... you know, memorize the dots for all the letters, but I want to work on the finger feeling part too! It seems SO hard! I have learned that they have what is called Contractions. Not like in English but that each letter standing alone stands for a specific word. for instance, B might stand for "but", and L stands for "like". So instead of typing the whole braille word just use the letter by itself. Anyway, this is a whole new dimension of my job and it very interesting and fun with my new little student!

I am taking Educational Interpreting at CCC this fall and am excited for it to start and get me smarter!

Twenty Years Ago

2011-02-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

A Day in the life of Karen Rowley

Tuesday Feb 26, 1991

Morning activities included putting a new zipper in a pair of new jeans purchased for $6.59 with a broken zipper, exercised, organized someone's sock drawer, washed, folded and put away clothes, cleaned the cat poop out of the bathtub (bad cat)

Don does not come home for lunch on Tuesdays.

2:00 bank

2:15 picked up Jen and christine and friends Marie and Cinda & stopped at Marie's

Went to the bread store across town (we buy hostess treats there cheap (3-pack HoHo's for .25)

2:55 arrived home. Cinda and Marie are with us

1)phone Lisa for Jen

3:10 Eric comes home

3:20 Jana and Annette home - scraped knee on Jana to fix.

Lennon comes to play with Eric (they washed out an old dog house with lots of suds)

2)phone

Cinda goes home, Chris and Marie go to the park, Kimi down for a nap.

4:00 I go to Sechrist school to vote. Took Jen to meet Lisa on the playground then to Smith's Grocery for Jen and Lisa to buy flowers for friends

5:00 back home. ripped out seam in Jen's jeans to put in a pink patch.

5:10 talked to neighbor Kathy in driveway then took Lisa home

5:25 back home (mud has been tracked through kitchen and Annette thinks her fingers are frost bitten - they are not.

5:27 Cinda and Cristianne ( sisters from up the hill) come to get Jen to come up and make cookies for YW which starts at 7pm

Kimi wakes up

Me cooking dinner/put kids to work on front and dining rooms

Christine and Marie are doing homework. Called doctor about Cherise

6:10 Don called (again) and says he has a 6:30 mtg. Any dinner? No.

3)phone message - Eric should go to 7 p.m. Court of Honor

4)phone Don home - dinner: meat pieces, warm french bread, cookies

5)phone Eric is finding missing shoes then goes w/Don to Court of Honor

6)phone - doctor says come in tomorrow if she is still fevered (4th day).

Chris and Marie make soup for their dinner while I'm still cooking

Chris calls Cinda - come down for a ride to YW

7)phone - Marie's dad will pick them up for YW

He picks them up. Jen comes home.

8)phone Sister Schofield picks up Jenni. I run out and give her her husband's Blue and Gold Banquet invitation (I'm a cub leader)

7:00 I fix more meat and mac & cheese for me and the little girls

Cherise throws up

9)phone Marie's mom - Kai needs a ride to Court of Honor!

Sit down to eat

10)phone - Linda

Kimi needs a diaper change. Done.

Jana leaves a report on the table and Kimi helps her write it...

7:30 :: gasp :: gasp :: gasp ::

*******************

I love this! I remember that when I sat down for dinner I was thinking about how many phone calls there had been and I just had to write it all down.

Yesterday I happened to pull out a binder of letters I had sent to my Mom over the years and found this. It's been 20 years! Yikes!

The Red Quilt

2011-02-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

Here it is. It's been about three years since I started it, the red quilt. It is only finished thanks to my wonderful sister, Ruth Ann, who loves to pick out seams and this had a zillion needing it. She fixed it up and made repairs and encouraged me to finish it, praising it all along the way. AND also I would like to thank my wonderful granddaughter Emma who was a fabulous quilt tie-er with me at Christmastime. She loved doing it and it was so much more fun with a helper!

"She's completely bald in front!"

2011-02-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

Last week I was still using my hairdryer which had been slowly dying and losing it's high speed blowing abilities. Then one morning I suddenly saw a little puff of ...smoke? steam? what? yup. smoke. I set down the dryer and my brush was full of singed off hair!!! Well, not exactly full but a little chunk of hair did get burned off when the dryer suddenly got super hot I guess. It smelled like Perm solution. As you can see in the photo (which I sent to the company), there is the little tuft of hair about 1/2 inch long that was left. I am SO grateful it is on the left side so it is very well covered by the rest of my bangs. I'm sure if it were on the right side I would still be in tears. As it is, I think it's funny to be so well connected to Little Women when Jo burns of a chunk of Meg's hair!

The hairdryer company has been nice and sent me a fedex label to mail the dryer to them free of charge. They will inspect it and tell me what happened. Ha! I could tell them! I guess they need something to do that is so scientific. I will let you know when I get my free hairdryer. That is my goal. hmm. This pic is backward I see.

2011-02-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

Emma's Baptism

We had a lovely time in Mesa for Emma's baptism in December. It was really sweet and she was so very happy.

Congratulations Emma!

Annie was also blessed on the same day but I don't have a good picture from that wonderful event. boo-hoo. Jana will have to send me one to put up here won't she? Annie was so cute. She wore the dress that Jana was blessed in!

2011-02-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

Diapering at 4:00 A.M.

by Carol Lynn Pearson

I saw a calf born once.

It really was amazing

How soon (all tidied up by tongue)

He wobbled off

And the new mother

Went back to grazing.

But you, my little creature

At the top of the animal kingdom

You would lie in the pasture for months

And wave your fists and cry

So here we are,

You and I

Tied together in all

The bathings and the dryings

They pickings up and the puttings down

And the turnings over

The dressings and the undressings

And the powderings and the feedings

And the cleanings up of the comings out.

I know-

I know what it's all about

This disguised blessing of unavoidable touch

Spinning a thousand threads

That encircle us like little lariats.

And before you know it

We're caught.

Calves come for going.

But not-not my little ones.

The Lord thought it all up

This essential intimacy

And he called it good.

He created the heavens and the earth

And the seas, and the naked, needing

Infants crying to be held.

He thought it all up

This clever stratagem.

And yet-

I'll bet he smiled

When he thought about diapering at 4:00 A.M.

2011-02-06T20:19:00.001-08:00

WOW! What a long time between posts!

I was recently called as a Laurel advisor. Big change from the Sunbeams! I loved them and I'm happy that I got to finish out the year with the little tykes. They are so sweet and I LOVE having them squeal "Hi Sister Rowley!!" It's the greatest.

Anyway as I was studying a lesson for the Laurels I went to my bookshelf to find a book by Camilla Kimball and couldn't find it but what I found was one by Carol Lynn Pearson. She was quite popular in the 70's - 80's and went through some very rough experiences but she writes wonderful prose poetry. I opened the book and guess what? It was given to my by the Young Women leaders and girls from 3rd ward (now Peak View), where we used to live here in Flagstaff. It is so sweet with goodbye notes from many girls (including Jana and Annette) and leaders from 1997. I do remember some fun times at girls camp and hiking down West Fork. It was a neat time to come across the book as I had forgotten where it came from. So I have been reading through it again. She writes very poignantly and tenderly and deeply. I think I will share one of the poems here. The title of the book is Picture Window and this is the poem by that name.

Picture Window

Kathleen

Who was out of control

Like a slope of oranges

After someone has taken

Ten at the bottom

Looked enviously at

Susan

Who carried her stress

As gracefully as she carried

The perfect pie

She had brought to the meeting

Last Wednesday night.

Kathleen

Who yelled at her children

Even when they were not

In danger of oncoming cars

And who slammed the door

After she told her husband

To have it his way then

And who once a week at least

Locked herself in the bathroom

And cried

Called

Susan

Who never perspired

And who taught classes called

"Toward a More Feminine You"

And who smiled all the time

And whose children

Always got awards

To ask if she could

Come over sometime

To get a little help.

Kathleen

Who was so disorganized

That she went on Thursday

Instead of Friday

Got a lot of help from

Susan

Who happened to be

Out front in curlers

And wrinkled slacks

And wild-woman eyes

Screaming at her youngest child

Who had just batted a ball

Through the picture window

That framed the lamp

With the beautiful butterflies.

*********************************

What do you think? Do you like her writing?

Here is another one.

Path of a Parent

It starts with

Meditation on the toes of a baby

And leads to spiritual exercise

That would break the best yogi

Sitting cross-legged before his lotus:

Serenity

And colic

And three hours sleep last night

Grace

And screams

In the grocery store when the

Oreos are ripped from white knuckles

Harmony

And three Halloween costumes

By tomorrow morning:

A clown and a witch

And a washing machine

To go with Stacey's dryer.

Honor

And another conference

With the teacher

And possibly the principal

Silence

And the roar of motorbike

And rock

And tap shoes on the kitchen tile

Acceptance

And all that is dear

Packing up and leaving home

Path to god-cosciousness

All begun by

Meditation on the toes of a baby.

*************************

Next time: Diapering at 4:00 A.M.

North Rim Sept 2009

2010-08-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Last fall we took a trip up to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It's quite different from the South Rim we always see and its very beautiful. First thing we did was stay in a little old cabin at Jacob Lake.

This rock waterfall in the cabin area had so many birds taking baths and enjoying themselves in the water. It was pretty cool.

Cute little chipmunk.

Sorry but I don't know the names of the Buttes. But this is one of them!

Bright Angel Trail. I love this shot.

Bright Angel again

Me on Bright Angel Trail

The lodge is really old and neat. Here is Don in front of one of the windows

underneath the lodge.

Observation room in the lodge.

Now from the window end of the observation room. Please notice

Don back there on his phone. Mr.Vacation!

This cool old time radio had Big Band music playing. So historical!

On our start down the Kaibab Trail.

End of the trail for us. We started back up next. huff puff. It was such a pretty day!

2010-08-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hawaii 2009

Last year we went to Hawaii with Jody and Bruce Packard and had a great time. It was so very beautiful! Our purpose was to hike part of the Na'Pali Coast. We did it! We hiked the first 2 miles along the steep coast trail which ends at the beautiful beach you will see here. We also took a catamaran ride along the coast and enjoyed the fascinating mountains. They are what had made me want to go in the first place. We also stopped along the way to snorkel. Too bad I don't have photos of that. Enjoy the pictures!

Jody on the first beach.

Waimea (?) Canyon

Hike trail

These are dolphins. There were about 8 that kept swimming fast right down in

front of the boat. It was so fun to watch them.

This is the beach at the end of the first 2 miles.

The hillside the the hike is on.

Tough hikers

What sweet couple!

Aren't these all just so gorgeous???

Here are! FUN! FUN! FUN!!!

2010 Sisters Reunion

2010-08-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

2010 Sisters Reunion

This August we sisters got together again to celebrate our sisterhood and remember our MoM

We had a great time reconnecting , relaxing and reviewing Mom's life and memories.

I don't have pics of everything we did but here are a few.

We have all arrived!

Posing here in Flagstaff at my house for our first photo.

We give each other a little gift and this was Bonnie's to start with. Lovely fans!

Here in Flag we have a Skyride up at the Snowbowl. We took the ride to the top of the mountain where we enjoyed the beautiful view.

The beautiful view from the ride.

Ruth Ann and I rode together on the way up. Here she is!

At the top the big attraction was (besides the great view) The Highest Toilet in Arizona!!!

Elevation 11,500 ft. It was the best toilet ever!

On a little path around the side of the Mt.

Five Beauties on top of the Mountain

Sheri rode with us on the way down. We didn't think about the possibility of it being cold on the way up so at the ticket counter we bought a couple of plastic ponchos which we were very glad to have and they made a nice little warm bubble around us.

Our very important project was to each put together a scrapbook with Mom's saved photos and memorabilia which Bonnie had mailed to me the month before. We copied many photos and other pages and each of us made our scrapbook just how we wanted .

They all turned out so lovely.

Ruth Ann had to leave early Sunday morning and we missed getting a photo all

together but here are Sheri Becky and Bonnie, (the little ones) in front of my house

before they left for home.

And one last shot at the beautiful Flagstaff airport!

Good bye!!!

2010-08-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Birthdays and Travels

Jessica had her 8th Birthday on Aug 20!

I don't have pictures but we are very excited because she will be baptized on Sept 4th!

Also on Aug 20

Blake's First Birthday Cake

YUMMMM!!

Last weekend Grampa drove this 26 Ft. U-Haul truck from Whittier up to Santa Cruz for Bonnie loaded with her houseful of precious possessions. He is amazing!

Grampa, Topsy, Myself and Bonnie at Capitola, California, near Santa Cruz last weekend.

We drove up with Bonnie to move her to her new city and new job.

Jackson ad his brothers on his First Day of Kindergarden.

Blake is 1 Year Old!!

2010-08-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

2010 First Bi-Annual Don and Karen Rowley Reunion

Held at Bear Lake Utah in a lovely cabin

I might have to go borrow some other photos to add to these....

And that's all I've got! It was a wonderful reunion!!

2010-05-18T22:21:00.001-07:00

A post long overdue, here is little Eli.

First his new grown up little self all snuggly.

Here is where Mommy Annette cut his 1 inch long hair.

Here is me with newborn Eli back in March

He is such a sweet baby!

And of course the girls need the spotlight a bit too!

What can I say? It HAS to be TA-DAAA!

This little dancing skirt is amazing. It has a little music box attached underneath

and she just pushes the button and has music to dance to! It's awesome.

Happy 30th Eric!

2010-04-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

This is actually Eric's SURPRISE 30th birthday party as you can see because Don is in the center....

I didn't get much in the way of pictures but Eric was VERY surprised and lots of good friends came to surprise him . We had a fun time. The friend on the far right here is Cam Johnson and his wife Natalia. He brought Eric a wild squirrel in a cage in his car trunk for a "gift". They had caught it in their backyard in a special cage and he decided Eric would really appreciate it since he used to have many evil squirrels in his backyard. Eric loved it but allowed Cam to take it somewhere else and release it. Such a good friend.

And here is the real Eric in the center with other friends at the party. what a nice bunch of people! Meredith got a fabulous chocolate cake from Cosco, some of you know the ONE, and we all loved it along with his favorite sandwiches from Jimmy Johns or something like that...

We were happy to be there to celebrate such a great person!

We love you Eric!!!

A Visit to The Rowley Home

2010-04-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

The little new person we all gathered to see.

Cohen Thomas Rowley

The crew in attendance

Snuggly baby

Too much excitement!

Sisters

Hi everybody!

Smiley coloring boys

And how about some Rock Band with the Beatles???

Go Boys!!

Jackson rocks out

Eric with his trusty baby carrier

Who's in there?

The Easter Bunny came

Just a little Easter fun

2010-03-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Here is for all the kiddos to see so go get them and show them

ONE GIANT ICICLE!!!

2010-03-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

This Zebra is my newer animal guy I drew for the

kids to paint so I have to share him too.

And isn't this Giraffe superb? I love him.

Thanks for admiring!

Jungle Fun

2010-02-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

I just have to brag a little here... I am known as the Art Queen in my preschool.

(I work there... I'm not a student)

This is my most recent spectacular artiness. I drew these animals freehand from pics in books. I did them really big so the kids could paint them. The paper is about 5 -6 feet long

That's my fun for this week. I impressed myself because I have never drawn something so big before and I managed to get the proportions right. Yea! Too bad I can't put up pics of the kids painting them. They really enjoyed it!

Just a Little Snow in Flagstaff

2010-01-22T13:19:00.001-08:00

This is the view from the other side of my cul-de-sac so you can see the snow pile in the middle. It is much bigger now than it was at Christmas time. And the snow is now about 4 - 5 feet high in places. It is supposed to get a couple more feet by tomorrow. It's crazy.

See that little guy up there on the roof? Yup, that's Don. holding his trusty snow shovel. He worked up there for about an hour and a half and came in soaking wet. Poor guy. Glad I'm not a man....

In town there have been some roof collapses. like Joann Fabrics (boo hoo!) And Bookmans. I hear that place is toast now. too bad really. It was a great store! Hey, maybe when they start up again they will take some of my books they wouldn't take before....

2010-01-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

DON'T GO DADDY! DON'T GO!
I love these pics! Meredith let me steal them from her facebook. She told me how.
This what the boys do when Eric has to leave for work. Isn't it precious!

Click on it and you can see Logan is there too.

2010-01-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

My Ode to the Holiday

-By Karen Rowley

The mansion is empty,
The trash is all dumped
The kitties they sleep on the couch in a lump.
The tree, it still standeth
I can't say goodbye.
It just looks so pretty
That maybe I'll cry.

It's too quiet here.
Not much cleaning's been done,
With more things around
I remember the fun.
I've found a green boot
And a little toy soldier,
A ship in a bag
And some socks left to molder.

The snow mountain misses
The children's loud squeals,
The van that careened around on two wheels.
The kitchen's not crowded
There's still food galore
And right now there's nothing spilled on the floor.
No kids at the counter all drinking hot chocolate.
No Dads in the family room ready to Risk it.

So maybe I'll spend one more day in a trance
Remembering the children who did a fine dance
And the wild country fiddlin' and hootin' and yellin'
The puzzling and gaming and sick belly aching.

Now the children are happy in their own snuggly beds
And visions of summertime dance in their heads,
When once again there will be noise all around
And kidlets so numerous the mothers will frown
And say "are they yours? I'm not going to claim them!
It's way too much work just to try to contain them!"

So we'll let them go running and screaming outside
They'll laugh and they'll play and they'll slip and they'll slide.
Us grown-ups will sit back relax and watch movies
And phone for some Pizza.
Oh, it will be Groovy!

2010-01-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

We FINALLY took down the Christmas tree. Last night. But all the other decorations are still up. Maybe we will take them down for our date night tonight. We have to move the car out of the garage and climb up into the attic to get all the boxes to fill up so that's one reason it's taking so long. Plus, the holidays were just so fun that It's been easy to let it keep going with the decorations keeping the feelings alive.

2010-01-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

We had such a wonderful Christmas! We took this pic just before church. It started at 3 pm so you can see how close we were. some of the family was sick with fluey stuff and didn't get to go. But I love the picture! It is ALL of us!

2009-11-21T20:32:00.001-08:00

Wahoo!!! I spent the day from 9 a.m. to 5:40 p.m. at a CPR/First Aid class. So if you are injured or choking or having a heart attack, I'm you man! I mean woman... Come to me!! me! me!

2009-11-21T20:31:00.001-08:00

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Yesterday I got to do interpreting at the high school! It was a good experience. I worked in a math class which was hard at first to figure out the specific signs for Y axis and X axis and intercept etc but it turned out ok because they only had 1/2 hour of instruction and then took a test. Easy for me! Then in the cooking class I just did explanations and then the students ate left over turkey dinner (yes, I had some!) and then played games. It was a good day for the regular interpreter to be out. A good starting point for me in the 'big leagues'. I don't like the high school too much though. Too many weirdo teenagers.....
But Mrs. Izbell remembered Kimi and Mrs. Burris remembered Eric and the cooking teacher Can't remember her name, remembered Eric too. Hmmmmm. he graduated in 1998. Why would she remember him??? Eric?

2009-11-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

Logan Adventures

Kimi took us to the museum at USU to dventures

see the display she made with two other girls. They spent countless hours and efforts to put this together . Even Cherise helped out with painting. It's named Message On A Body.

Among other things there is info on tattoos & corsettes.

This head is shaped with boards strapped to a child's head and he is not taken out of his cradle to play for 2 years!

These tiny shoes were worn in China during the 1000 years that girl's feet were bound.

They actually constantly break bones in the feet to fold them under and they end up only 3 inches long. The display was excellent! We are very proud of the work she did.

Sophie and Allessia having fun at Cherise's house on conference sunday.

We were so glad they came to visit!!!

Checking to see who has the fever....

My three daughters! Aren't they beautiful?

2009-11-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

"What we did on our Conference Vacation"

We had quite the trip over conference weekend. We traveled all the way up to Logan, Utah and back so we could visit with 5 of the kids. We stopped in Cedar city first to see Christine's family, then headed up to SLC to visit with Jen's family then on up to Logan where we saw Cherise and Kimi and even Annette came down with her family for the visit. It was great to see everyone and conference too. We would have gone to session of conference but someone left the tickets in the wrong state.... But it didn't matter. This way we were able to make halloween decorations with Maddie, Jaren,Tanner and Tae on sunday morning.

Here are the kids with their little baby bear.
Baby Bear Chase himself

Cutest tungue ever!

Dad showing off for the grandkids. Luckily he didn't hurt anything.

Notice the bats and pumpkin hanging from the ceiling.

2009-11-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

HALLOWEEN

Each Halloween our extended family comes to visit after trick-or-treating. Cody, Zack and Max empty their candy on the floor and count and seperate it just like every kid in the universe. I love it!

So here is the family this year. Josh the Orange haired, Soldier Cody, Batman Zach ,Chrystal the Mom, and Eeyore Max

Aren't they cute? They make it feel like the beginning of the holidays!
Thank you!!!

Wedding Open House in Flagstaff

2009-08-13T17:19:00.000-07:00

We had a very lovely evening on August 8. The weather was perfect for outdoors. We had red and white twinkle lights and japanese lanterns. Don and I also made the Japanese screens and they were beautiful. You can't see them but there are two little fish in decorated bowls on each table to continue the japaneseish theme. The fish are now living in a friend's indoor fishpond.

Guest Book

After party shenanigans

Rob's dad, Dee Jepson

Dinosaur Dancing . There was a crowd watching with delight

Engagement pnotos

Wonderful friends and neighbors

The dessert and drink table. Notice we also had the cherry blossom panels on the railing.

A very nice group of Kimi's friends from high school came. It was very fun for her.

Three good friends stayed while Kimi and Rob opened presents after others had gone.

Of of the gifts was the SORRY game. So they all played.

It was a great evening!

At the Wedding Picnic

2009-08-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice picnic at a little park in Lindon for lunch. Kimi's family were there and lots of Rob's family too. It was great to get to meet each other. We wrote on posters on the wall making predictions about Rob and Kimi's futures - they were quite silly. Imagine that! Rob's family supplied a nice lunch and people just visited and there was also a little baseball game to entertain the dads and kids.

Good job Jeff! you're gonna win!!!
Jen, Chase & Annette

The happy Dinosaur loving couple
Rob's sister, Nina gave them the matching shirts. They say

"RAWR means I LOVE YOU in dinosaur"

Filling out the prediction posters. To the left of Dad is his drawing of a man with a ball and chain around his foot. That is the "Wedding picture" he drew.

Emma's was a picture of herself in a heart. and thank goodness someone drew two people kissing.

Kimi , sisters and friends

Getting ready for the bridal photos

2009-08-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Of course these are out of order. start from the bottom.

Jen and Mer took the pics. Quite an adventure in getting lost and stopped by the police just as they are arriving at the temple after being lost about 1/2 an hour..... Mer was driving without her license. She was speeding (but unknowingly). Jen was in back nursing the baby -both of them out of the seatbelts. Kimi out of a seatbelt because of the dress. But even with all these infractions the nice policeman let them off because of THE DRESS. Thank you Dress.
She opens the door with her clever foot...

The decorative red laceing

Almost done!

Here come the curls! Thanks Cherise!!

maybe

2009-07-27T10:05:00.001-07:00

I just may blog about something soon. be ready.

2009-06-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

This Hawaiian adventure actually starts from the bottom. I need to get jen or jana to teach me how to take pictures on the water with my camera because the NaPali Coast photos are quite washed out. But they are still good remembrances for us. It was a wonderful trip; it's just so beautiful there! I wanted to take pictures constantly. We are already making plans for the next time we go. Start at the bottom.

At the Smith Tropical Paradise where we saw the fire dancer and got on the Fern Grotto boat

The Four of us

(in case you weren't sure...)

Again

Na Pali Coast

Dolphins. While on the catamaran there were many dolphins nearby. about 10 of the would swim down directly in front of the boat all in a row as though they were trying to just keep ahead of us. It was so fun to watch!

Hannalei Valley wish I had better pics of this place, I love it.

View up the canyon from the Na Pali Beach

View of the beach 2 miles in on the coast hike.

Na Pali

Na Pali Hike

Isn't it georgous color!

Na Pali Coast hike

Tree canopy

First day sunrise

Our beach at low tide sunrise. Jody on the left and Bruce and Don at the water

On our beach by the resort

Looking down from our balcony

Friendship Quilt

2009-05-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

In our Relief Society 19 of us got together to make Friendship Quilts. We all made 19 of whatever quilt block we chose and then got together and exchanged them and had a little luncheon. Our dedicated leader used her machine to stitch 'University Heights Friendship Quilt' and the date on it for everyone. Then we each put them together however we wanted. So this is mine, close to being finished. I still need to put the purple binding around the edge and then it will be done. It will be the same as the framey looking purple strip that is all around it. the back is a nice sage color and it is tied at the center of each block and 4 ties at the corners where each block meets and I have the fabric going diagonally. It looks lovely and I love it! Oh, my block is the blue and yellow one up in the corner. It was the first time I did something like that!

In a Cave Underground...

2009-05-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

On May 15th Don gave a talk for the Young Women in a couple of wards. But not just in a regular place, they were in having a Bishop's campout cor the Young Women in the forest way out off of Hwy 180. And the place we went for his talk was an underground cave! The entrance was through a rocky hole in the ground. The area being about 20 feet across. Before going down in, we waited outside for about 30 minutes sitting a little lower than the ground level on big rocks just talking and me getting a little nervous about going in the cave because I had not been there before. We expected to hear the girls laughing and tromping over and that would signal us when to go down into the cave. But suddenly I saw a glow of lanterns coming close and heard soft tromping in the dirt but no talking or laughing. Evidently the walk over from the camp area and into the cave was a no-talking time. "Don! They're coming! Hurry!" I whispered wildly. And we had to quickly scramble down in so we wouldn't be seen! I didn't really have any more time to feel scared about the cave, just the big hurry we needed to do and to try doing it quietly helping each other down in with his walking stick and me carrying the antique lantern he had bought that day. The climb down in was about 15 feet, then we were in a tunnel that became wider as we went and the ceiling would be lower and higher in other areas. After walking quickly for about 5 minutes, we came to an area that was quite large with a sandy floor which is where all the girls would be sitting. Then we continued around the bend to sit and wait in the dark. We saw the lights of the girls and leaderson the opposite wall of the tunnel and heard them quietly sit down. When all was quiet and the lights turned off Don picked up his walking stick and the lantern with his headlamp dropped in it. He was wearing a very -prospectory-looking $12 Eddie Bauer used hat and wore a mustache and goatee also. He stepped slowly picking his way around the bend to the girls so they could only see him in the lantern glow . I followed a short distance untill I could see them and then sat to listen. when got near to them he started talking in an old prospector voice, asking who they were and saying he was looking for gold. Then he pulled a couple of rubber snakes out of his pocket to toss while looking for his map. But the girls weren't sacred or fooled a bit of course. Then he said a real Hello and took off his beard and mustache and gave a wonderful talk about 'Unity' in their Young Women group. Of course it was very good with excellent examples and I'm sure it will help them all want to befriend and support their sisters in the gospel. After it was over he got some nice thank yous as everyone turned lights and lanterns back on and climbed out and headed back to the camp spot. They would be sleeping in the open air because the leaders wanted them together and had no 30 girl tents. I hope they had plenty of blankets!

Mother

2009-05-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for such a long time so first I want to thank all you beautiful children for the wonderful cards and phone calls I got on Mother's day! It was a great and loving day and I appreciate it very much. You are all just the best ever!!!

2009-04-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

IT'S EASTER!!

We got to spend Easter with Eric and Meredith and the cute boys. It was a fun day.

Hmmm, what's in here???

The Grand Easter Tree atop the armoire

The Pez dispensers were pretty cool!

Look what I got!!!

I love Easter!!!

The Rowley Clan

2009-04-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

The Brothers Dinner

On April 11 we all got together at Glenn and Anne's house in Creve Ceour, MO (St. Louis). We had a great visit for several hours and had a very lovely dinner prepared by Anne. She also treated us to Lois's Chocolate Chiffon Dessert which had been one of her specialties. We had a fun time visiting and reminicing. Glenn also showed us his photos from Afghanistan. They were very, very interesting. I'm so glad we were able to see them as they shed light for us on what it really looks like there and what Glenn did and how the people are. We look forward to our next get together at the Rowley Reunion in July!

The Brothers Rowley

And their Better Halves.

Dennis & Rexine, Glenn & Anne, Don & Karen, Mark & Jeri

I got this nice photo of Anne and Rexine and the forgot to get Jeri and myself !

The Brothers at their best... laughing!

2009-04-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR PRIDE AND JOY, ERIC ROWLEY, THE ONE AND ONLY BOY BABY WE WERE BLESSED WITH. THANKS FOR CONTINUING ON THE FAMILY NAME. WE LOVE YOU! WE THINK YOU ARE A GREAT HUSBAND AND FATHER. AND WE GET TO COME ANS SEE YOU AND YOURS . YEA! SEE YOU FRIDAY!

More Babies

2009-03-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

Chase's cheeks look so chubby

Chase at One Week Isn't he so cute??

Baby Kimi at One Week Before she's 20! with precious Tae Tae.

Aren't they just so cute???

Happy Birthday to Kimi on Friday!!!

Hi Again! this little guy gets on twice because I can't find how to delete the second pic. Hmm. I must be getting too old for this beacuse I used to know how.......

The Newest Baby in the Family

2009-03-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here is our sweet new baby Chase Rockwell Fauset

The Importance of Being Ernest

2009-03-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

Last night Crap-pa and I went to see this play, The Importance of Being Ernest.

It was so fun! We have seen the movie before and listened to the audio tapes of this story. It is quite hilarious. We heartily recommend it. The movie stars Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth and Hugh Jackman. It's great!

SKITTLES HELPS OUT

2009-03-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Skittles really wanted to see what was going on in this computer that was taking all the attention off her so she tried to find out. Study...study...study...

Then she decided it was just tooo complicated! And took a rest. Just a warning that this is what cats do. So, a word to Bonnie, you might want to break Kitty Blue of this habit if he is still walking on your keys.

Go ahead. Just try to move me!

Cody prepares

2009-02-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

The time is getting closer for the joy of grandson Cody's baptism. We are hosting dinner and another missionary lesson of friday. It looks like about 3 more weeks and we are so happy about it! Cody does so well listening and answering the questions intelligently. I don't think Chrystal has posted the planned date so I will let her do that. (do it Chrystal!) Cody is a smart boy and very loving to us and we're glad he's a part of our lives.

True Love...

2009-02-15T09:31:00.001-08:00

We all know how much Dad loves BROWNIES. Well, once when Komu was living with us she came into the kitchen to have a brownie from the pan. When she looked at them she saw ALL the edges cut off. Eaten. Gone. She just said in a low accusing voice, "Don...".

So for Valentine's Day I got him this Edgey Brownie pan!

Now, He can have two edges and sometimes three in every brownie! Isn't this the most fabulous brownie pan? It works wonderfully and came with it's own little spatula just the right size.

No, he didn't eat them all already. I just put one back in so you can see it.

Snow Snow Snow

2009-02-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

WELCOME to our snowy house!

"Grampa's playground" is kind of under the weather...

I think this is a foot of snow on the railing. It usually falls off before this much is loaded on!

Little shed in the woods.
Last winter a rabbit lived underneath. Maybe this winter too.

Come and play!

At the Birch Aquarium

2009-02-12T17:59:00.000-08:00

We really loved the aquaruim in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. It is so amazing to see all the beautiful colors of sea life. Normally I would think of under the sea as being just dark and drab but NO! Just look at these! I thought I would remember the names of all these but I don't. So I'll label the ones I do remember.

This is Coral. When it's alive it bends and sways in the water.
I think this is a Fan Fish

This is a kind of Seahorse. I think it's a Stick fish....

The snout goes to the left and the body angles down to the lower right.

He is just pretty. Don't know his name.

This weirdo is a Moray Eel. There were three of them together and they just

stayed in the same position looking dumb. Their faces are all dopey looking. So weird!

This is a Moon jelly fish. Or something like that. We also saw the jellyfish that were in the Nemo movie but I couldn't get a good picture.

This starfish is a Sun Star. With so many legs he looks fake!
He is on the wall up at the top of the water.

This guy is another type of Sea Dragon. Not so leafy.

And here is my Famous Leafy Sea Dragon! I love him! He looks like he just floats around but he has tiny little...falanges?...that come out of his back in a row.and they move really quickly like a fan that makes him move around through the water. I saw one at the Coney Island Aquarium with Bonnie years ago and have wanted to see one ever since so this was a treat for me!

The yellowish part is the body and he has two leafy antenna things and the other leaves are his legs. His snout is pointing down to the right corner. Isn't he COOL!?

So next time you have a chance to go to an Aquarium, GO!!!!!

Snowing and Quilting

2009-02-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

Because of this....

which is supposed to last for another day...

I will not be going to work but will get to spend my day making these lovely quilt squares.

I am doing a friendship quilt with some ward sisters where each person makes as many squares as there are people involved. Then we all trade and put our quilts together. I couldn't even remember signing up for this and then when we finally had our first meeting I thought "Yikes! what have I gotten myself into? " AND I have had a horrible time with a 9-patch I have been working on. (Luckily Ruth Ann helped me tremendously for a day last week and that one is much better). But I decided to give it a try and am very happy I have. I have 4 of these finished and 6 more than 1/2 way finished. It's hard for me to be so precise with the seams to make the squares work out perfectly but also gives me a sense of pride since my last one was so much trouble.

Isn't it just so cute??? If the whole quilt was all made of these squares they would be placed diagonally so the dark yellow looks like little windmills. Maybe I will make a whole one all by myself some day.

Engaging Father Christmas

2009-02-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning a read an enjoyable little novel about a young woman who has found her family in England. When I read these pages I was entranced. I just thought it was so delightful. I hoped the book was all like this with no dreadful stuff. Luckily it was. I hope you can read these pages - if you click on the picture it gets bigger. The book is "Engaging Father Christmas" by Robin Jones Gunn. A Christian writer. There is a prequel but I haven't read it yet.

Camping in Flagstaff in Winter

2009-02-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

Who says you can't camp in Flagstaff in the winter? You don't want a snowcave to sleep in? Well just come on over and you can do as Emma did a week ago. Just gather up all my real and fake plants and trees and arrange them anyway you like in my living room. Emma crowded them around her little bed so she would feel extra cozy and Jana slept on the couch right beside her. Jeff was on the other couch. They had the gas fire going most of the night and the wild animal kitties roamed the fake woods freely.

I don't have pics but we also roasted marshmellows over the stove and made SMore's, and Jeff played his guitar and Emma even taught ME how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on her violin! I am now so brilliant! I am actually very excited that she could teach me! Let's see, we also played Go Fish, and Emma taught me how to "do Inner Peace" also known as "oommmmm". done properly while sitting in lotus position (no I can't do that) and having your fingers curled with your thumb and index finger touching. I think Jana said she learned it on Kung Fu Panda.

We had a yummy breakfast made by Grandma in the morning. We four adults managed to easily eat a whole package of bacon. Does that make us pigs? I'm not really asking that....

Then later in the day we all went on a hike in Sedona which was very fun with perfect weather followed by a feast at the Red Planet Diner; an interesting place with an Alien theme. Very Fun! I hope they come again someday for another campout! (not aliens, but Emma and her parents...) Jana has more pics on her blog if you want more. They are very cute.

A Foxy Time!

2009-02-08T19:24:00.001-08:00

I was chatting with my visiting teacher on Friday morning when she looked out

our big window. She was concentrating on her contacts and how her visions was

when suddenly she realized there was a fox laying out in Grampa's Playground!

He was just chillin' out there in the sunniest spot! I hurried over to the back door and

let the kitties come back into the house; they had been pressing their noses at the

back door waiting so they hadn't seen Mr. Fox. Or he them - thank goodness.

Snoozing Fox just Chillin'. He's smiling. Thinking of eating my cats.

But he was too lazy.

I took a couple of pictures through the window then sneaked out the door trying to be invisible. But it didn't work. When he saw me he stood up and then hopped up onto the fence and beyond. But aren't these pics cool? I'm so glad I could at least cut these out of the middle of my too far away pictures. My zoom isn't very zoomy. He looks kind of majestic, don't y0u think?

Good bye Foxy Loxy!

(sorry about the weird layout. I don't know why the first part was underlined and couldn't find a spot to undo it. . ugh.)

California take me away!

2009-02-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

We were ready to say good bye to the mountain cold so we took off for California a couple of weekends ago. After a late night arrival and sleepover at Jana's we headed out to San Diego . We stayed in a hotel in Salano Beach where we had stayed with the kids quite a few years ago. If they remember the pizza place we went to the first night when everyone was so tired, that is now a California Pizza Kitchen and has wonderful food!

We walked on the beach at night and in the morning too. Don did NOT go swimming and so I did NOT see a shark fin near him and get all freaked out like last time. Thank goodness! We just did lots of walking and he took a little 5 mile run for fun.

This is the view from up on the cliff. We walked way down on the beach.

I think this might have been the most exciting part of the trip for Don. He was just so happy when he found this car wash. I don't even think the car was dirty.

Mmm mmm mmm, California sun.

Don't you think I must have been the most beautiful creature on the entire beach??

(We went to the Birch Aquarium and it was just SO cool! I loved it. The under water world is so amazing. I will post pics later.)

We drove up to visit Bonnie and Kitty Blue in Whittier. Blue showed up on her doorstep crying and wet and was so happy when she picked him up and cuddled him. He is now her best pal. He is just adorable!

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz

Ummmm, I think Blue might be looking for Bonnie's phone. Or maybe her car keys or wallet or maybe even a phone directory.

Captions? Anyone???

Our last stop was at the old homestead in Barstow to visit Dad and Topsy. Their heater was on the fritz so we had a nice fire going all the time. I hope it's fixed by now! Topsy fed us well and we helped them with their computer. Don turned on the sound again and I set up bloglines. They had better be checking out my blog soon! It was a very nice little visit. I love them both!

Good bye California!

The Socks

2009-01-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

OK, See this rolled up pair of socks? Here they are on my (new) rug

in the downstairs bathroom. I found them here when I arrived home

from the gym this morning. But before I had left...

They were here. See them? There in the middle.

On the dining room table with other stuff

waiting to be sent home to Tanner .

You may have heard my stories about my kitty (I suspect Skittles)

and how she drags items around the house when no one is looking.

This is my first official documentation of such a deed.

"Who Me?" Yes. You.

Christmas photo

2008-12-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

We had to promise these girls a spot in our photo to get

them to come and spend time with us at Christmas. It was worth the sacrifice!

Aahhh, just us girls.

Our little Christmas bunch.

Little Christmas Visitors

2008-12-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

We had some adorable little visitors for Christmas. We welcomed Maddie, Jaren, Tanner and Taelyn with open arms and hearts! They kept the place hoppin'!

Little Christmas House

2008-12-19T19:34:00.001-08:00

Here is our Little Christmas House in the Big Woods

No more Wisdom Teeth for Kimi

2008-12-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

Kimi had her Wisdom teeth yanked out by Dr. Petersen on Wednesday.

Last night she was up for going to little Zack and Max Pond's birthday party with me, although she was a little "out of it".

But today she has been suffering a little more. Poor thing. She's not too miserable to text though! I know she would love some condolences :) Doesn't she just look so pitiful?

2008-12-19T19:14:00.001-08:00

Finally! Just a little from Thanksgiving.

It was great to be with 4 daughters and their families. Being together is my favorite thing with my favorite people!

Annettie! Thank you for coming so far!

Christinie the beautiful hostess and her lovely little Missy

Jen and Kimi with help from Jazz

Jen and Kimi trying to be beautifuler. (it took them 6 tries...)

Me and the lovely Natalie

Kimi preparing for her super awesome board-breaking feat!

(and a peek from Tae)

Maddie... Like mother, like daughter...

Sophie feasting on her chocolate pilgrim

Dad and his new little buddy, Mandie

Some happy, scowling and puzzled faces of a few participants.

And last of all, the grown-ups of the gathering plus Sophie.

I'm so happy we could all be together! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

Christine's preparation and everyone chipping in to help, made it quite fun. I wonder who will be hosting next year.....

Christmas Tree

2008-12-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

Skittles helped Dad and I set up the Christmas tree :)

The tree in it's final Glory

Just another Sunday morning....

2008-11-23T06:03:00.000-08:00

This morning in the newpaper there is an article about Prop 102 (Marriage only between a man and a woman), (which DID pass, by the way - thank goodness!) and those who gave money in support of it. The reason it is in the paper is because the newspeople got the list from the government of who gave how much money and they want to let the city know who they are. The total from our city was about $350,000. (that's huge) Our stake president, Mark Frost, had met with specific couples he thought of and asked them if they would give generously to this cause by way of request from the prophet. Each decided on their own how much to give. Then this past week he gave an interview with the paper so he could answer their questions and they would quit bothering others who weren't really comfortable with defending the whole church for it's huge involvement in the work to pass the Proposition. We have been concerned about the article and worried that it would somehow make the church or people seem stupid or wrong or something because the paper has a very liberal editor and newsroom in general. Well the article came out this morning on the front page and was a very good and well done article. Whew! It had a nice quote from Pres. Frost about marriage and making families and such. I would quote some of it but Don took it to his stake meetings this morning. It also quoted another preacher in town in favor of the prop so that was good too. Then it said that the opposition raised a whopping $1,338 here in Flag for their side. hmmm. Most of that came from a fund raiser.
Now for a funny ending. After Don left for his meetings this morning he called and asked me to check if he really closed the garage door. It's so natural to do it that he doesn't remember doing it sometimes. And he also teased I make sure the front door was locked just in case someone put something on the porch. I teased back that I would put on my asbestos suit. And he said "Well, it's Sunday so we should always wear our "as-BEST-os" clothes. Hahahaha. He's so punny!

2008-11-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

OK. How do you do this?

Hmmm, this is probably all of me you will see.
You said 1/2 face photo, right?

"My One Beauty"

Someone photoshop some more bangs in for me.

Why do I fix my hair like that?

Wierdo.

This is SO fun.

WHAT did you SAY?????

2008-11-07T20:56:00.001-08:00

Will I ever get it??? Last night at my sign language class we had two visitors. One was deaf and the other is not but signs very well and I thought he was deaf. My problem was that I had SUCH a hard time getting what they were saying!!! AAArrggghhh!! It was SO frustrating! They each introduced themselves giving a little background and what they do now. I felt like I couldn't get any of it and I felt embarrassed just sitting there with the rest of the class watching them. I have even talked to the woman before and should have been a little familiar with what she was saying. Well I guess I actually was and did get lots of her info but missed so much still. And then I didn't even get that the man was NOT deaf! So I asked, How long have you been deaf? Who? Me? I 'm not deaf> What???? My teacher clarified for me. I just hope that someone else didn't know that either. The people are both tutors. I think I need to go meet with him and try to figure out what all that stuff was that he said. I do need to do outside class chatting with deaf people so this one's for me. Here I come. Probably another thing that I HOPE will help is if I make time to watch at least half an hour of the sign language videos each day. Maybe it will eventually click in.

Out of Africa!

2008-11-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

On October 25th Jana and Emma came up and met us at Out of Africa, about halfway between our towns. It is out in the desert with fences keeping the animals in very large spaces. There is a tram to take us to see some of the animals and then we hop on a bus with open windows to take us to see the zebra and giraffes and other animals which we can feed with carrots or special biscuits. We also watched a show with 2 small bears who ran around chasing a guy who would jump in a pool to get them to jump in and then they would play and splash each other. It was really cute. So cute in fact that I totally forgot to take any photos of them. But here are a few pics of the rest of the fun day.

The Zebras come right up to the bus but the driver told us they bite so why is someone trying to feed them by hand????

Emma is feeding this Giraffe. Too bad I didn't get the pic from the side...

Eeewwww! Thier tongues are 18 inches long!!!

Emma loved the Lemurs. There were quite a few of them and she started singing "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it move it." and dancing along the road to them when she saw them!

Here Jana is petting the miniature lioness up on her perch. (not really. I'm just a great photographer!)

Maybe this is when we heard a very angry lion roaring VERY loudly over and over again until the people went away from his fence.

Emma talking to a Hyena. Do you know they Moo? They only 'laugh' when they are hunting.

Mr. Hyena again.

My personal favorite, the Tiger. He was just pacing back and forth by this fence.

So that was the day. We all enjoyed it very much and the weather even cooperated. It was beautiful.

Monster Fun

2008-10-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Our Resident Monsters I found them lurking in the dollar section at Target and just had to bring them home. Aren't they just the cutest? They make us Happy !

A few travel pics

2008-10-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

Someday I will learn how to put pictures where I want them.....

Conference Countdown

2008-10-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

We had a great time traveling up to conference last weekend. First we met Christine in St. George and we went with her to the Tuacahn outdoor theater to see Les Miserables. It was fantastic! Definately Broadway quality (and I have been to Broadway so I can say that!) . The actors and their voices were fabulous, the weather was perfect and we had good seats and now I need the sound track.
After that we traveled on up to Christine's and quickly went to sleep. In the morning she kept the kids home an extra half hour to visit with us and took them to school herself instead of the riding the bus. They are chatterboxes in the mornings; it was fun. they had a lot to tell us about. And Mandie was Very friendly (it's good when your grandchildren like you). Poor Jason was feeling miserable and couldn't visit with us.
Then we headed on up to Logan to visit Kimi and Cherise&Bryce's homes and Utah State. We got lost on the way (I was sleeping and Dad was phoning) but luckily Cherise was able to head us in the right direction without our having to turn around (thanks Cherise!). What a beautiful place that is! It reminds us of Cedar City with old homes and tree lined streets. We first visited Cherise in her lovely and fragrant basement apartment which is very cutely decorated. I'm glad we had a chance because they may be moving out into a newer place very soon. We enjoyed seeing Kimi's dorm and her new computer - Dad wants one now. And she showed us the museum where someday a display she works on will be displayed. And Cherise showed us her art building where she does her work and becomes more brilliant. AND we ate in the Marketplace where Kimi does most of her eating and drank the most delicious chocolate milk which she is lucky enough to be able to drink every day. mmm mmm mmm.
Let's see... then we drove on down to SLC and took Kimi with us. We dropped her off near the temple to hug some hispanic guy she saw waiting across the street. (I think she likes him...). Soon thereafter we arrived at Jennifer's house where we slept in the lovely guest room and were awakened by strange children lurking in our room in the morning. Heh heh just kidding. They weren't strange! They were adorable and huggable. We had a nice morning watching conference and then headed in to the city to be at the afternoon session. A wonderful young woman from Argentina sat next to me. It was her first time there and she was overcome with emotion even before Elder Holland told the story of the boy on his horse in the river. After the meeting we invited her to view the gardens on the rooftopm with us be then she realized she had to meet her ride and would have time but was happy we had invited her. Then Dad and I found out that we couldn't go up there anyway for security purposes. rats. So we drove back to Jen's and picked up Jasper so he and Dad could go to priesthood mtg at the conference center. While they were gone Jen and Kimi gave Cherise that great haircut she showed off on her blog which I would hyperlink here if I knew how to do it.
Anyway, then the next morning Jen fed us a yummy breakfast and we stayed and watched Conf. on TV and enjoyed the family. It was nice to do that instead of going so early up to the conference center and all that rush. We headed on back Arizona way around 1 p.m. We arrived at Christines and she and the kids fed us a lovely dinner which really hit the spot. We just hung around long enough for the kids to get used to us and move on to inspecting the box of Halloween glow-in-the dark fangs and other scary things she had brought out to have fun with. Sadly, Jason was still feeling crappy and couldn't join us. Hopefully time will help him recover and join the world again soon and get strong and healthy. We miss having him around to visit. Finally, the trip home without whining kids (or E&M to argue {remember the trip to Denver??}) was pretty boring. But we did listen to an interesting CD named "What's On The Other Side?" about what the scriptures and other people teach us about life after death. Very interesting. And we drove over Cedar Mountain and enjoyed thoroughly the beauties of the world. Some of the vistas are just SO beautiful! It's truly amazing. And then Home again, Home again, Jiggety Jog! 10:00p.m. and the Kitties are fine.

36°

2008-10-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

It is 36° here this evening. BRrrrrrrrrrrr~~~~~~~ We love it! Brown pine needles have blown off the trees and they land standing up in the grass. The front lawn is covered with them. They will fill at least two dozen trash bags. I'm so glad to have Don around to do all the dirty work of stuffing them in. He's pretty helpful that way. The petunias are still blooming and look lovely in the autumn yard. The kitties like to go out and sniff the air and come back in. They forget they are animals and come in to laze around in their catbeds on the backs of the front room couches. they love to be up high and think they own the front room. Which they do unless we have company coming. Then they are banished to watch us from outside the back door and whine to come in.

Pre-School Time!

2008-09-26T13:57:00.001-07:00

Time to learn about Firefighters!

As you can see, I need more practice using Nikki Nikon when the kids are involved. Anyway, Here are three of our preschoolers. Sofia, and Cody in blue - his language is Sign because his parents
are both deaf too. Hunter is with Mary, another interpreter. They are calling 911 so the firemen will come. Then the firefighters are s

quirting out the "F" Flames. They liked that. But especially liked

running around the room in the Firetruck which they all painted outside on the grass. The kids are all really sweet. Hunter is contemplative and good, Sofia is bouncy like a little cheerleader, and Cody is the challenge. He gets real tired of people telling him what to do all the time. But he is so adorable! We also have Payten, a little Mormon girl, actually who just started and got her first hearing aids and they are Pink! We also are getting a little spanish girl; Jenny, and a boy next month (they start when they turn three) who I think is navajo and he will be a control issue like Cody - but Cody is already much better behaved than when he started in Feb. It will be interesting. I'm not really sure how it will work with little spanish Jenny. I think maybe I will have Kimi tell me many useful spanish words we would use in class and that will help tremendously as we teach her sign language too.

I have to say that I really love this job. Not only am I improving my sign (with the help of my current college sign class too) but I get to enjoy other great women who love chocolate and the kids and I get to prepare all the little art projects and help the kids do them. Of course we also have circle time fun but I don't need to help with that much this year. I also officially Interpret two afternoons a week for Casen who was in our class last year and who is now in Kindergarten. So the things I do are varied and fun and the time goes by quickly. I am so grateful for the job. It's just right for me.

My Mom, Ruth Jensen

2008-09-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

Since we have just passed the anniversary of my Mom's death, I would like to share a couple of pictures of her. They are engagement photos . Isn't she beautiful? She is 22, Dad is 26. Thank you Bonnie for sharing

them with me!

Karen's New Toy

2008-09-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my new little Nikon toy baby. Don gave her to me for my birthday. I'm so happy; now I really am as cool as my daughters! We took her down Oak Creek Canyon to Rene's French restaraunt for her first evening out in the world. Here are a few of her first pictures. You need to excuse the fuzzy one of Don and I; the hostess took it and it's blurry but I wanted to keep it anyway.

On the way down to Sedona

Beuteous Skies

Beauteous Clouds

Beauteous (fuzzy) Couple!

Courtyard out our restaraunt window

So that was Nikon's first adventure. I'm sure you will be seeing much more of her work in the future. Thanks for making her feel welcome in our little blog.

BACK IN THE DAYS OF THUNDERETTES

2008-09-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, folks, I used to be a Thunderette! Fabulous drill team of Southern Utah State College. AND, this is where Don saw me and fell instantly in love. Truly! We were talking to Kimi last night with Skype on her new computer and I realized she is the same age I was when I was on this team. So this is ME! Yes, I'm in here somewhere....
Thanks for all the wonderful Birthday wishes! It's been a Great Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

2008-09-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Mother of my heart!!!!!

Here's a delicious looking chocolate cake JUST FOR YOU....to look at.

Sorry, if i was in Flagstaff, i would bake you one that would

definitely look this amazing

and taste

Even

Better!!!

Have an amazing day Mom!

You deserve it!

Loves and kisses!

Cherise

hehehe....good thing I had your password...

Little House in the Snow

2008-09-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick painting Dad did yesterday. Isn't it cool? It is a trial painting to see how it would look with snow since there is no snow in the original photo. He will do another one of this house maybe in a different season. It's the House NeNe grew up in so don't tell her about it! It's a secret! He is so good at doing the quick watercolors I just had to post it.

Mom's Lovely Bruises

2008-09-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

Here are my worst bruises from the Miniscus operation I had on September 5. These didn't show up until a week after the surgery. And boy are they icky! My leg also finally decided to swell up above my knee. I have been icing it and keeping it up for a while each day. I figure it will take at least a week for it to all settle down. In the meantime I am back at work and have my followup check on Monday. My leg just feels stiff and I can't completely use it normally but no crutches!

Maddie's Baptism Dress - just finished!

2008-09-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

Momma!!

2008-09-12T14:52:00.001-07:00

Hey mommy! here's your bloggie blog for you! I hope you enjoy it! now all us chillins can see what you and dad are up to! :)

love you!

Cherise